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?

Who Won the Oscar-1985

 

Over at Monday Music Moves Me, I have seen and listened to quite a few 80s songs so I decided to chose a year from the 80s and went with 1985. Let’s see if you will get who won the Oscar, who was nominated and which song got nadda…

1. SAY YOU, SAY ME BY LIONEL RITCHIE

Say You, Say Me…say Goodbye. This was the heyday for Lionel Ritchie who had several hits in the 80s and this one came from that blechh film, “White Knights”  starring Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov. I was so looking forward to the dancing but the camerawork forgot all about what Fred Astaire said, “show the whole body not just the feet” and would show their faces and just their feet, go slow mo when dancing off some table…ughhh. 

2. RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT SUNG BY DEBARGE

This song was written by Diane Warren for the film” The Last Dragon and became a big hit for this musical group. This is a movie I have not seen and doubt I will since it’s about Martial Arts with a young man, who adores Bruce Lee and wishes to become a master and glow..yes, glow. I do like Kung Fu and I do like the amazing work that Jet Li does and Jackie Chan but this just sounded like Ralph Machio would pop up somewhere. I don’t mind this song though.

3. MISS CELIE’S BLUES SUNG BY TATA VEGA

This is an excellent film by Steven Spielberg tht put Whoopi Goldberg on the map as a young girl, brutalized by her no good husband who is awakened to who she is as a person by Margaret Avery. Margaret Avery appears to be singing but she was dubbed by Tata. I guess Marni Nixon wasn’t available ( she was the go to gal in the 50s and 60s who dubbed many stars of the day). Oh, a gal, named Oprah Winfrey made her big screen debut in this film and did a great job getting an Oscar Nod in the process.

So, which one do you think won, which was nominated and which just got a carrot stick? 

Who Should Have Won The Oscar-1956

 

Best Actor had a variety of roles this year with James Dean, Rock Hudson and Laurence Olivier all in the Oscar Pot. I believe one man should have won for 1956, but wasn't even nominated and here we go..

1. JOHN WAYNE IN THE SEARCHERS

Despite people either loving him(that's me) or hating him, he deserved to win the Oscar as the Indian hating former soldier who is on the hunt to find his niece(played by Natalue Wood). The gentle looks Ethan( Wayne) gives to his sister in law, speaks volumes. When he sees his brother's home on fire, he knows they are dead and his first thought is of his sister in law. When he sees her dead, his brother and their son and the 2 girls taken, hate takes over. A posse is put together and along with the adopted son of John Wayne's brother, who was not home when they were ambushed, they take off after the girls. The posse gives up but not Wayne or the Native American son, played by Jeffrey Hunter, who drive on for 5 long years. This film is directed by John Ford and you can tell by the look of the film with Monument Valley taking center stage. You have Ford's stock company of actors Wayne, Ward Bond, Harry Carey Jnr., Patrick Wayne and the wonderful Hank Worden who all have great characters. Wayne is amazing as Ethan, a troubled man moving towards his goal of finding Scar and killing him. His rage is his mission and you are scared once he finds his niece since she has been raised by the Commanche. Will he kill or save her. It’s a must see western.

2. YUL BRYNNER IN THE KING AND I

I was lucky enough to see Yul Brynner in the 1980 production of The King and I in Toronto. It was so much fun to see him in his iconic role. He played this role, on Broadway, with Gertrude Lawrence before taking it to film. He is excellent as the king and he has a great rapport with Deborah Kerr as the governess who is to teach the English ways to all his children and his wives. They are at odds but grew to have great respect for one another. It's a lush musical by Rogers and Hammerstein with great costumes and the music is sublime. He did win the Oscar and I'm not upset that he won but it should have gone to John Wayne.

3. KIRK DOUGLAS IN LUST FOR LIFE

Kirk Douglas was born to play Vincent Van Gogh and this is a great film that Kirk eats up the screen every moment he is on film. Douglas plays the tortured soul of this Famous Dutch painter who had trouble hanging on to any friend which included Paul Gauguin, played by Anthony Quinn in his Oscar Winning role for Best Supporting actor, who just can’t deal with Van Gogh. This is quite a good movie based on Van Gogh and Douglas really showed this artist in all his bravado plus he looks like him to boot! It is worth checking out. 

Do you agree with me or do you feel someone else deserved the win?

