Rebel Without A Cause

MERRY CHRISTMAS DEAR READERS!

TO GET IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT...

READ SOMETHING ELSE! 

BECAUSE I'M WRITING ABOUT JAMES DEAN IN REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE!

AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME!

Now, I've realized the format of this blog has gone a little astray. I actually had some structure to my older posts, so I'm going to try something new and go back to the old way of writing these posts.

MR. JAMES DEAN, THE REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE IN POP CULTURE

I think James Dean is the male equivalent of Audrey Hepburn. You might ask, "Why, Lila? Why would you ever say such a strange thing?" Well, I'll tell you. It's because they're freakin' everywhere. Posters, calendars, books about Hollywood celebrities, mugs, t-shirts, you name it. The two of them, although I don't think they ever appeared in a movie together, are major Hollywood icons and are engrained into our good ol' American culture (in my opinion, if you give a damn). I have seen plenty of Audrey Hepburn movies (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, to name a few), but I had never seen a movie with James Dean.

Now, I have been curious about the movie Rebel Without A Cause specifically ever since I learned to drive and got my license. When my Mom had to add me to the auto insurance for our car, they had to have me come in and watch a short, dumb video that talked about safety and rules of the road, etc, in order to get a cheaper auto insurance (I guess so they know that I know how to drive, even though I have a license). In the video, was a teenager who did lots of bad things that made him a bad driver. It was really terrible and I don't remember much of it except for in this kid's bare bones set that was supposed to be his bedroom, was a life-size, cardboard cut out of James Dean in his red jacket from Rebel Without A Cause (I think it even had the title printed at the bottom). He was just in the background (sometimes even in the foreground, or in line with the actors). Nothing was said about this cut out. It was just there.

Now, what was the production design of this little stupid video trying to say? Was it supposed to help describe the teenager's character as a rebel without a cause (and perhaps suggest that's why he made such bad driving decisions)? Was it supposed to be strange subliminal messaging against the main message of the video (ie, one should rebel against the rules defined in the video)? Or was it some poorly judged reference to the fact James Dean died in a car crash? Well, I had to find out. And the only way this was possible was by watching the movie.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION

James Dean plays Jim Stark, the new kid in town, someone who's used to spending the night in jail for getting into fights for being called a chicken. He likes a girl, named Judy, but she runs with a pretty rough crowd that forces him into situations that end pretty badly for one of the characters (I won't tell you who). While he wants to be popular and well-liked, he mostly wants a friend. He finds a friend in Plato, a kid who has nobody... no friends, no family.

MY THOUGHTS (IF YOU GIVE A DAMN)

I have to say, I loved the movie. I still have no freakin' clue what James Dean's cardboard cut-out was doing in that driver's ed video I was forced to watch, but it lead me to a pretty fantastic movie. I realize my description above is pretty terrible, but it's really because I don't want to give too much away.  I really think that it was amazing and, dear readers, wherever you are, you should all go watch it because I can't say it enough... it was really good.

Someone has to fact check me on this, but in my limited knowledge, this is the first movie to really tell the story of the teenager. My boyfriend disagreed and said that perhaps there were movies earlier on that had teenagers having a good ol' time, and this is the first movie that took teenagers seriously. This may be true, but it can't be that much earlier since teenage culture and the word "teenager" itself wasn't even invented until after World War II. Here's an article on the word "teenager" that, although I didn't read all of it and it is from a home-schooling website, seemed interesting and relevant to the movie. Enough of that tangent. My point is, this movie took on a whole new culture that had not been explored before (to my knowledge), and it is done well. I was fascinated the entire time. It really hit home how little has changed since the 1950s, because I've met people like James Dean's character and I know people like Plato . I was extremely sympathetic towards their characters. To this day there isn't a good system in place to help people like Jim Stark and Plato. It's a bizarre, as of yet, unexplained side effect of our culture today, here in America. I think this movie was truly ahead of its time. 

Before I finish up this post, I have to add a film student note about the production design of the movie and so forth. The colors in this movie was amazing. And James Dean's red jacket was brilliant and continues to be iconic today. I'm female and I still want a jacket like James Dean's in this movie. Maybe it was James Dean's jacket, or maybe it was the gorgeous James Dean himself, or maybe it was the fact it was shot in Technicolor, or maybe it was the camera angle, but I fell in love with the movie from the very first shot of the opening credits.

I want to make movies like Rebel Without A Cause.

COMING SOON: Will the future be brighter? We'll find out with Blade Runner... next.

All About Eve

So, way back in the beginning of the summer, I wrote a little post about Ninotchka. Shortly after that post I debuted the blog to my friends via a link on my Facebook. Shortly after that, my good friend, known on blogger as mattgmallon, posted a comment that I should watch All About Eve. His exact words: "Watch the next six movies AS FAST AS YOU CAN, just so you can get to watch ALL ABOUT EVE!!!!!!!!! BETTE AT HER BITCHIEST BEST!!!!!! DOFIJ#)@($*#$)914932094 -Matt"

Well, I didn't get around to it as soon as I promised in my response. Once I got back to school, after the first USC football game I went back to his dorm and we watched All About Eve together. Well... as much as I could get through. I really liked the movie, but I was so tired from the game I only got about halfway or three quarters of the way through the movie when my eyes started to droop and my head started to fall forward, and jolt me awake. I wanted to do the movie justice, and I desperately did not want to fall asleep during the movie, so I promised him I would come back later to watch the rest.

Later unfortunately turned out to be much later. We both got busy, and when we were able to hang out, we usually forgot that I had to finish the movie and didn't get around to it. I finally sat down to watch it on Netflix instant on my computer when I had a little bit of time to spare and Matt and everyone else was busy doing homework and studying.. other things I probably should have been doing. Unfortunately, I got severely sleepy again while trying to watch the movie and was forced to take a nap before being able to get through the last twenty minutes. After three attempts, I finally was able to finish the movie, and check it off the list. 

I honestly did like the movie. I'm sure that it's hard for you to believe that since I just told you that I fell asleep twice during the movie, and took so long to get around to seeing it... but keep in mind this isn't the first time this has happened. Feeling overwhelmingly sleepy during a good movie was also problematic for Ferris Bueller's Day Off. This also occurred while I tried to watch The Searchers, a movie I have not yet written about because I have not yet finished it. It was even more of a problem than Ferris Bueller's Day Off and All About Eve... I was drifting off within the first twenty minutes. So, my sleepiness is not a sign that I did not like or enjoy the movie, but rather that I may have a problem of not sleeping enough (I'm in college, what can I say). 

But let me move on to discussing the actual movie.

Why is All About Eve culturally important? Not only it's a favorite film of one of my best friends', but also because it is probably the Bette Davis movie. Before All About Eve, I had never seen a Bette Davis movie. She's a pretty big classic figure in pop culture. Ever heard the song "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes? Well, I'm obsessed with 80s music, so I have. When I first heard the song, I am ashamed to say that I didn't know who Bette Davis was. 

