Via Richard Jeffrey Newman I found this great video that mocks just about every convention that has been used in dramatic modern movies:
Specific outline of your major character flaws!
Over reaction!
Having not seen many of the most recent film releases, I can at least attest to the fact this sounds like most of the film trailers I’ve seen recently. *wink*
I wonder why my friends at LAMB have to say to this?
Tags: film history, Films
Cliff talks about Handling the Subject of Racism as a Classic Film Blogger — and there’s lots of interesting discussion in the comments too, including mention of a post about the film I reviewed, The Toy Wife.
I agree that too many vintage films are underappreciated — if they’re seen at all. Which is partly why I didn’t mention my queasiness about several scenes with slaves in The Toy Wife. But that wasn’t the only reason…
Along with struggling with how to balance presenting the issues of racism in films of the past, of not wanting to let the known facts of past ruin a film for potential viewers, I struggle with being a white woman discussing it. It’s one thing for me to point out gender issues (I am one, and can honestly react as one), but when it comes to racism I flounder.
It’s not simply a matter of white guilt, or of defensiveness, or even of committing a sin of omission that a person of color can call me out on; it’s about how to honestly portray my horror without co-opting the issue, of committing some sin of insensitivity… If that makes sense. (I bet that does make sense to at least a few other white folks though.)
Eartha Kitt
But, like all the discussion points at Cliff’s post, we shouldn’t just ignore mentioning the subject any more than others should let being told about racist depictions in films sway themselves from watching old films; it’s avoiding the past.
Because of that, I don’t think we should sanitize the racism from vintage films (and animated works), editing out the scenes with mammy’s like cigarettes from Bogart’s hand. Racism is shameful, but like our past obsession with smoking, we can’t deny it simply by giving it the old whitewash — for whatever reason. We have to remember our past honestly, even if it’s painful.
But these are my views… My questions for you, dear readers, are:
* How does racism in film affect your viewing? Do you stop watching &/or avoid films because it’s so uncomfortable? Do you just write it off as “unfortunately, that the way things were…”?
* Do you find the racism so uncomfortable in vintage movies that you wish it was edited out of the film — or that there were edited versions available?
* If you review or blog about movies, do you mention the racism? Why or why not? And if you do, how do you do it?
Tags: film history, Films, history, racism, reviews, vintage
Thrift Is Glamorous
Now there is a lot to be said for the communal experience of watching a movie at the theatre or cinema; it’s not just the big screen (which, with some folks’ home entertainment systems, it’s nearly the same!), but the shared experience of “Ooohs” and “Ahhs” — and, my favorite, when a guy gets kicked in the family jewels and all the men collectively groan and bring their legs together. lol But if saving money is what you’re after, nothing beats staying home to watch a film.
Since I watch more vintage and classic films than the latest releases, I’m not so aware of the prices at my local movie theatres, but Alicia Young fills us in, stating a $6.75 ticket price (for a matinee?!) and the following incidentals:
Movie theaters are ripping us off with their outrageous soda and bagged popcorn prices. For example, $4.25 for a large soda (32oz), $5.25 for a large popcorn that is pre-popped and comes in a bag then warms up under the heat lamps. ( I know how this works because I worked at a movie theater for a year.)
Being a vintage film fans means you can save a whole lotta money. There’s watching TCM and DVD rentals (including at your public library) — and even buying your own DVD is worth the price when you add up multiple tickets, multiple viewings, etc.
So what are you going to do with all the money you save, glamour girl? …Maybe spend it on some incredible vintage loungewear? I know I do! *wink*
Tags: Films, thrift, vintage glamour
I stayed up late Tuesday night, celebrating Luise Rainer’s 100th birthday with TCM. This was my introduction to Rainer — and even though the three films I watched are neither her best known films nor those she won her two (back-to-back) Oscars for, I was smitten.
Luise Rainer
The first movie I watched was The Emperor’s Candlesticks (1937), which, frankly, is often dismissed as more eye-candy than substantive film. It’s easy to do, what with such opulent settings for two wealthy spies each on opposite ends of political intrigues who manage to fall for each other. But if you listen as well as watch, there’s a sophistication and elegance to the acting too. Especially the banter between Rainer and William Powell.
