Love Letters to Old Hollywood

I’ve seen Vincente Minnelli’s classic multiple times, so I was surprised to notice during one viewing that there was a lot of pairing being done. It sounds a little weird, I know. Maybe it’s just coincidental and I’m making too big a deal out of it, but it sparked my interest and to be honest, it lets me type up a somewhat lazy post. Anyway, read my list below and decide for yourself.   1.       Milo buys two of Jerry’s paintings.   2.       Jerry and Lisa each lead two lives: one with each other, and one with other people. 3.       Adam, Jerry, and Henri are introduced twice in the beginning—the first time is a fake-out, while the second time isn’t. 4.       Jerry has two women in his life: Milo and Lisa. 5.       Lisa has two men in her life: Henri and Jerry. 6...

Today is the 90th birthday of one of my favorite actresses, the lovely Ms. Doris Day. (It’s really her 92nd, but she says 90th, so just go with it.) From the first moment I saw Doris, I knew she was great. No, make that incredible. I’m not going to recount her life story, review her films, or anything like that. Instead, I’d like to tell you all what Doris means to me. Katharine Hepburn may be my number one, but sometimes, Doris gives her a run for her money. (Yep, you read that right.) I don’t remember my first Doris Day film. Or the first time I heard that beautiful voice of hers. I knew who she was—if you said her name five years ago, before I became a die-hard classic film fan, I could’ve told you who she was. At that point, she was a singer from a long time ago who for some reason was considered supremely outdated.  But then I slowly started to delve into her work. Piece by piece, I was learning more and more. Suddenly, I knew a whole lot about Doris, and my ...

SPELLBOUND is one of Hitchcock’s underdogs. It deserves another look, so just dismiss anything you read about it being silly in its take on psychoanalysis. As Hitch would say, “It’s only a moo-vie.” It’s also a very enjoyable film, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck as one of the most beautiful couples on celluloid.

  Earlier this week, the Oscars aired and being the cinephile I am, I dutifully watched it as I do every year. This year’s ceremony did something that I absolutely loved—they honored the 75 th anniversary of THE WIZARD OF OZ . As I’ve stated before, OZ is my absolute favorite film. No film could ever be as near and dear to my heart as this one is. Because of that, I definitely cried when the wonderful singer Pink sang “Over the Rainbow” as scenes from the movie played in the background. Call me a baby, but I felt so thrilled that Judy and Co. were being remembered like that. And having Judy’s children there just made it even more special.   Despite all that, I did have a small problem with the Academy’s decision to honor OZ . Don’t think I’m ungrateful, but why didn’t they mention all the other great films that have a 75 th anniversary this year? You all know what I’m talking about: Hollywood’s greatest year, 1939, the year that produced classic after cl...

Salut, mes amis! Today I thought I’d start a new series on here called “Forgotten Classic: insert film name here.” The name’s kind of self-explanatory—this series will be dedicated to movies that I think have been unfairly forgotten. Sometimes I’ll also pick something that I think has gotten unjust criticism, and therefore it’s been passed over by people. Hopefully these posts will help bring much-needed attention to some serious classics that aren’t nearly as well-known as they should be. And please, comment comment comment! It's getting to be a one-sided conversation, and that's just no fun. For my first installment, I want to talk about VIVACIOUS LADY (1938), a romantic comedy directed by George Stevens, starring Ginger Rogers, Jimmy Stewart, Charles Coburn, Beulah Bondi, and James Ellison. Jimmy goes to New York to get his black sheep cousin Keith (Ellison) and take him back to their small town of Old Sharon. The film opens in a nightclub where Jimmy’s Peter ...

Esther Williams is amazing. I didn’t find this out until after I heard about her death last year, and I’ve been kicking myself for it ever since. My beloved Turner Classic Movies aired a whole marathon of her films as a tribute to her and I decided to take the opportunity to record a few and see what Esther was all about. I’m so happy I did.  The Esther train kept on rolling. Once I finished watching NEPTUNE’S DAUGHTER , THRILL OF A ROMANCE , and EASY TO WED , my sister gave me Esther’s autobiography for my birthday. If you haven’t read it yet, do yourself a favor and snatch it up. Ms. Williams was a fascinating woman, and incredibly strong. I never knew she had such an interesting life story and reading her book gave me another great role model. I had been hoping to write about Esther for a while now, but school kept me busy and then I had the pieces on Astaire and Rogers to write, so unfortunately Esther had to wait until today. Better late than never, right?

I recently read a post on the Alfred Hitchcock Geek blog that compared Hitch’s VERTIGO to Henry Hathaway’s NIAGARA , and all the similarities fascinated me. I had seen NIAGARA a few years back, and while I enjoyed the film, I hadn’t really taken a second look at it. I didn’t even know who Joseph Cotten was when I saw it, I just wanted to see Marilyn Monroe. I figured it was time I looked at this film again, taking notes this time.

Today’s post will be my last one celebrating Fred and Ginger’s anniversary, and I’ll admit that initially I had no clue what more I could write. I tried thinking of many different things, but it wasn’t until I was watching ROBERTA a few nights ago that I figured something out—I’d write a list of my favorite things about our favorite dancing duo’s films. So, without further ado, behold The List. What I Love about Fred and Ginger’s Films: 1. The dancing I know, I know, this goes without saying. But creating this list without including their dancing would’ve been sacrilegious. Their dancing was what helped seal the deal with audiences 80 years ago, and without it, who knows what would’ve happened to the movie musical. There are not enough words in the world to describe everything I feel about their dances, so I’m not even going to try. You’ve all read plenty about it in my earlier posts, anyway.

To honor the 80 th anniversary of the pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, I wrote a post about the origins of their teaming, so today, I decided to post my personal list of Fred and Ginger’s films in order of my least favorite to favorite. This was a bit of a challenge for me, because I really do love all of their films, just in different ways. When I started this venture, I thought I had it all figured out, but then I went through a curious phase where all I wanted to watch was FOLLOW THE FLEET for about two weeks, which helped change my perspective on it a little bit. Anyway, please let me know what you think of my list and feel free to share yours.   10. The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) Fred and Ginger play the Castles, a nonfictional dancing duo that took the world by storm in the early 20 th century. The movie takes the audience through the whole relationship of the Castles, from when they first met, their successes, Vernon joining World War I, a...

Frederick Austerlitz and Virginia McMath were just two young kids at first, both setting their sights on fame in vaudeville, Broadway, and finally Hollywood. But not together, of course. No, Fred started an act with his sister, Adele, who was considered the star of the two. Together they studied dancing and singing until they were ready to debut their act—after a small name change of “Austerlitz” to “Astaire.”   Shortly after that, their father got them a major contract with the famous Orpheum Circuit. Adele and Fred continued polishing and creating their act, slowly moving up the ranks. Fred even developed a friendship with George Gershwin, one which would serve both of their future careers. In the 1920s, the Astaires were on Broadway, and Fred was gaining notice as “the greatest tap-dancer in the world,” as quoted by Robert Benchley in 1930. 1932 brought the break-up of the team. Adele was going to get married, but Fred knew he had to keep going, especially while his star...