We Represent the Lollipop Guild (The Wizard of Oz 1939)

The Wizard of Oz, much like Gone With the Wind is a movie that is tough to write anything new about.  I certainly do not need to write a synopsis for it because anyone who can read has likely seen it by now.  Although, that may not be the case for this generations children, because it is not as a big deal on television as it was when I was a child.

Lets start with the cast which is probably well known by many.  Judy Garland as Dorothy, Frank Morgan as Professor Marvel, The Wizard, Ray Bolger as Hunk/Scarecrow, Bert Lahr as Zeke/Cowardly Lion, Jack Haley as Hickory/Tin Man, Billie Burke as Glinda, Margaret Hamilton as Miss Gulch/The Wicked Witch of the West, Charlie Grapewin as Uncle Henry, Pat Walshe as Nikko, and Clara Blandick as Auntie Em.

There are a few musicals out there that I can tolerate, this is one of them.  I can still recall the excitement when I first saw the commercial each year announcing when The Wizard of Oz would be aired.  Perhaps it is because my first appearance on "stage" was as a munchkin/flying monkey in a production that some of the adults staged at the condominium complex I lived in a the time.  I would later star as Sneezy in a production of Snow White, but that was a year away.

I can still remember being terrified of the flying monkeys as a child and recall having recurring nightmares that involved blood red flying monkeys chasing me home from the playground near my house.  I could never outrun them, I was always stuck in mud and the door to my house was always locked.  I am sure I had other nightmares as a child, but this is probably the only one I recall so vividly 37 years later.

Judy Garland was probably the first girl I had a crush on, well maybe I had a crush on Marie Osmond too.  At least Marie was alive, Judy had long since settled down for her dirt nap by the time I had first seen The Wizard of Oz.  I was young and innocent and had no idea of her drug and alcohol problems.

I am sure many movie buffs know all the trivia there is to know about this movie, but I will mention some things here anyway.  First, I was unaware until I watched Broadway Melody of 1936 that Buddy Ebsen was originally cast in the movie.  My wife shared this with me.  My wife told me he was originally supposed to be the Tin Man, but after I did a bit of searching, I found that isn't wholly accurate.  He was originally cast as the Scarecrow but agreed to switch with Ray Bolger as the Tin Man.  Ebsen inhaled some of the aluminum dust from the paint and had a very severe reaction to the paint and became seriously ill.  Jack Haley then came in to replace Ebsen.  Apparently in the 50th Anniversary DVD release there is some Buddy Ebsen footage that was included in the additional content.

This may not qualify as trivia, but it is interesting to me how many people think that The Wizard of Oz was completely black and white and was later colorized.  It was filmed in both sepia and Technicolor, but it was on TV annually.  Most people who grew up watching it on TV only had black and white TV's so they did not get to see the movie in its original format.  Now I had always heard that the reason for the black and white and color recording was because of the tornado footage.  I remember hearing that it was to be all in color, but there was no stock tornado footage in color and that is why the beginning and end is in black and white.  I have been unable to confirm this.  I think it is more likely that the switch is to make Oz; the land that Dorothy is swept off to, appears more magical by filming it in color.

Oz was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, but Best Picture is what put it on my radar.  As I mentioned in my Gone With the Wind blog, 1939 was a good year, a very good year.  It did not win Best Picture and it did not deserve to beat out Gone With the Wind.  That is not taking away what a great movie it is, but it give you a good idea of how much quality was out there that year.

The other nominees for Best Picture that year were.

• Dark Victory
• Gone With the Wind
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips
• Love Affair
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• Ninotchka
• Of Mice and Men
• Stage Coach
• Wuthering Heights

I already mentioned the winner, but I think in any other year it would have most likely won the Best Picture award.  I give the movie 5 out of 5 stars and despite the fact that I have seen it one hundred times and am all grown up, would watch it if I saw it was on TV tonight.

I know this isn't your typical review, and I mentioned in the beginning this blog wouldn't be so much a review site.  Despite this movie being such a classic, I find myself thinking of another movie now when I think of The Wizard of Oz.  Thanks to Quentin Tarrantino and his disturbingly violent scene in Reservoir Dogs, whenever I hear or think about the Scarecrow, I picture "hey Scarecrow want some fire?"  and Steeler Wheels Stuck in the Middle with You.

The Citadel 1938

The Citadel was nominated for Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture. The movie is based on the novel by the same name written by A. J. Cronin.   The movie starred Robert Donat as Dr. Charles Manson, Rosalind Russel as Christine Manson, Ralph Richardson as Dr. Phillip Denny, Rex Harrison as Dr. Frederick Lawford, Emlyn Williams as Owen, and Mary Clare as Mrs Orlando.

I really don't know where to start with this movie because after we finished watching the movie, my wife asked me, "Is it me or was that movie all over the place?"

I would tend to agree with her, it was a bit disjointed and all over the place.  It is a story about Dr. Charles Manson, who starts office practicing medicine with the innocence of youth who is yet to be jaded by the real world.  He begins practicing medicine in Wales in small mining towns.  He becomes interested in what he believes is a link between the silica dust in the mines and tuberculosis.  He begins to research and experiment with the aid of his wife Christine.  Unfortunately, he quickly comes to terms with the fact that the mine that employs him really has little concern for the miners other than their productivity.  He leaves Wales for London disillusioned.

He sets up a private practice in London which is unsuccessful.  Although one day his luck changes.  A woman has passed out in a store and he is summoned to look at her.  After slapping her in the face a few times, he calms her hysterics and escorts her home.  As he is leaving he runs into an old friend Dr. Lawford.  He introduces him to several other Doctors in London and ultimately joins the group in "treating" rich hypochondriacs and builds a very successful practice out of it.

His wife realizes early on what he is doing is not right and probably far from ethical.  When she makes mention of it he easily becomes agitated and gets very defensive.  A classic case of a guilty conscience.  Of course leave it to Hollywood to come up with the happy ending in the face of tragedy.  It takes a tragedy to admit the error of his ways and the movie ends with a demonstrative Dr. Manson back to his ideological ways.

Robert Donat was nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Dr. Manson.  Readers of my blog may remember mention of Donat in my blog on Gone With the Wind.  Donat won the Best Actor award that year for his role in Goodbye, Mr. Chips.  He did not win for The Citadel though I found his performance to me excellent.  Either way back to back Best Actor nominations is nothing to sneeze at.  I mentioned in the Gone With the Wind post that Donat's performance in Chips must have been good, because Gable was fantastic.  As I have read more it seems my comments are justified.  Gable was considered a shoe in for the award.  Funny though how conspiracy theories, which are all the rage these days, existed back then.  Chips was also an MGM release and their has been a rumour that MGM chief wanted to spread the wealth so he pushed for Donat as Best Actor, given that Gone With the Wind had so many nominations.

Now that has nothing to do with his performance in The Citadel.  Which as I mentioned before I thought was excellent.  He was particularly strong as the aggrieved doctor.  When he became passionate about medicine and what it meant for people.  Railing against the abuse and how things get in the way of the true meaning and reason people should practice medicine.  Although his best scene is when his guilt shows through when discussion the fee for a surgery that he sat in but did nothing.  His wife innocently asks questions but his defensiveness shines through. 

Despite his performance he did not win.  He was up against the following.

• Charles Boyer as Pepe Le Moko in Algiers
• James Cagney as Rocky Sullivan in Angels With Dirty Faces
• Leslie Howard as Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmallion
• Spencer Tracy as Father Flannagan in Boys Town

Spencer Tracy won his second and final Best Actor Oscar for his role as Father Flannagan.  Since we were speaking of back to back nominations, Tracy not only had back to back nominations, but wins as well.  He also won in 37 for his role in Captains Courageous.  Donat would have to wait until next year.  He did not have a long career in the movies for various reasons.  He did not like Hollywood and stayed in his native England, he also preferred stage to screen, and finally he died very young because of poor health.  He had a very debilitating case of asthma and died very shortly after his final film.

Moving on to the directing category, The Citadel was directed by one of the directing greats, King Vidor.  Now I must admit that prior to starting on this little journey of film watching, I had never heard of King Vidor.  In the era of Scorcese, Coppola, Speilberg, etc I did not really know much about the early greats.  Sure I knew who John Ford was, but then everybody should know who he is.  I guess you could make the same argument for Vidor.

