Lisa: “Dad, don’t let these application essays throw you.  Let’s see… ‘List your three favorite books and how they’ve influenced your life.’”
Homer: “Is ‘TV Guide’ a book?”
Lisa: “No.”
Homer: “‘Son of Sniglet’?”
Lisa: “No.”
Homer: “Katharine Hepburn’s ‘Me’?”
Lisa: “No!”
Homer: “Oh, I suck!”

Last night I had the absolute pleasure of attending a presentation on the life and career of Gene Kelly at the Detroit Opera House as part of a series they’re hosting about dance in film.  But this wasn’t just any ordinary presentation, it was given by someone very near and dear to Gene — his daughter Kerry Kelly Novick.  For about two hours, Kerry shared memories and stories about Gene, showed clips from some of his movies, and took questions from an enthusiastic audience.

The people in the audience came up with some excellent questions about Gene.  Questions ranged from how tall he was (5 feet, 8¾ inches, and he was serious about those three-quarters of an inch) to how his political activism influenced his work (the best example being how he refused to make The Pirate unless The Nicholas Brothers could be in it).  And then there was the eternal question of whether or not Gene had a favorite dance partner.  Gene was always very tactful about answering that question and Kerry was as well, saying that he always picked his dance partners based on the style of dance the scene called for.  And although she did mention that he particularly enjoyed working with highly trained dancers, she said that even they came with their own set of challenges.

Ever wonder what Gene did to stay in shape when he was in between movies?  Surprisingly, he didn’t have a set exercise routine.  He would play various sports, but that was pretty much it.  According to Kerry, “he was blessed with the best metabolism in the world.”  He would gain a little bit of weight when he wasn’t working on a movie, but as soon as he went into rehearsals, it dropped right off again.

When asked about her father’s friendship with Fred Astaire, she pointed out something interesting that I didn’t know about the movie Easter Parade.  I knew that Gene was originally supposed to star in Easter Parade but then he broke his ankle so the part went to Fred instead.  What I didn’t know is that before Gene broke his ankle, he had choreographed the first dance number, Drum Crazy, and they kept his choreography for that scene.  So in Easter Parade, you can see Fred Astaire doing Gene Kelly’s choreography, which is something I’m going to have to watch for next time I see that movie.

Kerry also had plenty of childhood memories to discuss.  She talked about how after dinner every night, she would choose a topic and she and Gene would read about it together in the encyclopedia.  When asked if she ever considered getting into the film industry, she mentioned briefly wanting to be a set designer, but she knew pretty early on that she wanted to get into psychology.  Earlier in the evening, while introducing “The Mexican Hat Dance” scene from Anchors Aweigh, she said that she really wanted to play the little girl in that scene, but wasn’t allowed to because she doesn’t look Mexican.  One person asked if she had a favorite memory of visiting her father’s sets and she said that during the production of Singin’ in the Rain, it was interesting for her to go to the set and see adults learning new things.  When you’re a kid, you tend to think that adults just know everything.  So by going to the set and seeing Debbie Reynolds working so hard to learn the dances, it showed her that nobody ever just knows everything and how important it is to keep learning new things.

If you were wondering what Kerry herself is up to these days, she is a psychoanalyst and has lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan since the 1970s.  Together with her husband, they have written several books about child psychology and have founded the Allen Creek Preschool.

Overall, the evening was truly wonderful.  Kerry was very nice, approachable, and witty and I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to hear so much about Gene from someone who was so close to him.

To mark the occasion, I put together a little retrospective.  I figured just posting links to some of my favorite posts from last year would be boring, so instead I decided to liven up that idea a little bit.  I present to you The Hollywood Revue: Year in Review, a montage featuring clips of 39 movies and events that I wrote about over the past year.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t include clips from everything, but I got in as many as I could!  Hope you enjoy!

It’s already time for yet another round of TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar!  I’ve reached a point where I’ve been watching 31 Days of Oscar for so long that I’m not seeing as much stuff that’s new to me, but as always, there are a lot of great movies I’m looking forward to revisiting.  Those of you who tend to worry about TCM showing more modern movies during 31 Days of Oscar can rest assured that there are only three movies from the 90s this year and they are both on pretty late at night.  This year, the theme for the month is “Around the World in 31 Days.”  So each day, movies will be grouped together based on where they take place.  With no further ado, let’s get on to my choices for the month.

