William Holden Wednesday

Here are a couple of William Holden’s TV appearances from the 1950s.   First, Bill appears on the game show “What’s My Line?” and discusses his 1956 film Toward the Unknown, which I watched recently.  It’s an interesting movie about test pilots at Edwards Air Force Base in the years just before the formation of NASA.

You can read a review of  Toward the Unknown here.  Although I agree with his points, I think I liked the movie a little more than the reviewer, I suppose because I’m a sucker for movies about pilots (Only Angels Have Wings, Test Pilot, The Right Stuff) and for William Holden.

He was so charming and dreamy!  Such a great smile.

Next up is Holden’s appearance on the “LA at Last” episode of I Love Lucy.  I’ve seen this more times than I can even count, but it never fails to crack me up.  The Hollywood episodes of I Love Lucy are my favorites, especially this one.  William Holden was a very good sport, taking that pie in the face.  His reactions to Lucy’s fake nose are hysterical!

William Holden Wednesday

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

Today’s movie for William Holden Wednesday is one of the biggest commercial successes of Holden’s career, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing.  It’s a movie that’s problematic for modern audiences in many ways, most especially in the casting of Jennifer Jones in the role of a Eurasian woman.  The thought of casting anyone but an actor of Asian descent is bizarre to us now, and seeing Jones made up to be half Chinese is jarring.

Still, it’s a movie that had aspirations to open-mindedness, with its exploration of the cultural clashes between East and West and of the racial prejudices of the day.  Plus it’s a romantic and beautiful film, with its scenic vistas of Hong Kong and its gorgeous score by Alfred Newman.  The movie also features a memorable theme song which became a pop hit for various artists in the 1950s and ‘60s.  (Andy Williams’ version is my favorite.)

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing is the story of Han Suyin, a doctor working in a hospital in Hong Kong during the time of China’s communist revolution.  Though she has strong ties with the Chinese side of her heritage, she is also half English and is part of the European set in Hong Kong.

She meets American journalist Mark Elliott (Holden) at a cocktail party and they quickly make a connection.  In spite of her hesitation – she is a widow whose focus is now her work, he’s a married-but-separated man whose wife won’t give him a divorce – a passionate romance soon blossoms between the two.

Holden and Jones are at their most gorgeous in this movie, and in spite of the fact that they couldn’t stand each other in real life (about which more below) they have great chemistry.

That’s especially apparent during a scene on the beach, with the pair of them in bathing suits.  Holden lights Jones’s cigarette with his in the most blatant use of smoking as a substitute for onscreen consummation since Paul Henreid and Bette Davis blew smoke in each other’s faces in Now, Voyager.  See it below beginning at about 8:30.

It’s a little cheesy, sure, but also pretty steamy and suggestive.  With Picnic’’s release the same year, 1955 was a good year for Holden’s image as a sex symbol.  As I said a couple of weeks ago, one of the nicest things about Bill Holden is how often he was shirtless in his movies!

In the end pressure from both Suyin’s Chinese relatives and the prejudices of the European community in Hong Kong put a strain on the couple’s romance before the dangers of wartime tear them even further apart.  I won’t spoil the ending for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but I will say that I can never get through this movie without having a good weep.

But back to the gossip!  From Golden Boy: The Untold Story of William Holden by Bob Thomas:

The love scenes between Holden and Jennifer Jones evoked tears from millions of American women, but the film was a rare instance when he lacked affection for his leading lady.  Miss Jones complained about her makeup, her costumes, the dialogue; and when Holden failed to sympathize, she complained about him.  “I’m going to tell David about this,” she said repeatedly; and her husband, David O. Selznick, sent a stream of memos to Fox about her complaints.

The acrimony reached the point where the two stars were scarcely speaking to each other except during their love scenes. Holden decided to seek a truce, and he presented Miss Jones with a bouquet of white roses.  She threw them in his face.

Yikes!  I’ve read elsewhere that Jones was so disturbed by Holden’s reputation for romancing his leading ladies off-screen as well as on that she did things like chew garlic prior to scenes in which she and Holden had to kiss.  Can you believe it?  Given her obnoxious behavior, I’m not sure garlic breath was the most off-putting thing about Jennifer Jones.  She probably needn’t have worried about Bill throwing himself at her feet.  She was no Audrey Hepburn, let’s put it that way!

