THE BICYCLE THIEF (1948, ITALY), PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (1985)

A Comparison of Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief

and Tim Burton's Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Basic Plot:
The Bicycle Thief: Man’s life spirals out of control after theft of his bike
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Man’s life spirals out of control after theft of his bike

Title in Italian:
The Bicycle Thief: Ladri di biciclette
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Grande esperienza uoma di piccola statura

Importance of bicycle:
The Bicycle Thief: Means of livelihood
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Life itself

Film style:
The Bicycle Thief: Neo-realistic
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Fairy tale/Fable

Protagonist biggest bike fantasy:
The Bicycle Thief: No fantasies, just wants to earn a living
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Wins the Tour de France

Antagonist:
The Bicycle Thief: Poor, epileptic peasant named Alfredo who wears a German cap
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Rich, spoiled man/boy named Francis who wears an ascot

Signature line:
The Bicycle Thief: “Give me my bicycle back!”
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: “I know you are, but what am I?”

Forgotten female lead:
The Bicycle Thief: Antonio’s wife, ignored after the first twenty minutes of the film
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Dottie, ignored by Pee Wee the entire film

Lack of help from the police:
The Bicycle Thief: “You’ve filed a complaint. There’s nothing more I can say!”
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: “Let me be honest with you. Hundreds of bikes are stolen every month. Very few are ever recovered. We just don’t have the resources.”

Musical interlude:
The Bicycle Thief: Three-man band at a restaurant featuring ukulele, guitar and violin.
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Twisted Sister

Is there a scene of the protagonist mourning over lost bike in the rain to show despondency?
The Bicycle Thief: Yes
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Yes

Loyal sidekick:
The Bicycle Thief: Antonio’s little son Bruno
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Pee Wee’s little dog Speck

Favorite scene that made me laugh but I can’t explain why it’s funny:
The Bicycle Thief: Antonio’s son Bruno slips in the rain. Antonio asks, “What happened?” Bruno points at the spot and yells, “I fell down!”
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Mario the magic shop proprietor tries to sell Pee Wee various items culminating with a giant plastic head and Pee Wee screams, “NO!”

Coincidence alert:
The Bicycle Thief: Antonio spots an old man talking to the boy who stole his bike
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Truck carrying the stolen bike goes by Pee Wee while he’s driving down the road

Most surrealistic moment:
The Bicycle Thief: None
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Pee Wee’s movie within a movie is brought to the screen with James Brolin as P. W. and Morgan Fairchild as Dottie. The bicycle has become the ‘X1’ motorcycle.

Most neo-realistic moment:
The Bicycle Thief: Antonio has not only lost his bike, but his dignity, only to comforted by the touch of his son’s hand
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: None

Heroic moment:
The Bicycle Thief: Antonio’s friend Baiocco tries to help find the bike.
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Pee Wee saves some snakes from a burning pet store

Tragic lines said to the protagonist:
The Bicycle Thief: “Criminal! Scoundrel! Fine example you set for your son!”
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: “There’s no basement at the Alamo!”

Director’s use of non-actors:
The Bicycle Thief: Casting of many non-actors in pivotal roles
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Casting of non-actor Morgan Fairchild

Director’s later change of pace:
The Bicycle Thief: Vittorio De Sica later made his own fairy tale/fable in Miracle in Milan
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Tim Burton later went neo-realistic (to a degree) in Batman

Is this film in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die?
The Bicycle Thief: Often regarded as one of the top ten films of all time. Of course it’s in the book!
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: No, but it probably ought to be.

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THE WOLFMAN (1941)

MOVIES I WATCHED BECAUSE I GOT A SUBSCRIPTION TO NETFLIX AND THEY WERE IN THE 1001 MOVIES YOU MUST SEE BEFORE YOU DIE BOOK MONTH

(Post 1 of 10)

I might be the only person whose first movie to be cued with their brand new Netflix subscription is...the 1941 version of The Wolfman with Lon Chaney, Jr. I just hadn't had a DVD of it available and I haven't found it available on YouTube before, so I decided to give it a go.

I grew up watching the Universal monsters on TV. Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy etc. The scariest one of all had to be the Wolfman, because the wolf  moved at you quickly like a force of nature and there was really no getting away. You could always run away from the Frankenstein monster, but there was no escape from The Wolfman.

The Wolfman as a film is dated as far as some of the action goes and the transformation scene is only adequate. However, once Larry Talbot changes into The Wolfman, I do love the way he looks. So A for makeup, B- for transformation. 

The exposition scenes with the gypsys and Bela Lugosi actually playing a gypsy named Bela is actually pretty good, though a bit on the abbreviated side. Of course, everything is abbreviated in this movie at only 69 minutes in length total. We also have appearances by supporting actor masters Claude Rains and Ralph Bellamy. 

The mood of this film which is exemplified by the Talbot ancestral home and all that darn fog is pretty effective. A for atmosphere.

The Wolfman also gave Lon Chaney Jr. his defining career role. Interesting that he did play Frankenstein and Dracula in later films, but The Wolfman was the one role that was really his. He isn't revered by film buffs like his father, but let's certainly give him his due as Larry Talbot/Wolfman. Of course, he does seem to have a little problem in the scenes where  clunky Larry Talbot is trying to hit on the lovely Evelyn Keyes. But no matter, you need to see The Wolfman. But if you are going to include The Wolfman on the 1001 list, I'd think about adding The Creature From the Black Lagoon to the list too.

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ODD MAN OUT (1947, GREAT BRITAIN)

Doesn't it seem like British movies have a distinctive air of, for lack of another word Britishness? 

