Fright Fest Begins

The month of October is upon us and this month I have decided to celebrate some of the shocks, screams, thrills, and chills Old Hollywood had to offer. From the terrifying long nails of Nosferatu to the hair-tingling transformation of Lon Chaney, Jr. into The Wolfman to The Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, Hollywood had us on the edge of our seats with fright and anticipation.

Unlike the horror movies of today, which rely more on straightforward gore, violence, and sexuality to draw in viewers to the box office, this movies relied more on suspense, drama, and a creation of a frightening realm through makeup, costuming, scenery, and spectacular acting to keep audiences paralyzed with fear. Though many see these films as outdated and their horror not quite as petrifying as the modern films that push all the limits and sometimes manage to desensitize us to the truly horrible, many are still relevant and still relevantly spooky if you watch them at the right time of night with the lights off. I dare you to stay up late and watch one of the old movies where Vincent Price interprets the works of Edgar Allan Poe then have pleasant dreams that night.

Of course, there are some films whose once innovative and frightening special effects now emit laughter and certain films that missed the mark, becoming more horrible than horrifying. Still, we need to explore what it was that once made these movies so terrifying to audiences, what about audiences have changed, and the major innovations these first frightening films made that allowed for modern advancement in the movies. I like to think that even the bad films did some good, even if the only good is giving us something to laugh at.

So I invite you, if you dare, to join me this month in celebrating what is scary and what is scarily funny about Old Hollywood. Who knows? We might all get a good scream out of it.

Grace and Beauty

I would like to congratulate the venerable actress Greer Garson a happy 104 birthday since it was on this day in 1904 she was born. Greer won the 1943 Oscar for her lead role in I would like to congratulate the venerable actress Greer Garson a happy 103 birthday since it was on this day in 1904 she was born. Greer won the 1943 Oscar for her lead role in Mrs. Miniver and still holds the Guinness Book World Record for the longest Oscar acceptance speech. In 1942, she tied Bette Davis's record for being nominated for having five Best Actress nominees in five years. Greer also gained acclaim for her roles in Madame Curie, Mrs. Parkington, and The Valley of Decision. Younger generations might remember Greer better as the narrator of the claymation film The Little Drummer Boy. 

She was considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, but lost out the famed Vivien Leigh. Tutored by none other than Laurence Olivier during her theatre days in London, Greer was set up from the beginning to be a great actress. Greer also enjoyed many successful acting partnerships with Clark Gable and Walter Pidgeon.

My personal favorite role of Greer's is as Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. Intellectual and witty, Greer was a perfect fit for the role of Elizabeth Bennett. Greer's portrayal of the role is my second favorite, only to Jennifer Ehle in the masterful BBC mini-series. Greer captures the essence of Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennett wonderful, from her simplest expressions to her delivery of the lines taken from Jane Austen's masterpiece and written into script form by Aldous Huxley. Laurence Olivier stars opposite Greer as Mr. Darcy, and the film features an all-star cast, including Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver, Ann Rutherford, and Edmund Gwenn. Ironically, it was Vivien Leigh who was passed over for Greer's role of Elizabeth Bennett.

Greer Garson is truly a Hollywood actress who those of today should aspire to emulate. She was a shining example of grace, beauty, and elegance in her time and devoted to the craft of acting. 

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

Last night during supper, Turner Classic Movies was showing the prototype for all detective films and the birth of the 1940s detective cliché, The Maltese Falcon. This movie is one of my absolute favorites, so naturally I pulled up the TV tray and watched it, eating my soup and grilled cheese. Every time I watch this film, I'm always reminded how good it is and find myself, instead of passively watching a movie, engaged in it to the point its like I'm visiting with an old friend.

Everyone knows the classic story of gritty anti-hero P.I. Sam Spade, launched into a twisted web of lies, thievery, and murder when beautiful Miss Wanderly waltzes into his office. With his partner dead, the police on his tail, a manipulative pathological liar who has her eyes on Sam, and a group of thieves willing to do anything to get their hands on the multi-million dollar artifact known as The Maltese Falcon, Sam more than has his hands full solving the crime. Its dramatic storyline interwoven with twists, turns, romance, and intrigue has made it one of the best movies of all time

Based on 1930 detective novel by Dashiell Hammet, the 1941 film is not only a masterpiece but an important landmark in the history of film. This is the film that introduced Humphrey Bogart as an A-list leading man and hero and gave the legendary John Houston his directorial debut. It also marks the beginning of the celebrated film partnership between Bogart and Houston, arguably one of the greatest director/actor teams in film history. Peter Lorre and Mary Astor also give memorable performances as a sly, scum bag thief and a beautiful, wily damsel out to put the blame on anyone but herself. Historians also regard The Maltese Falcon as the first film in the "Film Noir" genre. The film itself is a cultural icon and through continuing parodies, references, and adaptations is still an important part of film today.

