(I clearly started writing this a few months ago, but I finally finished it today, stay tuned for more posts about events from a few years ago.)
Hello party people! I've been inspired by this week's exciting 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival Announcements and have decided to try to finish my on the pulse coverage of previous film festivals. I've decided to start with the final day of the 2013 festival. It is kind of strange to think that these events took place 3 years ago. Anyway, here we go, Day 4, filled with femme fatales, intrigue and some laughs...
The first movie of the day was, Gilda (1946) directed by, Charles Vidor and starring Rita Hayworth and Glen Ford. It screened at the Egyptian Theater and was introduced by Debra Winger. Ms. Winger's introduction was short and sweet and to the point. She shared her love of the film and for Rita Hayworth's performance. She even quoted the line from the film, "If I'd been a ranch, they would've named me, "The Bar Nothing."
The film was beautiful, engaging and so wonderfully dark. The plot is convoluted and the performances are stellar, and it was an amazing treat to get to see Rita Hayworth in all of her silver screen beauty. It was worth it alone for the 'Put the Blame on Mame' scene.
2nd chance to see Libeled Lady!! And then a mad dash to catch Max von Sydow and 3 days of the condor #tcmffpic.twitter.com/xOGPLJhE0g
Next up was Libeled Lady (1936) at the multiplex. This was one of the TBA screenings, aka a second chance screening so I was grateful to have another opportunity to see it on the big screen.
Libeled Lady is one of my favorite romantic/screwball comedies and look at that cast! It was introduced by the one, the only Scott McGee
Seeing screwball comedies in a packed theater is one of the best ways to see them. Sharing the laughter and the ridiculousness is an absolutely wonderful experience. It was also a joy to see this cast on the big screen. While watching this film I realized that the full effectiveness of some actors and actresses are much ore evident when they're seen on the big screen. For this movie and this screening that happened with Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow. There are times when you see a classic film actor or actress in a movie on a DVD at home and their screen presence just doesn't fully come through, that is until you see them on the silver screen. The subtlety of their performance and their nuances don't always shine through on the smaller screen at home. That's not to say that Powell and Loy weren't also stellar, but their performances still manage to come through on TV screens, and and even more so in the theater.
Next up on the final day of the festival was a complete shift in both genre and tone, Three Days of the Condor (1975) starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, and Max Von Sydow. The screening was introduced by Robert Osborne and included a conversation with the amazing Max Von Sydow before the screening.
Hearing Mr. Von Sydow speak was very engaging, he touched on many of the movies in his career. I pretty much just enjoyed listening to his sultry voice and to just be in his presence.
The final film for the day and for the festival was The General starring Buster Keaton.
I was back in Grauman's Chinese theater and joined again by my cousin (who had also been at the screening of Airplane). This was such a great way to end the festival. It was introduced by Robert Osborne and the final screening before the theater was going to be renovated.
I absolutely love seeing silent films in these big theaters, with live orchestras, and with a huge audience. There is nothing like hearing a packed theater laughing at Buster Keaton's hijinks.
Here are some shots of the theater:
It's even more interesting to take a look at these photos now. Not only because this was 3 years ago, but because I've been in the renovated theater for the las 3 festivals and this feels like a major blast from the past.
Alright, well that does it for me for Day 4 of the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival. That's one more complete festival down, 3 more to go! I'm going to try to tackle these posts while I have some downtime this summer. Tune in next time.
Welcome back faithful readers. As promised here is a recap of Day 3 of the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival. Don't worry there's plenty of plutonium to keep our time machine running to get us all the way back to April 27th, 2013.
My favorite design from this year, I may have a coffee mug and a sweatshirt with the design
I ended up skipping the first block of movies, although in hindsight seeing Polly Bergen in attendance at a screening of Cape Fear probably would've been a wise decision, damn you past me. That's what I get for commuting to the festival, the option of getting extra sleep is too tempting and something that hopefully doesn't happen again.
