TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Rinaldo]

Ah, Rinaldo, of this one I will say, don't fight it!  Enjoy the lovely views, both the lead actors and the scenery, and a pretty darn good mystery.

No worries, that's exactly what I do. I'm helpless. After starting in musicals (beginning as a Broadway chorus boy, in fact), Stanley Donen became a very proficient director of European entertainments in the 1960s, with this, Bedazzled, and my personal fave Two for the Road. Credit to Peter Stone for a nicely crafted screenplay, too.

 

Cary Grant made a very smart request when he agreed to take the role: in all their scenes together, Hepburn had to be the pursuer, so that (given their age difference) it wouldn't seem creepy. 

[Milburn Stone]

I love the Mancini score for this. (I can remember being thrilled as a kid at the movies when the main title music began with its bongos and tuned low drums.) And "Latin Snowfall" (the music that plays under the "meet-cute" at the ski resort) is one of the greatest pieces of music of all time. (IMHO.)

[3pwood]

 

Enjoy the lovely views, both the lead actors and the scenery, and a pretty darn good mystery.

 

When Charade first came out, I was surprised to find that Walter Matthau held his own, even against Cary Grant.  And he still does, every time I see it.  

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Miliburn Stone:Rinaldo, that clip of Betty Hutton...Imagine her as Danny Kaye. The performance would be virtually identical, facial inflections and all!

I find both of them incredibly hard to take. Even with things like The Inspector General or The Miracle of Morgan's Creek that everybody likes  I just wish to hell that someone else had been cast.  

 

 

 Julia: I don't know if it's that she's trying way too hard or just that she only had one speed

That's it exactly, for both of them - you've put your finger on just what I can't take about them.  That kind of frantic 1940's Hellzapoppin thing.  Oddly I find Helllapoppin itself quite funny, but then it barely has a plot and is more a breakneck sequence of blackout sketches.

[aradia22]

It was too cold to go out so I just cooked and watched The Pirate. I was in a very receptive mood so I started from the beginning. It wasn't that bad. I don't know if I was just in a receptive mood or if I was prepared having watched the first 30 minutes or so already but Gene Kelly was less annoying this time around. You were right, Milburn. It works better when you see it all together. Isolating it into chunks I had more time to find his character grating. Plus it helped to see Judy chucking everything in sight at him. This one was a little weak on the musical numbers and is really carried by the strength of her performance for me. I came around on Gene Kelly about the time she figured out that he was only pretending to be Macoco. Putting him on the defensive, he's more sympathetic. I think that's part of my problem. When he doesn't have an opponent, he's just too much of a jerk but when he's up against something and that attitude is warranted it's more tolerable. But still with the stalkery/refusing to believe that no means no -ness. *shakes head*

 

Also, some of those gowns were gorgeous. I particularly liked the black one she wore to meet Macoco. 

[Milburn Stone]

It was too cold to go out so I just cooked and watched The Pirate. I was in a very receptive mood so I started from the beginning. It wasn't that bad. I don't know if I was just in a receptive mood or if I was prepared having watched the first 30 minutes or so already but Gene Kelly was less annoying this time around. You were right, Milburn. It works better when you see it all together. 

 

Very happy you've come around to the movie's charms, aradia.

[elle]

It was too cold to go out so I just cooked and watched The Pirate. I was in a very receptive mood so I started from the beginning. It wasn't that bad. I don't know if I was just in a receptive mood or if I was prepared having watched the first 30 minutes or so already but Gene Kelly was less annoying this time around. You were right, Milburn. It works better when you see it all together. Isolating it into chunks I had more time to find his character grating. Plus it helped to see Judy chucking everything in sight at him. This one was a little weak on the musical numbers and is really carried by the strength of her performance for me. I came around on Gene Kelly about the time she figured out that he was only pretending to be Macoco. Putting him on the defensive, he's more sympathetic. I think that's part of my problem. When he doesn't have an opponent, he's just too much of a jerk but when he's up against something and that attitude is warranted it's more tolerable. But still with the stalkery/refusing to believe that no means no -ness. *shakes head*

 

Also, some of those gowns were gorgeous. I particularly liked the black one she wore to meet Macoco. 

