Born Yesterday (1950)

Uncouth, loud-mouth junkyard tycoon Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) descends upon Washington D.C. to buy himself a congressman or two, bringing with him his mistress, ex-showgirl Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday). Brock hires newspaperman Paul Verrall (William Holden) to see if he can soften her rough edges and make her more presentable in capital society. But Harry gets more than he bargained for as Billie absorbs Verall's lessons in U.S. history and not only comes to the realization that Harry is nothing but a two-bit, corrupt crook, but in the process also falls in love with her handsome tutor and allows hilarity to ensue.

Trivia: Judy Holliday, who played Billie Dawn on Broadway, was the third choice to play Billie after: Jean Arthur and Rita Hayworth. The part of Billie Dawn was written by Garson Kanin for Jean Arthur. A couple of nights before the play was due to open, Arthur abruptly dropped out and Judy Holliday was drafted in, having to learn the part in three days. She ended up playing it on Broadway for 4 years. To help facilitate shooting, George Cukor decided to rehearse "Born Yesterday" as if it were still a stage play. For two weeks, the cast worked on their lines while a construction crew built a 300-seat mini-theater within one of the studio's sound-stages. It was there that Judy Holliday, William Holden and Broderick Crawford gave six performances in front of a live audience so that Cukor could precision-time the pacing of the film's jokes.

After watching this and reading that Judy Holliday almost didn't get the part I am aghast. I can't see this movie working quite as well without Judy and her unique voice. It really lends to her dumb blonde feel. Those of you who do not know Judy Holliday, you would probably recognize her if you heard her, her voice is one of the most unique in the business. William Holden is quickly becoming one of mine favorite actors. He just has a certain bearing that makes like him.

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954)

Adam (Howard Keel), the eldest of seven brothers, goes to town to get a wife. He convinces Milly (Jane Powell) to marry him that same day. Music ensues. They return to his backwoods home. Only then does she discover he has six brothers -- all living in his cabin. Music ensues. Milly sets out to reform the uncouth siblings, who are anxious to get wives of their own. Dancing ensues. Then, after reading about the Roman capture of the Sabine women, Adam develops an inspired solution to his brothers' loneliness . . . kidnap the women they want! Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The film was basically shot twice in two separate formats, the widescreen cinemascope format and the standard format. This was done so that the theaters that did not have cinemascope available could still see all of the movie. This required the action to be choreographed for both formats. Scenes for the widescreen version were shot in the morning and, for the normal ratio, in the afternoon. According to director Stanley Donen despite the fact that it cost more than the widescreen version to make, the other version was never used. MGM considered this a B movie - they had higher aspirations for the more expensive "Brigadoon". For this reason, they slashed the budget on "Seven Brothers", forcing Stanley Donen to use painted backdrops instead of location filming. The censors weren't too happy about the line in the song "Lonesome Polecat" where the brothers lament "A man can't sleep when he sleeps with sheep". By not showing any sheep in the same shot as the brothers, the film-makers were able to get away with it. Rehearsals for the barn-raising sequence took 3 weeks. For the brides costumes, designer Walter Plunkett went to the Salvation Army, found old quilts and turned them into dresses. Because there was no way of distinguishing between them and the Town Suitors, MGM decided to make all the Pontipee Brothers red-headed.

MGM was the studio of musicals in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Only in a musical would a group of men be able to kidnap six girls and end up, well...I guess you will have to watch it. The dances were well done and very colorful, the barn dance sequence was fun to watch. Umm...what can I say, you pretty much know what to expect with an MGM musical.

Classic Movie Wednesday

The Ladykillers (1955)

When Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) advertises a room to let little did she know that the man who showed up on her door, Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness) was there just for the room. He and his band of cohorts (Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Danny Green, and a young Peter Sellers) are there to pull a heist and they pull unsuspecting Mrs. Wilberforce right into the scheme. Hilarity ensues as the scheme is successful...at first but slowly deteriorates into a morass that the gang can not easily extract themselves from.

Trivia: The producers originally rejected director Alexander Mackendrick's choice of 80 year old Katie Johnson for the role of Mrs. Wilberforce on the grounds that she might be too frail for the project, and so they cast a younger actress - who died before filming began. The picture of Mrs. Wilberforce's late husband above the fireplace is actually a painting of Alec Guinness in his role as "The Admiral" in the earlier Ealing Studios comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets. Mrs. Wilberforce's husband died when he "remained at the salute on the bridge" when his boat was going down. This is how The Admiral, played by Alec Guinness, died in Kind Hearts and Coronets. According to both Alexander Mackendrick and Alec Guinness, Mrs. Wilberforce's birds in the film were voiced by Peter Sellers.

I can only claim to have seen two of the Ealing Studios comedies, this one and Kind Hearts and Coronets, but both have been great little comedies and I plan to see some of the others soon. Just like yesterday, this movie was remade recently. In the remake Tom Hanks takes over for the Alec Guinness part. Guinness was great in this as a mousy mastermind with a soft heart for Mrs. Wilberforce. It is rare to see an actor that can play such diverse parts. Professor Marcus is one of his comedic roles, with others from movies like Kind Hearts, and Murder By Death. Compare this to his parts in movies like Lawrence Of Arabia, The Bridge On The River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago and you will see what I mean. It is also one of Peter Sellers' first parts and you can see some of his future brilliance.