February 1:  31 Days of Oscar starts off in Florida with Sweet Bird of Youth at 7:45 AM, Key Largo at 2:15 PM, and Some Like it Hot at 5:45 PM before moving over to Philadelphia with Rocky starting at 8:00 PM and The Philadelphia Story at 10:15 PM.

February 2:  There are some good Mexican set movies tonight like Treasure of the Sierra Madre at 10:15 PM, The Wild Bunch at 12:30 AM, and Juarez at 5:00 AM.

February 3:  TCM is still in Mexico in the morning with The Champ at 11:00 AM and The Invisible Woman at 12:30 PM.  Movies set in India start at 8:00 PM with Gandhi.  I’m looking forward to seeing The Rains Came at 2:30 AM.

February 4:  This whole weekend will showcase movies set in England.  Today starts with the Norma Shearer version of The Last of Mrs. Cheyney at 6:30 AM.  Then there’s The Picture of Dorian Gray at 12:15 PM, Gaslight at 2:15 PM, The Gay Divorcee at 4:15 PM, My Fair Lady at 8:00 PM, and Mrs. Miniver at 12:45 AM.

February 5:  The second day of movies set in England includes The Adventures of Robin Hood at 12:45 PM, The Entertainer at 8:00 PM, Darling at 1:00 AM, Blow Up at 3:15 AM, and The V.I.P.s at 5:15 AM.

February 6:  Today starts off in Eastern Europe and includes To Be or Not to Be at 6:15 PM, then it moves over to The Netherlands with Foreign Correspondent at 8:00 PM, The Diary of Anne Frank at 10:15 PM, and Lust for Life at 3:30 AM.

February 7:  It’s a night of movies set in Germany with Judgment at Nuremberg at 10:15 PM, Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet at 1:30 AM, Grand Hotel at 3:30 AM, and All Quiet on the Western Front at 5:30 AM.

February 8:  Tonight’s movies are all set in the Midwest, starting with the TCM premiere of the 1939 version of State Fair at 8:00 PM, Bye Bye Birdie at 9:45 PM, The Music Man at 11:45 PM, and The Man With the Golden Arm at 4:15 AM.

February 9:  The Midwestern theme continues throughout the morning with The Public Enemy at 10:45 AM, Some Came Running at 2:00 PM, and Meet Me in St. Louis at 4:30 PM.  After that, the movies move down to Texas starting with Red River at 8:00 PM and Boom Town at 4:30 AM.

February 10:  You can see Giant at 10:30 AM, The Ox-Bow Incident at 6:30 PM, Close Encounters of the Third Kind at 8:00 PM, Cat Ballou at 1:15 AM.  After that, a weekend full of movies set in New York City starts with Portrait of Jennie at 3:00 AM.

February 11:  Today and tomorrow might just be my two favorite days of the whole month.  Today has 42nd Street at 8:00 AM, The Naked City at 9:45 AM, The Awful Truth at 11:30 AM, On the Waterfront at 1:15 PM, Going My Way at 3:15 PM, the TCM premiere of The Best of Everything at 5:30 PM, Wait Until Dark at 8:00 PM, and The Apartment at 10:00 PM.

February 12:  This weekend in New York continues with On the Town at 6:45 AM, It’s Always Fair Weather at 8:30 AM, It Should Happen to You at 10:15 AM, Lover Come Back at 11:45 AM, the TCM premiere of Marilyn Monroe’s Let’s Make Love at 5:45 PM, Funny Girl at 8:00 PM, Marty at 12:30 AM, and Life With Father at 4:30 AM.

February 13:  From New York to The Great Plains, today has Splendor in the Grass at 6:30 AM, Boys’ Town at 9:00 AM, and North by Northwest at 5:30 PM.  Then it’s over to Italy with Fellini’s 8 1/2 at 5:00 AM.