Chalk one up for Ol' Winter :0)  

I agree with you about the costumes, it is a very colorful movie.  The scene in which she wears that dress (which has always looked brown to me), as she is protesting her fate and making her self up to look beautiful, that starts the sequence that leads up to the scene you mention, the whole sequence is my favorite bit of the movie.

[elle]

I don't really remember anything about it, he just talked about being thrilled that Errol Flynn was in his town.  He was about 12.

 Trying to remember things from being 12 can be hard.  Neat that he told you about it!

 

Alrighty, Rinaldo, up today are "Funny Girl" (listening to Blue over You right now, a scene I like) and then much much later "An American in Paris".  I'll admit that I like the beginning of "Funny Girl", love seeing Anne Francis and Omar Shariff is just beautiful!  The rest of the movie, I kind of lose interest.

 

"An American in Paris" is another story.  All that Gershwin!  I happily sing along to (almost) every song. :0)

[Rinaldo]

It's been a good while since I saw Funny Girl -- maybe not since its first release (which kept it in theaters sporadically for years, as happened in those pre-VCR times). I should check it out again; I was quite devoted at the time.

 

An American in Paris is another story for me, though I do enjoy the "I Got Rhythm" number. But I'm pretty sure I've mouthed off about it here not too long ago, no point boring everyone with a rehash. I love Gershwin too! -- I wrote my PhD dissertation about him. But I'd rather get the music from somewhere else.

[Milburn Stone]

It's been a good while since I saw Funny Girl -- maybe not since its first release (which kept it in theaters sporadically for years, as happened in those pre-VCR times). I should check it out again; I was quite devoted at the time.

 

This brings to mind how with certain movies, we have an indelible memory not only of our first exposure to the movie, but of everything around it. I vividly remember seeing Funny Girl at The New in Baltimore (that's what the theater was called, The New), about where my family sat in the theater, how the film looked and sounded, etc. Movies are like that. (I hope they still are.)

[Rinaldo]

It's so true. In many cases, if it's long enough ago, it also calls up memories of the sort of movie palaces that used to be standard and (mostly) no longer are around. Like the classic glittery Balaban & Katz houses in Chicago that I grew up with -- and not just in the Loop but in the "neighborhoods" too. Usually I can recall which movie I saw in each of them.

[Milburn Stone]

Yes. The New was the smallest of the downtown Baltimore first-run houses, but even at that, it was big enough for roadshow attractions. It seemed to be where most of them played, except the ones in Cinerama, which played at The Town.

[Bastet]

Yeah, my memories of seeing films in the old, stately movie houses are so much more involved than those of sitting in the multiplex.  There are several still hanging on here in Los Angeles, but one wonders for how long.  It seems like not a year goes by without a "Save the Theatre" campaign, and some are run down, renting the space out for events in order to stay afloat (which means fewer films shown, causing part of the audience to go elsewhere), etc.  Any time one changes hands, I hold my breath.

Edited February 13, 2015 by Bastet

[Rinaldo]

That reminds me of the Uptown Theatre in Chicago, about halfway between center city and the northern city limits. (Take a look at that lobby!) It has sat unused for a number of years now. For a while it was booked for live acts and so on, or special screenings. (My director father took me to an advance DGA screening there of An Unmarried Woman in 1978, and even then I was stunned that such an edifice still existed.) But it's clearly unusable for an ordinary schedule of new movies, and it's been the subject of passionate reclamation projects. Nobody wants to tear it down, but what to use it for? I hope one of the neighborhood groups finds the answer.

