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I have recently been hired by the Nashville Examiner to do a film blog for them. You can check it our here. Feel free to comment and tell me what you think!

A Royal Trip to Rome

Perhaps gaining some of its public appeal from the ill-fated romance of England's Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend, the story of the 1953 film Roman Holiday is one of those classic stories of a princess or president's daughter who runs away to find our her real identity, battling against her future as a famous woman in power. This is the first major studio film starring the beautiful Audrey Hepburn in a leading role and consequently became the film where she was made into a star.

The story follows that of Princess Anne (Hepburn) of some unnamed country out on her royal debut by touring all of Europe. Angry by the restrictions placed on her by her royal entourage, Anne runs away, forgetting she has taken a sleeping pill and ends up sleeping on a bench. Anne is rescued by American photographer Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) who is covering the Princess's visit to Rome recognizes her. She tells him she is Anya Smith, but he sees through her disguise. Playing along, Joe tells his editor (Hartley Power) that he has perhaps the story of the year on his hands. Joe and photographer friend Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert) take Anne around Rome and give her the whirlwind experience of a life time. Anne and Joe fall in love with each other and Anne is given a choice. She can either stay with Joe and renounce her throne or she can grow up and take charge of her royal duties.

The film was made in black and white to reduce the cost and also so that the city of Rome would not outshine the cast. It was the first American film entirely filmed in Italy. Director Frank Capra was originally slated to produce the film and he wanted Cary Grant and Elizabeth Taylor in the lead roles. Jean Simmons and Suzanne Cloutier were both considered for the role of Princess Anne, but both were busy on other projects. It was Gregory Peck who told the studio to put Audrey Hepburn's name above the film in ad campaigns because she was going to be the break out star of the film.

The film is ranked #4 on the AFI list of greatest romance movies. For some reviews on the film, you can check out this entry on the Decent Films site. Movie Man's Guide provides this review of the film. The blog Rick's Flicks Picks has this to say about the movie and Brianrowe.net has this review.And here, for your enjoyment, is the film's original trailer:

The Lady of the Camellias

A tragic story of love, loss, and love again is the 1936 George Cuckor film Camille puts together a group of amazing actors to retell a classic novel. This film has gone on to be one of the most praised love stories, even making Time magazine's list of 100 Best Movies of All Time. If you want to watch this film, you can start here.

The original story is titled "The Lady of the Camellias", referring to the camellia flower the main character always carries. The name Camille was derived from the flower and is what the story is more commonly known as today. The novel was written by Alexandre Dumas, but not the Alexandre Dumas famous for writing The Three Musketeers or The Count of Monte Cristo. The author of Camille is that author's son with his mistress, Parisian dressmaker Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay. The younger Alexander was taken away from his mother at a very young age to live with his father. The story of Camille was partially based on the struggles of Dumas's own mother, but more based on the story of Marie du Plessis, perhaps the most famous French courtesan who ever lived.

The story follows Marguerite Gautier (Greta Garbo) who is born into a poor family but works her way up using her charms to become the Dame Camille. Encouraged by Prudence Duvernoy (Laura Hope Crews), who is the person Camille might become in her old age, Camille is to meet and then seduce the Baron de Varville (Henry Daniell), displacing rival courtesan Olympe (Lenore Ulric). Of course, Camille spies the wrong man and believes the baron is the handsome Armand Duval (Robert Taylor), who she instantly falls in love with her. Camille is kept by the Baron but still loves Armand, who thinks Camille only cares for material possessions. Eventually, Camille leaves the Baron to be with Armand, but Armand's father (Lionel Barrymore) points out to Camille that her reputation will ruin Armand's chance at getting a better life forever. Camille pretends not to love Armand, sending him away. Yet when her consumption begins to grow worse, Camille is convinced that Armand will come back to her.

