sometimes there's nothing to watch. photo by william gedney
Sunday, April 5, 2009
class dismissed
one of the consequences of being a teacher's pet is being taken into their confidence. in this story of preteen students at an all girl english school, the select few that make up miss brodie's inner circle are simply too young for her personal and political views. at the time of the story war was raging and miss brodie's allegiance with mussolini was indeed shocking. the future would make that all too clear.
the troubled life and love story between two teachers is captured beautifully in this film adaptation of muriel spark's 'the prime of miss jean brodie.' in no way should the 'miss' imply she is schoolmarmish. the free spirited teacher who tries to instill her vision of beauty into the minds of her young pupils is stunningly executed by the great actress maggie smith. this woman is never anything but astonishing on film. robert stephens, who plays the married teacher who falls into her web, is maggier's true life husband.
the character of young actress pamela franklin grows up right before our eyes. the entire cast is perfect.
RIN TIN TIN 1918-1932
this magnificent german shepard was adopted by an american serviceman while stationed in france. the dog clearly had abilities to perform and went on to appear in 26 films. rin tin tin is said to have saved warner brothers pictures from bankruptcy during the depression.
his grave is in the outskirts of paris. hail, a hero.
double feature: DORIS DAY
there are several nice comments i can make about doris day without even starting in on her many great film performances: her knock out voice, her sincere love of animals, her enviable figure.
being able to convincingly do comedies as well as hitchcock, doris had to be highly regarded by her peers. this woman began fronting swing bands and ended up in the warms of rock and cary.
if there is one film to cure you of any emotional ills it is 'pillow talk.' this feast on the eyes is charm central and rock hudson is so full of talent that you wonder why you ever forgot him when adding up great leading men.
the fact that doris' 'jan' is an interior decorator, and the film was shot in 1959, makes for a ridiculously joyful element. her growing love affair with the man who shares her phone line (don't laugh, i had to do that when i shared a cottage in london) is almost as refreshing as her conversations with her maid, played by thelma ritter. no one gets to me quite like the consistantly awesome actress thelma ritter. street wise little smart ass thelma, befriending the screen beauties who don't seem to have a mom. throw in the brilliantly comic tony randall as rock's buddy and the cast couldn't let you down, even if you open the freezer and find the carton of ice cream is empty.
if you have not seen this perfect comedy, you have a serious treat in store. if you have seen it, always know it is where it always was, waiting to lift your spirits again.
the super successful and super scary 'midnight lace' stars rex harrison and doris day. her naive, independently wealthy character is very much in love with her british husband. they live in a very swank london apartment. while he has meetings she goes shopping. the long planned trip to venice keeps getting delayed. sounds believable.
what is harder to believe are the voices she is hearing. voices no one really believes are there. the cast builds to include an inspector, a dear relative (myrna loy) and a handsome man who is overseeing the construction going on in the next apartment building.
doris' character is the stuff of which horror films are made: a lovely woman, far from home, haunted with no one to trust in her fears. and yes, the negligee. this film is really good and it is very frightening. doris day has a voice of such versatile tone. she can sound like sugar frosted flakes or like packing tape ripped off a box. you will feel her terror.
Friday, April 3, 2009
rainer werner fassbinder 1945-1982
this remarkable and prolific writer/director made over forty films in his short life. sensitivity and provocation mixed beautifully in his work.
the actress hanna schygulla (below) appeared in many of his films.
by way of illustration
what an exceptional poster for a production of the play 'the bitter tears of petra von kant'
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