movies | dual personalities

On this day in 1559, Elizabeth I was crowned and anointed Queen of England and Ireland in Westminster Abbey. “Queen Elizabeth of famous memory—we need not be ashamed to call her so! …that Lady, that great Queen.” (Oliver Cromwell, 1656)

It only seems appropriate that our Friday Movie pick be a film about this great queen or, at least, featuring her as a character. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Elizabeth (1998) starring Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth, with Geoffrey Rush and Joseph Fiennes–a really great movie!

2. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) with Bette Davis as Elizabeth and Errol Flynn as Essex in the film version of the Maxwell Anderson play. Bette Davis is ~~over the top~~ a little much but it’s always a treat to watch Errol…although you can kind of tell they hated each other in real life.

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January 14, 2016

“How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?”

by chuckofish

Come now, you’ve never read an actuarial table in your life, have you? Why they’ve got ten volumes on suicide alone. Suicide by race, by color, by occupation, by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day. Suicide, how committed: by poison, by firearms, by drowning, by leaps. Suicide by poison, subdivided by *types* of poison, such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic, alkaloid, protein, and so forth; suicide by leaps, subdivided by leaps from high places, under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks, under the feet of horses, from *steamboats*. But, Mr. Norton, of all the cases on record, there’s not one single case of suicide by leap from the rear end of a moving train. And you know how fast that train was going at the point where the body was found? Fifteen miles an hour. Now how can anybody jump off a slow-moving train like that with any kind of expectation that he would kill himself? No. No soap, Mr. Norton. We’re sunk, and we’ll have to pay through the nose, and you know it.

Did you watch Double Indemnity (1944) last night? It was on TCM as part of their Star of the Month–Fred MacMurray–repertoire.

It is the ultimate noir film and, in my opinion, just a great movie. It is certainly Fred MacMurray’s best movie. And Barbara Stanwyck, although she has seldom looked worse, is terrific.

Edward G. Robinson, playing against type as is MacMurray, is wonderful in the good guy role.

However, it is the sharp dialogue and grim, realistic narration written by Raymond Chandler that makes the movie. I mean, no one before or since writes like him. Many have tried, but no one comes close.

It was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Actress, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Music, and Sound. It won nothing. (Why wasn’t Fred nominated? And E. G. R.?) This was the year Going My Way won a bunch–hello, please!–but you know, the war was raging…voters went for sentimentality and breezy Bing Crosby, not a gritty crime drama.

Sigh.

Well, if you missed it, you might want to look it up. It’s a good one.

6 Comments

January 11, 2016

O, Comforter draw near*

by chuckofish

The OM circa 1956–picture him in the same get up in a wing chair.

It turned cold over the weekend. We got a dusting of snow, but nothing to write home about. The windows were icy Sunday morning though. Brrrr.

It was a good weekend to stay in and needlepoint/read/putter. I also watched a few movies.

Let me just say, I am most definitely not a fan of Amy Schumer or Judd Apatow. But someone had left a copy of Trainwreck at our house and I had nothing to watch on Saturday night. I knew I would hate it, but I like to stay current, right?

I assumed I wouldn’t watch the whole thing, but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised.

I watched the whole thing. Yes, it is vulgar, but the title character is a trainwreck after all, and the movie is about her figuring that out. There is actually a moral to the story. Spoiler alert: She cleans up her act.

I also watched Bulldog Drummond (1929), a rather bizarre pre-code movie starring Ronald Colman and a 19-year old Joan Bennett.

Colman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor as Bulldog Drummond and he is, indeed, young, funny and very appealing–not the stiff-upper-lip epitomizer of his later films (think Random Harvest). And there is plenty of sexual innuendo in this movie, let me tell you. This 87-year old movie is worth checking out!

On Sunday night we celebrated daughter #3’s birthday (a few days late) with pizza, cake and ice cream.

Now it is Monday again and the salt mines beckon. Have a good week!

Hymn #516

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January 8, 2016

Friday forecast

by chuckofish

Well, here we go…and since I have no big plans for the weekend, that’s okay with me. It may be a good time to hunker down and resurrect a needlepoint project. Or clean out the “craft closet.”