It is easy how to see that the film Moulin Rouge basically completed ripped off the entire plot of this film, which in turn ripped of the book, but more clever analyses have been made. For more background information on the film itself, you can look at this page from filmsite.org. The Dusted Off blog does this interesting comparison of Camille to modern day Bollywood films.

For more reviews of this film, you can look here at the 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die blogspot. The Classic Film Guide has this review of the film more in the context of the time period. The Garbo Forever fan site has this review of the film as well. And here is one of the original trailers for the film:

Gone with the Wind: A Legacy

Perhaps one of the most ambitious films ever made, the four hour long 1939 film Gone with the Wind probably defines the term "American epic". Produced by the legendary David O. Selznick at Warner Brother's studio, the I am not going to detail the long plotline, or the amount of awards the film recieved, including its ten Oscar wins that were not to be outdone for twenty years. Everyone knows of the illustrious cast of Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Ann Rutherford, Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Fred Crane, George Reeves, and so many others. I want to talk about the legacy of the film and all of the fan worship that his risen up from it.

The original book Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell was originally published in 1937 and won a Pulitzer Prize. Mitchell did not approve of or condone much of the making of the film, she did approve of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara. Her book became one of the best selling books in history and was listed by time as one of the Best 100 Novels ever written. Recently, writer Alice Randall released a parody version of the book entitled The Wind Done Gone, which is the same story told from the perspective of a slave at Tara. For more information on the history of the book and film, you can look here at the official fan site and at this article, from the historyoffilm.com.

Both the film and the book have become an American icon, as evidenced by this article. An entire industry has been built around Gone with the Wind and Scarlett O'Hara. The Scarlett O'Hardy Museum in Jefferson, Texas offers a museum memorabilia, a Scarlett O'Hara bed and breakfast, and souvenir. The Scarlett Online fan site offers everything Scarlett from costume made clothes to dolls to look-a-likes. The University of Texas at Austin even has a Gone with the Wind exhibit online, providing history, biography, costuming, and more.

Atlanta and the state of Georgia have even developed an entire segment of their tourist industry devoted to the film, book, and characters. You can visit the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, where the story had its inception or the official Gone with the Wind exhibit in the history museum at Marietta, Georgia. In fact, Atlanta has even set up this official trip guide for those of you who would like to take a GWTW themed trip, including sites connected to the film like the real Twelve Oaks, Tara, the GWTW tour, battlefields from the movie and more.

Gone with the Wind has infultrated so much of our culture in parody, history, and society to become an American icon. From the lines to the costumes to the actors to the vacation plans, this is truly an immortal film.

Austen and Romance

Though not the most accurate version of Jane Austen 's classic tale, the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice is my second favorite after the 1995 BBC Miniseries. One of the reasons for this is because the 1940 version has an excellent cast of characters, in particular my favorite actress in the role of Elizabeth Bennet , Greer Garson. This version of the film, with a script primarily written by novelist Aldous Huxley , is more of a combination of Pride and Prejudice along with another Austen novel, Emma.

I won't bore you with the details of a story we all know so well, but I will point out Garson's excellent fellow cast mates in this film. Mr. Darcy is played by the illustrious actor Sir Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland is Mrs. Bennet, Edna May Oliver is Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Edmund Gwenn is Mr. Darcy, Maureen O'Sullivan is Jane Bennet and Ann Rutherford is Lydia. Though the film is not accurate, it is still a treat to see so many wonderful screen greats at their craft.

A lot of criticism arises over how the film does not follow along with the book and how the costumes do not match the period. The film was made in 1940, during the Great Depression when the US still was not recovering entirely because World War II was just beginning. The costumes were reused from epic Gone with the Wind, because MGM did not have the money to make new ones. They also did not have money to shoot some of the location scenes, which is why the Pemberly scene is missing. Keeping up with its Gone with the Wind leftovers, Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable were both considered for lead roles in this film.

The film has been remade several times since this inception and will probably continue to be redone. Still, I prefer the book version, if I have to choose. For those that are interested, here is a trailer for the film: