Happy Birthday, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Today, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. would have been 100 years old!
In honor of his birthday, I suggest you stop by Casey's blog,
Noir Girl. She's DFJ's biggest fan :)

Happy Birthday Deanna Durbin!

Happy Birthday, Deanna Durbin!

Please take a second to read two great birthday tributes to Deanna Durbin --

Happy Birthday Deanna Durbin at Classic Movies

Happy 88th Birthday to the great, wonderful, beyond amazing, Deanna Durbin! at Classic Forever

One night at the movies long ago...

A few days ago, Kid in the front row sent out an email asking some film bloggers, myself included, to post to their blogs on December 3rd a story about a memorable trip to the movies. I immediately replied that I'd love to participate. I then spent the next few days racking my brain, but I couldn't come up with a darn thing.

The truth is, I don't go to the movies much now and I never really did as a kid either. I know that coming from someone whose life revolves around movies this must seem pretty shocking, but it's true.

I saw The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast on the big screen when they first came out, but I was too young to remember. In high school I went through a new movie phase (yes, you heard that correctly-- Kate, the girl who deplores new movies actually enjoyed them a few years ago!) and went to the theater with friends quite a few times. I distinctly remember seeing Gothika and Love, Actually, for some reason. I went through an intense but short-lived Jude Law obsession in 2003 (or was it 2004? I don't remember.) and subsequently I saw Cold Mountain four times, Alfie twice (I know! The remake!) and I Heart Huckabees once. In 2003 my first date was a trip to the movies. Unfortunately we went to see the newest Terminator movie. It was awful. The date and the movie.

After that little flirtation with new movies had ended, I got cozy with classic movies again, this time for good. Of course, classic movies are a little hard to come by on the big screen in my neck of the woods, so I've only been to the movies sporadically since 2004.

In 2007 I drove two hours to Maryland to see a Barbara Stanwyck double feature for her centennial celebration at the AFI Silver Theater. For my birthday last year I drove one hour to see Monsieur Verdoux in Pennsylvania. And in August I took a train into New York to see two John Mills movies at the Film Forum, but that's pretty much it.

I've always been underwhelmed with the theater-going experience, but maybe that's just because I don't usually go with anyone who is as excited about the films as I am. Or maybe it's because I am more self conscious about crying or laughing aloud than I am in my own home, watching the films on television. It could also be that the classic movies don't attract a large enough audience, and I'm constantly aware of my surroundings-- that the old guy two rows in front of me is snoozing (and, unfortunately, snoring) through Gary Cooper's tour de force performance in Meet John Doe.

Until I was faced with the prospect of writing about a memorable trip to the movies, I never realized how lacking big screen experiences have been in my life. The few trips to the movies I can vividly remember weren't all that great; and the ones that should have been life-changing as a kid I can't even remember.

This month, me and my brother are going into New York to see If You Could Only Cook and You Can't Take it With You at the Film Forum, then a few days later my whole family is going in to see Ball of Fire and The Mad Miss Manton. I hope that if one day in the future I'm asked to write about a memorable film experience, I'll be able to cite my trips to The Film Forum in December 2009.... if not, I think I just give up and I'll DVD it from here on in...

ps. Unlike my post, Kid's was incredibly entertaining and well written and I highly suggest you go read it, here.

Boris Karloff

Like Frank Sinatra & Elvis, The Beatles & The Monkees, and Chaplin & Keaton, I think everyone has a favorite when it comes to Bela Lugosi & Boris Karloff. You can like them both, but usually just one has a really special place in your heart. I love both of their movies to no end, but if the Boris Karloff DVD collection and the Bela Lugosi DVD collection were both dangling off the edge of a cliff, I know which one I would rescue. Sorry Bela*.

While I love almost all horror movies from the 1930's and 1940's (Val Lewton movies especially) Boris Karloff's performances always stand out as my favorites. A dedicated thespian, Karloff acted for nearly 20 years before being cast as the monster in Frankenstein in 1931. I think that his association with monster movies belittles what a great actor he was (not that great acting didn't exist in monster movies, but you know what I mean.) He brings a softness and depth to even the most ruthless, one dimensional roles. A mummy played by anyone else would be a body wrapped in linen, but Karloff makes it a character.

My favorite Karloff performance is in The Body Snatcher. Karloff plays John Gray, a grave robber who supplies stolen corpses to a slimy doctor, played by Henry Daniell. It's also my favorite scary movie, one that gives me chills (and often nightmares!) every time I watch it.



In real life, Boris Karloff was nothing like the villains and monsters he played onscreen. From what I've read, he seems to have been the sweetest man in Hollywood -- donating his time to cheer up disabled children every Christmas in a Baltimore hospital and recording numerous children's records over the years. Probably his most famous effort for children was his narration of The Grinch in 1966. In a way, The Grinch is almost like a symbol of Karloff, a combination of the man and the character. The monster with a heart of gold.

*Luckily Bela Lugosi & Boris Karloff did star in quite a few films together, so there would be some overlap in my Karloff DVD collection :)

Hot Enough for June (1964)

As you might recall, a little over a month ago I received a gigantic order of Dirk Bogarde DVDs. Before they actually arrived in the mail, I was planning on having a Dirk Bogarde spree and watching them all at once. But when they came I chickened out. I realized that there are only so many DB movies available, and I really should ration them.

The one that I kept eyeing, putting in my dvd player and taking back out again-- trying to put off until the last minute because it looked SO good that I wanted to save it as long as I could-- was Hot Enough for June.

Hot Enough for June is a James Bond spoof from 1964. It begins with an agent turning in the shoes, passport and belongings of another agent who was killed in the line of duty. Right away we find out that the agent was James Bond.



Instead of recruiting a professional spy to take 007's place, the British government decides to pluck someone from the ranks of the unemployed. Enter unemployed (and unpublished) writer Nicholas Whistler, played by Dirk Bogarde.

Whistler enjoys the life of the unemployed writer, and does everything he can NOT to get the job offered to him at the unemployment office. He shows up for his appointment late, puts his feet up on the desk of his potential employer, jokes about getting out of army service and confesses that he had no real formal education. Despite all of his efforts, Whistler is hired. As far as he knows, he's some kind of executive at a glass manufacturing company. Little does he know that he's about to go on a top-secret Government assignment behind the iron curtain (or "the thing" as he hilariously refers to it in the film.)

While Hot Enough for June is a spoof of a James Bond film-- with the espionage, bikini-clad love interest and cold war theme, it also had elements of Hitchcock films like North by Northwest, with the innocent bloke getting mixed up in a huge conspiracy.

Typically, spoofs can be either really good or really, really bad. If the laughs are played up too much, it stops being a spoof and just becomes farcical nonsense. But Hot Enough for June struck the perfect balance between a real plot, with real suspense and real intrigue - and the comedic flourishes that made it such a fun film.

Dirk Bogarde was perfect playing Nicholas Whistler -- he was at once clever in getting himself out of all the sticky spy situations and yet rather bumbling and confused about what was going on around him. A few of the hilarious moments come when he is trying to find out who his contact is in Prague. His code phrase is "Hot enough for June", to which his contact should answer "but you should have been here last September." He approaches a few people before finally finding the right man, and his attempts at finding a way to work that phrase into the conversation are laugh-out-loud funny.

The plot also makes use of the suspense-film cliche where a man on the run has to keep changing his clothes to stay a step ahead of the police. Stealing a jacket, or changing hats with someone in a bar so that his appearance won't match the description on the Wanted signs. Dirk Bogarde goes through seven different outfits during his time on the lamb, a few of which are absolutely hilarious to see.

The supporting cast was no less fantastic-- Robert Morley plays the employer, a slightly inept, amusing, and easily amused man who connives DB into accepting the job. Sylvia Koscina is a really charming actress, and I'm sure makes the film a delight for male fans to watch. (Sorry you guys but 99% of my screen shots were of DB. I did include three of Sylvia for you, though!)

After finishing the film last night at 5am (!!) I put it on again to listen to as I dozed off to sleep. When I woke up in the morning, I started it over again and laid in bed watching the whole film before eating my breakfast. I could easily watch it again tonight, but I won't... I'm going to give the Dirk Bogarde films a rest for a few days.

Rationing time again.

In the end, I'm glad that I waited to watch the film. I had very high hopes for it, and it thouroughly exceeded all expectations -- it's definitely my #2 favorite DB film (The #1 spot will, I'm sure, always belong to The Mind Benders)

I took over 30 screen shots from the film.
You can view them in my flickr set here.


ps. I re-did the sidebar again-- what do you think?

Private Lives (1931) - Movie Chain Review #2

Wendy from Movie Viewing Girl has started a movie review chain-- First she kicked things off by reviewing The Women, and I chose Norma Shearer as my link to the next review. Here are the rules if you'd like to participate!

1. Call dibs on doing the next review in the comments. First one to speak up gets it, others will have to wait to join up to the next link in the chain! (Chains usually only link one at a time, after all. It's not a movie review tree.)

2. Write your own review of another movie (it should be one not yet used in the chain) and post it on your blog. Make sure the link to the previous review is made clear and that you link back to the original post where the chain began (so we can keep track of how the chain grows). The link can be an actor or actress, director, or something more creative (like a theme).

3. Include the rules of how to continue the chain, and let someone else continue it!

 
Noel Coward's classic play has been filmed and produced countless times, but I think that the story found it's perfect cast in the 1931 MGM version. Private Lives stars Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery as an ex-husband and wife who bump into each other when each is on a honeymoon with a new spouse. (The premise alone is fantastic!) Despite their incessant bickering and arguing, they realize that the flame is still burning wild and decide to hightail it out of their honeymoon hotel to renew the love they long thought had died.

Once they are away together, the script provides a constant barrage of one-liners, insults and violence thrown together with some sticky gooey lovey dovey scenes. It's a marvelous combination, especially when the two people saying the lines and acting gooey are Robert Montgomery and Norma Shearer. Their skill with the witty repertoire makes what could feel like a filmed stage play seem fresh, alive and vigorous. And their characters' love-hate relationship is so volatile and hilarious that you wish you could see their entire married life on film, instead of this tiny 84 minute segment.

The new spouses are played by Una Merkel and Reginald Denny- and when the four of them meet up the tension and hilarity is quadrupled! I think Reginald Denny and Una Merkel are both sorely underrated - fantastic character actors who had the good looks to be stars. All in all I think this is a 100% perfect movie, and definitely holds a place in my top 20 films of all time.

Private Lives is available to purchase here and to view here.