Who doesn’t love to be a muse for someone. I think I would fall over like a piece of cement if someone admitted that I was their muse. Wandering through the Shelves chose this interesting theme and it will be fun to see what everyone else will choose. I have another theme within a theme and here it goes...
1. FUNNY FACE-1957
A film starring the exquisite Audrey Hepburn as a young intellectual book store clerk whose store is uprooted by a fashion photo shoot run by famed photographer Dick Avery, played by Fred Astaire. In a photo, he sees the beauty of Hepburn and decides she needs to be his next fashion model. Hepburn agrees because she gets to go to Paris and meet the intellectuals of the day. Of course, there is dancing and singing with Kay Thompson stealing the show. Fred Astaire is based on famed photographer Richard Avedon and Audrey’s is based on Suzy Parker. Audrey Hepburn is one of the most beautiful and elegant ladies to ever grace the screen and when she models the Givenchy fashions especially the red dress when she walks down the steps in the Louvre.
2. MY FAIR LADY-1964
This is a musical take on Pygmalion which is a great play by George Bernard Shaw and an excellent film from 1938 with Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller which I prefer to this musical to be honest. This was a famous stage musical starring Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins and Julie Andrews as Eliza but because Julie Andrews was not known to movie audiences, the studio chose Audrey Hepburn. The story is about an arrogant cultured Higgins who is an expert in phonetics who makes a bet with his friend that he can take an ordinary cockney flower girl and pass her off as a duchess at a very elegant party where the King and Queen will attend. We see how he trains Eliza for the big night and becomes more dependent and caring to her. Audrey was upset that her voice was dubbed by the great Marni Nixon, who dubbed many famous gals ,but the film still is a great take on the play. She may have been too “regal” as the cockney lass and I always wish to know how Julie Andrews would have been..which I know would have been great. By the way, Julie Andrews was nominated for her role in Mary Poppins that came out the same year...Julie won.
3. PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES-1964
Yup, Audrey stars as a typist temp sent to William Holden’s apartment to type his book. The problem is that Holden has writer’s block and his agent, played by the great Noel Coward, is putting the pressure on. When Holden see Hepburn he becomes inspired with all these different plots that make fun of many film plot lines including a very campy Dracula theme. Tony Curtis is quite funny as...Tony Curtis who plays more than just a cameo. It’s not the best film, to be honest, but it is still fun to see.
Can you think of any films that fits the theme?
Hubert De Givenchey's Muse...Audrey Hepburn
Hi, Birgit!
ReplyDeleteWhile I have always admired actress, style icon and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn, the film genres for which she is best known, 50s romcoms and musicals are, as you well know, not my strong suit. I can count on one finger the number of films I have seen that are set in Paris or have the word Paris in the title. One of my favorite movies, as I think I told you before, is Audrey's 1967 suspense thriller Wait Until Dark featuring Alan Arkin, Dick Crenna and Jack Weston as heavies.
You ARE my muse, dear friend BB! Enjoy the rest of your week!
Well wow..I’m your muse...even when I am sitting here in my housecoat like Oscar Madison? I am humbled..truly. I know they are not your strong suit and Wait Until Dark is an excellent film. I would say for you to see Charade and Robin and Marion for Hepburn roles you might like.
Deletei am ERIC BRUNT by name. Greetings to every one that is reading this testimony. I have been rejected by my wife after three(3) years of marriage just because another Man had a spell on her and she left me and the kid to suffer. one day when i was reading through the web, i saw a post on how this spell caster on this address AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com have help a woman to get back her husband and i gave him a reply to his address and he told me that a man had a spell on my wife and he told me that he will help me and after 3 days that i will have my wife back. i believed him and today i am glad to let you all know that this spell caster have the power to bring lovers back. because i am now happy with my wife. Thanks for helping me Dr Akhere contact him on email: AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com
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Muse - now that's a tough one. You did good to think of three. And all with Audrey Hepburn!
ReplyDeleteYup..I thought she was perfect for this theme.
DeleteHi Birgit...3 fabulous film and I love them all....sunday afternoon in the winter watches....hope you are having fun....xxx
ReplyDeleteI am having fun! I am working on my scrapbook and enjoying my blog.
DeleteAudrey Hepburn was a stylin woman. I just looked her up because I wasn't sure how old she would be if she was alive, but she would have been 90. Wow. Hope your week is going well. hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteShe was an amazing lady whom no one disliked....except Humphrey Bogart but that was his ego talking. You should look up her quote about beauty...it is very telling bout this lady
DeleteLoved all those films. I love Paris and movies that feature it in any way. Unfortunately, not one movie popped into my head when I saw your theme, so good for you for picking three great ones.
ReplyDeleteYeah...this is a tough one but one could go with the Pygmalion theme...even Pretty Woman May fall under this category. I love Paris as well...such a beautiful city
DeleteI actually don't think I've seen any of your picks other than MY Fair Lady which is a good one.
ReplyDeleteRecently I saw a film called In Search of Fellini (2017) which I think would fit well in this category. Since it had to do with one of my favorite directors I had to watch it when I saw it on Netflix. Not a bad film.
Lee
I heard of this movie but have not seen it. Fellini had his own muse in his wife, guiletta Massina even his actor, Marcelo Mastroianni
DeleteI've only seen Funny Face which I really liked. My Fair Lady is one I know I need to get to eventually.
ReplyDeleteFunny Face is a good one and hope you see My Fair Lady one day
DeleteOh an Audrey Hepburn theme within the theme!!! Love it and LOVED her (she's one of the performers whose filmography I've completed-she did a few interesting films in Britain before the big Roman Holiday breakthrough.)
