"It's pronounced Fronkensteen" (Day 2 of the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival)

On to day 2 of the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival.  It started bright and early with a screening of Cover Girl at the Chinese 6, introduced by Gene Kelly's widow, Patricia Ward Kelly and Robert Osborne.  Patricia came into the theater and introduced herself and shook hands with almost everyone in the theater.  She was very personable and seemed very excited to be there.  While walking around she mentioned that she had added 5 years to her age on their wedding license.  She also made jokes about looking like Jamie Lee Curtis and she certainly did.  She was full of energy and it was very interesting to see and hear speak.

 

 Robert Osborne said that he was most excited to see this movie and was happy to see a full house, and that he had wished that Rita Hayworth were alive to see this kind of reception.  He also mentioned that if he were able to stay and watch a whole movie at the festival that Cover Girl would be it.  He also discussed Gene Kelly's career and suggested that MGM didn't know what to do with Gene Kelly, since he wasn't taken care of or treated properly.  He also said that he had the chance to see Gene Kelly on his last day on an MGM set.  I'm a huge Gene Kelly fan and it's always a treat to see him on the big screen.

Up next was Funny Face at Grauman's Chinese.  There was an interview with Stanley Donen by Robert Osborne before the screening.  I always enjoy a nice Stanley Donen interview, he's very candid and doesn't sugar coat anything.  He means what he says and says what he means, shoots from the hip.  In regards to Funny Face he candidly told us that it was a challenge, he didn't have theater people, or show people, what he had was Audrey, Fred and Paris and the challenge was to fill the space and hold the interest, while also not going over budget. He also talked about his love of film and fascination with the screen.  He thinks of film as an elastic medium and that they can be so many different things.

They also surprised Stanley with a birthday cake!

We all sang Happy Birthday and Robert asked him if he found any significance in the piano design, Stanley immediately said the 88 keys for his 88th birthday.  There was also a wonderful video tribute to Stanley Donen.  Seeing Fred Astaire dance on the big screen is always a treat and it was fun to introduce my mom to another movie she hadn't seen before.  Her first comment after the movie, "wasn't Fred Astaire a little old for her?"  Yes mom, but that's when we suspend our disbelief and focus on the pretty costumes, music and dancing.

After this it was time to head back to the Chinese 6 for Nothing Sacred starring Carole Lombard and Fredric March, it was introduced by Deborah Nadoolman Landis.  Before the movie, Landis talked about the amazing Carole Lombard and the costumes and beautiful NY sets.  I believe this was the first technicolor film shot in New York.  I found this movie to be very humorous and a great showcase of Carole Lombard's talents.  This was a fun movie to get to see for the first time at the festival.

My mom and I then rushed back to Grauman's to catch the screening of Vertigo that was to be introduced with a Kim Novak interview.  I was very excited for this screening and interview.  I'm a HUGE fan of Hitchcock (in case you haven't noticed) and was so thrilled that Kim Novak who had been out of the spotlight for such a long time would be there to discuss both her career and work in the movie.

I found Kim Novak to be a little nervous and slightly guarded, while still kind and willing to discuss working with Alfred Hitchcock and the movie.  She was interviewed by Robert Osborne who, as always, was a very calming presence.  She said that she liked working with Hitchcock and that she was able to give up control when it was necessary.  Robert asked about the very famous suit that she wore throughout the movie and Kim said that it felt like a strait-jacket and that it didn't feel comfortable, but she used that discomfort and made it work.  She determined that it was good and right for the character.

 It was quite an experience to see this movie in Grauman's Chinese theater, every detail, every moment of suspense and intrigue was heightened.  About half way through the movie I noticed that Kim Novak was sitting about 2 rows diagonally in front of me, which was pretty much the most surreal experience I can imagine (thanks TCM Classic Film Festival).  Occasionally throughout the movie I would try to see her reactions to the film, she seemed to be enjoying it.

My final movie of the first full day of the festival was Young Frankenstein, co-written and directed by the one and only Mel Brooks.  He was also on hand for an interview before the movie.  I had the enormous pleasure of getting to see The Producers at the first TCM Film Festival and hear Mel Brooks speak before the screening and knew that I had to see him again.  He is so funny and engaging, he's what I always imagined a grandfather would be like (one of my grandfathers passed away before I was born and the other passed away when I was less than a year old).  He kept saying how ridiculous we all were for staying up late and paying to watch his little movie, in fact to quote him, " you're fans, you're nuts."  But I couldn't imagine a better way to end the day.