Cut to first semester of college in Drew Casper's CTCS-190 class (A bit of background for the non-USC film major reader: Drew Casper is a critical studies professor at USC who teaches, along with several other classes, 190, which is the Introduction to Cinema class that absolutely everyone in the film school is required to take. He's a professor you either love, or you hate. He's overdramatic, constantly says how much he hates Post-Modern films, and how much he loves Doris Day. I personally liked him and thought he was hilarious and entertaining. I meant to mention in my Baby Doll post that I had been watching the special features... and guess who was one of the people they interviewed for the special features? Drew Casper! There he was in my living room! It was shocking and hilarious.). Drew Casper mentions Bette Davis when he talks about the movie Whatever Happened to Baby Jane a movie that co-stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (who we had just watched in Mildred Pierce, one of my favorite movies of all time now, and the movie I quote every time I'm drunk), and about how they hated each other. A huge fan of Bette Davis, Matt leaned over in his seat to me and spoke of the overload of sassiness that must have occurred on the set, and how Bette Davis would be able to take Joan Crawford any day.

For that class, I also read a good portion of the assigned reading. One of them was an essay about one of Bette Davis' movies, The Corn is Green and Mr. Skeffington, which I still have not seen, but I read about them anyway. Both of them (if my memory serves me right) talked about how amazing Bette Davis was, and yet how difficult she was to work with.

With Matt's blog comment first and foremost in my head, I watched All About Eve expecting a wonderful, sassy Bette Davis... and that's exactly what I got.

She has so many wonderful quotable lines in the movie. On the same top movie quotes list I referenced in my She Done Him Wrong post, one of Bette Davis' line from All About Eve appears as number nine on the list... "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

Now, for those of you have not yet seen All About Eve, I'll give you a little background. The movie is about Bette Davis, whose character name is not Eve (as I expected from the title), but instead Margo Channing, a famous actress. Although she's getting older, she still gets to play the parts of twenty year olds in plays written specifically for her, and has a hot young boyfriend. But, when super-fan, Eve, is invited in from the rain and taken under Margo's wing, Margo begins to get a little bit worried that Eve, also an aspiring actress, might be out to steal her career... and her boyfriend. It all comes to a head during a birthday thrown for Margo's boyfriend. A friend of Margo asks her "We've seen you like this before. Is it over or is it just beginning?". And Margo responds... "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

Someday I will watch this film again, and I will determinedly stay awake through the whole thing and watch it in one sitting.

I will certainly do that for Matt's movie, which he just finished the first draft of the script for. It's inspired about Bette Davis and her sassiness. It'll be made into a movie, if not by some studio or awesome indie director, I'll pick it up and make it. I would say more about it, but perhaps I want to leave a cliffhanger... so that you all will want to come back and keep reading my sporadic blog posts.

COMING SOON: Perhaps my favorite movie of the bunch I've seen thus far- Rebel Without a Cause.

Blow Up

Let me start off this post by saying: Blow Up... is... such... a... good... movie. I have absolutely no clue how it got on my list... but I'm really glad it did.

Well, it's on nearly every top 100 movie list I read when I first compiled this list (see my Movie List post for the links to my lists). But, I'm not exactly sure what made me pick it out of the many movies on the list I hadn't seen. But something about it intrigued me. Maybe it was the super awesome poster that happened to be next to the name at the time I looked it up. Or maybe it was because I was looking to put more movies from the 60s on my list and this movie happened to be made in the 60s.

But the point is that it's a really good movie... and no one's heard of it before.

I loved it. It didn't always make perfect sense to me the whole time, but I still loved it. Probably because it's the same era and tone of another one of my favorite movies, Easy Rider (may Dennis Hopper rest in peace).

After I watched the movie, I looked up other articles about it online, to try and figure it out (what did the re-occuring mime troupe mean?) and to learn a little bit more about its history. I think Roger Ebert puts it best in his article. This may seem like lazy blogging, but I honestly after I read this article I was like "I can't write any more about Blow Up, this article says it all!" So, take it away Mr. Ebert...

COMING SOON: Finally, the review of the film talked about by my one beloved comment on this blog- the sassy Bette Davis in All About Eve.

She Done Him Wrong... Again

So, after writing my barely coherent post on She Done Him Wrong last night (well, technically early this morning), I was inspired to watch the movie again. So, I did! It's a very interesting movie. I like it, but I wouldn't say it's the best movie that I've watched from my list. I'm surprised it was nominated for the Oscar for its year. Perhaps it wasn't as good of a year for Oscars? Although isn't 1933 technically considered part of Hollywood's "Golden Age"? Perhaps this will require further investigation. I may have to watch the other nine nominees of the year (yes, there were ten total, just like they recently changed it back to).

But the point of this post was not to put down She Done Him Wrong, but to instead marvel at the strangeness of the movie. I may have said in my last post that Mae West was ahead of her time (if I didn't say it, I meant to). But, when I watched the movie again, I tried to think of a Mae West equivalent today... and I couldn't think of anyone. I feel like there are a lot more female comedians today than there were in the 1930s (this requires more research though), but none of them do the type of comedy and the type of characters Mae West does. It's still not accepted for a woman to be so uber flirtatious. If Mae West were starting her career today, would she have any chance of becoming the star she was in the 1930s?

So, my vast many readers, I pose you this question: can you think of a Mae West equivalent?

That is all...

She Done Him Wrong

Who is Mae West, you may ask? Well, if you're asking that question, you obviously didn't write a paper Junior year of high school about comedy films during the Great Depression like I did. To answer the question, Mae West is a female comedienne and sex symbol. Despite the existence of people like Tina Fey, it is still, unfortunately, common belief that women aren't funny... let alone sexy and funny. To whoever may think this, I would like to point them in the direction of Mae West. I found her extremely ahead of her time and relevant today (then again, do sexual innuendos ever go out of style?). She is the Queen of innuendo. She's her own woman. She owns and runs her own nightclub and flirts with every man she damn well pleases to flirt with. She's smart, cunning, sexy and hilarious. 

Well, perhaps you don't recognize the name Mae West, but you might recognize the line "Why don't you come up some time and see me?". It's on AFI's Top 100 Movie Quotes list and is ranked as number 26. Haven't heard it? Well, it also happens to be one of the most misquoted movie lines and is often quoted as "Come up and see me sometime" (which exaggerates the innuendo of the line a little bit). She says it in She Done Him Wrong when she is talking to Cary Grant (yes, he got his start doing movies with Mae West) who plays the leader of a local temperance group. His character's name? Captain Cummings. Yes. His name is Captain Cummings. He hangs around the Lady Lou (played by Mae West) works at in order to ensure there's minimal trouble.

