Day 8: The Great Ziegfeld

The Great Ziegfeld:1936:Winner of the 9^th Academy Awards

Starring:

William Powell as Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.

Myrna Loy as Billie Burke

Luise Rainer as Anna Held

Frank Morgan as Jack Billings

Fanny Brice as Herself

Virginia Bruce as Audrey Dane

Reginald Owen as Sampson, Flo's frequently-nervous bookkeeper

Ray Bolger as Himself

Ernest Cossart as Sidney, Billing's valet, who is hired away by Flo

Joseph Cawthorn as Dr. Ziegfeld

Nat Pendleton as Eugen Sandow

Harriet Hoctor as Herself

Jean Chatburn as Mary Lou

Paul Irving as Erlanger, Billing's later partner

Herman Bing as Costumer

Buddy Doyle as Eddie Cantor

The Great Ziegfeld is a stunning masterpiece! I truly mean it! I was so awed by the stage show that I wish I had a transport machine to take me to the 20’s and be present to one of his shows. The Ziegfeld Follies and to have been able to see them in their hayday! Ahh what a wish, however I could have done without the back story. Ziegfeld going up, Ziegfeld coming down… blah blah blahitty blah. I did like Fannie Brice’s bit though she was funny. Truthfully this is  the movie I thought I would like best from the three and since one I haven’t seen and one I think is kind of awesome “The Broadway Melody” I say watch this only for the shows. Skip the talking and the politics … unless you like to be bored. What I can also say is this, half of the “Wizard of Oz” is in the movie. The Wizard Oz, The  Scarecrow, and The Good Witch of the North. But seriously, this film bleh!

It also won awards for:

Academy Award for Best Actress - Luise Rainer

Academy Award for Best Dance Direction - Seymour Felix - For "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody".

Day 7: The Broadway Melody

The Broadway Melody:1929: Winner of the 2^nd Academy Award

Starring:

Charles King  as Eddie Kearns

Anita Page as Queenie Mahoney

Bessie Love as Harriet (Hank) Mahoney

Today was the first time I  have seen a movie that old since “Diary of a Lost Girl”, it was pretty good. The plot since I know most people won’t bother to watch , is about two sisters in the era of the two-bit sister act. Hank the older sister is more talented than Queenie but not half as pretty. They are in New York to make it big in the city. Eddie, Hank’s boyfriend, has promised them promising spots, considering he is a sing and dance guy. Zenfield, the head of the department is enchanted by Queenie’s beauty and is happy tp put her in the show despite her lack of talent. Hank has the talent but not the face and is dismissed by Zenfield, however Quenie talks him into hiring them both, so he agrees. Eddie has fallen in love with Queenie and she with him, but they do not dare to carry on with their love because it would hurt Hank. Queenie was raised by Hank and so she knows how disastrous this may seem to her. To dissuade her feelings she starts to go out with a “stage door Johnny” named Jock Wernier. The tension rises because Queenine and Eddie are always fighting about Jock and Hank gets thrown in the middle. After the shows first performance a couple of weeks later Hank realizes that her sister and her fiancé have the hots for each other and decides to step down and let them be happy. A couple of months later, they are seen coming back from their honeymoon and they insist that Hank live with them (as if pfft.) and she politely declines. The last scene is split between Queenie telling Eddie that she is sad that Hank never catches a break and that she took him from her. The other half is Hank in the train car looking dejected but trying to motivate herself.

So this movie was good but fuck that bitch Queenie. I hate her. How dare she steal her sister’s man! How could she, I know the saying goes, “the heart wants what it wants,” but goddamn , Hank has given Queenie everything and Queenie took it away . Her spot in the show, her man  and her chance at happiness. Come on, can Hank please meet a fabulous guy to make up for what Queenie has done! Why is it that its ok for a decent looking girl to lose the love of her life to the prettier girl? I really was burned by that, and I hated Eddie for not being able to look beyond the looks and for falling in love with the “kind and gentle beauty.” *Sigh* It was totally unfair and I have a slight with Queenie, and Hank wasa bigger person for forgiving them and for allowing their love to blossom. I just wish that she had some recompense in return, you know. I liked it well enough the songs are annoyingly catchy,(although not as catchy as a Bollywood song)  and the dance numbers are supreme.  Furthermore it kind of reminds you of a lighter hearted Chicago. Although shit, Vilma Kelly had it right .. do the crime, do the time but get even. 