But exactly HOW British are they?

How British is it? Month (Post 7 of 10)

Odd Man Out

Suspenseful drama about an Irish revolutionary and his dealings with various people who are trying to either hurt, help or use him. Odd Man Out's many late night street scenes definitely reminds me a great deal of Carol Reed's later classic, The Third Man.

But how British is it? Irish revolutionaries? Yet, the film isn't really about that. It even says so in the film's opening scroll. British pubs and horse drawn carriages? There's a bit of that. But it's really just another example of film noir and how the odd man out gets used and misused. The setting for this could easily be transferred elsewhere.

Rating for Britishness from 1-10: I liked this film, but I can only give it a Britishness rating of about 6.

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THE MAN IN GREY (1943, GREAT BRITAIN)

Doesn't it seem like British movies have a distinctive air of, for lack of another word Britishness? 

But exactly HOW British are they?

How British is it? Month (Post 6 of 10)

The Man in Grey

Gainsborough Film Studios in Great Britain put out a series of popular motion picture costume period dramas like The Man in Grey during World War II. Who wouldn't want a little escapism during times of war?

The Man in Grey's plot involves four main characters. They are played by the largely evil Margaret Atwood and James Mason (above) and the largely good Phyllis Calvert and Stewart Granger. I found the intrigues of the plot interesting and James Mason's character is probably the most memorable, thought I'm still not sure this film would make my 1001 list. I did like the movie being framed in a modern day setting which features Calvert and Granger as contemporary characters.

How British Is It? The modern setting featuring British today (1943) and the main setting during the Regency period of the early 19th century is damn British.

Rating for Britishness from 1-10: I can't say this was my favorite of the films I saw this month, but it's damn sure British! Let's give it a 10!

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I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING! (1945, GREAT BRITAIN)

Doesn't it seem like British movies have a distinctive air of, for lack of another word Britishness? 

But exactly HOW British are they?

How British is it? Month (Post 4 of 10)

I Know Where I'm Going!

Powell and Pressburger's romance may be best remembered for bringing to life a most dreamlike place called Killoran...whether we ever manage to get there or not. 

But how British is it? Answer: Really not very British at all. But with the films emphasis on fog, mist, castles, bogs, lochs, moors, myths, legends, falconry, lairds, plaid skirts, a rousing ceilidh with bagpipes a'playin' and blokes and lassies speaking in Gaelic, it's damn sure Scottish!

Rating for Britishness from 1-10: Only about a 3 or 4
Rating for Scottishness from 1-10: Definitely a 10! 

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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (1943, GREAT BRITAIN)

Doesn't it seem like British movies have a distinctive air of, for lack of another word Britishness?
But exactly HOW British are they?

How British is it? month (Post 1 of 10)

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Powell and Pressburger's involving and epic story of forty years of a soldier's life is told mostly in flashback and though it took me awhile to catch up with the story, I eventually did.

But how British is it? Well, you don't get more British than the by-the-book Colonel Blimp. Colonel Blimp's stand that England won the first World War while fighting clean and within the rules (unlike those evil Germans!) made me think about the British stiff upper lip and all that sort of thing. Of course, his fair fighting might not work as well for World War II. This is 1943 after all, we don't know how this World War sequel thing is going to end. But war starts at midnight, eh?

Rating for Britishness from 1-10: About a 9

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MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON (1943)

Experimental/Avant Garde Cinema Week Day 7

There are several experimental or avant garde films on the 1001 movie list. In trying to figure out how to deal with them, I decided that the best way for me to handle these often tough nuts to crack is just watch them and try to answer ten basic questions about them on my personally devised standardized test. So let us conclude the films for this week with...

Meshes of the Afternoon

1. What happens?
A flower is placed on a sidewalk and picked up by a young woman. She walks up the steps to her house and goes in after struggling with the key. The house has newspapers on the floor and a loaf of bread on the table with a knife in it. The telephone leading up the stairs is off the hook. She goes up the stairs of her room and sees a phonograph playing. She sits in a chair by the window and falls asleep.

A faceless and shroudded figure walks on the pathway outside the house and the woman attempts to follow her. The woman can't catch the figure and goes back into the house and finds the knife from the bread on the steps leading upstairs. She races up the stairs to find the knife now on her bed and the telephone in her bed and off the hook.

She becomes disoriented before taking the needle off the phongraph. She sees an image of herself sitting in the chair facing the window where she fell asleep! She goes to the window and once again sees the shrouded figure outside and she sees the image of herself once again chasing the shrouded figure.

The shrouded figure goes into the house and one of the representations of the woman follows her. The figure places the flower on the woman's bed as the woman watches.

We witness the cycle of a version of the young woman following the shrouded figure again as the version of the woman inside the house takes the key to the house out of her mouth before it turns into a knife.

The three versions of the woman are now at a table inside the house where the knife turns back into a key.

One of the versions of the woman goes up to another version of the woman in the chair and appears about to stab her. As the woman in the chair reacts, the stabbing version of the woman turns into a man. The man turns away from her and proceeds upstairs and puts a flower on the bed as the woman follows.

They sit on the bed together before the woman grabs the knife and appears to shatter the image of him with the knife handle.

An ocean view is now followed by the same man walking down the path before going into the woman's house. After he enters the house, he sees the woman dead in her chair.

2. Was it heavy? Did it achieve total heaviosity?
Yes, ladies and gentlemen...we have now achieved total heaviosity!

3. What was your favorite part?
Not really one particular part. More of how the entire film fits together.

4. What was your least favorite part?
The fact that the face of the shrouded figure looks a bit like an iron was a little distracting.

