Why haven’t I seen Ruby Keeler in more films?

Posted on March 24, 2010
Filed Under films, nostalgia | 4 Comments

It surprises me that I haven’t seen more of Ruby Keeler. Then again, she wasn’t in that many films.

Ruby Keeler

She stars in one of our latest TCM discoveries, Gold Diggers of 1933.

Ruby Keeler, aglow

Her bio’s pretty interesting: Born to an Irish family in Halifax, Nova Scotia… Married Al Jolson in 1928… Got into films herself in 1933… She retired after they divorced and stayed retired for 30 years until her comeback as star of “No No Nanette” on Broadway under Busby Berkeley’s direction in 1971. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for the next airing of 42nd Street–her first picture.

Dolores Del Rio

Posted on January 9, 2010
Filed Under art, films, nostalgia, photography, the telly | 2 Comments

Watching Flying Down to Rio on TCM, I was moved to check out more about the film’s star, Dolores Del Rio. In my search, I came across some strange, wonderful, and sometimes creepy images.

(Photographer for the above two images: Slim Aarons)

A restyled doll by Juan Albuerne

And a beautiful one…

And a fabulous one…

Confessions!

Posted on January 9, 2010
Filed Under films, me and my brain | 7 Comments

So I’m just going to admit that part of me wants to see a couple of silly teen/20s-ish romance/coming of age movies. In particular, I wouldn’t mind seeing (500) Days of Summer. I can’t help it. I LIKE Zooey Deschanel. And then there’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The twelve-year-old girl in me liked him in 3rd Rock From the Sun. And while we’re blaming re-runs, the other movie I’m curious about–though less so–is Youth in Revolt. I have a feeling that one is simply too contrived and too pubescent for 35-year-old me. It’s too much a vehicle for pushing Michael Cera (and, probably, Portia Doubleday) into greater flavor-of-the-decade stardom. And like Garden State, which I had hopes for but ended up really disliking, it features Jean Smart as the mother. That probably isn’t a good sign for me, either. I think that, really, I’m just anxious for the Arrested Development movie (which had better not stink). (500) Days of Summer appears to be on DVD. Netflix, methinks.

Feel free to weigh in if you’ve seen either.

Overanalyzing Pretty in Pink–beware!

Posted on May 29, 2009
Filed Under Blather, art, films, me and my brain, nostalgia, the telly | 4 Comments

Most people have a favorite teen movie from their youth. Mine would have to be Pretty in Pink. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen it. I saw it with a bunch of school friends (all girls–many of us were teary-eyed as we exited the theater) when it was first released in 1986. I’ve owned the video (VHS) for at least 16 years. It’s been a little while since I last watched it, but it was on AMC the other day–slightly and amusingly butchered–and watching it again I was reminded of some of the enduring reasons that I like it, even now. I also noticed–in some cases for the first time–some of the ways in which it doesn’t work. When you’ve seen a movie countless times, it’s hard not to pick up on editing gaffes, plot inconsistencies, and the quality of the acting–both when it’s bad and when it’s, maybe surprisingly, pretty decent.

The set designer must have had a lot of fun doing this movie. Even now, even with the overabundance of pink, I still like Andie’s bedroom. This time around, I noticed that she has at least one–maybe two–Mondrian prints on her walls. I can’t say whether that influenced me as a teenager, even subconsciously, to check out Mondrian myself, but it’s entirely possible. Iona’s Chinatown apartment is fun, too–though the kooky retro 50s/early 60s black and white stuff isn’t really my taste.

Andy's bedroom
Andie in her bedroom with her dog, Ace. Sadly, this is one of the best pictures I could find of her room–doesn’t show much, but you can see one of the Mondrian prints on the wall in the background.

Iona's apartment
Iona (Annie Potts) and Andie (Molly Ringwald) in the kooky 50s/60s room in Iona’s apartment. Andie is wearing a pretty nice Chinese jacket.

Trax, the record store where Andie and Iona work, makes me all nostalgic! I mean, did we all know someone who had that Smiths poster, or is it just me?

Iona at Trax

Of course Andie’s outfits are fun. That’s a little part of the point, right? She makes a lot of her own clothes… the film is even called Pretty in Pink. Some of it probably looks a bit goofy to someone watching the movie for the first time today, but I still like some of the pieces and combinations. Some of the colors are great. I like the vintage blue cardigan she wears at the record shop, and I especially love that lace top (can’t find a good picture of it, of course).