For my first movie of the day I went with Lady and the Tramp at the El Capitan. I love that that theater is part of the festival and I definitely love the inclusion of Disney titles at the festival. I grew up with Disney movies and still love them to this very day. The theater is wonderful because they have an amazing live organ player who regales the crowd with organ versions of popular Disney songs, it's delightful. The theater also has beautiful decorations and ornate detail.
The screening was introduced by Leonard Maltin, who is also always a delight to see. It's so wonderful that he's been involved in the festival ever since it's inception and I'm sure he has helped to incorporate more Disney films into the festival.
He informed us that we were going to be watching the film in it's original ratio of 2:55:1, which is used for Cinemascope. Something that I think the #AspectRatioPolice would appreciate. It was great getting to see a movie that I had probably seen over 100 times in that amazing theater on that amazing big screen. The print looked stunning and the music was infectious.
Next up was On Golden Pond, starring Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, and Jane Fonda the screening was at the Egyptian Theater. I was very much looking forward to this screening with Jane Fonda in attendance. It's funny writing about it now because I really love the new Netflix series Grace and Frankie, which did not yet exist in 2013, but I digress. Before the interview and movie I caught a glimpse of Jane in the "green room" taking pictures with Robert Osbourne, I'm gonna guess that this is one of the pictures they too together.
From TCM
It was such a thrill to be in her presence and to hear her speak so candidly with Robert. It was also so wonderful that she was honored at the festival with a handprint ceremony.
Jane's interview was extremely emotional, there were moments when she cried remembering her father and the whole experience of filming the movie. She talked about working with Katharine Hepburn and shared a few stories about working with both of them. She did describe Hepburn as not being that nice or perhaps Hepburn not really liking her at first. However, it sounded like Hepburn ended up being very encouraging and even a little playful with Ms. Fonda. Jane Fonda shared that after she had lost the Oscar and Hepburn and Henry Fonda had won theirs, Katharine said to her, "you'll never catch me now."
One big happy family
It was great to get that context before the movie and understand just how personal the movie was to the Fondas and the ups and downs of getting it made. It was also an extremely beautiful movie to see in a theater, the beautiful landscapes and shots on the water. Really amazing experience.
After that emotionally charged movie I went with some lighter faire, The Lady Eve at the Chinese Multiplex. Directed by Preston Sturgess and starring Barbara Stanwyck and none other than Jane's father, Henry Fonda. Definitely an interesting Henry Fonda double feature, seeing him late in his career in On Golden Pond followed by his much earlier work in The Lady Eve. The screening was introduced by Cari Beauchamp.
Ms. Beauchamp told us some interesting tid-bits about the cast and crew. She told us that Barbara Stanwyck always took the time to get to know everyone in the cast and on the crew. She talked about the acting talents of Henry Fonda. She said that he would flip a switch and become a reflector. She also told us that Roget Ebert often referred the scene (captured in the photo above and in the poster) as one of the sexiest scenes in cinema.
To end the 3rd day of the festival I decided on a screening of Airplane! at Grauman's Chinese theater. I had originally planned to go to the screening of Mildred Pierce with Ann Blyth in attendance, but was swayed by the 2 friends and cousin who were kind enough to join me that evening of the festival. I gave into the peer pressure, but ultimately I was glad that we had decided on the movie Airplane, because I don't think I ever remember laughing that hard in a movie theater. And it is always nice to share the classic movie madness with friends and family.
Before the screening, the 2 writer/directors Jim Abrahams and David Zucker and Robert Hays were interviewed by / had a discussion with Ben. Jim and David talked about the making of the film and leading man Robert Hays talked mostly about his involvement in a show called, Angie. He talked about it so frequently that I found it to be a bit awkward.
Jim and David talked about how the movie came to be and about their inspiration: the film Zero Hour. They also talked about the casting process and about preview screenings. They were worried that the film had pacing problems cause the test audiences weren't responding to the second half, but luckily the pacing was just fine. They also talked about having to convince Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, and Peter Graves to take on the roles due to the fact that those actors had predominately taken on more serious roles.