5. Did you get it?
I think so. And I've got to declare Meshes of the Afternoon as my favorite of the seven films from Experimental/Avant Garde Cinema Week!

6. Might the viewing experience have been enhanced from either prescription or non-prescription medication of some kind?
I believe with the right medication, you might be tempted to watch this a dozen times or so.

7. What about the sex?
The man and woman sit in the bed together, but anything beyond that is left to the imagination.

8. What about the violence?
The image of the woman at the end was more disturbing because we did not see the violence.

9. Describe this film in one sentence starting with "This is the film that..."
"This is the film that was so hard to describe I typed a 410 word summary for a film that only lasted only 14 minutes."

10. Would you watch it again?
Yes, I would like that.

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THE PALEFACE (1948)

The Great American Western (Post 2 of 12)

The Paleface

 

If you grew up during the 70's, it was hard to miss Bob Hope if you ever turned on your television at all. And the seasonal Bob Hope specials seemed like a big deal at the time. Bob would always goof around with famous old friends like Jimmy Stewart or Gregory Peck or Jackie Gleason. He'd also make inappropriate inneundos to Charro (Wow! I haven't thought about Charro in years! Thanks for the memories, Bob!).

I always liked Bob introducing the all-American football team while making quips. Then there was the Bob Hope Desert classic golf tournament and the Texaco commercials. And let's not forget his unscheduled "walk-ons," on seemingly every talk show of the era which he would do at anytime to anyone. I guess nobody ever told him that that was kind of rude. All of it seemed pretty funny to a little kid.

The best thing about Bob Hope during the 80's was the SCTV bits with Dave Thomas as Bob Hope and Rick Moranis as Woody Allen where they just didn't quite seem to get each other. (Note to self: Go back and watch some old SCTV shows when the opportunity presents itself.)

The real Bob Hope didn't fare as well during the 1980's. Granted, he was in his 80's then, but his timing just wasn't there anyomore and the endless guest appearances by Brooke Shields made me long for the days of Charro. But, a legend he still was. But there was a day, a day long ago, even before there was television where Bob Hope was a pretty good movie comedian with great comic timing.

The one 1001 movie listing for Bob Hope is the comedy Western The Paleface, which also offers the beautiful Jane Russell and includes the famous song Buttons and Bows (One of my mother's favorite songs). But the chief draw of The Paleface is Hope. There are some good routines here(and some pretty good comic writing). I liked when Bob the dentist is working on a patient while peeking over his shoulder at a textbook as he goes along. I probably wouldn't label The Paleface a classic, but it was good to see the "old Bob" again when he was still in his comedic prime.

A Bob Hope movie should be on the 1001 list, though I'm not sure I would have chosen this one. It's not bad, as I said, but I might have gone for one of the Hope/Crosby road movies. I guess the book couldn't just say "Pick a Bob Hope movie of your choosing, any will do as long as its not one with Phyllis Diller!"

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HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940)

Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant month (Film 9 of 14)

His Girl Friday

Many consider this remake of The Front Page superior to the original with the two reporters from that play/movie changed to an ex-married couple (Cary and Rosalind Russell). Ralph Bellamy is on hand once again to provide someone to lose the girl to Grant. The pace of this one is brisk, to say the least, and one of the most enjoyable to watch of the Grant screwball comedies. It does seem interesting that it is Russell that carries a lot of the movie in many of the middle scenes film that Grant doesn't appear in.

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ROPE (1948)

Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant month (Film 8 of 14)


While we are on the subject of Alfred Hitchock movies, I'd like to take this time to welcome a guest blogger for this enty, Mr. Spencer Blohm.

Alfred Hitchcock was, indisputably, one of the greatest thinkers and formal innovators the film world has ever known. He had a knack for taking sensational, low-brow content and treating it with the highest level of skill and attention to detail. He would masterfully employ narrative devices and camera techniques to tell stories that were heady and engaging, however lurid the subject matter.

His film Psycho (1960) is heralded as one of the best horror films ever made. It is also one of the most emulated films of all time, and it established the basic formula for the “slasher” film as we know it today. Among the tropes featured in the film are: the disguised, knife-brandishing murderer; the use of Bernard Herrmann's screeching violin sounds to heighten the tension of the murder scenes; and the erotic themes and voyeuristic elements that we’ve come to expect from these horror films.

The film was produced and financed entirely by Hitchcock himself. The film was shot for $806,947.55, and Hitchcock relied on the crew and facilities from Revue Studios where he shot his weekly television program, Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Psycho is infamous for its twist ending and a scene where actress Janet Leigh is murdered in a shower. Norman Bates (portrayed by actor Anthony Perkins) is the strangely endearing and seemingly docile recluse who operates the Bates Motel. We are told that he lives with a volatile and repressive mother. What we don’t realize until the end of the film is that Bates actually lives, from time to time, as his volatile and repressive mother, and is compelled to murder women whom he finds attractive.

The film was based on Robert Bloch’s novel of the same name. The story of Norman Bates was based loosely on the true story of farmer Ed Gein, the murderer who made national news in the late 50’s when police found the remains of bodies and other ghastly artifacts from Gein’s grave robbing expeditions littered throughout his Wisconsin home.