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

When a new princess is born to King Stefan & his wife, the entire kingdom rejoices. At a ceremony, three good fairies - Flora, Fauna & Merryweather - bestow gifts of magic on the child. But an evil sorceress named Maleficent shows up, and because of a rude remark by Merryweather, she places a curse on the princess - that she will die on her 16th birthday after touching a poisoned spinning wheel. Merryweather tries to undo the damage by casting a spell that will allow the princess - named Aurora - to awake from an ageless sleep with a kiss from her true love. The fairies take Aurora to their cottage in the woods to keep her away from the eyes of Maleficent, and raise her as their own child, named Briar Rose. On her 16th birthday Aurora meets Prince Phillip, the son of a king whose own kingdom will soon merge with King Stefan's - and falls in love. Maleficent manages to kidnap the Prince and her horrible prophecy is fulfilled when she tricks Aurora into touching a spinning wheel created by Maleficent herself! Realizing that the Prince is in trouble, the 3 good fairies head to Maleficent's castle at the Forbidden Mountain, and spring the Prince loose. But the Prince soon finds himself up against Maleficent's army of brutes, and the power of Maleficent's evil spells - which include a thorn forest as thick as weeds around King Stefan's castle, and a fight against Maleficent when she turns herself into a dragon! Is the Prince strong enough to withstand the powers of the evil sorceress? Will hilarity ensues? (Well, this is Disney)

Trivia: Art direction for this movie was inspired by medieval painting and architecture. Live actors in costume served as models for the animators. The role of Prince Phillip was modeled by Ed Kemmer, who had played Commander Buzz Corry on television's "Space Patrol" five years before Sleeping Beauty was released. For the final battle sequence Kemmer was photographed on a wooden buck. All the live actors' performances were later screened for the animators' reference. When the fairies discuss how to help the king and queen, notice Merryweather magically create cookies, they are the shape of Mickey Mouse. Disney Studios has no record as to who provided the voice for the queen, Briar Rose's mother. Much of the musical score is based on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet "Sleeping Beauty". A flame thrower was used to create the dragon breath sound effect for the climax of the movie. Castanets were used for the sound of its snapping jaws. The elaborate background paintings usually took seven to ten days to paint. By contrast, a typical animation background takes one workday to complete. Second only to Dumbo (who didn't speak at all), this Disney title character has very few lines of actual dialogue throughout the entire film (well, she was sleeping from half of it). In fact, Briar Rose/Aurora says nothing at all in the film's second half. The Disneyland castle was named for this film, even though the park opened four years prior to the film's release. Princess Aurora's long, thin, willowy body shape was inspired by that of Audrey Hepburn. Briar Rose is the Sleeping Beauty's name the German fairytale. Princess Aurora is Sleeping Beauty's name in the Italian version.

Ah, Disney, for some reason I haven't watched a Disney film in a while so when my niece and nephew watched it this weekend, I joined in. What really struck me with Sleeping Beauty is the whole sense of art. The backgrounds are tremendous. They look like watercolors. Each Disney film has it's own visual style which is why they are so good. Maleficent is truly one of the most evil of Disney villians (why are most of the best Disney villians women?). I liked her design, she looks like the dragon she turns into in the end.

Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

Jim Stark (James Dean) is the new kid in town. He has been in trouble elsewhere; that's why his family has had to move before. Here he hopes to find the love he doesn't get from his middle-class family. Though he finds some of this in his relation with Judy (Natalie Wood), and a form of it in both Plato (Sal Mineo)'s adulation and Ray (Edward Platt)'s real concern for him, Jim must still prove himself to his peers in switchblade knife fights and "chickie" games in which cars race toward a seaside cliff. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: For the knife fight between Jim (James Dean) and Buzz (Corey Allen), the actors used real switchblades and protected themselves by wearing chainmail under their vests. James Dean badly bruised his hand during the police station scene where he physically vents his rage on a precinct desk and had to wear an elastic bandage for a week. Frank Mazzola ("Crunch") had actually been a member of a Hollywood street gang, and taught James Dean how to fight with a real switchblade knife. T-shirt sales soared after James Dean was seen to wear one in this film. Jim Backus who played James Dean's father and was the voice of Mr. Magoo, taught Dean how to do the Mr. Magoo voice which Dean then used to deliver the line, "Drown them like puppies." Natalie Wood was first considered too naive and wholesome for the role of Judy. She began changing her looks and eventually attracted the notice of director Nicholas Ray, who began an affair with her but still would not guarantee her the part, though he eventually relented. Both Ray and Wood later claimed that he changed his mind after she was in a car accident with Dennis Hopper and someone in the hospital called her a "goddamn juvenile delinquent". The empty pool in which the characters sit and discuss their lives in one scene is the same pool that was specially built for Sunset Blvd. All three lead actors, (James Dean, Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood) died under tragic circumstances. Dean died in a car accident at the age of 24 after only 3 movies. Sal Mineo was stabbed to death behind his apartment in a botched mugging, he was 37. Natalie Wood fell off of her yacht and drown at the age of 43.

According to Sam Kashner's "Vanity Fair" article about the making of this movie, Sal Mineo claimed that both his director, Nicholas Ray, and his costar, James Dean, encouraged him to play his character Plato as being homosexual and in love with Dean's character Jim. Mineo said that Ray encouraged him to use his own bisexuality to inform the portrayal, and that Dean told him to "Look at me the way I look at Natalie [Wood]." He also asked Dean what it was he wanted the most and he replied, "a drivers' license." He then told Dean to "look at him like he is your license." The article reports that Mineo "later commented that he had portrayed the first gay teenager on film."

