#CurateMyLife: Classic Film

After reading Aurora's post for the #CurateMyLife #ClassicMovies project I decided to attempt to tackle it as well.  I was also motivated because I had to do a major apartment clean-up for a small Oscar Party this weekend.  Anyway, be sure to check out Aurora's post and check out the #CurateMyLife blogathon which was created by Margaret Perry.

The deadline for the blogathon has extended through February 29th (Happy Leap Day!), which means I can partake.

While working on this post I kind of realized that my life and most definitely my classic movie life is split between my apartment in LA and my parent's house in NY, so my collection is a bit bi-coastal.  But, I'm going to try to just focus on the things I have in my apartment currently since those are the items I have chosen to have here in LA with me.  Here we go!


1. DVD/Blu ray Collection
My current collection covers a number of different shelves in my apartment and are organized in a few different ways.  The majority of the DVDs and Blu rays are simply alphabetized, yet separated one area for DVDs another for Blu ray in the tower shelves, however I recently attempted some categorizing.  This came about mostly because I had purchased more bookshelves.  The current categories include: Musicals, Hitchcock, My Top 30, Criterion, Disney, TCM releases, Holiday Films, Box Sets, and Film Franchises.

I honestly get a lot of flack about my collection from some of my friends and peers.  They are flabbergasted that anyone would, in this day and age, be actively building a physical media collection while so many movies are available digitally.  I get their point of view, but I'm a physical/tangible media kind of gal.  I like knowing that I have that access to a particular film without having to rely on the internet, a thumb drive or a cloud.  There are also so many titles that come and go from streaming services that I really appreciate the perceived permanency of DVDs and Blu rays.

2.  VHS Collection
I don't currently have any VHS titles in my apartment, I do still have a bit of a VHS collection in NY though.  I do have a VCR here though for VHS rentals.

3.  Favorite DVD/Blu ray
I am terrible when it comes to favorites, which is evidenced by my shelf of top 30 films, but those don't even include movies from my other categories, so with that preface, I guess if I had to pick my favorite DVD or Blu ray, I guess I would go with the Criterion edition of Charade because I love that movie so much and it was nice that it got a proper home video release, even though it's in public domain.  My other favorite is the Beatles movie Help! partially because I love it so much, but also because it was such a treat when it came out on DVD/Blu ray.

4. Favorite VHS
My most sentimental VHS tapes are the old clam shell Disney movies, they're not here with me, but I would say they're my faves.

5.  Classic Film Related Wall Art
This was one of the categories that got me super excited to do this project.  I love being able to display my Classic Film wall art and it makes me feel better when I see it.  I feel like Charlie Chaplin is greeting me when I come home from work.  I'll start with the amazing pieces from Dorothy, their stuff is so creative and really beautiful:

It's hard to tell from my not so great pictures, but they are a Film Map, a Hollywood Star Chart and a Love Star Chart.  The map is a street map of an area that could be LA which is made up of over 900 film titles including Sunset Blvd, Valley of the Dolls, Chinatown, and Gosford Park.  The Hollywood Star Chart is based on the sky over LA on October 6, 1927 and includes constellations of 62 films (chosen from the films selected for preservation by the National Film Preservation Registry) and their 'stars.'  The Love Star Chart is made up of 74 romantic films (from the BFI Love season) and is based on the sky over NY on November 26, 1942.  That ended up being long winded, but I love these prints!

Here are some other items all around my apartment, movie posters, cooking shots from classic films in the kitchen, and TCM-ness.

6.  Classic Film related household product (i.e. mug, dishtowel, picture frame, etc.

I don't have that many household classic film related products, so this may be a stretch, but I have some magnetics and mugs!

7. Classic Film Movie Ticket

I decided to go with my TCM Classic Film Festival Pass because those are essentially tickets to many wonderful Classic Films.

TCMFF passes from 2010-2014

2015 TCMFF Pass

8.  Picture of you and friends/family enjoying a classic movie experience
While looking for pictures for this section I noticed that I don't really take too many selfies or pictures of myself or the people with me at or before events.  I typically take pictures of the event, which in hindsight is a bit of a bummer.  I should be better about including pictures of the people with me at that time.

I also noticed that all of these pictures are from TCM events, I'm not surprised, just an interesting observation.  The top row is a picture of me and my dad is from last year's TCM Film Festival and a snapshot of my mom on the red carpet for the opening night screening of Cabaret.  The next row is a picture of me with my friend Tracy who stopped by Hollywood to talk to me while I waited in line for Singin' in the Rain at the first TCM Film Festival and me and my cousin at I can't remember what screening that was but it was at a TCM Film Fest and the final picture is me and my brother during the NYC TCM Classic Film Bus Tour.