King Vidor was nominated five times in the directing category, never winning.  His first four nominations came in the first 11 years that the Oscars were given out.  He eventually finished his career with five nominations, but with the exception of Lewis Milestone who had three nominations in the same 11 year run as Vidor, nobody else comes close to Vidor's early success.

Vidor was up against the following directors that year.

• Michael Curtiz for Angels with Dirty Faces
• Norman Tourag for Boys Town
• Michael Curtiz for Four Daughters
• Frank Capra for You Can't Take it with You

Capra won for You Can't Take it with You, but I find in interesting that Curtiz was nominated for two different movies.  He is probably best known as the director of the classic, Casablanca.   I believe this only happened three times in Oscar history, but I had trouble finding info to back that up.  Capra himself had a pretty impressive run as this was his third Oscar in five years.  It was his final Directing Oscar as well, he would be nominated for Mr. Smith Goest to Washington and It's A Wonderful Life, but he did not win again.

The third and final nomination for The Citadel was for Best Picture, which was still called Outstanding Production at this time.  There were ten nominees this year, but I want to take the time to correct something I said in a much earlier post.  Recently they have gone back to ten films for Best Picture and I had stated that they had nominated ten pictures in the past.  However, I noticed the error of my comment when I did my post on David Copperfield, there were 12 nominees that year.  I am not sure how the number was determined, but it looks as if it hasn't always been 10 either.

• The Adventures of Robin Hood
• Alexanders Rag Time Band
• Boys Town
• Four Daughters
• Grand Illusion
• Jezebel
• Pygmallion
• Test Pilot
• You Can't Take it with You

You Can't Take it with You took home the statue.  I have not seen any of the remaining nominees as yet, although Test Pilot is next in line on my DVR.  Without seeing the others it is hard to say that The Citadel didn't deserve it, but I didn't find it to be a Best Picture type movie.  I enjoyed it but it didn't stand out as a great movie to me.  I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

David Copperfield 1935

I still do not have any followers and I am not really sure if I have any readers either.  If you have come to my blog and looked at my posts, you will notice that I have changed some things up or added some bells and whistles.  First, I have started linking the actors, actresses, and directors to their respective Imdb pages.  I have begun to put the movie poster in the post, and finally I starting with this post I am adding the release year.  I am going to do this for all the films, but it is important in this case because there are multiple releases for David Copperfield.  In some cases, both the original and the release have been nominated, so it helps to differentiate between the two.  Henry V is a perfect example of this.

Today though, we will be talking about David Copperfield, which is a production based on Charles Dickens classic of the same title.  I have yet to read that book, but I have found that the books by Dickens that I have read are far superior to the movies.  I am sure this is the case with this book.

For those unfamiliar with the story David is born and his father dies.  His mom remarries Mr. Murdstone you can tell that life isn't going to be easy for young David.  Murdstone is an abusive step father and he is aided by his miserable sister in the child rearing.  This is a double blow, because Murdstones sister replaces David's beloved Nurse Peggoty.  Eventually David's mother dies, essentially leaving him an orphan.

Murdstone sends David to London to work even though he is a young boy.  He goes to live with Mr. Micawber who takes a liking to the boy and pretects him in his work and shows him some favoritism.  Unfortunately the debt collectors are after Micawber and this situation is short lived.  Micawber leaves to go to Dover and David is all alone yet again.

David then walks from London to Dover.  He arrives in rags at his Aunt Betsey's house.  She takes him in and contacts Murdstone.  When Murdstone arrives she confronts him and tells him that she will become responsible for the boy.  She then sends him to Mr Wickfield in Canterbury to learn and become a gentleman.

He becomes a gentleman and a series of events befalls him.  He meets his friend Steerforth and he falls in love with a girl he first meets at the theatre.  Steerforth ruins David's young friend Emily, and he again finds Mr Micawber who he puts to work with Mr Wickfield.  Mr Wickfield also has a devious book keeper by the name of Uriah Heep.  I will stop here because I do not want to give away any more and I certainly do not want to spoil the ending.

Now I have not yet read David Copperfield and I am an avid reader, so I have every intention of doing so.  I have noticed that while doing research for this blog, that the movie leaves quite a bit out and certainly takes some license with the original text.

Here is the cast so you can put some names to the characters I mentioned earlier.  Freddie Bartholomew as David the child, Frank Lawton as David the man, Edna May Oliver as Aunt Betsey, Elizabeth Allan as Mrs. Copperfield, Jessie Ralph as Nurse Peggoty, Basil Rathbone as Mr. Murdstone, Violet Kemble Cooper as Jane Murdstone, W. C. Fields as Mr. Micawber, Roland Young as Uriah Heep, Hugh Williams as Steerforth, Lewis Stone as Mr. Wickford, Madge Evans as Agnes Wickford, and Maureen O'Sullivan as Dora.  I am leaving a few people out, just as the movie left some characters from the book out.  It was a long book (800 or so pages) and a little over two hour movie.  It is no surprise that some things get left out.

If memory serves me, the book is probably the most autobiographical of the Dickens novels.  Many of the themes in his novels are similar, but from my understanding many of the characters were based on or inspired by people Dickens knew or came across.

It really is a very sad story and while the movie may end with a positive ending, I found the sadness pervasive in the film.  Therefore I did not enjoy it.  I will admit that I struggled with this one from the get go.  I know many people think this movie is a classic, but I struggled to stay awake. It is probably the first time that has happened since my wife and I began watching these movies.

The only bright star in an otherwise horrible experience for me were the performances by W. C. Fields as Micawber and Edna May Oliver as Aunt Betsey.  Whenever they were on screen the movie became for more watchable to me.

W. C. Fields is by many accounts perfectly cast for the character of Micawber, though interestingly enough Frank Lawton was originally cast as Micawber.  I found the reason why they switched somewhere on line, but I have since lost the link.  Despite the fact that many think Fields was well cast at Micawber it doesn't stop the detractors from pointing out that he speaks with an American accent throughout the whole film.  I understand that the main reason for this is because of his need to read of cue cards because he had trouble remembering his lines.  They also kept to cue cards because he loved Dickens and Fields wanted to stay as true to the character as possible.  Thus foregoing his typical activity of ad lib and improvisation.

Oliver was equally as engaging in her role as the protective Aunt.  Her scene when Murdstone comes to collect young David was excellent.  Maybe it is because I enjoy mean people getting told off, but I still think she shines in this scene.  Equally entertaining is her disdain for donkeys.  Verbally berating and physically berating anyone who happens to wander on her property with a donkey is very amusing.  I felt that at times she came off as a bit of an eccentric and she might very well be, but that has more to do with the donkeys than anything else.  Her scene with Murdstone shows that while being eccentric she is not one to trifle with.

I probably should also mention Roland Young in his role as Uriah Heep.  He certainly played the villain awfully well, but came across as a bit too creepy for me.  I can't explain it but if I could describe what a pedophile might act like, I would point to some of his scenes in the movie. 

Despite all of these performances and that it seems to be universal that this movie had a fantastic cast, I still did not like it much.  I really don't know what is at fault with that, was it the acting, the directing, or do I simply not like the story.  I can't really put my finger on it, but neither my wife nor I finished watching this movie and thought, gee lets watch it again right now.

It should also be mentioned that although I enjoyed the above mentioned actor or actresses performances, it was not nominated in any acting categories.  It was however, nominated for Best Picture.  Along with the following films.

• Alice Adams
• Broadway Melody of 1936
• Captain Blood
• The Informers
• Les Miserables
• The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Mutiny on the Bounty
• Naughty Marietta
• Ruggles of Red Gap
• Top Hat

As mentioned in a previous post Mutiny on the Bounty won the Best Picture Oscar this year.  I'm sure it was better than David Copperfield.  Broadway Melody of 1936 was clearly better and that is a musical.  I recently blogged about Broadway Melody, so you can see my thoughts on that movie in my blog.  Overall I give David Copperfield one and a half stars.

Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!

With the title of my post, is it really any secret which movie I am talking about this time.  Why yes, it is Gone With the Wind.  This movie will be tough to review because what can I really say that hasn't been said.  After all it is one of the all time classics.

I will start with the cast and as a whole it is a very long list.  I am going to go with the the major people as I see it.  Thomas Mitchell as Gerald O'Hara, Barbara O'Neil as Ellen O'Hara, Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, Evelyn Keyes as Suellen O'Hara, Ann Rutherford as Careen O'Hara, Hattie McDaniel as Mammy, Butterfly McQueen as Prissy, Victor Jory as Jonas Wilkerson,  Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes,  Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton, and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.  There are others in this film, it was a huge production but I can't list everyone.

