Awfully sad, I'm sure everyone will be mourning the loss of Elizabeth Taylor right now, she was an Icon and not only that she was a great actress, one of the first to join the fight against AIDS, and her personal affairs had everyone listening. Who remembers those interviews she gave when she'd say that she'll talk about anything other than her ex husbands? to be honest I always wanted to hear about it, but fair enough, everyone deserves their privacy... For me my favourite films of hers are Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) and A Place in the Sun (1951). Two rather depressing pictures. Her performances in them are of huge contrast, in A place in the Sun she's graceful, young and stable and wears one of Edith Heads greatest designs (She started a trend when she wore that beautiful white gown) and she made a great transition as an official lady of the silver screen. She and Richard Burton rip each other to shreds in Who's afraid Virginia Woolf, well you just have to look at the pictures above, she's plays a crumbling alcoholic mess.
Rest now, you deserve it.
(Febuary 27th, 1932 - March 23rd, 2011)
"Elizabeth has great worries about becoming a cripple because her feet sometimes have no feeling in them. She asked if I would stop loving her if she had to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. I told her that I didn't care if her legs, bum and bosoms fell off and her teeth turned yellow. And she went bald. I love that woman so much sometimes that I cannot believe my luck. She has given me so much" - Richurd Burton (twice ex husband)
The Mythical Monkey at "A M.M Writes About The Movies" (Which you should definitely check out if you are unfamiliar), so kindly awarded me with the Stylish blogger Award, shucks folks I'm speechless. As a recipient I am to post a link to Myth Monks blog and carry out two duties which are:
Pass it on to some 7 stylish bloggers.
and to write 7 random tell all facts about yours truly.
So here we go with some random facts:
I have a character/celebrity crush on Sam Shepard as The Farmer in Days of Heaven. I don't know what it is..
Rome? or some other foreign land forget about it. I have always wanted to go to States, so I have planned to travel around the USA next year. In the mid year particularly to the Western, Eastern, Southern states. I am looking forward to it so much.
Funnies: I really enjoy these reviews from red letter media. so hilarious. If you really have a disdain for the newer star wars trilogy I recommend you watch them.
When I was 4 or 5 I stole a packet of those pink hundreds and thousands biscuits from the supermarket because My mum refused the treat. So in my determination I "discreetly" put them under my shirt & I got away with it. So in that case crime did pay and it was delicious!
That Friday song (it sounds like fried egg) has been repeating its self in my head. The tune is by Karen Black whose 13, drives and has her bowl and cereal and Thanks to my brother introducing it to me I've had it in my head all day and its driving me insane! I think she'd be suitable on a kindergarten show. its goes exactly like this: "Kickin in the front seat, sittin in the back seat... gotta make my mind up which seat can i take"? "fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun". I hate it how its the songs like this that are immediately catchy.
I still live with my "Mommie Dearest" and its not bad, but I really can't wait to move out, mainly so I can decorate my own place, I go pretend shopping for vintage pretty things I dream my house will be consumed by. good times. I'll be 21 on April 20th (same birthday as Adolf Hitler's, I reckon I couldn't share it with a more well known person, even though I would rather share it with a likable chap)
Because I don't know what else to share without totally scaring you off:
"My guilty movie pleasures", they aren't the most sophisticated but to me there's something pretty great about them, I don't feel particularly guilty for liking them but you know there are drawbacks. Some of these movies serve as delights for personal nostalgic reasons or as shear entertainment for their straight out non stop hilarity and campiness. The Goonies, Bridget Jones (1&2), Dumb and Dumber, Steel Magnolias, Don't tell Mom the Babysitters dead, Mommie Dearest, Overboard, Welcome to the doll house, Psycho II.
Movies that are Real Stinkers (for me): I try not to watch bad movies but sometimes they just happen like how Inception happened, it was impossible to like this, I don't understand the hype. Operation Petticoat: sorry fans I couldn't warm up to it even Cary Grant couldn't save this for me and finally the terrible Alex and Emma (Kate Hudson and Luke Wilson), Paris when it Sizzles is waaay funnier than this.
and lastly just movies with talking pets well talking animals in general (non animated ones) and Babies that go on trips by themselves, and "talking babies" > Baby Geniuses. Eddie Murphy in a fat suit, Murphy in his films where he plays all the characters in the family etc. and just most of those pointless remakes that have been coming out lately.
Like Mythical Monkey I follow a lot of blogs so yeah it took awhile to choose.. Drum roll please.... The Stylish Blog awards go to (in no particular order):
The spine tingling effects of the psychological horror is masterly displayed here in the alluring 1961 film The Innocents. A masterful adaptation of the novella “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James. The Innocents is a period horror set in 19th century England that focuses on Ms Giddens and the frightening turn of events that occur when she goes to work as a governess on a delectable country estate. She begins to see the ghosts of a man and a woman who were once employees on the estate. She then becomes frantic because she thinks the children she has been hired to govern are possessed by these ghosts. The question is whether or not Ms Gidden’s is a reliable and sane character. Well either way this is an amazing film. It transcends a feeling of eeriness and coldness through the effective camera work seen through beautiful black and white photography; this along with the enigmatic plot and characters makes everything work perfectly to build up an unnerving atmosphere.
