I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part in the Fashion in Film Blogathon! Over two days, nineteen bloggers contributed some excellent and very insightful posts. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every single one of your posts and I’ve learned a lot from you all this weekend. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such excellent posts. Hopefully we can do it again next year!
Posted in Blogathons, Fashion in Film
Kellee from Outspoken and Freckled takes a look at the costumes of two of her favorite 1950s movies, Rear Window and Pillow Talk.
Marlene Dietrich’s costumes never failed to make a splash on screen, but her wardrobe in Shanghai Express is truly unforgettable. Head on over to The Lady Eve’s Reel Life to learn about Travis Banton and how he collaborated with Dietrich to create such memorable styles.
Speaking of Marlene Dietrich, The Best of Alexandra examines the costumes of one of my personal favorite movies, Witness For the Prosecution.
Lana Turner was another woman who never failed to turn heads. Jessica from Comet Over Hollywood tells us about Lana’s personal style and how she loved to have fun with fashion.
Bad girls also get to have a lot of fun with their wardrobes. The Nitrate Diva examines the clothes worn by some of cinema’s greatest femme fatales.
By 1967, the “Old Hollywood” system was dead and a new crop of filmmakers were coming in to shake up the system. Many of those “New Hollywood” filmmakers made movies set in the “Old Hollywood” era, and Carley of The Kitty Packard Pictorial is here to highlight some 1960s/70s-does-1930s styles.
Film Flare shines the spotlight on one of my favorite fashionable films, Federico Fellini’s 8½.
Posted in Blogathons, Fashion in Film
A great hat can really make a statement and nobody understood that more than Lilly Daché. Lily’s hats graced the heads of everyone from Marion Davies to Carmen Miranda. Kay from Movie Star Makeover is here to kick off the blogathon by telling us a bit about the legendary hat designer to the stars.
Sometimes, all you need to stand out on screen is a nice slip. Head on over to A Person in the Dark to take a look at some of cinema’s greatest slips.
Inspired Ground takes to Polyvore to create looks inspired by Audrey Hepburn, My Week With Marilyn, and Midnight in Paris.
Valley of the Dolls may have been one campy movie, but it did have some pretty fabulous costuming. The Gal Herself offers up some musings on Travilla’s work on this cult classic.
Louise Brooks was truly an icon of 1920s fashion, but her influence has extended far beyond the 20s. Kimberly from GlamAmor takes a look at Brooks’ most famous film, Pandora’s Box, and how it continues to set trends today.
I Luv Cinema shares some of her favorite film costumes, ranging from ones worn by Audrey Hepburn to Kiera Knightley.
Silver Screenings pays tribute to Lina Lamont and her lavish Walter Plunkett wardrobe.
It’s hard to talk about fashion and film and not talk about Marilyn Monroe and Travilla, the man responsible for some of her most iconic costumes. Dawn from Noir and Chick Flicks tells us about the story behind the infamous white halter dress from The Seven Year Itch.
Java’s Journey showcases Helen Rose’s work in The Tender Trap.
Caftan Woman ventures over to the dark side with a look at the costumes of the film noir classic Born to Kill.
Fashions of 1934 may not be one of the all-time great movies, but it is interesting for a number of reasons and Critica Retro tells us why.
When it comes to fashion, women don’t get to have all the fun. Christian from Silver Screen Modiste spotlights some of the most stylish men to grace the silver screen.
Posted in Blogathons, Fashion in Film
We’re just a couple of days away from the big Fashion in Film Blogathon! Are you ready?
If you’re participating, here’s how it’s going to work: On Friday and Saturday, a post will go live at about 9:00 AM Eastern for that day’s contributions. Just leave a comment with your link on that day’s post or e-mail it to me at HollywoodRevue AT gmail DOT com. Since Easter is coming up on Sunday, I know some of you might be busy this weekend. So if your post is ready before Friday, you can just e-mail your link to me or comment on this post and I’ll make sure it’s included in the post when it goes live.
So far, twenty-three amazing bloggers have signed up to participate and I think it’s safe to say we’re in for one majorly stylish blogathon! If you’d still like to participate, it’s not too late to join. Just let me know and I’ll add you to the list.
