Day 2 of 2011 TCM Film Festival

I had a wonderful first day of the festival and the second day got off to an early start.  I decided to see the 9am screening of A Streetcar Named Desire at Grauman's Chinese Theater.  It was introduced by Leonard Maltin, who I had as a film professor at USC and who I saw interview Peter Bogdanovich at the 2010 TCM Film Festival.  He talked about the original Broadway cast and that it was all essentially intact for the film, except for Jessica Tandy.  It was said the reason for this was because Vivien Leigh would be a bigger box office draw.  I hate hearing things like that, while I do love Vivien Leigh in the role of Blanche, how awesome would it be to capture Jessica Tandy's portrayal of Blanche on screen? I guess that's just how things go sometimes and definitely the way things work in Hollywood, most of the time.  He also mentioned an interesting turn of events regarding the profits from the movie.  He said that the producer, Charles K. Feldman had bequeathed the earnings of the film to the Motion Picture and Television Fund.  I definitely hadn't heard that before and thing that's an amazingly generous thing that Charles K. Feldman did.  He spoke about Mr. Feldman, said that he was an agent who became a producer and that he made sure that the proceeds from the film always go to help members of the Motion Picture and Television Fund.  I thought that was an amazing and generous arrangements and interesting to think about when watching the film.  Now!  let's move on to the actual film...seeing Marlon Brando on the screen at Grauman's Chinese Theater is unbelievable!  He is an awe-inspiring physical specimen, my stars, I was not prepared for that so early in the morning, but what a way to start the day.

The rest of my day kind of happened by accident I wasn't sure which films or events to check out, but eventually I decided to stop by Club TCM and stuck around for the Debbie Reynolds Meet and Greet.  Before lining up I decided to check out Club TCM.  It seemed to be a bit larger than last year.  The boutique also had some very desirable items, so desirable that they sold out!  So here's my tip, if you see something you like at the boutique, don't wait, buy it!  TCM did a really fun thing at the 2011 Festival, they were giving out these little clips to put on your pass lanyard.  Each clip was for a certain type of social media, you could get one for Facebook, Twitter, GetGlue annnnd I can't think of the 4th one.  Oh! I just remembered, I think it was for having the Film Festival app on your iPhone or android phone.  Here's a picture, pretty cool right?!  It was nice to get the likeness of the other passes and beautiful artwork.  And the women who were giving them out were pretty much the nicest people (speaking of, almost all of the volunteers/workers/really anyone I encountered at the festival was so very kind).  When I was trying to show my facebook message to them I couldn't get reception and it wouldn't load, but they believed me and still gave me the clippy thing.  So kind.  Anyway! those are some of the fun things to do at Club TCM.  There were interesting displays of LA Times articles with pictures,  a beautiful photography display, and the original footprints done by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Sid Grauman.  Here are some pictures that I took around Club TCM:

The Boutique

Douglas Fairbanks

Mary Pickford

Sid Grauman

After exploring Club TCM, I decided to get in line for the Debbie Reynolds Meet and Greet/Signing.  Since I got there kind of early I was very close to the front of the line and ended up chatting with a lot of very friendly festival goers.  To our surprise, while we were chatting away, Debbie Reynolds herself made an appearance and started posing for pictures, talking to everyone and signing autographs.  She asked if we had watched the royal wedding and asked if we were enjoying the festival.  So friendly!  So lovely!  Here are some of the pictures I was able to get, I also got her autograph!

 I decided to stick around and wait to go in for the meet and greet.  It was nice to continue to chat with other attendees.  There was a couple who had been at the Vanity Fair party and shared some wonderful stories.  The wait wasn't too long and I got to take a look around the other room of Club TCM.  I got another picture with Ms. Reynolds and she signed my festival booklet.  All in all a wonderful experience, similar to getting to meet and greet Tony Curtis last year.

After getting the wonderful opportunity to see Debbie Reynolds I hung around the Roosevelt Hotel for a little while and overheard that they had to turn people away.  I think that's the first time that I heard of any people not being admitted to any screening, event or anything.  I decided to take a little break for some lunch and used the time to try to decide between To Kill a Mockingbird or Now, Voyager.  I hadn't quite decided if I wanted to cry in Grauman's Theater or one of the smaller Chinese multiplex theaters.  I ultimately decided to go with crying in Grauman's Chinese Theater.  I figured it'd be less noticeable with a large crowd. :)  Plus I also wanted to see/hear both Gregory Peck's family and Mary Badham speak about the movie. I ended up sitting next to a very lovely couple who kept offering me their binoculars to look through.  I had never thought of bringing binoculars, that might be added to the packing list this year.  Gregory Peck's family spoke first and they talked about his recent stamp  and the unveiling ceremony that they had been to.  They shared that they selected the picture, which is a still from the movie, because they felt like he was playing himself in the movie and therefore it made a good picture for the stamp.  They also talked about Atticus Finch styled glasses that helps support the LA Public Library  I ended up checking out the Atticus Finch rimmed glasses and they're pretty cool, a bit pricey though and I don't think they're available anymore.  The movie itself was amazing.  It was so beautiful and moving.  I remember reading the book for the first time in High School and how engaging the story was.  It also reminds you that it's difficult for good books to made into good movies, I feel like like is one of the best movie adaptations.  After the film Mary Badham spoke, I had no idea that she was John Badham's sister!  I believe she's 14 or 15 years younger than him.  I had heard John Badham speak about Saturday Night Fever last year, what a talented family.  She talked about the fact that it was very hard for her to convince her parents to let her be an actress.  She had been living in Alabama and the idea of going to Hollywood was completely foreign to them.  Even though her brother and somewhat paved the way for her, by the time she wanted to go her parents were older and she was so young.  I'm glad they ultimately let her go!  She also talked about being only in 3 films and 2 TV shows.  Which is so crazy to wrap your head around, but she had decided to go to school and when she was finished with school she didn't want to go back into the movie business. She spoke very fondly of Gregory Peck and the whole movie making experience.  It ended up being a wonderful event.  And I'm glad I decided to attend.

I found this picture of Mary Badham, Gregory Peck's daughter and wife from movieline.com

On Friday evening I decided to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, with Jane Powell in attendance.  Yes, I probably should've picked a different movie, since I had just seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at Lincoln Center but I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to see this film on the big screen, it's so beautiful and I wanted to see Jane Powell.  It ended up being a good choice, Jane Powell was interviewed by Leonard Maltin and shared some wonderful stories and seeing the movie again was so wonderful.  I think just the barn raising dance scene is worth seeing the movie on the big screen.  Jane Powell talked about how much she loved the studio system, which you don't always hear.  But, she said that it was perfect for her, she felt like an employee and has an employee/employer relationship with the studio and she loved it.  She talked about being cast in Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire, after June Allyson and Judy Garland had both dropped out.  She said that she had known that the movie was kind of a biopic of Fred and his sister, so when she first met Fred Astaire she asked him when he last danced with his sister.  He said, 1929 and she said, "Oh!  That's the year I was born!"  And he responded, "They keep getting younger and younger."

So that was my 2nd day of the 2011 Film Festival.  Lots of amazing events, wonderful experiences and many pictures.  :)  I'm going to try to get all of these updates up before the 2012 Film Festival, because that seems like a realistic goal.  I apologize again for my inability to post in a timely manner.  I'm working on it!

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