9.  Picture of Fan Art
This is by far my favorite set of fan art, the drawings were done by the amazing artist Kate Gabrielle, you can check out here work here: Kate Gabrielle

What I like most is the difference in the style, yet each one is amazing (just a note: the 2 center-ish pictures are actual photos, not drawings by Kate).

10.  Classic Movie Related Souvenir
I don't think I have anything that fits this category.
11.  Object that once belonged to a Classic Film Star
Another category that I don't have anything for, but that would be awesome.

12.  Picture of yourself with a Classic Film Star
All of these are thanks in large part to TCM:

13.  Selfie from TCM Film Festival
Not big on selfies in general

14.  Selfie with Robert Osborne
Haven't been lucky to snag a selfie with Mr. Osborne, but I have spoken to him on a couple of occasions at the film festival.

15.  Classic Film Book Collection

16.  Favorite movie star biography/autobiography
I don't currently have a favorite biography or autobiography here in LA.  In fact, a large majority of my book collection is currently in NY.  I was always partial to biographies written by Charlotte Chandler and I think Ginger Roger's autobiography is my favorite.

17.  Misc. anything missing from this list that you feel is part of your classic film life.  Be Creative!
This might not be super creative, but in the last year or so I've started making these little montages, sometimes they're themed and sometimes they're not.  The first one I made was with actual 4X6 photos, which I arranged and fit together and then got laminated.  I then started creating them using different collage/montage programs like Picasa and Fotor.

This project was extremely enjoyable, it was a great opportunity to evaluate the items that I have decided to surround myself with and to think about the reasons why they're a part of my life.  And I think the conclusion, at least for me, is that these classic film items add something special to my life and just genuinely make me happy.

I think Margaret came up with a wonderful blogathon/hashtag and it's been a pleasure to participate.  Be sure to follow her and Curate My Life on Twitter and here is her blog with more information about the project: Margaret Perry

George C. Scott in Petulia (1968)

Today the subject of TCM's Summer Under the Stars is the very versatile and sometimes controversial George C. Scott.  He starred in so many different types of films and is probably most recognized for his title role in Patton and his over the top comedic performance in Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Stop Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb.  Some of my favorite roles of his are in The Hospital, They Might be Giants and Petulia.

From Journeys in Film's SUTS Blogathon Page

I had first heard about the movie, Petulia, about 5 years ago while reading Kate Gabrielle's delightful film blog: Silents and Talkies.  Her post encouraged me to check out the movie and I ended up really enjoying it.  It will be airing tonight on TCM at 12:15am Eastern/9:15pm Pacific, if that's too late try to set your DVR, it's definitely worth a watch.

It has a wonderful cast led by Julie Christie (Petulia) and George C. Scott (Archie) and includes Richard Chamberlain (David), Shirley Knight (Polo) and a cameo by Joseph Cotton (Mr. Danner).  It is directed by Richard Lester, who I know and love for being the Director of The Beatles movies: A Hard Day's Night and Help!.  The movie is extremely stylized and very much a product of the 60s.

Opening Credits

The opening credits are surprisingly minimalistic, the names appear over a solid black background and the music is almost ominous.  Not really preparing the viewer for what they are about to experience.

We then get whisked into the film.  There is then a mixture of juxtaposing images, wealthy people attending a fund raiser intercut with a musical performance by Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company (there are also cameos by The Grateful Dead).  The opening sequence pretty much sets the tone for the film.  Anything goes.

Then we are introduced to Petulia and Archie.

Petulia is a free spirit (with a fabulous wardrobe) who is married to an abusive and controlling man, David and she sees Archie as an escape, someone who is a healer, who is gentle and who can take care of her.  Archie doesn't exactly agree.  

Archie is a soon to be divorced surgeon who doesn't know what he wants out of life.  He tries to do the right thing, but also tends to do what he feels.  There are many scenes where he vacillates between two very different motivations.  The scenes with his soon to be ex-wife Polo really show how difficult it is for him to live with his decisions, as do the scenes with his 2 young sons.

The movie also makes use of it's location.  Set in San Francisco there are many beautiful shots of iconic and memorable locations around San Francisco.  In one scene, Archie takes his 2 children to visit Alcatraz. 

Some examples of the camera angles, imagery, and framing

At times it is a bit difficult to follow what is going on in this movie, there are intercuts, flashbacks, abrupt scene/location changes and unclear passages of time.  Oddities like an outdoor motorized stairway, a tuba, George C. Scott in tighty-whities, an automated motel complete with light up key that lets you know when you’ve arrived at your room.  There are many things to pay attention to in this film, there is a lot of seemingly random imagery (lots of nuns), many stylistic choices, especially when it comes to camera angles, framing, editing and storytelling.  But all these techniques make the movie that much more interesting and help exemplify some of the main points of the movie.  