Though the film was nominated for three Academy Awards - best picture, Sydney Greenstreet for best supporting actor, and John Houston best adapted screenplay - it won none of the awards. However, the film has received a considerable amount of honors since then, especially from the American Film Institute. The film came in #31 on AFI's list of 100 Years...100 Movies, #26 on its list of 100 Years...100 Thrills, "the stuff that dreams are made of" quote from the Tempest spoken by Bogart in the film came in at #14 on the list of top movie quotes, was #6 on AFI's list of top mystery films, and Bogart came in #1 on the list of top male actors. In 1989, the film was selected by the National Film Registry for preservation in the first year of voting.

Modertimes.com has done a great rehashing of the film, focusing on criticism and giving an in depth look into all aspects of the film, from the characters, to the filmography, and a scene by scene analysis of the film. Filmsite.org also does a great review of the film along with fun facts about it and explanations of scenes that might be confusing to those who have not seen the film as many times as us more religious viewers of it.

Overall, The Maltese Falcon is an extremely enjoyable film experience. I recommend anyone who hasn't see it to go out and watch it and anyone who has seen it to watch it again. This is truly a film that makes you remember why you enjoy watching movies.

Behind the Blue Eyes: Remembering Paul Newman

Today is a sad day in the history of motion pictures as we have lost one of the finest actors who ever graced the screen. This morning, Paul Newman died at his Westport, Connecticut home following complications from lung cancer.

Newman is famous for roles such as Eddie Felson in The Hustler, Prof. Michael Armstrong in Hitchcock's Torn Curtain, his Academy Award nonimated performance as Luke Jackson in Cool Hand Luke, Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me and playing opposite Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. His obituary in the New York Times billed Newman as "one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars" and provides a detailed list of the actors roles, accomplishments, and personal life.

Perhaps the only thing exceeding Newman's reputation in film is his reputation as an activist and philanthropist. Newman was quoted as saying "You can't stop being a citizen just because you have a Screen Actors' Guild card". His "Hole in the Wall Gang Camp" provides services for seriously ill children and he has donated millions of dollars to charitable organizations. I find it hard myself to sit down to a family supper without at least one bottle of "Newman's Own Dressing" sitting beside me on the table. His warm face staring up from the bottle is a reminder of his charitable efforts worldwide.

Newman said of his own legacy: "I would like it if people would think that beyond Newman, there's a spirit that takes action, a heart, and a talent that doesn't come from my blue eyes". Through his actions, Newman proved his heart was as big as his talent and the memories we have of him will forever radiate on the screen. We will miss those blue eyes piercing up at as but we will even more so miss the heart and the talent behind those blue eyes.

"You Must Remember This"

From the heroic antics of Rin Tin Tin, to Al Jolson breaking the sound barrier on the screen, to Bogart and Bergman parting in Casablanca, to the Looney Tunes “Merry Melodies”, the Warner Brothers Studio has seen it all. It has survived the beginnings of the film industry to be one of three of the “Big Five” studios of Hollywood’s Golden Age still producing films today.

PBS has just done a wonderful program on their American Master’s series, entitled “You Must Remember This”, chronicling the rise of the Warner Brothers Studios and all of its many contributions to film. Expertly narrated by Clint Eastwood with commentary by biographers, historians, directors, and actors involved with the studio, the program follows Warner Brother’s from its creation by a group of four Polish-Jewish immigrants, through its history of pushing the boundaries of what a Hollywood film can and should do, and on to its current films. Currently, PBS has the program posted on its website and you can watch short segments of it individually on a variety of topics.

American Masters covers Warner Brothers’ transition into “talkies”, its fighting back against the production codes, its advocating of the working man and fights against fascism worldwide, and all of the risks the studio has taken over the years. Known for taking incredible risks with content and development, Warner Brothers has trudged ahead in the film world. The studio has been home to such legends in the film industry as Darryl F. Zanuck, John Barrymore, Dick Powell, Errol Flynn, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Olivia de Havilland, Humphrey Bogart, Vivien Leigh, Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, and of course the Warners themselves.