Mel started off the conversation by talking about having seen Frankenstein in 1931 when he was about 5 years old with his mother.  When he got home from the movie he was he was so terrified of the monster he wanted to close all the windows so the monster wouldn't come and bite him, eat him and kill him.  But his mother said that it was too hot to close all the windows in the apartment, and he explained again that he was scared the monster would come and bite him, so his mother sat him down and explained that, if the monster wanted to come and find him he'd have to take a train from Transylvania and find his way to Williamsburg, I guess humor ran his family.

The interview was equal parts entertaining and informative.  He talked about the meetings he had at Columbia and their reaction to wanting to film it in black and white (they were not thrilled).  He also talked about Gene Wilder having written the premise for Young Frankenstein, on the condition that he wouldn't also star in the movie (that did not come to pass).  And he also let us know that the movie is 1/2 comedy and 1/2 tribute to James Whale, it's always great to discover an amazing contributor to the film industry is himself a fan and wants to honor the past.

it's (almost) alive!

Having the opportunity to watch the movie in a PACKED theater (the Egyptian Theater, no doubt) was an amazing experience, the laughter was almost non-stop, the crowd was so into the movie and made the viewing experience that much better.  And what a cast! Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr, Kenneth Mars, and a Gene Hackman cameo! Such a great film.

Weird to see them in color

All in all this was another fabulous day at the TCM Classic Film festival. Going back through the pictures and trying to remember everything that happened is so wonderful and makes me even more excited (if that's even possible) for the next TCMFF. 
Up next: Day 3 which includes: Auntie Mame, first thing in the morning, Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, Counsellor at Law, Singing in the Rain, and Marathon Man!

More of the Stanley Donen Mini-Film Festival at Lincoln Center

So before getting into this post, I want to share the other things I remember from Mr. Donen's Q&A on Wednesday night.  He began by saying that he had been a little uncomfortable and embarrassed during the scenes of Funny Face that didn't involve singing and dancing.  He said that, for some reason, during this particular screening it was painful and the scenes without singing and dancing felt as if their only purpose was to propel the plot.  And that's when Mike Nichols mentioned that Opera was very similar in that respect and that it's to be expected in musicals.  It sounded like he hadn't watched his own film for a number of years.  He also mentioned the difficulty of being a director and the importance of having dancers who can dance and things there to point the camera at.  He said this after Mike Nichols complemented him on the way he captured the dancing in the movie and seemed to always have the camera in the perfect place.  Mr. Donen almost brushed off the compliment and gave the credit to the actors and dancers he's had the opportunity to film, by saying that if the dancing is there and the actors are where they're supposed to be, you just have to point the camera at them.  I thought it was so great that Stanley was so open and candid and provided such interesting insight.

On my way out of the theater I picked up the full schedule of Stanley Donen screenings planned for the next few days and tried to figure out which ones I could feasibly attend.  I did have work, school, school work and a test on Saturday to work around, so it was going to be difficult.  While looking through the schedule it reminded me that Stanley Donen is one of my absolute favorite directors/co-directors.  He's directed some of my favorite movies, like Charade, Singin' in the Rain, Indiscreet, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Damn Yankees, The Pajama Game and it also made me think about all the amazing groundbreaking film techniques he was responsible for, like: Gene Kelly dancing with Gene Kelly :).  So I finally decided on Indiscreet Friday night at 6, The Pajama Game Saturday afternoon at 4 and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Saturday night at 6:05 (followed by another Q&A with Mr. Donen).

