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Showing posts from July, 2017

Some thoughts on The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)

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A man and a woman are sitting beside a peaceful stream in beautiful Scotland. An artist, the man is trying to sketch the woman, but she's so blissfully in love that she can't help mentioning that in just a few hours, it will be their two week anniversary. As they embrace, their guide MacGregor warns that a storm is coming in. Within seconds, the idyllic scene is interrupted by torrential rain, forcing the lovers to take shelter in a cave. Wearing the man's jacket, the woman discovers a letter addressed to the last person she expected: his wife. Devastated, the woman runs away as MacGregor calls after her: "You'll catch your death of cold! Do ya hear me?! You'll catch your death!" It's that last word that echoes in the cave as the man looks down in anguish at the crumpled letter. Death... what if... In London, the man stops at a chemist's shop to buy a concoction with a false name. He then arrives home where his young daughter has been keeping

En Pointe: the Ballet Blogathon is coming up!

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In just 15 days, the Ballet Blogathon will be here! My co-host, Christina , and I are so thrilled to get things started and we have a little surprise... Since so many wonderful participants have joined, we have decided to extend our event until August 6th. That gives everyone one extra day and hopefully makes things a bit less hectic for all involved. Plus, this blogathon is already shaping up to be quite spectacular with a wide range of films, so can you blame us for wanting to make the party last a little longer? You can check out the original announcement post here . We hope you guys are getting just as excited as we are!

Danny Kaye excels as... The Court Jester (1956)

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When it comes to the film careers of many comedians, things can be rather hit or miss. Performers like Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, and Red Skelton have great films, but it can seem like overall, the bad films outweigh the good. It can take years for their filmographies to get more respect or admiration. I think some, like Danny Kaye, are still waiting. To me, Kaye's movies are always a lot of fun and nowhere is that more evident than in The Court Jester . Arguably Kaye's best picture, The Court Jester is practically perfect in every way. Although the film is a comedy with a handful of musical performances by Kaye, people rarely call The Court Jester a musical. (The same could be said for quite a few of Kaye's films actually, which is a little weird. Is it because 80% of the time Kaye is the only one doing the musical numbers?) For TCJ 's routines, Sammy Cahn and Sylvia Fine were hired as co-writers. The wife of Kaye from 1940 until his death in 1987, Fine often wrot