Psycho is still present in the collective consciousness. There is a show titled Bates Motel which recently premiered on the A & E network, and there are countless films which have burrowed aesthetically and thematically from the influence of the film. Here are a few notable examples.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Directed by Tobe Hooper

Labeled the “most horrifying picture” of all time by critic Rex Reed, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a hugely successful low-budget horror film about a family of cannibalistic butchers operating out of a remote house in Texas. Hooper helped to cement the slasher formula: a group of teenagers on a summer cruise end up in a desolate area and get killed off one by one except for “the final girl” — played, in this film, by actress Marilyn Burns. A girl gets hung on a meathook. A wheelchair-bound boy is hacked to bits in the woods. Despite its grisly subject matter, the film relies less upon explicit on-screen violence than it does on trick editing and evoking horrific images. Like Psycho, Chainsaw also drew inspiration from the story of Ed Gein. Watch for a clear nod to Psycho in the scene where Marilyn Burns, frantically pursued by the film’s chainsaw-wielding anti-hero Leatherface, finds a taxidermied grandmother in the attic of the house.

Halloween (1978) Directed by John Carpenter

John Carpenter employs all of the tricks of the carnival haunted house attractions in this classic slasher film. The film centers around the story of Michael Myers who, at the age of six, murdered his older sister on Halloween. Fifteen years later, Michael escapes from the mental institution to wreak havoc on his hometown, the fictional Haddonfield, Illinois.

The film contains several nods to Psycho, and the most interesting one could be the fact that he cast Janet Leigh’s daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, in her first on screen role to play the film’s heroine. Donald Pleasance plays therapist Sam Loomis, whose name is taken directly from a character in Psycho — it’s the name of Janet Leigh’s character’s boyfriend. The film spawned a host of sequels and remakes, and is still treasured by audiences to this day. Story and character development take a backseat to visceral thrills and cheap jolts, but the film, like Texas Chainsaw, stands as a superb example of what independent horror filmmakers can accomplish with few principal actors and very little money if they are cunning. Even though most of the film features Jamie Lee Curtis walking through her neighborhood and looking worried while ominous music plays, the film is still horrifying.

Dressed to Kill (1980) Directed by Brian DePalma

It’s Psycho, but more blatantly sexual, in vibrant color, in New York City, and with Michael Caine as the crossdressing, homicidal villain. DePalma has Angie Dickinson play the Janet Leigh role, and the first murder occurs, not in a shower, but in an elevator. DePalma is frequently called a poor man’s Hitchcock. The common criticism is that Hitchcock handled violence and sexuality with infinitely more restraint than the filmmakers who emulated him -- and that DePalma, and all of the filmmakers who came later, fixated on the most tawdry and sensational elements of Hitchcock films and divorced. But let’s not forget that, in the context of his time, Hitchcock was controversial among the censor boards. DePalma re-appropriates tropes and clichés masterfully, and makes a film that was closer to what Hitchcock might have had license to make in 1980, twenty years after the initial release of Psycho.

Author Bio: Spencer Blohm is a film and entertainment blogger for
Direct-Ticket.net where he covers everything from classic musicals to seventies exploitation films. Alfred Hitchcock is his all time favorite director. In fact, it was Hitchcock who inspired Spencer to start reading texts on film analysis. Spencer lives at home with his two cats (Penrod and Hortense) and he loves dill pickles.

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Just a couple of words from Chris, a librarian on Alfred Hitchcock's Rope.

Rope is Alfred Hitchcock's famous one-shot (or at least as close as a movie could be to a one-shot movie at the time) story of two Leopold and Loeb type thrill killers attempting to commit the perfect crime, only to come under the suspicion of their mentor Rupert, played by Jimmy Stewart.

The two killers are supposed to be homosexual lovers, but of course in 1948 this couldn't be alluded to directly because it doesn't seem there were homosexuals at that time. At least not in a Hollywood studio movie.

Screenwriter Arthur Laurents makes an interesting point in that there was supposed to be an underlying sexual edge to Rupert's relationship with the boys that may have been brought out better if someone potentially more sexual ambiguous like James Mason had been cast in this part. But with Jimmy Stewart in the role, there is no way you could imagine the guy that played Scout Master Jefferson Smith ever being involved with the two young men in "that" way.

Stewart's role in Rope was not tailor made for him the way Capra's or some of Hitchcock's other movies were, but Jimmy Stewart in anything is worth watching in my book.

And thanks again to Spencer Blohm's contribution to today's blog.

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THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)

The 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book has an index of all of the directors of all of the films listed within its covers. It’s easy to determine that Alfred Hitchcock (with 18 movies listed) is easily the king of the directors. This made me curious which actor had the most listings. Since there is no similar index for thespians, that proved to be a little more difficult to determine. I figured it had to be an American actor, since there are more American movies listed in "the book" than anything else. Humphrey Bogart? John Wayne? Jack Nicholson? Meryl Streep? Bette Davis?

I then counted up the listings under the man that critic David Thomson called, “the best and most important actor in the history of cinema.” Well, with 10 listings in the book, Cary Grant certainly made quite an impact anyway.

One reason for Grant's many listings is his ability to perform in different genres. They include:

A flair for the comedic: The Philadelphia Story, Bringing Up Baby, The Awful Truth, She Done Him Wrong, His Girl Friday

It helps to be in a few Hitchcock classics: Notorious, North By Northwest

An occasional outing as an action star: Gunga Din, Only Angels Have Wings

And we can even throw in a romance for good measure: An Affair to Remember

And there are some pretty good Grant films that didn’t make the 1001 list: To Catch a Thief, Talk of the Town, Charade, Arsenic and Old Lace, Topper.