[elle]

That reminds me of the Uptown Theatre in Chicago, about halfway between center city and the northern city limits. (Take a look at that lobby!) It has sat unused for a number of years now. For a while it was booked for live acts and so on, or special screenings. (My director father took me to an advance DGA screening there of An Unmarried Woman in 1978, and even then I was stunned that such an edifice still existed.) But it's clearly unusable for an ordinary schedule of new movies, and it's been the subject of passionate reclamation projects. Nobody wants to tear it down, but what to use it for? I hope one of the neighborhood groups finds the answer.

Wow!  The lobby alone would be a great venue!  

 

This theatre reminds me of the one shown in The Fifth Element, grand!  It seems as if it could be used for live performances of theatre or orchestra.  I wonder how the neighborhood is around there.

 

I'm enjoying reading about all of your memories of great movie houses.  I been trying to think back and while I can not name one movie theater I saw what in, I do remember seeing certain movies, who I with (with whom I was?) For example, I recall seeing Snow White, had to have been a reissue.  I was sitting in the second row with my best friend and my father.  She and I were both 7.  The scene when the queen turned into a hag scared us!   It was as if she was coming off the screen at us!  I imagine it was what 3-D was supposed to be.

 

TCM - freaky Friday today, I guess.  Creepy movies leading up to the wonderful Roman Holiday.  Sigh!  I applaud the ending every time.  Anything else would have been treacle.

Edited February 13, 2015 by elle

[Rinaldo]

It's a perfectly nice ordinary residential neighborhood, with a few retail blocks; it's even had a bit of renewal, and has become rather fashionable. But something like the Uptown just doesn't fit into modern needs or habits. 

[Milburn Stone]

It's a perfectly nice ordinary residential neighborhood, with a few retail blocks; it's even had a bit of renewal, and has become rather fashionable. But something like the Uptown just doesn't fit into modern needs or habits. 

 

I actually wonder how much longer theatrical exhibition of movies will last at all. I'm as big a proponent of the communal, darkened room, big screen experience as anyone--but streaming current movies in HD at home is just so darn easy now. Sometimes I pass by a multiplex and think to myself, "How are you still here?"

[aradia22]

I'm happy to see Met Live in HD broadcasts at the movies but in general on the few occasions I go to the movie theater it's due more to urgency (I don't want to wait for Netflix) than experience (spectacle, watching with a group, etc.).

[Milburn Stone]

I think, bittersweetly, that the last remaining reason to "go to the movies" (in most cases) is to share an experience with a friend or date who doesn't live with you. That still makes sense. But if a person, or a husband and wife, or a family, or two or more people who live together, want to catch a recent film, the streaming revolution has made it even more the case than before that you need a really compelling reason to go out. (And of course, for older movies, there's TCM.)

 

I miss that old experience of going out to a movie, but more and more Mrs. Stone and I have succumbed to the seductive lure of seeing any movie we want, right now, with the press of the right thumb. Sometimes a movie from not all that long ago (say, 2006) will come up in conversation, and I'll remember fondly and nostalgically that we saw it at the movies, and I'll say, "Oh yeah, that's when we used to go to the movies!"

Edited February 14, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[Rinaldo]

I actually wonder how much longer theatrical exhibition of movies will last at all. 

I hear you, and the thought has been known to cross my mind as well... but people have been saying that since the early 1980s when home video and recorders started to take off. (Which doesn't mean they're wrong, of course.) Things have definitely changed, and surely will continue to change, but something in us (so far) continues to want to see the Big New Thing together.

 

But just this weekend I've become newly aware that we're in kind of uncharted shifting territory. The movie The Last Five Years, a faithful cinematic rendition of a musical that's meant a lot to me (I saw its very first run in a Chicago suburb), opened yesterday -- in half a dozen theaters. It will go to more next week and the week after that, but never very many, and none near me (it'll never open anywhere near Philadelphia, which is unusual given the "specialty" theaters there). Its creator Jason Robert Brown explained on Facebook yesterday that, because it's being released simultaneously on Video on Demand, a majority of theaters won't screen it -- that could change if the opening theatrical weekend is huge (but how can that happen when it's so unavailable?). So what do I do? "Support" the theatrical experience by waiting a week and driving the two hours to DC? I really would prefer that my first viewing of it be in a theater with others who like it. But on the other hand, I could pay now and see it on my laptop today. When I commented (I wasn't the only one) about this dilemma, Jason replied simply, "Six of one, half a dozen of another. You should enjoy." I still haven't made up my mind how to "enjoy," though.