At it's core the movie is about trying to be true to yourself and doing what makes you happy and realizing sometimes that doesn't work out the way you hope, but you can still maybe make an impact.  When the stylistic choices are removed the film is about relationships, connections, strength, weakness and regret.  One conversation that I think really sells the heart of this movie is this exchange:

Archie's friend Barney asks, “What do you want, Archie?”  

Archie replies, “I don’t know what I want.  To feel something.” 

Barney responds, “That’s no answer, grow up.”  

I chose to focus on this movie for George C. Scott’s special day because I think he delivers a wonderful performance (as does the rest of the cast), but also because it's really an atypical role for him.  He’s soft-spoken, kind and is in what could be classified as a romantic lead.  Not what you would normally expect from Mr. Scott.  The majority of his other roles are gruff, tough, fast-talking and more severe.  In this role he shows some vulnerability, uncertainty and the possibility of learning and growing because of another person.  It's nice to see him show some emotion.

What are your favorite George C. Scott roles?  Which movies are you going to try to catch on TCM today?  I really hope you have the opportunity to watch this movie tonight as part of George C. Scott's special day.  If you don't, it is very hard to come by on DVD.  It's currently over $40 on Amazon, but it does appear to be available to purchase through Amazon Instant.

And also be sure to check out the other contributions to the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon.

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.

The Birth of a Classic Film Fan

I've been hinting at sharing my Classic Film Enthusiast origin story and I've decided to actually go for it.  It might be lengthy, so here's your fair warning, but I will try to add fun pictures along the way to keep it engaging.  Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy post. :)

My origin story is actually two-fold, but together they make a great deal of sense.  Ultimately, for me it's a story of wanting to be a complete-ist and being slightly obsessive.  One night, while I was in middle school, I couldn't fall asleep and I decided to flip through the channels.  During my channel surfing I found a movie on WPIX (Old school Channel 11 in NY, before it became the WB/CW).  The movie was Dogfight, starring River Phoenix and Lili Taylor.

I was in awe, amazed, hooked.  I didn't know a movie could be like that and I didn't know actors could be like River Phoenix.  I decided then that I had to know everything about him and see every movie he had been in.  Thus, my Actor Phases were born.  Initially, I was dismayed to find that River Phoenix had passed away and so young! I couldn't believe that such a talent could have been gone already and that I had only just discovered him. But, I decided to dive right in.

I tried to find the oldest logo, but did not succeed

At that time IMDb was still in it's infancy, there was no Netflix, no online streaming.  I actually went to IMDb and printed out the list of his movies.  I would then take that list to Blockbuster or the Library and try to work my way through all of the movies.  I would also order VHS tapes (yes, you read that right VHS!) online or buy them at Sam Goody if they had it, if I had trouble renting the movies.  I did a great deal of "blind-buys" during various Actor Phases, some good choices, some not so good.  For better or for worse though, I did get a very diverse movie education thanks to River Phoenix.  I was introduced to Stand by Me, Running on Empty, Peter Bogdonavich's A Thing Called Love and so much more.

After exploring the life and work of River Phoenix, I decided to check out some other Actors and see what they had to offer.  This turned into a binder filled with IMDb print-outs of various Actor's filmographys.  Romney may have his binders filled with women, but in the mid to late 90s I already had my binders full of actors.  I would tirelessly hunt for these movies and soak in as much film history as I could.  At the time though most of my motivation was how cute the actor was, which would explain my Ryan Phillippe, Devon Sawa, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Keanu Reeves phases (not my proudest moments, but I was young and foolish).  But, I did also gravitate towards actors like Harrison Ford, Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp (before Pirates of the Carribbean) and Ewan McGregor.  And in later years I also started to tackle the filmographies of George C. Scott, Albert Brooks and Dustin Hoffman, so I feel like it balances it out (a little).

On one of my recent trips homes I found and went through my binder and lucky for you, I took some pictures, it looks like my dad didn't appreciate me using all of the white paper so I was probably asked to use all the neon paper we had.  It also looks like I printed out articles and pictures that I liked too, but maybe it was gently suggested to me that I stop doing that after my River Phoenix phase:

I inadvertently got a film education, I was exposed to many films that weren't mainstream and I wouldn't have seen otherwise.  I was also honing my skills as a researcher and a completest.  But, I still wasn't exploring much of anything before the 70s or 80s.  The classic film bug hadn't bitten me yet.  I still didn't become a fan, even during college when I took various film courses where we had screenings of movies like, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Executive Suite, Giant, and  Somebody Up There Likes Me.  I certainly didn't hate the movies or dismiss them, since they were stellar films, but there still wasn't that desire to care (as much as I do now).  Don't get me wrong though, I did always have an interest in older movies, I watched The Wizard of Oz endlessly as a child and I have always been a huge fan of Disney movies, but there wasn't the love that I have now.  That didn't happen until 2 fortuitous events.