So ten listings for Cary Grant. That’s got to be the most, right? Well, I was going to finish all the Grant movies this month, but then I realized I hadn’t counted the movies of everyone’s favorite everyman, Jimmy Stewart.

Stewart also appeared in a lot of notable films in different genres which include:

A flair for the comedic: The Philadelphia Story, It’s a Wonderful Life, Harvey

It helps to be in a few Hitchcock classics: Rope, Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much

Some memorable outings in drama: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Anatomy of a Murder, The Mortal Storm

More than a few Westerns: Destry Rides Again, Winchester ’73, Naked Spur, The Man From Laramie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

15 listings! I think we have a winner. The 1001 book’s proclivity for listing a lot of old Westerns really helped with Jimmy Stewart’s total.

And there are also some pretty good Stewart films that didn’t make the 1001 list: Spirit of St. Louis, You Can’t Take it With You,How the West Was Won, Call Northside 777

So instead of Cary Grant month, I’m going to do Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart month. Some I’ve already listed is previous blogs, so I’m just going to try to stick with some of the remaining ones on the list. However, I have made an exception for this first posting for Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant month since both star in the classic The Philadelphia Story.

Plot summary: Tracy Lord is engaged to George. Her ex-husband C. K. Dexter Haven shows back up for the wedding. Macauly Conner, the reporter covering the story, falls for Tracy, much to the chagrin of Elizabeth Imbrie, also working on the story. Of course, Tracy is probably still in love with with C. K. Dexter Haven. Farce ensues. (Anyone doing a Cary Grant impersonation should do it saying “My name is C. K. Dexter Haven!” slowly emphasizing each syllable)

The Philadelphia Story is an enjoyable enough farce, but for me it not as much fun as some other of the great screwball comedies (My Man Godfrey comes to mind).

There are some memorable moments, I loved Jimmy Stewart’s drunk scene, for example. And the star power of the three leads of Katherine Hepburn, Grant and Stewart is a force. What’s the modern day equivalent? Julia Roberts…George Clooney…Brad Pitt maybe…Oh, no! That’s Ocean’s Eleven!”

Danny Peary’s book Alternate Oscars takes away Stewart’s Oscar for this film and gives it to Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath. He gives Stewart the prize for It’s a Wonderful Life. If only life worked like this! As long as we're doing Oscar do-overs, let's give Jimmy one for Harvey too.

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PEEPING TOM (1960), GREAT BRITAIN, BLACK NARCISSUS (1946, GREAT BRITAIN)

(Rod and Chip Go To the Movies, Part 4: The Awakening)

The names have been changed to protect the innocent. The events depicted are real…sort of.

Sometime in the 80’s…

Rod and I came out of The Silver Screen Theater breathing a sigh of relief. After the fiasco a couple of weeks ago involving our unwitting viewing of the gay oriented films Satyricon and Sebastiane, our recent Silver Screen double feature viewing of Peeping Tom and Black Narcissus provided a welcome relief.

“Can you believe Peeping Tom was made over twenty years ago?” I asked Rod.

Rod rubbed his chin as he thought my question over. “It kind of puts Blood Beach and New Year’s Evil in their proper place on the movie quality food chain. Oh, and did you catch the nude scene? It was only for about a second. But I clearly saw breasts.”

“No way, that was a 1960 movie. You were just imagining things.” I said.

“I know what I saw,” Rod said, holding his position.

I told him that if he imagined he saw a brief nude scene, than a nude scene it was. I didn’t want to argue the point. When I asked him about the other film we saw, Black Narcissus, he looked much more puzzled.

“That was a tough nut to crack,” he said. “Beautiful looking film. I wasn’t sure of the point. I have to admit when that nun shed her habit and put on her lipstick it was pretty darn sexy.”

“We got to get you a girlfriend, pronto.” I snickered as I said it, but I actually found the scene a bit provocative as well.

“Back to your original question,” Rod said. “I wasn’t really sure of the point of Black Narcissus, but just by definition of it being shown at the Silver Screen, it had to have a point. Am I not right, Chip old man? That’s the comfort in seeing a movie here. You know they're not going to show something like Chu Chu and the Philly Flash or Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen. What they show will have significance to someone, somewhere in someway. Comprende?”

I nodded as I thought he had actually made a good point. As we left the theater, I grabbed the Silver Screen calendar.

“Before you continue with your metaphysical philosophy on film choice, why don’t we take a peek at the coming attractions,” I said.

I looked at the calendar for a moment before all feeling left my hand and dropped the calendar to the sidewalk.

Rod picked it up and looked at it. “What’s the matter with you, are you-Oh, my God!”

Rod and I sat down at the same time on the bench outside the box office.

“It’s over. Can you believe it? This is the last movie,” Rod said.

Neither one of us said anything else for the next minute until a man in a three-piece suit came up to us.

“Hey, I know you guys,” the man said. “I saw you at the Rhodes for Motel Hell and for Il Sebastiane here couple of weeks ago.”

Being still in a state of shock, it took a moment for us to recognize him as the man who was dressed as Frank-n-Furter at the Rhodes Halloween week and the man who was with another man he referred to as his husband during the showing of the infamous Sebastiane the week after. It’s funny how the embarrassment of seeing that film suddenly seemed so unimportant.

“Oh, hello. You look different.” I said to him, though my mind was still on the closing of the theater.

“Well, I wouldn’t get much business as an accountant if I dressed like a queen from nine to five, would I? Anyway, my real name actually is Frank. You probably don’t believe it, but it's true.”

He stuck his hand out for us to shake. After we shook his hand, he joined us on our bench.