As I said before, it is kind of hard to say anything new about this movie, but I will begin with something that I have always thought about when thinking about Gone With the Wind.  Many movie buffs are aware that it came out the same year of the Wizard of Oz, but that wasn't the only classic movie that was released in 1939.    In both the American Film Institute (AFI) List of the 100 greatest films of all time and Entertainment Weekly list of the top 100, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is the third in that triumvirate.  I may be mistaken but as I perused both lists, 1939 is the only year to have three movies make either list.  What am I getting at?  '39 was a damn good year to see a movie.  If you look at the other seven Best Picture nominees, it isn't as if there are a bunch of slouches in there.  Stage Coach, Of Mice and Men, and Wuthering Heights may not have made the top 100, but they are all considered good films in their own.

1939 must have been a special year, one of those years where all the stars aligned.  OK maybe I am conveniently forgetting that World War II began in '39, but I am referring to movies.  Thomas Mitchell who played Scarlett O'Hara's father was in three of the Best Picture nominated movies that year.  He also appeared in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Stage Coach.  The latter he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role.  Not a bad year if you ask me.

Since I am mentioning nominations it might be a good idea to run down what Gone With the Wind was nominated for.  It received a total of 13 nominations, winning 9 and also won 2 special awards.  As I have mentioned over and over again, my wife came up with our list based on Best Picture and Best Director and all the acting nominations.  Gone With the Wind hit all of them except Best Supporting Actor.

Lets run down the nominations and the people or movies they were up against.

The first nomination goes to Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.  Also nominated were.

• Robert Donat as Mr. Chips in Goodbye Mr. Chips
• Laurance Olivier as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights
• Mickey Rooney as Mickey Moran in Babes in Arms
• James Stewart as Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Clark did not win as I am sure most people know.  Robert Donat won for his role in Goodbye, Mr. Chips.  I haven't seen Goodbye Mr. Chips yet, but he must have been incredible in that role, because Gable was fantastic in his.  I guess I will have to reserve comment on whether I agree or disagree until I blog about Mr. Chips.

The next nomination was for Best Actress and that went to Vivien Leigh for her role as Scarlett O'Hara and she deservedly won.  The other nominees were as follows.

• Bette Davis as Judith Traherne in Dark Victory
• Irene Dunne as Terry McKay in Love Affair
• Greta Garbo as Lena Yakushova (Ninotchka) in Ninotchka
• Greer Garson as Katherine Chipping in Goodbye Mr. Chips

I can't say anything any better than what has been said about Leigh's performance  I don't think many would argue that she shouldn't have won.  I certainly won't. 

On to Best Supporting Actress.  Olivia de Havilland for her role as Melanie Hamilton and Hattie McDaniel for her role as Mammy were both nominated.  The other nominees were.

• Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabella in Wuthering Heights
• Edna May Oliver as Sarah McKlennar in Drums Along the Mohawk
• Maria Ouspenskaya as Grandmother Mme Marnay in Love Affair

Hattie McDaniel won the Oscar and again, I am not going to argue.  She was terrific and frankly I think her performance was better than Leighs.  Her win is probably more notable as being the first African American to win an acting Oscar.  It wouldn't be until Halle Berry that an African American woman won a Best Actress Oscar.  Not only was she the first to win, but she was also the first African American to attend the Oscars as a guest, not a servant.

Up next is the directing category and Victor Fleming

• Sam Wood for Goodbye, Mr Chips
• Frank Capra for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• John Ford for Stagecoach
• William Wyler for Wuthering Heights

Pretty good company if you ask me, even more impressive that he won.  Another person who 1939 was a good year.  Not only did he direct Gone With the Wind, but he also directed Wizard of Oz.  Ironically he replaced the original director to smooth out production problems on both films.  I think he succeeded.

Last but not least, Best Picture.  I know I mentioned a few already, but I will run down the full list.  I will also repeat the fact that it won the Oscar and was the gem among many that year.  Also nominated for Best Picture were.

• Dark Victory
• Goodbye, Mr Chips
• Wuthering Heights
• Love Affair
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• Ninotchka
• Of Mice and Men
• Stage Coach
• Wizard of Oz

I think they got this one right as well.  Although, Wizard of Oz is a close second, but that may be because I remember seeing it every year on TV and it brings back fond years of my childhood.  I didn't see Gone With the Wind until I was in high school.

I am sure most know that the movie is based on Margaret Mitchell's classic book of the same title.  I am an avid reader and have read the book as well.  The movie certainly did a good job of staying true to the book in most cases.  The movie is every bit as long as the book, clocking in at 226 minutes.  The re release is even longer at 238 minutes.  Despite its length for the most part it does not drag.  There are a few places where I have to admit it does, but they are few and far between.  I easily give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.

Broadway Melody of 1936

Broadway Melody of 1936 may be a misnomer since it was actually released in 1935.  The film is the second film in the Broadway Melody series.  The first Broadway Melody or Broadway Melody of 1929 is the first talkie to win the Best Picture Oscar.  I mention this because Broadway Melody of 1936 opens with Harry Stockwell as himself singing an excerpt of Broadway Melody.

Broadway Melody of 1936 stars Jack Benny as Bert Keeler, Eleanor Powell as Irene Foster, Robert Taylor as Robert Gordon, Una Merkel as Kitty Corbett, Sid Silvers as Snoop Blue, and June Knight as Lillian Brent.  Buddy Ebsen and his sister Vilma Ebsen also had substantial roles as well.  Buddy and Vilma had their own vaudeville act together and while Buddy had a long career in film and television, this was Vilma's only movie role.

Bert Keeler is a tabloid type reporter who opens the movie dishing the dirt on Broadway stars.  However, he really isn't dishing dirt but is running down the list of stars who are expecting.  His boss is not really happy about his radio news brief and tells him that he needs to find some dirt or else.  After this altercation, his assistant Snoop Blue witnesses, Robert Gordon speaking with Lillian Brent.  Brent is a rich widow, and Keeler deduces that she and Gordon are speaking, because she will be financing his newest production and that she wants the lead in return.

The following day opens with a scene in Gordon's office.  Irene Foster attempts to see Gordon without an appointment.  She is a hometown friend of his from Albany and is hoping to surprise him.  His secretary Kitty tries to help but tells her it may be difficult without and appointment.  About this time Keeler also shows up looking for an appointment and Kitty asks that he wait as Gordon is not in at the moment.   Gordon eventually comes in and blows off Keeler and does not recognize Irene.

After this scene the heart of the story takes place.  Keeler continues to try and get the scoop on Gordon and prints gossip column after gossip column.  With each article Gordon's anger grows.  Irene continues to try and get Gordon to see her and her talent, but he eventually decides to send her back to Albany.  His secretary sees what he doesn't and hatches a plot to get her noticed.  Unfortunately, she portrays herself as a fictional person that columnist Keeler had created to get to Gordon. 

All of this comes to a head in the final scene, where Irene is finally noticed by Gordon as she sings and dances in the final performance.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I do not like musicals.  I fucking hate them.  However, the musicals of 1935 are not the same as the ones that came after them.  Well, maybe that is not the case, because this is the only one I have seen from the 30's, so the sample size is not large.  It appears to me that this era musical has a lot more dancing than anything else.  Although that may have more to do with the stars than the movie.  Eleanor Powell is known as one of the greatest tap dancers of all time as well as a world class dancer in general.  This musical was more about the dancing than the singing in my opinion.  The dance must have been good because it won an Oscar for dance direction.  A category that no longer exists, but gives credence to my comment.  I couldn't tell you why one dancer is better than the other, so I am not qualified to judge, but she did seem impressive to me.

Despite this being a musical I must say I liked it.  Una Merkel and Sid Silvers are the main reason.  Both of them were stellar in their supporting roles.  Both of them also added that little bit of comedy that is much needed from time to time.  I should also not that Sid Silvers also has a writing credit on this film.  Until I did a bit of research on him, I knew very little about him, but he was also a prolific movie writer as well as an actor.

Merkel, who played Kitty Corbett is the perfect example of the saying that the secretary runs the office not the boss.  She has a good deal of control of Gordon even if he doesn't realize it.  She clearly sees that Irene has talent and can be great, well before her boss does.  Yet she is also the one who unwittingly lets out secrets because of her friendship with Snoop.  Despite her entreaties that Snoop not tell Keeler anything somehow, someway, the information always slips out.  The dialogue between Kitty and Snoop is fantastic.  It is most evident during the scene where Snoop takes her out to eat and he brings her to a cafe to have donuts and coffee.  This was easily my favorite scene in the movie.

The other thing that I really liked about this movie has to do with how far we have come with special effects and so on.  At least three times Keeler gets punched out by Gordon.  Each time Gordon storms into newspapers press room and weaves between the desks to get to Keelers office.  He leaves behind a wake of paper that are disturbed by his quickly passing.  It is clear that the paper is being thrown by people to give the illusion that his body movement is upsetting the reams of paper.  This is not the best of it though.  The punches are so fake it is laughable, and the person being punched has a very unnatural reaction as well.  It is almost as if they were shot out of a cannon.  Being hit by Mike Tyson would not have that effect.

These things did not hinder my enjoyment of the movie though.  In fact, it made me like it all the more.  Mainly because it shows creativity.  Throwing the papers to give the illusion of someone moving very quickly is genius in my opinion.  They didn't have the aid of computers back then, so they had to make do.  I find it amazing how they overcame these things back then.  I often wonder if James Cameron could make a picture without the aid of a computer.

One other character that needs mention is that of the snoring expert.  He first appears in the scene where Keeler and Irene are waiting for Gordon to arrive at his office.  He has a long discussion with Keeler about the different types of snoring and the names he has come up with them.  He appears several times in the movie and the basic premise is he wants to get into one of Gordon's productions.  My reason for mentioning him is that I don't know why he is there.  He is quirky for sure, but there is really no reason for him to be in the movie.  I thought his first scene was pretty funny, but his return appearances not so funny and bordering on annoying.

All in all I enjoyed this movie though it isn't going on my top ten list anytime soon.  It made my watch list by virtue of its Best Picture nomination, which it did not win.  That honor went to Mutiny on the Bounty.  The other nominees for 1935 were

• Alice Adams
• David Copperfield
• Captain Blood
• The Informers
• Les Miserables
• The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Naughty Marietta
• Ruggles of Red Gap
• Top Hat

Of the others, I have only seen David Copperfield, which I will be reviewing in the near future.  I have seen A Midsummer Nights Dream, but on the stage, not the film.  Obviously I can not compare the movies, but I can say I did enjoy this more than David Copperfield and I am hoping that when I get to Great Expectations, that is not as tedious as Copperfield.  I would give Broadway Melody of 1936 3.5 stars out of 5.

The Great Waltz

The Great Waltz is easy to write a synopsis for.  The movie is a biography of Johann Strauss II, albeit a very liberal biography.  Everything that I read about this movie before I watched it warned that the movie was not historically accurate.  So don't expect to learn a lot about Strauss' life from this film.  You will do better to click on my link to his bio below.

The film stars Luise Rainer as Poldi Vogelhuber, Fernand Gravey as Johann Strauss II, Miliza Korjus as Carla Donner, Hugh Herbert as Julius Hofbauer, and Lionel Atwill as Count Anton Hohenfried.

The movie begins with Johann, who is known as Schoni by his friends working in a bank.  His true love is writing music and he is ultimately fired from his job because he spends more time writing music than performing the duties of his bank job.  He turns his firing into a positive situation by using it as an opportunity to write music full time.  Writing music is not exactly an easy way to make a living and it is that much harder when you prefer to write waltzes, which are not fashionable at this time.

Despite this he continues to write and when people he knows are playing a piece he has written, the piece is overheard by Carla Donner a famous opera singer and her significant other Count Anton Hohenfried.  This turns out to be his big break, but his biggest break is when she sings one of his waltzes.  She introduces him to Julius Hofbauer who is a music publisher and his career takes off.

The other sub plot in the movie revolves around the love he has for his wife Poldi Vogelhuber and Carla Donner.  He is torn between the love of the woman who was their before his fame and the love of artist that inspires much of what he writes.  There is an interesting scene where during a revolution Johann must flee the city and he does so with Donner.  During their coach ride through the wood, he comes up with one of his more famous pieces, Tales from the Vienna Woods. 

He eventually plans to leave his wife for Donner and after a rather big evening he plans on telling her.  He is beat to the punch as she confronts the two, but despite her love for Strauss moves aside so he can leave with Donner.  When push comes to shove, he can't leave her and just before he is to set forth on a ship with Donner, he decides to go back to his wife. 

As mentioned before, this movie may be based on a true story, but from my research I'd say it is 85% fictional.  All you need to do is read a bit of Strauss bio to see that.  Miliza Korjus as Donner earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress and it certainly deserved, but the true star of this movie is the music.  Now if you don't appreciate classical music, you may disagree with me, but the music is what made this movie tolerable to me. 

Korjus certainly has her moments, not only singing, but playing the temptress.  Count Anton warns Johann at their first meeting to beware of her charms, but predictably he does not listen.  While I don't have an issue with her being nominated, I felt her character was a bit confusing.  I could never figure out if she felt she needed Strauss more than Strauss felt he needed her as inspiration.  She was already famous prior to meeting him, yet at times it seemed to me that she might think she could not be as successful without him.

She did not win the Oscar for her performance.  She was nominated along with

• Fay Bainter as Aunt Belle Massey in Jezebel
• Beulah Bondi as Mary Wilkins in Of Human Hearts
• Billie Burke as Mrs Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live
• Spring Byington as Penny Sycamore in You Can't Take it With You.

Fay Bainter won the Oscar for her performance.  It is interesting to note this was Korjus only nomination in her career, Bainter was nominated three times.  While three nominations may not be of interest to some, she was nominated twice for an Oscar in 1938.  She was nominated for her role in Jezebel as mentioned above and she was also received a nomination for Best Actress for her role in the movie White Banners.  She also played the role of Ruth Dodsworth in the stage production of Dodsworth.

I need to get back on subject and that is The Great Waltz.  I give the movie 3 out of 5 stars.  While the story may not be factual, the music makes it worth it.  So give it a chance, you will enjoy it.

Fanny

Fanny is a movie that is a remake of Marcel Pagnol's Marseille Trilogy.  Although it was originally a trilogy, Fanny is all three condensed into one movie.  Fanny stars Leslie Caron as Fanny, Maurice Chevallier as Panisse, Charles Boyer as Cesar, Horst Bucholz as Maurius, Georgette Anys as Honorine (Fanny's mother), Salvatore Baccaloni as Escartafique, and Lionel Jeffries as Monsieur Brun.

Fanny takes place in the French Mediterranean city of Marseille.  Maurius and Fanny are childhood friends that both live in the port right by the water.  Fanny's mom is Honorine, a fish monger and quite possibly the most annoying character in this movie.  Cesar is Maurius father and he owns a small bar on the water frequented by the sailors that come and go from the port.  Cesar's friends are Monsieur Brun and Panisse, the later who owns a large sail making business.

Maurius and Fanny are in love, but Maurius loves the sea far more than he loves Fanny.  He secretly arranges to join the crew of a ship leaving Marseilles so he can see the world.  The night before he is to leave he and Fanny share the night together.  Although Fanny is in love with Maurius she chooses to let him go to sea rather than having him stay somewhere he hates.

Unfortunately, Fanny's mother witnessed Maurius leaving her house in the morning and speaks with Cesar about the two children being married.  They come to an agreement, but Maurius sneaks off before they can be married.  To add injury to insult it turns out that Fanny becomes pregnant as a result of their night together.

As a result Honorine acts quickly to avoid a scandal and a marriage between Panisse and Fanny is arranged.  Panisse also had eyes for Fanny, but as an older widowed man, Fanny had rejected him in favor of Maurius.  Panisse has always wanted a child and agrees to raise the boy as his own, despite Fanny's disgrace.  With that, I will go no further, because I do not want to spoil the story.

Charles Boyer was nominated as Best Actor for his performance as Cesar and I think it was deserved.  He is fantastic as Maurius head strong father, who loves his son, but is also a good friend to Panisse.  He is torn between his son and Panisse, but this does not stop him from doing the right thing.

The movie was also nominated for Best Picture.  While I found this to be a very entertaining movie, despite its length.  I am not sure it is what I would classify as Best Picture material.  If you compare it to the other movies that were nominated that year, I really don't think it is in the same league as the others, or to quote Jules in Pulp Fiction, ".....it ain't the same ball park.  It ain't the same league.  It ain't even the same fucking sport."

