Happy Birthday, Doris Day

Romance on the High Seas, above

Today a legend turns 88. The only woman to be the number one box office attraction four years in a row, Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff aka Doris Day celebrates her birthday today. TCM, the amazing classic movie channel is helping her celebrate by showing 28 of her movies starting April 2 thru April 6. Some of my favorites include:' Romance on the High Seas ' [ her film debut with the always acerbic Oscar Levant ], ' It's a Great Feeling ', ' Young Man with a Horn' [ a great movie inspired by the life of trumpeter Bix Biederbecke ], ' Love Me or Leave Me ' [ biopic of  singer Ruth Etting and possibly Miss Day's best performance ] . Others I haven't yet seen but plan to are ' Storm Warning ' with Ginger Rogers and the 40th President Of The United States, ' My Dream is Yours ', supposedly Martin Scorsese's inspiration for his 1977's musical ' New York, New York '. Some of the films missing in action include ' Calamity Jane ', ' Pillow Talk ' her first with Rock Hudson and probably her best known film, and Hitchcock's ' The Man Who Knew Too Much ' which features her signature song ' Que Sera, Sera ' . But I won't complain, just glad these movies are still around to enjoy and TCM is in the business of showing them. Happy Birthday, Doris!

Crush of the Week - Marlene Dietrich

The Divine Dietrich. Marlene. The institution who helped overseas in the war effort during WW II. Sternberg's creation. The Kraut, as Hemingway playfully called her. Her career lasted from 1923 's Little Napoleon to 1978's Just A Gigolo with several ups and down's that any career with such longevity is bound to have. Known for her fabulous legs, deep, masculine singing voice, gender bending wardrobe and perfectionism when it came to her image, Marlene made major impact on the film world in Sternberg's 1929 German classic ' The Blue Angel ' as  Lola-Lola. Singer-slut in a cheap cabaret in pre-Nazi Berlin, she seduces and degrades educator Professor Unrat played by Emil Jannings, a great star of silent German cinema. From that smash hit she followed Sternberg to America and starred in ' Morocco ' with Gary Cooper. In all Sternberg and Marlene made 7 films together in 6 years the last being the intoxicating ' The Devil is a Woman ',1935. Her career was running out of steam by the late 30's until she went comic in the western classic ' Destry Rides Again ' with Jimmy Stewart. This image of Dietrich the saloon girl, Frenchie, is probably her best known to the general public. It was a tremendous hit for her, put her back on top of the film world and for the next 3 years took on roles that were variations of that film. This is the Dietrich that was wonderfully parodied by Madeline Kahn as Lily Von Schtup in the great spoof ' Blazing Saddles'. 

Above, ' Destry Rides Again ' 1939.

The Blue Angel, 1929

Hot Voodoo from ' Blonde Venus' 1932

Going androgynous, 'Morocco', 1930

'Scarlet Empress', 1934

                                After the war, a newer, more mature Dietrich appeared in Billy Wilder's ' A Foreign Affair ' as singer/spy Erica Von Schluetow , taking her back to Berlin for the first time since the pre-Nazi days. In 1948 she became a grandmother at 47. Life magazine called her the World's Most Glamorous Grandma. Can't argue with that. Other roles included: Hitchcock's 'Stage Fright', memorable turns in Wilder's 'Witness for the Prosecution' and Welles's' Touch of Evil 'as  the fortune teller Tanya. The last role of any consequence was in 1961's' Judgement at Nuremberg ' opposite Spencer Tracy. During the remaining 60's and most of the 70's she appeared on stage taking her cabaret style show around the world, singing the songs that she helped make famous: Falling in Love Again, The Boys in the Backroom, Lilli Marlene, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby. In 1982 actor/director Maximilian Schell persuaded Dietrich to appear in the documentary he was making about her, but at the last minute she refused to be filmed. Consequently she was only heard [often being cranky] although many clips from her films were used. This added an extra, haunting quality that the film may not otherwise have had. Marlene died in Paris on May 6, 1992 at age 90.

My favorite Marlene movies: Blue Angel, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Devil is a Woman, Destry Rides Again, Blonde Venus, A Foreign Affair, Touch of Evil. But I repeatedly watch anything she appeared in.
                                           

Priceless Images

Found this and many others like it, on YouTube and they are simply incredible. Cinema icons from the 40's, 50's & 60's hanging out at Rock's place at the beach on a holiday weekend, just like you or I would. Get some of these folks: Film director George Cukor yakking it up with our host Rock. Then there's Adolph Green { co-writer Singin in the Rain, Band Wagon, etc } in sailor hat and red scarf. Oh and look over there, isn't that restauranteur Mike Romanoff in the white shirt ? And look at Jason Robards, he's married to Lauren Bacall  { Betty to her friends don't cha know } in a New York Mets hat!  And here on the coast!! The gall!! Isn't that screenwriter George Axelrod in the blue shirt talking to the camera? There she is: Our girl Betty Bacall, widow of Bogie, but even at forty looking so young and full of fun! There's RJ Wagner in that nice new yellow shirt. Why his divorce from Natalie didn't set him back one bit! And there is Mrs. Thurston Howell III, our own Natalie Schafer at the height of her somewhat dubious fame.