 

And who knows? Vinyl LPs have made a surprising comeback of late in the audio market. Maybe when the multiplex is all but extinct, a new kind of group movie experience will become popular.

[Milburn Stone]

You make me think of the one silver lining to this, Rinaldo. Which is that, given how poorly most theater pieces translate to TV (I don't mean they translate poorly to movies--they sometimes translate well to that medium; I'm talking about televised theater), it remains the case that live theatrical performance provides something irreproducible in the home, or on the big screen in the case of Fathom. So live theater may flourish with the extinction of the movie-going habit. But I guess that's something for the Theatre Talk thread. :)

[elle]

I'm happy to see Met Live in HD broadcasts at the movies but in general on the few occasions I go to the movie theater it's due more to urgency (I don't want to wait for Netflix) than experience (spectacle, watching with a group, etc.).

It is interesting to see how many of the older theaters and a few of the multiplexes are showing Met Live productions.  Also, two of our oldest theaters here regularly show "old" movies.  I put that into quotes because I don't consider DeNiro movies as "old".  They have theme weeks, like the aforementioned DeNiro but also for a director like Billy Wilder or MGM musicals.  I do truly regret not going to 1776 when they had it, but I couldn't convince my dad to go (that's my excuse).

[elle]

Adam's Rib - with Jean Hagen.  I just caught the scene where Tom Ewell is walking to her apartment.  He is whistling "You are My Lucky Star"  This movie precedes "Singing in the Rain" by about 3 years.

[Rinaldo]

given how poorly most theater pieces translate to TV (I don't mean they translate poorly to movies--they sometimes translate well to that medium; I'm talking about televised theater)...

As we know from another thread, that's an opinion with which I don't agree -- as Maria said to Anita, "It's true for you, not for me." There can be good or bad examples of both kinds of adaptation, and there are some examples of televised theater that are among my most treasured possessions. 

elle, am I missing your point? All the songs in Singin' in the Rain (except for two) are old ones. That's part of their fame. Or is it the Jean Hagen coincidence you're pointing out? -- which is indeed pretty neat.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Rinaldo

[Milburn Stone]

As we know from another thread, that's an opinion with which I don't agree -- as Maria said to Anita, "It's true for you, not for me." There can be good or bad examples of both kinds of adaptation, and there are some examples of televised theater that are among my most treasured possessions.

 

I should have been more precise. I've seen televised theater work well when it's straight (non-musical) comedy or drama. It's musical theater that never works for me when televised--with the one exception of Mary Martin's Peter Pan. Oh, and Sunday in the Park with George.

 

I know you don't agree with my more qualified statement, either, but I thought I might as well make my statement hew to my actual view.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[aradia22]

I was going to do an Irene Dunne/Cary Grant double feature today after watching My Favorite Wife (either The Awful Truth or Penny Serenade) but I didn't think I'd have time for the second movie and I'd prefer to watch both in their entirety. My Favorite Wife of course feels very familiar because of Move Over Darling but I think I've only seen 10 minutes of it at the most before now. Definitely the hotel part and maybe something in the middle with "Adam." It's interesting to see how it compares to the remake. On the one hand, I like that it isn't as goofy. I mean, there's some slapstick and falls but Move Over Darling feels more heightened and ridiculous. A big difference is in the second love interests. The second wife here wasn't awful just a little vain (really only hinted at with the mirror) and rightfully upset whereas in MOD she was whiny and stereotypically awful. I can't remember if she was one of those evil stepmothers who wants to send the kids to boarding school but... probably. Also, Steven/Adam in this movie was a pretty stand up guy. He didn't hide his interest in Irene Dunne's character but he wasn't an arrogant jerk and he wasn't forcing himself on her. This movie was less of the farce of MOD and more about Cary Grant's character which really comes through with the way Steven is written and the scenes following the courtroom at the end. This time he's stubborn and indecisive and worried about appearances. The conflict comes more from his character than the situation.