The chilling opening to the film does nothing but lure you in; executed in such a pure way even when it was first screened cinema projectionists thought they were having technical difficulties. Because for the first minute, even before 20th century Fox display their trademark, all the audience is introduced to is the voice of a child singing a haunting tune over a screen of blackness. (You can imagine how marvellous this would have been to see at the theatre).
After the credits role it begins as Ms Giddens is being accepted for the governess position, despite her inexperience, the uncle (Michael Redgrave) and caregiver to the two children doesn’t mind, just as long as he doesn’t have to take responsibility for his niece and nephew. When Ms Giddens arrives on the estate it’s as if she has found heaven and it wouldn’t be heaven without angels. The two kids Flora and Miles appear to be just that, ever so angelic. But their child like behaviour begins to appear as an act; Ms Giddens begins to grow weary of the sibling’s secretive ways. Miles’ mature manner leads Ms Giddens to suspect he has become possessed. A highly unsettling scene occurs when Miles kisses Ms Giddens on the mouth in a very prolonged and adult way, which only furthers the questions. The spontaneity of the odd moment sets you back into an uneasy state and you wonder, did that really just happen?
Ms Giddens is portrayed by British actress Deborah Kerr (The Black Narcissus,From Here to Eternity). Kerr like the pro she was plays the character with an air of elegance and intensity which only poignancies her characters moments of instability. It’s actually quite surprising in some key scenes when you expect she is about to let out a scream (like any average person would, given the circumstances), she is actually quite composed. She comes off as if she’s in control of the situation or she just can’t quite fathom her own supernatural experiences.
What I find special about this movie and separate from horror films that are often remade and recycled ideas which come a dime dozen, is that quite simply The Innocents is unusual, and not Black Swan unusual. It demonstrates you don’t always need characters be particularly daring or ruthless Ed Gein wannabes to have that feeling of fear in you. Even for its time it never quite fitted in a mould with other horror movies, thus it has aged really well; so timeless it could have been made in any period between the 40s till today. Director Jack Clayton(Room at the top, The Great Gatsby)purposely set out to make this film different from any other horror film made at that time, he especially wanted to deter it from being placed into the same category as the popular British Hammer horrors. Clayton specialized in adapting Literary works he once said "I don't believe in being fashionable. Try to be and you're usually out of date before you start.", that idea may have not always made his movies popular in their release but it worked in his favor in the long run. He even turned down the offer to have Cary Grant play the role of "The Uncle", instead opting for another british veteran Michael Redgrave.
The ambiguity leaves you to draw your own conclusion(s). The mere fact you are left to ponder the whole story might irritate you, or you might find the mystery intriguing. Fan’s of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, The Other’s (which is practically a remake of this), Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Village of the Damned will enjoy this. Remember to turn out the lights and bask in the bazaar, eerie wonders of The Innocents.
Jerry Lewis dipping Betty Hutton with long time work colleague Dean Martin
"I've had great success being a total idiot" That is non other than funny man Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch) who turns 85. The slightly unpolished comedian is basically either loved or loathed, I personally don't love him but I do find his funny faces and the over the top ways about him amusing, well because I laugh easy. He said once that people hated him because he was a "multifaceted wealthy genius", and pulling faces is like comedy 101, its in there with throwing pies, basic, everyone can do it, so not everyone is going to find that particular brand of comedy funny. He is known for his collaboration with rat packer Dean Martin which ran from the mid 40s to mid 50s, Lewis was the outrageous part of the duo and Dean of course was the straight, together they hosted the Colgate Comedy hour in the early 50s and made a little under 20 pictures together. After 10 years their partnership went stale due to much of the praise going to Jerry. With Martin gone Jerry was left to carry on solo, he made comedies like The (original) Nutty Professor (1963), The Patsy (1964) and others. Then in the 80s he played Jerry Langford in Scorsese's King of Comedy, he as the King and Robert De Niro plays the deranged wannabe comedian, who literally holds Jerry hostage to get a moment in the spot light (Great Movie). He has been entertaining people with his zany, slapstick humor since he was 5 and even after loads of health problems over the past decade or so, he is still active in show business, like a trooper.