“A shame this place is being shut down, isn’t it?” he said.

“What happened Frank? Why are they taking away our theater?” Rod asked.

“Georgia-Pacific bought it, I believe. The venerable old movie house just doesn’t do enough business anymore. People want to see second run movies, they just rent a videocassette these days.”

I looked at him like he was crazy. “Videocassettes? Like I have Eight-Hundred dollars to buy one of those players or sixty more to buy a movie. And I want to see it on the big screen anyway. What the hells the matter with people?”

“I know. I know.” Frank said as he tried to comfort me by patting my hand. “You’re preaching to the choir, honey.”

As if suddenly waking out of a trance, Rod grabbed me by my shirtsleeve. “At least we still have the Rhodes. They aren’t planning to shut that down I imagine.”

Frank handed Rod a copy of the Arts and Entertainment section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had just pulled out of his breast pocket.

Rod looked down the pages and began to read: Atlanta’s Rhodes theater will be showing the 1938 Spencer Tracy-Clark Gable movie Test Pilot this weekend.

Rod looked up. “You see! They’re still in business.”

“Keep reading.” Frank said.

The Rhodes is showing this film because it was the first film it showed in 1938, so the management thought this would be a fitting final farewell before the Rhodes goes under the wrecking…

Rod pulled his head from the paper and looked skyward before looking back and finishing…before the Rhodes closes its doors for good and goes under the wrecking ball.

Rod handed the paper back to Frank who casually tossed it to the ground.

The three of us sat on the bench and starred across the parking lot at the venerable Oxford Bookstore, wondering if even that Atlanta institution might one day be vulnerable to the greed of land developers.

“So, what do we do now?” I asked.

Frank turned to us and put out his hand to emphasize his point. “And they’re moving Rocky Horror from Garden Hills to Northlake Plaza next week. Can you believe it? Me..in suburbia”

Rod showed a little interest “I’ve never seen it. You, Chip?”

I shook my head.

Frank let out a laugh that came close to registering as a squeal. “Oh, my. A couple of virgins, huh? Well come down to Northlake next Saturday, midnight.”

“We might as well,” Rod said. “Our social options seem to be suddenly limited.”

Frank stood up. “I got to run. I’ll look for you kids. Remember Rocky Horror. It’ll make you forget about this disappointment. Come dressed up if you dare. I’ll copy an extra script for you if you want to participate. Hey, you’d make a good Eddie,” Frank said looking my way as he left the two of us on our bench.

“What did he mean by that?” I asked Rod

“Oh, I’m not sure. I’m not sure of anything anymore. My whole worldview has been decimated into fragments.”

I took one last look at the calendar. “Peeping Tom and Black Narcissus have one more showing tomorrow. You want to come back?”

“We’ve already seen these two, but I guess we could come tomorrow and watch them again. One more chance to…no, that would be prolonging the agony. I’m done. It’s time to move on.” Rod sighed.

“I guess you’re right. Guess I’ll save up for a video cassette player.”

“Guess the first movie you’ll get will be Pillow Talk. You’ll be able to watch it anytime you want.”

“Shut up about Pillow Talk already!”

Rod laughed and I couldn’t help but smile a little too, though I was not smiling at his endless need to make fun of the movie Pillow Talk. I was instead thinking of all the great movie moments that I had experienced at the greatest theater in the world over the last few years.

We both turned our gaze to the Silver Screen marquee one last time before driving away.

IN OUR NEXT EPISODE OF ROD AND CHIP GO TO THE MOVIES...WE SEE ROD AND CHIP GOING TO THE MOVIES DURING THE 90'S, BUT WILL IT BE FOR THE LAST TIME?

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THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (1947)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
by Ryan James

The 1001 Movie Blogger enters my office but stops short with a confused look on his face.

“Oh, pardon me. I must have the wrong office.”

“No, no. It’s alright, Chris. Come on in. I’m filling in for your therapist today.”

“But…where’s my usual therapist?”

“I’m afraid he’s tied up at the moment. It was all rather sudden. That’s why nobody notified you ahead of time. My name is Von James. Dr. Ryan Von James.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Dr. Von James, but uh, I don’t know if I’m comfortable opening up to a total stranger. Maybe I better re-schedule.”

“Nonsense, my boy. I’ve been reading up on your blog entries, and I’m very familiar with your case. Now, why don’t you lie down right here on the couch and get relaxed. That’s it. Now tell me, what is it that’s troubling you today?”

“Well… I think this whole blogging about movies thing is starting to get to me. I mean, I’ve always been prone to a daydream or two on occasion, but here lately—well, ever since I sat down and watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, it seems I’m constantly dropping in and out of daydreams and I can’t do anything to stop it. When I’m at work, I can’t concentrate. When I’m at social engagements, my friends think I’m being standoffish. It’s even beginning to affect my personal safety. I experienced three separate daydreams on the way over here. It’s a good thing my car practically knows the route.”

“And you say these daydreams are a product of your obsessive blogging about movies?”

“I’m almost sure of it because every daydream has me starring in a lead role in one of the movies I’ve reviewed. What’s really weird is, sometimes, I get caught up in a daydream where two movies are combined together, like that time Col. Kurtz was training me to be a Jedi Knight in the middle of some dark jungle.”
“I see.”

“Or sometimes my daydream takes place in only one movie world but then there’ll be casual references to other movies thrown in. And then there’s Bob.”

“What About Bob?”

“He’s a new employee at the library where I work. He’s just an intern really, but I get the feeling he’s always watching me, observing me. And he seems to always be communicating with someone on his smartphone, like he’s reporting back to his superiors. It’s rather unnerving.”