• The Guns of Navarone
• The Hustler
• Judgement at Nuremberg
• West Side Story

Now I am not a musical fan, but The West Side Story, which won the Oscar is clearly superior to Fanny.  I won't even go into how The Hustler is far superior to The West Side Story, it just is.  Searching the net, I found a lot of people who also felt that Fanny didn't really deserve the nomination either, though not that many that thought  West Side Story was undeserving.  It doesn't mean I am not right though.  Lets not act as if the Academy gets it right all the time.  Hell, I'm not sure they get it right most of the time.  Does anyone really think, Paul Newman's performance in The Color of Money as Eddie Felson is better than Eddie Felson in The Hustler?

Rant over!

Boyer was up against the following for actor.

• Paul Newman as Eddie Felson in The Hustler
• Maximillian Schell as Hans Rolfe in Judgement at Nuremberg
• Spencer Tracy as Judge Dan Heywood in Judgement at Nuremberg
• Stuart Whitman as Jim Fuller in The Mark

Maximillian Schell ended up winning and I don't know that I can really argue with that.  Paul Newman was excellent in The Hustler, but if he was indeed "snubbed" it certainly was not the worst snub he had or would receive by the Academy.

As I mentioned before, I enjoyed this movie.  While I found it a bit predictable, I felt the story was very good and it kept my attention throughout. The only fault I can find with the story is Honorine.  I mentioned before that she was quite annoying.  However, I can't really say if the writer is to blame or the actress.  Did the writer portray her as this ludicrous fish monger, or did the actress bring her to life that way. 

Maybe the real reason this move kept my attention was Leslie Caron.  I remember when I first put this movie in my queue on Netflix and read a bit about it, everyone spoke to how beautiful Caron was on screen.  I must admit, I had no clue as to who she was.  Which is one of the reasons I began this list and watching many of these movies.  I had heard of so many of these great stars, but I really didn't "know" of them. 

Caron is simply stunning.  I'm not going to say she is the most beautiful actress I have ever seen, but she is no hag either.  Take her beauty and add that to the beautiful scenery and cinematography in this film and you have a visually stunning picture.  Incidentally, Fanny did earn an Oscar nomination for cinematography as well.  I would give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.  Yes, I enjoyed it that much even if I still don't find it worthy of a Best Picture nomination.

Dodsworth

I decided to press on, despite the fact that it appears I have no readers at all.  Which is okay with me, because sometimes I feel my opinions need to be shared and this is a way to do it.  Though it begs the question similar to "If a tree falls in the woods......"  My hope is that eventually someone may see it and say, you know I thought that too.

I have been searching around a bit and have found a few blogs that are similar to mine.  Some just cater to classic movies, but one in particular is making his way through a list similar to mine.  Although, he is also reviewing other movies as well.  I am certainly not going to say anything negative about him, because he is far better at writing movie reviews than I am, and is clearly more into the art of film making etc as well.  Mind you I have not been searching out my "competition" Ala Howard Stern.  I usually find them when I am doing a bit more research on the film I want to talk about.

The other thing that I have noticed is that my blog is quite plain and thus may be a reason for people not reading.  The page is nothing if not basic.  I plan to tweak it a bit, but I must say it is not really my forte.  I do like certain ideas that I have seen on other sites and wonder if I can incorporate that type of thing into my blog.  Some may call it plagiarizing or stealing, but if I do add it, I will certainly give credit to the person who inspired that decision.  The other thing I decided is I need to come up with some sort of rating system.  Obviously, I can't use two thumbs up and stars and the point system is overused.  So, I have to come up with something original, the problem is my mind is blank at the moment, so I will probably go with stars for the time being, until I get a hint of originality.

The movie up for discussion today is Dodsworth released in 1936.  Dodsworth received 7 Academy Award nominations in total, and four in the categories that earned it a spot on our list.  Walter Huston for Best Actor as Sam Dodsworth, Maria Ouspenskaya as Baroness van Obersdorf, William Wyler as Best Director, and it was nominated for Best Picture.  Rounding out the cast are Ruth Chatterton as Fran Dodsworth, Paul Lukas as Arnold Iselin, Mary Astor as Mrs Edith Cortright, Kathryn Marlowe as Emily Dodsworth McKee, David Niven as Captain Clive Lockert, Gregory Gaye as Baron Kurt von Obersdorf, Spring Byington as Matee Pearson, and Odette Myrtil as Renee De Penable.  The movie is based on the Sinclair Lewis novel of the same name released in 1929.

Sam Dodsworth sells his successful automobile manufacturing company to do what he has always wanted to do, retire and see a bit of Europe.  His wife Fran also wants to see Europe, but has a somewhat different agenda.  She does not like Zenith, the town they live in and was at one time a socialite, who finds Zenith to be a bit boring and basic for her.  The back story on Fran is far more detailed in the novel than the movie, but more often than not that happens during the adaptation to the screen play.

They leave for Europe and Fran has a bit of a flirtation with Captain Lockert (David Niven), but Sam dismisses it as a one off fling.  When he  arrives in Europe he quickly realizes how wrong he was.  He dislikes all of Fran's European friends.  Fran dismisses this as Sam not being worldly enough and not as cosmopolitan as she.  When she settles into an affair with Iselin, he decides to go back to the US.  He wants her to come with him, but ultimately leaves for home with out her.

When he leaves he hopes she will come to her senses, but she does not.  He finally decides he is going back and is going to get her back.  He confronts her and Iselin and they decide to forget the past and try and make another go of it.  This works for awhile, but runs into another hurdle while they are in Austria.  This time it is final and they decide to get a divorce.

This is not the end of the movie, but I am always torn when writing the synopsis.  Do I give away the whole thing.  I feel like I shouldn't, because after all everyone should be able to experience the movie for themselves.  It still pains me to this day that my son has seen the Lord of the Rings movies because he will miss the experience of reading the novels and being in suspense from chapter to chapter, not really sure what is going to happen.  Granted my son may not love the books as much as I did, but I read them for the first time when I was 11 and I can still remember it like it was yesterday.  So with that in mind, I am going to stop the synopsis here.

The first thing that struck me when I watched this movie was how racy the subject matter must have been considered back in 1936.  Forget the affairs, but people did not get divorced in 1936.  Well ok, I am sure some did, but not to the extent that they do now.  I did a little searching to see if my thought was accurate.  Turns out that between 1934-1938 the divorce rate was 1.6 per 1000 people as compared to 3.8 per 1000 people in 2010.  So the rate has pretty much doubled since then, which is not as large a difference as I expected.  Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that divorce was certainly looked down on much more in the 30's and people tried to keep those things swept under the carpet.

The second thing that struck me is that Fran Dodsworth is probably one of the biggest bitches I have ever seen.  Her fear of getting old is beyond childish and it is laughable how she sees herself as a woman of the world, yet thinks Sam to be nothing more than a rube.  I won't lie, I hated Fran the further into the movie I got.  Hated her more than any other character I can think of in a movie, with the notable exception of Mary Tyler Moore's portrayal of Beth in Ordinary People, but that is a rant for another day.  I guess in the end, that is the sign of a good actor/actress.  After all Fran is just a character, and Ruth Chatterton did a fantastic job portraying her and her mostly bad traits.  Yet she was not nominated.

Walter Huston was solid in his performance as a down to earth man.  He was clearly comfortable in his own skin and knew who he was.  His affection for his wife is admirable but in my opinion downright sad.  You can feel his internal struggle as he goes through it on screen.  He clearly loves his wife, yet realizes they are very different people.  Despite that he wants to stay with her and provide for her the best he can.  Sadly, she does not reciprocate these feelings and at best does not belittle him directly.  Huston's best scene though is definitely at the end of the movie when they both decide they are going to return to the United States.  Unfortunately, I can't go into too much detail without giving away the end of the movie.

The other acting nomination went to  Maria Ouspenskaya.  She has one scene in the movie and what a scene.  I find it somewhat impressive that in a movie that runs a bit over 90 minutes that she is on screen for maybe five minutes and on that basis earns a nomination.  Which I might add she fully deserved.  She plays Kurt von Obersdorf's mother and she does not approve of Kurt and Fran's impending nuptials, and she lets Fran know it!  That is all I will say about the scene, I implore anyone who has never seen Dodsworth, even if you find you can't through the movie, which I doubt you will.  At least fast forward to this scene, you will not be disappointed.