Ahh good old hilarity, Jerry Lewis with Tony Curtis
Bronco Bullfrog is a really enjoyable British kitchen sink drama that has garnered cult status for its realistic portrayal of youth subcultures of the late 60s. Filmmaker Barney Platts - Mills (Private Road) hired the cast of non professional teenage actors from the streets to go in front of his camera and play out his truthful script. The group of amateurs hired weren't completely randomly chosen. They had been the centre of his short documentary called "Everybody's an actor Shakespeare Said" , where he filmed the positive effects of bringing the kids off the street where they could get arrested for loitering and into a new world of expressing themselves in the local community playhouse (run by Joan Littlewood). This documentary was the inspiration for Bronco Bullfrog. Apart from these two projects the group of teenagers never appeared in another film, but watching this movie makes you gain interest in the unknowns and wonder whatever happened to them.
The teens of East London have little to no opportunity and so they just tarry along trying to find excitement in what little their working class community has to offer. Hanging around the cinema, cafe, bomb sites and joining in the local underground criminal ring led by the films namesake Bronco Bullfrog (Sam Shepherd), whose on the lam. The protagonist is 17 year old Del (Del Walker) a welder's apprentice. He and his 15 year old girlfriend Irene (Anne Gooding) live out a Romeo and Juliet romance. Because their parents are against their relationship they go behind their backs seeking freedom and adventure on Del's motorbike. They also get in trouble with the law after a train robbery, so Del decides to head out of town, taking Irene with him and the two reside wherever possible. Their adolescent attempts to escape authority is where the story picks up some speed but its slightly painful because you know the outcome will be dim for the twosome, as they are unprepared money-wise and otherwise to live as outlaws. The film ends abruptly as Del, Irene and Bronco are fleeing from the authorities and the couple wonder what to do next...and what they will end up doing is a mystery.. Bronco's not the main character of the film but he serves the purpose as the major badass and the one the other tearaway kids idolize; because he makes his living out of the goods he steals and lives without boundaries set up by interfering parents.
The film is very much of its day, as far as the main story line goes it reminded me of Ricky Gervasis's Cemetery Junction: A comedy/drama set in a picturesque small town in the 70s where a group of kids are just bored out there minds and wonder if they missed out on all the fun of the swinging 60s, they pick fights, cause scandal, until finally the main couple find the courage to leave the boring town behind them. While I think Cemetery Junction owes a lot to numerous Brit New Wave films, it didn't quite reach that level as greatness that I think it was trying to achieve. Bronco Bullfrog doesn't give any sense its trying at all, the cast just walk and talk like drained out, bored teenagers, there's absolutely no hint of pretension in their actions. The authenticity makes it so interesting to watch, especially as Del and Irene awkwardly "communicate" to each other, its so real; I sometimes felt as if I were invading on their lives while watching it, if that makes sense. Barney Platts did encourage the teenagers to improvise and contribute their real life experiences to the story, its defiantly a glass half empty film, Barney Platts was just trying to tell it how it is: Grim, you really feel for the poor sods.
If you are interested in the era's suedehead subculture and just love British new wave this is a must see for you! it has recently been restored by the BFI. For a film that had a budget of £18,000 it certainly is triumphant.
Anne Gooding (Irene) and Del Walker (Del)
So, what ever became of the cast? you ask:
"The director says Gooding is dead ("died on the dancefloor"), while another performer was killed by a car. But Walker is still around, and is now a grandfather on the Isle of Wight. And it turns out that Shepherd, who played the title role, currently works as a market porter in Spitalfields. I ring his phone and wake him up. It transpires that he was the main ringleader of that long-ago protest in Oxford Circus – and that story, too, had an epilogue. A week later, Princess Anne did come to see Bronco Bullfrog, and took her seat beside Shepherd in the palatial splendour of the Mile End ABC. The actor bent down to kiss her hand and was later dragged away by police. "They told me if I ever pulled a stunt like that again I was for the high jump." -The Guardian - uk
Hope you like Neil Young, Heres a couple of his awesome songs:
Live recording of Tell Me Why (After the Gold Rush - 1970) "I am lonely but you can free me, All in the way that you smile" - Sweetest lyric in the world.
Official music video for Harvest Moon (Harvest Moon - 1992)
Joni Mitchell's Just Like This Train from 1974's Court and Spark.
This is a poll that was conducted by FILM DAILY in 1928. (after looking it up, it was a daily publication and main source of movie and television news that ran from 1915 to 1970 in the U.S). Being a list freak, I was thrilled when i found this around the web, it was like a gift. Here critics voted for films released in the end of 1927 through to 1928 and its easy to recognize costume dramas were king that year. The critics top two choices aren't really well known, The Patriot is lost and Sorrell and Son is partially lost. I'm only really stunned to see Street Angelsurpass the romance with a thrilling edge Sunrise (1927), blimey. With my silly opionion aside Street Angel's director Frank Borzage and his romantic style of film making was put on a pedestal back in the day.
