Thursday Film Picks: Houses

 

It’s October, we Canucks just celebrated Thanksgiving. I’m patiently waiting for the leaves to turn fabulous colours and Halloween will soon be here. I thought of the many homes that were stars of the film and it was so hard to choose only 3 so, since Halloween is around the corner, I went the spooky route.

By the way…the answers to yesterday’s  Oscar music fest is..”Say You Say Me” won the Oscar, “Miss CELIE’S Blues” was nominated and “Rhythm of the Night” got nadda! 

Here are my 3…

1. REBECCA-1940

Joan Fontaine ( I truly dislike this pretentious actress as she reminded me of a former colleague I had to work with. I read Joan’s autobiography which resulted in my dislike for her) plays a meek gal who is the companion for an elderly woman when she meets Laurence Olivier who sweeps her off her feet. They marry and he brings her to Manderley, this huge mansion near the ocean. When I saw this mansion and the huge fireplace inside it, I wanted to live there. Well, poor Joan meets the huge staff and, then, she meets Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers who makes the word “intimidating” sound like an understatement. She is the head maid and the loyal friend to Rebecca, Olivier’s first wife, who died under mysterious circumstances. Mrs. Danvers makes it her mission to drive port Joannie insane. Her new husband seems to be cold and aloof and his friends don’t seem to be of much help. This is a gothic romance/mystery/ almost horror film with this beautiful mansion at the core. It is well acted especially by Judith Anderson( the Vulcan High priestess in Star Trek 3) and very well directed by Alfred Hitchcock, of course.

2.  PSYCHO-1960

If you have not seen this film…you’ve been living under a rock…lol. It is a justly famous film by Alfred Hitchcock who had to use his TV crew to get this film done. We have heard about the shower scene, justly famous( chocolate syrup was used to simulate blood) and we know Anthony Perkins has mommy issues but we forget that Vera Miles, a favourite of Hitchcock( even though he couldn’t forgive her getting pregnant when he wanted to have her star in one of his films..I think it was “North by Northwest” but I’m going by my fractured memory..please correct me if I am wrong), played the sister of the ill fated Janet Leigh and square-jawed John Gavin was Janet’s love. John is the reason poor Janet( Marion Crane…Hitch had a thing for birds) stole the money( the McGuffin) which set the whole thing in motion. When Marion arrives at the run down motel, it seems dwarfed by the square box of the house at the top of a hill where mother resides with Norman. Most of the time, only the front facade of a home or business was built for a film but this home was built with all the walls and the roof and it is still standing! Nothing is inside it but it stands at the top of the hill and tourists can visit where Norman loses his mind. This is a brilliant film that caused quite the stir when it came out. Love the music and the camerawork.  If you haven’t seen it, you need to see it,

3. THE HAUNTING-1963

To me, this is the home to beat because it seems to be alive screwing with the minds of the people who are staying there. An anthropologist with a keen interest in psychic phenomena brings 2 women who seem to have an innate psychic ability. One is an unstable woman who wants to escape her sister’s clutches and feels a kinship to the home and the other is a cynical woman who can sense things. Along for the ride is the cynical owner of the home played by Russ Tamblyn known for his athletic dancing in films like “West Side Story.” This home has cold spots, sounds, footsteps, doors moving, which is quite scary and the feeling the home does not want them to leave. The cinematography is brilliant and the writing is excellent. Forget the horrible remake with Liam Neeson, stick with this one but I will give a shout out to the TV mini series that was on HBO or Netflix or whatever, I got this series for Christmas. It’s well done although the ending  was just ok for me but it is eerie. I still love this film. 

Which homes seem to take centre stage for you, in films?