Lovely cast
Whatever the difficulties, the movie just works. The comedy is so universal and so spot on, which was evident by the entire theater cracking up the entire film. Every joke landed and you could sense the anticipation of memorable lines. Seeing a comedy like this one in a packed theater like Grauman's was a truly remarkable experience and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who likes to laugh.
Alright, so that does it for Day 3 of the 2013 TCM Classic Film festival, only a few more to go before I'm all caught up, woo hoo!
I'm also working on some posts that will be up later this month as part of the TCM Summer Under the Stars Blogathon which is being hosted by Journey's in Classic Film.
Tune in next time, same blogging time, same blogging station.
Since my previous post ended up becoming VERY long I decided to break Day 1 of the festival into 2 parts. After the Sons of Gods and Monsters panel I went ahead and did my annual changing of the clothes for the opening night movie. I then ran around Hollywood Blvd to complete my final social media task in order to obtain all 7 pins and! get the prize. I meant to tweet about it, but between changing, going to the multiplex, the Roosevelt, going back to my car and then to Grauman's I was a bit out of sorts AND to top it all off my phone died a slow and painful death. I realized that phone battery life was going to be a problem this year.
I made my way to the Chinese Multiplex a little bit before 5:30, which is when the photo booth would open for business. While waiting I chatted with the Genworth employees, who were very nice and another film festival attendee, we mostly talked about cats though. When the booth was officially opened I went ahead and nabbed a picture for myself.
I then headed over to the Roosevelt Hotel Lobby to show that I had completed the task, but the crosswalk in the middle of the street was closed off, as was the sidewalk in front of Grauman's so I had to head all the way down to Hollywood and Highland. I'll go ahead and count it as my exercise for the weekend since I would be spending the rest of the next 3 days watching movies. I ended up claiming the final pin:
Gale Sondergaard really got a lot of face time at this year's festival. Upon receiving the 7th and final pin I also got this cool bag:
It was a really nice prize and something that I definitely see myself using, it's quite large and kind of has a carpet bag top which of course makes me think I could run around like Mary Poppins and carry hat racks in it, but I won't. It was hard to get a decent picture, here it is from another angle:
I then decided to head back to my car in the Hollywood and Highland parking structure, cause I didn't want to have to worry about another bag throughout the night. So I hoofed it back down to Highland, through the mall and then over to Grauman's for the opening night movie: Oklahoma!.
I had been very undecided and had a hard time deciding whether to see Oklahoma or maybe have a Ginger Roger double feature, or see Whatever Happened to Baby Jane on the big screen. But, after a great deal of going back and forth, I realized that I couldn't miss out on the opening night movie and red carpet experience. Which, I have been lucky enough to be able to have for the previous 4 years. I also thought I would possibly gain a new appreciation for the movie or at least appreciation seeing it on the big screen surrounded by excited film festival attendees.
Right when I got on the carpet I immediately saw Robert Osborne being interviewed by Greg Proops and dared to take a picture. I wasn't sure what kind of 'security' there would be on the red carpet this year, I was either going to be told by large men telling me to "keep moving, keep moving" or find smiling large men gently suggesting that I make my way down the carpet. This year I was lucky enough to be greeted by some laid back security people who didn't seem to mind that I stopped to take pictures or stopped to take everything in. As I made my way down the carpet, I spotted a few familiar faces and pretty much just said their names out loud (to myself).
Kim Novak!
Tippi Hedren! Ben Mankiewicz! I continued down the carpet in this fashion, maybe no one bothered me cause they thought I was slightly unhinged, but then a couple asked me to take their picture on the red carpet (it wasn't Ben and Illeana again), so maybe I wasn't too scary. And then I had a totally surreal experience, that lead to the following picture.