And what a lot of trouble there is! The most amazing thing about this movie was not marveling at how many obvious innuendos they were able to sneak past the censorship of the time (actually, many point to this film as one of the reasons why the production code was put into place), but also at how much plot happens in a mere 69 minutes (yes, this raunchy comedy is cleverly 69 minutes long). I am incredibly bias (and I think this came up before in my post about Gone With the Wind) when it comes to the length of a movie. I think, the shorter the movie, the better. Ever watch the deleted scenes on the DVD? More often than not, you can see the reason the editor cut it out in the first place. Even for movies that I am a super fan of (like the masterpiece Hot Rod), I like better with the extra scenes cut out. However, because shorter movies have less time to repeat things, it means you have to really pay attention to make sure you catch everything that's going on. Inevitably bits and pieces are missed, bits of plot, or a joke or two, but I think this makes viewing it a second time even better. She Done Him Wrong is an incredibly complex story with lots of twists. It moves at an incredibly fast pace and the Mae West's hilarious innuendos come from all directions. I haven't had the pleasure to watch it again since I saw it the first time, but I can't wait. And you know what? I can do that practically whenever I want! It's not a chore like watching Gone with the Wind. Even though Gone with the Wind is a more critically acclaimed movie than She Done Him Wrong (although, both films were nominated for Best Picture in the Academy Awards... She Done Him Wrong happens to be the shortest film to ever to be nominated Best Picture, and Gone with the Wind is the longest), I would much rather sit down to watch She Done Him Wrong over and over again. 

COMING SOON: Blow Up... which if I were Mae West, I would make into a sexual innuendo.

Baby Doll

I am now officially on Winter Break. I finished my last final on the 14th, flew back last night and spent the day today taking a much needed break from doing anything at all, whatsoever. 

But now it's time I get back to business. And by business, I mean writing this blog post that I've started approximately five times, but have never finished. It's about Baby Doll, the very last movie of my summer list that I actually watched while still on Summer Break. So, it's high time I write about it.

Baby Doll isn't a movie that's very well known. It's one I put on the list before I decided the theme of this blog would be classic movies in pop culture. My parents are film buffs and they had never even heard of this movie. But, that doesn't mean I went into this movie without any expectations.

I'm not exactly sure how this movie got on my radar. It's written by Tennessee Williams, so that might be how I found out about it. I was in a little play written by Tennessee Williams my freshman year of high school called The Dark Room. To try and understand the play better, we all sat down and watched a PBS-esque documentary on Tennessee Williams' life... and boy, did he have quite a life. If you don't know anything about Tennessee Williams, the main thing you should know is that he was incredibly afraid of going insane his entire life. His sister, who he was very close to, suffered from schizophrenia (and his mother might of as well, I don't remember exactly... look it up yourself). She was in and out of mental hospitals and eventually got a lobotomy. Since insanity was so close to him, he was desperately afraid of going insane. This makes a whole lot of sense when you watch his works, especially A Streetcar Named Desire.

Now on to Baby Doll. The movie's about a woman nicknamed "Baby Doll". Her father arranged a marriage for her at the age of 18, right before he died, with the clause that his daughter and her new husband, would not consummate the marriage (that means have sex, folks), until she turned 20. Before her 20th birthday, she sleeps in a separate room, the nursery. It's like the picture on the movie poster above. It's strangely childish, yet seductive, which is the perfect description of her character and the whole tone of the movie.

With my background knowledge of Tennessee Williams, his other work and the subject matter, I viewed this whole movie as a terrifying drama about a woman who is completely trapped. Her husband is creepy (at the beginning of the movie he watches her sleep in her crib through a peep hole) and demanding. Her only escape comes from Eli Wallach's character, who is equally sleazy. He seduces her in order to get information about his burnt down cotton gin. Half the time during this movie I was afraid of her getting raped, and half the time I was sure she was going to get killed.

Apparently this movie is a comedy.

I was shocked, SHOCKED, when I saw that it was categorized as a "Dark Comedy", and people's reviews on Netflix said things like "This movie was sooo funny" (that was not an actual quote, but you get the point). Now, I'm in an improv troupe at USC. I watch stand up comedy more than I listen to music. I know comedy. And I know dark comedy. I consider Harold and Maude dark comedy. But Baby Doll is NOT a dark comedy. It is just dark. And Tennessee Williams is NOT a comedic writer. He's a man who is terrified of going insane, and has the constant feeling of being trapped, and that's exactly what this movie reflects. The only thing funny about this movie is that someone labelled it with a "comedy" sticker at the DVD store. 

Perhaps I did miss something. Perhaps I do need to give the film a second chance, and try and see it through a more comedic lens. But, I would like to do a poll. My dear readers, (oh my dear inexistent readers) please watch this movie. Watch this movie and get back to me about whether you think it's a comedy or not. I would really like to know.

Sincerely,

Lila

COMING SOON: 69 minutes of the Masteress of Innuendo- Ms. Mae West in She Done Him Wrong.

Gone With the Wind on Whose Line Is It Anyway

I'm a big fan of improv. In fact, I'm in an improv troupe here at USC. So, it makes sense that in my free time I watch YouTube clips of old "Whose Line Is It Anyway" episodes. While perusing said clips, I stumbled upon this one which is completely based on Gone With the Wind. Colin plays Scarlett O'Hara and Ryan plays Rhett Butler and they have to incorporate lines that are on strips of paper in their pockets, but mostly they're doing a parody of Gone with the Wind. I decided to post this though because I think Ryan does an amazing Clark Gable impression. And, it's a wonderful example of something in pop culture I can now appreciate more because I've seen the movie. Here's the clip. Enjoy!

Adam's Rib

I hadn't heard of this movie very many places other than from my film class with good ol' Drew Casper last year (it was one of the movies on a list of options we could writer a paper on... I did not write my paper on this one), and from my mom. I think I mentioned it to her (perhaps in reference to the paper) and she said "Oh, I didn't like that one so much. It rubbed me the wrong way."

This intrigued me. My mom loves watching romantic comedies and it was a common to find a partly watched old favorite in the DVD player when I would go to put in a Friends episode or something. Sabrina, The Philadelphia Story, Pat and Mike are the first that come to mind. So, when she said that she didn't like Adam's Rib, it tipped me off to the fact that this romantic comedy was different. So, I was extremely curious to find out why.

And the difference was clear from minute one of the film. Most romantic comedies are based around two people (usually a man and a woman), who hate each other and then after being thrown together in a lot of unavoidable and ridiculous scenarios, they eventually realize they're perfect for each other and fall in love. This is the basic story plot of my favorite romantic comedy of all time (and possibly favorite film of all time) It Happened One Night (and it is shocking how few people have heard of, let alone seen this movie and it is amazing, so if you're one of those people stop reading this and go out and watch it... don't worry I won't be insulted if you stop reading). 

However, Adam (Spencer Tracy) and Amanda (Katherine Hepburn) loved each other from the very beginning! Not only do they love each other, they are the cutest, happiest, most perfect couple portrayed in movies! The sweetest scene is when they're cooking dinner together and talking about their new cases (which end up being cleverly the two sides of the same case). It just melted my heart and made me miss my boyfriend ten million times more (since I watched this over the summer when he was still across the country). And when they look back at the old movies documenting when they bought their house? I could literally watch that for days. But, where were they supposed to go from there? Nowhere but down, apparently! This movie was incredibly frustrating and depressing because it's more about their separation than any kissing and making up. And, even at the very end... well, I won't give it away. 