I will find something to do.

Tonight I will definitely toast Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) on his birthday

and perhaps watch one of his movies.

Okay, it’s settled. Have a great weekend!

3 Comments

January 4, 2016

“It’s alright, Ma”*

by chuckofish

Well, the holidays are officially over.

It was a busy long weekend. First I took down the little tree.

Then the mantle.

Then I moved on to the big tree.

Soon all that was left was a pile of pine needles, some of which will still be around next year when we put up the next tree.

In between we celebrated the New Year with friends and had the boy and daughter #3 over for dinner on New Year’s Day. We watched 3 Godfathers (1947), my favorite movie about the three wisemen, with them.

I also watched Bridge of Spies (2015)–pretty average–and A Walk In the Woods (2015)–pretty disappointing. I was hoping it would cheer me up, but considering it is based on a book by Bill Bryson, it was remarkably devoid of humor. Furthermore, Robert Redford is way too old and tired looking to play Bill Bryson, who wrote the book when he was 47. Redford is 79 and, despite what he may think, he looks it. His boyishly cut, dyed red hair looks ridiculous. Nick Nolte looks every one of his 74 years and more. Indeed, he appears to be at death’s door and like he wouldn’t make it 100 yards on the Appalachian Trail in real life. Cleary their backpacks were filled with bubble wrap.

There was a lot of great scenery, which I appreciated, and the music featured songs by the band Lord Huron. (My dual personality gave me one of their CDs for Christmas and I had coincidentally been listening to it a lot over the weekend during my clean up efforts. BTW the CD is really good.) But, boy, it could have been so much better if it had been cast differently.

Anyway, I am now ready to face the new year at work today. The holidays were great fun, and I will miss my girls. But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life, and life only.

*Bob Dylan. (Yes, I would have spelled it “all right”…)

5 Comments

December 8, 2015

“I went through the same thing with John Barrymore”*

by chuckofish

Last night on TCM they showed The World Of Henry Orient (1964), one of Peter Seller’s lesser known movies.

It is one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time.

It is about two misfit girls who go to private school and their infatuation with the pianist Henry Orient (Sellers).

Marian and Val

I remember watching this movie on television for the first time with my mother in the late sixties. Oh, how I loved Val in her shetland sweaters, knee socks and flaps and hand-me-down fur coat! She was so cool. The girls were sloppy, free-spirited and, to me, very real. Years after seeing it for the first time, I realized that Marian is the one I really relate to–the nerd Val befriends. She is the one who holds it–and Val–together.

Furthermore, it is one of those great New York City movies as well–where everything looks wonderful and romantic. All those scenes adventuring through Central Park, clambering over the Manhattan schist. Sigh.

It is based on a book by Nora Johnson, who went to Smith College and was the daughter of the screenwriter Nunnally Johnson. It is a good book, which at the time it was published was compared to A Catcher int he Rye (!)–but the movie is better than the book (not the Catcher in the Rye). Another fun fact: Merrie Spaeth, who played Marian, also went to Smith College and was the roommate of the older sister of my sophomore year roommate. She went on to become a speechwriter for President Reagan.

I highly recommend this movie. It even takes place at Christmas time!

*Boothy in The World of Henry Orient

6 Comments

December 7, 2015

“Let’s go”*

by chuckofish

Some of you movie fans may recognize the title of today’s post as a quote from the movie The Wild Bunch (1969). William Holden says it throughout the movie in a screenwriter’s attempt to bind a wandering plot together, sort of like John Wayne saying “We’re burning daylight” or “That’ll be the day”. However, whereas this device worked in John Wayne movies, it does not in this movie–probably because it is never clear where the bunch is going.

Do not confuse these guys with The Professionals, who may look similar, but are like night and day.

They are going to hell, I guess. The movie sure does. What a mess, especially the director’s cut, which I made the mistake of watching this weekend. The cast is good, but they have no idea what is happening either. I felt sorry for them.