“I see.”

“So…whaddya think, Doc? Am I losing it? Or do you—do you suppose there’s some sort of evil mad genius at work here? I mean like somebody with a nefarious master plan who’s out to get me and drive me insane. No— No, I guess that sounds a bit silly, doesn’t it?”

“Preposterous.”

“Well, there you have it, Doc. That’s my predicament in a nutshell. So do you have any suggestions for me?”

“I know how to murder a man and leave no trace.”

“What! What did you say??”

“I said have you been having any other strange visions lately? For instance, when you’re walking around town, how do women appear to you? Are they always fully clothed or do you sometimes see women walking around in nothing but their undergarments?”

“Now really, doctor! What do you take me for? I’m a happily married man. I—I suppose, like most men, the occasional young beauty catches my eye, but I—“

“Sure, sure. I didn’t mean to offend. It’s just that sometimes—“

It was at that moment the office door opened, and Nurse Mayo walked in. My patient immediately sat up on the couch. His eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he began drooling like a ravenous wolf. He took great interest in the nurse as she walked over to me and handed me some papers.

“Doctor, would you sign these please?”

“Certainly, Miss Mayo, I’ll be glad to.”

I took the papers and signed each one before handing them back to Nurse Mayo, and that’s when I noticed it.

“Why, Miss Mayo!”

Both Miss Mayo and the patient gave me confused looks.

“Y-yes? What is it, doctor?”

“There’s a spot on your uniform!”

Miss Mayo looked down to examine herself and gasped.

“Oh, dear! I’m so sorry. Thank you, doctor. I’ll go change right away.”

With that, Nurse Mayo hurried out of the office shutting the door behind her.

“Please, pardon the interruption. It seems the paperwork is never ending around here. Anyway, as I was saying, I—Well, what is it my boy? You look as though you’ve just seen something totally unbelievable.”

“S-so that’s your nurse?”

“Yes, why?”

“I…”

“Yes?

“I didn’t see a spot on her uniform….”

“What? But it was clearly visible on her white uniform. Looked like a blotch of mustard or something.”

The patient said nothing. Then it dawned on me. I knew immediately what was up.

“You didn’t see a uniform at all, did you, Chris?”

The patient shook his head, then buried his face in his hands and began sobbing like a baby.

“No! I didn’t! I only saw lacy undergarments and thigh-high boots! Oh doctor, what am I going to do? What’s wrong with me??”

I walked over to the couch, sat down beside the patient, and patted him on the shoulder.

“There, there, my boy. It sounds to me like what you need is a vacation from your blog.”

“A vacation from my blog? Really?”

“Yes, turn off that computer for a while. Go out and get some fresh air. Relax. Enjoy life. Find yourself a nice girl. Get married—“

“But I’m already married!”

“Good, good. Maybe what you need, then, is to find some good books to read. That shouldn’t be too difficult for a librarian, ay? Maybe you can get together with this Bob fellow, and you can suggest books to each other and then talk about the books you’ve read. You may find out he’s a likable sort. Or maybe….”

“Yes?”

“Maybe you’d like to amuse yourself by playing a game of solitaire?”

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BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945, GREAT BRITAIN)

It’s OK for a guy to watch a Romance/Chick flick/ Women’s picture month (Film 5 of 12)

It’s OK for a guy to watch a Romance/Chick flick/ Women’s picture if...

It’s directed by David Lean

or

written by Noel Coward

or

both

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ON THE TOWN (1949)

Musicals month (Film 6 of 11)

On the Town (1949)

Twice as gay as Anchors Aweigh! –trailer promo for On the Town.

I didn’t have any expectations for the musical On the Town and I must say I was delightfully surprised. First of all, as with most of the muscials from this era you’ve got to have a great suspension of disbelief to accept the plot of three sailors on leave and how they meet and pick up/fall in love/but certainly don’t sleep (well, maybe in subtext) with the three girls they find in the big city.

The musical numbers are memorable (New York, New York It’s a Helluva Town and You Can Count on Me ). The film is fast paced, fun and the dialogue is pretty sharp. And the cast features the two biggest musical stars of the era (Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra,) the comedy relief (Jules Munshin , Betty Garrett),the lovely Vera-Ellen and perennial tap dancing hottie Ann Miller.

Note: I admit that liking this movie has made me feel a little old. Perhaps I should follow it up with a different view of New York. Taxi Driver maybe? Well, maybe for another month.

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DANCE, GIRL, DANCE (1940)

Musicals month (2 of 11)

Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)

I was not at all familiar with this RKO backstage musical and having seen it, am a bit surprised with its inclusion in the 1001 movie book. It has been praised for having some early feminist virtues and has an interesting contrast of the classical dance style versus burlesque, but the main reason to see this is Lucille Ball.

I say this as someone who is not much of a fan of Lucy's TV shows (I find her too loud, but not in a funny Ralph Cramden way). But I give her her due here. She's sassy, sexy, sings and dances well and basically steals the picture. Maybe I'll give I Love Lucy another go.

Maureen O'Sullivan vs. Maureen O'Hara-Ok, I always get these two Irish beauties mixed up.
Just so I'll remember-Maureen O' Hara-Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dance, Girl, Dance, Miracle on 34th Street, The Parent Trap.
Maureen O'Sullivan-Tarzan movies, Bonzo Goes to College, A Day at the Races, Mia Farrow's mother, Hannah and Her Sisters. I think I got it now.

