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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Author Sam Wasson’s marvelous chronicle of the making of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.,  is a very quick and enjoyable read, full of juicy gossip about everyone from Truman Capote to Henry Mancini to Edith Head to George Peppard.  And of course there’s plenty about dear Audrey Hepburn as well.  A few thoughts on the book…

 Truman Capote was such a messed up individual, but then I already knew that even before reading this book. For instance, the marital advice he gave his supposed best friend Babe Paley — that her husband had basically bought her and her marriage was her job, regardless of what a cheating, horrible nightmare Bill Paley was — was awful and completely self-serving. Truman eventually used intimate and humiliating details of the Paley marriage in his unfinished novel, Answered Prayers, a move which cut him off from Babe forever.

I’ve read quite a bit about Capote over the years, and while I sometimes feel sorry for him and am always fascinated by him, I never like him.  Another book I can highly recommend for anyone interested in Capote is Deborah Davis’s entertaining Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and His Black and White Ball. 

What I didn’t know before this book was what a self-absorbed, wannabe-Method jackass George Peppard was. Poor Patricia Neal bore the brunt of it during the shooting of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, along with director Blake Edwards.

The book included some new-to-me sad facts about the Audrey Hepburn/Mel Ferrer marriage. Nutshell version: AH – angelic, of course, but also too easily pushed around; MF – a jealous, domineering jerk.  Specific example: Once, at a  dinner party, Audrey unthinkingly put her elbows on the table. From the book:

Mel was seated next to her, and when he saw this, he picked up a fork, slipped its prongs under her elbows, and said — in a voice loud enough for all to hear — “Ladies do not put their elbows on the table.” It was the sort of oppressively awkward moment that can only be met with silence. Audrey was stricken, and the table, mortified. Nothing was said. She simply removed her elbows and put her hands in her lap.

That was hardly the worst thing Mel ever did or said to Audrey, but just reading about it made me seethe. Can you imagine anyone humiliating sweet Audrey like that or telling her how to be a lady? Audrey Hepburn, the most inherently ladylike and delightful woman ever?  Unbelievable.

Other interesting tidbits:

- Breakfast at Tiffany’s originally had a different ending that was actually filmed, but is now lost. Paul and Holly still find the cat and wind up together, but the sun is shining and Holly decides to name the cat “Sam.”

- The wonderful “No matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself” speech Paul gives Holly after she dumps Cat out of the taxi and into the rain was actually written by Blake Edwards, not screenwriter George Axelrod. Edwards also took a lot of liberties when filming the famously funny and zany cocktail party scene. Neither of these things endeared him to Axelrod, even though they (or probably because they) made the movie much better.

- “Moon River” was originally called “Blue River,” and though it went on to be one of the most beloved and recorded songs of all time, a studio executive almost had Audrey’s performance of it cut from the movie.

- Before George Peppard was cast (against the wishes of Blake Edwards, who must’ve known what a pain in the butt he would be), Tony Curtis and Steve McQueen were in the running for the part of Paul Varjak. (V-A-R-J-A-K.) McQueen couldn’t do it because he had another picture obligation, but Curtis really wanted the part. Mel Ferrer made a fuss about not wanting his wife to work with Tony Curtis (see above re: domineering jerk), so that was that. I really can’t imagine Tony Curtis in the part, though. Peppard may have been awful on the set, but he’s Paul to me.  Plus, he was so pretty!

 - Paramount did a big publicity buildup, announcing that they’d cast a famous Japanese comic named Ohayo Arigatou for the part of Mr. Yuniyoshi. They created a whole hoax backstory for this guy, and passed along crazy and in retrospect highly offensive stories about him to the press, which they then reported. It was then revealed that the man they’d been writing about did not exist, and that Mickey Rooney had gotten the part. The whole Rooney as Yuniyoshi debacle is a horribly shameful mark on this otherwise delightful movie.

Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. is one of those nonfiction books that reads as easily and enjoyably as a novel. Highly recommended!

Well, hello there!  It wasn’t my intention to drop off the face of the earth for a month, but April was super busy with work, travel and focusing on other interests (okay, one all-consuming interest, the royal wedding!), and I hardly watched any movies at all.

I did spend several lovely days in Los Angeles with friends, however, and got my classic movie fix by visiting a few historic spots in Hollywood, among them Grauman’s Chinese theater and the Griffith Observatory, where part of Rebel Without a Cause was filmed.

I was surprised by just how thrilled I was visiting Grauman’s Chinese theater, putting my hands in Gary Cooper’s big handprints and swooning over Cary Grant’s cement signature.  It was cheesy and touristy, but also exciting to see footprints and signatures of so many of the stars I love most – Gregory Peck, Myrna Loy, Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, Irene Dunne…so many!  For the record, Gary Cooper’s feet were enormous and John Wayne’s were surprisingly small. 

Another highlight of the trip was visiting  The Hollywood Museum.  I can’t recommend that place highly enough for classic movie buffs!  It’s absolutely jam-packed with great movie memorabilia, mostly from the Golden Age movies and actors we all love so much.

There were costumes worn by stars like Marilyn Monroe, Doris Day, Lana Turner, Lucille Ball, Clara Bow, Judy Garland and others, several cars including Cary Grant’s 1965 Rolls Royce and Jean Harlow’s 1932 Packard, and a vast collection of movie star autographs. Lots and lots of neat things. The Jean Harlow exhibit, commemorating the 100th anniversary of her birth, was especially interesting.