While Holden may not have fallen for his co-star in this movie, he did fall in love with Hong Kong and eventually owned an apartment there.  In 1960 he starred in another story of interracial romance also filmed in Hong Kong, The World of Suzie Wong, and that time he had an Asian co-star in the beautiful Nancy Kwan.

See you next Wednesday for more William Holden!

William Holden Wednesday: On the set of Sabrina

I might’ve known that as soon as I committed to doing a weekly series on the blog, life would throw a few personal and work emergencies at me!  Because of all that, this week’s offering is going to be low on content, but high in pretty pictures.

William Holden and Audrey Hepburn fell in love while filming 1954’s Sabrina.  It didn’t work out in the end, of course.  He was married, albeit unhappily, and though he wanted to leave his wife for her Audrey broke off the relationship.

From Golden Boy: The Untold Story of William Holden by Bob Thomas:

Ernie Lehman [Sabrina’s screenwriter] recognized what was happening when he dropped into Bill’s dressing room one day.  Lehman had been working so hard on rewrites of the Sabrina script that he had broken down in a weeping fit in a corner of the stage.  “Go home and get some rest; you deserve it,” [director Billy] Wilder said.  Before leaving, Lehman wanted to say goodbye to Bill Holden.

He walked into Holden’s dressing room unannounced.  He found Bill and Audrey standing a foot apart facing each other, their eyes meeting.  Lehman said his farewell and departed, realizing that something profound was happening between Bill Holden and Audrey Hepburn.

In these pictures from the set of Sabrina, it’s pretty clear to us, too.  They look so besotted with one another.

William Holden eventually divorced his wife and went on to have other relationships (including one with Stefanie Powers, a/k/a Jennifer Hart), but he called Audrey the love of his life.  He was so wrecked by working with her again on Paris When it Sizzles ten years after Sabrina that he pretty much spent the whole time intoxicated.

A sad end to their relationship, but the chemistry between Holden and Hepburn in Sabrina is delightful.  For me the most enjoyable parts of the movie are their scenes together, beginning when Sabrina returns home from Paris a sophisticated and elegant young lady.

We’re supposed to root for Sabrina to get together with Humphrey Bogart’s Linus Larrabee, but I’m afraid I’m always a little disappointed when she doesn’t get together with Holden’s David Larrabee.  Even though I know he’s a shallow playboy who would’ve probably broken Sabrina’s heart, I still find him much more appealing with Hepburn than the miscast and slightly ancient Bogart.

More from Golden Boy:

One scene called for [Holden] to vault over a fence as he approached Audrey.  He performed the leap with total ease on the first take.  “That was good, Bill,” said Wilder, “but a little too fast.  Could you do it a little slower, please.”  To the astonishment of the director and everyone else, Holden repeated the leap and seemed almost to pause in the air before landing.”

It’s a great moment, and one of my favorites in the movie.  Sabrina’s dream must truly seem to her to finally be coming true, with this handsome man she’s loved for years entranced by her and blithely leaping over a wall to take her in his arms.  You can see it below, at about 4:40.

Oh, that dress by Hubert de Givenchy!  It’s the most divine gown ever made for the movies.  Or maybe just the most divine gown ever made, period.

For a more detailed and insightful look at Sabrina, I recommend Jacqueline Lynch’s two-part discussion of the film at Another Old Movie Blog. She captures the mid-century dreaminess of the movie so well.  She says:

It is a time when dancing was a social accomplishment and seduction took time. We see it is a time of a single strand of pearls and strapless evening gowns with full skirts. Young people at this period did not want to be young, for to be young was to be gauche. Young people yearned for sophistication and experience, to emulate their elders, as Sabrina does when she spies the party from the branches of a tree on the estate.

Check it out, it’s a lovely read about a lovely film.  More Bill Holden next week, and something more substantial than pictures and quotes, I hope!

William Holden Wednesday

I thought it would be fun to try another monthly series, since I haven’t done that – or much of anything on this blog – in a long while.  So, during the month of February I’ll be writing a little something each Wednesday about a man who has long been one of my favorite actors in a low key kind of way, but who has lately become my #1 classic movie obsession – William Holden.

