Rebecca (1940)

#80 on Thrills

Rebecca is the film version of the book of the same name by Daphne Du Maurier.   Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this movie was full of suspense.  Joan Fontaine stars as a young bride to Laurence Olivier's Maxim de Winter.   No matter what she does, Joan can not live up to his first wife's legacy, the beautiful Rebecca de Winter. 

Fontaine and Olivier

As in the book (which I've never read, but I hope to one day), Joan Fontaine's character is never given a name. This helps add to the feeling that she is almost an after thought, even in her own story.   From the start everything seems to overwhelm her:  Her overly large wedding bouquet; Manderley,  Maxim's mansion;  Rebecca's legacy, which is everywhere she turns.

Mrs. Danvers (played by Judith Anderson), the housekeeper, did not help matters.  She worshiped Rebecca.  Maybe a little bit too much.  At every turn, she seems to be pulling the rug out from Fontaine.  I can't say anything more without spoilers.   

Every time Olivier opened his mouth, all I could hear was Cary Elwes. (Yes, technically it is Elwes who sounds like Olivier. shush.)  Olivier was brilliant, obviously. 

To me, this was different than most Hitchcock films I've seen.  I'm not sure I can pinpoint why.  Maybe because I've watched more of his 1950s work.  It just didn't seem to have as much of the Hitchcock trademark as I would expect.


  
Favorite Quote:
2nd Mrs. de Winter: You know, I, I wish there could be an invention that bottled up a memory like perfume and it never faded, never got stale. Then, whenever I wanted to, I could uncork the bottle and, and live the memory all over again.

Summer Under the Stars

Every August, TCM does what they call Summer Under the Stars: each day is dedicated to one star, from 6am until 6am. They always play multiple films from The List.

This year, they are playing 37 films from The List.  I have seen 17 of these. I have not blogged about most of the ones I have seen. 

Every year, I have the intention of watching a bunch of the films, and every year, I some how manage to watch none of them or only a handful.  I'm hoping to watch a few this August, and hopefully I will then blog about them, for whatever readers I still have that haven't jumped ship a long time ago.

This mission to watch this list is one I will complete in my lifetime, I'm just not sure when......

Citizen Kane (1941)

#1 on Original, #1 on Anniversary

This is how IMDB describes the plot of Citizen Kane: “Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance.”  I'm not sure how else you could describe this film. That description tells you the whole story, and nothing at all, all at once.
Citizen Kane is number one on the Original list and the Anniversary list.  Some people understand why. Some don't. Citizen Kane does not appear on any of the other lists that make up The List. Because, to me, it defies categorization. There is mystery, comedy (or humorous moments), drama, romance (or lack there of);  its dark and light.  To sum it up: this film represents a human life.  

Never mind the fact that it is technically stunning and had so many film techniques that had never been used before.  Note the angles that Orson Welles used.  Characters that were supposed to be high, and mighty were shot from below.  Characters that were weak, or didn’t mean anything were shot from above, being looked down upon.  Welles loved his angles.  {When I write about the Third Man, you’ll hear more about this.}
Citizen Kane is Charles Foster Kane (Welles), who was taken from his home as a young boy in order to give him a better life.    We start the film with Kane’s death, saying one word, which is a mystery though out the whole film, "Rosebud".  We then are told the Cliffnotes version of Kane’s life through a newsreel.  Each section of the newsreel has the quality of a newsreel from the time it was suppose to represent.  Personally, I think this adds to the experience of the film, and was just an extra special touch of the film makers. 

 Kane was able to run his newspaper empire, and become a larger than life public figure. He flirted with the world of politics. Kane was a man who flaunted his money. He was a man who took on the world. Kane was a man who had ambition. He was a man who made mistakes. He was a genius, and he was foolish. He was everyman and he wasn't any man. He tried to have it all, and he still couldn't get what he wanted. 

Possibly the most famous image from this film

But was he ever happy? He had all these material things. He had everything he could have ever possibly buy.  But could he find and buy and OWN happiness?? 

The great thing about Citizen Kane is that its part mystery, part biography, part adventure. Really, it is what happens when you look in-depth into anyone's life.  You can't ask people who are gone what happened in their life. You can't always find out who or what everyone's Rosebud is or was. As someone who is up to my elbows in genealogy and questions I will never get answers to, I understand the reporters desire to find out about Rosebud.  That unanswerable question that could be nothing, or could be the key that opens a thousand doors.

This film  also makes me think about the importance we place on last words.  But that is an entry for another day.

Favorite Quotes (I couldn’t pick only one this time):

Rawlson : It isn't enough to tell us what a man did. You've got to tell us who he was.
~~
Mr. Bearnstein: Rosebud . . . maybe that was something he lost.

Father of the Bride (1950)

#83 on Laughs
After spending a long day shoveling the massive amounts of snow we got, watching a film from the list seemed like  a good idea. And this was a cute one.
Father of the Bride, stars Spencer Tracy, and Elizabeth Taylor.  I know, you were probably picturing this when you saw the film title: 

What up, Steve Martin?

Well, here is a surprise. That was a remake.  It was interesting to see the differences and similarities between the remake and the original.  The father still misses important events on the wedding day, the bride still has a fight with the groom, the presents still pile up.  I will say, I like the way they updated the old fashioned bits from the original for the remake.  It was also interesting to see how some scenes were exact repeats of the original/remake.

