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.

Musical Numbers: Singin In the Rain

The musical numbers in Singin in the Rain have to the be the most joyous things ever caught on film. They also help to advance the plot, and help you relate to characters.  Some of them are frivolous, but most are important to the story line.  (Image heavy post. Sorry!)

The title number truly has me believing that Gene Kelly is in love, and can't contain his happiness. Plus the number shows off his incredible skill as a dancer. Just look at his face! He could have been flying down the street with that level of energy!

This man does not care that it is raining. Not one bit.

Kelly was supposedly very sick the day this number was filmed, which to me makes makes the joy he is able to portray even more impressive.

The first number that Debbie Reynolds performs in, All I Do is Dream of You, is so cute. You really do feel like you are at a Hollywood party, with girls from the floor show at the Copa performing, so they are good, but not perfect, and it really does make me like Debbie's character a little bit more. You fully realize she is just a girl doing what she can to make her dream of being an actress happen.

Make 'Em Laugh shows off the great physical comedy styling of Donald O'Connor. Not only could he sing and dance, but he could be funny as well. O'Connor performed an exhausting routine that to this day people still try to imitate. The routine was featured in an episode of Glee and Joseph Gordon Levitt performed the number as his opening monologue when he hosted Saturday Night Live.  While the attempts were impressive, they did not hold a candle to O'Connor's original number in this film.

Another number that featured O'Connor, with Kelly, was Moses Supposes.  A tongue twister of a song lyrically, and a fast paced tempo for dancing to it is probably my favorite number of the whole film. Plus its just a really fun number, full of energy and life

Look at the height they got! 

Good Morning is a number that is so well known it has been used in orange juice commercials recently. To watch Kelly, O'Connor and Reynolds dance this number is to wonder how they could accomplish this dance without passing out half way through. It is tiring to me just watching them, but all the more impressive that they could get through it, and stay in sync. After filming Debbie Reynolds had to be carried to her dressing room because she burst blood vessels in her feet.  And Gene Kelly apparently went and rerecorded the sound of her taps, because he didn't think they were strong enough. Stories like that really shows you how much goes into making a film.....and the lengths a perfectionist will go to to get precisely what he wants.

She is all leg

And finally we come to the Broadway Melody Ballet, which features the one and only Cyd Charisse. Fred Astaire called Charisse "beautiful dynamite" and I think that is an understatement. The entire time she is on the screen she draws my focus.  When she is the vamp in the green dress I completely forget about the rest of the movie. I forget that I'm watching a what is essentially a dream sequence. 

Look at how clean her lines are.  I'm so impressed

She was a favorite partner of both Astaire and Kelly, and its easy to see why. Girl was an amazing dancer. Also, the dance shows how athletic Gene Kelly was as a dancer.There are other dances that exemplify it better, but this one does a good job of showing his strength.  I'm leaving you with a clip from this number.

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

#10 on Original, #5 on Anniversary, #16 on Laughs, #1 on Musicals, #16 on Passions

Recently thanks to TCM and Fathom Events, I was able to see this film on the big screen.  There is something so amazing about seeing a movie you love, in a theater full of people who also love that film.  I always forget how funny this film is. I’ve seen it so many times, that I know all the punch lines…and the dialogue….and some of the movements the actors make. Whatever. Don’t judge me.

 But being in the movie theater setting, I really paid attention to the dialogue, and little things, like props and the looks on some of the actors faces. It was like direct injecting the funny back into watching it. I hope never to lose it again, because the film is so enjoyable.

Plot recap if you don’t know:  Set in the late 1920s, a new menace is coming to Hollywood: talking pictures.  Will the silent film stars Lockwood and Lamont be able to make the transition successfully? 

The casting in this film is right on. Gene Kelly has a great balance of arrogance at the start of the film, and he can play humble by the end just as well; Jean Hagan is great as the dumb blond starlet; Donald O'Connor pulls off funnyman sidekick, without venturing off into goofy unbelievability. And Debbie Reynolds has a perfect amount of wide eyed innocence, while still being clever when she needs to be.

I think the only bad thing about this film is the editing. There are some really obvious cuts where the scene does not line up, or it repeats from a close up.  And in the middle of a gorgeous dance number, that annoys me every time.  Other than that? It is just an all around great film. 

I think this musical made so many lists, but particularly #1 on the Musicals list, because it is so accessible throughout the entire thing (and awesome).   “An American in Paris” (which is #9 on the musicals list, and often I hear from people could be #1) is fantastic, but the ballet at the end, I find, can turn people off.  But Singin in the Rain is so much easier for anyone to enjoy and understand, even if you don’t usually like musicals and dance.  There are places where you feel more like you are watching a comedy, or a romance, not a musical. And then the musical numbers come, and Bam! You can’t help but be in awe of strength and grace of Gene Kelly, or the commanding presence when Cyd Charisse comes on the screen for one dance number.  Or the ball of energy that is Donald O’Connor. How could a viewer not smile and enjoy it? 

