"talk to me..."

I just went out today and bought the final film I needed to now own all four of Bogie & Baby's films (not including the TV movie) they made together, Dark Passage. However, I also wanted a more recent film because in my quest of all things Bacall, I feel I haven't seen enough of her more recent work (I feel I haven't seen enough of her work period actually, but I'm working on that!). So, having recently listened to her once again talk about her experience making The Mirror Has Two Faces, and being an admirer of Barbra Streisand's work also, I decided to add that film to my collection.

First of all, the DVD was intriguing to me because while the outside looked professional and normal, the DVD itself looks homemade with no real menu - it's kind of hilarious. Believe it or not, the movie was kind of hard to track down. Virgin Megastore didn't have it (though their selection isn't quite as up to par for me lately as I once believed it to be) and Borders had one copy in the "Drama" section. However, the fact that I found that copy at all still makes it easier to find than The African Queen...I've yet to fathom how no stores carry that movie. Anyway, the version I have is fullscreen only - a bit annoying at times because of obvious reasons. Especially in the scene where Gregory has rejected Rose - there were moments when her face got cut off, and her expressions were the most meaningful and vital to that scene - and really, to a huge part of the whole film.

I liked the movie - it was sweet and not predictable like your average "romantic comedy." Well, I should say not as predictable - of course the guy still gets the girl (or in this case it's more of girl gets the guy!), but the journey had more unexpected twists and turns. Lauren Bacall had a smaller role than I was imagining, but I definitely think she deserved her Academy Award nomination. As Hannah she was funny - the perfect impossible mother - but she also brought a whole other dimension to the character. When Rose went back to her mother's apartment after Gregory's rejection, I was waiting for a tearful "mother daughter moment" - for Hannah to take her daughter in her arms and say, "I did always think you were beautiful - you are beautiful..." blah blah blah. But that would have been so unrealistic. Instead, there was the breakfast table scene - Hannah admits to Rose she is jealous of her because she never loved someone the way she loves Gregory. And she does something better than just tell Rose she's beautiful...she makes her believe in herself. Hannah could have been a very typical, not very likable, one dimensional "mom" - but in this scene Bacall makes the audience feel for her, understand her better. And I definitely think it's the turning point moment of the film - more so than the rejection scene before. 

I liked the ending very much, even though that part was absolutely predictable - I kept waiting after Rose's first class lecture on love for Puccini to play somewhere! But I thought having the unknown apartment neighbor playing the record & singing was such a nice way to do it. After all, Gregory didn't believe in the idea of love from the movies - he even says how ridiculous it is to hear music when you kiss someone. It's not entirely unbelievable for someone in NY to start playing romantic music when they see two people in love outside and I like how Rose & Gregory never could figure out where it was coming from. And I agree - I think we all really should hear Puccini when we're in love - it's perfect.

"the greeks had a word for it"

I just finished watching How to Marry A Millionaire - this was my first time seeing it all the way through.

Overall I liked it, but I did wish for more Lauren Bacall in it. It seemed to me that Betty Grable actually had the most screen time (so not surprisingly she's credited first on IMDB) but I found her storyline a little boring actually.

I loved the sequence of dates between Schatze and Tom - I thought it was cute the way she'd keep saying it was the last time and then next shot, they'd be out together. I would have liked it to be a little longer or more developed though, so that we get more of a sense of Schatze being in love with him and having good reason to be. Even still, when J.D. turned back up again and said he'd changed his mind and wanted to marry her, my thought was, "no, what about Mr. Brookman!"

My favorite part was the reference to Bogie, "What I'm trying to tell you J.D. is that I've always liked older men - look at Roosevelt, look at Churchill, look at that old fellow what's his name in African Queen - absolutely crazy about him!" Love it.

"i wanted hearts, not diamonds..."

Last night I happened to catch the rare Lauren Bacall thriller, The Fan on a never-before heard of niche channel called "Sleuth." Unfortunately I missed the first 30 minutes or so and normally would never have tuned in after that far in to the plot, but this was an exception because of its obscurity.