Here he is in New York during the filming of the first movie I ever saw him in, Sabrina. I love this picture!  Beautiful city, beautiful car, beautiful man.

In many ways Bill Holden was the quintessential All-American leading man for the 1950s, able to portray wealthy playboys, hardened soldiers, idealistic journalists, ambitious businessmen, and aimless wanderers with equal ease.  He acted in war movies and melodramas, as well as in light-as-air romantic comedies and dark film noirs.  With his muscular build, strong jaw, deep voice and sensitive yet knowing eyes, Holden embodied much of the post-war masculine ideal.  I’ve often thought that Jon Hamm’s Don Draper has more than a little William Holden in him.

Holden was a very versatile actor and one who, once he got away from the fluffy, Mr. Good Guy roles given to him by Columbia Studios in the 1940s, made some very interesting and risky choices.  He often played world-weary men with a bit of a cynical edge — or a lot of a cynical edge, as in Stalag 17.

(I’ll be honest, though, I like a lot of those fluffy, Mr. Good Guy roles, too!  Meet the Stewarts and Father is a Bachelor, for instance, are very pleasant and fun to watch, even if they aren’t great filmmaking.)

On a shallower note, Holden wasn’t exactly hard to look at!  He was incredibly handsome, especially in his movies from the 1950s.  He had the most gorgeous, dreamy smile.  You can see that swoon-causing grin in this video of him giving Audrey Hepburn her Oscar.  How adorable are those two?  Super adorable!  (More on the love affair between Hepburn and Holden later this month.)

Holden was quite the hunky sex symbol, often appearing on screen shirtless.  In Picnic, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Sunset Boulevard and many more, if Bill was on screen that shirt was coming off.  I can’t exactly complain about that aspect of his screen presence!

Holden didn’t seem to be stuffy, or to take himself too seriously.  The episode of I Love Lucy in which he guest stars is my favorite from the entire series, in large part because of how much fun he is in it.

He led a fascinating off-screen life and was an intelligent man with many varied interests.  The wildlife foundation which bears his name is testament to just one of those interests.  Of course his life had a dark side too – an unhappy marriage, multiple infidelities, and the alcoholism which would eventually lead to a tragic and senseless death at too young an age.

But it’s William Holden’s many wonderful movies and fine performances I want to focus on this month, because ultimately they’re why he should be remembered and celebrated.

For the first William Holden Wednesday of the month I want to talk briefly about two movies from his career, made 20 years apart.  Looking  at these two films together, you can’t help but marvel at just how much the world and the movie industry changed between the 1950s and the 1970s.

The Moon is Blue (1953)

The Moon is Blue stars William Holden along with Maggie McNamara (probably best remembered for her role in 1954’s Three Coins in the Fountain) and David Niven.  It’s an innocent little romantic comedy when seen today, but when it came out in 1953 it was terribly scandalous.

The characters use the words “virgin” and “pregnant.”  McNamara’s character bluntly asks Holden’s if he has a mistress, and hopes he won’t be too bored with her virginity since she’d enjoy a little affection, even if she doesn’t want to go all the way.

It’s implied that William Holden’s character has slept with his ex-girlfriend, who tries to lure him back by meeting him dressed in nothing but a mink coat. “She has a very pretty chin,” says McNamara, looking at the girl’s picture. “She’s very pretty all over,” says Holden appreciatively.

David Niven is the ex-girlfriend’s playboy father, who is much less distressed by his daughter’s shenanigans than he ought to be.  Niven has some great lines in this movie, and he delivers them with his usual polished wit.

The film’s director, Otto Preminger, refused to change the play on which the movie was based in order to clean up the story’s “immoral” words and attitudes, thus forgoing the approval of the almighty Hays office.  Watching the movie now it’s hard to see what all the fuss was about. It’s fairly tame and mildly cute, though Maggie McNamara is a little on the annoying side. For me it’s the presence of Holden at his most gorgeous and Niven at his most roguish that makes the movie worth checking out.

Plus, it’s an interesting bit of Hollywood history, since it was one of the first movies to take a crack at the Production Code that had been in effect since 1934. Here’s an excerpt. Don’t you feel faint when the word “virgin” is uttered? Shocking, my dears, just shocking!