February 14:  Another excellent day!  The Bicycle Thief at 7:30 AM; Two Women at 9:15 AM; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow at 11:00 AM; The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone at 1:00 PM; the 1936 version of Romeo and Juliet at 4:15 PM, A Farewell to Arms at 6:30 PM, Top Hat at 8:00 PM, Summertime at 10:00 PM, and Amacord at 4:45 AM.

February 15:  Take a trip to Africa with Casablanca at 11:00 PM, Mogambo at 3:00 AM, and Trader Horn at 5:00 AM.

February 16:  Russia is the country of the night starting with Fiddler on the Roof at 8:00 PM, Doctor Zhivago at 11:15 PM, and Comrade X at 2:45 AM.

February 17:  Now we’re on to the American South with Baby Doll at 6:30 AM, All the King’s Men at 10:30 AM, The Defiant Ones at 2:30 PM, In the Heat of the Night at 6:00 PM, Gone With the Wind at 10:30 PM, Cool Hand Luke at 2:30 AM, and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang at 4:45 AM.

February 18:  Today kicks off a weekend in France with Camille at 6:30 AM, Gigi at 8:30 AM, Mr. Hulot’s Holiday at 10:30 AM, Ninotchka at 12:00 PM, the 1948 version of The Three Musketeers at 2:00 PM, The Lion in Winter at 1:00 AM, and Victor/Victoria at 3:30 AM.

February 19:  There’s Marie Antoinette at 7:45 AM, The Story of Louis Pasteur at 10:30 AM, The Life of Emile Zola at 12:00 PM, An American in Paris at 3:30 PM, Song of Bernadette at 8:00 PM, The Razor’s Edge at 11:00 PM, and Roberta at 1:30 AM.

February 20:  If you like pre-codes or ancient Roman epics, you’ll like today.  It starts in Ancient Rome with the Claudette Colbert Cleopatra at 9:00 AM, Spartacus at 10:45 AM, Ben-Hur at 2:15 PM, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at 6:15 PM.  After that, we move over to Austria for The Smiling Lieutenant at 8:00 PM and The Third Man at 10:00 PM.

February 21:  Today starts off in The Caribbean with Affair in Trinidad at 10:30 AM, The Pirate at 12:15 PM, and Arrowsmith (which I’m interested in seeing) at 6:00 PM.  After that, it’s on to South America with Flying Down to Rio at 9:45 PM, Down Argentine Way at 11:30 PM, and Only Angels Have Wings at 3:30 AM.

February 22:  Today we get a whole day of movies set in Washington D.C., including The More the Merrier at 6:15 AM, Born Yesterday at 10:15 AM, Dr. Strangelove at 12:00 PM, Watch on the Rhine at 6:00 PM, Strangers on a Train at 8:00 PM, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington at 10:00 PM, and All the President’s Men at 12:15 AM.

February 23:  With today’s movies set in the South Seas, you can see both the 1935 and 1962 versions of Mutiny on the Bounty at 10:30 AM and 12:45 PM respectively.  Then there’s Mister Roberts at 5:45 PM before moving on to Southeast Asia with Bridge on the River Kwai at 8:00 PM and The Letter at 11:00 PM.

February 24:  If you’re interested in seeing early Academy Award nominees, you’ll want to watch In Old Arizona at 1:30 PM.  After that, it’s on to New Mexico for The Harvey Girls at 8:00 PM, Ace in the Hole at 10:00 PM, and Them! at 2:30 AM.

February 25:  Today starts a weekend in California with Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner at 8:30 AM, After the Thin Man at 10:30 AM, The Maltese Falcon at 12:30 PM, East of Eden at 6:00 PM, The Grapes of Wrath at 8:00 PM, and the TCM premiere of Harry and Tonto at 1:00 AM.

February 26:  Another excellent day with What Price Hollywood? at 9:00 AM, the Janet Gaynor version of A Star is Born at 11:00 AM, Singin’ in the Rain at 1:00 PM, The Bad and the Beautiful at 3:00 PM, the Judy Garland version of A Star is Born at 5:00 PM, The Star at 8:00 PM, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? at 9:45 PM, The Graduate at 2:15 AM, and L.A. Confidential at 4:15 AM.