 

For me, this one isn't a must watch. It's fine but there are more entertaining movies and honestly his dilemma becomes increasingly less compelling over time. The costumes were OK. Nothing that special. Though sitting in bed in her nightgown, Irene Dunne was definitely giving me a Snow White vibe. I know Adriana Caselotti provided the voice and was a model for the animators but I have to believe there was some Irene Dunne influence in both cases.

[Rick Kitchen]

I'm happy to see Met Live in HD broadcasts at the movies but in general on the few occasions I go to the movie theater it's due more to urgency (I don't want to wait for Netflix) than experience (spectacle, watching with a group, etc.).

 

Unfortunately for those of us on the West Coast, the productions air at 9 AM.  I just can't make it to a theater at 9 AM.

[elle]

elle, am I missing your point? All the songs in Singin' in the Rain (except for two) are old ones. That's part of their fame. Or is it the Jean Hagen coincidence you're pointing out? -- which is indeed pretty neat.

The latter.  It would funnier if Adam's Rib came after SitR, because then one could consider it an actual in joke rather than a coincidence.

 

Speaking of in-jokes, there is the famous line of Lauren Bacall to William Powell in How to Marry a Millionaire about how she prefers older men.

Schatze Page: Look at Roosevelt, look at Churchill, look at that old fella what's his name in The African Queen.

 

That made me wonder if Powell and Bogart ever were in a movie together.  imdb Search says no.  I still would pick Powell myself.

 

Also can someone explain why doorknobs are in the middle of doors in swanky apartments.

[voiceover]

It's musical theater that never works for me when televised

 

Butbutbut...Cinderella, with Lesley Ann Warren and Stuart Damon and Celeste Holm.  One of my childhood touchstone experiences.

 

When I was in college, a theatre in the big city nearby got bought up, redone as its original palace-type space, and started showing TCM-type-fare.  Loved it then but didn't get to see as many movies there as I would've liked.

 

During Casablanca's brief rerelease (late 90s/early 00s), it was shown in Washington, DC,  at the Uptown on Connecticut Ave.  That screen is a few stories high!  The first time Bogart appeared, half the audience burst into applause, and the other half laughed a nanosecond later.  I was in the latter half -- and I can tell you,  we all laughed because we had just realized, what idiots we were for not applauding!!  It was a take-your-breath-away moment.  

And may I say, to respond to the "Not as good as you'd thought it would be at first viewing" comment upthread...I have adored that movie from first viewing on to 315th.

Edited February 15, 2015 by voiceover

[Milburn Stone]

Also can someone explain why doorknobs are in the middle of doors in swanky apartments.

 

I know. How does that even work?

[Rinaldo]

It's musical theater that never works for me when televised

 

Butbutbut...Cinderella, with Lesley Ann Warren and Stuart Damon and Celeste Holm.  One of my childhood touchstone experiences.

 

But that's a different thing -- a studio production made specifically for TV -- a TV original, in fact. It's not what Milburn Stone or I were disagreeing about in our gentlemanly way, a stage production of a musical that was captured during a live performance in front of an audience.

[Julia]

I know. How does that even work?

 

The very few I've seen were just for moving the door, not attached to a latch, so I guess it was an aesthetic decision.

[Milburn Stone]

The very few I've seen were just for moving the door, not attached to a latch, so I guess it was an aesthetic decision.

 

But the whole leverage thing is off, even if it's just for moving the door. It would seem to require about ten times as much effort because of its disregard of Archimedes' Principle!