I highly recommend logging on to PBS and checking out this program. It is masterfully done, being of public broadcasting quality and all, and really goes behind the movies that made the studio.

Laughing All the Way to the Madhouse

On this day in 1944, one of my personal favorite old movies was released: Arsenic and Old Lace. Directed by the legendary Frank Capra of You Can’t Take It With You and It’s A Wonderful Life fame and starring the just as legendary Cary Grant, the movie is a screwball comedy for the ages.

The plot is complex, as screwball comedies often are. Mortimer Brewster (Grant) is drama critic and famous writer of an anti-marriage book, which has not stopped him from getting engaged to Elaine Harper – played by the beautiful Priscilla Lane. Naturally, that is the most normal thing about Mortimer’s life. Throughout the film, he has to deal with Uncle Teddy, who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt and buries “yellow fever victims” in the basement. Add in Mortimer’s long lost, escapee prisoner brother (Raymond Massey) who has been styled by his accomplice to resemble Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, a pair of senile murderess old aunts, a reverend, a judge, a head of mental sanitarium, and half a dozen police officers, and you have a recipe for the chaos that quickly envelops Mortimer Brewster’s life.

Throughout the film, twists in the plot occur making for a darkly funny comedy. After watching the insane antics of the Brewster clan, you will definitely think better of your own family. The movie is based off of a play by the same name, written by German immigrant Joseph Kesselring. Though macabre in nature, the film is truly spectacular and carries on in the unbelievable yet hysterical tradition of comedies in its mode.

What saddens me is that it is rare to find a modern screwball comedy with such well done hilarity, suspension of disbelief, and absolutely superior storyline than those comedies of old. Nowadays, most comedies rely on bowel movement jokes or crude humor to get their laughs, choosing to push the boundaries more than try to write an actually intelligent joke. I’m all for pushing boundaries, but still, it would be nice to have my intelligence appreciated enough that contemporary Hollywood writers thought their audience was smart enough to work out a complex joke or humorous scenario. Often times, films that attempt to recapture the glory of the early screwballs fall terribly short and end up being laughed at for all the wrong reasons.

Classics like Arsenic and Old Lace can hardly go wrong, especially with an all-star pairing such as Capra and Grant. I honestly implore you to go check out Arsenic and Old Lace and I promise you will be barking mad with laughter at the end.

She Did It The Hard Way

I hate to do two Bette Davis posts in one week, especially one right after another, but a stamp is being released in Boston to honor Davis. CNN did the story on the stamp, which features Davis dressed as Margo Channing from All About Eve. Channing is one of Davis’s most memorable roles. The article outlines Davis’s film and even discusses the Kim Carne’s song “Bette Davis Eyes” that the actress inspired. Davis’s trademark were her large, expressive eyes and the fact that she could say more with a mere look from them than most actors do the entire time they practice their craft.

Davis contributed a lot in her time, helping sell war bonds during World War II, organizing the “Hollywood Canteen” that entertained troops, raised her three children as a single mother, and was first female president of the Academy. Her roles remain timeless and her spirit still lives on through her work. She has a reputation for being cantankerous but her talent and grace has earned her a place among the greatest of Hollywood's stars. Bette was a woman who truly did it the hard way.

All About Acting Over Forty

If you have not seen All About Eve, I implore you, drop everything you’re doing and go rent it now! It is one of my personal favorites and perhaps one of Bette Davis’s best performances, though you’re free to debate me on that. It remains the Most Nominated Film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It won six Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Sound, and Best Screenplay. There isn’t much that can you can say about the greatness of this film that has not already been said. So why talk about it, you might ask?


Since Women’s Lib in the Seventies, there has been much talk about female empowerment, breaking the glass ceiling, and how women sabotage other women. Also, everyone knows about how a Hollywood actress’s roles are cut in half once she turns 40 since most films want young, beautiful women as their leading ladies. After 40, women seem resigned to the roles of either mom, grandma, or cougar. All About Eve is a movie that deals with all of these themes and ideas that still plague actresses and career women in modern days, with the added twist that All About Eve was made in 1950. Being very young, when I think of the Fifties, I think of the Leave It To Beaver and Donna Reed Show reruns I’ve seen. Or something reminiscent of Al’s Diner in Happy Days. The Fifties is not an era one typically associates with ideas of women taking charge of their lives, careers, and especially their men. The film seems completely ahead of its time to me. It amazes me how the lessons learned from still apply today and how the struggles in the movie are still prevalent in today’s Hollywood.