First, was a recommendation from my cousin, he is an assistant director, second unit director and screenwriter for a handful of TV shows and who I browbeat into attending part of the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival.  He was in LA for some work meetings in the summer of 2006 and we met for dinner.  We talked briefly about movies and I can't remember what movies I had been watching around that time, but he recommended that I immediately Netflick (that's my verb for renting a movie through Netflix) The Thin Man and The Thin Man series.  I heeded his advice and Netflicked it in the summer of 2006 and LOVED it.  It was so clever and funny.  I was smitten.  I promptly watched the 5 sequels in quick succession.

About 3 months later I was introduced to the 1001 Movies you Must See Before You Die, I don't exactly recall how the list came to me, but once I found it I was super cocky and thought, 'Oh, I've always watched lots of movies, I'm sure I've seen most of these.'  I actually just found an email conversation between me and a friend of mine in October of 2006 in which I boldly claim, "I've probably seen about half of the movies in there." But I was very much schooled by the list and on my first go through I had only seen about 200 of the movies.  I also shared the list with my friends and wanted to see how I fared with my peers.  It turned out one of my friends had seen more movies than me and then uttered the phrase that has fueled me for the last 8 years.  He said to me, "You will never defeat me."  Gauntlet thrown, my friend, gauntlet throw.  (I can be a little competitive sometimes).

These 2 events and my obsessive nature put me on the path to become a very passionate classic film fan.  I was determined to work my way through the 1001 list and I also wanted to see other great movies, like the Thin Man.  At first I used the 1001 list as a spring board to see the movies that I had always kind of wanted to see, but hadn't.  So I would pick and chose from various movies, with no real direction.  Eventually, I decided to work through the list chronologically, starting with A Trip to the Moon.  As I worked through the book I would take little breaks from the list to see more movies by a particular director (Hitchcock, Wilder, Powell and Pressburger) or movies with a particular actor (Buster Keaton, Cary Grant, Tracy and Hepburn).  I would also take time to read various biographies about actors and directors.  I sometimes like to think of this journey as an independent study of film and the history of film.

I've been working on the list, on and off, for about 8 years now.  The book has been modified or updated 3 or 4 times over the years and my grand total of movies seen, as of today, is 783 titles.  This has been thanks to Netflix, TCM, the now unfortunately closed RocketVideo, Cinefile and my local libraries.  It's been such a fun challenge to track down these movies throughout the years.  And really interesting to see certain movies that were inaccessible 7 or 8 years ago, now be available through streaming services or places like WarnerArchive.  I've tried to maintain a spreadsheet and I even had a blog for a short while to track my progress, indicate where and how I was able to see the movie, and keep a little journal so I would remember some of the movies, but as you may have noticed I don't update things as well as I should. 

Oh, and since we're on the subject and clearly this post isn't long enough I guess I should also share my first experience with the amazing channel/network TCM.  It was on a plane, I was on a Jetblue flight flying back to LA from NY and I was flipping through the channels and came across the channel TCM.  At that time I don't even know if I had heard of the channel, but I was drawn to it because there was a special on, it was the Private Screenings episode of Child Stars.  The episode included Robert Osborne (obviously) and Daryl Hickman, Dickie Moore, Jane Withers and Margaret O'Brien.

Here's a tee-tiny picture of them found at TCM.com

I watched these former stars discuss their lives and their work and found it really interesting and then of course thanks to TCM, a few years later I had the pleasure of seeing Darryl Hickman in person at the first TCM Classic Film Festival, meet and speak to Margaret O'Brien at this year's Film Festival, and be in the same room as Dickie Moore at a screening in NYC.  Later on in the flight I flipped back to TCM and ended up watching Rafter Romance, starring Ginger Rogers. We landed before the movie ended, so I don't actually know if there was a long lasting romance.  I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there probably was.

Well, that's the long and short of, mostly long, how I became the huge classic film fan that I am today.  It's been a wonderful journey and has introduced me to so many wonderful people, experiences, and of course movies over the years.  After going back over all of these experiences it seems like it was just the right mixture of things at the right time.  And I'm very glad they all happened.

So there's my Classic Film Fan origin story.  What's yours?  How were you introduced to classic film and when did it become an overwhelming passion?