One of Doris Day’s costumes from Love Me or Leave Me

Jean Harlow’s 1932 Packard and a costume from Bombshell

I also had a celebrity spotting moment, when Sean Penn was on my flight into Los Angeles.  He was four rows in front of me on the plane, looking greasy-haired and disheveled, slouched down in the front row with his sock-clad feet up on the wall. It was pretty exciting!

Still, seeing a current actor in person was far less exciting to me than simply touching a piece of cement on which Cary Grant once stood.  Today’s stars just can’t compare to the old time greats.  For one thing, I doubt Cary would have slummed it on Southwest Airlines,  and I know darn well he wouldn’t have put his feet up on the wall!

Speaking of Cary, I recently bought his daughter Jennifer’s new book, Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, which looks absolutely lovely.  I can’t wait to read it.

Hope to see you around here a lot more this month than last!

She’s quite simply the greatest.  With her beautiful singing, fantastic acting in some of the most charming movies ever made, and her devoted work for animal welfare, she’s made the world a much happier place during her 87 years.

I think I’ll get out my collection of Doris Day movies and watch a few today in celebration.  My all-time favorite, Pillow Talk, definitely.  Maybe Calamity Jane and her delightful first film, Romance on the High Seas, too.  Oh, and The Glass Bottom Boat – it’s been too long since I saw that one.  There are just too many to choose from.  If I had the time I’d spend the whole week watching Doris Day movies!

On the subject of time, mine’s been very limited lately, so I’m way behind on both reading others’ blogs and on writing here myself.  Among other things, I want to talk about Dear Heart, which I happily found I still loved, and about all the William Holden movies I’ve seen lately, especially The World of Suzie Wong, which I thought was great.

I’ll be busy with work and traveling for a while, though, so appearances here might be scarce.  It’s too bad watching classic movies and writing about them can’t be my full-time occupation!

Hope you all have a great week, and Happy Birthday, dear Doris!

Summertime (1955)

Director David Lean’s Summertime is a gem, one with much more in common with his quiet, intimate 1945 film, Brief Encounter, than his sweeping sagas like Doctor Zhivago and Laurence of Arabia.  It’s a truly touching, romantic movie, and one that doesn’t seem to be as popular or well-known as it should be.  I absolutely love it.

Summertime is the story of a middle-aged spinster secretary from Akron Ohio, played by Katharine Hepburn.  She has scrimped and saved for years in order to visit Italy, and from the first moment we see her she is brimming with enthusiasm about her adventure.  She’s also clearly eager to connect with those around her, from her fellow tourists to the Italians she meets.

Hepburn is a marvel in Summertime.  The hope and wonder her character feels at finally being in this place she’s dreamed about for so long is very affecting, as is her loneliness and longing for beauty and romance.

She finds that romance in a handsome Venetian played by Rossano Brazzi.  One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the one in which Hepburn, alone at a sidewalk cafe, realizes that Brazzi is gazing at her.

Her discomfiture at being noticed and appreciated by a good looking man is beautifully played.  Here is a woman who isn’t used to being paid attention to in that open, sensual, Italian way.  As much as she is yearning for romance and maybe even sex, she doesn’t know how to handle flirtation. The men in Akron don’t act this way – if they notice her at all, that is. 

Seeing Hepburn’s character come out of her shell – watching her put down the camera and start living life instead of simply observing from the sidelines – is a bittersweet joy.  Bittersweet because opening yourself up to love means opening yourself up to pain, and her admirer is a married man.  This isn’t the perfect, unencumbered romance she’s been dreaming of all these years.  These complications and compromises aren’t what she’s imagined for herself.

I think Summertime is a movie that’s easier to appreciate when you’re a little older and can see that life isn’t quite what you dreamed it would be when you were young.  Things aren’t always straightforwardly black-and-white.  Is a little bit of imperfect romance in a love-starved life better than none at all?  Are a few days of passion and excitement worth the pain you might feel later?  There aren’t any easy answers – in the movie, or in life.

Or maybe I’m just a sucker for stories of forbidden romance.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I really like Rossano Brazzi.  He is especially good in this, making what could have been a smarmy character – a married man seducing a naive tourist — into something more complex and difficult to judge.  He’s very attractive and has great chemistry with Katharine Hepburn.

As for Hepburn, “sexy” is not an adjective I would use for her generally, but there are moments in Summertime when she shows that side of herself, and you understand why Brazzi’s character can’t take his eyes off her.

Aside from the touching, poignant story and Hepburn’s great performance, the movie is well worth watching for the gorgeous views of Venice in 1955.

The city looks glorious in Technicolor, but unfortunately for Katharine Hepburn, the beautiful looking canals of Venice were actually filthy and dangerously polluted.  One of the movie’s scenes called for her to fall into the water, which she gamely did.  She was left with lifelong eye problems because of a resulting infection.

I have an extremely long list of desert island movies, admittedly, but Summertime is definitely on it, and pretty close to the top, too.  I watch it every year or so, and it always breaks my heart in the most enjoyable way.  If you only watch one of my Springtime in Italy recommendations, I hope it’s this one.  It’s such a special film.

Summertime is available on DVD from the Criterion Collection.  There’s a good essay about the movie on the Criterion Site as well.