Sure after all this time we perceive movies differently, in some cases films that were once considered very good, are now starting to crack with age and vice versa. But here there is good news, over half of the critics top ten choices including Sunrise, The Crowd, The Circus, Last Command and Sadie Thompson have endured the test of time to become monumental classics. Steamboat Bill jr and The Patsy aretwo classic comedies that were snubbed by not being honored on the role. Buster's Steamboat received mixed reviews upon its release, a majority of people didn't find the disaster comedy a riot to watch, but some thought it was one of Keaton's best, so it must of been a very small number of critics that enjoyed it.
And this is a blurb from a 1928 variety review given for Vidor's The Patsy: "a dandy laugh picture." Marion Davies "does some really great comedy work. The imitations are great and reveal Miss Davies as a skillful mimic. Audience broke into applause on the Gish interpretation. Corking fun stuff." So my conclusion is that maybe critics didn't take the picture seriously enough to be honored, but who knows because the Patsy is still "corking fun stuff", but maybe too much for the sensible critics of the day.
(The Wind and The Cameraman with only 33 votes between them strikes me as a little crazy, important to mention that hundreds of critics participated here). Huge disappointment that The Patriot, the#1 pick isn't around anymore. Ernst Lubitisch produced and directed, and it starred Emil Jannings with Florence Vidor and Lewis Stone. We can't watch the film but we have the trailer to make us wonder what might have been, it certainly looks like a spectacle. Not the greatest trailer though, it just points out that this is the greatest film bla bla and bits and pieces of footage that don't say much, but still it might of been something wonderful. This was a semi-biographical period film about Czar Paul I. It garnered critical success everywhere and was nominated for five academy awards including best picture (the last silent picture to do so)and it won for best writing.
IMDB votes, where everyones a critic:
Its synonymous the Passion of Joan of Arc seems to be at the top of everyones lists these days.
1928's highest grossing picture "The Singing Fool"
Al Jolson's follow up to The Jazz Singer
oh yes, I am looking forward to making my top 10 favourite 1928 movies, you better believe it. :) Just as soon as I've watched the attainable movies of the year, and since uni has begun again i'll be working at an even slower pace round here. But I would much rather be doing this! (1928 films I have blogged about so far).
This is a pre code film starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent. Its not nearly as seedy as the title sounds, its the classic story of a city girl who makes good in the country. Torch singer Joan Gordon (Barbara Stanwyck) runs away from her gangster boyfriend (Lyle Talbot) and becomes a mail order bride. Yes it sounds preposterous. Joan's maid had planned to be the mail order bride, eager to land a hubby she pretends to be Joan by sending in a photo of her. Joan ends up by paying her maid; Emily $100 to replace her. Emily expresses her gratitude and says with the money she'll be able to find a husband in town and she'll even get the chance to: try the goods, before she buys it, she giggles and puts the money in her striking striped stockings. It's with wonderful "shocking" lines like this that made Pre Codes such a brief time in cinema history. If you liked F.W Murnau's City Girl (1930) and The Wind (1928) with Lillian Gish, you will like this. The Purchase Price has a similar story line to the two films mentioned but with elements of comedy and 30s gangster, quite unusual, but as a whole the film manages to work, only because of the strong performances by the leads. George Brent plays Jim, a down on his luck farmer, I would describe Jim as a sensitive buffoon. He picks up Joan at the train stop and admittedly is surprised that the woman in the picture is really the mail order bride. They immediately get married, but their relationship is rocky, that is right until the very end. Joan settles into the labouring duties that come with being a farmers wife quite well, and falls for Jim. However, since their wedding night Jim was not able to shake off Joan's rejection of him, he is stubborn and quickly regrets having her live with him. Its refreshing to see George Brent play a personality, usually I see him in films as just George Brent = straight, well mannered, classy guy, he even played a murderer once, but he still had the same polished manner. William A. Wellman directed this snappy little drama/comedy, snappy because everything shapes up rather quickly for instance: wham! one minute Joan flees from her gangster boyfriend to Montreal and next minute she's in North Dakota and shacked up with a total stranger. It moves a little to quickly, so the story seems a little ridiculous. Sure its flawed, it has an abrupt ending and the supporting players are one dimensional but its still enjoyable. So watch this film as the city girl discovers self worth and promise in North Dakota, definitely worth a look, its a good example of pre code style and is good entertainment.
The first time Barbara sang on screen, not to shabby.
"Bob and Jane got along like old buddies… She would rave about his astounding command of the English language - even as he would tell her she was the most inarticulate girl he knew. He would tease her about her God-fearing ways, but he understood she was no Loretta Young, wallowing in piety. He loved to tell the one about the pestering report who couldn’t believe a girl with her ‘image’ read the Bible and went to church each Sunday. ‘Hey buddy,’ she told him, ‘Christians have big breasts, too.’She was good-natured, generous, strong-minded when she had to be, a stand-up guy. Mitchum nickname her ‘Hard John.’ They became fast friends"