For this reason, I must put Adam's Rib as one of my less favorite romantic comedies. I loved the idea: a lawyer couple are pitted against each other in the same court case and I loved that it was a court case that also had to do with a battle of the sexes. I also loved the way it was shot. There's one shot in particular that I just adored and may steal in one of my future movies that just framed the room in between the two rooms where Adam and Amanda are getting dressed, respectively. Throughout their conversation, they just poke their heads in occasionally, but remain at the far edges of the screen. It's absolutely amazing and adds to the cuteness of their relationship superbly. I also enjoyed Katherine Hepburn; not because she was doing a great job at being Amanda, but because she was great at being Katherine Hepburn (I realized watching this movie that she's really not a very good actress, she's just gorgeous and has a wonderful voice for talking... but I can go into detail about that on a different post). But, I couldn't stand seeing their relationship being torn apart: specifically by Amanda (I'm sorry, she was a bitch and incredibly stupid).

However, this conclusion goes into another aspect of this blog that I have not addressed as much: how much someone else's opinion on a film influences what you see in a film when you watch it. If my mother had not said that Adam's Rib was not one of her favorites, would I have looked for or even noticed the aforementioned problems I had with the film? This reminds me of when my parents rented the film Wanted and for some reason under the impression that Ang Lee had directed the film (my Dad mixed up which box he had read Ang Lee's name on in the video rental store) and found whole new meaning in the shots and the decisions made in the film and found it much more masterful than it was. I've tried to be objective when watching these films, and really determine if they're worthy of being classics in this day and age... but, I'm just a lowly film student! How can I say that a film isn't a classic anymore? I'm still learning what it means to make a good film! If anything, I should watch the films and find the goodness in them rather than cynically judging them and determining whether they're worthy of pressing the Like button on Facebook (yes! I just made a Facebook reference! I truly am an internet savvy blogger!)! I will have to examine this more in future posts.

COMING SOON: Baby Doll- Tennessee William's dark... comedy?

Dial M for Murder

I haven't seen Psycho. I haven't seen Vertigo. I haven't seen North by Northwest. So, for some reason I decided to watch Dial M for Murder, which is a movie I hadn't heard much about until I put it on the list (so much for the pop culture theme). 

But, I have to say that Dial M for Murder is highly relevant today. It was made in the 1954, when 3D was all the rage... sound familiar? Warner Bros. told Alfred Hitchcock that he could either make the movie in 3D, or not make the movie at all. So, he made it in 3D. However, by the time the picture got released, the 3D craze was over, and it wasn't really shown in 3D anywhere.

But, the movie still holds up! It was intriguing and full of twists and turns and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The story was great! The performances were great! It all came together beautifully to make a film that didn't rely on a gimmick.

Now, I'm not saying that seeing the movie on a big screen in 3D wouldn't have enhanced my film-going experience for this movie. However, Dial M for Murder did not rely on the special effects to make the movie worth watching... unlike some recent 3D flicks (*cough* Avatar *cough*).

That's right, I said Avatar between coughs! You may not give a damn about my opinion, but this is my blog, so I am allowing my paragraph to rant about this so called "revolutionary film". Ever since I saw previews for the film, I decided to boycott it. To this day I have not seen it... despite the $2,767,691,607 box office (according to good ol' Box Office Mojo), the Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Why? Because even before the movie came out, everyone saying Avatar was going to finally cause the movie industry to completely convert to 3D and I desperately do not want 3D to be my future. Now just watch... my first big break will be a 3D movie. My family and I always joked my first project I would be hired to direct would be the live action "My Little Pony" adaptation... I'm just that much more excited to have it be in 3D.

Now, enough of my ranting. I'll go on to say that I really liked Dial M for Murder and that I can't wait to sneak into a ton of screenings of Alfred Hitchcock's films on the big screen for the Alfred Hitchcock class Drew Casper does here at USC. He is most certainly a director I need to catch up on because he is obviously hailed for a reason if this less famous movie of his is so awesome.

COMING SOON: An unusual classic romantic comedy- Adam's Rib.

The End of Summer

So today is August the 20th. I officially moved back in to USC on the 18th (that's 2 days ago for those of you who still have summer brains). Although classes don't start until Monday the 23rd, I don't see there being much of a chance that I'll get through watching 50 movies in the 62 or so hours I have until I have to get to my first class. There just simply aren't enough hours!

At first I was a bit bummed that I did so pathetically with my list of movies this summer. I mean, 15 out of 65 movies?! (For the record: I watched, but didn't get around to writing about Dial M for Murder, Adam's Rib, and Baby Doll. So it does equal 15) I had a plan! I'm a film production student! Aren't I designed to watch movies? Well, there was one thing I forgot about being a film production student: I also like to do other things than watching movies so that I'll actually have something to make movies about.

And speaking of making movies, I finally got around to finishing editing a project I started during first semester. It's written by and stars Clinton Jake who I met during orientation. After he helped me out with some last minute acting in a 24 hour film challenge, he asked me if I could help him out by directing a film he wrote entitled "I Love Me". It became a very interesting experiment, directing someone in something they wrote, but I think I got some of my voice through in the editing (I kind of went a little bit crazy with the sound effects and music). The short film certainly is no Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but I'll put a link to it here anyway, in an attempt to promote myself as a filmmaker. Here it is (if you give a damn).

But enough of that. The point of this post is that although I'm sad that I didn't watch as many movies as I wanted to watch, or make as many movies as I wanted to make, or write as many blog posts as I wanted to write, we have to keep in mind the blogger from Post #1 who was determined to write a blog starting New Year's Day... and never wrote anything else. At least I'm better than that.

And although the summer is over, I do still want to watch the rest of those movies on my list, and I will get around to it. It may take me a very long time, but I will watch them, I WHILL! (That's a Hot Rod quote for those of you who haven't experienced it's brilliance). When the mood strikes me I may also blog about them. But don't hold me to that.

I'm a very busy girl, in a very busy, pop-culture filled world.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

I saw this a very long time ago, so it's HIGH TIME that I write about it!

First of all, I have to say that Frank Capra is one of my all time favorite directors. I mean, he directed one of my all time favorite movies: It Happened One Night! My junior year, I wrote a paper about comedy films in the Great Depression, but really I chose that topic as an excuse to write about that classic film that inspired Bugs Bunny's character. During the research for this paper, I fell in love with Frank Capra. I was reading one particular interview with him in Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age: At the American Film Institute that absolutely fascinated me, has stuck with me ever since and has been monumentally influential to me and the types of films I want to make. I liked the interview so much that I photocopied the entire 32 pages of Frank Capra's interview so that I could keep it forever and not have to spend the money to buy the whole book. Clever, huh? 

I photocopied all those pages, but the most important part to me is only about a sentence or so long. I would quote it directly, but I just went looking for the pages and I can't find it in the mess that I call my room. It was Frank Capra discussing his directing style and how he would have actors rehearse twice as fast and then pull back just the slightest bit so all the dialogue would go at about a speed 1.5 times as fast as normal dialogue. He said he did this to keep ahead of the audience because when he went to other movies he noticed the audience laughing at jokes before they were even done being said. He wanted to fix this by having the dialogue faster. BRILLIANCE! When watching his movies, it's a little more subtle than you would guess from the way he talks about it in his interview, but you can tell and it does keep your attention. Although I do love the slow pace and awkwardness of the modern indie film, I think a lot of comedies today could be improved by picking up the pace and I have decided (semi-based on Frank Capra) that I want to direct my comedy films in a much more caffeinated, farcical and stylized way.

But I shall write about all my hopes and dreams of directing in another post. I have digressed from my discussion of Frank Capra's awesomeness...

Another memorable chunk of this interview talked about Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and how because one side of the lead actress, Jean Arthur's face looked like an "angel" and the other looked like a "horse" they  only shot her from one side (her good side of course) the entire movie. This was a fascinating thing to observe while watching the film. The sets were built and the camera set up so that she only had to enter on her good side and it was staged so she only had to occasionally cross and reveal the "horse" side of her face (and only for a brief moment if at all). She was also usually put in extravagant hats that sloped down one side of her face, brilliantly hiding that unfortunate side of her face. You can even see in the poster above that her right "bad" side is mostly hidden by James Stewart's face and her good left side is very much favored!

This bit of knowledge before going into the film certainly influenced my experience of the film. Does an obscure book of interviews count as pop culture? I think not... but I will for the purpose of keeping this blog within a theme.

Despite the distraction of watching only one side of Jean Arthur's face, I really loved this movie. Just like I have loved all of Frank Capra's other movies I've seen (It Happened One Night of course, You Can't Take it With You which my high school also did a production of a few years ago, Arsenic and Old Lace, and of course It's A Wonderful Life).

 It's certainly one of Capra's more patriotic films (not counting all the  Why We Fight films he did during World War II which I have not seen), and that's saying a lot because Capra is most certainly a very patriotic director. A film like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington would never get made today. Hollywood tends to lean much more towards films berating congress and the government for this poor decision or that unfixable and upsetting corruption, than ones that glorify the American congress and our wonderful freedoms and rights as citizens in this fantabulous country. You certainly wouldn't find a five or so minute montage of Washington D.C. monuments superimposed over a massive American flag waving in the wind in a movie today. My initial reaction was to think the patriotism overdone and ridiculous, but that made me think about the time the film was made (when patriotism was more of a good thing), and the time and place I've been raised and our film industry today (where patriotism has more of a bad spin to it).  It was very interesting...

Before I conclude this post I would like to add one more thing. I wish they had shown this film to me in my high school Government class. I learned more from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington about our Congress and how laws are made than I did for the entire semester I took that class. It made me realize that 1) I went to a public high school, and that even though it was pretty and looked like a college campus and had an amazing Drama program it still left me with some pretty silly holes I have to fill in and 2) that films can be really important teaching tools to the masses and 3) that they can do this without assuming the audience is an idiot and can still be thought-provoking, amazing and interesting films. *Not that those films don't exist today.

And finally, pictures of Frank Capra looking intense, alluring, deep in thought and also laughing.

           

COMING SOON: Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder!

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

The story of Ferris Bueller's Day Off is very similar to that of The Princess Bride. I don't mean the actual  story of the movie itself, (although if I was feeling particularly academic and argumentative and pretentious I could write some sort of parallel between the two), I mean my experience of the two films was rather similar. I saw the beginning of Ferris Bueller's Day Off in my PE class in 7th grade (I think seeing this movie in school was highly ironic... especially a PE class... I hope it had been raining that day). But, of course, middle school class periods were only 45 minutes long which really wasn't much time to do anything, and it certainly wasn't enough time to watch a movie. So, we watched half a movie and I never came back to it... until now.

Well, sort of. The movie was on MTV, so I recorded it using my handy DVR (product placement?). I then sat down to watch it relatively late at night, when I was home alone and missing my boyfriend. I fell asleep in the middle of the movie... and ironically at approximately the same place I had stopped watching in my middle school PE class! 

It ended up the third time was the charm when watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The next day I woke up, and (drumroll please) finished the movie! Really, it was a good movie, and I don't know why it had taken me so long to get around to finally watching  the whole darned thing (and I would like to apologize to John Hughes up there for falling asleep during his movie, I truly am ashamed), especially since I am also a huge fan of 1980s teenager movies. 

But let's get down to talking about pop culture. Like The Princess Bride, Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a movie that gets referenced in everyday conversation relatively frequently, and it is one that people are always shocked, SHOCKED I haven't seen before. Whether it's "Save Ferris" or "Bueller" repeated in that dull, monotone voice of the teacher (I think it was TBS that had an ad that for their station or the fact they were playing the movie that literally just consisted of that scene of the teacher saying "Bueller"), it's a movie that's engrained into our popular culture.

Why? Well, it's because Ferris Bueller's character is basically who we all want to be. I don't know how the following bit of information got into my head, but it's a bit of information I like so I'll write it here: movies we like to revisit and watch over and over are movies about worlds we want to be in. This especially applies to movies about bad (but likeable) characters because we all secretly want to be Ferris Bueller, even though we know society would just collapse if we all had the ability to sneak into a parade and create a party on the streets of Chicago. I know I want to be Ferris Bueller!

But this movie isn't perfect. I have to say, I wasn't a huge fan of Matthew Broderick in this movie. I liked what his character did and what his character said, but Matthew Broderick struck me a little bit too sheep like to completely pull off being the wild and crazy Ferris Bueller. You know who would have been awesome as Ferris Bueller? John Cusack. But that's really because I'm a huge John Cusack fan [especially in Better Off Dead, which if you haven't seen it, you need to go to your local video store, or put it on your queue on Netflix, or watch it for free on YouTube (you criminals, you!)]. And I am not as big of a Matthew Broderick fan because he made a movie about Richard Feynman which I didn't realize until I was halfway through writing a screenplay about Richard Feynman. How many movies can there be about Richard Feynman? Exactly.

Well, kiddies I should go watch some more movies now (or write another blog post on one of the movies on my list I've already seen...), but before I go I would like to give you this fun Ferris Bueller link. Now go entertain yourselves for hours.

COMING SOON: Mr. Smith goes where? Oh. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

The Princess Bride

So, I watched The Princess Bride probably about a month ago now.... so it's high time I write about it (before I completely forget about what I was going to say about it).

I had seen the movie before... well, part of it. I watched it with my Mom years ago when I was very little, and I distinctly remember we never finished watching it. I'm not sure why we never watched the end. It wasn't a Bambi or Old Yeller sort of thing where she was protecting me from seeing a terribly sad ending or scene. I think it was time for bed and we shut it off and never came back to it... until now.