When I spotted Margaret O'Brien, I said"'Margaret O'Brien" out loud. And to my surprise a woman who was helping her on the carpet turned to me and asked, "You know who she is?!" I said, "Of course!" The woman responded, "You're so young" and told me to come over, so I did. The woman told me that I could wait near the barricade until Margaret was done with her interview. I stood there not sure what was going to happen next and constantly worrying that I was going to be told that I had to keep moving, but no one bothered me. While I waited this wonderful woman told me that Margaret would be introducing Meet Me in St. Louis at the festival and then asked me if I had seen the movie, I said I had and that it's wonderful. After about a minute, a man who was accompanying Margaret on the red carpet came over to the barricade and showed me the top hat that he was carrying. He asked me if I knew where the hat was from, I hadn't, but I noticed that on the inside the name Mickey Rooney was written on it and that it had Ann Miller's signature inside of it. The man told me that it had been Mickey's hat and that he had given it to Margaret many years ago. He then told me that Mickey had planned to walk the carpet with her that night, but since he couldn't be there she wanted to bring a little piece of him with her. I was so moved and thought that was such a thoughtful gesture.
Margaret with the hat, found at examiner.com
The next thing I knew Margaret was done with her interview and the nice woman went over to her and asked her if she would take a second to pose for a picture with me. I was in shock and I think I said, "thank you so much, it's such a pleasure to meet you," but it's also possible I just babbled nonsense. The woman then took my camera and snapped that photo. I thanked them all for the experience and went on my way down the carpet in a daze.
Right before entering the theater Tom Brown introduced the TCM Mafia to the crowd. I then got to soak in the newly renovated TCL Chinese Theater (which I keep calling Grauman's out of habit and stubbornness). They really did a great job of maintaining the historic look on the inside and the arrangement of the seats seemed to make more sense. I noticed that no matter where I sat I had a great view of the screen and didn't have to worry about walking out of the theater with a stiff neck. Upon walking in I noticed that there were many, many, many reserved seats so I had to keep moving forward. While on my hunt to find a seat I crossed paths with the lovely Jeff (@jlundenberger) and got to meet his lovely partner, Ed.
from tcm.com
I finally found an available seat and ended up next to some lovely
friends of a friend that I had met at the festival last year. Before
the movie started we went over our game plans for the festival, it
turned out that we had very different festivals ahead of us and they
almost made me leave our row because I wasn't planning on seeing Maureen
O'Hara at How Green was my Valley, but they forgave me in the end, I
think. But that's what I love about the film festival, everyone can
have a completely different experience. This is also what I've loved
about blog coverage and reading about other people's experiences so that
I can hear about all the fun stuff that I missed out on while I was
enjoying my fun stuff.
After getting settled we were introduced to the wonderful and amazing
Robert Osborne. I'm sure many people feel this way, but just seeing
him makes me happy. He stood at a snazzy podium and welcomed us to the
festival and then introduced the lovely Shirley Jones. She looked so
cute and was very energetic and seemed happy to be there. I didn't know
what to expect, since she had backed out of the festival a couple of
times in the past. But she was really quite lovely.
She
talked about getting cast in Oklahoma!, her first movie role, and the
audition process. She talked about getting the phone call from Fred
Zinnermann finding out that she had gotten the role. She shared with us
that she had been singing since the age of 6 and began singing in
church, she also said that she didn't realize that she had such a
talent, she thought everyone could sing. She had grown up wanting to be
a vet and never thought she'd act or sing professionally. Some other
fun things she shared about Oklahoma were that Shirley MacLaine wanted
to be cast in the role of Ado Annie. And that she loved singing with
Gordan MacRae, who was her favorite person to duet with. You can hear
Shirley in her own words in this clip of the interview from TCM's
YouTube Channel:
It's amazing that she was only 18 at the time. She then talked about
how lucky she was to have a dramatic director, Fred Zinnermann, as her
first director rather than a musical one. He was able to support and
guide her in a great way.
She then talked about working with Frank Sinatra (briefly) in the movie Carousel.
He had worked on all the pre-production work and recordings, but after
discovering that every scene was to be shot twice, due to the 2
different formats Sinatra left the production. Shirley had never talked
to Frank about it, but wondered if that was the real reason that he
quit. She shared with us that she learned very recently that the real
reason Frank left the production was because of Ava Gardner.
He
had heard that things were steaming up for Ava Gardner and Clark Gable
on the set of Mogambo, so to save his marriage he left the film.
