November 30: In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
Watch for little Liza Minnelli in the ending scene.
November 30: In the Good Old Summertime (1949)Remember The Shop Around the Corner, our feature on Nov 29th? This is the reworked version of this story, used as a vehicle for Judy Garland. The counter-intuitive title notwithstanding, In the Good Old Summertime is pretty much the same 'Christmas in the shop' story as the original. It's just the characters have changed, the setting is now Chicago, the period is Americana 1900, and the story has plot devices that are used to provide the musical source to Judy's songs. This time the two battling unbeknownst lovers are Judy and Van Johnson. S.Z. Sakall is the shop owner and his long-suffering and devoted secretary is the sweet Spring Byington and his long-suffering and incompentant nephew is played by Buster Keaton. Judy does her trademark musical numbers and the emoting drama -- and Van does the acting without the singing along. I much prefer her in either The Harvey Girls (no Christmas setting) or Meet Me in St. Louis (the feature later on). I know this is a favorite with many, so of course I'll include it here. Watch for little Liza Minnelli in the ending scene. Repeat blog from December 2017
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A sweet romantic comedy set in Budapest with two lovesick but unaware souls, Karla Novak (Margaret Sullavan) and Alfred Kralik (Jimmy Stewart). November 29: The Shop Around the Corner (1940)Christmas retail is the backdrop of two co-workers who take an instant dislike when they meet face to face, not realizing that they are exchanging deep, thoughtful letters of a budding romance anonymously with one another. Brilliantly directed by Ernst Lubitsch, it also displays the dynamics of a small business run by the ideosyncrancies of the stressed out owner, Mr. Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan). His leather goods store is the clever blend of personalities in the sales staff, from Joseph Schildkraut's charming snake Vadas to William Tracy's delivery boy Pepi, who comes to the rescue of Mr. Matuschek when it matters most. Christmas is about the hope of a happier future and the kindness of people in the season of giving. The Shop Around the Corner is about this and learning what people are like on the inside and why it can be difficult to show a deeper nature. Watch for: Production design. Budapest on the eve of war -- but war is never mentioned. The story is set before this time. The relationship of Kralik with his co-worker friend, Pirovitch (Felix Bressart) whose negotiating skills and advice are straitforward and no-nonsense. The Lubitsch touch in the plot when, on Christmas eve, now alone Matachek returns to the store and discovers he can be a friend to the new delivery boy, Rudy, who is alone this Christmas Eve too.
Enjoy. The gift-giving season is now in full swing! Just be kind to the sales staff. Tomorrow, another take on the same tale. Christmas Movies Everyday Through December The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) is a hit play by Kaufman and Hart and translates to the screen through the brilliance of powerhouse screenwriting twins, Julius and Philip Epstein. Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Wooley) is an obnoxious literary gadabout visiting Mesalia Ohio on a promotional tour and the guest for dinner at the home of Ernest and Daisy Stanley (Grant Mitchell and Billie Burke). The Stanley's have a houseful of interesting characters already and once "Sherry" slips on the ice outside their door, the amount of craziness goes up considerably. Sheridan Whiteside's character is modeled after Alexander Woollcott (was he the one who the term "Smart Aleck" was meant?) Sheridan is at turns, a tyrant, a raconteur, a manipulator, a champion for the downtrodden, the theater's harshest critic, a bosom friend, and the penultimate entitled east coast snob. He's been taking over the Stanley house and all who cross his wide path as he holds court in their parlor, library, entrance and front door. Now it is coming near Christmas and the local doctor thinks Sherry is well enough to leave his wheelchair, which would be a relief to the Stanleys--if they knew about it. But Sherry has no intention of leaving the wheelchair or the Stanley house. He isn't done railroading his way into everybody's lives, including his secretary, Maggie (Bette Davis) who falls for the local small-town newspaperman, Bert Jefferson (Richard Travis). Watch for: Beverly Carlton (Reginald Denny) doing a great Noel Coward impersonation. Lorraine Sheldon (Ann Sheridan) portraying her version of the great Broadway actress, Katherine Cornell. Banjo's (Jimmy Durante) character is based, of all things, Harpo Marx. Apparently Harpo and Woollcott were close friends in real life. An early role for Mary Wickes, who had just donned the nurse's white for another movie with Bette Davis -- Now, Voyager. The movie culminates on Christmas Day, with gift offerings from famous people all over the world to Mr. Sherry Whiteside, including penguins, a crated octopus, an uncrated Egyptian sarcophegus, -- and Banjo stopping by on his way to Nova Scotia. Throw in the Boy's Choir for the special nationwide radio hookup from the Stanley's parlor to hear Sheridan Whiteside special Christmas greeting. Repeat post of November 2017
Look What's Coming up!We are fast approaching the most wonderful time of the year. After Thanksgiving, I will again offer a reprise of Christmas in the story movie for everyday in December.