February 27:  Today is dedicated to movies set in New England, starting with The Children’s Hour at 7:00 AM, Stella Dallas at 9:00 AM, Now, Voyager at 11:00 AM, I Married a Witch at 8:00 PM, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at 11:30 PM.

February 28:  A series of movies set on the French Riviera includes The Red Shoes at 11:00 AM and To Catch a Thief at 6:00 PM.  Later that night, it’s on to the Middle East with Lawrence of Arabia at 10:15 PM.

February 29:  Fans of silent films to know the only silent movie shown this month, Two Arabian Nights, will be on at 8:00 AM.  Tonight’s movies are all set in China with Love is a Many-Splendored Thing at 10:00 PM and The Good Earth at 7:30 AM on the morning of March 1st.

I’m sure that if The March of Time had been completed, it’d be thought of as a historical curiosity today, but I kind of wish that it had been completed.  As awkward and creaky as they are, I sort of love early musical efforts.  They’re just so earnest that I can’t help but find them endearing.  Especially in cases like this where lots of top stars of the era were put together in one movie just because it’s interesting to see all those stars together.  I’d also be quite interested in seeing what they thought the future of entertainment would be.

Even though The March of Time was abandoned, some of the filmed scenes eventually ended up being included in other things.  You can find some of these scenes on YouTube, but I want to specifically highlight one scene called The Lock Step featuring The Dodge Twins:

What I want to know is if this number was supposed to be representing the present or the future of entertainment.  Because if this was supposed to be the future, then they were surprisingly accurate in predicting Elvis’ Jailhouse Rock number.

All of these personal dramas become even more tumultuous when all flights out of Heathrow are delayed by fog.  At first, they expect to only be delayed an hour, but it soon becomes clear that they won’t be able to fly out until the next morning and they are all put up in a hotel for the night.  By then, Paul has found out about Frances’ plan to leave him and shows up to put a stop to it.  Les makes a few last-ditch attempts to get the money he needs, and just when he thinks he’s ruined, Miss Mead saves him in just the nick of time.  Max finds a way out of his tax woes, but not a particularly desirable one.  Even the Duchess is able to find a way to keep her family home.

The V.I.P.s may be regarded as one of Elizabeth Taylor’s lesser movies, but I actually enjoyed it.  It’s a guilty pleasure of mine.  If you go into it hoping for straight drama, look elsewhere because it doesn’t really work on that level.  However, if you’re in the mood for something campy, then you might have some fun with The V.I.P.s.  Essentially, it’s Grand Hotel, but set in an airport and campier.  The writing isn’t particularly good, but it was over the top enough to be fun.  Elizabeth Taylor seemed kinda bored most of the time, apparently she only took the role so she wouldn’t have to worry about Richard Burton getting distracted by Sophia Loren.  But boy, does she ever look fabulous!  Richard Burton hams it up big time and Orson Welles’ accent is pretty ridiculous.  And Margaret Rutherford’s boozy, pill-popping Duchess of Brighton is just a hoot.  But I think the most hilarious part of this movie is the hotel the airline puts these people in.  If that were the hotel you really got to stay at when your flight gets delayed, travel delays wouldn’t be quite so bad.  But we all know in reality, you’re really going to the nearest Best Western, not a swanky, stylish place like that.  Also, if you’re into 1960s fashions, this is worth checking out if only for the eye candy factor because it is a very stylish movie.

Happy 2012, everybody! January is, as always, chock full of good stuff on TCM.  The first star of the month in 2012 is Angela Lansbury and her movies can be seen every Wednesday night this month.  Every Thursday night will be dedicated to showcasing the work of cinematographer Jack Cardiff.  With no further ado, let’s get to my picks for January.

January 1:   TCM is ringing in 2012 with a bang!  King Kong at 6:15 AM, Swing Time at 8:15 AM, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington at 10:15 AM, The Searchers at 12:45 PM, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind at 5:30 PM.  Tonight’s Silent Sunday Night feature is The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg at midnight.