William Powell & Luise Rainer in Emperor's Candlesticks
Enjoy the lush settings, but don’t forget to focus on the faces and the dialog — if you do pay attention, it’s rather like the delight of employing the secret compartments in the antique candlesticks.
Vintage Magazine Article On The Emperor's Candlesticks
It’s not my favorite of the three Rainer films I watched, but it was good enough for me to want to watch another…
Tags: Films, reviews, vintage, vintage glamour
With all the bustle of holidays, my film friends and I have had a terrible time getting together for our usual movie watching. I myself have even had little time for solo sofa loafing and watching films; hence the lack of film posts recently. But hubby and I did manage to watch TCM’s A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics.
The special discussed Hollywood’s “biggest screen spectaculars,” from the genre’s beginnings to how the genre fell out of favor in the ’70s and ’80s — and how epics were recently reborn with films like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gladiator, Braveheart, etc. What I really learned was how few of the classic film epics I really have seen.
Of all the films covered, I’ve only seen Gone with the Wind, The Ten Commandments, and Samson & Delilah. Hubby fared far worse, having only seen exactly zero of the films mentioned, despite a college course on classic film history. (Maybe that’s because in ‘93, epics were still out of vogue?) In any case, I decided my movie watching gal pals and I would have to select a few epics and schedule them for our Classic Schmassic film nights.
On my list are The Birth of a Nation, Doctor Zhivago, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and On the Waterfront (which has been on my list because of Brando in Street Car). But my first choice may just be Cleopatra.
Cleopatra: The Downfall Of Epic Films
Not just because it’s an epic, but because, like Let’s Make Love, I’ve preconceived notions — and wish to protect Marilyn. Simply put, I’ve avoided this last of the epic films because of the epic film history behind it: Cleopatra was sucking the studio dry, so studio execs (fearful that Elizabeth Taylor would walk off set, sending the film and studio further into the sinkhole) used Marilyn Monroe as the whipping girl for film and film star extravagance. Maybe now it’s time to finally watch Cleopatra and judge it as a film.
But I’ll have to see how the other girls in my group feel.
TCM’s own page for the documentary is sans input and your’s truly feels too sheepish to write a synopsis (let alone a review) of documentary of classic films — especially as she’s seen so few of the films under discussion. But Mike Hale at The New York Times has posted what I think is a good review of The Gigantic World of Epics.
I could be biased though, because Hale starts his article off naming Turner Classic Movies as his favorite television channel and ends his article with what I call the proper sentiments regarding acknowledging TCM’s value:
They probably would have also been amused at the notion that within half a century, work like theirs would need preserving — that a television channel would be devoted to it, like an around-the-clock museum. We should all take a moment to look up from our cellphone screens and give thanks.
I do thank TCM. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to try before I buy movies, nor would I know about a majority of films to put on my ‘to watch’ lists. Including epics.
Tags: classic film, film history, Films
I’m giving High-Fives this Friday to:
1. Dealers Are Your Friends (Or, Why You Should Shop At The Antique Shops): Good reminders of all that sellers of fine vintage fashions go through and why you should be willing to pay their prices.
2. Dreaming of holiday dresses from 1957 with Couture Allure.
3. Authentic Audrey Hepburn fashions up for action at Kerry Taylor Auctions (December 8th).
4. B. Vikki Vintage reminds us why fools fall in love.
5. Wallflower Vintage shows us how vintage keeps creepin’ up on the small screen — this time it’s Ms. Emma Pillsbury on Glee.
Tags: collectibles, Films, Shopping, vintage, vintage fashion, vintage glamour
Some gift ideas for fans of vintage fashion and films from Zazzle:
Tags: Fashion, Films, gifts, Shopping, vintage style
I had spotted this fashion shopping spread in that Elle’s Women In Hollywood Issue, and the minute I saw it I was confused.
