Movies that grab me

Following up on Sam's comment about White Heat not really catching his eye anymore, I wanted to talk about a few other movies that, even after repeated viewings, still draw me in and make me want to watch them over and over, even if I've just seen them recently.

Key Largo - I talked about this one just the other day. Eddie G. is just so fabulous in this role, by turns snarky and mean and vulnerable, that I haven't tired of it yet. Like Rocco, I still want more. It's really Eddie G. and Claire Trevor that make this movie for me. I like Bogart and Bacall okay, but I would watch this movie even without them. Without Eddie G., probably not so much.

Objective Burma! - Probably my favorite war movie, if I had to narrow it down to just one. It's over two hours long but it never feels like that to me. There is a good variety of adventures (just when you think they've made it to safety, something else happens), and it always keeps me watching until the end.

The Women - This movie is just plain fun. It's totally dated, of course, with women taking the train to Reno to divorce and living on their alimony the rest of their lives, but it still makes me laugh. George Cukor was so right to tell Ros Russell to play Sylvia as completely crazy; that's how she got the part after several audtions. There's some small, mean part of me that enjoys the cattiness, especially when Sylvia and Crystal get their just desserts in the end.

Fannnn-eee!

Gold Diggers of 1933 - My favorite of all the Busby Berkley movies, this one not only has several famous musical mumbers ("We're in the Money," "Remember My Forgotten Man") but the best backstage story as well, with Ginger Rogers, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, and Joan Blondell as a group of chorus girls entangled in various romances. While Joan and Ruby have "straight" romances, Aline is paried with Guy Kibbee to be the "comedy" couple of the movie, and they are both just so cute and hilarious. Warren William I could live without, but you can't have a BB musical without Dick Powell in some capacity.

Golllllllllllllld Diiiiiiiiiiiggerrrrrrrrrrr

That's what happens when you watch "Goldfinger" immediately following "Gold Diggers of 1937." You keep singing the GF theme, but with the word digger instead of finger (yes, I am insane).

It's been so long since I posted, I had no idea Blogger had merged with Google. Oops.

Anyhow, I had recorded Gold Diggers on DVR, so I watched that last night. I love Dick Powell and Joan Blondell together, and this movie had the added bonus of no Ruby Keeler (not that I hate her...but I don't like her a lot, either). After seeing this one, though, I can see why they stopped with 1937. The plot is boring (when a movie opens with a song about insurance salesman, you know you're in for a slow ride), and you wait waaaaay too long for the Busby Berkeley musical number, which, face it, is pretty much the main reason to watch a movie like this anyway. (Well, the first GD is pretty funny, what with Aline MacMahon ("Oh, Fanny!") and Guy Kibbee; plus, you get a musical number right off the bat, and a famous one, at that: "We're In The Money.") One bright spot was Victor Moore as JJ Hobart; he was a total hoot. He along with Glenda Farrell have just been added to my Find A Grave What A Character! virtual cemetery.

After that Dad and I were channel surfing, and we came across Goldfinger, about half way through, so we watched that until the end. I've seen it a bunch of times, but never all the way through at once. I think it's my favorite Bond movie by default; it's the one I've seen the most times. Plus, I like Goldfinger. He's evil, but he has style. ;)

50's Musicals and Queens of England

In that order. It was a triple feature this weekend...first up was The Band Wagon, something I bumped to the top of my Netflix queue when I got a hankering for some Fred Astaire, after watching Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer. I know, go figure. I also bumped Singin' in the Rain to the top, so that was my Saturday double feature, a pair of 50's musicals.

I like musicals, as a general rule, although I'm not really one of those people who's nuts about them. I'll pick a good weepy 30's drama first. And I prefer my classics in black and white; once the studios went Technicolor, boy, did they go color. Hot pink and neon green and electric blue and that day-glo yellow "Casino number" set from Rain...pass me the sunglasses. Some of the color combos on the costumes, too...no sane human wears those combinations. I prefer a nice, silvery-toned black and white film, thanks. Plus, the dancing they do in some of these musicals is too avant grade for my taste. Give me Astaire and Powell doing a tap to "Begin the Beguine" rather than Gene Kelly slinging Cyd Charisse around while the brass blares. Not that there's anything wrong with that kind of movie, it's just not my first choice.