January 2:  Joseph Cotton is the man of the night, starting with Portrait of Jennie at 8:00 PM, The Farmer’s Daughter at 9:30 PM, The Steel Trap at 11:15 PM, Niagara at 1:00 AM, and Lydia at 2:45 AM.

January 3:  Happy birthday to Marion Davies!  Catch her in The Florodora Girl at 6:00 AM, Not So Dumb at 7:30 AM, The Bachelor Father at 9:00 AM, Five and Ten at 10:45 AM, Blondie of the Follies at 12:15 AM, Peg O’ My Heart at 2:00 PM, Operator 13 at 3:30 PM, Cain and Mabel at 5:00 PM, and Hearts Divided at 6:30 PM.

January 4:  The first night of Angela Lansbury films has some of her most memorable.  There’s Gaslight at 8:00 PM, National Velvet at 10:00 PM, Picture of Dorian Gray at 12:15 AM, The Harvey Girls at 2:15 AM, and The Hoodlum Saint at 4:15 AM.

January 5:  Angela Lansbury continues into the morning with If Winter Comes at 6:00 AM, Tenth Avenue Angel at 7:45 AM, and The Red Danube at 9:00 AM.  Tonight is also the first night of Jack Cardiff movies with the documentary Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff at 8:00 PM and is followed by Wings of the Morning at 9:30 PM, The Four Feathers at 12:30 AM, Things to Come at 2:30 AM, Knight Without Armour at 4:30 AM.

January 6:  There’s one more Jack Cardiff picture, Caesar and Cleopatra, up at 6:00 AM.  Happy birthday to Loretta Young!  Heroes for Sale is up at 8:45 AM, then She Had to Say Yes at 10:00 AM, The Unguarded Hour at 11:15 AM, The Bishop’s Wife at 12:45 PM, The Stranger at 2:45 PM, Rachel and the Stranger at 4:45 PM, and Key to the City at 6:15 PM.

January 7:  Tonight features a night of movies starring one of my favorites, Charlie Chaplin.  City Lights is up first at 8:00 PM, then Modern Times at 9:45 PM, A Dog’s Life at 11:30 PM, Shoulder Arms at 12:15 AM, The Kid at 1:15 AM, The Idle Class at 2:15 AM, The Circus at 3:30 AM, and The Gold Rush at 4:45 AM.  Be sure to at least tune in for Robert Osborne and Alec Baldwin’s comments at the end of City Lights.  Alec tells Robert that he thinks of Ben Stiller as a modern Charlie Chaplin and the look of sheer bewilderment that Robert Osborne gets is absolutely hilarious.

January 10:  James L. Brooks is this month’s guest programmer and tonight he has chosen This is Your Year at 8:00 PM, My Favorite Year at 8:15 PM, Dr. Strangelove at 10:00 PM, Network at 11:45 PM, and Prince of the City at 2:00 AM.

January 11:  It’s Angela Lansbury night again, tonight with State of the Union at 8:00 PM, The Three Musketeers at 10:15 PM, Samson and Delilah at 12:30 AM, Till the Clouds Roll By at 2:45 AM, and Kind Lady at 5:15 AM.

January 12:  Tonight features more from Jack Cardiff, starting with The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp at 8:00 PM, A Matter of Life and Death at 12:30 AM, The Red Shoes at 2:30 AM, and Black Narcissus at 5:00 AM.

January 13:  The Apartment is on at 7:00 AM, Sunday in New York at 11:15 AM, and Boys’ Night Out at 1:15 PM.  And if you really want to see something wild, be sure to check out Hausu at 2:00 AM.  It really is quite unlike anything else I’ve ever seen.

January 14:  During the day are the Claudette Colbert version of Cleopatra at 8:45 AM and Knock on Any Door at 3:15 PM.  Then there’s a night of Spencer Tracy movies starting with Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo at 8:00 PM, Adam’s Rib at 10:30 PM, The Last Hurrah at 12:15 AM, Father’s Little Dividend at 2:30 AM, and Cass Timberlane at 4:00 AM.

January 15:  Lots of fun stuff on today, starting with Meet Me in St. Louis at 6:00 AM, then Follow the Fleet at 12:00 PM, It Should Happen to You at 6:15 PM.  Then it’s a night of Abbott and Costello movies starting with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein at 8:00 PM, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man at 9:30 PM, Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy at 11:00 PM.