“Break out the jelly platforms, biker shorts, neon bouclé and juicy bangles for a totally rad ensemble,” it says — for Valley Girl?! That’s not the way I remembered the fashions in the film. So, jumping the que in our NetFlix account, I got Valley Girl (1983) to refresh my memory.
Valley Girl stars Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman in the ultimate 80’s Romeo and Juliet story — with a much better ending, as no one dies. *wink* It has sat in my memory all these years as a great film in terms of capturing and expressing the look and feel of the times presented — not just the decade, but those teen years — projecting it all onto a screen then, and preserving it for us now. (I’m not the only one who feels this way either.)
To be honest, Kleph has an excellent review of the film; I found it while Googling for photos and insist that you read it because I probably couldn’t say it better or add anything, really. Plus, this post is about other things about the film: the fashions in the film. So let’s get to it.
Like I said, I could have been wrong recalling the fashions in the film, so I watched it again to be sure… But I wasn’t wrong. Valley Girl is not full of jelly & neon.
Valley Girls Mall Shopping
This was a period of bright colors, but not neon; think hot pink, turquoise, and yellow, not day-glo colors. The 80’s also had a strong punk influence — black, red, and more black.
Teen House Party In Valley Girl
Overall, bright solids, stripes and blocks of color were predominant. Collars were ‘up’. Patterns and stripes were bold, clear & crisp, not the colorful cluttered-on-black zippered things Elle shows.
Julie and Randy in the Mall Food Court
And Julie also wore quite a bit of the that romantic lacy look that I can best describe as Gunne Sax — not just in her prom dress (or the prom dresses of others), but lacy tops with long sleeves with plenty of buttons.
Lace Blouse In Valley Girl
Julie doesn’t just wear these clothes for the cinematic conveyance of her difference, her ties to her hippie parents, her romantic side, or her nervousness dressing for a party (when her friend has to help her button those buttons on her sleeves); these fashions were strong in the 80’s. I owned and wore several of these sorts of blouses — and my prom dresses were all Gunne Sax.
Posing For Prom Pictures In Valley Girl
I didn’t live in Southern California, but my friends and I dressed a lot like this (the ‘trickle to the heartland’ theory of fashion); one of the reasons that this movie spoke to us all then — and is fondly remembered now.
That Elle might get the fashions wrong is sad… It’s not just that I want the staff to be old enough to remember Valley Girl (though that would be nice!), fashion was a huge part of the film. As Kleph wrote:
That’s partly because Coolidge understood the distinction was a fallacy to begin with. The valley kids define themselves through what they buy while the Hollywood kids do it by what they don’t - but they still show their allegiances via what they wear. And it’s important that, in Valley Girl, when Julie and Randy first see each other - first become interested in each other - it’s at the beach when they are not in the usual garb of their tribes. It’s also no accident the film starts inside a mall but ends outside it.
Valley Girl is an iconic film which preserves fashions of the time as much as it uses them for a point, yet in pushing the return of such retro 80s fashions, Elle gets it all wrong. For the fashion mag to get the fashions so wrong isn’t ironic; it’s a tragedy.
Josie Cotton Performing In Valley Girl
Tags: Films, magazines, retro, reviews, vintage fashion
I’ve been meaning to talk about A Street Car Named Desire (1951) for quite some time… I’ve put it off because it’s a heady film, connected to some pretty personal things for me and I’ve never been quite sure how to separate those things from a ‘film review.’ Or end up with a post too long for anyone to bother to read. *wink* But since this week’s Monday Movie Meme is about movies that have changed your life or your behaviors/beliefs, I thought now’s the time to try…
Though I am speaking personally, about changes, and not giving a real review of the movie, I will clarify and say that I’m speaking of Elia Kazan’s film version, starring, among others, Vivien Leigh (as Blanche DuBois), Marlon Brando (Stanley Kowalski), Kim Hunter (Stella Kowalski, Stanley’s wife and Blanche’s sister), and Karl Malden (Harold ‘Mitch’ Mitchell, a suitor of Blanche’s). It’s the only version I’ve seen, and the only one I wish to — because it is perfection.
