The Lighter Side of Ingrid Bergman

Today TCM is devoting an entire 24 hours to the incomparable Ingrid Bergman.  She is the focus today as part of the Summer Under the Stars programming and this is my contribution to the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon which is being wonderfully hosted over at Journeys on Film.

When most people think of Ingrid Bergman the first images that come to mind are usually these:

Looking passionately into Humphrey Bogart's eyes telling him she can't get on the plane in Casablanca (1942)

Trying to outwit Claude Rains with some slick key maneuvering in Notorious (1946)

Or questioning her sanity with Joseph Cotton in Gaslight (1944).

When I think of Ingrid Bergman these are the images that come to mind.  For some reason her two less dramatic and slightly silly roles have stuck with me.

Here she is cutting a rug with Walter Matthau, Goldie Hawn, and others in Cactus Flower (1969)

And navigating a relationship with Cary Grant in Indiscreet (1958)

I enjoy Ms. Bergman in these roles so much.  She is light, comical, shows broad emotions, laughs often and even dances!  She also seems a bit more human and fragile in these roles; instead of being seemingly untouchable and stoic like some of her other characters.  These roles show her well roundedness and ability as an actress.  It definitely would have been interesting if her filmography had more roles like these two.

These two movies have a great deal of similarities (other than Ms. Bergman's involvement).  They are both based on plays, both involve unconventional relationships, each film has an enjoyable dance scene, and both contain a lie that gets out of control.  I tend not to give away spoilers when I write about movies and I'm going to keep that streak alive with these two movies by not revealing too much of the plots.  Hopefully, that will encourage you to check them out for yourself.

In Cactus Flower, Bergman's character, Stephanie Dickinson, is the nurse to playboy Dentist, Dr. Julian Winston, played wonderfully by Walter Matthau.  She often goes above and beyond when it comes to her job responsibilities, but she doesn't have a social life to speak of and is extremely practical and pragmatic.

Eventually though she gets embroiled in Dr. Winston's relationship with (significantly) younger Toni, played by Goldie Hawn, and ridiculousness and hilarity ensue.  It should also be noted that this is the role that won Goldie Hawn her best supporting actress Academy Award.

This movie has a lot of heart, many funny lines and provides a great opportunity to see Ingrid Bergman try her hand and excel at light comedy.  And the dance scenes are a delightful added bonus, she invents a dance she names "The Dentist."

In Indiscreet, directed by Stanley Donen, Ingrid plays, Anna Kalman an accomplished stage actress who meets and has an immediate connection to the dashing traveling financier Phillip Adams, played by Cary Grant.

They carry on a not so discreet love affair.  Both Grant and Bergman behave like smitten young lovers.  They flirt, laugh, and have adorable phone conversations, complete with split screen that insinuates so much more.  This was done after the censors decided that having them in the same bed was too risque.

As in Cactus Flower, there is a great dance sequence.  As you can see Ingrid is extremely graceful and Cary has got some mad ups.

This role gives Ingrid a great deal to do.  There is a great sequence where she is putting together a plan to trick Cary's character.  In it she puts on a 30 second melodramatic performance.

Ingrid Bergman is often considered to be one of the best dramatic actresses and has been in beautifully romantic movies with some of the most dashing leading men, like Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, Spencer Tracy, Joseph Cotton and various others.  She is often thought to be prim, proper and lacking humor; yet, in these two roles she has a chance to shows her silly side.  And I think it's a shame that these comedic/lighter roles don't always get the same attention as some of her other roles, so I'm doing my part to bring some awareness to them.

Well that does it for my views on Ingrid Bergman's less dramatic roles.  What are your favorite Ingrid Bergman performances?  Have you seen these two films?  Did you enjoy them?

I hope you check out Ingrid Bergman's movies on TCM today, check out the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon  for other great posts and that you check out these films of hers for a good laugh.

Final Installment of the Stanley Donen Mini-Film Festival

After enjoying Indiscreet I was looking forward to more Stanley Donen movies.  I decided on The Pajama Game and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in the late afternoon on Saturday, November 6th.  Unfortunately I had an exam that morning that required 3 straight hours of essay writing (it was a pain in the hand), so I couldn't make it to the earlier ones.  I had originally made plans to see at least one of the movies, with a friend of mine in the late afternoon.  But, after not hearing from said friend, I decided to just head into the city anyway and enjoy my late afternoon/evening of classic movies.  I always seem to have this problem with friends...I want to share my love of classic movies with someone, have someone to talk to before and after the movie and expose someone new to classic movies, maybe get them interested in classic movies in general.  However, it never seems to work out and I end up experiencing many of these things on my own.  I don't mind, I'm certainly not complaining, it just might be nice to turn to someone during a funny scene or recall some of our favorite parts after the movie ends.  In any case, back to Stanley Donen.