I had decided to take the LIRR and Subway to the theater this time, especially since it took me forever to get there by car on Wednesday and because the price of parking near the theater was astronomical!  But, of course the train into the city was 15 minutes late and I made it to the theater with 1 minute to spare.  I wasn't the same completely late jerk that I was for the Funny Face screening, but I was definitely a little late.  Now here's the thing, I love the movie Indiscreet...I don't know why, it's silly and almost a throwaway comedy.  But, I love all the actors in it and I love the silly little plot.  If you haven't seen it, I won't give too much away, but it's about a famous stage actress, Ingrid Bergman, who returns to her London home and seems to be in a bit of a funk, but then her sister (played wonderfully by Phyllis Calvert) and her brother-in-law (played with the perfect amount of humor by Cecil Parker) invite her out to an evening of boring talks and fund raising.  She declines until she sees who one of the main speakers will be...Cary Grant, of course.  Then courting and hilarity ensue.  It was nice to see this movie with an audience.  I love hearing people laughing at all the right parts and even at the parts that weren't supposed to be funny.  For example, there's a scene in the elevator when Cary and Ingrid are trying to act nonchalant in front of the elevator operator, so they talk about innocuous things, like the weather. So, Cary Grant says he had read an article about the climate changing.  That got a big laugh, but the biggest laugh came from the split screen scene, just look how cute they are!:

Coming up...Saturday at Lincoln Center- The Pajama Game and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Stanley Donen Mini-Film Festival

In honor of my 200% increase in followers I figured I'd try to get a post up before the end of the weekend, as you can see I have failed.  Hello followers!

So this past weekend, I very unexpectedly became a patron of a Stanley Donen film festival at the Walter Reade Theater at the Lincoln Center in NYC.  I found out about it from a Tweet by @criterion at 5:30pm on Wednesday.  The tweet said that Stanley Donen would be doing a Q&A at a screening of Funny Face that night at 6:15.  I wish I had known about it sooner, but I decided just to go for it, I work close-ish to the city.  Alas it ended up taking me an hour and 25 minutes to get to the theater.  The staff was nice enough to let me in and they told me that Stanley Donen was going to be speaking AFTER the movie, so I was elated.  I did feel bad that I showed up so late and just wanted to stand in the back of the theater until the movie ended, but one of the ushers asked me to take a seat.  I tried to walk to a seat unnoticed, but I didn't succeed.  I managed to upset an older woman who was wearing sunglasses, she kept turning around to see what I was up to.  I wasn't up to anything, just being a late arrival to the movie.  I showed up just in time for this scene:

It was great to get to see this scene, especially since it oddly went on to  become a GAP commercial.  Seeing it in it's true form was exciting and wonderful.  Overall it was so great to see 'Funny Face' on the big screen. I have to admit it isn't one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn movies and it isn't one of my favorite Fred Astaire movies.  I think the age difference is somehow more noticeable in this movie.  I don't mind it at all in Charade, but for some reason it's irksome here.  Anyway, on to the positives....Audrey Hepburn looked GORGEOUS!  The dresses and costumes were marvelous!  And the songs were 'SWonderful :)  I may have to watch the whole thing on DVD sometime soon, I feel just terrible that I missed the beginning and I apologize to any people I may have disturbed.

After the movie (and the applause) Stanley Donen came up to the front of the theater and was joined by Mike Nichols, who I was quite surprised to see, yet for some reason I didn't appreciate his presence or feel a thrill or anything  (I don't think I've forgiven him for 'Closer,' but I do LOVE!! 'Working Girl' 'The Birdcage' and 'The Graduate').  The Q&A went very nicely and both directors shared their experiences as directors and what it's like to try to please studios and the importance of telling a good story.  They seemed to be good friends and had an easy time talking with one another.  I learned that Mike Nichols is a fan of Opera (he made a number of references to them) and that Mr. Donen doesn't appreciate pretentious people and thinks that the only assholes in the world are people who think they're perfect and infallible.  I wish I had had a pen to write down some of the very funny things that he had to say about making movies and working in the business.

They then opened up the room for questions, someone asked how he came to work with Moore and Cook on the movie Bedazzled (which I have yet to see).  He said that he had been living in England at the time, had watched one of their shows on TV and was interested in working with them.  I wish I could remember the other questions that people asked...maybe they'll come to me at a later date and time.  In any event it was great to see the movie and to see Stanley Donen in person, he was very well spoken.  I tried to get his autograph after the screening, but he semi-respectfully declined.

So that was the first screening I attended, more to come, which will include: Indiscreet, The Pajama Game and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and another Q&A with Stanley Donen (with pictures!).