Also, if you have not seen the film and do not wish to have my story color your viewing of it, please, stop reading now!
There are three points that must be made and understood before I can tell you about the effects of the film. One is that I’m a survivor of abusive relationships, including date rape and physical violence; the second is that my husband is, among other things, a kind, sensitive, and intelligent man who became my husband after I survived such horrible things; and the third, as I’ve mentioned, hubby was a theatre major.
These things matter; they are all tangled-up in this mess.
It was only a few years into our being married. I had previously seen the film, when I spotted it on TCM’s lineup and asked hubby to watch it with me. He resisted, for, as it turns out, he had some sort of college class discussion on the play and felt he’d floundered through it — he’d felt there was ambiguity between reality & fantasy in this film, and wasn’t able to defend his position on such plays of the ‘modern theatre genre’ which seem to force audiences to conjure questions and evolve, rather than watch story and its characters evolve.
This discomfort of his would surprise me greatly for I found nothing ambiguous in the film. And when our discussion fell to the subject of hubby using the rape scene as an example of fantasy, of not having occurred but a figment or excuse of Blanche’s, I was stupefied.
Street Car Names Desire
Naturally, as a survivor of acquaintance rape, I would find no ambiguity in that scene — nor anything but pain in those which followed, when Blanche is not believed.
Finding my husband questioning even a fictional film victim was difficult. Yet defending or debating my stance that I was ‘right’ didn’t feel right when hubby seemed so vulnerable to those past fears and failings of his own… Should I remain silent, out of deference to his feelings, or give voice to my own feelings and needs?
I opted to remain silent and watch the film, hoping that he would see something in this film version which would remove any doubt that Blanche’s rape was film-reel real.
But it didn’t.
One one hand, my silence had worked; post viewing, hubby felt comfortable enough to assert his beliefs that Blanche had imagined, if not fantasized, the rape and used its cry in an attempt to manipulate her sister.
On the other hand, silence didn’t work for me; it rarely does for victims.
I felt the heat of anger rise and knew I’d need to confront the issue for myself. But I didn’t want to be confrontational with my husband. Plus, didn’t he, the theatre major know more than I? I’m a simple movie lover — who admittedly watches a lot of film purely for the fashions and vintage style, yet; what do I know? …Maybe I’ve got Street Car all wrong?
In the end, I was brave. I forced myself to voice my opinions, thus not cowering as the silenced victim nor playing the ‘intimidated ‘girl’ to his ‘educated man.’ But I also didn’t need to be right. For this is a movie; named as much, in my opinion for it’s ability to move emotions and project passions as for the moving images projected on the screen. And that means no two viewers will — or even need to — be moved the same way.
A Street Car Named Desire remains one of my favorite films. I don’t think he particularly shares my sentiments; but our relationship has more than survived — it thrives because we can share our feelings, our individual vulnerabilities, even when we disagree.
Tags: Films, Monday Movie Meme
I’ve been sick; that explains both the little blogging this week and the number of magazine posts coming up *wink*
It also explains the absence of any discussion of films.
You’d think, being sick & sofa-bound, that I’d have seen quite a few of them; but the truth is, whatever once I began watching, I fell asleep during. I cannot express how confusing it is to fall asleep watching one movie on TCM and waking up with another on! My addled cough syrup infused brain then desperately tries to find the connections between the two — or more? movies… But without Robert Osborne there to guide me, I struggle until I pass-out again — waking to do it all again.
Bunny Lake Is Missing Film Poster
The only film I did manage to see all the way through was Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965). And it scared the crap cough syrup out of me.
I’m no fan of horror films; but I do love a good thriller that scares me to my bones and makes me want my mommy. And I not did Bunny Lake do that, but I hadn’t guessed the plot.
It may not be fair, given my problems with lucidity, to declare Otto Preminger a genius. But I’m going to anyway. At least for now. I’m going to watch it again when I’m more ‘normal’ just to be sure… Even though I’ll now know the plot, I’ll see if it still holds up.
Tags: Films
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