This classic movie was very interesting. You hear all your life about things and assume how things happen. I assumed that I knew this movie. James Dean's reputation of living fast and stuff kind of clouds your judgement at times. I thought it was a teen angst movie with the teenagers railing against their families and making wrong decisions and all that stuff that is usually cliche in movies today. I was wrong. The three main characters, Jim, Plato, and Judy, are desperately seeking anything they can identify as parental love and it makes it so heartbreaking. The parents pretty much fail at everything. Judy's father won't show her any affection and stops her from showing him the same because it "isn't appropriate for a 16 year old girl" to kiss her dad. Jim's father is so browbeaten and hen pecked by his mother and wife that he is emasculated which causes Jim to have to prove himself when challenged by Buzz and the others. But the most heartbreaking is Plato's parents who pretty much just abandon him to be raised by a nanny. All three of the actors, Dean, Mineo, and Wood, put in powerful performances, with the best probably being Mineo whose all out worship of Jim is evident from the start. If I have an complaints of the film and it is a pretty small complaint is that everything seems to happen so fast. As near as I can tell, the movie starts the night before school, the next day is the first day of school where the juniors and seniors go on the field trip to the planetarium and the knife fight happens. Then later that night Jim and Buzz meet for the Chicken match at the bluff and the accident. And then Jim and Judy run away to the abandoned house and Plato finds them and is chased by the police to the Planetarium before dawn the next day so it looks like everything happens within 36 hours, which is not a lot of time for Judy and Jim to fall in love (Especially since Judy's Boyfriend Buzz was killed on night after school starts so it really only takes her 3 or 4 hours to get over Buzz and fall in love with Jim). Coming back to the parents for a final slam. Jim's mother and father do go out looking for Jim with Detective Ray and are present at the end with all the heartbreaking tragedy. Jim finally introduces Judy to them as his new friend and they look at each other and smile. Most people might see that as Jim's father standing up to his mother and she tacitly relenting to his new found manhood but I thought to myself, "dang, they look to relieved as if they are saying to themselves, 'Whew, he has a girlfriend, we're off the hook.'"

Kakushi-Toride No San-Akunin (1958)

Two minor peasants on the edges of a war discover a hidden treasure of gold at a hidden fortress. Along with it they meet an aging knight and the woman he is protecting, a young headstrong princess, who is being hunted by the other side. The two peasants accompany the Princess, who pretends to be mute, and her knight on a daring journy behind enemy lines to get to the safety of a neighboring kingdom.

Trivia: Akira Kurosawa made this commercial and accessible film as a way to repay Toho Studios for allowing him to make riskier, more artistic fair such as Rashomon (1950).

Hmmm...does this sound familiar, a story, told from the prespective of two minor characters, the loweliest characters in stature in the whole movie, accompanying a headstrong princess and her aging knight? If you said "Yeah, that sounds like Star Wars" you would be right, but probably not how you think. On the DVD George Lucas stated that while this film is a story about a princess and her protectors, that this was not the primary element that he employed in Star Wars. He stated that he was more concerned with the way that Hidden Fortress is told through the eyes of two lesser characters. In Hidden Fortress it is the two thieves; in Star Wars it is C3PO and R2D2. In both films the comical interplay between the two characters is a major theme. This was actually a very well made movie, there is no fluff. The aging samuri is very dignified and the princess is very regal in her attitude and demeaner, even though she doesn't speak for 75 percent of the movie. Well, another Kurosawa movie down, that makes 7, and all within the last year. It is kind of amazing to consider how much influence he has had with a lot of American directors, I mean, Star Wars can beconsidered the essential American blockbuster movie of all time, and it owes it's story telling roots to Hidden Fortress.

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

After sending his wife and son to Maine to escape the sweltering summer, Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) meets a 22-year-old blonde television model (Marilyn Monroe), who is renting the apartment upstairs. Despite recent paranoia about being unfaithful (he is reading a book his company is going to publish about a "7-Year Itch" that claims a significant proportion of men have extra-marital affairs after seven years of marriage) Richard invites the girl downstairs for a drink. However, his over-active imagination works overtime to the point where he imagines his wife carrying on in Maine with their hunky neighbor, Tom McKenzie. He is torn between silly fantasies of seduction, and horrible thoughts of his wife catching (and, in one fantasy sequence, shooting) him. Hilarity ensues. The Oscar Winning Song

Trivia: The classic shot of Marilyn Monroe's dress blowing up around her legs as she stands over a subway grating was originally shot on Manhattan's Lexington Avenue at 52nd St. on Sept. 15, 1954 at 1 AM. 5000 onlookers whistled and cheered through take after take as Marilyn repeatedly missed her lines. This occurred in presence of an increasingly embarrassed and angry Joe DiMaggio, then Marilyn Monroe's husband. The original footage shot on that night in New York never made it to the screen; the noise of the crowd had made it unusable. Billy Wilder re-staged the scene on the 20th Century Fox lot, on a set replicating Lexington Avenue, and got a more satisfactory result. However, it took another 40 takes for Marilyn to achieve the famous scene. Amazingly, Marilyn Monroe's very narrow spike heels don't get stuck or break in the subway grating that she stands on it in the movie's most famous scene, although this was a universal problem, at the time, for the countless women wearing that very popular style heel in New York City in that era. The screenplay was adapted from the original Broadway show "The Seven Year Itch" which was written by George Axelrod. The original Broadway show starred Tom Ewell (who reprised his role as the imaginative Richard Sherman) and Vanessa Brown. When the project was moved from Paramount to 20th Century Fox, Brown was replaced by top sex symbol Marilyn Monroe for the film adaptation. Due to the Hays Office Production Code censorship rules, the racy dialogue and sexual innuendos were significantly toned down from the play. Marilyn Monroe's lifelong bouts with depression and self-destruction took their toll during filming; she frequently muffed scenes and forgot her lines, leading to sometimes as many as 40 takes of a scene before a satisfactory result was produced.