I will try to capture all your favorites and hopefully introduce one or two you didn't know before. Nothing newer than 1960 (The Apartment) and nothing older than 1898 (Visit from Santa Claus). Get ready! ![]() People Will Talk is one that is on my shelf. A permanent place in my list of Important movies. Have you seen this movie? Please watch first if you hold surprise and uncertainty in higher esteem than storycraft. Noah Pretorius Flips the ScriptPeople Will Talk is the story of an unconventional physician, practicing medicine and creating professional foes as a result of his unconventional techniques. Dr. Ludwig "Noah" Pretorius (Cary Grant), a highly successful physician in current time of mid-century America, is displayed in this movie as a free-thinking individual. He’s independent, direct and yet he has secrets like anyone else and he is adored by many, respected by almost all, but few know his history. The Doctor's professional standing in the medical community is going to be risked by his associations in his personal life. Living by his personal and professional code, Noah navigates his life between his caring of patients (not treating disease—but making sick people well) and caring for his own emotional well-being when he searches his own heart. The experiences of others coming into his life put his own career and life into clearer focus. The movie opens with the antagonist, a nemesis named Dr. Elwell (Hume Cronyn), who is wonderfully small-minded and underhanded enough for us to dislike him in the opening scene. Get that name, which sounds a lot like “ill-well.” Elwell's first interaction is with the great character actor Margaret Hamilton, whom you may remember from the Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West. Her role is well-chosen too. They conspire about Dr. Pretorious and their wanting to learn more about "Shunderson" and we are left to wonder who the doctor and Shunderson really are too. We don't even meet Dr. Pretorious or Shunderson until seven minutes into the story but we've heard enough about both of them to pique our interest and be a bit suspicious. Next scene we meet Dr. Pretorious and Shunderson (Finlay Currie) and we soon meet Deborah Higgins (Jeanne Crain). She faints during an impromptu lecture on anatomy by Dr. Noah Pretorious--given in Dr. Elwell's class when he's MIA because he's busy trying to undermine Noah's standing in the medical and university community. It all builds up into parallel plotlines that will intersect in a board of regents trial of the actions of Dr. Pretorious and we learn the motivations of character--not actor's character but the character of a man with morality guiding him as he seeks the answers to the qustions he faces. He definitely looks at the world from a different prespective. This is an unconventional movie and not in the usual Hollywood style. The narrative is multi-leveled and each character who interacts with Noah gives a different facet of his personality for us the viewer to reckon with. Noah is complicated and yet he presents himself as a man who has some definite concepts of life, death and living. It does make us think he's called a pompous know-it-all, while he has his heart is in the right place.
When watching People Will Talk for the umpteenth time, I am vexed by the same reoccurring question in my mind. Why am I so attracted to this character of Dr. Noah Pretorious and why does this story keep me involved? Noah is a very philosophical man and he does question many situations that most of us just accept as is. Why is word he uses often, he is always searching. But the story is about how he gets flummoxed by his feelings and how his life is changed (and he does the changing) by it. When I watch it, I too ask why. Why would he fall in love with Deborah when he knew she was pregnant by another man? In the Fifties sensibliites he even cautions her about them, the social norms that she would face being unmarried and pregnant with a child out-of-wedlock; She's broken society's rules about this sort of thing. But we are revealed to Noah's character, his feelings, and what touches his heart. Noah is one who will buck conventions at every available opportunity, so his falling in love with Deborah isn't that big a drop once he's confronted with himself. Note how and why Deborah will call him a "pompous know-it-all." Then there's Shunderson, who we see from Noah's perspective, is quiet and kindly, but perceived to be threatening and strange by those who don't know him. It is apparent that Dr. Pretorious has a unique connection to him, but we don't learn why until the third act. Shunderson's secret is the tale I wait the whole movie to hear again. Be on the lookout for People Will Talk. Perfect title, by the way. |
AuthorCharlotte Hardt (128writer) Archives
November 2020
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