I was surprised by the amount of graphic blood in the film and I guess I'd been unaware that it was a slasher/horror genre... The basic plot: Bacall plays a film actress who got her start in Old Hollywood and is now rehearsing for her first musical on Broadway many years later. But her world and the world of those around her is shaken up when letters from an obsessed fan change from creepy to threatening and the words leave the page to turn into stalking, violence and murder. The stalker is played by Michael Biehn and he did such a good job playing disturbed and disturbing that I didn't recognize him as being from anything else until an IMDB search later - he was Kyle Reese in Terminator. (The character "Pop" did look familiar to me while watching, and IMDB also revealed that he was Bobo in Moonstruck! "Bobo, take the cart away...")

All in all I thought the movie was decent, well-worth a watch - but I'll admit I probably wouldn't have watched without Lauren Bacall in the lead. As someone who is following her career off screen as much as on, I got the feelings of autobiographical deja-vu while watching her performance. First of all, pictures of her from the 30s and 40s are used all throughout as part of the canvas of the film - it's easy to cast her as an "aging" Old Hollywood dame, because she was the dame. (I'm reminded of her song in Applause, "Who's That Girl" when, as actress Margo Channing, she sings reflections on her past while watching one of her old movies on the late late show. I often wonder if they used To Have & Have Not or The Big Sleep in either the stage or TV movie of Applause). 

Sally Ross (Bacall's character) is also an actress alone - James Garner plays her ex-husband, Jake Berman, who she still loves but is no longer with her. Again, hints of Bacall - her autobiography is titled "By Myself" because she has lived much of her life alone after Bogie died and she and Jason Robards divorced. Ross is also an actress gearing up for her first musical, something else Bacall was no stranger to as she'd done the same thing about a decade before with Applause.

All of these basic plot points notwithstanding, Bacall also portrays Sally Ross in ways we as an audience imagine her to be in real life. Independent, tough, classy...and vulnerable. As Douglas's words become actions and he begins to attack the people close to her, we begin to see Sally's vulnerability through her fear and aloneness. After Douglas has broken into her apartment, ransacked it and killed her maid, she flees town and goes to a remote beach house. There's a great scene when, alone on the sofa, Sally hears a car approach and not knowing who it is, is terrified. Yet all throughout, despite of her fear, she doesn't let it dominate her. At one point she tells Berman to leave her alone and go back to his girlfriend Heidi because "I have so much more to give to someone than just my troubles." She doesn't relish being alone and would like him to be there for her - but she doesn't want it to be just out of pity and concern for her well being. Instead, she makes friends with the police inspector, played by Hector Elizondo, because he makes her feel safe without strings of romance. All of this made me identify with Bacall's portrayal of the character and that was part of why I was able to get into the story and fear for her. It contributed a great deal to the feelings of suspense, for me.

Before, I'd only seen a couple strung together clips on YouTube of the end of the film when Bacall is singing on stage - and it's funny because not knowing any backstory of the storyline, I'd thought from watching that that Douglas was a younger-than-her lover. Haha. I guess this says something for Biehn's acting, that he effectively displayed the admiration for the actress that pushed him over the edge. I love the musical numbers (Marvin Hamlisch and Tim Rice) because despite the cheesiness I love Bacall's singing. (I wonder what the storyline was for the musical in the movie!)

The very last scene was both fulfilling and unfulfilling. I'm glad that Sally was finally able to confront Douglas and that in the end, she got the power back that he'd taken from her. But the final moment, Douglas stabbed in the neck and sitting in the audience, leaves something to be desired. I wanted one more scene. Also, I get what they were trying to do with the last image of Douglas - the demented fan/stalker, killed for his obsession with an actress - dead in the audience, eyes left open "watching" the stage... But I couldn't get over the fact that in the shot immediately prior, when Sally had stabbed him in the neck, they were standing and he'd had her pinned against the stage... An oops, oversight or screw-continuity-I-want-the-image moment by the director? Who knows...

Two other interesting things I noticed while watching... The use of mirrors & reflections were used a lot - more canvassing that gave the feeling of fame, vanity etc. Also, the use of wide angle shots of door frames and door ways - like in Rosemary's Baby - that give a feel of voyeurism (what we all really are as audience members and celeb watchers) and also a feeling of "what's around that corner???"

This blog is just to chronicle the movies I see and any thoughts I have on them. Its not intended to have deep analysis or thesis-like reactions, so don't expect that!

It's mostly for me to keep track of what I watch - but who knows, maybe some interesting discussion will be spawned also...

first post

this is a test...it is only a test...