The ever present Ralph Bellamy: If you watch Hollywood movies from different eras, chances are good that you will see Ralph Bellamy pop up from time to time. He seemed like a second rung leading man in the thirties and fourties (like in Dance, Girl, Dance)But he really had a long movie career, ranging in roles from the doctor in Rosemary's Baby in the 60's, the prosecutor of God in Oh, God in the 70's all the way up to a businessman in Pretty Woman in 1990. Of course, my generation chiefly remembers him for being one of the wicked Duke brothers in Trading Places.

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NOW, VOYAGER (1942), MILDRED PIERCE (1945), WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE (1962)

In 1981, you basically couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing the Kim Carnes song, “Bette Davis Eyes.”

Why do I bring this up?

I guess because I just couldn’t think of very much to say about the Bette Davis film, Now, Voyager. It’s a nice enough story about a woman finding herself and features some notable performances from a good supporting cast including the always reliable Claude Reins and is a definite showcase for Ms. Davis. There’s some pretty good dialogue (though at times it’s a little too mushy.) And James Cameron did steal the scene from this film for Titanic where Bette Davis is making out with her lover on a car hidden aboard a ship. However, this film probably wouldn't make my book, but it was made with more of a female audience in mind.
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In 1981, the reputation of Joan Crawford took a hit with the release of the film, Mommie Dearest, that it still hasn’t recovered from. Even the DVD featurette on Joan Crawford says the first thing many people thing of when they hear the name Joan Crawford involves Faye Dunaway spitting out the line from the above film “No more wire hangers!”

But let us not forget that Joan Crawford was one of the biggest female stars in Hollywood for many, many years. Her Oscar winning performance in Mildred Pierce is (like Now, Voyager is for Davis) a real showcase for its lead actress. The film starts off like a film noir, but quickly becomes more of a domestic drama centering on the relationship between Mildred (Joan) and her daughter, Vera. Vera is played by Ann Blyth, who in the 70’s did a series of cupcake commercials that would always start, “This is Ann Blyth for Hostess,” though since most kids watching Saturday morning Hostess commercials probably hadn’t seen Mildred Pierce and didn’t know who the hell Ann Blyth was! But I digress.

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After watching these two films, I wanted to rewatch (after about twenty-five years) the only collaboration between Davis and Crawford, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? This film was made during the 60’s when both stars were past their prime, but the film was a hit and still has a quite a cult following. Bette has the more showy role where she plays a former child star with severe mental and emotional problems. Joan plays Bette’s wheelchair bound sister who gets terrorized by Baby Jane on a regular basis. This film has more than its share of drama, horror and plenty of its share of camp as well. We also get to see the blustery Victor “King Tut” Buono in a memorable supporting role.


Just for the record, other Bette Davis films on the 1001 list include:
Jezebel
All About Eve

And some Bette Davis films I’m surprised aren’t on the 1001 Movie List include:
Of Human Bondage
Dark Victory
The Petrified Forest

Other Joan Crawford films on the 1001 list include:
The Unknown
Johnny Guitar

And some Joan Crawford films I’m surprised aren’t on the 1001 Movie List
Grand Hotel
The Women
Possessed

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ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949)

Classics Revisited Book Group (Posting 15)

All the King’s Men directed by Robert Rossen
or
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren

The 1949 film version of All the King’s Men seems to not be as respected as it once was. After released, it won several Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Broderick Crawford as the Huey Long-like politician. But it did not make the 1001 movie book and couldn’t even manage to crack the American Film Institute’s top 100. I admit that this adaptation does seem a little dated now, though the more recent adaptation with Sean Penn (which I haven’t seen) was not successful either.

I think the problem with the adaptations is that Warren’s book is such a well-written character study that it would be difficult for any film to totally recreate it.

Book or Movie? This is one for the books.

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THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)

Classics Revisited Book Group (Posting 10)

The Grapes of Wrath directed by John Ford
or
The Grapes of Wrath written by John Steinbeck

This seems to be a case where the book and the movie are held in equally high esteem. The film is ranked #21 in the American Film Institute top 1001 list and the book is in the top ten of the Modern Library’s list of top English language novels of the century.

I’m guessing that more school age students over the last few decades have read Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men than The Grapes of Wrath because it is shorter and probably easier to grasp. But I think Steinbeck’s tale of the Oakies traveling West during the depression looking for a pot o’ gold or at least a roof over their heads is a highly worthy journey to take even if it might take you a little longer to get there.

Book or Movie? Even though I’m picking the book over the movie this time, you got to at least see the scene where Henry (should have won the Oscar that year) Fonda gives his speech to his Ma before heading down that Golden Highway.

I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be ever'-where - wherever you can look. Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad - I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise, and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too.

I can hear Woody Guthrie singing in the background now.

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GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946, GREAT BRITAIN)

Classics Revisited Book Group (Posting 8)

Great Expectations directed by David Lean
or
Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens

I counted fifty entries on my list of books/plays I’ve done for my Classics Revisited book group and I finished all but four. Unfortunately, Great Expectations was one of them. I liked the story of young Pip, Herbert Pocket, Estella and the mysterious Ms. Havisham; I just kept getting bogged down while reading it and wasn’t able to finish it.

David Lean’s 1948 film version with John Mills and Alec Guinness I did get through and thought was quite good, so I did get the whole story that way. There is also a BBC version I saw starring the guy that was in those Fantastic Four movies, though I am still partial to Lean’s version.

Book or Movie? Since I didn’t go with the David Lean movie for my Doctor Zhivago post, this time I’m choosing the 1946 movie over the book without guilt.

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