The entire film is a satire of struggling women in theatre. Bette Davis’s brusque, been-around-the-block-before character of Margo Channing is an aging starlet in a world where roles go to young women. Celeste Holm is Karen Richards, Margo’s friend and wife of a playwright who wrote a play especially for Margo in younger days. Anne Baxter plays up-and-comer Eve Harrington who maniacally weasels her way into Margo’s good graces and then steals away her career. Even Marilyn Monroe makes a cameo in a role that soon comes to echo her own rise to stardom, an ingénue who has to use her body to get things done and has the caricature of a dumb blonde. The characters still apply today in modern Hollywood and many actresses face the same struggles as Margo Channing although perhaps not with as much wit.

If you want to further explore what it means to be an actress over forty, I recommend checking out Invisible Women, which tries to find out what is responsible for the phenomena of aging actress disappearing off the screen.

Silence is Golden

Silent Film was a revolution in the arts and set the stage for all modern filmmaking as we know it. They created Hollywood, the first celebrity culture in America and aboard, as well as revolutionized what the term “art form” meant. They provided a new medium for people to enjoy, setting the stage for television and therein the Internet. Yet, as culturally significant as Silent Film was, not a lot seems to be done to preserve these films or give modern audiences access to them.

Most older films are made using nitrate film. The nitrocellulose base of nitrate film not only decomposes steadily over time but can also be harmful to projectionists because of chemicals within it. This decomposition has made it increasingly difficult to restore films as well as locate them since many old films have been completely lost. There is no telling how much art or film history we have lost because of the disintegration of these precious reels.

While many silent films are physically lost, the ones that we do have restored sometimes seem culturally lost. Very rarely do they show silent movies any more. You either have to seek out a showing at a local theatre or venue or catch them in rotation, usually late at night on Turner Classic Movies or another movie channel. Another option is to buy the films so you have them at your own disposal, but I have been hard pressed to find Silent Film collections at any of my local DVD retailers. A few websites, such as The Silent Era provides you with a list of “Lost Films” as well as DVDs of those films which have been restored. Another sight, Silents Are Golden, provides more resources on Silent Film including essays on their cultural impact, movie stills, posters, screening lists, and places where silents are being made available. In addition, Martin Scorsece has helped to found The Film Foundation, which works towards the preservation of classic films, tries to educate modern audiences on film preservation, and provides an abundance of film references.

These classic films are not only a part of our history and culture, but they are very much enjoyable to watch. Sure, the special effects may be nothing compared to modern CGI and some of the acting may seem overdone, but silent film is an art form of its era, something we can no longer recapture. Everyone working in modern television, film, or who even posts a video on the Internet owes a lot to those early Silent movies. Perhaps if modern filmmakers returned to their roots, they would learn a little bit about what current film needs.

Where are all the musicals?

Are musicals a dying film genre or are they just now making a come back? Sometimes it seems that in early film you couldn’t have a movie unless that movie had a song in it and movie musicals were one of the sure-fire moneymakers for the big studios. Every one of the Marx Brothers' movies have a song in as to the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope Road Movies. There are so many famous movie musicals, most of them adapted from Broadway musicals.

A very short list of my personal favorites are Singin’ in the Rain, Porgy and Bess, Carmen Jones, Guys & Dolls, The King and I, The Jazz Singer, Meet Me in St. Louis, An American in Paris, My Fair Lady, No Business Like Show Business, Anything Goes, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Gypsy, and Show Boat. The list could go on and on, but I won’t fill up an entire post with a list of great musicals. The point is that old movies are chock full of musicals or at least song. Sometimes its hokey, sometimes its too sugary sweet and upbeat, but it always adds humor to a comedy or sadness to a drama. I still tear up every time I hear the strains of “Ol’ Man River” from Show Boat.

Of course, the popularity of musicals seemed to taper off in the late Eighties, and Nineties. Sure, there were such classics as Evita and John Waters’ Cry Baby and the Original Hairspray (which I find far superior to the current version. Just saying), but musicals were nowhere near as dominate on the film screen as they have been in the past. Of course, nowadays, musicals seem to be making a comeback. We have Chicago, Moulin Rouge, The Producers, and Sweeny Todd, all movie versions of Broadway plays (or in the case of The Producers, a version of a Broadway play that is a version of a movie). Still, musicals are not as prominent in our culture sphere as they once where.