Wow. That was my first reaction to these old 8mm films I found on YouTube. All these folk look so well scrubbed and, well, ordinary. Like my parents home movies from the same time period, only these are not only celebs, but a couple { at least } tinseltown legends. Not just your ol' Aunt Mabel or drunk Uncle Sid making a spectacle of themselves at the 4th of July barbecue. There are other videos I will be posting, including one from Memorial Day 1965 with some footage of  Producer David Selznick { Gone With The Wind }, who was to die on June 22, 1965, less than a month later. And did you get the nice routine with Bacall & Hudson? They co-starred in Written on the Wind less that ten years earlier when Rock was just coming into his own as a major star and Betty was still Mrs. Humphrey Bogart. Love the way Ms. Bacall plays to the camera: she seems just like I thought she would be: Fun and sassy, even without sound.  More coming. I love these things! Whoever posted these priceless images on YouTube, thanks!!! Priceless.

Crush of the Week - Natalie Wood

Not just of the week but my whole life, because I cannot remember when I didn't have a huge crush on the lovely Miss Wood. I guess I first fell for her charms when I was about nine or ten years old. My sister and I  stayed up late one saturday night  [ as we seemed to do a lot, back in the day ] and  watched Sex & the Single Girl on KABC channel 7  broadcast out of L.A. The movie is one of those harmless sex farces from the mid-60's that seemed extremely racy to my adolescent mind but, in retrospect, was quite innocent and harmless. Based on a self-help book by Dr Helen Gurley Brown, it was a precursor to all the self help books that have come after it: He Just Not That Into You, Women Who Run With The Wolves, Excuse Me, Your Soul Mate Is Waiting , etc,etc,etc. You know the drill. But this book, being published in 1962, was a gamechanger. These kinds of books weren't published every week like they are today. Anyway, I digress. Natalie was the total woman for me: Beautiful face, dark brown eyes, great sense of humor, wicked legs, wonderful smile and intelligent.  I still watch her movies and have several on disc, some faves being: Splendor in the Grass, Gypsy, Rebel Without a Cause, The Great Race, West Side Story and This Property is Condemned. In fact, I saw a few of her 70's stinkeroos in the theater: Last Married Couple in America, Meteor, Peeper. None very good and I don't think I've seen any of those 70's epics since.
                              

                                                       
She died tragically in 1981 and I remember that day and the disbelief I felt. She was still young, only 43. Her best movie days were seemingly behind her, she hadn't been in a hit since 1969's adult spouse swapping comedy Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice, but she had made some successful television productions  such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Laurence Olivier and hubby RJ Wagner and a mini-series of From Here To Eternity in the part Deborah Kerr immortalized in the 1953  film version. She was going to appear in Anastasia in Los Angeles in 1982, but that weekend in Catalina ended what would have been her stage debut.

The top picture is from Sex and the Single Girl the other lower in on the set of Gypsy. Check out Natalie Wood's films. I especially endorse Splendor in the Grass [  Her character Deanie may be my fave of hers ] This Property is Condemned and Rebel Without a Cause. Check back next week to see another in my long line of crushes.

" I have always depended on the kindness of strangers"

Since it is an election year [ and cuz it's just plain fun ] I have decided to have a monthly poll of different topics. I am starting off with one of my current [ actually on-going ] obsessions, Thomas Lanier Williams otherwise known as Tennessee Williams. Having just revisited 1959's Suddenly, Last Summer and 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire, and in honor of the anniversary of his birth on March 26 I have decided to make him or rather some of his movie adaptations as the first poll ever here at Movie catholic. So go to your polling place here at Movie catholic and cast your vote. I have inserted a little teaser of a scene from Streetcar, above. Not to influence the voting but I think it has to stand as one of the best adaptations of Williams' work. So come on folks step up and vote, I'm curious as to the outcome. Polls close March 20th

The mourning after

So did y'all see how well I did with my predictions? Not bad, if I say so myself. As for the actual awards, no surprises from this corner except for Ms.Streep's upset. The show itself was so-so. Billy Crystal was a welcome sight [ except for his bloated, rubbery face; he didn't look like himself to me ] but has been funnier. Oh and somebody give Angelina Jolie a cheeseburger and tell her to eat it. With fries. And a shake. The woman looks skeletal!!  In fact this show handed me the fewest laughs in recent times. But the show itself was clocked at a shade over 3 hrs, not bad for these kinds of things: I have sat thru Oscar broadcasts that have lasted 3 hrs 45 minutes. Oy!! So until next year.......