So, with that in mind, I sat down to watch The Band Wagon and, finally, Singin' in the Rain, one of those movies people always talk about: "You haven't seen it? Ever? What is wrong with you?" I very much enjoyed the premise of Rain, with the story being about the transition from silent movies to sound (although that did make the Casino number seem even more out of place). Fred's starting to look a little creased around the edges in Wagon, but he still can dance, and how. Gene's character of Don Lockwood reminded me of Harry Palmer from For Me and My Gal, one of my all-time favorite movies, ever. And, of course, Gene is extremely easy on the eyes. Especially mine. ;)

Today it was one of the movies from the Errol Flynn box set, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. I've been especially looking forward to this one because I have a great interest in Tudor history, I have a whole shelf of books in my library on the subject. I was impressed by how Bette Davis looked, and also her acting, although I thought there was a bit too much begging for a queen in the scene where she sees Essex for the last time before his execution. Errol Flynn, always good in tights, and an all-around wonderful job as Earl of Essex. I can already tell this is one I'll be watching over again quite often. As in Warner's release of The Adventures of Robin Hood, they put together on the DVD a "Warner night at the movies," with a cartoon, newsreel, preview (of Dark Victory), and a short subject. It really sets the atmosphere of going to the movies, and having it be a whole event, which to me is a part of what watching classic movies is all about.

Playing catch-up

So much for my resolve to update this blog every day, or at least several times a week. I’ve watched a boatload of movies since I last wrote, but I’ve been too lazy to sit down and actually write about them, preferring instead to continue stuffing my gaping maw with popcorn. Well, I have a list, so here goes.

Queen Christina -- Greta, for the love of little apples, stop mumbling. I had the volume on my TV turned way up, and still spent most of the movie thinking, "huh?" A good performance, though, and I liked the story so much I went out and bought a biography of Queen Christina, which is on top of my huge "books to read" pile. (I buy way faster than I could possibly read.) I had never seen John Gilbert in a movie before, and after awhile I could understand why he didn’t make it in talkies; his voice is just a little too high and nasal to be pleasing. All that heavy "Spanish" makeup didn’t help, either. Whether Louis B. Mayer purposely tinkered with the treble on the sound board to purposely ruin Gilbert’s career is a debate for another day.

Romance -- second movie on my Garbo hit parade. The video box made much of the fact that this was Gavin Gordon’s first and only film role! Which turned out to be not true; according to the IMDB, he appeared in 70 movies. Maybe that was his only starring role, which I would be more inclined to believe as his other roles include the likes of "Frisbie the Butler" and "Geoffrey Miles, Costume Director." Anyhow, it was a very nice little love story. Garbo is beautiful, of course. Gordon does much bugging of the eyes and flaring of the nostrils as an aspiring minister who can’t quite believe he’s fallen for this scandalous woman. A very sad and touching ending, without being too gooey.

Mata Hari -- last of the Garbos for now, and also good. Some of those outfits, though...skin tight glittery leggings attached to boots, worn under a dress/cape? Okay, I get that Hollywood is trying to glam it up, but come on. The hats were kind of cool, though. I had never seen Ramon Navarro, and I thought he was great. The scene at the end, after he’s been blinded, when they bring him to the prison to say goodbye to her but tell him it’s a hospital? Ah, so sad. And it’s always good to see Lionel Barrymore.

Strike Up the Band -- after all that gloom and failed romance I needed a peppy movie, and you can’t do better than Mickey and Judy. (And by the way, on the subject of Judy, every time I go to IMDB I'm always surprised again to see that she was only in 35 movies. Doesn't it seem like a lot more?) I own Babes in Arms and have wanted to see the sort-of sequel Babes on Broadway, but this was all TLA had, so it had to suffice. Your usual "let’s put on a show, kids!" movie, with the added bonus of June Preisser, cute little blond rival for Mickey’s affections and a nifty acrobat to boot. It’s such a typical Judy & Mickey musical that I can’t think of anything else distinctive to say about it.

The Adventures of Errol Flynn -- a documentary/biography of the man himself, part of the fabulous box set that was released recently. Comments from Flynn’s daughter Deirdre and Olivia de Havilland (who is beautiful as ever) lend it credibility that many print biographies of Flynn have lacked. Voiceover comments from Flynn himself, culled from radio interviews, are another good addition. I thought this was a very well done biography; the ones produced by TCM always are, in my experience.