Breezy (1973)

Fast-forward 20 years, and oh how things have changed!  Breezy, directed by Clint Eastwood, is far less innocent and tame than The Moon is Blue, and yet to my knowledge it caused no great scandal upon its release.  On the contrary,  Eastwood’s biographer Richard Schickel believed that the sexual content of the film’s love scenes was too tame, which probably led to the movie not being a success when it came out.  This in spite of nudity and some frank, if not explicit, sexuality.

Breezy is the story of a sweet-natured, free-spirited 19-year-old hippie (Kay Lenz in the title role) who meets and falls in love with a jaded middle-aged man played by William Holden.

Holden is bitterly divorced and has no interest in committing to another woman or in opening his heart to anyone again.  Lenz’s Breezy, on the other hand, is all open heart, full of love and hope in spite of the sadness in her past.   Against his will and better judgment, and in the face of ridicule from his friends, the fiftysomething man finds himself falling hard for the wise-beyond-her-years flower child.  Here’s the trailer.

Breezy is surprisingly sweet and oddly romantic in spite of the May/December (really more like February/December!) angle.  Although Holden’s looks weren’t what they used to be, years of alcoholism having taken their toll, he was still a wonderful actor.  It was a brave role for him to have taken on, I think, and his portrayal is touching in its vulnerability.  I wasn’t sure I’d like Breezy when I first started watching it, I suppose because I feared a love story about a very young woman and a much older man might be creepy or exploitative.  It didn’t strike me that way, however. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The Moon is Blue is available from the Warner Archive and also airs on TCM now and then.  Breezy is available on DVD and streams free for Amazon Prime members.  Both are well worth checking out.

See you next week for more William Holden!

The Artist (2011)

If you haven’t already, rush right out and see The Artist! I saw it this afternoon and loved it. It’s charming, clever, and unique, with a lovely blend of humor and pathos.  It’s too bad so many people will skip seeing this film just because it’s (mostly) silent and in black and white. They don’t know what they’re missing!

For anyone who loves classic movies, The Artist is a real kick. Bérénice Bejo plays starlet Peppy Miller, and she’s absolutely adorable. She does a wonderful job of emoting in a way that seems true to the silent movie style without being over the top. She says a lot with her eyes.

Jean Dujardin is handsome and charismatic as silent star George Valentin, a blend of the swashbuckling, mustachioed Douglas Fairbanks and Gene Kelly’s character from Singin’ in the Rain. In fact the movie itself owes a lot to Singin’ in the Rain, and also to A Star is Born and Sunset Boulevard. Still, it’s its own entity and is beautifully done.

The only thing that took me aback was the extensive use of Bernard Herrmann’s Vertigo score during the movie’s heart-wrenching climactic sequence. They don’t just play a little snippet — it goes on and on and on. Of course the filmmakers got the rights to use Herrmann’s score, but it’s still a little odd to me that a film that shows Ludovic Bource as the composer during the opening credits waits until the final credits roll to mention Herrmann’s contribution to the music played during the film. It just bothers me that some people seeing The Artist will hear that beautiful, haunting bit of the movie’s score and think it was written by Bource. I don’t blame Kim Novak for getting upset, although her reaction seems over the top.

Here’s part of Herrmann’s score from Vertigo. To me it’s so inextricably linked to Hitchcock’s film that it took me out of the moment a little, hearing it during The Artist.

Anyway, I really encourage you to see The Artist if you get the chance. It’s a witty, ingenious tribute to an early era in Hollywood history. It’s made me want to watch more silent movies on TCM, and to finally read Jeanine Basinger’s book, Silent Stars.

So cute!

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Between Remember the Night and Christmas in Connecticut, it just wouldn’t be Christmas for me anymore without Barbara Stanwyck.

She’s at her most gorgeous in Christmas in Connecticut, playing an unmarried career woman who poses as a married expert on domesticity, gloriously bedecked in mid-’40s finery designed by Edith Head. (Head was borrowed from Paramount to dress Stanwyck; the other costumes were by Warner’s Milo Anderson.)

Dennis Morgan was handsome and dreamy in his uniform, plus he had the most beautiful singing voice. I would’ve fallen for him like a ton of bricks, too.