In the play, Richard and the girl had an affair, but the Hayes commission did not allow adultry to be the subject of anything that would garner a laugh and in this case I think it made the movie actually better. The whole thing is innocent (the most that happens is a small kiss) except in Richard's mind and imagination. Marilyn Monroe is at her most charming and most beautiful. There are also a lot of good lines in this movie. One of them is when Richard is talking to a man and mentions a blonde (monre) in the kitchen. The guy asks, "What blonde in the kitchen?" and Richard replies, "Wouldn't you like to know. Maybe it's Marilyn Monroe."

Top 250 Challenge: 248, Arrrgh!

Umberto D (1952)
Number 219 on IMDb's Avast Top 250

Umberto Domenico Ferrari, an elderly and retired civil servant (not a pirate), is desperately trying to maintain a decent standard of living on a rapidly dwindling state pension (no buried treasure). But he's up against his tyrannical landlady (a buxom wench), who keeps demanding rent that he can't pay (while renting his room out to prostitutes, saucy wenchs for sure, during the day), and his only friends are the pregnant housemaid wench and his little scurvy dog Flike... hilarity ensues, matey.

Trivia: Carlo Battisti and Maria-Pia Casilio, the two principal characters were not professional actors. Few professional actors were used (others, including Umberto's cruel landlady, Antonia (Lina Gennari), were professional actors). There were no pirates used for this movie.

Ahoy there mateys, I'm here to talk to you scurvy dogs about this here pirate movie...what, it's not a pirate movie, it's Italian neorealism? Arrrrrgh! I'll keelhall somebody for this! Well anyways, this is a buried treasure of a film, and it should stay buried, Har, I make me-self laugh. Actually, it was a little slow at times, but nothing a good swig of ale wouldn't cure, or a trip on the open sea. The wee little wench who played the maid was very cute and the old sea dog who played Umberto was pretty good, but the Pirates of Penzance it ain't, me heartys.

Next Up: Grave of the Fireflies, A jim lad and a wee lass fight to survive in war torn Japan, and by the way, you scaliwag, this is why I am talking like this.

Top 250 Challenge: 247

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Number 242 on IMDb's Top 250

Blanche BuBois (Vivian Leigh) is in real need of a protector at this stage in her life when circumstances lead her into paying a visit to her younger sister Stella (Kim Hunter) in New Orleans. She doesn't understand how Stella, who is expecting her first child, could have picked a husband so lacking in refinement. Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando)'s buddies come over to the house to play cards and one of them, Mitch (Karl Malden), finds Blanche attractive until Stanley tells him about what kind of a woman Blanche really is. What will happen when Stella goes to the hospital to have her baby and just Blanche and her brother-in-law are in the house? Hilarity surely ensues.

Trivia: Vivien Leigh, who suffered from bipolar disorder in real life, later had difficulties in distinguishing her real life from that of Blanche DuBois. To date, it is one of only two films in history to win three Academy awards for acting. The other is Network (1976). Marlon Brando, with his powerful portrayal of Stanley Kowalski, wasn't one of the winners, He lost to Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen (1951). Leigh, Hunter, and Malden won Oscars.

As the film progresses, the set of the Kowalski apartment actually gets smaller to heighten the suggestion of Blanche's increasing claustrophobia. By the time the film was made, New Orleans no longer had streetcars but buses. The tracks still existed, however, and so the authorities were able to lend the production the original streetcar named Desire for the opening sequences of Blanche's arrival in the city. Despite giving the definitive portrayal of Stanley Kowalski, privately Marlon Brando detested the character.

Nothing against Vivian Leigh, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, but Brando really out shined all of them. I think the reason he lost the Oscar was because compared to the other three, he made it look easy, like he wasn't acting at all. As for Vivian Leigh, half way through this movie I didn't like Blanche, I thought she was stuck up and manipulative, but as the movie goes on, you start seeing the reasons that Blanche does what she does and by the end you really feel a sadness for this lost soul and when she says "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" it hurts a little. The movie was also shot like a play, mainly in one apartment, and that gives it a certain feel. I liked it.

Next Up: Umberto D, the story of a man and his dog.

Top 250 Challenge: 244

Ikiru (1952)
Number 230 on IMDb's Top 250

Kanji Watanabe is a longtime bureaucrat in a city office who, along with the rest of the office, spends his entire working life doing nothing. He learns he is dying of cancer and wants to find some meaning in his life. He finds himself unable to talk with his family, and spends a night on the town with a novelist, but that leaves him unfulfilled. He next spends time with a young woman from his office, but finally decides he can make a difference through his job... After Watanabe's death, co-workers at his funeral discuss his behavior over the last several months and debate why he suddenly became assertive in his job to promote a city park, and resolve to be more like Watanabe. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The title Ikiru translates to "To Live" in English and was inspired by Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

After thirty years working for the government (and never missing a day), Watanabe finds out he has stomach cancer and realizes that in those thirty years, he can remember being busy, but he can't remember ever actually doing anything. Watanabe walks around the whole movie with his head down like is has been beaten to a pulp. He talks really slow and never seems to be able to explain anything (he said "what I meant was.." and "what I mean to say is..." alot without ever finishing his sentences.) This seems to be a way to mirror his life, he never finished anything, until he decides to do something good, and concentrates on pushing a children's park construction plan through the bureaucracy. As soon as he decides to do this we jump five months ahead and arrive at his wake. The last hour is a flashback of how he got the park built (he died in the park) and everybody claiming that he didn't really do anything ("he didn't built it, the Parks Department built it." "He didn't get it approved, the deputy mayor approved it" and so on.) But as they talked they started to realize that he was working in the background getting them to do the things needed to get the park built. They they start wondering if he knew he was going to die because his whole demeanor changed (he only told two people that he had cancer, the novelist, and the young girl). Some say that this is Kurasawa's best work, but I don't think so, Seven Samurai and Ran are pretty good, and Rashoman has become the inspiration of a plot device, but it was still pretty good.