Posted in Blogathons, Fashion in Film
All the students at Vince Lombardi High love rock music, but none of them loves it more than Riff Randell (P.J. Soles) does. Riff’s favorite band in the whole world is the Ramones; she calls Joey Ramone the man of her dreams and her greatest ambition in life is to write songs for the Ramones. With help from her bookish friend Kate Rambeau (Dey Young), Riff enjoys hijacking the school’s intercom system to play Ramones albums. But when Miss Evelyn Togar (Mary Woronov) takes over as principal of Vince Lombardi High, the first thing she wants to do is rid the school of rock and roll.
Meanwhile, their classmate Tom Roberts (Vincent Van Patten) is looking to spice up his love life and sets his sights on Riff. Tom asks Eaglebauer (Clint Howard) to set him up with Riff, but Eaglebauer thinks Tom would be a better match for Kate instead. As luck would have it, Kate has a thing for Tom so when she asks Eaglebauer to set her up with Tom, he’s only too happy to help make it happen.
When the Ramones come to town for a show, Riff is determined to meet the band and give them some songs she’s written. She skips school for three days so she can camp out to get front row tickets, but when Miss Togar finds out, she confiscates Riff and Kate’s tickets. That’s not about to stop Riff from seeing the Ramones, though. She and Kate win tickets through a radio contest and sure enough, Riff makes it backstage and gives her songs to the Ramones.
Miss Togar uses Riff and Kate’s defiance to rally some parents for a record burning at school the next day. As soon as Riff sees a flaming Ramones album, she leads the students in a revolt and they take over the school. Just then, the Ramones drop by to tell Riff they love her songs and, naturally, they join the students in their mutiny.
Conventionally speaking, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School is kind of a mess. The jokes are corny, the story is paper thin, and Dee Dee Ramone struggled to play himself convincingly. But despite all that, I will proudly say that Rock ‘n’ Roll High School is one of my favorite movies of all time. The only thing Rock ‘n’ Roll High School ever aspires to be is silly fun with a killer soundtrack and it totally succeeds at being just that.
As hokey as the jokes are, they always make me laugh. P.J. Soles and Mary Woronov play their parts to deliberately campy perfection and they are endlessly entertaining to watch. And when they’re delivering lines like, “Do your parents know that you’re Ramones?” and “I’m Riff Randell, rock and roller.” in an awesomely over the top way, that right there is why I have an undying love for this movie. In fact, the whole cast completely nails being intentionally campy, but Don Steele as radio DJ Screamin’ Steve and Herbie Braha as the Ramones’ manager in particular are some awesome scene stealers.
I also totally love this drawing of a mouse that has been allowed to listen to rock music.
And then there’s the amazing soundtrack. I’m a big Ramones fan, so obviously I love their performance scenes. The concert scene is great and the “I Want You Around” scene is actually a really good fantasy scene. But the soundtrack isn’t all about the Ramones, it also features some good songs by Paul McCartney, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Nick Lowe, and Chuck Berry.
I just can’t help but love this movie. I’ve never watched it and not been in a good mood afterward.
All weekend long, bloggers are owning up to some of their guilty pleasure movies. Be sure to head on over to the Kitty Packard Pictorial to find out which movies other bloggers have lurking in the back of their DVD collections.
Posted in 1970s, Blogathons, Comedies, Cult Films
Tagged Clint Howard, Dey Young, Mary Woronov, P.J. Soles, The Ramones, Vincent Van Patten
Mary Pickford with her Oscar.
As popular as the Academy Awards are, they can be a very controversial topic amongst movie lovers. I think virtually every cinephile has their own list of movies that they think got robbed at the Oscars. Some may even have their favorite and least favorite Academy Award years. But one thing I think we can all agree on is that the nominees for the second Academy Award ceremony (covering 1928-1929) definitely weren’t the strongest group of movies ever nominated.
It’s not so much that 1928-1929 was a completely terrible year for movies, but the film industry had been turned completely upside down that year. During the first Academy Award ceremony, The Jazz Singer was given an honorary award for revolutionizing the film industry. By the following year, the impact of The Jazz Singer was undeniable. The movies eligible for the 1928-1929 Oscars were part of the first wave of movies to come out in the wake of The Jazz Singer and the nominees that year are a better reflection of how in flux the industry was at the time than what the best movies really were.
Even though studios were scrambling to hop on the talkie bandwagon, the production of silent films didn’t come to an immediate halt. Some truly excellent silent films were produced that year, but you’d never know it by looking at the list of nominees. However, if some of those silent films had been nominated, that year would probably now be looked back upon more favorably.