William Wyler was also nominated for directing on this film and in typical Wyler fashion, it was solid.  He is better known for Ben Hur than probably any other movie, but he did a solid job on Dodsworth.  He did not win, but the greats can't win them all.  After all, he eventually won three Oscars and is second only to the great John Ford in directing Oscars.

Yet again I blogged about a movie that did not win any awards in the categories that are within the criteria for my list, however it did win for Art Direction.  Here is a list of who was also nominated for Actor, Supporting Actress, Directing, and Picture that year.  The winners were Paul Muni, Gale Sondergaard, Frank Capra, and The Great Ziegfeld respectively.

Best Actor

• Gary Cooper as Longfellow Deeds in Mr. Cooper Goes to Town
• Paul Muni as Louis Pasteur in The Story of Louis Pasteur
• William Powell as Godfrey Parks in My Man Godfrey
• Spencer Tracy as Father Tim Mullen in San Francisco

Best Supporting Actress

• Beulah Bondi as Rachel Jackson in The Gorgeous Hussy
• Alice Brady as Angelica Bullock in My Man Godfrey
• Bonita Granville as Mary Tillford in These Three
• Gale Sondergaard as Faith Paleologue in Anthony Adverse

Best Director

• Robert Z Leonard for The Great Ziegfeld
• Frank Capra for Mr Deeds Goes to Town
• Gregory La Cava for My Man Godfrey
• W. S. Van Dyke for San Francisco

Best Picture

•  Anthony Adverse
• The Great Ziegfeld
• Libeled Lady
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
• Romeo and Juliet
• San Francisco
• Story of Louis Pasteur
• A Tale of Two Cities
• Three Smart Girls

I would give this movie 3.5 stars out of 5.  I am going to come up with something more original than stars, but until then stars will have to do.  I am hoping to get through a few movies this weekend so look for some more blogs.  I really need to because my DVR is running out of space and I have a bunch of movies coming up I need to record.

Smilin' Through

Today I am going to take a look at the oldest movie that I have watched to date.  The movie was released on September 24, 1932; and it looked it.  This is one of the movies that I had on DVR thanks to Turner Classic Movies.  The biggest trial to me in watching a movie this old is not so much if I will be bored out of my mind.  Which to date I have not been, but I am sure one day it will come.  It is the general condition of the film.

If you look around on the Internet enough on you will find all kinds of information on old movies.  Are they on DVD, have they been restored and the list goes on and on.  I am not positive to the status of such things on this particular film, however I found the visual quality to be quite poor.  It seemed very dark to me, maybe it is just these old eyes, but if this movie has been restored, a poor job was done.  If it has not been restored it is sorely needed.  Of all of the black and white films I have watched thus far, this was the first one that I felt was difficult to actually see.  The film was similar to an old sepia tinted photograph, where the subject of the composition was quite clear, yet the edges were not and very dark.  Perhaps, this was what the film maker was going for and I am just not that smart.  Like I said before, I have never claimed to be a film making expert.

The movie is based on a Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin play of the same name.  It was nominated for Outstanding Production or what is known as Best Picture in contemporary times.  It is important to note the origin of the Best Picture award, because you can see it from time to time, that a movie gets a Best Picture nominee and really isn't all that worthy from the standpoint of the story or other factors.  I am not going to argue the merits of certain Best Picture nominees or winners right now, I will get to that when I blog about the particular movie, but I think Titanic and Avatar are good examples of this.  I believe they were nominated more for the grand scale of the production.  It is almost as if, you create this rather large sound studio, pioneer new special effects, you are a shoe in for a Best Picture nomination, but I digress.

Smilin Through stars Norma Shearer as Kathleen, Fredric March as Kenneth Wayne, and Leslie Howard as Sir John Carteret.  I am not sure why O. P. Heggie as Dr. Owen did not receive top billing as well, but he certainly deserved it.  It is also important to point out that both Shearer and March, actually play two roles in this movie, though it is not reflected in the credits.

Carteret is Kathleen's Uncle, and he becomes her guardian at the age of five after an accident results in the death of her parents.  Sir John has been in mourning ever since his bride to be, Monyeen Clare dies before they were married.  The first scene in the movie is of Sir John speaking with Monyeen's ghost in the garden.  Monyeen is played by Shearer.  It is not until about mid movie that we actually find out what happened to Monyeen.

The story jumps from Kathleen age 5 to young adult with a simple but brilliant transition of a birthday cake with five candles to one in her late teens.  With this fast forward, the director moves us to the early days of World War I.  It is at this time that we are introduced to Willy Ainley played by Ralph Forbes.  Willy is the local boy that is in love with Kathleen and wants to marry her.  However, if you know anything about movies that never seems to happen.  See; To Each His Own.

Willie is with Kathleen when she meets Kenneth Wayne for the first time and it is obvious that she will fall in love with him.  Although they are in love, Sir John is appalled when he finds out that she has been seeing this man and threatens to disinherit her.  Ultimately Kenneth goes off to fight in the War as does Willie.  I will stop here because I do not want to spoil what happens for anyone who has not seen the movie.  Although I am sure most will be able to guess, Hollywood is nothing if not predictable.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not sure why O P Heggie did not receive the billing with the others.  His scenes with Howard are some of the best in the movie.  Especially the scenes where Carteret has become increasingly more and more bitter.  Dr. Owen is the epitome of a friend and the tough and frank discussions he has with Carteret made this movie for me.  This is not to say that March and Shearer were not excellent as well.  They were very good in their roles, even if it seemed to me it was just another version of Romeo & Juliet, or the Hatfield and McCoys.  They were excellent in their portrayal of forbidden love.  Though one of the scenes after the War seemed very forced and over acted to me.

One of these days, I am actually going to blog about a movie that was nominated and won.  Today will not be that day.  Some may have noticed that the Academy went to ten films for the Best Picture award a few years ago.  I know there was a reason for it, but I forget off hand and I am again too lazy to search for it.  There is a precedent though, because early on there were ten nominees, which is the case here. It is also important to note that early on they gave out awards for two years.  If you look this movie up in the database it will show as outstanding production 1932/1933.  That stopped in 1934.  The other nominees for 32/33 were

• Cavalcade
• A Farewell to Arms
• 42nd Street
• I'm a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
• Lady for a Day
• Little Women
• The Private Life of Henry VIII
• She Done Him Wrong
• State Fair

Cavalcade took home the honor, however it is interesting to note that the AMPAS database also notes which film came in second and third in voting.  Those honors went to A Farewell to Arms and Little Women respectively.  This peaked my curiosity and I will have to find out when the stopped publishing the runner ups.

My final little tidbit on this movie is an observation that both my wife and I had, but I am unable to confirm it as fact.  Although I think it is an interesting possibility.  There is a scene where Kathleen and Wayne are on a "date" and they meet for breakfast or perhaps it is tea.  The movie is set in England after all, and you will have to excuse my ignorance of tea time etc.  This scene takes place in what appears to be a little cottage which is more than likely a set on some sound stage.  It looked eerily similar to the set of the Miniver's kitchen in Mrs. Miniver.  More specifically the scene where the downed German pilot is confronted by Mrs Miniver in her kitchen.

My wife and I are convinced that it was the same set and considering that both movies were released by MGM, I would think that it is very possible that this was the case.  The movies were released nine years apart so I am not sure that they would have still had the same set, but I suppose it is possible.  If anyone has seen both movies, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.  I'm sure there are many examples of this happening. 

Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington

Okay, so Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs was not nominated for an Oscar, but when I watched the movie Claudine, I found myself saying Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington every time he was in a scene.

Diahann Carol was the one that garnered a nomination for her role as Claudine.  A single woman with six children trying to provide for them while on welfare.  She has a relationship with a garbage man named Roop, played by James Earl Jones.  The movie deals with many social issues and stereo types of the African American community.

Probably the best example of this was during Roop and Claudine's first date when they each discuss their kids.  They each get angry with the other and launch into rants about the specific stereotypes of African American women and men.  It is clear from the beginning this movie is going to discuss tough issues.  All back in 1974 well before The Cosby Show or Spike Lee.  I personally think this movie as a social commentary is far better than anything Spike Lee has done or can hope to do.  Maybe I am a bit biased because I think Spike Lee is a tool.  Though that may be getting sidetracked and you will have to wait until I get to Do The Right Thing before I will elaborate on why I feel that way.

Another scene that stood out to me was one in which Claudine is dealing with her eldest daughter Charlene, played by Tamu Blackwell.  Charlene is probably in her mid to late teens.  Clearly she is of the age that is typical of a daughter butting heads with her mother.  While I will maintain children feel they know more than their parents from birth, it does get worse as they get older, and Charlene and Claudine do not agree on anything!