(I  could do a whole post on just the musical numbers alone. I think I will. So, enjoy the overview post!)

Favorite Quote

Lina Lamont: What do they think I am? Dumb or something? Why, I make more money than - than - than Calvin Coolidge! Put together!

[Also, I had a really hard time picking a favorite quote for this one, there are too many great lines!]

Gone with the Wind (1939)

#4 on Original, #6 on Anniversary, #43 on Cheers, #4 on 10 Top 10: Epics, #2 on Passions

Any of the movies in the “10 Top 10: Epic” category are going to be a commitment.  You are committing time, and emotions to watch one movie, one story, for hours. In the case of Gone with the Wind, it is a 4 hour long commitment. Sometimes the movies marked as Epics feel like they take days to experience.  Luckily, with GWTW the time flies. 

But watching Gone with the Wind always makes me so conflicted. I can view it so many ways.  I can get lost in the romance of it all (big sweeping house, Clark Gable taking Vivien Leigh into his arms, etc). Or I can get turned off by the way certain groups of people are portrayed, and what a brat Scarlett O'Hara can be.  And sometimes she is being a brat because she is doing what has to be done to save her families property, and sometimes she is just being a brat because she can. 

Clark Gable gets one of the prettiest entrance shots in any movie, ever.  Standing at the bottom of the grand staircase, camera zooming in to his handsome face. Just a classic movie moment. Hattie McDaniel ties the story together for me, with her portrayal of Mammy. Mammy is an almost constant presence in the film, except when Scarlett goes to Atlanta. Olivia de Havilland as Melanie was great at playing sweet, with out venturing into saccharine. The character of Melanie really was considered to be almost a saint by everyone, so it would have been easy to go overboard, and almost mock the character, but de Havilland was able to walk that line with out going over. 

It is interesting to see history interwoven into Scarlett's story. Make no mistake, this is not a film about the Civil War. It is a film about Scarlett O’Hara; the war just happened to coincide with her life. 

Overall, GWTW really is a story of survival. Life will always have ups and downs and hardships. But no matter what happens, you have to get up and keep on living, one day at a time. Or as Scarlett says "After all, tomorrow is another day."

Favorite Quote:

Scarlett: Sir, you are no gentleman.
Rhett Butler: And you, Miss, are no lady.  Don't think I hold that against you. Ladies have never held any appeal for me.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

#100 on Thrills

We all know the basic story of Robin Hood.  This movie is one of the best versions of it ever made.  Action, adventure, romance. What more could a person ask for?

I love that Marian wasn't just a fainting, helpless, damsel in distress; she actually participated in the cunning moves and the saving, and the defending of England, but still in a way considered "proper" for her time. I suppose in most portrays she is pretty awesome.  It would be pretty badass to see her pick up a sword though.  Speaking of swords, Errol Flynn? is amazing.   Athletic and charming, I can see why he is so great.

I forgot Claude Rains was in this, but I shouldn’t have because Claude Rains is in EVERYTHING.  Seriously, pay attention to his tag on this blog. It will only go up as I write about more films. He is cast in everything because he is good.  Better than good. He is one of the greatest character actors ever.

Random: The horse Marian rides is Trigger, of Roy Rogers fame (before he met Roy, obviously.)  When Trigger died, they had his hide stretched over a plaster model of his likeness, to be placed in the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum.  If that weren’t strange enough, after that museum was closed in 2009, the items from it (including Trigger) were put up for auction at Christie’s in New York in 2010.  I worked next to Christie’s at the time.   I saw Trigger. It was weird.  I’m still trying to figure out why they did this to this horse.   Stranger still, some TV station purchased Trigger.   On one level, I get it. Kind of like the Natural History Museum.  This does not make this seem any less bizarre to me.

Favorite Quote:

Lady Marian Fitzswalter: Why, you speak treason!
Robin Hood: Fluently.

Stats post: The best year in film?

It has often been argued that 1939 is the best year in film.  Such gems as The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Destry Rides Again, Wuthering Heights (with Laurence Olivier), Ninotchka, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Gunga Din, and so many  more were released that year.   So it would seem to be good reason to assume that 1939 would be a year that was well represented on the list, and at 9 films it is;.  But.  1942, and 1982 both top the list for most films at 11 each.

Does this make those 2 years the greatest?  I'm not sure, but it does mean they have a lot of films that appeal to a lot of people.

Here are the films for each year on the list:

1939	1942	1982
Dark Victory	Bambi	An Officer and a Gentleman
Gone With the Wind	Casablanca	Blade Runner
Gunga Din	Mrs. Miniver	Diner
Hunchback of Notre Dame	Now, Voyager	E.T.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	The Palm Beach Story	Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Ninotchka	Pride of the Yankees	Gandhi
Stagecoach	Random Harvest	Poltergeist
Wizard of Oz	Road to Morocco	Sophie’s Choice
Wuthering Heights	To Be or Not To Be	Tootsie
	Woman of the Year	The Verdict
	Yankee Doodle Dandy	Victor/Victoria

Of those 31 films, so far I've seen 15 of them, and they were all pretty fabulous.

