The idea of life flashing before one's eyes is almost a cliché, but what if everyone else could see that montage after someone is gone? Moreover, what if one's entire life was stored on a microchip ready to be edited and presented in all its warty glory? Or shame, as the case may be. Robin … Continue reading This Is Your Life
Let Us Entertain You
We've touched before on the way Hollywood threw its collective self into the war effort (and we probably will again). Whether it was enlisting, going on bond tours, doing Red Cross work, volunteering at a canteen, doing special radio shows--Hollywood was busy. Of course, the stars also did camp shows and tours of hospitals. Only … Continue reading Let Us Entertain You
Movies Eleven, 2018
When Gill tweeted a bunch of us yesterday about Cinema Shame's 2018 Shame List, I thought the idea was intriguing. Basically, participants would make time to watch films they're ashamed to say they've never seen. I don't know if I'm into the "shame" idea so much, though--I look at this more as an opportunity, and … Continue reading Movies Eleven, 2018
Discovering Eve Arden
Here we go... You all know character actors rarely get famous. Most of the time they show up, and our response is something like, "Oh, it's that person. What's their name again?" That's to be expected; I've heard it said that the sign of a good character actor is when audiences don't know who they … Continue reading Discovering Eve Arden
Origins: Luke’s Journey From Farm Boy to Last Jedi
All righty, here's that new surprise series I told you about. My husband and I cooked it up last weekend, but it was mostly his idea (Thanks, honey!). Origins will feature little blips about current films, but will mainly focus on their earlier iterations or else films that are similar to them. Or, it might … Continue reading Origins: Luke’s Journey From Farm Boy to Last Jedi
Page To Screen (Not Really): The Princess Bride
There's no way I, as a good Gen-Xer, was going to let 2017 go by without a nod to one of the movies of my generation: The Princess Bride. It's the film's thirtieth anniversary, no less. Let this opportunity pass? Inconceivable! This is the movie we learned inside and out, and we quoted it to each other. All the … Continue reading Page To Screen (Not Really): The Princess Bride
Extra Baggage
For the rest of his career, David O. Selznik tried and failed to recapture the tremendous success he enjoyed with Gone With the Wind, but even he took a breather and made smaller movies now and then. Not many, but he made them, and probably the most winsomely strange of the bunch was 1945's I'll Be Seeing … Continue reading Extra Baggage
Garbo At M-G-M
Once Greta Garbo came to America, the only studio she ever worked at was M-G-M. She was never loaned out, she never went freelance, and she didn't divide her time between the movies and the stage like many other actors of that era. M-G-M was Garbo's studio, and she knew how to use what it … Continue reading Garbo At M-G-M
Ninotchka’s Guide To Paris
Garbo was definitely not known for being a comedienne. Oh, no. This screen queen was in deadly earnest. Dramatic. Serious. Always, dahling. As time went on, though, M-G-M tried revamping Garbo's image, which is why it took thirteen years for her to make her first comedy, and that was the 1939 film, Ninotchka. Three Russians, Iranoff, … Continue reading Ninotchka’s Guide To Paris
Ballet Garbo
Garbo is in the house! One of the wacky things about the studio system was that an actor or actress could be conscripted into certain roles in films, whether they liked it or not. Depending on the studio or on their status as a star, refusing a role could mean hurting one's career or risking … Continue reading Ballet Garbo
Thicker Than Water
Monday was the seventy-fifth anniversary of the sinking of the U.S.S. Juneau, and among its dead were the five Sullivan brothers. The news horrified the American public, and caused the United States to officially ban immediate family members from serving in the same units in the Armed Forces, known as the Sole Survivor Act. The loss became … Continue reading Thicker Than Water
NOW: Dear Friend 2.0
We've seen the "Then," and now for the "Now"... By far, one of my favorite current-day screenwriters is the late Nora Ephron. She came by writing naturally, seeing as her parents both authored plays, books, screenplays, and the like. Before her death in 2012, she crafted films with deft and memorable dialogue, often collaborating with … Continue reading NOW: Dear Friend 2.0
THEN: Dear Friend…
Get ready for the "Then" in the Then and Now Blogathon! Who's up for a little shopping? In 1937, the play, Illatszertár, or Parfumerie premiered at the Pest Theatre in Budapest. Written by Miklós László, the play followed the story of a cosmetics shop in Budapest, and in particular two of the clerks, Amalia Balash and George Horvath. The … Continue reading THEN: Dear Friend…
Guess Who’s Coming To Connecticut
It's well-known that food was a very real concern during the Second World War. There were many, many desperate and starving people all over the world. In Holland, for instance, people were chewing on tulip bulbs and making bread out of peas. England was better off, but since they depended so heavily on imports, things … Continue reading Guess Who’s Coming To Connecticut
Observe the Ramen
Who doesn't like ramen? The instant kind is the food of college students and those on budgets. And everyone else, because we just can't leave ramen behind. There are a million ways to make it and dress it up, not to mention there are tons of different brands and restaurants out there. To the Japanese, … Continue reading Observe the Ramen
House Horrible
It might sound funny since I've already reviewed House of Dracula and The Fall of the House of Usher (see a pattern forming here?), but I'm not big on horror movies. I can handle Vincent Price and the classic chillers, but slashers and jump-scare fests just aren't my thing. Horror combined with mystery is a different matter … Continue reading House Horrible
Jane and Edward
Presenting Miss Joan! Joan Fontaine wasn't a lady to be pigeonholed. She could be sweet, she could be romantic, and she could be steely. In the case of 1944's Jane Eyre, she was a mixture of all of these qualities and more, sharing scenes with Orson Welles, one of the most formidable figures in entertainment history. … Continue reading Jane and Edward
Taking Up Room 