ReplyDeleteParis When it Sizzles is rather a fizzle but My Fair Lady whatever its shortcomings is a visual treat and well performed. I just caught some of it last week and its a charmer.
We match!!! Funny Face isn't my favorite musical but has many attractions, even if Fred is decades too old for Audrey. Funny that Audrey is supposed to be a sub for Suzy Parker, they couldn't be more different-though ravishing in their own ways.
Aside from our match I went a bit more current, and darker, with my other two.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)-Griet (Scarlett Johansson) works as a maid for painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth) with whom she shares a platonic friendship, a fact kept secret for fear of provoking the painter's jealous wife, Catharina (Essie Davis). When Vermeer’s wealthy patron Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson) turns a lustful eye towards Griet he commissions a painting of her and Vermeer and Griet are obliged to spend long hours alone together as she becomes the muse for his most famous portrait.
Camille Claudel (1988)-French sculptor Auguste Rodin (Gérard Depardieu) takes the precocious Camille Claudel (Isabelle Adjani) under his wing when he notices her raw sculpting talent and the two quickly begin a scandalous affair. Camille becomes Auguste's muse and assistant, sacrificing her own work to contribute to his sculptures. However, when Camille’s work goes unrecognized and she desires attention of her own she is left alone and gradually spirals into mental illness. Not an easy film, these are deeply flawed and difficult people, but Adjani is electric in the lead and was deservedly nominated for an Academy award.
Funny Face (1957)-Fashion photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) is searching for a new look and the next big style trend when he wanders into a Greenwich Village bookshop and discovers clerk Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn) who with a little pressure and persuasion he whisks off to Paris where she becomes his inspiration and muse….all set to the music of George and Ira Gershwin!
Hey! We match and to a great musical. Fred Astaire would agree with you as he was very uncomfortable doing the role as her love interest when she could be his daughter. Love, love, love Girl With the Pearl Earring which I almost went with before I decided to go all Hepburn. I still need to see Camille Claudet. I thought you might go all artist and choose Renoir, a French film about the last years of his life during WW1 and his son, the young film maker Jean Renoir and the woman who was their muse.
DeleteI loved Audrey Hepburn, not only was she beautiful outside but she was a truly beautiful person inside too. Her films are always worth a watch, Kate x
ReplyDeleteShe was an exquisite lady who had a huge heart and was strong to boot. I love her quote about beauty.
DeleteI'm a huge Audrey Hepburn fan and loved all of these, especially "Funny Face". 😃 "Paris When it Sizzles" reminds me of "Bells Are Ringing", starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin.
ReplyDeleteThese are good films but my fav is Funny Face. I have not seen Bells are Ringing
DeleteAudrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire are timeless.
ReplyDeleteHope your day is a purrfect vacay day.
They are great and having a great week 2 off
DeleteSeen the first two. Hepburn sure made some good movies indeed. Muse is a tricky one.
ReplyDeleteIt is a tricky one for sure.i thought of Hepburn right away but love the popular one this week, The Girl With The Pearl Earring and Renoir. I think Pretty Woman would fit here also
DeleteI remember being taken to see both My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins. I’d have been 7. As a fan then I was definitely in the Julie camp, but I think I’d go for Audrey now.
ReplyDeleteAudrey is great but I’m in the Julie Camp
DeleteExcept for the age difference between the characters, I liked Funny Face. Same thing with Daddy Long Legs. But then maybe all the movies I saw with Spring-Winter relationships made it seem normal when I met the first husband.
ReplyDeleteHepburn was good in My Fair Lady, but I sure would've loved to have seen Julie Andrews perform Eliza.
I know what you mean about the age difference which would be an issue now but not as much back in the day although Astaire did have an issue with it as well as Bogart, Cary Grant and Gary Cooper. I wish I could have seen Julie Andrews in the role
DeleteI've seen all three! Paris when it Sizzles... Yeah, yuck. Was not impressed by it. But Audrey Hepburn is a great pick.
ReplyDeleteYeah...it’s not the best film and that vampire scene is just horrible.
DeleteI haven't seen any of these.
ReplyDeleteGosh, Birgit, not only have I not seen any of these, I haven't heard of two of them. However, regardless how late I am getting here, I never miss your synopses. They put the stories in perspective from your wacky, funny, irreverent point of view.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I would say Funny Face might be one you may like. Glad you enjoy my synopsis
DeleteHaven't seen any of these. The topic eluded me this week so I sat this one out.
ReplyDeleteThis was a tough week
DeleteYou truly are a movie buff!!! I haven't seen any of these, but if I ever decide to go on a movie watching binge, I know which blog I'll visit to make my choices!
ReplyDeleteAndrea
Yes, it’s good to watch when one doesn’t feel well
DeleteEnjoy your weekend. Hope your vacay was wondrous.
ReplyDeleteIt was wondrous...I wish I could retire
DeleteFunny Face with Audrey Hepburn - wasn't she great, so high energy, feisty and lovely way back when. I mean its cruel to say over 50 years ago but geeze what a star and didn't she catapult the whole show into life when she spoke, moved and shoved Astair around! I burst out laughing when he fell over but to his credit he carried off his buffoonery act stumbling over and wrecking the set so well. Astair and Hepburn what a class comic act.
ReplyDeleteShe was great and Astaire made this physical bit elegant...so did ahe
DeleteI always enjoyed Tony Curtis films.
ReplyDeleteAre you back at work now?
My Fair Lady is the only one I've seen and I like it.
ReplyDelete