somebody pinch me

two of the dreamiest people ever captured on celluloid. maria schneider and joe dallesandro in 1981's 'merry-go-round.'

david hemmings

109 screen credits! i had no idea he made so many movies. i adore him. not many can rock a pair of white jeans and as the photographer in 'blowup' he did just that and much more. that role cemented him in my mind as one of the most alluring guys ever.

somewhere in mid career he was the voice of a wizard in love with a swan princess in an animated film made in japan. maybe it was not such a stretch after all.

photos: literally swan lake/hemmings with jane birkin

larger than life

'the beast from 20,000 fathoms' was one of the first films to feature a dinosaur. released in 1953, it was a hit (Budget $210,000 Gross revenue $5,000,000) and led to countless more films about beasts hoping take a bite out of the big apple or some small town. when i drive over the george washington bridge into nyc i often experience one of those unexplainable moments when i think i just may see something like that take place. i don't know if i fear it or desire it.

what's it all about

there is a very moving scene in 'alfie' where michael caine is outraged that one of his conquests actually keeps a diary:

Alfie: You're not entitled to secret thoughts!
Annie: Everyone's entitled to secret thoughts!

tiny as jane asher was/is she fought back and made tracks shortly after.

classy gal

quite a while before she became wanton incarnate as 'patsy' in the wildly popular british t.v. show 'absolutely fabulous', joanna lumley had followed in diana rigg's footsteps and starred in 'the new avengers' series. the woman is absolutely beautiful no matter how kooky the role. she has been working steadily for decades and her power to seduce and educate remains strong.

by way of illustration

this is such a great illustration of katherine hepburn.

feline nature

even though 'breakfast at tiffany's' holly golightly lived in a building that probably prohibited dogs, her life with 'cat' is just so ingrained in our minds. most women i know have a cat.

that's a face

“Look guys, if you're just going to stare at me, I'm going to bed!”- elvis

give me a reason

when i watch wendy hiller i am truly uplifted. no matter what role she is playing i feel i am becoming a better person simply by letting her into my consciousness. in 'pygmalion' her position was a tough one, as playing opposite leslie howard requires buckets of charm just to not get lost in his glow. she reigns supreme as 'eliza doolittle' and i pity all the actresses who take on that role. trust me, the film is absolute perfection.

wendy won an oscar for 'separate tables.' though i cannot do anything about the small amount of film work that is available, it matters not. anything i watch of hers somehow feels like the first time.

patrick litchfield photographs

patrick was an earl. his pedigree must have given him carte blanche to many people and events. his images have a slight feeling of 'i happened to be there' which is just lovely.



















from top: susannah york/ian mckellen/chaplin and brando/oliver reed/dirk bogarde

death (and life) in venice

photos: silvana mangano in 'death in venice'/model natalia

humbert's lament

jeremy irons as the repentant scholar.

ava in royal blue

cillian in 'peacock' blue

M as in....

movie star, mechanic, mcqueen.

marlon moment

taking my eyes off marlon's face is a definite exercise but check it out! even the mirror is method acting. i had no idea he painted on his own wounds....

marlon moment

'no names! i been called names all my life.'

candid caine

"I have never seen it," explained Sir Michael of his outing in Jaws IV: the Revenge. "However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."

'Actors like me don't retire. We just fade away, like old soldiers.'

great interview with michael caine: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1172669/Im-grandaddy-Michael-Caine-family-fidelity--baby-boy-whos-changed-life.html#ixzz0pL3ntYyy


photo: one of his homes

early days

'When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part.'- laurence olivier

this is such a clear and elegant view of the experience of years.

note from a style guru

the man just never lacked class.

no introduction needed

happy long weekend!

tilly losch

i love her name. she only made four films but every one of them was major. more on tilly soon.

so shoot me

i have seen the film and i have read the book and i still think the title is 'DON'T shoot the piano player.'


photo: dylan

dear little alex

i have to see this again. a very interesting fact about 'clockwork orange' is that even though the film is a masterwork of great proportions, the novel it is based on is very slight. i am talking back pocket slight. it is a brilliant, wicked, and delicious read.