Next Up: Little Miss Sunshine, Everyone just pretend to be normal.

Top 250 Challenge: 243

Doctor Zhivago (1956)
Number 240 on IMDb's Top 250

A Russian epic, the movie traces the life of surgeon-poet Yury Zhivago (Omar Sharif) before and during the Russian Revolution. Married to an upper-class girl who is devoted to him, yet in love with an unfortunate woman (Julie Christie) who becomes his muse, Zhivago is torn between fidelity and passion. Sympathetic with the revolution but shaken by the wars and purges, he struggles to retain his individualism as a humanist amid the spirit of collectivism. Ho Boy does hilarity ensue.

Trivia: The lady that Zhivago tries to get onto the train after grabbing her baby actually fell under it and was injured; that shot was also used in the film though we only see her fall down. The film was not shown in Russia until 1994. After a month went by with Marlon Brando failing to respond to David Lean's written inquiry into whether he wanted to play Viktor Komarovsky, he offered the part to James Mason, who accepted. Lean, who had wanted to cast Brando as Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and offered him roles in Ryan's Daughter (1970) and his unmade "Nostromo", decided on Mason as he did not want an actor to overpower the character of Yuri Zhivago. Mason eventually dropped out and Rod Steiger accepted the role. Steiger eventually would be involved in the filming of Dr. Zhivago for the better part of a year, which may have been a reason that both Brando and Mason shunned the role. In the scene where Julie Christie slaps Rod Steiger, Steiger slaps her back. Steiger slapping her back was not in the script or discussed during filming, Steiger did it only during filming and the stunned reaction of Christie was genuine. When Rod Steiger kisses Julie Christie for the first time, her struggling and surprise is genuine because Steiger deliberately French kissed her, sticking his tongue into her mouth. (Now that is dedication!)

Okay, I am going to rant in a bit but first, the movie. It was a beautifully filmed epic (the Urals were spectacular). The music was haunting, especially Lara's Theme, which was echoed at times to suggest Zhivago was thinking of her. He would get a far off look in his eyes and you would hear a faint few notes of Lara's Theme, sometimes it wasn't even all of the theme, like a flitting thought passes in and out of your mind quickly. The structure of the story is a little weird too, the first 45 minutes to an hour of the movie really evolve around Lara, not Zhivago, he is on the periphery of the story. Then it switches to Zhivago and Lara is lost for an hour.

Okay, now the rant. Is this a love story? Or an epic? Because I don't think it is an epic love story. Lara and Zhivago spend about five minutes together in the first two hours of the movie and then they don't even do anything. Luckily the movie is three and a half hours long or we wouldn't have a love story at all. A subplot involving Yevgraf's (Alec Guinness) interview of the child of Lara and Yuri several decades after the story's main events was actually added as a narration/framing device to help move along the story. Omar Sharif later joked that it was added to reassure the audience that Zhivago and Lara would ultimately get together, even though they would have to wait until two hours into the film for it to happen. And another thing, why do so many love stories involve adultery? Isn't that bad? You might be saying, "But it is a love story, Will, where is your romantic side?" Well, I think I have a good romantic side, but Zhivago still cheated on his wife and Lara cheated on her husband (although it didn't look like he much cared about her), they even have a child together! Just because he only wrote poetry about her doesn't mean it wasn't wrong. And what about his two other children? One of which he never even met. Just because he didn't want to leave Russia was no excuse in abandoning that little girl to a life without a father. So, maybe it is because of my job with Child Protective Services, but Zhivago had three children by two different women and didn't even met two of the children, we have terminated father's parental rights for less. I guess my rant is over. So anybody have any ideas why love stories often involve illicit affairs? Kim, you said you just watched this movie recently, what is your take on it?

Up Next: Central Station, He was looking for the father he never knew. She was looking for a second chance.

Top 250 Challenge: 241

The Searchers (1956)
Number 229 on IMDb's Top 250

Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), returns from the Civil War to the Texas ranch of his brother, hopes to find a home with his family and to be near the woman he obviously but secretly loves. But a Comanche raid destroys these plans, and Ethan sets out, along with his half-breed nephew Martin (Jeffrey Hunter), on a years-long journey to find the niece (Natalie Wood) kidnapped by the Indians under Chief Scar (Henry Brandon). But as the quest goes on, Martin begins to realize that his uncle's hatred for the Indians is beginning to spill over onto his now-assimilated niece. Martin becomes uncertain whether Ethan plans to rescue Debbie...or kill her. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: In the climactic scene, John Wayne and Natalie Wood run up the side of a hill in Monument Valley, Utah... and come down the other side of the hill in the Bronson Canyon area of Griffith Park, Los Angeles (1,200 miles away). Lana Wood played young Debbie Edwards and Natalie Wood, who was Lana's older sister by eight years, played teenage Debbie Edwards. Natalie Wood was still a student in high school when this film was being made, and on several occasions both John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter had to pick her up at school on days when she was required on the set. This caused a good deal of excitement among Wood's female classmates. The role of a young cavalry officer, Lt. Greenhill, is played by Patrick Wayne, John Wayne's son.