I think trying to decide what the best year in film was is too hard of a task. There were so many good films released in the last 100 years, with so much talent.  And these particular films cover such a variety of genres and audiences, from animated, to romance, to comedies, and action adventure fantasy films.  How could you possibly say one year was the absolute best?

So, in conclusion, I need to watch more films from the list and blog more often.  Please accept this post as an apology, and you are hopefully sticking with me as I'm slow to post things :-)

Bad Blogger

So, it seems that I'm terrible about keeping this updated.   Right now things are hectic in my professional life, but that should be slowing down over the next two weeks.

I apologize for the radio silence here, and I shall return in two weeks with a (hopefully) awesome post about a great film from the list, or a stats post or something besides no post.

Working Girl (1988)

#91 on Passions, #87 on Cheers

Oh the 80s.  The shoulder pads.  The overly big hair. So ugly, yet so endearing.  Working Girl is a good example of the fashions of this time, plus it highlights a woman trying to make it in the workforce, and having a brain in her head while still being able to have some fun.

Seriously. Just look at the trailer to see what we are dealing with:

Melanie Griffith plays Tess, a secretary who is taking business classes trying to work her way up in the world. After leaving her job with her pigheaded male coworkers, she is assigned to work for Katharine Parker (played ever so snottily by Sigourney Weaver) who presents herself not as a boss, but as a sort of peer. Of course, Katharine says this, and then treats Tess like a servant. When Katharine tries to steal a business idea that Tess has, Tess gets in touch with Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford in one of my favorite roles of his. Seriously, if you only know him as an action star, watch this.) to help her pull off the idea.  Deception and some hijinks ensue (like crashing an ugly 80s wedding!), and of course there is tons and tons of horrendous 80s fashion and hairstyles. Note: its not all bad, but it is just SO 80s.  Alec Baldwin and Joan Cusack help to round out the cast, and give us some of the typical 80s looks that we would all expect. 

Random: The main song in the film is "Let the River Run" by Carly Simon.  The womens choir sang this when I was in high school. I kind of hated that song then.  I kind of still hate it now. I don't find it to be that thrilling as songs go, but it won all kinds of awards, so maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about. But I really do hate it. Mind you, this does not stop me from singing along if I can recall the words….

Favorite Quote:

Cyn: Sometimes I sing and dance around the house in my underwear. Doesn't make me Madonna. Never will.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

#60 on Original, #66 on Anniversary, and #10 on Thrills

I’m having a Harrison Ford movie week.  It started when I made the discovery about myself that if I find “Air Force One” on the TV, I can not turn it off.  Apparently for me, it is just one of those movies.   I continued with the original Star Wars trilogy, and then ventured off to a newer Ford film, “Morning Glory”.  From there, I’ve gotten to the film that this entry is about, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. 

I forgot how creepy parts of this film can be, when snakes are coming out of corpses in particular.   Also, a revelation from writing this blog, I guess I have kind of always thought of this as a semi-creepy film.  I think this is a hazard of first seeing the film when I was VERY little, and then not seeing it again until I was much older.  What can I say, first impressions die hard. 

And this was a great film to give a viewer a first impression of Indiana Jones: daring, intelligent, and adventurous.  I find it funny how almost timid he comes across when he is teaching a class, and how much of a badass he is when he is looking for an archeological treasure.   Sometimes environment really does affect your personality.   One of the things I like about Jones, and a lot of the characters Harrison Ford seems to play, they are flawed heroes.  Indiana does gets shot and screws up sometimes.  Han Solo does have issues with his ship and ends up trapped by Jabba the Hut.  These characters are not perfect, and that is what makes them the every-person kind of hero.

The score for this film is awesome, as it usually is with pretty much anything John Williams works on.  Just hearing the classic music piece, “Raiders March” or as we all probably call it, Indiana Jones’ Theme, invokes thoughts of daring and adventure.  

The character of Marion Ravenwood is something of a conundrum for me.  Sometimes she is totally self sufficient and fighting and protecting herself, and other times, she is screaming her head off as a damsel in distress.  I guess if you put it in the context of when the story is set, 1936, then it kind of makes sense.  But I want her to be so much cooler than she actually comes across.  Also, she had to run around for a good chunk of this film with no shoes on. What is up with that?

I’ve always said that the easiest way to get a villain into your film without having to give any explanation for why they are evil is to have the bad guys be Nazis. The writers actually noticed this very late into filming, and there ends up being only one reference to the Jewish people and the Nazi’s hatred for them in the whole film, and it doesn’t come until the film is near the end.

Favorite Quote

Marion: You're not the man I knew ten years ago.
Indiana: It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.