stuck on you

ready for a character without one shred of decency? bette davis played her role in 'of human bondage' like her life depended on it. she did not receive an oscar but she won the gold statue the following year for a film i only ever watched once though i have watched 'of human bondage' countless times. leslie howard co-stars as a man in love beyond reason in this movie that overflows with talent, not the least of which is somerset maugham, the novelist whose book the film is based on.

the little tramp

"I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician."- chaplin

mutual respect

'Chaplin and Buster Keaton had an interesting relationship. Long considered rivals but always having avoided commenting about each other in the press, Chaplin hired Keaton for a part in "Limelight" (1952). Keaton, who was flat broke at the time, went into a career decline after having been signed by MGM in 1928, as the studio would not let him improvise in any of his films nor allow him any writing or directorial input, and he was eventually reduced to writing gags - often uncredited - for other comedians' films. Chaplin, at this point, felt sorry for Keaton due to his hard luck, but Keaton recognized that, despite Charlie's better fortune and far greater wealth, Chaplin was (strangely) the more depressed of the two. In one scene in "Limelight," Chaplin's character was dying. While the camera was fading away, Keaton was muttering to Chaplin without moving his lips, "That's it, good, wait, don't move, wait, good, we're through." In his autobiography Keaton called Chaplin "the greatest silent comedian of all time."'


illustration by damian blake

zhou xun

i believe the pronunciation is close to 'zooshun.' when i watched 'souzhou river' i could not believe how stunning it was. every detail blew my mind. one of the stars was this petite person. like vanessa paradis in france, she is royalty in her home country of china.
zhou xun is both actress and singer and a serious environmentalist who has an alliance with the united nations. maybe she can get the ball rolling on actresses wearing gowns more than once. cut em up and refashion them!

fave leading man

johnny or leo? that may take some thought.

photo: marion cotillard

it gets tough

that's a face. as 'paul' in the new lennon bio pic 'nowhere boy', this actor looks impossibly young. it is lovely to be reminded of the fact that the beatles were once kids who had to learn how to go from c to d on a guitar.

thomas sangster, who plays mccartney, plays guitar, but had to learn to play left-handed for the film. that ain't easy.

a very good year

i just watched Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii. whoa. beauty by the buckets in the shape of sound and sight. they released their record 'obscured by clouds' that same year. the magic number in music was surely 1972. look at these titles that hit the records stores that year:

exile on main street
nilsson schmilsson
jackson browne
procal harum live
the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars
something/anything
concert for bangladesh
all the young dudes
transformer
the kink kronicles
i'm still in love with you AND let's stay together
carney
pink moon
bare trees
greetings from l.a.


dang. plus, those are just my personal faves.

undiluted delight

two of my fave cary grant films are 'the philadelphia story' with katherine hepburn and 'that touch of mink' with doris day. hitchcock loved him cause all he had to do was put him in front of the camera. well, he surely does make it look that easy. there is something so relaxing about the cary grant experience. i think it just may be his confidence.

the eternal ingenue

guess who was gorgeous? that's right! sandra dee never really got the chance to grow up on the big screen. her film heyday was the late fifties/early sixties and by the seventies she was doing television. in 1972 she did lots of t.v. and then just sporadic appearances up till the mid nineties.

photo: from rod serling's 'night gallery' (1972)

scared you

i do not go to see big budget films. i know these days the tricks of the trade are like atomic bombs compared to those caps we used to throw on the ground to scare our parents. however, look at this image. still powerful.

try being me

while watching the short two part documentary on judy garland i kept taking photos. the woman was just so.... interesting. from her first steps up till her last concerts, judy's life was a non stop roller coaster ride. she was most forthright in her claim that her mother was the one who first strapped her into said roller coaster. as the stones once sang, 'sad sad sad.' judy was truly the great performer of her time. everyone seemed to love her but as will happen to some, love is never enough.
i read the biography 'get happy.' i thought the title was pretty great, considering. it was a terrific book that is about to be a film. anne hathaway, who looks so much like liza, will play judy.