This movie is frequently hailed as a landmark, a brilliant western which re-defined the genre, blah, blah, blah. It is just another story of old guys who are out of sink with their time. Their “code of honor” is at odds with society in 1913–but it is a made up code of honor, not unlike the code in Sons of Anarchy. It doesn’t work, it will never work. Once again, the violence is unremitting and boring. Maybe in 1969 it was shocking. Sadly it is shocking no more. Repetitive and bestial, yes. I get it, men–even children–are beasts.

Oh well, I did watch a good movie this weekend–Mr. Holmes (2015) starring Ian McKellen as the aging Sherlock.

Set in 1947, this movie is about an aged Sherlock Holmes, retired now to the English coast, who is trying to remember his last case and deal with the onset of memory loss and senility. It is a marvelous, low-key story about an old man who, unlike the guys in the wild bunch, is ultimately not afraid to change. Ian McKellen is wonderful as is Milo Parker as Roger, the smart little boy who is the son of Sherlock’s housekeeper. I highly recommend you find this movie and watch it–a rarity among this year’s deluge of super heroes and sci fi extravaganzas. No sex, no violence, no vulgarity–only intelligence and subtlety and love. How rare.

In other news, the OM and I went out on a beautiful, balmy Saturday and bought our two Christmas trees. We wrestled the small tree into its stand when we got home after the OM hacked off a good chunk of the lower trunk in order to make it fit. The poor thing has a bit of a Charlie Brown aura about it now, but who cares? It is lovely all decked out in its finery.

I wrapped quite a lot of presents and have my out-of-town packages ready to go. I worked on my Christmas cards. I capped off the weekend with Lessons & Carols at church where we sang all the great Advent hymns.

All in all, a productive and not-too-hectic weekend!

So now let’s go…

…and look East. The time is near

of the crowning of the year.

Make your house fair as you are able,

set the hearth, and set the table.

People, look East, and sing today:

Love, the guest is on the way**

*Pike Bishop (William Holden) in The Wild Bunch (1969)

**Craig Philips, Advent Carol

4 Comments

November 23, 2015

“Let the ‘amen’ sound from His people again”*

by chuckofish

Sometimes we get caught up in all the things that are wrong with the world. And there are plenty. Like this. Sigh.

But we must remind ourselves how blessed we really are every day.

This past weekend I spent a lot of time puttering around my house, taking stock of what I have squirreled away for Christmas and what I still need to get. I found the Christmas cards I bought after Christmas last year–that sort of thing.

I talked to my daughters and dual personality on the phone. The OM and I had dinner with some old friends. Indeed, it was a quiet weekend.

We watched The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966) which never ceases to amuse me.

509full-the-russians-are-coming,-the-russians-are-coming-screenshot

The OM and I in a few years

We also watched Edge of Darkness (1943) a war movie about a small Norwegian fishing village rising up and revolting against the occupying Nazis.

Partisans dig their own graves in “The Edge of Darkness”

It was surprisingly edgy and well done I thought. I mean it is blatantly propagandistic and the sets are terrible, but dreamy Errol Flynn is ably supported by a good ensemble cast and you have to love a movie where the peaceful town minister comes through in a way that would make the Sons of Anarchy proud.

Anyway, I am counting my blessings this week and always.

Some leaves are still hanging on in the ‘hood.

I am thankful for TCM and our DVR, not to mention Netflix and streaming cable television shows. I am thankful for old friends and good books and Coffee Nips and red wine. I am thankful for my laptop and online shopping and Christmas cactus and being able to turn the heat on when the temperatures go down. I am thankful for being able to go down to the basement and do my laundry when I want to and that we could just go out and buy a new refrigerator when the old one conked out last week. These are things I do not take for granted.

Have a good week–only 2 1/2 days of work–and don’t forget to count your blessings!

*Joachim Neander, hymn #390 “Praise to the Lord the Almighty”

5 Comments

November 19, 2015

“In my case, self-absorption is completely justified.”*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of the wonderful character actor Clifton Webb (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966). Born Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (what a great name!) in Indianapolis, Indiana, he moved to New York City with his mother Maybelle when his parents divorced. By age 19 he was a professional ballroom dancer using the stage name Clifton Webb.