Apparently, Ava called him and told him that if he didn't get out there
she was going to have an affair. After Frank left the movie, Gordon
MacRae was approached and then cast in the role, which worked out quite
nicely.
All
in all it was great to hear Shirley Jones speak about the early part of
her career and speak candidly with Robert Osborne, it made watching the
movie that much more interesting.
from latimes.com
Now
onto the film. I want to start by saying that visually it was
breathtaking! The colors were vibrant, the quality was impeccable, a
great restoration. I was entranced from the first image and also
noticed that there were so many interesting angles. It was if it were
filmed as a 3-D film, there were shots through the corn fields, under
wagons and interesting camera placements during some of the musical
numbers.
from studiodaily.com
The
songs are obviously very catchy and exciting, but there's just
something about the story that doesn't do it for me. Upon this viewing,
I ended up feeling bad for Jud, who just seemed to be a sad, lost soul
looking for love. Obviously, I don't condone or support setting
haystacks on fire on people's wedding days, but he was kind of jerked
around by Laurey and Curly literally sang him a song encouraging him to
kill himself, not very neighborly.
The
movie also has a wonderful cast, including Rod Steiger as Jud, Gloria
Grahame and Eddie Albert as the comic relief, Ado Annie and Ali Hakim
and the young, but made to look old, James Whitmore, Gene Nelson as Will
Parker, and Charlotte Greenwood as Aunt Eller.
All
throughout the movie I was blown away by how much Shirley Jones looked
like Marilyn Monroe in some shots, it was really unbelievable. I was
planning on sharing that observation with my friends at intermission,
but before I could say anything, my friend said the exact same thing. What do you think?
In
the end I was glad that I decided to see Oklahoma as my first movie of
the festival. However, it ended a little later than scheduled and I was
unable to get over to the Chinese Multiplex in time for Bachelor
Mother. At the time I was upset, but in a way I was grateful to have a
relatively early first night. I also decided to figure out a solution
for my phone battery problem. Since it was before 11, I was able to
stop by Target on the way home and picked up a portable charger which
ended up being a lifesaver for the rest of the festival.
Alright,
that does it for day 1, part 2: The Movie. Tune in next time for: Day
2, which will include- The Thin Man, Touch of Evil, A Matter of Life and
Death, Double Indemnity, and Blazing Saddles
Day 4 was very much a Cary Grant appreciation, but let's be honest, isn't everyday Cary Grant appreciation day? I started the 4th day off by driving my mom to the airport, because she is a good, dedicated teacher and just had to get back to work, me, on the other hand took a couple of extra days to finish up the festival. The reason she was able to attend the festival was because it fell during Spring Break. If that ever happens again I'm sure I'll be able to get her back out here for another film festival.
Alright, onward and upward, Day 4. After driving my mom I got back in time for a screening of To Catch a Thief at Grauman's. The movie was introduced by Ben Mankiewicz, who is always a pleasure to see bright and early in the morning. He started off his introduction by letting us know that his goatee was contractually obligated for his first few years at TCM. Then he talked about the making of the movie. He told us that Cary Grant was hesitant and had trouble with the sexual content, due to the age difference. Grant didn't want the famous lean, but they just changed the music and it ended up being ok.
Ben also told us that Cary Grant would have all these ideas and changes and he would go to Hitchcock, Hitchcock would say oh that's wonderful and then send him to the writer to get approval, but Hitch had already told the writer not to approve ANYTHING. They would then agree to shoot the scene both ways, but Hitchcock would speak to the crew beforehand and whenever they would shoot it Hitch's way the crew would applaud. Oh Hitch, that passive aggressive manipulator.
Seeing a Hitchcock thriller on the big screen is always a pleasure and this screening was no exception. Grace Kelly looked gorgeous in all her amazing dresses and Cary Grant was his dashing self.
Up next was Charade at the Egyptian Theater. This movie is high on the list of my favorite classic film, even though I do not like having definitive favorites, Charade, ah! There's just so much to love. Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, James Coburn, the thrills, the spills, it's really just the best. When I first saw it I really thought that it was a Hitchcock film and was surprised to find that it was directed by another one of my favorite directors, Stanley Donen. And I was pleased to find that many people refer to it as "the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made," which means I wasn't the only one.