A significant portion of the film's labyrinthine plot is revealed on a throwaway prop that most casual viewers rarely notice. Just before the Indian raid on the Edwards homestead, the tombstone that Debbie hides next to reveals the source of Ethan's glaring hatred for Native Americans. The marker reads: "Here lies Mary Jane Edwards killed by Commanches May 12, 1852. A good wife and mother in her 41st year." Sixteen years earlier, Ethan's own mother was massacred by Comanches. According to John Wayne in a 1974 interview, John Ford hinted throughout the movie that Ethan had had an affair with his brother's wife, and was possibly the father of Lucy and Debbie. This meant Ethan's thirst for vengeance stemmed not from the murder of his brother, but of the woman Ethan had loved. This was so subtle that many viewers at the time missed it altogether.

A good western with a lot of Hollywood western cliches, not the least of which is having German born actor Henry Brandon (Obviously not Native American) as the Comanche Chief. The cinematography of this movies was spectacular with large dramatic rock buttes from monument valley as a backdrop (except for the fact that the story took place in Texas and, although Texas is amazingly beautiful, it doesn't have the landscape of the movie (being a native Texan, I had to point that out). But do you blame the movie makers? It was stereotypical Hollywood wild west. Westerns used to be a staple in Hollywood and were probably the most filmed genre ever, but they will never return to the popularity they once held and that is really a shame.

Next Up: No Man's Land, another war movie...kind of...if you consider the Bosnian/Serbian conflict a war.

Top 250 Challenge: 237

Du Rififi Chez Les Hommes(1957)
Number 208 on IMDb's Top 250

Tony le Stephanois has just been released from prison. His friends Jo le Suedois and Mario Ferrati proposition him with the daylight robbery of a jewellery store. Tony declines the offer but following an encounter with his ex-girlfriend, Mado, he reconsiders but decides they should break in and take the entire contents of the safe instead. They enlist the help of Cesar le Milanais. The heist is executed perfectly by the men, with one exception; Cesar takes a ring to give to a singer. Pierre, the singer's boss connects the group to the robbery and goes after them for the jewels. Cesar tells Pierre where Mario lives but Mario refuses to tell Pierre where the jewels are so Pierre kills him then kidnaps Jo's son Tonio. Tony kills Cesar for his betrayal then goes to find Tonio. Jo, against Tony's advice, takes the money the group received for selling the jewels to exchange for Tonio. Tony has already gotten Tonio back from Pierre. Pierre kills Jo and Tony kills Pierre but only after being fatally wounded. It is then a race against time for Tony to return Tonio to his mother before he dies. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Mexican authorities pulled the movie from theaters after multiple burglaries were committed employing methods similar to those shown. The argot French slang word, "Rififi" is defined loosely as trouble/violent conflict/a brutal show of force, usually in reference to chest puffing and macho tough guy posturing by thugs and criminal element of Paris. The much imitated heist sequence is over 32 minutes long and contains not a single line of dialogue or music. The production crew and composer Georges Auric thought it would be a disaster to have such a long sequence sans dialogue. Auric insisted that he allow him to write a grand piece of music for the scene and he eventually did on his own. Later Jules Dassin, the director, played the part for Auric twice, once with the score, once without. Auric turned to him and admitted, "Without the music". Dassin claims his reasoning for the lengthy silence was realism. He explains that this also reinforces their astonishing teamwork under stress and that these men can, and carry these tasks out with no need for words. They work in a state of complete silence where any sound (like Jo bumping the piano) was their mortal enemy. Note that Cesar wears ballet slippers during the heist.

Okay, everybody got it? It is a rather convoluted plot and a little hard to follow. The jewel of the film was the heist itself and the famed 32 minutes of silence. It happened in the middle of the film. What was amazing was that the few times that there is a sound, like bumping the piano, that sounds is jarring and you cringe a little. Good film.

Next Up: Wings of Desire, A German film with Peter Falk as himself (who only talks in English). If any of you saw City of Angels, with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, you know the basic plot, although there are plenty of differences.

Top 250 Challenge: 235

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Number 223 on IMDb's Top 250

J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), the most powerful newspaper columnist in New York, is determined to prevent his sister from marrying Steve Dallas (the guy from Bloom County, just kidding, really it is the guy from Adam 12 [on the left]), a jazz musician. He therefore covertly employs Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), a sleazy and unscrupulous press agent, to break up the affair by any means possible. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The character of J.J. Hunsecker is based on famed New York columnist Walter Winchell. This film's shoot was filled with macho tensions and at one point, the temperamental Burt Lancaster threatened to punch the film's writer, Ernest Lehman. The witty scribe replied, "Go ahead, I need the money."

What is that horrible stench? It is the Sweet Smell of Success. This movie was just absolutely awful. There is only one character in this whole freaking movie that is even close to having me give a darn about, Steve Dallas, and he gets set-up on drug charges, and beat-up and put into the hospital by the police, seemingly on orders from Curtis, acting on behalf for Lancaster. Lancaster plays a powerful society columnist that verbally abuses sources, manipulates stories, and grants favors by putting people in his column. Curtis is a press agent who is not above doing anything to get his clients into Hunsecker's column, destoying, blackmailing, and even prostituting (in a sense) his semi-girlfriend to the guy who played Dick York's boss Larry Tate in "Bewitched!" Even Lancaster's sister, who is in love with Steve Dallas, which makes Lancaster go after him, even she is mousy and cringes anytime Lancaster looks at her. Ugghh!