My friends and I got together because I hadn't seen anyone since after my trip to Atlanta (yes, that's when I saw Alien... so that's how long it's been since I've written on this blog). The plan was to watch an episode or two of my friend's favorite show Father Ted and maybe watch a movie. Well, suggest the possible chance to watch a movie to a film student and ask to bring a couple along and you'll get a bagful of about ten movies to pick from. I forget what other movies I brought with me, but in the bag happened to be The Princess Bride (yes, I own this movie, which is why it's even more of a puzzle that I never had watched the end) and after much deliberation, we all determined that that was the movie we could all agree to watch.

The movie wasn't my favorite, I have to say. It's terribly cheesy and ridiculous, but it was the perfect movie to watch with a roomful of my best girlfriends all squeezed on to one couch. I wouldn't have wanted to watch it any other way. If I had watched it by myself, I'm not sure I would have made it past the Fire Swamp scene where my mother had stopped the tape the first time I saw the film.

And I think it was certainly important for me to see it. Why? Because this film is frickin' everywhere! They used parts of the fight choreography between Inigo Montoya and Westley in my high school's production of The Three Musketeers! It starred Andre the Giant, a strange pop culture phenomenon himself (what with his image all over the world with the word "Obey" plastered by graffiti artist and designer of Obama's famous Hope poster Shepard Fairy). And do you know how many times I have heard the line "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."? Far more than you think would be possible in everyday conversations! And now I finally know! Now I too can quote and reference The Princess Bride!

Really, this movie hasn't lasted as long as it has for furthering the cinematic art, but because it has become a pop culture icon with its hilarious quotes, and vignette-like situations perfect for recounting with friends "remember when...". And that is where it gets interesting folks. There are pop culture movies and classic movies. Classic movies may be referenced in pop culture, but can stand alone. Without pop culture, movies like The Princess Bride would disappear. (I just made these terms up right now. Makes me seem smart, don't it?).

This post could be interpreted as dissing or hating on The Princess Bride and wonderfully quotable movies (Superbad comes to mind as another example of a pop culture movie). I don't mean it that way. It's fun to watch movies with friends that you can talk during and share moments with later. The same can't be said as well about The Bicycle Thief (Remember that scene when the guy's bike was stolen? That was like, so emotional). Not quite the same.

And the pop culture movie vs. classic movie divide SHOULD NOT be confused with a divide between genres! I would say Ninotchka is a classic movie even though it's funny because honestly, it isn't really referenced in pop culture ever and it has great cinematography, great acting, and has a little bit to say politically. Can dramatic movies be pop culture movies? The only example I can think of is The Other Boleyn Girl... although I'm sure there are others, and that that isn't the best example.

AND that brings up another point! There are good pop culture movies and bad pop culture movies (I would say The Princess Bride and Superbad are good and The Other Boleyn Girl would be categorized as bad... guilty pleasure at best). Good pop culture movies stand in the pop culture spotlight for a longer time (and are parodied, not made fun of), and may even represent pop culture itself.

But now I'm starting to question my definitions... can a pop culture movie become a classic movie by standing the test of time? What really is the definition.

Enough with the essay-like writing and defining of terms!

I'm moving on.

COMING SOON: Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Because John Hughes is awesome.

Alien

Okay... so I skipped about thirty movies in my list. Sue me. I was visiting my boyfriend across the country and wanted to snuggle during a scary movie. And from what I hear, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington isn't very scary (although who knows! The last two movies were completely different than I expected).

But, before I talk about Ridley Scott's Alien, let's jump back a couple months and talk about Saturday Night Live. This past season, Sigourney Weaver hosted an episode and during that episode, Laser Cats 5 aired. Let me put it this way... I AM A HUGE FAN OF LASER CATS/ SNL DIGITAL SHORTS/ THE LONELY ISLAND!!! There. I said it. I think they're absolutely hilarious. However, Laser Cats 5 was not quite as funny. Why was this? Because it was a parody of Alien (and James Cameron movies in general) and I'm not dissing parodies, but I hadn't seen Alien, so I just didn't get it.

So, I had to see Alien.

And I did.

And then I watched Laser Cats 5 again. And not only did I laugh hysterically at newly understood jokes, but I also realized how much Laser Cats 5 spoils of the movie! I'll just put a SPOILER ALERT here so I can talk about how Ash is a robot. This exciting twist in the movie was completely "spoiled" in Laser Cats 5 when they make Fred Armisen's character, The Captain, a robot too. END SPOILER ALERT. Now, I put quotations around "spoiled" because I didn't realize that it was spoiled until I watched Laser Cats 5 again after watching Alien. This intrigued me. Either I have a terrible memory and should go to the doctor or because I hadn't seen Alien and didn't get the joke, it went over my head and I just didn't remember it because there wasn't anything to remember. Now, how much am I walking around in life, running into pop culture references to movies I haven't seen, books I haven't read, songs I haven't heard and just not remembering? This may account for the seemingly strange phenomenon that after seeing a particular movie or learning about a particular thing, it seems to suddenly be everywhere. Maybe it's because it was everywhere, but it just went over your head so you didn't remember it and didn't really think about it. It's like learning how babies are really born when you're little and suddenly an entirely other world you were completely oblivious to comes into your consciousness. Perhaps these are all old realizations for everyone else on this planet, but it has finally come to me in actual writeable words, and made me realize why this blog has been so difficult to write.

Because, it seems to be that for most of these classic films I have seen thus far, despite their constant appearance in parodies, etc. my experiences of the films haven't been spoiled yet. Which is kind of what this entire blog was based on...

Let's just wait until I get to Psycho though, which I accidentally read the ending of in a magazine. Maybe then my opinion of the success and level of interestingness of this blog will change... if you give a damn.

COMING SOON: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." ... It's Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride.

The Bicycle Thief

Long time no see, dedicated readers! It's been a while since I've posted, but I've still been watching movies (well, some of them off of my list... some of them not). Now it's time to play a little game of catch up in the blog posting arena.

I watched The Bicycle Thief about two weeks ago now I think, but it was so fantastic and memorable I think I can pull off writing a post about it so much later. 

Why is The Bicycle Thief on my list you may ask? Well, it appears on most lists listing movie greats! How does it fit in with the whole attempted pop culture theme of this blog post, you may ask? Well, let me tell you, dear reader, but according to an NPR interview, The Bicycle Thief happens to be Mr. Woody Allen's favorite flick. So, since Woody Allen is one of my favorite filmmakers, I had to see his favorite film, in hopes of discovering the inspiration to his unique comedy films.

Note: the fact that The Bicycle Thief is Woody Allen's favorite movie is the ONLY piece of information I went in with when I popped in the DVD. So, I expected something similar to Woody Allen, or at least something funny.

Note to future viewers of The Bicycle Thief: this movie is NOT a funny movie. It is a GREAT movie, but it is not a FUNNY movie. 