My fearless Oscar forecast

Well well well. It appears to be Oscar season again, that time of year when some of the most paint-by-numbers movies will be recognized as " GREAT ". I use to watch the Oscar's and looked forward to them almost like Christmas. For us movie nuts the Oscar's is our Super Bowl, our World Series, our Stanley Cup. At least that's how I use to feel. Over the past 20-25 years I have come to believe that the awards are a reward for mediocre entertainment. Sometimes I feel the Academy has gotten it right, not always: In 2003 the Academy went for The Pianist in a big way with awards for Actor, Director, Screenplay yet they gave the award for Picture to Chicago. As John Ford said, when his 1935 Irish-based drama The Informer won for these exact same categories yet also lost for Best Picture, " I guess they liked everything but the picture." How does one explain such a thing? One cannot. Is it logical? Certainly not.

As one looks at the backlog of past winners in any of the top eight [ Pic, Actor, Actress, Supp.Actor & Actress, Director, screenplays-adapted/original ] a certain feeling of wtf more than occasionally takes precedent. 1952's Greatest Show on Earth [ which it ain't ] wins Best Picture against High Noon, The Quiet Man, Moulin Rouge, Ivanhoe. High Noon should have been the obvious winner. The biggest shock to me was that Vincente Minnelli's Bad & the Beautiful wasn't up for Picture or Director despite having 6 other noms and winning 5 awards [ Best Actor nom Kirk Douglas the only "loser"] the most of the evening! Yet the Pic winner GSOE didn't even have a screenplay nom! But wft, this was 1952 right? The cinematography for Huston's Moulin Rouge, one the the most beautifully shot films ever, wasn't even nominated in that category. Obviously the Academy didn't know shit from peanut butter. In 1948 The Red Shoes, by consensus one of the most exquisitely film movies EVER didn't get a nom for it's photography either. Yet it got nominated for Best Picture, a very rare thing for a film not from Hollywood in those days, so it is assumed that plenty of Oscar voters saw it. Or did they?

Although I must admit, Oscar sometimes despite all odds, gets it right: 1962's Lawrence of Arabia, 1945's Lost Weekend, 1954's On the Waterfront, 1960's The Apartment, 1943's Casablanca. But for every right there are at least 2 wrongs: George Chakiris over the mighty Montgomery Clift! No fucking way! Clift was an acting God and his performance in Judgement at Nuremberg not only tears your heart out but fucking stomps on it until one is gasping for mercy. Chakiris dances nicely has has an acceptable latin accent. No comparison.

Sometimes Oscar gets a tough decision: 1950's All About Eve vs. Sunset Blvd, 1951's An American In Paris vs. A Streetcar Named Desire & A Place in the Sun, 1941's How Green Was My Valley vs. Citizen Kane & The Maltese Falcon, 1940's Rebecca [ Sir Alfred's only Best Pic winner ] vs. Cukor's Philadelphia Story, Wyler's The Letter & Ford's Grapes Of Wrath and lest not forget that mammoth year 1939 when Gone With The Wind beat out at least 3 great movies: Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach and Mr Smith Goes To Washington! I would hate to see today's Oscar voters choose between these heavyweights among others that year. . Not easy choices and I would say one of these are not really greater than the other. They're all good and deserve a win or place in film history.

So should I care? I use to, but not so much anymore. I'm more philosophical these days. I will watch the Oscar show like I always have every year since 1967 or 68. But the winners and losers [ are there such things ? ] really don't mean as much to me as they use to. Great movies are great movies and will live on despite of having been neglected by Oscar. So to make a long blog entry even longer, here are my predictions for the top 8 categories. Now these are only who I think will win, not who I want or think should win. That would be a blog of a different color.

Best Picture- The Artist
Best Actress- Viola Davis, The Help
Best Actor- Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Supporting Actress- Octavia Spencer , The Help
Best Supporting Actor- Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Director- Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Original Screenplay- Woody Allen, Midnight In Paris
Best Adapted Screenplay- Alexander Payne,Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants 


So there they are! Maybe not my personal choices but the ones I think will win. I don't think I will get 100% but I think I will get 6 of 8. Anybody think any different? If so let me know. Leave me a comment, put your own thoughts on the line. Let's see how close I come and discuss again next week after the dust settles.  I would love to hear from all my followers. Both of them:  Good evening.