Next Up (speaking of Dick York): Inherit the Wind, It's all about the monkey trial that rocked America.

Top 250 Challenge: 234

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Number 204 on IMDb's Top 250

When Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) is arrested for the sensational murder of a rich, middle-aged widow, the famous Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) agrees to appear on his behalf. Sir Wilfrid, recovering from a near-fatal heart attack, is *supposed* to be on a diet of bland, civil suits. But the lure of the criminal courts is too much for him, especially when the case is so difficult: Vole's only alibi witness is his wife, the calm and coldly calculating Christine Vole (Marlene Dietrich). Sir Wilfrid's task becomes even more impossible when Christine agrees to be a witness not for the defense but for the prosecution. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: In order to show just one of Marlene Dietrich's famous legs, an entire scene was written that required 145 extras, 38 stunt men and $90,000, and then they only showed one of her legs, and only for a few seconds. Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester (the nurse, Miss Plimsoll) were real-life husband and wife. Unsure if he could play a man with a heart condition, Charles Laughton staged a heart attack in the pool one day at home. His wife, Elsa Lanchester, and a houseguest panicked and pulled him from the water, at which point he explained his trick. Elsa's reaction has not been recorded. The film was shown in London for a Royal Command Performance, but beforehand the Royal Family had to promise not to reveal the surprise ending to anyone else. This was the final film for Tyrone Power, who died shortly after completion.

Okay, I was ready for the surprise twist at the end, this being an Agatha Christie story and all, but I wasn't prepared for the surprise surprise twist, or the surprise surprise surprise twist, I half expected Chubby Checker to show up. All in all it is a good courtroom drama that keeps you on the edge until the end. Charles Laughton was great as the aging sick barrister with a penchant for cigars, but Elsa Lanchester stole the show as his nurse.

Up Next: Sweet Smell of Success, The almighty J.J. ...the columnist with sixty million believers ...his wrath is feared by the great and near great who worship the sweet smell of success!

Top 250 Challenge: 232

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Number 200 on IMDb's Top 250

Since being voted out of office as local prosecutor, Paul Biegler (Jimmy Stewart) spends more time fishing than keeping up his law practice. But he does take on the defense of a lieutenant (Ben Gazzara) from the local army camp charged with murdering a bar-owner who raped his wife (Lee Remick). The lieutenant is uncooperative, the wife a floozy, the judge from out of town, and the prosecution lead by a sharp city lawyer (George C. Scott). It seems Biegler will need all his country wiles to make any sort of case of it. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Duke Ellington did the music and has a cameo as "Pie-Eye." The part of the judge was offered to both Spencer Tracy and Burl Ives, but instead went to Joseph N. Welch who was a lawyer in real life who had represented the U.S. Army in the televised Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954. James Stewart's father was so offended by the film, which he deemed "a dirty picture", that he took out an ad in his local newspaper telling people not to see it. Part of the controversy surrounding this movie was because it included use of the words "bitch", "contraceptive", "panties", "penetration", "rape", "slut" and "sperm".

Ah, a great courtroom drama! What a nice change of pace. Stewart is great, yet again, as "just a small country lawyer fighting against that attorney from the big city of Lansing." I had another Hey! moment in this one. Eve Arden, Stewart's secretary, is the lady that played the principle in Grease. Now I know she was in a bunch of movies, that is the one I remember her in. Okay, back to the movie. I think one reason this movie was controversial is that it deals with the manipulation of the justice system. Stewart kind of guides Lt. Manion to claim temporary insanity as a defense, he doesn't go right out and say it but works the conversation around to get Manion to think of it himself. The prosecution isn't innocent either, they manipulate the evidence for their benefit. All in all it is a good movie with a twist at the end that you can catch before it happens if you pay attention.

Up Next: La Haine, Three Young Friends... One Last Chance.

Top 250 Challenge: 224

Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959)
Number 187 on IMDb's Top 250

Antoine was born while his mother was unmarried (as is revealed later in the film). Afterwards she married an older man to "give him a name." She is unhappy in her married life and resents Antoine because of the situation. The family is financially insecure, and Antoine is poorly dressed and poorly fed, and sleeps in a sleeping bag (which he prefers because "at least it's warm") on a cot crammed next to the back entrance to the apartment. Both his mother and his step-father consider him an unwanted burden.
He engages in a series of childish pranks, usually at the instigation of his schoolmates, and bears the blame for each of them.
Eventually, at the instigation of his friend Rene, he pilfers a typewriter from his father's workplace. After he and Rene find that it cannot be pawned, he attempts to return it. When he is apprehended by the night-watchman his step-father turns him in to the police. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The title of the film comes from the French idiom "faire les quatre cents coups", meaning "to raise hell". All spoken lines in the film are dubbed over again by the actors themselves, save for a few minor and trivial parts. For instance, during the last scene, the sound of Antoine's foot prints were added during editing--the truck that the camera rested upon produced too much noise. Shooting on the streets of Paris, as many films of the French New Wave did, was often hectic and re-dubbing everything allowed Truffaut to not have to worry about lugging bulky and expensive sound equipment around, and more importantly, he would not have to worry about a street scene having too much background noise. This made shooting faster and easier.