Now that I think about it, my expectations of the film and what the actual movie turned out to be was the opposite of my expectations and the actual film Ninotchka. Ninotchka I expected a dramatic spy movie and got a hilarious comedy and with The Bicycle Thief I expected a hilarious comedy and got a tale of crushed hope in the middle of the Italian depression. I would say that maybe I should do more research before I start watching a movie, but it really just adds to the wonderfulness sometimes. [Like, when I saw Napoleon Dynamite, I thought it was going to be an epic war movie because all I knew about it was the title (which sounds pretty violent to me) and a screenshot I saw when they're hiding in the grass to give Summer her cake (obviously the rifles I could've sworn I saw in their hands as they faced death in this World War I/II epic was purely imagined). This grossly inaccurate misconception made the awkward comedy and foodie opening credits so much better.]

But, for those of you who like to know a little bit about a movie before they go through the trouble of watching it, I shall give a bit of background. The Bicycle Thief made in 1948 depicts the struggle for Italians to get back on their feet after losing the second world war. This neorealistic film certainly isn't made as an escape from the times, but rather a snapshot of the worst. The inciting incident happens right away in the film, when Antonio gets a highly sought after job (not that the particular job is highly sought after but that any job is highly sought after), and it is made clear to him that he needs his bicycle in order to take the job. This requires a bit of sacrifice. He has a bike, but it needs to be repaired, and in order to do so, his wife sells the family's sheets. However, he doesn't get it for long. As anyone could guess from the title, his bicycle gets stolen on the first day on the job. Unemployment and hunger hanging over his head, he and his son search for the bike in the enormous city of Rome.

A seemingly simple plot, the film is full of layers. It's not just about a bicycle; it's a comment on survival in society, on morals and on human nature. Therein lies its brilliance: the films ability to take the simple idea of someone stealing a bicycle and making it complex, emotional and intense. 

Of the movies on my list I have seen thus far... The Bicycle Thief is my favorite. In fact, I may watch it again before the summer is out, I liked it so much. The depth of the characters, the realism, the composition of the shots, Vittorio de Sica's brilliance... all are reasons why They Bicycle Thief is climbing towards the top of my favorite movies list.

And I'm not just saying that because I want to be like Woody Allen.

COMING SOON: ... Alien. Okay, I skipped a couple on my list...

Ninotchka

NINOTCHKA

How did this film get on the list? Well, I've never seen or heard of it referenced in popular culture BUT, it has been a film that has been recommended to me several times AND it appeared in a 100 Best Spy Movies magazine that I purchased in the airport for some light reading while traveling from San Fran to LA (or was it the other way around? the point is, it doesn't matter).

I didn't really know much about this movie. It appeared in a magazine listing best spy movies so I assumed that it would be... a spy movie. I did not expect a romantic comedy. I mean, perhaps the big blue letters at the top of the poster "Garbo Laughs" should have been a hint that it wasn't your typical action spy movie, but something more hilarious. And, I really wouldn't consider it a spy movie. I mean, Greta Garbo may play a Russian in France, but I wouldn't really consider her a spy. I mean, the one guy who I could consider a spy would be the bellboy who ran and told the Duchess that her stolen jewels were in the hotel safe of the Russians. But, I don't think that minor character would be enough to qualify it as a spy movie.

Definitions aside, I think the larger reason this movie is on my list is not so much the movie itself is culturally important, but that Greta Garbo is in the film and she's culturally important. Up until this point in time, I had never seen a Greta Garbo flick. It's kind of a similar situation to Buster Keaton scenario: I'd read about and heard about Great Garbo inside and outside of class, but had never really watched any of her movies. Although Ninotchka probably isn't the first example of this silent star turned talkie phenomenon that comes to mind when thinking of Garbo's work, she was still nominated (for the fourth time) for the role.

And for good reason. In my opinion (if you give a damn), Garbo made the movie. Although the three Russians were a bit funny in the beginning, and introducing the Duchess and the jewels was necessary for setting up the plot, I didn't feel like the film was anything special until Garbo came onscreen. Not only did she get great dialogue to start with, her flat delivery and unchanging, serious expression made the lines even more hysterical. I am tempted to put some quotes here, but upon looking at imdb's extended list of memorable quotes, they just aren't the same read as they are when Garbo says them. Her performance was a great example of the-more-serious-you-are-the-funnier-it-is. 

Speaking of being serious, halfway through the movie, amidst the laughter, I remembered the slogan of the poster/dvd label... "Garbo Laughs". Now, I get that it's a play on early 1930s film advertising with "Garbo Talks" to promote talking pictures... but halfway through the movie, she wasn't laughing! So, I was incredibly puzzled as to why this seemingly ironic statement was used for the film's advertising and promotion. But! A little over halfway through the movie, I think, she did indeed laugh... and it was a major turning point of the movie! So, I was even more confused as to why they chose to put that on the poster. I would put a spoiler alert around the fact that she laughs, but they've given it away already! Why would they do that? I have no answer. Please, someone help me with ideas.

The somewhat brief conclusion to this is this: I really enjoyed this film. It was a great example of a romantic comedy (and a very poor example of a spy movie) with the furthest possible opposites attracting: the Russian communist and the Parisian capitalist. Although formulaic, it was still enjoyable, tight (for two hours) and it somehow ended up being able to surprise me in the end with how the two finally got together.

So, if you haven't seen Ninontchka, go watch it.

COMING SOON: Woody Allen's favorite movie: The Bicycle Thief 

Gone With The Wind (all four hours)

GONE WITH THE WIND

So... I have finally arrived at the movie that inspired this entire blog... the four hour classic Gone With the Wind. 

Since the title of this blog is derived from a quote in the movie, I shall begin by discussing Clark Gable's grand finale line "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

First of all, when I read the quote on the website I looked it up on (to confirm that the line was indeed from Gone With the Wind), it said that it was his "last line" or his "last words" (I don't remember the exact phrasing...) which gave me the impression that he died in the end. SPOILER ALERT However, he doesn't die! Practically everyone else in the movie dies, but Clark Gable does not die. It may seem a little comedic to put spoiler alerts around this, but I thought it was very surprising, and worth a spoiler alert. END SPOILER ALERT. Second of all, after the movie ended, my dad (who had watched the fantastic making of Gone with the Wind, which I may have to add to my constantly expanding list of things to watch), he said that apparently it was a very big deal to use the word "damn" in the film. Scandalous!! My, my, what would the people of the 1930s think of the foul mouths of the two main characters in Superbad? They would probably think there wasn't enough soap in the country to wash out their mouths.

But, this brings me to another point. Perhaps even more than being a historical epic, Gone with the Wind is a sign of the times of 1939, which is why I think it has risen to the caliber of "classic" and will continue to remain an important film in our history. Even though movies are considerably long now (Lord of the Rings comes to mind), I can't think of any that are four hours long. But, in the Great Depression (a time period I am bizarrely fascinated with), the longer people got to sit in a movie theater, and get swept off their feet with epic romance and stories of people overcoming financial obstacles, the better. 