Charlene returns home after sneaking out to spend time with her boyfriend to find her mom waiting up for her and an argument ensues.  When her mom asks what she was doing while she was out, Charlene responds, "meeting people and learning to hold my liquor."  We quickly learn how well she can hold her liquor when she becomes sick.  Her moms biggest fear that she will become pregnant at a young age, which of course by the end of the movie she does, thus perpetuating a stereotype.

Diahann Carroll is definitely worthy of her nomination.  She does a fine job playing the role of a woman trying to do her best to provide for her six children all the while railing against the system.  She is especially effective in showing the shortcomings of the welfare system.  While being one of only eight African American women to be nominated for a Best Actress award, she did not win.  In fact, Halle Berry is the only African American to have that honor.

Diahann did have some stiff competition that year.  She was up against

• Gena Rowlands as Mabel Longhetti in A Woman Under the Influence
• Valerie Perriene as Honey Bruce in Lenny
• Faye Dunaway as Evelyn Cross Mulray in Chinatown
• Ellen Burstyn as Alice Hyatt in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

Ellen Burstyn took home the Oscar for her performance.

I don't want to seem like I am a person who isn't critical of movies, because that certainly is not the case.  I felt this movie did have an important message and was for the most part entertaining.  James Earl Jones performance was also very good.  However, the movie was slow moving at times and in the end I found it to be somewhat predictable.  I don't think you will be disappointed if you rent this movie, I also would not qualify it as one of the greatest movies I have ever seen.

The Kids Are All Right

I couldn't come up with a witty title for this post, and ultimately decided on the film title.  A friend mentioned to me that to get your blog read, it helps if you have a witty title that the search engines may pick out.  Using the title of the movie probably relegates this post to the 38th page of search results. 


This friend also blogs.  He is good at it.  He is a writer, a real writer, so he is far better than me at this.  While I think he would be supportive I harbor no illusions that I fall into the category of  "everyone has a blog" that many writers use as an argument against blogging.  I mention him because I read his blog daily and though he stays away from politics I chide him if he does.  I do this because I abhor political discussion.  Not only can it be divisive, it is akin to banging your head up against the wall.

Does the previous paragraph qualify as foreshadowing?  I'm not sure, but I am going to get a bit political.  If you are going to discuss this movie it is hard to avoid politics.  For the record, my views lean towards the conservative, but I certainly don't toe the party line.  For example, I think the Republican party line stance on the environment is down right reprehensible, but that is just me. 

While I have my faith, I am not one of these right wing Bible thumpers either.  I'm so sick of the Bible as an argument.  The Bible also has a verse stating that women should be silent in Church.  I don't see any evangelists railing against women; do you?  The historical context for that verse is actually kind of interesting, google it.  It will be one more of those interesting facts you know that doesn't do much of anything for you.

While I am at it, lets get  everything out in the open, lest I am accused of something unfairly.  I am not gay, nor am I homophobic. I wouldn't consider myself a champion for gay rights.   I would be lying if I said that I am a bit uncomfortable of public displays of affection by homosexual couples.  Despite that I think they should be free to do so if they desire.

As far as I am concerned if the scripture everyone quotes is correct that is between the homosexual and God.  I have no right to judge them for their choices.  I am pretty sure there is something in the Bible that says, "judge not lest you be judged"  Not to mention the fact that I would wager that at least half of todays marriages occur outside a church, in a civil ceremony. 

I don't want to speak for a group that I don't belong to, but I think most homosexuals want the same benefits that a traditional couple gains from being married.  If a traditional couple gets these benefits, why not a homosexual couple.  After all one of our most treasured documents states "....that all men are created equal..."  Well back then that was a somewhat exclusionary statement, I guess homosexuals have replaced African Americans there.  What a bunch of fucking hypocrites we are if we don't afford equal rights to a person because of their sexual preference.

Talk about getting sidetracked.  Let's talk about the movie which made it to my list by virtue of being nominated in 2010 for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), and Best Actress (Annette Benning).  I can't compare the movie or their performances to any of the others that they were up against, because I haven't seen any of them yet, other than Toy Story 3. 

The movie stars Annette Benning (Nic), Mark Ruffalo (Paul), Julianne Moore (Jules), Mia Wasakowska (Joni), and Josh Hutcherson (Laser).  Nic and Jules are a lesbian couple with two kids; Joni and Laser.  Paul is the sperm donor who happens to be the biological father.  Laser want to know who his Dad is but is not 18 yet so he asks his sister Joni to contact the sperm bank for him.  She does and they meet their Dad without telling their moms.  The first meeting is obviously awkward and was a great scene.  It was exactly as I would have pictured a meeting like this being.

The rest of the movie explores the relationship of Nic & Jules with each other, their kids and this new found "family" member.  I don't want to go into too much detail because I do not want to give the story away.  I suppose the goal of this movie was to show that a same sex marriage with kids isn't really any different than the conventional marriage.  The same problems a man and a woman confront in their marriage are confronted in this lesbian marriage.  Infidelity, alienation, routine and parenting issues are all explored.  If this was the goal then I believe the movie succeeds.

My only gripe about the movie is I think some of the scenes, especially the ones where they were engaged in routine day to day activities and acting "normal" were somewhat forced.  To me it seemed that in the quest to prove that the issues really aren't that different they went over the top.  The dinner scenes almost seemed Bradyesque to me.  I also found it a bit strange that when Nic & Jules suspected their son may be gay that they weren't all that pleased with the possibility.  I may be off base, but that is the feeling I got and I found that to be a bit strange.  Not as strange as the fact that two lesbians watched gay male porn, but strange none the less. 

Well that is two in a row that I enjoyed and would recommend.  I certainly think the social messages in this movie are worth it.  If anything if people can come away that homosexuals aren't very much different than the rest of us, then I think this movie succeeds.  They aren't aliens whose views are that much different than the rest of us. 

As info, here is the competiton the movie, Annette Benning, and Mark Ruffalo were up against.

Best Picture

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kings Speech
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winters Bone

Best Supporting Actor

• Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund in The Fighter
• John Hawkes as Teardrop in Winters Bone
• Jeremey Renner as James Coughlin in The Town
• Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Louge in The Kings Speech

Best Actress

• Nicole Kidman as Becca in Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence as Ree in Winters Bone
• Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers in The Black Swan
• Michelle Williams as Cindy in Blue Valentine

The winners were The Kings Speech, Christian Bale, and Natalie Portman.

A Preacher and a Crossdresser

With the rather large number of movies to pick from, the movie to blog about first was not as difficult a decision as one would think.  In fact, the hardest thing about this blog will be when I finally run out of movies that I have seen to blog about.  At present, I have seen 225 of the over 1200 movies on my list.  Since I am watching this list with my wife and we have two young kids, finding time for the both of us to sit in the same room and get two hours of piece and quiet can be extremely difficult.

Ultimately I chose Thunderbolt & Lightfoot as the first movie to write about for one reason.  It is the last movie that we both watched and it was over the Memorial Day weekend.  So it is fresh in my mind. In my first post I mentioned the criteria that would land a particular movie on my list.  In the case of Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, it made the cut by virtue of the Best Supporting Actor nomination of Jeff Bridges as Lightfoot.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot was released by United Artists in 1974 and starred Jeff Bridges as the aforementioned Lightfoot and Clint Eastwood as Thunderbolt.  Geoffrey Lewis as Eddie Goody.  Lewis has been in a few movies with Eastwood, the two that immediately came to mind for me were Every Which Way but Loose and Any Which Way You Can.  Probably not the finest examples but that was my first thought when I first saw him in the movie.  I couldn't help myself from saying, "Right turn Clyde" more than a couple of times.  The main cast is rounded out by George Kennedy as Red Leary.

Two others that deserve mention would be Gary Busey as Curly.  These days I think many aren't sure if Gary Busey is all there.  Watch a few re runs of Celebrity Apprentice if you don't believe me.  Of course he was the sole reason I actually watched Celebrity Apprentice this year.  From an entertainment and ratings standpoint, he was pure gold for Donald Trump.  Hell, I stopped watching the minute he was fired.  This role was pre-motorcycle accident so he didn't seem as weird.

Finally, there is Catherine Bach as Melody.  This is my second post so it is likely nobody is reading this, but if you are and you are in your mid twenties, you may be saying, "who the hell is Catherine Bach?!"