This is one of those nothing ever really happens movies. We follow the everyday life of a young man through a few weeks of his life. His mother doesn't like him, his step father doesn't like him, his teachers don't like him. He goes to school...sometimes. Twice he runs away from home. His parents seem a little concerned about this, but not much. This is the first film Francois Truffaut ever directed. Truffaut is one of those directors that have a reputation as good directors like Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini whom you have to love just because of who they are. Well it was an okay movie, that's about all I can say. My favorite Truffaut moment is still when he plays the French scientist in the extraordinary science fiction masterpiece, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Next Up: Probably The Wild Bunch, but it may be Anatomy of a Murder.

Top 250 Challenge: 223

Kumonosu Jo (1957)
Number 196 on IMDb's Top 250

In fog-dripping, barren and sometimes macabre settings, 11th-century Scottish nobleman Macbeth is led by an evil prophecy and his ruthless yet desirable wife to the treasonous act that makes him king. But he does not enjoy his newfound, dearly-won kingship...Hilarity ensues, oh and it is set in Japan and the main character is not an 11th-cetury Scottish nobleman named Macbeth, and the king wasn't named Duncan, and the Lady Macbeth wore a kimono and din't have any eyebrows, and the three witches have become only one ugly lady/spirit (I though she was a man, baby!) but besides that, it is the same story.

Trivia: Originally, Kurosawa was planning on building merely a facade castle for the film, but this proved to be an impractical step, prompting the building of full-on castle sections to use in shooting. These were built with the help of United States Marines who were based in the area. The famous arrow scene near the end was in fact done with real arrows. That is, the arrows hitting the wooden planks were not done with special effects, but rather choreographed with archers. Mifune waves his arms to brush away the arrows sticking from the planks, indicating to them that he wanted to go in that particular direction. The real arrows were included to get Mifune's facial expressions of real-life fear, which is exceptionally hard to imitate. Of course, the arrows that hit the Mifune character were bamboo fakes.

This is the only Akira Kurasawa film on the list that I haven't seen until now. As you can tell from the description it is a pretty straight forward adaption of Shakspeare's Macbeth set in feudal Japan. I was very impressed with Kurasawa's use of fog to give the impression of the supernatural. It is by far the best adaption of Macbeth that I have ever seen, to bad it is also the only one I have ever seen.

Next Up: The 400 Blows

Top 250 Challenge: 209

Les Diaboliques (1955)
Number 148 on IMDb's Top 250

The wife and mistress of a sadistic boarding school headmaster plot to kill him. They drown him in the bathtub and dump the body in the school's filthy swimming pool... but when the pool is drained, the body has disappeared - and subsequent reported sightings of the headmaster slowly drive his 'killers' (and the audience) up the wall with almost unbearable suspense until...hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The film is based on Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac's novel "Celle qui n'atait plus" (She Who Was No More). Alfred Hitchcock also attempted to buy the rights to this novel; Boileau and Narcejac subsequently wrote "D'Entre les Morts" (From Among the Dead) especially for Hitchcock, who filmed it as Vertigo (1958). When director Henri-Georges Clouzot bought the film rights to the original novel, he reportedly beat Alfred Hitchcock by only a matter of hours.

The end of this movie was so shocking and unexpected at the time that the movie makers added a request at the end of the film asking for viewers not to spoil the ending for their friends by telling them what happens (think The 6th Sense as a modern day equivalent). This movie is infinitely better then the very forgettable 1996 Hollywood remake (Diabolique) starring Sharon "I'm the only actress in Hollywood you have to pay to keep my clothes on" Stone (which is probably why I went to see the movie in the first place {she was still pretty hot in 96...who am I kidding, she is still pretty hot now}) and some unknown French actress (well, I guess they know her in France) and Chaz Palminteri in the leads. It was so forgettable that I forgot the twist at the end. But the ending of this one was the greatest part when the...oh wait, I'm not supposed to tell you the ending, sorry.

Top 250 Challenge: 208

The Night Of The Hunter (1955)
Number 147 on IMDb's Top 250

Ben Harper has committed murder for $10,000. He hides the money and makes daughter Pearl and son John promise not to tell anyone where it is hidden, not even their mother Willa. In prison and awaiting hanging, Ben meets his cellmate, the Preacher (Robert Mitchum), who tries unsuccessfully to get Ben to reveal where he stashed the money. When Preacher is released from prison he heads for the Harper home, intent on finding the money. Preacher charms Willa and wins her hand in marriage, only to kill her when she learns what he is really like. With only Pearl and John separating him from a small fortune, the Preacher unleashes the full force of his true, evil self. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Charles Laughton had no great love for children and so despised directing them in this film that Robert Mitchum found himself directing the children in several scenes. Robert Mitchum was very eager for the part of the preacher. When he auditioned, a moment that particularly impressed Charles Laughton was when Laughton described the character as "a diabolical shit." Mitchum promptly answered, "Present!" The sequence purportedly showing the preacher riding a horse in the distance was filmed in false perspective and was actually a midget astride a pony.

This was a pretty good movie. Mitchum was good as the evil Preacher. There are two famous scenes in this movie, Shelley Winters dead in the seat of a model T at the bottom of the river with her hair flowing in the current and Robert Mitchum's knuckles (as you can see in the cover art above). Preacher Harry Powell had H-A-T-E tattooed on him left hand and L-O-V-E tattooed on him right hand. This has been copied in a lot of different places including the Simpsons, but since the Simpsons characters only have three fingers, Side Show Bob had "L-U-V" and "H-A-T" with a macron over the middle 'A,' to get that 'long a' sound.