Posted in 1920s, Articles, Blogathons
Tagged Greta Garbo, Bessie Love, Buster Keaton, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Marion Davies, Warner Baxter, Maria Falconetti
Bette Davis may be Joan Crawford’s most notorious rival, but personally, I don’t think Bette posed half the threat to Joan that Norma Shearer did. One thing you have to remember is that Bette and Joan only spent six years working together at the same studio, so for most of their careers, they at least weren’t directly competing for roles. On the other hand, Norma and Joan spent seventeen years together at MGM, so on many occasions, they were vying for the same material. Plus, Norma had the advantage of being married to Irving Thalberg, MGM’s head of production.
I would just like to say a big thank you to all of you who participated in my Paramount Centennial Blogathon! Over two days, there were seventeen excellent posts celebrating an amazing movie studio. I truly enjoyed reading every single one of your posts. Thank you all for taking the time to participate!
Posted in Blogathons, Paramount Centennial Blogathon
Thank you to all of you who contributed something to the first day of the blogathon! Yesterday, there were eleven contributions and all of them are great reads!
Andrew from The Stop Button starts off day two with a look at The Marx Brothers’ 1931 hit Monkey Business.
Speaking of comedies, Sean from The Joy and Agony of Movies takes a look at Paramount’s comedic output over the years, but most specifically Ernst Lubitsch’s Trouble in Paradise.
Barbara Stanwyck was certainly one of Paramount’s brightest stars. Head on over to The Picture Spoilers for more on Stanwyck and how Paramount helped her grow as an actress.
1956′s The Court Jester may not have been a big box office hit when it was first released, but it did find an audience when it made its way to television. Among that audience was Ivan of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear, who calls it one of the most perfect movie comedies.
Have you ever seen California with Barbara Stanwyck and Ray Milland? If not, Natalie from In the Mood gives us five reasons why she loves California.
Paramount didn’t only produce live action films, they were also the home of some amazing animation. Head on over to True Classics to find out about how the Fleishcer brothers came to Paramount and created iconic cartoon characters like Betty Boop and Popeye.
Aurora from Once Upon a Screen joins the party a few days late, but her post on Sunset Boulevard is one you don’t want to miss!
What do Mae West and Captain Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager have in common? Alexandra from The Best of Alexandra sees five similarities between these two ladies.
Ernst Lubitsch’s style was often imitated, but rarely duplicated. One director who came pretty darn close was Rouben Mamoulien when he made Love Me Tonight. Marsha from A Person in the Dark is a big fan of Love Me Tonight and is here to tell us all about this “…musical box of bon bons that makes you close your eyes and say ‘my, that is perfectly delicious.’”
No Paramount blogathon would be complete without Double Indemnity. Silver Screenings offers some insights on the relationships in the movie and the significance of Phyllis’ anklet.
Even though her most well-known movies were made at other studios, Carole Lomabrd spent seven years at Paramount. Carole and Co. takes a look at some of the movies she made during her years on the Paramount backlot and why it was a rather frustrating era in her career.
This Property is Condemned may not have been a big hit for Paramount, but it was a turning point for both Robert Redford and its director Sydney Pollack. Head on over to One Gal’s Musings to find out why.
Lasso the Movies takes a look at one of Paramount’s most paramount movies, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window.
Kellee from Outspoken and Freckled takes a look at The Marx Brothers’ years at Paramount Studios and how her love of Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo helped give her the positive attitude she has today.
Critica Retro takes us back to the 1910s and 1920s to look at the some of the work Cecil B. DeMille and Mary Pickford did at Paramount.
Sometimes Paramount’s executives didn’t always know best. The Classic Screen talks about how executives were horrified when they saw what Mary Pickford and screenwriter Frances Marion had done with Poor Little Rich Girl, but it turned out Pickford and Marion were the ones who really knew what audiences wanted.
Dedicated Star Trek fan Rich from Wide Screen World takes a look at Star Trek: The Motion Picture and what it was like to be a Trekkie during the gap between the end of the original Star Trek TV series and the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Toby from 50 Westerns from the 50s is working on a book about the production of the Marlon Brando Western One-Eyed Jacks. Here he tells us about a scene that didn’t make it into the final cut of the movie.
Posted in Blogathons, Paramount Centennial Blogathon