January 17:  Robert Osborne picks tonight’s movies, including What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice at 8:00 PM, Love is a Many Splendored Thing at 10:00 PM, A Night in Paradise at 12:0o AM, The Diary of a Chambermaid at 1:30 AM, and Second Chorus at 3:00 AM.

January 18:  Today features a birthday tribute to Cary Grant, including Topper at 8:15 AM, Holiday at 10:00 AM, In Name Only at 12:00 PM, and Room for One More at 4:45 PM.  After that is another night of Angela Lansbury movies with The World of Henry Orient at 8:00 PM, The Manchurian Candidate at 10:00 PM, All Fall Down at 12:15 AM, The Court Jester at 2:15 AM, Season of Passion at 4:00 AM, and The Reluctant Debutante at 5:45 AM.

January 19:  Tonight’s Jack Cardiff movies are Under Capricorn at 8:00 PM, The Master of Ballantre at 10:15 PM, The Prince and the Showgirl at 12:00 AM, and Pandora and the Flying Dutchman at 2:00 AM.

January 21:  It’s a night of movies with postal-themed titles, starting with A Letter to Three Wives at 8:00 PM, Love Letters at 10:00 PM, The Letter at 12:00 AM, A Letter for Evie at 2:00 AM, and The Postman Always Rings Twice at 3:45 AM.

January 22:  A night of Bela Lugosi movies starts at 8:00 PM with Murders in the Rue Morgue, then The Black Cat at 9:15 PM, and Island of Lost Souls at 10:30 PM.  Tonight’s Silent Sunday Night feature is Haxan at midnight and is followed by one of my favorites, Nights of Cabiria at 2:00 AM.

January 23:  Tonight we get a move of Max Ophuls films starting with The Reckless Moment at 8:00 PM, Caught at 9:30 PM, Letter from an Unknown Woman at 11:15 PM, The Exile at 1:00 AM, La Ronde at 2:45 AM, and The Earrings of Madame De… at 4:30 AM.

January 24:  Happy birthday to Ernest Borgnine!  See him in From Here to Eternity at 6:15 AM, Bad Day at Black Rock at 8:15 AM, Marty at 9:45 AM, The Catered Affair at 11:30 AM, The Badlanders at 1:15 AM, Torpedo Run at 2:45 PM, The Dirty Dozen at 4:30 PM, and his Private Screenings interview at 7:00 PM.

January 25:  Look like it’s a day of show business themed movies starting with Show Business at 6:30 AM, George White’s Scandals at 8:30 AM, Ziegfeld Girl at 10:15 AM, Funny Girl at 12:30 PM, Gypsy at 3:15 PM, and There’s No Business Like Show Business at 6:00 PM.  Then it’s the last night of Angela Lansbury movies starting with her Private Screenings interview at 8:00 PM, Sweeney Todd at 9:00 PM, Death on the Nile at 11:30 PM, Mister Buddwing at 2:00 AM, Dear Heart at 3:45 AM, and In the Cool of the Day at 5:45 AM.

January 26:  It’s one more night of Jack Cardiff movies.  Intent to Kill starts at 8:00 PM, followed by The Lion at 9:45 PM, Young Cassidy at 11:30 PM, The Liquidator at 1:30 AM, and Dark of the Sun at 3:30 AM.

January 27:  Tonight features a bunch of movies directed by James Whale, starting with The Great Garrick at 8:00 PM, One More River at 9:45 PM, The Invisible Man at 11:15 PM, and Frankenstein at 12:30 AM.  And if you’re up at 4:15 AM, you could check out Repulsion.

January 28:  All of tonight’s movies were movies that were released shortly after the death of one of its stars.  First up is The Misfits at 8:00 PM, Saratoga at 10:15 PM, Soylent Green at 12:00 AM, Rebel Without a Cause at 2:00 AM, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner at 4:00 AM.

January 29:  There are some fun things on today, Mother Wore Tights at 10:00 AM, Strike Up the Band at 12:00 PM, and Father of the Bride at 6:15 PM.