But just because it's a historical film (in two ways), why is it still talked about, quoted and referenced today? Is it relevant? Well, I could go into a long rant about the economy and how times are more similar to the Great Depression than ever, but it wouldn't really be true. From what I've read/seen/heard (because I can't really call the following fact since I haven't done much official research), the economy isn't as bad as it was in the Great Depression and even if it was, people's reaction to the poor economy is different. This bit I did research: although studios lost money in the stock market crash just like everyone else, movies were the most profitable business during the Great Depression and they soon gained it back from all the people who bought tickets because they were looking for an escape. According to an article in the prestigious Entertainment Weekly that I just read, the box office is extremely low this summer. Maybe it's because Hollywood's making Sex and the City 2 instead of Gone With the Wind, but it doesn't seem like people are looking for an escape by going to the movies. If anything, people seem to be going to the movies less because they want to save money (who blames them when a ticket to see Shrek Forever After in 3D in New York is twenty bucks?). 

So, where am I going with this exactly? I'm not really sure. I think my point is, that I don't really see why it's still "relevant" today other than that it is a glimpse into the past, which seems to be what people really love. I can't say this as fact, of course, but from my perspective of the world, it seems that society glorifies the past in a somewhat jealous way. It's a strange mix of "look how far we've come" and "look at what we've lost". I can't really think of why it's relevant other than the reason that it is relevant because it's a good movie that people like. 

This has gone into a long ramble about things I didn't expect to write about that I'm not an expert on. What I am an expert on is my own opinion and my thoughts about Gone with the Wind were these:

I'm glad that I saw it. I actually really liked it... until hour four struck. That last hour to me felt repetitive and I started getting annoyed with the characters (especially Scarlet O'Hara) and thinking that they were stupid. Not that they as characters were stupid, but that they're decisions were stupid (I was still very engrossed in the highly developed characters throughout the movie). But, it did feel repetitive. I mean, there were four scenes where Scarlet approached Ashley and asked her to tell her that he loved her and he gave a mixed message response. I think the "comedy rule of three" should be applied to everything, including epic romantic dramas called Gone with the Wind. To quote Schoolhouse Rock, "three is the magic number". When things happen more than three times, it gets old.

In conclusion, I'm glad that I sat through all four hours though, because now I can solve crossword puzzles that appear in the "Coming Attractions" brochures they have at my video rental store. 

15 Across: Family name in Gone with the Wind.

Although I guess I could have known that from just being exposed to pop culture.

COMING SOON: Garbo Laughs! in Ninotchka.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein

So, to finish off the first "week" of movies (really it's been three...), I've continued the scary movie trend with the 1931 Universal Studios classic Frankenstein.

Now... where have I seen this story before? Unlike The General which was much more difficult to pinpoint where it popped up in pop culture (get it? popping up in pop culture? never mind...) the story of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster is everywhere (and I was much more familiar with the story before and after I saw the 1931 version). I've seen the Kenneth Branagh version with Robert De Niro as "The Creature" (it was bad, don't see it), the parody Young Frankenstein with Gene Wilder (which was recently adapted into a Broadway musical that flopped), and the very weird but very awesome movie Frankenhooker (yes, it's exactly what it sounds like) that a friend turned me on to. The movie is referenced in other favorites of mine like Better Off Dead when John Cusack's character makes the Van Halen singing burger, and is the inspiration for Anthony Michael Hall's character to make a woman out of a computer in Weird Science. I've read part of the original Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein (I am ashamed that I have not yet written in this blog that I have read an entire book, I promise I have). Heck, I've even written my own Frankenstein short story parody called The Doctor about the creation of the Coolest Man Alive [If I'm feeling courageous, I may post it. Hell, no one reads this, I can post whatever I want! I will post it! I WHILL! (Hot Rod reference. Classy thing to do on a blog writing about prestigious movies. I will write a defense of Hot Rod as the best movie ever though one of these days and post it. Cool beans.) Moving on...].

So what's so great about the 1931 filmic particular telling of the Frankenstein story? Other than the fact it's old?

Well, in my opinion there are many reasons why this movie is great because, although it has been tough competition this "week", I may have to declare Frankenstein my favorite movie from the list thus far.

Here's Why Frankenstein Is Great (In My Opinion, If You Give a Damn)

#1) It's only 70 minutes long. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's an hour and ten minutes for those of you who don't have your calculators on you. This may seem like an incredibly stupid and shallow reason to put in defense of why a movie is great, but hear me out. By making a movie short, it forces a filmmaker to cut the fat and make the movie as tight as possible, and whoo-boy! This movie was tight! There was not a scene that did not progress the plot, and no scene went on for too long. This movie did not need to be longer than 70 minutes, and it didn't need to be shorter than 70 minutes, to quote goldilocks it was "just right". Especially considering the fact the film was an adaptation (a loose adaptation, but an adaptation nonetheless), it's trimness and leanness is even more impressive. 

It shows that the screenwriter had to be creative to really make a movie inspired by an old book fit a new medium and a new audience. The point of this movie is not about the scientific revolution, because that wasn't relevant and didn't fit. What did fit, was a fear and fascination with crime and criminals. 

**Note: The lesser, worse filmic adaptation stuck too close to the book, was stale, and lasted for a grueling two hours and three minutes. Even if 1931's fascination with criminals still isn't relevant today, the creativity (like the creativity of the original book, even though the scientific revolution isn't really happening anymore) that went into its creation shows. That is something the Kenneth Branagh version lacks.

#2) It's still scary. Okay, it isn't terrifying or gross like what qualifies as a scary movie today, but I still found myself on the edge of my seat when Frankenstein SPOILER ALERT killed the assistant Fritz. END SPOILER ALERT. The most powerful and scariest moment for me was after SPOILER ALERT Frankenstein had accidentally killed the little girl, Maria, thinking she would float like the flowers. The moment that got me was when her father was carrying her dead body through the streets, in the midst of celebrating Frankenstein's wedding. END SPOILER ALERT. The contrast was just so powerful and moving and terrifying. And it made Frankenstein scary not by showing his scary face (which isn't as scary anymore as it probably was back in the day since his image is everywhere, I'm sure I've seen his face on a t-shirt somewhere), but it made him scary by showing what he had done. 

Now, I must note here that I'm really not an expert on scary movies at all. I've seen a few, but have generally stayed away from scary movies because... well... I don't want to be scared, honestly! So, I'm trying to step up my scary movie stamina by starting with the oldies, that I'm already familiar with, before I move on to The Silence of the Lambs which appears later in my list. I liked Frankenstein because overall it wasn't very scary at all, but it still had its moments that made me sit on the edge of my seat and biting my nails a bit. Silence of the Lambs will have me clawing at the ceiling, I'm sure.

Well, I feel like this blog post has out-worded its welcome, so I'm going to end it, even though I feel like I could always write more about Frankenstein. 

COMING SOON: The next "week" of movies: The Year of 1939 (and one from 1949). First up: the four hour epic, Gone With The Wind.