Boys and Their Pets

I was watching The Red Balloon Saturday and I thought, "Hey, this story is so familiar." What did it remind me of. It reminded me of several Boy and His Pet movies. I don't mean films like Lassie Come Home or Old Yeller. The pets I'm thinking of are a caterpillar, a balloon and an alien. I dare you to binge-watch these three films and see how much the plots resemble each other. It's uncanny. Or is it just the fact that all stories come from the same plot?

Why do I think these plots seem similar? Well, they're all about a boy getting a pet, boy gets attached to the pet, enemies try to do away the pet, boy has to let the pet go. Sob.

First we have the strangest of the three films. It's called Once Upon A Time, from 1944. It stars Cary Grant and a little boy and his caterpillar. When I saw it, I was shocked that Cary Grant would have signed on for this silly movie. But I guess in the old studio days, the actors had to star in whatever movies were assigned to them. But watch it and see how similar the plot is to The Red Balloon and ET.  It's a very interesting comparison. This trailer is not great. The boy and his caterpillar never make an appearance. But it was the only one on YouTube.









The Red Balloon was filmed in 1956. It's an incredible film. I don't know how they filmed it in the days before computers. The director of the film, Albert Lamorisse, used his son as the main character. And what a cutie he is. Perfect for the part.

ET The Extra Terrestrial, a film by Steven Spielberg from 1982 is about the boy, Elliot who befriends the alien. You all probably remember this film. But wouldn't it be fun to rewatch it along with the other two.?


 

It's an interesting trio. See what you think.

Never A Winner

There seems to be quite a controversy right now about the films that didn't make the 2015 nominations for best film academy awards. If they can choose 10 Best Films, why did they only select 8? Why not give a nod to Gone Girl or Unbroken? Would it kill them (whoever they are)?

It seems every year there are complaints and controversies about the Academy Awards. - the snubs and omissions. This year the big controversary is about the all white nominations, no diversity in the selections. That controversary has been going on a long time. Every once in a while a black person will win something, but not often. Not too many latinos have won, maybe Rita Moreno and Anthony Quinn and more recently Benecio Del Toro. How many Asians? I can't think of any.

But I'm interested today in films that were never nominated for Best Picture. The three that amaze me are:

1951 - The African Queen!!  What, how could this fabulous film not be nominated for Best Picture?

 




1952 - Singing in the Rain - I know that musicals don't often get selected, but no Singing in the Rain! What!




1957 Paths of Glory - Maybe the anti-war sentiment was too heavy for the academy. But this was a beautiful film and should not have been overlooked.



There are other interesting omissions -
Did Alfred Hitchcock ever win a best picture award? Here are the ones that weren't winners - The 39 Steps, Lifeboat, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Vertigo, Rear Window and Psycho!!!

And Charlie Chaplin!! His films, City Lights, Modern Times and Monsieur Verdoux were all overlooked. O.K. so they gave him a lifetime achievement award or something. But sheesh - it's too bad his movies weren't honored at the time.

Here are some other random omissions that are surprising -
His Girl Friday
Sullivan's Travels
Meet John Doe
Harold & Maude
In Cold Blood

If you're interested in more on this topic, click here - it's a very interesting site:

non winners

Do you have a favorite that either didn't win or wasn't nominated?

She's Just Not That Into Him

Last month I wrote about men who just weren't that into their women. Examples of the films were Madame Bovary, A Place in the Sun and The Heiress. The three women in these films were all jilted by their lovers. So now we need to get even, don't we? The following films all include women who jilt the men. 

This is Claudette Colbert in all her wedding finery right before her wedding. You can tell she's not very happy. She's marrying the wimpy pilot who actually flies what looks sort of like a helicopter to the middle of the estate where the wedding's taking place. Ellie (Claudette) makes her way all the way to the alter but at the last minute bolts to a waiting car and a waiting, handsome Clark Gable. I love the scene where she's running across the grass with her filmy veil flying in the wind.

A very similar scene happens in The Graduate. Katherine Ross is also right at the alter when she hears Dustin Hoffman yelling from the choir loft of the church. She screams, "Ben!!" and then also bolts and ends up with Ben (Dustin) in a bus which carries them away to...not sure where.






Julia Roberts is the quintessential Runaway Bride. She doesn't appear to be into anyone, having made several trips to the alter, only to make her getaway. Until, of course, she meets Richard Gere.



Have I forgotten any jilters? Do you have a favorite? I was also thinking of Sabrina - she doesn't actually make it to the alter. But she does jilt William Holden, so I guess that counts.

He's Just Not That Into Her

I recently watched Madame Bovary on TV and I was struck with the comparison of that film and The Heiress. Both films have a scene with the love sick woman waiting in the road with her bags packed waiting for her lover to pick her up and carry her away. There are probably lots of films with this particular theme, but I'm going to focus on three.

First is Madame Bovary, based on the controversial novel by Gustave Flaubert. It's amazing when you see this film today how tame it is. Emma (Jennifer Jones) has a 4-year affair with Rodolphe even though she's married and has a small child. He promises to carry her away to Italy. She's to meet him with her bags packed at midnight and there she is, waiting, waiting. A carriage drives up only to keep on driving and not stopping for her. Rodolphe never shows. He just wasn't that into her.