Between 1913 and 1947, Webb appeared in 23 Broadway shows, starting with major supporting roles and quickly progressing to leads. He introduced Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade” and the Gershwin’s “I’ve Got a Crush on You” in Treasure Girl (1928). Most of Webb’s Broadway shows were musicals, but he also starred in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and in his longtime friend Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit and Present Laughter.

Movies followed and he made some great ones: Laura (1944), of course,

and The Razor’s Edge (1946)–he received a supporting actor Oscar nomination for both. But remember him in Sitting Pretty (1948) where he played Mr. Belvedere for the first time? This movie is hysterical.

And he received a leading actor Oscar nomination for it. (Laurence Olivier won that year for Hamlet–go figure.) He made three Mr. Belvedere movies and also Cheaper By the Dozen (1950)–another classic Webb role.

I also really like him as Barbara Stanwyck’s husband in the under-appreciated Titanic (1953)

and in the English war movie The Man Who Never Was (1956).

He was equally adept at comedy and drama–never over-doing either. You could probably argue that Clifton Webb always played Clifton Webb, but he was always wonderful, so who cares?

He lived with his mother until her death at age 91 in 1960, leading Noel Coward to remark, apropos Webb’s grieving, “It must be terrible to be orphaned at 71.”

A toast to Clifton Webb and, if you can find one of his movies, watch it!

*Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) in Laura (1944)

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November 6, 2015

Friday movie picks

by chuckofish

Earlier in the week it was the birthday of character actor Martin Balsam (1919-1996) who, I was reminded, was in a lot of my favorite movies. For instance he was in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)–

playing O.J. Berman, Holly’s agent. (“Hey, Fred-baby!”)

He was in A Thousand Clowns (1965)–

as Murray’s brother Arnold. (He won an Oscar for this one.)

He was in Hombre (1967)–

playing Paul Newman’s friend Henry Mendez.

Indeed, he was all over television and movies in the sixties and seventies and all the way to end of the millennium. As an ethnically-ambiguous Jew from the Bronx he could play everything from Mexican bandits to Wasp admirals and he did, over and over. He was like Ward Bond in an earlier generation, always popping up in random movies. What a career!

So I suggest you watch a movie with Martin Balsam in it. There are a lot of good ones from which to choose!

I will also note that I watched Melissa McCarthy’s Spy (2015) the other night.

I am not a big fan of Ms. McCarthy–she is frequently over-the top in the vulgarity department–but I thought this movie was really funny. Besides McCarthy, the movie features Jude Law as a James Bond-type spy and Jason Statham in a parody of himself. Allison Janney is great as the Boss Lady who is a super bitch, but has been there and seen that and, in the end, understands.

The use of the f-bomb in this movie is a parody in itself. As Rose Byrne says, “What f**kery is this?”

When all is said and done, Paul Fieg (the writer) manages to make some good points about women who are ignored, stereotyped, laughed at, and generally under-appreciated because they are not traditionally beautiful, thin, assertive etc.

Anyway, I laughed non-stop to the point of embarrassment. My eyes were streaming with tears. The OM sat stone-faced throughout, of course, but he did stay for the whole movie, which is unheard of practically, and I think he smiled a few times.

So try it; you might like it.

9 Comments

dual personalities

Tag: movies

January 15, 2016

“To England, and the Queen!”*

by chuckofish

January 14, 2016

“How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?”

by chuckofish

January 11, 2016

O, Comforter draw near*

by chuckofish

January 8, 2016

Friday forecast

by chuckofish

January 4, 2016

“It’s alright, Ma”*

by chuckofish

December 8, 2015

“I went through the same thing with John Barrymore”*

by chuckofish

December 7, 2015

“Let’s go”*

by chuckofish

November 23, 2015

“Let the ‘amen’ sound from His people again”*

by chuckofish

November 19, 2015

“In my case, self-absorption is completely justified.”*

by chuckofish

November 6, 2015

Friday movie picks

by chuckofish