Before the movie Stanley Donen was interviewed by Robert Osborne. They talked about the journey of getting this movie made. They lost Cary Grant for awhile, Howard Hawks wrote a script, Cary Grant came back, Audrey Hepburn was pregnant, but somehow the timing finally worked out and they got to be in it together. Donen always gives a very straight-foward interview and likes to tell it like it is. He commented on the current condition of movies, he feels that movies today are made for kids and not adults, I can see that. It's always great to hear him speak and it's wonderful that he is an active participant at these events, hope he's back this year!
The movie was wonderful, as usual, the movie is the perfect combination of thrilling/serious and humorous/joke-y. During the screening I noticed a re-dub that I had never noticed before. During the scene gelato eating scene Audrey's mouth seems to say "assassinated", but the word coming out of her mouth is "eliminated." I did some research cause I was quite curious and it turns out that the movie was released very soon after the John F. Kennedy assassination and the studio was worried about offending and upsetting, so they did the re-dub. The more you know!
After this I took a break from Cary Grant to watch The Women. This was also at the Egyptian, so after Charade I got right back in line for more. This is by far one of my favorite movies, the cast is phenomenal and the acting is superb, the script is so carry and great and who doesn't love a George Cukor directed film.
The movie was introduced by Cari Beachamp and Todd Oldham. They talked about the costumes and overall amazingness that is this movie. It was such a treat to get to see this on the big screen, with a fun audience.
To close out the festival this year, I didn't go for one of the bigger movies like Annie Hall at Grauman's or The Thief of Bagdad at the Egyptian, instead I went for Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas in one of the Chinese Multiplex Theaters. The movie was introduced by a Vanity Fair writer, Matt Tyrnauer, who commented on this film being a representation of the change going on in society at that time. And mirrored the influx of families moving to the suburb and what it meant to have that lifestyle. He also talked a bit about architecture and design. While I do find those types of connections interesting and enjoy recognizing the social significance and place in history of a film, I also just kind of get a kick out of the humor in this movie.
It is also worth noting that The Money Pit (1986), starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, is a remake of this movie.
It also has one of my favorite exchange, always cracks me up, one of my friends also quotes it on occasion. Muriel Blandings:
I want it to be a soft green, not as blue-green as a robin's egg, but
not as yellow-green as daffodil buds. Now, the only sample I could get
is a little too yellow, but don't let whoever does it go to the other
extreme and get it too blue. It should just be a sort of
grayish-yellow-green. Now, the dining room. I'd like yellow. Not just
yellow; a very gay yellow. Something bright and sunshine-y. I tell you,
Mr. PeDelford, if you'll send one of your men to the grocer for a pound
of their best butter, and match that exactly, you can't go wrong! Now,
this is the paper we're going to use in the hall. It's flowered, but I
don't want the ceiling to match any of the colors of the flowers.
There's some little dots in the background, and it's these dots I want
you to match. Not the little greenish dot near the hollyhock leaf, but
the little bluish dot between the rosebud and the delphinium blossom. Is
that clear? Now the kitchen is to be white. Not a cold, antiseptic
hospital white. A little warmer, but still, not to suggest any other
color but white. Now for the powder room - in here - I want you to match
this thread, and don't lose it. It's the only spool I have and I had an
awful time finding it! As you can see, it's practically an apple red.
Somewhere between a healthy winesap and an unripened Jonathan. Oh,
excuse me... Mr. PeDelford:
You got that Charlie? Charlie, Painter:
Red, green, blue, yellow, white. Mr. PeDelford:
Check.
So that does it (almost 2 years late) for the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival. As always it was a great experience, I loved having the chance to see some amazing interviews, great movies that were new to me and some that I had seen tons of times. I also enjoyed the theme that year, Style in Film, that was represented through costume, design and architecture. I had a great time getting to see these movies in the theater and get to share these experiences with great crowds/fans and most importantly share it with my mother.