Why she is Daisy Duke of course and if you grew up when I did, not too mention hit puberty around the time I did, you knew who Catherine Bach was.  You knew she drove a Jeep on Dukes of Hazard and wore incredibly sexy short shorts.  Which will forever be known as Daisy Dukes now.  I actually wrote a letter to her when I was in elementary school I think.  Our assignment was to write a letter to someone famous.  I am not sure how our teacher had a list of famous peoples addresses, but she was one of the ones we could choose from.  If memory serves it was most likely addressed to CBS c/o Dukes or Hazard, or perhaps her agency that represented her, not her home address. 

I still remember my teacher saying in many cases they will send you autographed posters or pictures in response.  Now I will not go as far as saying that a signed Catherine Bach poster, as Daisy Duke would have been the Holy Grail, but it would have been close.  I am pretty sure the Farah Fawcett poster or Bo Derek were probably the Holy Grail at that time.  Sadly, I never received the coveted autographed poster or photo.  Hell, I didn't even get a response.

Finally, this movie was direct by Michael Cimino.  This was his directorial debut.  The buzz is that originally Eastwood planned on directing the movie but stepped aside to let Cimino direct it.  Incidentally he also has a writing credit.  Apparently Cimino had impressed Eastwood with some of the rewrites of one of the Dirty Harry movies.  Which one escapes me at the moment, but I guess you will have to take my word for it.  Cimino is probably better known for directing The Deer Hunter and then more infamously for the debacle known as Heaven's Gate that many point to as the demise of United Artists.

Thunderbolt & Lightfoot has been classified as a travelling movie.  The success of Easy Rider kind of started a trend towards travelling movies.  Apparently Clint Eastwood was keen on making one.  I have yet to see Easy Rider, so I can't make a fair comparison, but from what I know of Easy Rider, I'm not really sure I see the connection.

The movie is about an old bank robbing gang, of which Eastwood, Kennedy, and Lewis were all members.    They pulled off a heist and hid the money in an old school house in a small town in Montana.  Eastwood is posing as a preacher biding his time until he can pick up the money.  A member of the old gang tries to kill him as he is preaching and he flees from him.  Mind you the guy trying to kill him is a terrible shot, it is beyond unbelievable that he could miss that many times from that range, but hey its the movies.

Bridges who has stolen a car earlier happens upon Eastwood and he jumps in the car.  This is how Thunderbolt and Lightfoot hook up.  They have a couple of other adventures and somehow Lightfoot figures out that his new pal is a bank robber.  I watched the movie, but I am really unclear as to how he figures this out.  I realize that Thunderbolt eventually tells him the story of his big heist, but prior to this it seems to me that Lightfoot just seems to know. It is as if Lightfoot has a sixth sense that tells him that this preacher you just picked up is really a bank robber.   It really isn't explored in the movie in my opinion, but maybe I am missing something.  That was the one sticking point for me through out the whole movie.

Eventually the guys trying to kill Thunderbolt catch up with the two of them.  Lightfoot proposes that they perpetrate the exact same robbery.  It is during the lead up to the heist that Bridges shines.  He is a real smart ass to Red who really dislikes him.  This animosity is carried through the entire movie and eventually manifests itself when Red double crosses them after the robbery.  He beats Lightfoot who is still dressed in drag from the robbery.

I did my best not to give away the whole story and have purposely left out the ending.  As mentioned before, Bridges was brilliant in this movie.  The nomination was certainly well deserved.  He is quirky and free wheeling.   His youthful optimism is a stark contrast to the older, wiser and more reserved Thunderbolt.  He has this almost wide eyed awe of Thunderbolt and obviously looks up to him.  His interaction with women in the movie are also fantastic.  He is the guy that most of us want to be, confident and cocky around women and having no trouble with rejection.  Uultimately he did not win the Oscar but it does not take away from the movie.  The movie was not as good as the movie that ultimately produced the supporting actor winner, but it was very good.  Certainly not a movie that would lull anyone to sleep.  The scenery is stunning.  The movie was filmed entirely in Montana and it was used to its advantage.

As I mentioned before I can't say that Bridges didn't deserve the nomination.  It is interesting to note that Eastwood was a bit unhappy with how the movie was received.  It was not a flop, but Eastwood felt it could have performed better and that the studio did not promote it as well as they could have.  It is also important to mention that he felt upstaged by Bridges in the movie.  I think he was right to feel this way, because Bridges certainly was the star in this movie.  That being said, Eastwood was fantastic as well, Bridges was just better.

Bridges did not win the Oscar as I mentioned earlier and to be fair I think the Academy got it right in this case.  I don't always feel this way.  The other nominees were

• Fred Astaire as Harlee Claiborne in The Towering Inferno
• Robert DeNiro as Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II
• Michael Gazzo as Frank Pentageli in The Godfather Part II
• Lee Straberg as Hyman Roth in The Godfather Part II

The favorite was Fred Astaire believe it or not, there was definitely some sentimentality going on here.  It was also the opinion of many that having multiple nominees in the same movie would make it difficult for the three in The Godfather Part II.  The prognosticators were wrong however, and Robert DeNiro took home his first Oscar.  I am not sure about this, but if it isn't the only time a character earned two Oscars, the list is rather small.  Brando also won an Oscar for his portrayal of Vito Corleone.  Fred Astaire never won one and it was his only nomination.  This was Bridges second nomination and has since been nominated 4 more times. 

In conclusion, I recommend this movie you won't be disappointed.  I may be beating a dead horse, but Bridges was excellent in his role and deserved the acclaim.  So if you get the chance give Thunderbolt and Lightfoot a view.  It is available on DVD but I had it on DVR. 

Turner Classis Movies had shown it and I had saved it to my DVR.  I mention this because TCM is great for anyone who is searching out a specific "old movie".   They have a search function and will even show you if it is scheduled to be shown on the channel in the future.  I believe they only provide the schedule two months out, but they give you the opportunity to put in an email address and have a reminder sent a week prior to the showing and then 24 hours before the showing.  I have utilized this feature numerous times and my dvr is overrun with movies from TCM.

Lists and the Oscars

I have always enjoyed writing, I have kept a journal for years.  The question as to whether I am a good writer or not is likely up for debate.  I am sure if I do get some followers of this blog, or even the occasional reader people will feel free to share their opinion as to my writing ability.  To be clear, I certainly don't fancy myself the second coming of John Irving, who happens to be my favorite author.  I just decided blogging was a good way to share my thoughts in a more public forum.  I certainly have no desire to put my journal out there for public consumption.

So, why blog?  Why Everyone Loves Lists?  I will admit I struggled with the title, but because it is about a list, it seemed an appropriate title.  I am a list person, always have been.  I am not the quirky OCD list type, but they do appeal to me because of structure.  I enjoy ticking off an item on the list and they provide an easy way to track your "achievements". 

It also appears to me that lists seem to be all the rage these days.  All one has to do is walk into a Barnes and Noble if you dispute my last statement.  There are a plethora of books with lists.  1001 Books to Read Before You Die, 1001 Places to See Before You Die, etc.  I used those two specifically because I own both.  As I said, I love lists.  Now I am not sure how well any of these titles have done in terms of sales, but I believe that the Places to See has been very succesful.

This blog is born out of a list that I have created.  My wife and I were talking about movies one night and some of the classic movies that we have seen or wanted to see, or classics that we have seen a few scenes from.  A good example of this would be the chariot race in Ben Hur.  I have seen that part of Ben Hur at least a dozen times, yet I have never watched the entire movie.

From this discussion, we decided that we were going to get a Netflix account and make an attempt to finally see many of these classics.  We ultimately decided we would make a list of all the movies that have been nominated for an Academy Award in one of the following categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.  We decided to forgo the writing category mainly because the list is quite large; 1211 movies with the categories we chose. 

I am by no means attempting to be a movie critic, though my plan is to give a review of the movies as I watch them.  I plan on throwing in some trivia, interesting facts etc about the movies as well.  Who knows maybe someone will watch a movie that they normally would have passed over after reading my blog.  I also realize that this may appear to be similar to the blog type that resulted in the movie Julie and Julia.  I am not attempting to copy that blog, I just wanted another outlet to share my thoughts on the movies I watch, without the character limits of Facebook or other social media outlets.

So, if you happen by my blog, I hope you enjoy it.  If you are interested in how I came up with the list, here is the link to website that I used to compile it.  http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/BasicSearchInput.jsp