It was kind of odd to see Spencer Tracy running around a house, trying not to miss things, not fitting into a tux, etc. I’m use to him being so much more…serious.  Even though I know he has been in plenty of comedies. 

And of course the bride to be, Elizabeth Taylor, is gorgeous. As always her acting was excellent. 

Not sure how I feel about her dress though....

Some of my favorite actors show up in this, but briefly.  Billie Burke is Elizabeth Taylor's mother in law (but she isn't nagging anyone!!!) and Russ Tamblyn is the younger brother, but he doesn't do much in this film.  A shame really, because he is excellent (You probably know him from West Side Story.)

I think my favorite thing in the film was Spencer Tracy complaining about having to pay $3.75 a head for the reception. I used a conversion site, and figured out how much that would have been in today dollars.  The number amount he is bellyaching about? $35 a head .  $35!!!  All I could think was how happy people would be if they could throw a wedding reception for that amount…

Movies where weddings are a main plot point always make me think of the weddings I've been to/been involved in.  The ups, the downs, the stress, the excitement.  Sometimes I think people miss the point of the day, worrying about the money or making sure everything is perfect.  And then like in the movie, one person walks down the aisle, eyes locked on the other, and all is right in the world....at least for a little while.

/being sappy

Favorite Quote:
Stanley Banks: I always used to think that marriages were a simple affair. Boy meets girl. Fall in love. They get married. Have babies. Eventually the babies grow up and meet other babies. They fall in love. Get married. Have babies. And so on and on and on. Looked at that way, it's not only simple, it's downright monotonous. But I was wrong. I figured without the wedding.

Gaslight (1944)

#78 on Thrills

Hey hey now!  A blog post! What is this mysterious thing, long forgotten? I failed miserably at reaching my year goal in 2012 for the list, so I'm going to try to make up for it in 2013 by being more consistent with both my watching and my blogging. Wish me luck, faithful readers!

Lets start off the year with the psychological thriller, Gaslight.  I always find suspense, and psychological thrillers to be so much more frightening than gore and horror.  Because the things in a psychological thriller like Gaslight? could foreseeably happen. And we all know that reality is scarier than any fiction.

Gaslight tells the story of Paula, who's aunt was a famous opera singer.  The film starts after Paula's aunt is murdered, with Paula is trying to start over.  She meets and falls in love with Gregory.  They get married, and move back into the home where her aunt was murdered.  Suddenly things start to go missing.  Gregory is insisting that Paula herself is taking and losing the items, but she has no recollection of doing such things. Is it all in her mind? Or is something more sinister going on? (The answer is yes.  Something more sinister is ALWAYS going on….)

Beautiful, but crazy. Or crazy, but beautiful?

Ingrid Bergman is looking gorgeous, as usual.  I find that she always plays characters that terrible things happen to (or at least in the films I’ve seen).   She plays these tragic characters so well, though.   Bergman must have been doing something right, because she won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role (her first).

This film marks Angela Lansbury's film debut, as a maid. That would come full circle for her, when she became a tea pot….

Fun Facts: Gaslight was originally a play, and has a few film adaptations.  When this version came out, MGM apparently tried to destroy all the prints of the 1940 version.  Luckily, they were unsuccessful.  Gaslighting is now used as a term in clinical and research literature for psychology, the phenomenon coming from this story.

Favorite Quote:

Gregory Anton: I knew from the first moment I saw you that you were dangerous to me.

Brian Cameron: I knew from the first moment I saw you that you were dangerous to her.

Topper (1937)

#60 on Laughs

When a move opens with Cary Grant driving a car with his feet, (whilst singing) you know it is going to be good.

Seriously. With his feet. In a tux!

Cosmo Topper (Roland Young) is the president of a bank. George Kerby (Grant) is the largest shareholder in the bank.  The two could not lead more different lives.  Kerby and his wife are carefree, party goers.  Topper's life is micromanaged by his wife down to the second. Mrs. Topper is played by Billie Burke, who most of you know as Glinda from The Wizard of Oz.  

{I wonder if she always plays bossy people?  Topper don't run, Topper eat this for breakfast. Follow the Yellow Brick road. Figure out your problems for yourself, Dorothy. Nag nag nag.}

Topper takes a strange turn early in the film (no spoilers, so I'm not telling you what the turn is. If you really want to know, you can Google it).  The film is basically the story of how the Kerby's teach Topper to relax.

I feel like this is the definition of screwball comedy.  Because I see most of these wonderful films on TCM, Robert Osborne told me that this was Cary Grant’s first foray into screwball comedy. I'm so happy he continued in them after this, because he made some great ones. So if you are looking for a fun, slightly bizarre, film to watch, Topper is an excellent choice.


Cosmo Topper: My wife objects to drinking.
George Kerby: Then she shouldn't drink.
Cosmo Topper: She doesn't.
George Kerby: What's her objection?

~~~

O.M.G. A blog post!  I know it has been a while….a long while.  I apologize to the few readers I have if they are still around.  I got busy with work stuff, and to be honest I haven’t been watching movies from The List that often.  But now I am in the mad dash to meet my movie watching goal for the year, because I failed so spectacularly in the first 11 months of the year.   December is usually my annual “I need to watch films from the list because I was a slacker all year” time.  It is becoming sort of a tradition. 

Either way.  This (hopefully) means more blog posts, and more consistency here, at least for a little while.