Alas

Mar. 30th, 2011 11:34 am
onyxlynx: BxW F. Lang & T. von Harbou each reading. (Fritz Lang Thea von Harbou)
[personal profile] onyxlynx
 Pillow Talk will be at the Paramount Theatre on April 1.

Alas, I will not be in the audience.

It conflicts with the baseball game I will be attending.  Ahem.

When I first saw this movie I was a small child, and it made very little sense to me (except the part about party lines; I had heard of party lines.  This is the part that would puzzle a small child now, though), especially since Doris Day doesn't sing much (she does sing; but at that point I'd heard her on the radio forever).  Later I was able to understand the wordplay.  Later still, I understood that this movie is kind of problematic for feminist enjoyment.

The color is nice, though.
glinda: I want everything I've ever seen in the movies (movies)
[personal profile] glinda

Seeing that I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather this weekend I thought I’d crack into my epic pile of unwatched DVDs and ended up watching a couple of short French children’s films from the 50s. Beautifully shot, at times whimsical and moving they were exactly what I needed this morning.

Fittingly, seeing that the Cannes film festival winners are announced this evening, both films won prizes – White Mane winning the Grand Prix in 1953 and The Red Balloon winning the Palm D’or in 1956) at Cannes when they were released. The Red Balloon (Le Ballon Rouge) is probably the best known of the two, it was certainly the one I bought the DVD for – various contributors to a Radio 4 Film Programme special on children’s cinema having waxed lyrical about it – featuring as it does the adventures and friendship of a boy and a balloon with a mind of it’s own as they travel the streets of Paris. Colour is used to considerable impact in the film and I’d love to know how they animated the balloon because it truly becomes a mischievous character in its own right. For a film with as little dialogue as this contains it’s a remarkably emotionally engaging film. I can see why so many people who saw it as children find it so memorable. White Mane (Crin-Blanc) on the other hand has more structured narrative mainly due to having a narrator and is visually stunning for very different reasons. It concerns the friendship that develops between a young boy and a wild horse and the shots of the wild horse herd are often quite extraordinary (director Albert Lamorisse’s experience and skill as a photographer show through into some impressive cinematography) though a little disturbing sometimes.  

Essentially both films are about unusual friendships, trust and escape, and given that they’re respectively 30 and 40 mins long I’d recommend them thoroughly for anyone looking for a whimsical and bittersweet pleasure.

laughingrat: My Marxist-Feminist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard, with added unfortunate Beauty-2K compliance. (Marxist-Feminist Dialectic)
[personal profile] laughingrat
I've just popped "Desk Set" into the DVD player and before I hit "Play," I wanted to open up the floor to a question: what movies have you seen, if any, in which the male romantic lead really does love the heroine for her mind? Because sadly, "Desk Set" is the only movie I can think of along those lines.

Doesn't have to be old, doesn't have to be good, romance doesn't have to be the focus of the plot. I'd just love to hear about more movies where the guy loves the woman for herself and really respects her.

I hope there are more out there than I think! :)
onyxlynx: The words "Onyx" and "Lynx" with x superimposed (Default)
[personal profile] onyxlynx
The first Friday of the month is Art Murmur, in which a mess of local galleries showcase their wares current exhibits and also lure prospective patronage with wine, cookies, crackers, and other goodies.  There's always at least one place with a walk-through installation and one place that's a bar with teeny pictures if one needs to renew a sense memory of the Lexington Avenue Express at rush hour.

I missed a large part of this month's crawl because I went to see Dial M for Murder.

Dial M for Murder was originally a stage play.  There are a few exterior scenes that are supposed to "open out" the action, but nine-tenths of the film takes place in a tchotchke-filled apartment.  There's Ray Milland as Grace Kelly's husband; there's Robert Cummings (of Love That Bob fame) as Grace Kelly's lover; there's Grace Kelly.  Both Mr. Milland and Mr. Cummings sport gleaming shellacked short hair.  Ms. Kelly's hair is glossy, wavy, curled, and held in place with hairspray and magic. (When she goes to prison, you can tell because her hair is lifeless.)  

Oh, the plot.

Hubby contracts out to murder wife.  Things Go Wrong.

Hitchcock did a good job, but I will probably not see this again.

(The Oakland Paramount, by the way, appears in Tucker:  The Man and His Dream.)

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