I’ve always liked John Cryer in this movie, and this time around I spotted some specific places–besides the classic Otis Redding scene, of course–where his acting really is pretty good. When he realizes Andie is going on a date with Blane (the major appliance), the hurt look on his face is perfect. Most of his acting in that part of the film really works, keeping in mind that he’s supposed to be in high school…

Andy and Duckie
Andie and Duckie at the record store, when Duckie realizes that Andie is going on a date with Blane

James Spader is just great as Blane’s ridiculously snotty friend Steff. His affected voice, the way he saunters around like he owns the place, his thick sleepy eyelids… he totally nails it. The bit at the end where Blane tells him off is classic. “You couldn’t buy her, though, that’s what’s killing you, isn’t it? Steff? That’s it, Steff. She thinks you’re shit. And deep down, you know she’s right.” Melodramatic? Yeah, perhaps. But for a John Hughes movie, that’s a pretty good zinger.
James Spader as Steff

Even Andrew McCarthy, who turned out to be rather less of an actor than he might have been, has a couple pretty good moments here and there. Possibly the best scene in a lot of ways is the one where Andie confronts Blane in the hallway at school. McCarthy’s character is doing a lot here–he’s squirming, for sure. He ends up doing the wimpy thing–but he’s crying. It’s not easy for him. (I’ve watched this scene many times, of course, and I think it’s really pivotal for how the film was supposed to end–but I’ll get to that in a second.) Duckie watches this whole scene unfold, and sees the aftermath of their exchange, where Steff tells Blane that Andie “was, is, and will always be nada.” I think Cryer again does a pretty good job here, and of course there’s some good John Hughes movie triumph involved when Duckie tackles Steff and they scuffle in the hall, with Duckie tearing down the prom banner after a few teachers come out of their classrooms to break it up. Steff’s reaction to the whole thing is great, too. It’s largely physical–refluffing his fluffy hair, spitting on the floor, dripping smooth disdain.

The filmmakers have been pretty open about the fact that they changed the movie’s ending after test audiences were disappointed that Andie and Blane did not end up together. In the original, Andie and Duckie end up together. I can see why test audiences felt the way they did. You want the film’s message to be that love conquers all–that class differences are superficial and don’t matter, and you want the characters to be strong enough to get past them. Andie and Blane’s romance gets built up, and even though the viewer sees just how much Duckie likes Andie, there’s not enough (at least, not that made it into the final cut) to show that Andie could see Duckie as much more than a friend, though there is one very purposeful shot at the prom where they take each other’s hands. That got left in, and I can’t help thinking that the filmmakers hoped it would serve a different purpose in the final cut than it did in the test version. To me, it looks like it’s supposed to show that they’re growing closer–maybe romantically. Perhaps the filmmakers decided to leave it in to signify that Duckie and Andie had reconciled and to show their unity as they confront Blane together.

Andie and Blane, selling BMW.

The ending that did make it into the film is almost too John Hughes-y. It’s too easy, too quickly thrown together. Of course, when I saw it in 1986 (I was 12, I think), I thought it was perfect. Heck, it made me want a BMW. But watching it now–not so much. There’s this whole thing between Andie and Blane earlier in the film where she tells Blane that she can’t believe in anyone who doesn’t believe in her. At the prom he tells her that he always believed in her but she just didn’t believe in him. Well, duh Blane… you wimped out on her! You started out all brave, taking her to your friend’s party and saying you were above it all, but then you caved! You didn’t return her calls! You backed out on the prom! Something there just doesn’t compute. And pairing Duckie up with some random girl at the prom is just silly. It reduces his role in the film.

I could probably go on, if anyone else is freakish enough to want to continue the discussion…

EDIT: Ah! But YouTube saves the day. Pretty vintage blue beaded sweater is at the beginning of this clip. And oh look–she’s wearing the lacy top thing under it. Around 2:20 she closes a door and we see the aforementioned Smiths poster, and then the scene shifts to her bedroom–Mondrian prints, pretty kimono on the wall, etc. Unfortunately, John Cryer’s good expression when he finds out that Andie is going out with Blane is split over two clips. Most of it is at the beginning of this one. It’s better when you see his initial reaction, though. Molly Ringwald is really kinda so-so compared to Cryer in that scene. Sorry, Molly.

The confrontation scene mentioned above starts around 4:45 here. Great stuff from Spader and Cryer… at least, great for a John Hughes movie.

For now I’ll save the rest for when I’m asked to provide commentary for a special edition of the DVD. (Hyuck hyuck.)

For the two of you who want to see The Little Minister

Posted on January 28, 2009
Filed Under Blather, films | 2 Comments

… I offer a few more images from the film.

Some dismiss the film, but obviously I’m a fan.

Our snow has now turned over to rain and what was pretty is now muck. Alas.

It’s nice to have Ezra home for a snow day, even if we are both working. I happen to be working on something rather tedious, and having Ez here makes it a little more bearable.

Happy Wednesday!

A Romantic Start to the Weekend

Posted on January 23, 2009
Filed Under Blather, films | 7 Comments

Today was a slow day work-wise, which was a-okay for a Friday. After breakfasting at Diesel and working out at the gym, I came home to some cats, puttering, and knitting. While knitting, I watched the 1934 Katherine Hepburn film The Little Minister. It’s a romance set in Scotland. Hepburn’s character dresses as a gypsy, and when she and the town’s young new minister fall in love, it’s a bit of a scandal. John Beal plays the young minister. Beal’s face is somewhat familiar, but most people don’t know his name. Though he worked more or less steadily throughout his life, I think this is considered one of his best films. It’s sort of a shame he didn’t get more interesting roles after this. I think he shows potential in this one. I mean, if he can hold his own opposite Hepburn (which I think he does), he’s got something.

Quote of the Day

Posted on April 11, 2008
Filed Under Blather, films | Leave a Comment

A bit melodramatic, but beloved, courtesy of old friend The Graduate.

Mrs. Robinson: It’s too late.

Elaine: Not for me!

(And then there’s the unspoken line, “Now what?”)

The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland

Posted on March 24, 2008
Filed Under Blather, films, me and my brain | 8 Comments

Those of you who read Ezra’s blog will have seen this coming.

Recently, Ezra and I watched The Wizard of Oz. I hadn’t seen it in a long time, and I’m not sure if I’d ever seen it without commercials. It’s always interesting to go back to things you consumed as a kid, especially iconic things that, whether you knew it not, played a part in shaping your life.

I noticed a few things watching the film now, and put into words some things I’d always thought but never really discussed with anyone. First off, the “black and white” segments aren’t black and white at all, they’re sepia. To me, the sepia tone achieves a number of things. It underscores the earthiness of the Kansas setting, the down-home-ness of it. It gives it a faded look rather than a sophisticated one. It’s sort of soft rust versus the polished look that black and white might render. When the tornado approaches, the sepia dust spins and billows around… The twister itself throws up a violent cloud not entirely unlike the poof of red the Wicked Witch sends up when she makes her dramatic exit from the scene at the tip of the Yellow Brick Road.

And how great is Margaret Hamilton? She sure did scare the bejesus out of many generations of kiddies (and probably some adults). The music that accompanies her riding around on the bike (when she is Miss Gulch in Kansas) is the best. I find myself using it quite a bit.

More of a revelation, maybe, is Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow. I don’t know about you, but though the Lion had a good song or two, the Scarecrow was always my favorite. He was Dorothy’s favorite as well, it seems, as she tells him right before leaving Oz that she thinks she’ll miss him most of all. I always identified Bolger’s stumbling lanky walk and dance moves with the Scarecrow character, but actually he was dancing like that for years before The Wizard of Oz, on Broadway and then in the film The Great Ziegfeld, his second film ever and first for MGM.

Ray Bolger in The Great Ziegfeld

As Ezra mentioned in his blog, I’d love to see a double feature of those two films. They’re both full of song and dance numbers, they both deal with fantasy and reality, and they both feature vaudeville and Broadway stars like Ray Bolger and Frank Morgan. Ziegfeld’s real-life wife, Billie Burke–played by Myrna Loy in The Great Ziegfeld, plays Glinda, the Good Witch of the East in The Wizard of Oz. Both films are also iconic for certain eras in entertainment. The Great Ziegfeld pays tribute to the massive production numbers of the Ziegfeld Follies. (According to Wikipedia, “The MGM blockbuster’s show-stopper was “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody”, which, by itself, cost more to produce than one of Ziegfeld’s whole shows.”) The Wizard of Oz is a hugely colorful film from an era when the vast majority of films were still black and white. And both films are, at least at times, decidedly over-the-top.

