5/24/13 The Philadelphia Story, Best Actor and Best Writing - Screenplay, 1940
Take James Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant plus a couple of great supporting characters, good dialogue, mix them together and what do you get? The Philadelphia Story, that's what. Hepburn plays Philadelphia socialite, Tracy Lord, who is getting ready to enter into her second marriage to George Kittredge, after her first marriage failed to C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant). The movie opens in what seemed to me as an homage to silent movies, with just the musical score playing and Hepburn and Grant engaging in a silent pantomime as she throws him out, breaks his golf club and he 'socks' her in the nose (it's actually not that violent, it's a push, but funny physical comedy). James Stewart, who won for Best Actor, plays Macaulay Connor a report for Spy magazine and Ruth Hussey as Liz Imbrie, staff photographer, are sent to cover the wedding. They both accept the assignment reluctantly because they are sneaking in, and that really isn't the story they are interested in covering. There are some behind the scenes shenanigans that set this assignment in motion, mainly being driven by C.K. Dexter Haven's continued feelings for Tracy Lord. Ruth Hussey was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role (she was a pleasant surprise, pulling off her lines ease and suitable sarcasm and humor), but she lost to Jane Darwell in The Grapes of Wrath. Connor and Imbrie visit the Lord home under the pretext of being friends of Tracy's brother, but they are put onto the ruse, and set out to beat the reporters at their own game. The plot uses the device of hidden identities/mistaken identities to great affect. The story is moved forward by great dialogue, sharp and pointed at times, and funny and insightful at others. The good stuff isn't limited to the stars, the writing is generous, giving Hussey the room to make Liz Imbrie more than set decoration, and Dinah, Tracy Lord's younger sister, has some scene-stealing moments. James Stewart won Best Actor over Henry Fonda in Grapes of Wrath, Laurence Olivier in Rebecca, Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator and Raymond Massey in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (I have not seen the last two yet), so it was definitely a competitive category. Stewart is wonderful, but so were Fonda and Olivier. I find it interesting to see movies from sixty or seventy years ago and find that sometimes the premise is still valid today, the press or paparazzi trying to bust in on a socialites' wedding (except maybe there is a difference, today they would film it and show it on Bravo as reality television). This was the second Cary Grant movie I saw this weekend (total serendipity), and I can see why he was so popular. He carried off the role as C.K. Dexter Haven like he was C.K. Dexter Haven, almost like he wasn't acting. He used body language and facial expressions to make C.K. come alive. I haven't really mentioned Hepburn. She was a force to be reckoned with in real life and no shrinking violet on the screen either; comfortable doing comedy with Spencer Tracy (my sentimental favorite is Desk Set, which was required viewing in library school and very prescient in terms of technology) and drama, The African Queen, On Golden Pond, etc. As Tracy Lord, she verbally spars with all of the male characters, Haven, Kittredge, Connor and her father. She doesn't actually always win these tete a tetes, but she sure makes them interesting. This movie got Saturday off to a great start for me. Movies - 1 Chores - 0
5/25/13 Mutiny on the Bounty, Best Picture 1935
If you're a follower of these musings, then you may remember one of my earlier reviews of The Private Lives of Henry the VIII and my thoughts on Charles Laughton's performance. I stand by that, but as Captain Bligh, Laughton was wonderful and convincing as the sadistic and driven captain of the HMS Bounty. In The Private Lives of Henry the VIII, I thought he overacted, but in Mutiny on the Bounty, I didn't think he overacted at all, he was restrained, even in his vitriolic outbursts.The only thing that kept niggling at me were his eyebrows. They were so prominent they should have had separate billing. Laughton may have not felt compelled to ham it up because Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian and Franchot Tone as Roger Byam (last seen by me in The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, for which I did not care at all) were fairly restrained; I don't know, that's total supposition on my part, but whatever it was, it worked. All three were nominated as Best Actor, although none of them won. The movie was released in 1935, way before CGI or any of the great advances in special effects with which we are all familiar, so that makes the stormy seas scenes all that much more impressive to me. Gable (an Ohio native, which is good for 10 bonus points) was a great foil to Laughton, playing the officer bound by naval rules, but eventually pushed over his limits by his empathy and real fondness for his men, leading him to mutiny. Franchot Tone as Byam had to grow on me, I found him annoying and too earnest for his own good (perhaps that was the acting part?), but his character showed a fortitude that surprised me. I am very interested in British naval history and loved the Horatio Hornblower series that was on A&E years ago (before it became a reality TV channel) and have visited Portsmouth and been on the HMS Victory. There are many reasons to watch this movie, and I hope you do. Movies - 2 Chores - 0.
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| Nelson - Portsmouth, 2002, tbacker |
5/25/13 Roman Holiday, Best Actress, Best Costume Design - B&W, Best Story, 1953
Roman Holiday was released sixty years ago, and it still holds up today. It was major motion picture debut of the pixie-like Audrey Hepburn, and she knocked it out of the park by winning the Best Actress. Hepburn plays Princess Anne, who is in Rome on a European tour and decides she is fed up with the over-scheduling of her life and stages a breakout. Gregory Peck plays Joe Bradley, an American journalist who realizes the Princess is not just a regular tourist and embarks to help her enjoy all kinds of adventures. Eddie Albert plays Bradley's rascally friend and photographer, Irving Radovich; Irving captures all kinds of candid photos, with the hopes of cashing in with Joe on an exclusive. The movie was filmed on location in Italy and it serves as a travelogue with scenes around the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and Castel Sant'Angelo. Hepburn is one of my favorite actresses, not only for her acting (My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Children's Hour to name just a few), but for her humanitarian work. She was a class act. I have mentioned my fondness for Gregory Peck, especially as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, and he was terrific here, very comfortable in the role, not as wooden as he was (or I thought he was in Spellbound where it was painful to watch him). He and Hepburn seemed like they had been acting together forever, and his physical comedy with Eddie Albert's character was funny and well-timed. The movie's costume designed, Edith Head, won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design in a B&W movie. I forgot to mention that Edith Head also did the costume design for To Catch a Thief and was responsible for the incredible white gown that Grace Kelly wore. The other award was for Best Story, which was won by Dalton Trumbo, except it wasn't. Trumbo is part of a chapter in Hollywood that most people would like to forget, the blacklisting of the 1950s and appearances by many writers, directors and actors in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Trumbo wrote many great screenplays, several under pseudonyms or 'fronted' by other people so he could still make money to support his family. There is a documentary (I think I saw it on PBS?) called Trumbo which tells his story through narration done by Donald Sutherland, Liam Neeson and others; it's well worth viewing if you're interested in Hollywood of that period. If this movie (or The Philadelphia Story) was made to today, or 'updated. since there are no new ideas, it would have been filled with sex and profanity (I don't object to either, only when they are used to substitute for actual substance); Peck would have slept with Hepburn (Stewart would have slept with Katharine Hepburn); when Joe Bradley spills wine on Irving, f-bombs would have been flying all over the place. Movies like the four I have watched so far used witty dialogue, innuendo (only), gorgeous scenery and costumes and actual acting talent to make timeless classics. They may take twenty minutes or so to get the story rolling, so you may have to exercise a little more patience than in a big action flick or modern romantic comedy, but it will be well worth it. And the best thing is, because the movies lack all of the features of 21st century action/comedy/dramas, you can actually watch these as a family. Movies 3, Chores - 0, oh well, there's always Monday.
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| Colosseum 2006 tbacker |
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| trevi fountain 2006 tbacker |
