6/20/18 Now, Voyager, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, 1942
Bette Davis stars as the ugly duckling turned swan, Charlotte Vale, in this film that also features Claude Rains and Paul Heinreid. Charlotte is dominated by her mother and matriarch of the Vale family (Gladys Cooper); she is bullied so much so that she is sent to a sanitarium under the treatment of Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains). Charlotte blossoms and discovers her own personality and strength. Davis was nominated for Best Actress, but Greer Garson won for her role as Kay Miniver in Mrs. Miniver; Katharine Hepburn was nominated as Tess Harding in Woman of the Year, and Joan Fontaine in Rebecca as The Second Mrs. DeWinter. I enjoyed the film and watching Charlotte's transformation. There was something about the film that seemed relevant today, over seventy five years later.
6/21/18 The Adventures of Robin Hood, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, 1938
The Adventures of Robin Hood is a fun movie; Errol Flynn seems to be enjoying his role as Robin Hood, teasing and basically giving Prince John (Claude Rains) and Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) a very hard time until King Richard returns to England from the Crusades. The movie has swashbuckling action, humor, a love story featuring Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland) and Robin, and an Oscar-winning score. The fabulous Technicolor is still eye-popping (even on my twenty year old television), I can't imagine what it was like on a big screen when most films were still in black and white (Now Voyager was released four years after this was in black and white). If you're looking for a fun movie for a weekend at the cabin, I would recommend this one.
6/23/18 One Survivor Remembers, Best Documentary Short, National Film Registry, 1995
As we lose Holocaust survivors to age, it becomes more and more important to remember their stories and what those stories mean to us, especially in the upside down world we're living in these days. Survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein narrates her story and the story of her family, who perished in the camps. Her experience is one of destruction and death, but also resilience, strength and love. The film is available on YouTube (and hopefully in the link below) and her acceptance speech at the Academy Awards show is included and it is well worth watching.
6/23/18 The Anderson Platoon, Best Documentary Feature, 1967
In the 21st century, with the 24-hour news cycles and smartphone videos coming from every corner of the world, it may be hard to imagine a time when it wasn't quite as common for a film crew to be embedded with a platoon that is in combat. French director Pierre Schoendoerffer was with the American 1st Cavalry Division in South Vietnam, specifically a platoon led by West Point graduate, Lieutenant Joseph Anderson. The film takes us into the jungle and combat, we also get brief biographies on the soldiers, and updates on injuries and mortalities. The Vietnam War was controversial and divisive, but the film really focuses on the soldiers, the young men, barely into their twenties, who are far from home, and trying to survive.
6/30/18 The Bad and the Beautiful, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction (B&W), Best Cinematography (B&W), Best Costume Design (B&W), Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, National Film Registry, 1952
I feel like I should have loved this movie, but I didn't. It was fine, I liked it, but it seemed derivative, a lot of Citizen Kane and a little bit of Ace in the Hole (also starring Kirk Douglas). Douglas is Jonathan Shields, a producer/studio head, who has no qualms about using people to advance his career, even if it hurts others. Three of these 'others' are gathered together, and in flashbacks, we learn how Shields cheated, betrayed or hurt them. Gloria Grahame won the Best Supporting Actress for her role as the Southern belle wife of one of the people that Shields hurt; she was on screen for less than twenty five minutes, and I personally think it should have gone to Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain. Watching the film was timely because a few weeks earlier I watched Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, starring Annette Bening as Grahame. I think your life will continue on if you don't watch this, but if you do watch it, I don't think it's the worst thing in the world, either.
6/30/18 Ocean's 8, not yet nominated 2018
I don't have any great analysis on Ocean's 8 starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and a cast of very talented actresses. It was a fun, smart, fast paced eist movie, along the lines of the other "Ocean's" movies. I would actually watch it again, which I don't say very often about any movie. Will it be nominated? Very possibly not, but I don't care. It's probably going to be out on video/streaming soon, and it would be great for a movie night (pretty much for the whole family).
7/8/18 Jezebel, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, National Film Registry, 1938
It took me a while to get into Jezebel, starring Bette Davis as spoiled Southern belle Julie Marsden. I don't know, perhaps I was distracted. It was really towards the end that I appreciated what the movie was about. It also stars Henry Fonda as Julie's frustrated beau. It is 1850s New Orleans and Julie is headstrong and not afraid to defy conventions, and while that may be admired today, it causes her and her family embarrassment. Watching Davis in Now, Voyager and then Jezebel, you can see her range and why she is considered such a great actress; two very different characters, although they are united by their ultimate strength. It's not a movie to watch if you're looking for laughs or an escape from the world, but it is worth watching.
7/8/18 Dodsworth, Best Art Direction, National Film Registry, 1936
I had never heard of Dodsworth before, and I hadn't read anything about it before I watched it, so I had no idea what it was about. I would consider it a pleasant surprise. William Wyler directed Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor in this look at marriage in the first half of the twentieth century. In some ways, it takes a very common occurrence, the husband (Huston as Sam Dodsworth) retires and decides he wants to do all those things he and his wife (Chatterton as Fran Dodsworth) didn't have time for, and then they both find out (although Fran might have known all along) that they don't necessarily want the same things, and Fran is a little freer in finding other companions. I was rooting for Sam all the way, even as he struck up a friendship with Edith Cortright (Mary Astor) and found his bliss in Italy. I truly was not certain how the movie would end, and I'm not going to tell you, but if you want to try a movie off the beaten path (have you ever heard of Dodsworth?) pick it up from the library or Netflix.