I have a lot of remaining questions about what happened to the good old-fashioned movie musical. Why is it that studios don’t seen musicals as the seat-filling blockbusters they used to? What about our culture doesn’t seem to enjoy musicals as much as we used to? Did the musicals change or did we?

The Women vs. The Women

Diane English has undertaken the remake of “The Women”, a new version of the 1938 version of “The Women” directed by George Cukor and based on the play by Clare Boothe Luce. Like the original, the movie has a cast of entirely women with no men, which was unheard of in the 1938 world of film. Both center around a salon where all the gossip takes place. Both movies feature a wealthy social elite who believes she has the perfect life, only to discover that her husband is cheating on her with a girl at perfume counter. Both films feature a woman who gets back at her cheating husband and simultaneously manages to preserve her dignity among a group of catty social elite acquaintances. The difference between the two films?

In 1939, divorce was unheard of. It was done, but not spoken about in polite company and only hinted around at in film. “The Women” in 1939 has much more impact as a feminist movie, showing women who take matters into their own hands and divorce their husbands rather than remaining perfect but cuckolded housewives. So far, the plots seem the same, though the modern version will definitely be more about career women than the original (since women in the 1939 weren’t really “working mothers” in the modern sense of the term). Another score for the 2008 version is Jada Pinkett Smith in a supporting actress role, since it was virtually unheard of to have a supporting actress of color in the early days of film.

Typically, I don’t like remakes of classic movies. They make me cringe, especially when I remember the famous star who was in the original role and watch modern actors fall short when they try to measure up. Also, modern filmmakers often try to “improve” the film or make it there own in a way that completely insults the memory of the original. They call them classics for a reason. Also, it would be nice if Hollywood took more risks on new, original scripts than keep remaking the same ideas and plots over and over again, as if we don’t notice.

For these reasons and more I could expound upon ad nauseum, I am particularly interested to see the modern interpretation of “The Women” and how Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, and Jada Pinkett Smith reprise the roles held by Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, Phyllis Povah, and Joan Fontaine. In fact, the 1939 film is basically a Who’s Who of the leading ladies of MGM at the time. These ladies have some pretty big heels to fill, especially since the 1939 version was just added to the National Film Registry in 2007 so that it can be preserved for posterity.

Altogether, “The Women” is an interesting premise from any angle: a movie by women for women. Okay, guys can come too.

Introduction and Sort-of Mission Statement

The 1930s and 40s are often given the title of the “Golden Age of Hollywood”since it saw the rise of the studio system, some of Hollywood’s most famous and enduring stars, as for studios churning out new films like mass manufactured factory products. I have always thought of the “Golden Age of Hollywood” as a much larger time period, from the Silent Film Era of the 1910s until the mid-1960s when the cultural revolutions took over Hollywood and films became more about shock value and pushing boundaries than producing enjoyable content.

In our modern times, film has become about the bottom line, test audiences, how many action figures can be produced, and originality has been left on the cutting room floor. Most of the films we see now are remakes of older films, adaptations from books, bio pics, or ideas that are so formulaic and repetitive that you can decipher the plot before you even walk into the theatre, pay about ten bucks for your ticket and another ten for your popcorn and soda. Not to say that there hasn’t been a single good movie since 1965. I enjoy tons of modern films, but before the modern era, film was different. It had an unattainable essence of romance, creativity, and originality we now lack.

In the earliest of days, everything was new and an experiment. Special effects have come along way and seeing how far we’ve come when watching “King Kong” is an amazing experience. Filmmakers, writers, and executives gave more credit to the audience in these older films, believing they could follow along with witty, quick dialogue exchanges, sudden plot turns, and didn’t patronize them by over explaining everything to them, giving them credit for paying attention and picking up on plot details. Now if you want to feel like an intelligent audience member, you are relegated to watching indie films or films which are getting so much Oscar buzz people believe them to be too complicated for the average viewer to understand. Actors then had more theatre training, most of them performing for periods on stage in places like New York and London before moving to Hollywood. Silent film stars rely solely on their emotions to convey what is happening in a scene and it is amazing to see how they can communicate with the audience without the power of words.

I find that by watching older movies, I can understand newer ones more easily. Not to mention that there is something inherently romantic about watching classic film. It is also interesting to see how they portrayed scenes of love and violence during the times of the Hays Code and the creativity that went into making sure the audience read between the lines to find out what was going on. I think modern filmmakers need to go back to their roots and see what it was that made film so great during the Golden Years.