January 30:  Joan Fontaine gets the spotlight tonight, starting with Jane Eyre at 8:00 PM, The Constant Nymph at 10:00 PM, Born to be Bad at 12:00 AM, Suspicion at 2:00 AM, and Ivanhoe at 4:00 AM.

January 31:  If you’re up early, you could watch Elmer Gantry at 6:00 AM and Black Narcissus at 8:30 AM.  Later is a selection of movies by winners of the 2011 Governors Award, starting with Requiem for a Dream at 8:00 PM and House of Dark Shadows at 10:00 PM, both of which feature make-up by Dick Smith.  Then it’s a couple from James Earl Jones, Claudine at 12:00 AM and Gardens of Stone at 2:00 AM.

In 1927, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is world famous as one of the biggest movie stars around.  After the premiere of his latest film, he steps outside to greet the crowd of adoring fans and ends up having a run-in with fan Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo).  Their encounter is photographed by the press and winds up being featured on the front page of Variety.  Peppy is more than a fan, she’s an aspiring actress who winds up getting hired as an extra at Kinograph, the studio where George works.  When George sees that Peppy is a talented dancer, he gets her a bit part in his new movie.  The two of them hit it off and Peppy quickly finds herself getting bigger and bigger parts.  But with the advent of sound films, George finds himself pressured to make talkies, a transition he does not want to make.  He leaves the studio to produce his own silent films, but finds that he can’t compete with the new talkie stars like Peppy Miller.  He loses everything, but with help from a friend, he finds the potential to reinvent himself to a new audience.

The Artist is easily my favorite movie of 2011.  Not that I saw many new releases this year, but anyway.  I loved everything about it — the acting, the cinematography, the story, the direction were all top notch.  I most often hear the plot of The Artist described as being like Singin’ in the Rain meets A Star is Born, and although that is a pretty good way to describe it, don’t think that it’s just a rehash.  It does have elements of both, but it stands well on its own and I had no problem judging it independently from those. It also isn’t just an endless parade of homages to other silent films, either.  Director Michel Hazanavicius clearly did his silent film homework, but very much made it his own.  In this article, Hazanavicius names six movies that inspired him to make The Artist, and I never would have guessed Josef von Sternberg’s Underworld or Lon Chaney’s The Unknown were among his influences for it.

Fans of silent films are bound to recognize characters and events in the movie as being inspired by real people and events.  The character of George Valentin was essentially John Gilbert but with Douglas Fairbanks’ on-screen image.  Although Gilbert didn’t hesitate to make the transition to sound the way Valentin does, his career did fall into a rapid decline after fighting with Louis B. Mayer and something similar happens to Valentin.  When Valentin wants to continue making silent films, he produces and finances one on his own, reminiscent of how Gilbert wrote the movie Downstairs for himself when he was tired of getting lousy movies.  Peppy Miller was definitely meant to be a Clara Bow, Colleen Moore type, but with a few moments of Greta Garbo thrown in.  Yes, at one point, Peppy even says, “I want to be alone.”  And when she wants to help George get work again, she demands that he be cast as her leading man, just like how Garbo got John Gilbert cast in Queen Christina.

Right now, it’s looking like The Artist is shaping up to be the top contender to win Best Picture at the Oscars.  But when a movie gets as much acclaim as The Artist currently is, sooner or later, there will be a backlash against it and I can tell you right now what some of its detractors will say.  If it does indeed win, there will be some who will say that it won just because it’s a silent film made in 2011 and that was such a novelty that it won for being a novelty.  And even if it doesn’t win, they’ll just say all the hype was because it was a novelty.  I can feel that argument is coming, so I’m just going to go ahead and comment on how absurd and condescending that idea is right now.