The same exact scene appears in The Heiress. Catherine (Olivia de Havilland), a wealthy heiress who is very plain with not a whole lot of personality meets Morris (Montgomery Clift) and he seems to be smitten. But her father insists that he's only after her money. Catherine doesn't think so and decides to elope with him. She packs her bags and waits and waits only to be left, pretty much just like Emma. Morris just wasn't that into her. But she does get her revenge. You'll have to see the movie to see the
ending.



A Place in the Sun features Montgomery Clift again (the cad!). In this film he plays George who proposes to Alice (Shelly Winters). Then later meets and falls in love with Angela (Elizabeth Taylor). Alice is all packed and plans to meet him at the lake (where he's cavorting with Angela). George takes Alice out in a boat and she kind of actually falls out of the boat (?) and drowns. George just wasn't that into her.



The moral of the story is to never pack your bags unless you're absolutely positive he's that into you.

Do you have a favorite film where he dumps the girl?

Next month - films where she dumps him. Stay tuned.

My 3 Scariest Horror Films

No, The Exorcist is not my scariest film, although it was pretty darn scary. But I'm thinking of the films that scared me when I was little. These wouldn't be considered traditional horror films. The three that frightened me the most were:

#1
Bambi
I think I was 4 or 5 when I saw it. I couldn't take it. Bambi's father getting in the big horrific fight, his death, the forest fire. Oh. Upsetting. Then Bambi and his mom were left all alone to brave the elements. Now that would scare any little kid. Disney always ended his films on a happy note and includes endearing creatures like Thumper and Flower so you're not completely in a state of funk. There was at least a little comic relief and a happy ending.




#2
Joan of Arc
The Ingrid Bergman version
This film scared me so much my mother had to remove me from the theater because I was crying so hard. The battle scenes and the trial were bad enough, but when she was burned at the stake - yikes. I just couldn't take it. I had nightmares for days.

 

#3
The Bad Seed
You thought Linda Blair was scary in The Exocist - try Patty McCormick in The Bad Seed. Her head didn't swivel around and she didn't throw up. But she terrified me. What a wicked little kid she was. And the little tune that she plays on the piano over and over! This film is from 1956 so I wasn't too young - about 14. I should have been old enough to handle this one. But I wasn't. And I've seen it recently on television and it still scares me to death.




There's no blood and guts in any of these movies, but the one thing they all have in common - fire. From the forest fire in Bambi, the burning at the stake in Joan of Arc and you'll just have to see The Bad Seed (if you haven't already) to see how fire plays a part.

There's my 3 scary picks. What films scared you as a child?

By the way, have a happy Halloween.

One Take Wonders

Ever since I saw Touch of Evil, I've been interested in films with long takes. I'm not sure how many filmmakers choose to use long takes, but Orson Welles definitely wanted to. He wanted a nice seamless, edited-free scene. So Touch of Evil opens up with a three-minute, twenty-second tracking shot which is widely considered by critics as one of the greatest long takes in cinema history. But they hadn't seen the big daddy of them all yet. We'll talk about that one later.

Here's the whole opening scene to give you an idea. See if you see any cuts or edits:




Another unique film is the one below which is amazing because of when it was shot. It's the 1905 film going down Market Street in San Francisco. This was just before the big 1906 earthquake hit.


But here's the big daddy of them all. It's the film Russian Ark by filmmaker Alexander Sokurov.  

He and his crew broke boundaries with this dreamlike vision of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It's the first feature-length narrative film shot in a single take (on digital video, using a specially designed disc instead of tape). 

Not only do you get a tour of the gorgeous Hermitage, but you also can brush up on your Russian history as each scene deals with a different period of time and includes such notables as Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and the Romanovs. 

The cast rehearsed for months to time their movements just right. But the 90 minute film was shot in just one day. Tilman Buttner was the director of photography who was responsible for capturing the film in one single Steadicam shot.

Hope you enjoyed these one shot wonders. Are there any others that I don't know about? Let me know in the comment section.

Films from the North West of France

Now why would I want to select films from this particular region of France and not Paris? Mainly because I just came back from a trip and spent 10 wonderful days exploring Nantes, The Loire Valley and Brittany. So I thought I'd do this post about movies that were filmed in those areas.

It turns out that Jacques Demy is from Nantes (the 5th largest city in France) and has filmed some of his movies there, in particular, Lola. He used the restaurant La Cigale as a setting for the film. We were lucky enough to have dinner in this spectacular restaurant that is just oozing art nouveau:

Watch for it in this trailer from the film - it's in the scenes where Lola and the girls are dancing with the sailors:
:




Another Demy film that uses a similar French location is Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I didn't get to Cherbourg on my trip. Maybe next time. Here are scenes from one of my favorite films - not so much for the singing which can be a little off-putting for some people, but for the glorious color of each shot:





Then we have the film Le Havre. This one is not by Demy but it was filmed also in the North of France, Le Havre. The location for this film is a little grittier than the other two, but it's a wonderful film.  I recommend it highly:

These three films aren't particularly cimilar in plot. But they were all shot in a cimilar region of France. What better reason to tie them together along with being able to mention my trip.

Let's see, where will my next trip be? Maybe Italy where we can explore all the locations of Fellini.
That would be another dream trip.