For this adventure I decided to drive into the city because I didn't want to run the risk of being late again because of the train and I had found an amazing coupon for parking near the theater ($8 for 6 hours!).  It turned out that the parking lot was much further from the theater than I had thought and, for a change, I showed up a tee tiny bit late to the 4pm movie.  I'm sure the theater employees thought I was some kind of jerk who loves to show up late to movies.  In reality, I'm usually pretty early to just about everything, I'd like to go on record and say that these instances of lateness were out of my control.  Anyway enough about my trip and personal life, onto the Stanley Donen-ness!!

The Pajama Game was a wonderful treat to see in a theater.  I have seen it before.  The music was infectious and the dancing and 'big numbers' were glorious.  It was a pleasure to see the "steam heat" number and to experience Doris Day larger than life.  The only other Doris Day movie I've seen in a theater was 'Pillow Talk' in my film class at USC, but that was many moons ago.  The only issues I had with the film was that the print that they had seemed to include the lead out and lead in portions of 2 of the 5 reels, so we got to see the numbers counting down and those color test strips from the good old days.  I'm not sure if this was due to the print that the theater had or if they didn't have two film projectors and there was a problem in the projection booth.  Overall, I'm not sure why it happened, but I think ultimately I kind of enjoyed seeing those things that we're not supposed to see as film goers.  But I really could've done without the guy behind me making the same 3 jokes every time it happened.  "I want my money back."  "Bring out Stanley."  ""I think the projector's broken."  It never got funny. 

After The Pajama Game, I went back to the box office and picked up my ticket for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and waited in line to get back into the theater.  It was a miracle, I wasn't late for a screening :).  As I walked to my seat I saw that Stanley Donen was sitting about half way back from the screen.  It was exciting to know that he'd been watching the movie along with the rest of us.  I guess I should've expected it since he had been in the audience for the screening of Funny Face on Wednesday, but it was still exciting.  The film was wonderful.  It wasn't the best print in the world, (which Mr. Donen commented on during his Q&A) but it was still spectacular.  Seeing the barn raising scene was exhilarating.  The athleticism of the dancers was so evident and made the dancing that much more enjoyable.  After the film ended Mr Donen came up to the front of the theater and was joined by, Kent Jones (I'm not sure who he is, I shall research this).  I was wise enough, this time around, to bring a camera, however I was not wise enough to bring a pad and paper to write down all of Mr. Donen's gems.  Here are some pics:

To begin this Q&A he started out by discussing why movies like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers couldn't be made today.  He said that there isn't a garden where you could find those kinds of flowers...there aren't any more song and dance actors who are believable in those roles and you can't fake that kind of dancing.  He also said that he had a very hard time convincing the studio to let him work with the actor/dancers he wanted.  The studio insisted that he select better known actors instead and sacrifice the dancing.  But, he stuck by his choices.  He also discussed how this was Julie Newmar's first film, she was billed as Julie Newmayer (she was one of the future brides named, Dorcas, which got a few laughs during the movie).  He also discussed that the studio was concerned that widescreen format wouldn't work out, so he had to film the whole movie in standard format.  He says that there's a print of the non-widescreen version floating around that has never been shown.  In the middle of the Q&A the moderator, said that they had found the clip that they had wanted to share from Cover Girl, you may recognize the clip:

Before showing it Stanley said that this was his first directing job.  He had been 17 and was assisting Gene Kelly on the movie.  He had suggested a scene where Gene Kelly dances with his own shadow, the director of the film said that it couldn't be done.  Stanley insisted that it could, the director said again, no it can't be done, and then added if you want to do it I quit.  He quit and Stanley ended up being the director.  He believed that it was possible to accomplish and he then said, "I was the computer."

After the clip was shown, they decided to take some questions from the audience, someone asked why the studio meddled so much in movies.  Mr. Donen responded very diplomatically by saying that it's a business, the studios were investing a great deal of money and wanted to have some say, but at the same time the studios are not the ones with the artistic vision and not the ones creating the art.  So it's a tough balance.  Someone else asked what the atmosphere was like on the set and asked if the cast liked each other.  Mr. Donen didn't seem to really like the question, but he answered it, he said that everyone got along well enough.  The moderator asked if Stanley had ever considered being a film teacher and if he taught would he encourage the use of computer and CGI or try to promote more in camera and done more authentically.  Again, he didn't love the question and just kind of brushed it off by saying that he wasn't interested in being a teacher and that if you're a film lover and want to make films you don't need to go to school for that.  He then politely informed everyone that he couldn't stay much longer, he had "promised to take his lady friend to dinner."  Kind of a nice way of ending a Q&A.

I considered trying to get his autograph again, but I didn't want to keep him from dinner with his lady friend, so I made my way out of the theater and ended up on the escalator with him and just nicely smiled and tried to just enjoy the fact that I was riding on an escalator with the one, the only Stanley Donen.  I'm so grateful to the Lincoln Center film society for putting together an event like this and I'm glad I was able to make it to some of the screenings, thus ends my recap of the Stanley Donen Mini-film festival.  Thanks for tuning in!  In the next edition there should be a Joan Crawford Biography Give-Away.  Stay Tuned!

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