In Name Only -- Carole Lombard plays not a screwball, but a widowed young mother who falls in love with "in name only" married Cary Grant in this great romance. Lombard and Grant go together quite well, and she more than proves she can handle drama as well as comedy. She has an earnestness about her that is really quite appealing. You’re totally rooting for them to overcome their obstacles, and when Carole cries that she can’t take it anymore, or Grant ties one on and catches pneumonia in the process, it’s what a good weepy story is all about. Charles Coburn as Grant’s father and Peggy Ann Garner (who played "young Jane" in Jane Eyre) as Carole’s daughter are so much "character actor" gravy.

Stella Dallas -- I caught this during TCM’s Mother Day extravaganza (which featured the mother of all mother movies, Mildred Pierce); I usually don’t stay with movies if I’ve missed the opening (I came in about 15 minutes into the movie) but Alan Hale carousing around caught my eye, and I was hooked from there. It was the first time I’d seen Barbara Stanwyck (a lot of firsts in my recent movies) and I thought she was amazing. I rented the movie from Netflix the next week to see the beginning and find out how Stella and Stephen (John Boles) ended up getting married, because I just didn’t get it. I had the feeling the actress playing Helen Morrison looked familiar, and found out during the end credits that I was right -- hi, Mrs. O’Hara! Now there is an underrated beauty, Barbara O’Neil.

There’s No Business Like Show Business -- which has no business being billed as a Marilyn Monroe movie (it’s part of one of her Diamond collections) because she didn’t show up until about an hour into it. Ethel Merman, though...wowza. I watched it with a friend and we ended up talking like her the rest of the day. And singing the song as we marched to the kitchen for more snacks. I love me some vaudeville, so I was happy.

Arsenic and Old Lace -- last week’s "Essential" on TCM; they rerun the Saturday show on Sunday nights at 6:00, so it’s becoming a tradition for my dad and I to watch it over Sunday dinner. I love Cary Grant (just started reading the Marc Eliot biography) and he is HI-larious in this movie. His multiple takes when he finds the first body in the window seat are too funny. Nobody does comedy like him. I was disappointed to read, in the biography, that this was one of Grant's least favorite performances. Jean Adair and Josephine Hull are just darling as the murderous aunts. Too bad they couldn’t actually get Boris Karloff.

Thank Your Lucky Stars -- I bought a used copy of this, never having seen it before, after seeing a clip of Jack Carson and Alan Hale doing a tap dance together. That was good enough for me; musical numbers by Errol Flynn and Bette Davis were also a big incentive. It wasn’t exactly what I expected; I didn’t anticipate so much of a back story involving Dinah Shore, Eddie Cantor (in a double role -- that’s a lot of Eddie) and a couple of unknown hopefuls. I was hoping we’d cut right to the musical numbers. When they finally did arrive, though, they were worth waiting for. Some of it is not so much singing as "talking to music" (Bette Davis; although she was a good sport to let herself get swung around in that dance step), and some numbers showcased previously unexpected talents (Errol Flynn, who can really sing and dance). Then again, some people were misused to the point of being unrecognizable. During one number, I pointed to the gingham-clad, gum-chomping, tap-dancing, curly-haired, scat-singing gal on the left. "Guess who that is," I said to my dad. He had no idea. "Olivia de Havilland," I said. I don’t think he believed me until he put on his glasses and double-checked for himself. Not the best use of Miss de H, but she seemed to be enjoying herself, and after all, it was for the war effort.

The Broadway Melody (1929) -- the first musical to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, I’d seen this before and rented it from Netflix again to see if I liked it enough to buy it, since I saw it at Borders when I bought Broadway Melody of 1940 (Astaire and Powell, that one was a no-brainer). The verdict: eh, I’ll rent it if I ever want to see it again. Bessie Love was cute if a little hyper, everyone else was okay. The dancing numbers were good, typical for the day. It's memorable if for no other reason than that the sisters are named Hank and Queenie.