One thing that struck me watching The Wizard of Oz this time are all the parallels between Oz (I’m referring strictly to the film here, as I haven’t read the book) and Alice in Wonderland (I refer both to the book and to Disney’s Alice in Wonderland). Alice’s life is comfortable, though perhaps a bit boring. She has an animal companion, her cat Dinah, just as Dorothy has her Toto. (Alas for Alice, Dinah does not accompany her to Wonderland… at least, not exactly.) When Dorothy watches things going by outside her window as she is sucked up in the twister, it’s like when Alice watches things go past her as she’s falling down the rabbit hole. Maybe it’s just because of the Disney film, but Dorothy’s outfit looks pretty appropriate for Alice, except maybe for the shoes.

Some interpretations of Alice’s look:

And Dorothy:

(Okay, so the colors are inverted.)

Dorothy’s not sure which way to go on the Yellow Brick Road, just as a Alice isn’t sure which path to take in the woods. When Dorothy meets the Munchkins, they think she’s a witch. When Alice encounters a pigeon, it accuses her of being a serpent. Looking around at the start of the Yellow Brick Road, Dorothy says something like, “What a curious place”–much like Alice’s “Curiouser and curiouser!” And then there are double meanings or very literal meanings–a horse of a different color in Oz, for example, and “a long sad tale” versus “a long tail” in Alice (among many others). Both Dorothy and Alice are trying to get somewhere, and neither knows quite what to expect. Both are rather disappointed with what they find when they finally get there (the wizard is a bit of a sham and can’t help Dorothy get home, the tea party is full of nonsense–as is the Queen). Then, of course, there are veiled or not so veiled drug references… the caterpillar smoking, Alice eating cakes that change her, the field of poppies in the Wizard of Oz that puts Dorothy to sleep and then the snow that awakens her. In Disney’s Alice, at least, the flowers can talk. Flowers in Oz pop up and turn out to be Munchkins. In Disney’s Alice, the woods are scary and seem alive. In Oz, the trees can talk and throw things.

The Queen in Alice is a little like the Wicked Witch of the West. The playing cards are her guards, and like the witch’s guards, they do her bidding but they don’t like it or her–they’re afraid of her. Consider this sentence from Alice in Wonderland and then think about the Wicked Witch directing the guards: “Get to your places!” shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each other [...]”

And, of course, in both cases it was all a dream that incorporated bits from real life.

AND… both stories have been examined as political satires.

And then there’s the relationship between Oz in the film and Dr. Seuss. I could go on!

Beware evil doers, wherever you are!!!

Posted on March 2, 2008
Filed Under Blather, family, films, me and my brain | 5 Comments

Recommendation of the day…

Sometime when I was a kid, my family watched Radio Days together. Kim and I have now seen this film countless times, together and on our own, and it’s a long-standing favorite. It’s a sweet, sentimental, funny nostalgia piece–there’s not really any plot to speak of, but it doesn’t need one. As you might guess, it’s full of tons of great music from the 40s. The cast is fantastic, too. I mean, Wallace Shawn plays the Masked Avenger!

…If nothing else, when you watch it, you might figure out where some of the silly things we say all the time come from.

Eurotrip 2007-2008: Berlin, Day Three–New Year’s Eve

Posted on January 18, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, dining, films, wide world of vacation | 3 Comments

My recollections of December 31st in Berlin are a little jumbled. Hopefully I’ll get this right and if not Ez can help me fill in any gaps.

Our first goal for the day was to head back over to the Filmmuseum. It was interesting. I didn’t know exactly what to expect. It focuses pretty heavily on German film, past and present, though there’s also an entire section on Ray Harryhausen and special effects (I think Ez wrote that those bits were special exhibits, but they are in fact a part of the museum’s permanent collection). There’s a section on Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, which I must see a.s.a.p. as it’s a big gap for me as a lover of old movies.

Still from Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)

There are also entire sections on films under the Weimar Republic, Metropolis, propaganda films, Marlene Dietrich, German filmmakers in exile in America during the Nazi era, and modern German cinema. It was interesting to discover that some of my favorite character actors from the 30s and 40s were in fact German or Hungarian actors in exile–for example, Felix Bressart (Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, To Be or Not to Be) and S.Z. Sakall (Christmas in Connecticut–Mr. Hunky Dunky himself!, Casablanca, In the Good Old Summertime)… not to mention one of my favorite directors ever, Ernst Lubitsch (Trouble in Paradise, Ninotchka, To Be or Not to Be, etc.).