 

Stanwyck’s attempts at homemaker perfection are hilarious. You could probably discuss this movie in terms of the end of the war, women being forced out of the working world as men returned from overseas, and the coming feminine housewife ideal of the 1950s, if you were so inclined.

I’m not so inclined at the moment, however, since Christmas in Connecticut is silly and romantic, and features S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall frequently slapping his chubby cheeks and saying things are “hunky dunky.”

I highly recommend seeing the movie if you haven’t already. It streams for free on Amazon Prime and will air on TCM this Friday night.

This morning I also watched a fluffy but entertaining 1946 comedy of remarriage set mostly at Christmastime, Never Say Goodbye, starring Errol Flynn and Eleanor Parker. (And S.Z. Sakall! He was in so many movies.)

Errol Flynn was beautiful. How is it that men were dashing with thin mustaches then — Gable, Flynn, Niven, Powell — but would look bizarre with them today? And why oh why did we let dressing up, supper clubs, and dancing cheek-to-cheek disappear? There’s no romance in the world anymore.

 

I don’t see any upcoming airings of Never Say Goodbye on the TCM schedule, but the movie is available from the Warner Archive.

Riviera Style: To Catch a Thief

Kimberly at the wonderful GlamAmor blog has published a fantastic post and accompanying video on the Edith Head designed resort wardrobe featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief.  If you love Grace Kelly’s cool, understated elegance in that film as much as I do, you’ll definitely want to check it out.

Wardrobe contributed so much to Hitchcock’s films and as Kimberly points out so well, Edith Head was integral in creating what we now think of as Hitchcock Style. Imagine Vertigo without Kim Novak’s severely chic gray suit, or Rear Window without Grace Kelly’s magnificent entrance in that black and white dress with the full tulle and chiffon skirt.  It can’t be done!  The best costume designers, like Mad Men’s brilliant Janie Bryant and of course Edith Head, are just as much storytellers as any writer or director.

If you want to learn more about Edith Head, I highly recommend checking out Edith Head: The Fifty Year Career of Hollywood’s Greatest Costume Designer by Jay Jorgensen.  It’s full of stunning illustrations and photos of Head’s most memorable work, including that she did with Alfred Hitchcock.

Welcome back, Robert Osborne!

This blog has been sadly neglected of late, but I couldn’t let the moment pass without celebrating the return of Robert Osborne to TCM this Thursday, December 1st, after a five month absence.

I’m sure we all appreciated and loved Mr. Osborne over the years for his debonair yet down-to-earth style, his vast knowledge of and passion for classic movies, and his fantastic interviews and insights, but I don’t know if we realized just how matchless and irreplaceable he is until we had to do without him for a while.  God bless the wonderful substitute hosts who filled in for him, but the truth is there is only one Robert Osborne and TCM just isn’t the same without him.

And how fortuitous is the timing of his return, on the first night of William Powell’s stint as Star of the Month?  Two dapper, witty, incomparable gentlemen.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

So welcome back to TCM and welcome back into our homes, Mr. Osborne!  Having you around again is a truly fantastic Christmas gift this year.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion

Today I received Breakfast at Tiffany’s: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion by Sarah Gristwood, a book I pre-ordered ages ago and had almost forgotten about.  It was a pleasant surprise to get it today, after so many months.

I read it all in one sitting tonight and overall it’s a lovely book and a nice behind-the-scenes look at the film.  It doesn’t cover anything I didn’t already know after reading Sam Wasson’s fantastic Fifth Avenue, 5.a.m., but it’s full of beautiful photographs and is a pretty coffee table book.

Gristwood’s book contains chapters focusing on, among other things, the script based ever so loosely on Truman Capote’s novella, Audrey Hepburn and the other actors cast, the fashion influence of the film, Mancini’s song “Moon River,” and the movie’s critical reception and lasting allure.

My only issue with the book is my lack of faith in some of the photo captions.  For instance the author (or whoever is in charge of captioning photographs) twice labels Audrey Hepburn’s guitar instructor, who taught her to play “Moon River,”  as Henry Mancini.  That’s just a pitiful lack of double-checking, in my opinion, and annoyed me on behalf of the late Mancini, who was the bee’s knees and deserved to have a real picture of himself in the book.