Speaking as somebody who routinely watches silent films, the idea of watching a movie without spoken dialogue isn’t a novelty to me, even if it is a modern movie.  I’d have been just as eager to see this one even if it did have dialogue.  The concept of a modern silent film might be more of a selling point to others, but I highly doubt they’re going to like it purely because it’s a silent.  At no point in time have I ever liked a silent film just because it was silent and neither have any of the other silent film fans I know.  We’re not a bunch that’s that easily amused.  I watch silent movies because I appreciate that method of storytelling, but there has to be a good story being told.  The Artist is much more than just a silent film, it also has a wonderful story, an excellent cast, strong direction, and beautiful cinematography and those are perfectly valid reasons for it to be getting the acclaim it is.  If the story isn’t your cup of tea, or even if you’re just not into silent movies, that’s just dandy, but to write it off as a novelty or a gimmick is completely ridiculous.

Just wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas!  And now, for my favorite non-traditional Christmas song…Bette Navidad!

When you have more than one screen adaptation of a novel, usually one is more faithful to the novel than the other.  However, in the case of The Maltese Falcon, it has two pretty accurate adaptations.  The first version, released in 1931 and stars Ricardo Cortez, Thelma Todd, and Bebe Daniels, does a pretty good job of sticking to the source material.  However, the 1941 Humphrey Bogart version is an even more accurate representation of the book.  It doesn’t stick to the novel exactly, but most of the dialogue is taken verbatim and the key story elements are kept in tact.

Most of the differences are pretty subtle and probably were changed for the sake of pacing.  For example, in the movie Sam finds out about La Paloma after he wakes up in Gutman’s hotel room and starts looking around the room.  It’s a much more drawn out process in the book.  In the book, Sam finds out Miss O’Shaugnessy didn’t go to Effie’s apartment like she was supposed to.  Instead, she had the cab stop to get a newspaper, then she asked to be brought to the ferry building.  So Sam gets a copy of the paper in question to look for clues, but doesn’t figure it out until he starts snooping around Cairo’s room and notices that the newspaper section with ship arrivals was of particular interest to him.  Although there’s nothing wrong with the way that part plays out in the book, if it were filmed that way, it would have slowed the movie down.  Another difference is that the character of Gutman’s daughter is completely absent from the Bogart movie (as well as from the Ricardo Cortez version, for that matter), but she wasn’t exactly a vital character in the book.

A lot of the other changes were definitely made because of the production codes.  What’s interesting about that content is that neither the 1931 or the 1941 version gets it exactly right.  The 1931 version tends to be a bit more scandalous than the book was, but it does include things that were in the book that couldn’t be included in the 1941 version.  There’s no way the 1941 version could have gotten away with the scene where Spade strip searches O’Shaugnessy after noticing that $1,000 of the $10,000 Gutman promised him was missing, but it was in the 1931 version.  The 1941 version also really had to downplay the fact that Cairo and Wilmer were both supposed to be gay, the 1931 version made that much clearer.  In the book, when O’Shaugnessy finds out that Sam has been talking to Cairo and that he’s prepared to offer more money than she can, she offers to sleep with him and proceeds to spend the night at Sam’s apartment.  When it comes to that part in the 1941 version, O’Shaugessy can’t offer herself to Spade or spend the night, so Sam just kisses her instead.  As for Spade’s affair with Iva Archer, the 1941 version actually depicts what went on more accurately than the 1931 version.  The 1931 version made that affair more salacious than the book described.  First of all, the book made Iva Archer out to be a little past her prime, which Thelma Todd most certainly was not.  There also weren’t any scenes involving Iva showing up at Sam’s apartment and finding O’Shaugnessy wearing her kimono nor were there any of Miles listening on the extension while Sam and Iva set up a tryst.

I really enjoyed reading The Maltese Falcon and I think anyone who likes either movie version would, too.  Like I said, what you see in either movie version is pretty much what you get in the book.  And since it’s not a terribly long book, either, I definitely recommend reading it.  As for which movie version I prefer, I think it goes without saying that the Humphrey Bogart version wins hands down.  The Ricardo Cortez version is good, but it doesn’t have the flawless cast and direction that the Humphrey Bogart version did.  I always loved the cast of the Bogart version, but while I was reading the book and got to read exactly how each character was described, I feel like that version had some of the most perfect casting of all time.  Nobody will ever make a better Sam Spade than Humphrey Bogart.

For more Bogie, be sure to visit Forever Classics for more Humphrey Bogart Blogathon contributions.