My Favourite Rock Band

 

The Moody Blues… one of the great bands to come out of the 1960s that captured so much intelligence and artistry especially in the phenomenal album, “Days Of Future Passed”. I have many of their albums but could get a few more. I didn’t go with my other favourite, “ABBA” because they are not a band as much as a group in my way of thinking but I do love them. I am joining Monday Music Moves Me which is all about your favourite band or songs.  So here we go…

1. NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN-1967

Might as well start with their most famous and iconic song that we all know so well. I love everything about it including the poem at the beginning of the album and this one, at the end. I love how they used the London Symphony throughout the whole album culminating in this great composition.

2. ISN’T LIFE STRANGE-1972

This song is from the album, “Seventh Sojourn” which includes one of my all time favourites, “For My Lady” which I posted here a couple of times. This just makes me think how strange life can be no matter what age or time we are in. This song resonates today as it did back in the day no matter what is going on in the world or in your own life. I love it,

3. I’M JUST A SINGER IN A ROCK AND ROLL BAND-1973

This is just a fun song written as an answer to many who thought the Moody Blues were some philosophical gurus when they just wanted to write music. This was put on a 45 on the A side with “For My Lady” on the B side ( one of my all time favourites). This is, of course, from “Seventh Sojourn” as well.

I could go on and on but I shall leave it with these 3. What band or songs are your favs?

Leo McCarey

 

Who the hell is Leo McCarey? Well, he is a famous director who was most prolific in the 30s and 40s ending in the early 60s. His most famous movies are “Going My Way” that stars Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald and “An Affair To Remember” with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. I am choosing 3 films that are just as fun. There are a few movies I still need to see like “The Awful Truth” starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne but I am choosing films, that I love, directed by this man born on this date back in 1898.

1. RUGGLES OF RED GAP-1935

I had to choose this very famous scene when the English Butler, played by Charles Laughton, recites the Gettysburg Address and that brought Laughton to tears. In fact, this is Laughton’s favourite as well as Leo McCarey’s. The hick husband and wife from the States, are in England and the man is playing cards. A dumb English lord or whatever, has no more money so he bets his butler and, yup, the hicks win and off the 3 go back home. Well, Charles sticks out like a sore thumb but teaches something to the people in that small town and they teach Charles not to feel so haughty. It’s funny, sweet, and poignant.

2. LOVE AFFAIR1939

This is a second film version of this popular story about 2 people who meet on a cruise ship, fall in love and promise to meet up on top of the Empire State Building only for tragedy to strike. He remade this  film with Grant and Kerr that got a lot of free time when it was shown on the movie, “Sleepless in Seattle”. This is a gem with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne in the roles of the star crossed lovers. It is also filmed with humour, tragedy, and sentimentality and that’s fine by me. Both Boyer and Dunne called this their favourite film.

3. THE BELLS OF ST. MARY’S-1945

This is a sequel to the wonderful, “Going My Way” following Father O’Malley, played by Bing Crosby,  who must try and save this school run by nuns, headed by the exceptional Ingrid Bergman. They may not see eye to eye but they learn to have a great respect for each other. It’s very fun to watch and see these 2  people spar in more ways than one. When can you see a nun teach a kid to box? I love the prank Crosby and Bergman played on the priest who was overseeing the film. When Crosby is leaving the school, he and Bergman passionately kiss. I bet that priest almost had a coronary…lol.

Have you seen any of his movies? If so, which one?

Dance Like It’s the 1980s

 

So, Harley wanted a hug from Pappa and Pappa wanted his jewels left unscathed( that did not happen). They do love each other even though Harley gulped down my hubby’s chicken leg and thigh in one second. Harley didn’t even chew it…it was just gone! Now, over at Monday Music Moves Me, it is freebie time and I have been thinking about my party days in the 80s when I was in University. It was a lot of fun to put it mildly. I could dance, nonstop, for hours. So here I am remembering the times of many a year ago….

1. RELAX BY FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD-1984

This is one fun song that I danced to at the University pub, University dances and several bars downtown and we all were in top form for dancing around this time of the year. I always thought this guy’s voice was quite good. Dancing was so much fun especially at Gord’s, a famous dance club often with skin heads. Funny anecdote, my first time there, I’m sitting with my friends, Peter, Ron and Darren when this horrible music comes on and these skinheads start running around in circles pushing one another. One of the morons ends up on me and I get angry, tell him to F off and push him off. My friends looked at me, mouths agape, telling me I shouldn’t have done that. I had no idea why and only found out later that one is not supposed to push these skinheads because they are jerks. I just thought they were idiots and didn’t like that they fell onto me…idiots.