Funny Girl -- I include this on the list not because I consider it a classic movie (my definition of "classic movie" stops around 1960 or so -- I’m referring to an era rather than a film’s endurance or popularity), but because it’s about someone I would consider a classic performer, Fanny Brice. Actually, it’s supposed to be about Fanny, but it’s really yet another movie that proves Barbara Streisand loves no one so much as herself. Not for one second did I get any feeling that I was seeing Fanny Brice up on the screen -- it was always Fanny heavily diluted by Barbara. And I’m not a big Babs fan in the first place, so you know I was watching the DVD player count down the minutes until the movie was over. I’ll be skipping the sequel, Funny Lady, thanks very much.

Rainy Saturday triple feature

It poured buckets today, so I decided all my errands could wait, and it was going to be a movie day. I'd just gotten one in the mail I bought on eBay, and have three new ones from Netflix. Let's see how many I plowed through today.

First up, Ziegfeld Follies, which I bought never having seen it before. Usually I like to see movies at least once before I buy them, but lately I will buy them if they have lots of stars I love. Then it's usually a good bet the purchase will be well worthwhile. ZF, however ... not so much. It has your usual MGM tag line: Greatest Production Since The Birth Of Motion Pictures! Heh. I love MGM taglines ... every movies is the greatest thing since sliced bread! Musical numbers are always major hits! Technicolor! Cinemascope! Stereophonic sound! More stars than there are in heaven! It's the movie of the year! And so on.

I was all excited to see William Powell back as Ziegfeld, until the movie actually started. Good news: he's just as sexy with silver hair. Bad news: he's playing Ziegfeld-in-Heaven, planning a new show from beyond the grave with "today's stars". Which means, whoever MGM wanted to showcase in 1946. Yeah, that ... wasn't a good idea. (Heaven is apparently furnished with set decorations from Anna Held's suite in The Great Ziegfeld.) Oh, I almost forgot to mention the dolls. You see, when Ziegfeld-in-Heaven reminisces about the Follies he made when he was, you know, actually alive, they recreate the acts with...claymation dolls. Ugly ones. I wish I was kidding. Which I guess makes Ziggy some kind of showbiz puppet master or something.

I was expecting a movie along the lines of The Great Ziegfeld and Ziegfeld Girl, both of which I love, and both of which have a healthy dose of plot to balance out the musical numbers. ZF, however, is all musical numbers, one right after the other, introduced with pages from a "storybook." Oh, wait, there were also a few comedy sketches. Fanny Brice -- cute and funny, her usual schtick. Keenan Wynn -- not so much funny, but he tried. Red Skelton -- funny for Red Skelton fans.

The musical numbers ... very strange and not what I consider MGM standards. Fred Astaire as a Chinese person? Um, no. Lucille Ball all in pink, cracking a whip at women dressed as slinky cats? I think not. The one high point was Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in a number called "The Babbit and the Bromide," which was wonderfully danced and very cute, if somewhat repetitious in the lyrics.

I think this is one purchase that may eventually go back up for sale. Although maybe not, because I am somewhat vain about my classic movie collection, and I would like to see Gene and Fred's number again. We'll see.

Next on the program was Love Me Tonight, a newly released DVD I got from Netflix solely because it had Myrna Loy in it, and as a result of watching it, Maurice Chevalier is my new boyfriend. So charming, so adorable. I could listen to him sing all day. (Why is there not a soundtrack for this movie on Amazon?) Jeanette MacDonald I had only ever seen in clips, never in a whole movie, and I liked her a lot. C. Aubrey Smith and Charles Butterworth, two guys I love to see, who are now the next two in line for a Character Actors I Love profile. I thought the story was great (yes, it's your typical "royalty falls in love with a commoner in disguise" plot, but in this movie it seemed fresh and new) and it was beautifully shot and directed. This one may go on the Amazon wish list.

Lastly, Meet Me in St. Louis; oddly enough, I think this movie is the one about which I have the least to say. It was a Judy Garland musical, which usually means an automatic win, and that was the case here. Great performances, catchy tunes, you know the drill. Two of my favorite supporting actors, Marjorie Main and Harry Davenport (who will always be "Dr. Meade" to me). Leon Ames kept reminding me of Jerry Orbach. It's not my all time favorite Garland musical extravaganza (that would be For Me and My Gal) but I liked it. Liza's introduction was nice, but she looked very trembly.

Ah, it's always nice when you have an entire day to spend watching movies. At least to me it is.