 

I'm amazed and impressed that you've seen these things in real life. I've only seen them in the movies. :)

[Julia]

I'm amazed and impressed that you've seen these things in real life. I've only seen them in the movies. :)

 

A lot of the museums in New York are the former homes of rich people. It's an education :)

[aradia22]

I decided to put on Bells are Ringing. I have a fondness for actors who can do voices and accents so I was instantly charmed by Judy Holliday. I'm surprised this is Vincent Minelli because I didn't think it was shot exceptionally well. "It's A Perfect Relationship" could have been a much stronger number though it was one of my favorites but that was because of Judy and the song itself. Both the look of the film/way it was shot and the sound were a little distracting to me. I don't think the lip-syncing was wildly off so maybe it was just that it felt like the sound was coming from another place. The best way I can describe it is listening to a chorus during the opening credits. You get the distinct feeling that the person providing the voice is offscreen somewhere. "I Met a Girl" was another song I really enjoyed but a number that wasn't shot very well. I guess there's a way to do Bells are Ringing as a movie but I don't think it's really necessary. I mean, it's not a story that really has a lot of spectacle or moving parts and it's not like On the Town or even Oklahoma or Brigadoon where it's really necessary to have those outdoor scenes. I would really like to see it on stage now. It just feels very static as a movie. I don't have the terminology to explain why.

 

I didn't think the costumes were fantastic but Judy Holliday looked fantastic in them. Dean Martin was fine as a leading man but he didn't make a huge impression. The part didn't really call for much. The story probably also works better on stage because it stretches credibility less for them to jump to "I love you" and it stays a cute, quaint little romance. Any opinions on songs/plot elements dropped from the adaptation to the screen?

Edited February 16, 2015 by aradia22

[mariah23]

Variety reports Louis Jourdan has died at 93.

[Rinaldo]

Even when it was new, Bells Are Ringing was (though popular and long-running) acknowledged to be a very old-fashioned sort of show: an unabashed vehicle for a distinctive and popular leading lady, with a frankly contrived and silly plot. About half a dozen songs were dropped or replaced; most were fairly incidental, and the one that's a ballad for the man was replaced by a new duet, "Better Than a Dream," which the authors liked so well that they added it to the still-running original production.

 

There was a Broadway revival in 2001 that starred Faith Prince and Marc Kudisch and didn't do well (though it got recorded). But just a few years ago it was one of the best-ever Encores! productions, directed with style by Kathleen Marshall and starring Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase. Also with Judy Kaye, Dylan Baker, and Bobby Cannevale.

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

 

I decided to put on Bells are Ringing.

I just have to chime in - one of my absolute favorite movie musicals, even with all the missteps you mentioned. Judy Holliday is just wonderful and just pops off the screen. Sure the plot is silly but she totally makes up for every moment with her personality. IMHO even the songs are great  ("What. . . is Handel - Hialeah! Hialeah!") 

[aradia22]

 

I just have to chime in - one of my absolute favorite movie musicals, even with all the missteps you mentioned. Judy Holliday is just wonderful and just pops off the screen. Sure the plot is silly but she totally makes up for every moment with her personality. IMHO even the songs are great  ("What. . . is Handel - Hialeah! Hialeah!")

Just to be clear, even though I thought it was underdeveloped and not shot incredibly well I did enjoy the movie a lot. It just felt a bit more like a TV movie than a movie movie.

[elle]

Variety reports Louis Jourdan has died at 93.

How sad!

 

I think my favorite movie of his is The Swan.  And while I don't like the movie, I think it is worth mentioning his role in Julie where he is terrifying!

Edited February 16, 2015 by elle

[voiceover]

Louis Jourdan -- the Charles Boyer of my youth.  Loved him.  

Edited February 16, 2015 by voiceover

[Wiendish Fitch]

Louis Jourdan was a very versatile actor: so charming in Gigi, and so caddish in Letter From an Unknown Woman and Madame Bovary. He had quite a life, too. He was a member of the French Resistance, was married for over 60 years to his childhood sweetheart, and his only son died at 29. 