2. COME ON EILEEN BY DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS-1982

This is such a famous song that it’s considered one of the all time best from this decade and beyond. I would place it way down the list when one thinks of the bands from the 60s and 70s, but it is a lot of fun and was always played throughout the 80s. 

3. I LOVE ROCK AND ROLL BY JOAN JETT  AND THE BLACKHEARTS-1981

This is more of a rock song than the songs we think of from the 1980s but it’s a good one with Joan Jett singing her heart out. In 1982, I travelled to Austria to represent my family for my grandparents’ wedding anniversary of 60 years. My cousin, Gita, decided to take me out with fellow cousin Bettina and her fiancé  who drove an Astin Martin. I was lucky to sit in the front seat while he drove, very, very fast, on the Autobahn. We ended up at a disco which was the first time I ever saw people waltz to rock songs! This man asked Bettina to dance and she said no but, feeling sorry for me( I wish she hadn’t), told him to take me up to dance…this song was playing and he, reluctantly, agreed. During the whole song, he would slowly go down on one knee and point in one direction and then in another. He was a freak!! I tried to dance on my own trying to show that I am not with this nut. Fun times but it is one for the books.

What songs did you dance to when in University, college or just out on a Saturday, Friday, Thursday….lol

October Star of the Month-Linda Darnell

 

BIRTH: October 16, 1923

DEATH: April 10, 1965

AGED: 41 years

DIED FROM: Fire in home, burned 90% of her body. Not sure of the cause of the fire although cigarettes may be the likely culprit but not sure if it was Linda or her friend.

REAL NAME: Monetta Eloyse Darnell

MARRIED: 3 Times

AFFAIRS: Howard Hughes, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Italian actor Giuseppe Amato, Vic Orstti. Dated Mickey Rooney, Jackie Cooper, George Montgomery, Kay Keyser, Eddie Albert..etc, etc, etc., 

CHILDREN: 1 adopted daughter

NICKNAME: Filmdom’s Most Eligible Bachelorette.

TALENT: she loved to paint and draw

KNOWN FOR: her exquisite beauty

I am taking a major risk…why? This is, I believe, Joel’s favourite actress and I hope I do this amazing gal justice since she is not well known which is sad. If Joel has anything more to add, please let me know in your comment. This is a gal that I always wanted to know more about even when I was a kid because she was not only strikingly beautiful, but she seemed intelligent and and full of spunk. She deserved a lot more than what she was given, partly, I believe, due to Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox, who lusted after her but whom she rejected. You can see that he made sure she just didn’t get the parts she deserved due to the creep but most of them were creeps who had power and the almighty casting couch. She grew up one of 5 kids whom her mom saw stars in front of her beautiful girl and decided to capitalize on her daughter’s beauty lying about her age, mind you, I don’t think Linda minded at the time but she was only 13! When they headed to Hollywood and Hollywood found out about her young age, they actually told her to go home until she was of age! When she returned, still young, in my humble opinion, she starred in films from the get go with people believing she was much older than her 16/17 yrs. Her mom had a bad reputation for being a bully on set and nasty, with Linda, finally, kicking her out of her life. Linda actually loved painting, travelling and didn’t care much about the whole scene and had few Hollywood friends except for Ann Miller.

 She did have bad taste in men, with her first husband introducing her to alcohol which led her to a downward spiral of alcoholism and her so-called love of her life, Joseph L Mankiewicz using her for 6 years before dropping her to stay with his wife calling her a nice gal but with terrifying personal problems. She did deal with depression and even a couple of suicide attempts while trying to get sober. She was staying with her former secretary and friend, when, in the middle of the night, she awoke to fire in the home. She got her friend’s daughter and friend to the 2nd storey window and they jumped but fearing  the fall, she tried to find a different way out. She was burned over 90% of her body and died a day later. What a horrible way to go for someone who deserved an Oscar nod, if not the Oscar for A Letter to 3 Wives and who just wanted to be loved.

FILMS

1.  A Letter To Three Wives-1949

2. My Darling Clementine-1946

3. Blood and Sand-1941

4. Fallen Angel- 1945

5. Unfaithfully Yours-1948

6. Night Without Sleep-1952

7. Forever Amber-1947

8. Hangover Square-1945

9. Star Dust-1939

10. The Mark Of Zorro-1940

I haven’t seen many of her films so, after, Blood and Sand, I chose movies that I would want to see in order, mind you there are other films I want to see not even listed. Which are your favourite films of hers? Have you seen any?