Ezra describes the section on Nazi-era German films on his blog. It’s one of those things–so fascinating. It’s like this train wreck that never should have happened but you can’t look away. At first I didn’t even realize that visitors were supposed to pull out the drawers tucked into the wall. It was only when I saw another visitor doing so that I realized. If the museum didn’t arrange the Nazi-era section that way, it would take up way more space. I can’t help thinking that reflects their complicated relationship with that part of their history. They’re not proud of it, exactly, but they know it’s important and they know that it fascinates people. The museum notes next to each display are certainly written from the viewpoint that what the Nazis did was terribly wrong and a sad, disturbing tragedy. But at the same time, putting their vast collection in that little room and keeping the displays largely put away in drawers definitely gave the whole thing a relatively low profile. Very interesting.

The Marlene Dietrich collection is massive and takes up two rooms (or was it even more?). They are obviously proud of their Berlin-born star. Their collection includes costumes and items from her films, outfits from her personal wardrobe, letters, photographs, and personal effects like her make-up box. It was pretty neat. For anyone who loves her the way I love Garbo or Bette Davis it must be a shrine.

The section on Harryhausen totally reminded me of Nora and her dad. Harryhausen was responsible for all of those fabulously goofy effects in Clash of the Titans, which I might never have seen had it not been for Nora. Nora, if you ever go to Berlin, I think you’d enjoy the Filmmuseum.

One of Ray Harryhausen’s creatures

After the museum, we needed a little refueling. The Sony Center is in a pretty touristy area, so we decided to stick with Billy Wilder’s, the bar/cafe adjacent to the Filmmuseum. Apparently Billy Wilder was Austro-Hungarian (he was born in an area of what is now Poland) and wrote a lot of scripts for German films until Hitler came to power. At that point, like many other Jewish filmmakers during that era, he emigrated to the U.S. (via Paris) and moved in with Peter Lorre in Hollywood. The Germans seem to love him, though–possibly because he directed A Foreign Affair with Marlene Dietrich, which takes place in Berlin. We had little coffees and shared some apfelstrudel. It was quite nice, but so crowded. We had a heck of a time trying to get the attention of the wait staff so that we could get our check. Oh well, there are worse places to be stuck for an extra 20 minutes.

Billy Wilder’s

If I’m not mistaken, we then caught a bus back into the Tiergarten en route to the Bauhaus Archive. Unfortunately, it turned out to be closed for the holiday, so we were only able to enjoy it from the outside.

We resolved to return on Thursday.

At this point I get a little fuzzy on what we did next. I think we ended up on a ferris wheel–or was that the previous day? Well, one of those days we rode a big ferris wheel at twilight.

We returned to our hotel that night via Savignyplatz, where we noticed lots of nice little shops and restaurants. We decided to go to a tapas place in Savignyplatz for our New Year’s Eve dinner. It was festive, though I must say a couple of the vegetarian dishes were a little disappointing. We had a good time, though.

Ezra on New Year’s Eve, having fun at the tapas restaurant

On our way home from the tapas restaurant we stopped at the petrol station convenience on the corner and bought a bottle of champagne (or was it cava?) and a bag of decadent German cookies. On our way out, we encountered a bunch of people walking around setting off firecrackers. Apparently fireworks that are not legal (at least, not for an average citizen without some kind of license) in most places I’ve been in the U.S. are both legal and popular in Berlin. We watched (and admittedly chuckled at) some of the New Year’s concerts and such on TV, but mostly we drank our champagne and gazed out our window at the fireworks people were shooting off the roofs of surrounding buildings. Lots of other people with windows off the courtyard were doing the same thing. The firecrackers were bouncing off the buildings. It was noisy and raucous and the kind of thing that I LOVE about traveling… I think it’s something I won’t be experiencing any time soon here at home.

keep looking »

Song of the Day

Hospitality-Eighth Avenue

Photos

My Photos on Flickr

the shy turnip

Why haven’t I seen Ruby Keeler in more films?

Dolores Del Rio

Confessions!

Overanalyzing Pretty in Pink–beware!

For the two of you who want to see The Little Minister

A Romantic Start to the Weekend

Quote of the Day

The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland

Beware evil doers, wherever you are!!!

Eurotrip 2007-2008: Berlin, Day Three–New Year’s Eve

Song of the Day

Photos

Links

Another place or two to find me

friends

music

Recent Reads

Recently

Categories

Archives