 

Rest in peace, Mr. Jourdan.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Wiendish Fitch

[Bastet]

I just looked up a quote of Jourdan's that stuck with me ...

 

"I never see my movies. When they're on television, I click them away. Hollywood created an image, and I long ago reconciled myself with it. I was the French cliché."

[Irlandesa]

Oh but what a lovely cliché you were, Monsieur Jourdan. 

[aradia22]

Decided to watch Down to Earth (1947) today. I found Rita Hayworth too affected and fake at the beginning as Terpsichore. It also reminded me that I was meaning to look up a good biography of her. I've been interested in hearing about her Hollywood experience since briefly reading something about how they moved her hairline back with electrolysis and did various other cosmetic things to make her more appealing (supposedly) to Caucasian audiences. I guess her behavior at the beginning felt forced in that way. Once she got to earth and started dancing the movie woke up. I haven't seen a lot of her dancing but she's been enchanting in everything I have seen. The movie's dubbing is so bad it's more adorable than annoying.That said, Daniel Miller was an incredibly unsympathetic character. He was not likable at all and also a schmuck who had no business putting on a show. No wonder his past shows were failures. Even the final show they settled on seemed idiotic. I did enjoy Corkle and 7013 and of course, Rita Hayworth.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

It also reminded me that I was meaning to look up a good biography of her.

You'll want to read this one: http://www.amazon.com/If-This-Was-Happiness-Biography/dp/0670819786/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424135323&sr=1-1

 

I have to warn you her life was incredibly sad.

[Rinaldo]

I've also been reading Simon Callow's biography of Orson Welles (in 3 volumes, of which only first 2 have appeared), in which Rita Hayworth of course plays an important role for a while.

[aradia22]

I'm not promising I'll get to it anytime soon, mind you. I haven't been reading much for a few months. Distracted by other things and too lazy to get myself to the library. They gave me an expired card and it's a big hassle going there to clear up the issue. I have movie phases and theatre phases and book phases and music phases but I generally can't sustain them all at the same time.

[Milburn Stone]

Decided to watch Down to Earth (1947) today. I found Rita Hayworth too affected and fake at the beginning as Terpsichore.

 

aradia, I wonder if you're a person who just doesn't like musicals. It's OK! Not everyone has to like musicals. The reason I wonder this about you is that you often object to the very same fantastical qualities that people who do like musicals treasure them for. (Not claiming that Down to Earth is an all-time movie-musical classic, but I remember enjoying it. And I suspect the very things that gave you problems are things I simply and affectionately accepted as conventions of the genre.) It seems like you're working really hard to see what others see in musicals, but I have a feeling you're not going to transform yourself into a movie-musical fancier just by repeated exposure. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

aradia, I wonder if you're a person who just doesn't like musicals. It's OK! Not everyone has to like musicals. The reason I wonder this about you is that you often object to the very same fantastical qualities that people who do like musicals treasure them for. (Not claiming that Down to Earth is an all-time movie-musical classic, but I remember enjoying it. And I suspect the very things that gave you problems are things I simply and affectionately accepted as conventions of the genre.) It seems like you're working really hard to see what others see in musicals, but I have a feeling you're not going to transform yourself into a movie-musical fancier just by repeated exposure. 

 

Down to Earth is cute, but definitely flawed. I'd recommend it only to absolute diehard Rita Hayworth fans. As for other notable Hayworth musicals, I'll admit Cover Girl didn't do much for me (I really hated the sexist undertones and what an unsupportive jerk Gene Kelly's character was), and I really hated You'll Never Get Rich (Hayworth is such a haughty, fickle bitch, you'd swear she was the "other woman", and Fred Astaire acts like a whipped puppy throughout). My favorite Hayworth musical is You Were Never Lovelier. Frothy and goofy? Sure, but it's done so well, and she and Astaire dance gorgeously together.