Here’s Audrey Hepburn with someone who is not Henry Mancini.  This photo and another of the same guitar teacher posing with George Peppard are mislabeled.

Here’s the real Mancini, around the time of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  Mancini was brilliant.  Just think of all the fantastic TV and movie scores he wrote — Peter Gunn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Days of Wine and Roses, Charade, Two for the Road, The Pink Panther, The Thorn Birds and many more.  Just want to give a shout-out to Hank!

There are a few other little details in the captions that don’t seem quite right to me, but that’s par for the course in publishing these days, I find.  Errors galore!

Still, even with those minor quibbles the book was an enjoyable read and a pretty coffee table book I’m sure I’ll flip through many times.  If you are like me and feel the need to own every book about Audrey Hepburn that comes down the pike, you’ll probably want to buy this one, too. Or at least add it to your holiday wish list.

Fifteen Movie Questions Meme

So much for me posting up a storm here in May!  I can’t believe tomorrow is June 1st.  It’s been a busy couple of months and I’ve hardly watched any movies at all.  Here’s hoping the summer provides me with some quieter moments, so I’ll have more time for watching and writing.  My backlog of unwatched films recorded off TCM is getting ridiculous!

Anyway, several people, including Clara at Via Margutta 51, have done the 15 Movie Questions meme recently, and it looked like fun.  If you’d like to do it yourself, consider yourself tagged.

1.  Movie you love with a passion.

There are a lot of these!  Maybe An Affair to Remember.  I’ve seen it so many times and still think it’s the most romantic movie ever.

2.  Movie you vow to never watch.

Never is a very long time, so who knows?  There was a time when I hated Westerns, after all, but now there are quite a few I love.  But I’m definitely averse to horror movies, especially modern day gory ones, so probably those.

3.  Movie that literally left you speechless.

Leave Her to Heaven – the rowboat scene.  (Starts at about 2:20 below.)  I was so stunned and horrified the first time I saw it, and it still leaves me speechless every time.

4.  Movie you always recommend.

The More the Merrier.  To me it’s a perfect romantic comedy, and yet a lot of people outside of the classic movie fandom have never heard of it – or of Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn.

5.  Actor/actress you always watch, no matter how crappy the movie.

Cary Grant.  I’ll watch anything he’s in at least once!  Obviously I’m not the only one who feels this way, given the recent releases of many of his early ‘30s movies on DVD.

6.  Actor/actress you don’t get the appeal for.

John Wayne. 

7.  Actor/actress, living or dead, you’d love to meet.

Cary Grant.  I’m reading his daughter’s book now (review to come!), and it’s made me adore him even more than I already did.  I’d love to have known him.  I’d also love to have met Audrey Hepburn, the sweetest lady ever, and Montgomery Clift, because he was so sad and I think he could’ve used a hug.  (And some anti-depressants, bless him.)

8.  Sexiest actor/actress you’ve seen. (Picture required!)

Gary Cooper, no question.  In his prime he was absolutely the sexiest, most beautiful man ever in the movies.  Tall and lanky, with masculine strength and that sweet, shy demeanor, he could wear bespoke European suits or rugged American cowboy gear with equal elegance.  That pretty face and those bedroom eyes, swoon!

He was basically catnip for women, both on and off screen, and continues to be dreamy even to girls born many years after died.  I think I’d better add him to question #7, above!  I’d love to have met Coop, that’s for sure.  Preferably alone on a deserted tropical island.

9.  Dream cast.

Cary Grant and Barbara Stanwyck in a romantic comedy.  Why did that never happen?

10.  Favorite actor pairing.

Rock Hudson and Doris Day.  They were so much fun together.

11.  Favorite movie setting.  

Paris.  So many of my favorite movies take place there:  An American in Paris, Gigi, Sabrina, Funny Face, Charade.  Heck, pretty much every Audrey Hepburn movie is set in Paris!

12.  Favorite decade for movies.

Probably the ‘30s.

13.  Chick flick or action movie?

Chick flick.

 

14. Hero, villain or anti-hero?

Hero.

15.  Black and white or color?

Black and white, I suppose, although I wouldn’t want to live without all my beautiful Technicolor movies.