Day 6: The English Patient

The English Patient:1996: Winner of the 69^th Academy Awards

Starring:

Ralph Fiennes as Count László Almásy

Juliette Binoche as Hana

Willem Dafoe as David Caravaggio

Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine Clifton

Naveen Andrews as Kip

Colin Firth as Geoffrey Clifton

Julian Wadham as Madox

Jürgen Prochnow as Major Muller

Kevin Whately as Sgt. Hardy

Clive Merrison as Fenelon-Barnes

Salinger and I had wanted to see this film since, well her since she found out that Ralph Fiennes was in it and myself, since I found it on Netflix. However it wasn’t until today and the verdict is, I loved it!!It made me cry and the love story was amazing. The story centers around a burned man found in the Desert after WW2, in this garrison a nurse named Hana tries to nurse him back to health. She has lost everyone she loved and is taking upon herself to save this man, this English Patient. They find an abandoned monastery in the Italian countryside and use it as a place for him to get better. A couple of nights later we meet Moose, David Caravaggio, who was someone that the English Patient knew in a past life, the life he cannot now remember or does not wish too. This is how the love story between Mrs. Clifton and Count de Almasy is told. Through flashback we get a glimpse of the man who was burned and heartbroken. This was a really good, albeit long, movie. I truly enjoyed it and was glad to watch. Yesterday I was complaining about overused love plots and today I find myself rekindled in that belief. Even though it was tragic and sad and I ended up with my eyes watering, I also found myself thinking that love is really all that drives human condition. Without love there is no life. It is life that brings the profound sense of belonging and acceptance that humans need. Yes, I got all that from watching this movie. Because when Hana the nurse is telling the English Patient that she wants to make him better he says that he prefers to leave this world as has his beloved. The movie was really good, I recommended that everyone watch it.

It also won awards for:

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Juliette Binoche

 Best Art Direction-Set Decoration : Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan

 Best Cinematography  : John Seale

 Best Costume Design : Ann Roth

 Best Director :Anthony Minghella

Best Film Editing :Walter Murch

Best Original Score :Gabriel Yared

Best Sound :Walter Murch, Mark Berger, David Parker, and Christopher Newman

Day 5: West Side Story

West Side Story: 1961: Winner of the 34^th Academy Awards

Starring:

Natalie Wood (Marni Nixon, singing) – Maria Nunez

Richard Beymer (Jimmy Bryant, singing) – Tony Wycek,

 Russ Tamblyn – Riff Lorton,

Rita Moreno (Betty Wand, singing) – Anita,

George Chakiris – Bernardo Nunez

Simon Oakland – Lieutenant Schrank,

Ned Glass – Doc,

William Bramley – Officer Krupke,

John Astin – Glad Hand

Penny Santon – Madam Lucia

The Jets:

Tucker Smith – Ice,

Tony Mordente – Action,

Eliot Feld – Baby John

David Winters – A-Rab

Bert Michaels – Snowboy

David Bean – Tiger

Robert Banas – Joyboy

Anthony 'Scooter' Teague – Big Deal

Harvey Hohnecker – Mouthpiece

Tommy Abbott – Gee-Tar

Jet Girls:

Susan Oakes – Anybodys

Gina Trikonis – Graziella

Carole D'Andrea – Velma, Ice's girl

Rita Hyde d'Amico – Clarice, Big Deal's girl

Pat Tribble – Minnie, Baby John's girl

Francesca Bellini – "Cool" dancer

Elaine Joyce – dancer

Sharks:

Jose DeVega – Chino Martin

Jay Norman – Pepe

Gus Trikonis – Indio

Eddie Verso – Juano

Jamie Rogers – Loco

Larry Roquemore – Rocco

Robert E. Thompson – Luis

Nick Covacevich – Toro

Rudy Del Campo – Del Campo

Andre Tayir – Chile

Shark Girls:

Yvonne Othon – Consuela

Suzie Kaye – Rosalia

Joanne Miya – Francisca

West Side Story is based on Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juilet, however he is substituting warring families with warring nations. The Jets are the rough and tumble low bred Whites, the Sharks the newly exported Puerto Ricans. The story is set in the 50’s a very tense and racial time in America’s history and of course one member of each the warring countries people falls inevitably in love with each other. I wish I had watched this movie when I was younger. That way I wouldn’t be so hard on it, even thought it was lovely and I can’t stop singing that damn “Tonight ,Tonight” song , I think it might have lacked something. Maybe I just don’t like gang movies because they frustrate me, or maybe the false accents were really starting to grind against my Hispanic ego, hell if I know the right reason, it just wasn’t all that amazing plot wise to me. However the dance numbers were worth the watch all on their own. I soo wanna dance like that on a New York building now! I love Natalie Wood, ever since I saw her in “Sex and the Single Girl”, and West Side Story almost made me think, eh she’s not that great, until the last scene which was the saving grace. If you’re going to watch the movie watch it for the dancing, the songs, for the love story and try to watch it before you’ve watched some of other greatest love stories. I will say this though; this would be great on Broadway.

It has also won awards for:

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – George Chakiris

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Rita Moreno

Academy Award for Best Art Direction – Victor A. Gangelin and Boris Leven

Academy Award for Best Cinematography – Daniel L. Fapp

Academy Award for Best Costume Design– Irene Sharaff

Academy Award for Best Director – Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise

Academy Award for Best Film Editing – Thomas Stanford

Academy Award for Best Original Score – Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irwin Kostal, and Sid Ramin

Academy Award for Best Sound – Fred Hynes and Gordon E. Sawyer 

Day 4: Rain Man

Rain Man: 1988: Winner of the 61^st Academy Awards.

Starring:

Tom Cruise  as Charlie Babbit

Dustin Hoffman as Raymand Babbit

Valeria Golino as Susanna

Gerald R. Molen as Dr. John Brunner

The story is about a selfish, conceited,  egotistical asshole named  Jerry Maguire  ohh I mean Charlie Babbitt. His father dies and he is found in the position of being exorcised of the will, which is 3 million dollars’ worth of estate. Babbitt finds out that it belongs to his newly discovered half-brother Raymond Babbitt. Raymond is autistic and has been living in a mental institution for nigh on twenty years. He moved in two years after Charlie was born and right after their mother died.  Wanting to attain half of Raymond’s money he kidnaps him and in exchange asks for 1.5 million dollars. On this road trip Charlie finds himself growing fonder r of Raymond, especially in this one scene in the bathroom, where they are brushing Ray’s teeth. In one of the beginning scene s  Charlie tells his girlfriend that when he was little the “rain man” would come to sing to him when he got scared. During this brushing of the teeth scene, Raymond tells him that he C-H-A-R-L-I-E was scared and that not to fear, that the “rain man” would come to sing to him. Btw it wasn’t till then I got the title of the movie. Moving on Ray has an uncanny ability to know the exact amount of something if he takes one quick look at it, he is very good with numbers. This prompts Charlie who is having monetary issues to go to Vega s and makes some quick bucks. They win 85,500 dollars and Ray goes on his first date. Then they come back to LA and Charlie realizes that he really does love Ray and doesn’t want to lose him. However the morning episode proves that he doesn’t qualify to be Ray’s protector so he gives Dr. Brunner back custody of Ray. ]

Alright, alright the movie was pretty good, but it also made me remember why I hate Tom Cruise, he is such a cocky little butt wipe. Excusing him in “Interview with a Vampire” , I just can’t stomach him. However the movie was way easier to watch than the previous night’s pick. And it made me cry, wait never mind that was yawning tears. I checked the competition and yeah it was the best 1988 could offer. So watch it if you’re going to compare to Forrest Gump and Radio but don’t expect too much. After all its an 80’s film.

It also won awards for:

Best Actor in a Leading Role (Dustin Hoffman)

Best Director: Barry Levinson

 Best Writing, Original Screenplay: Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass

Day 3: Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia: 1963: 33rd Winner of the Academy Award


Starring:



Peter O'Toole as Thomas Edward "T. E." Lawrence. 
Alec Guinness as Prince Faisal. 
Anthony Quinn as Auda abu Tayi. 
Jack Hawkins as General Allenby. 
Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish
José Ferrer as the Turkish Bey. 
Anthony Quayle as Colonel Harry Brighton. 
Claude Rains as Mr. Dryden. 
Donald Wolfit as General Murray. 
Michel Ray as Farraj. 
I.S. Johar as Gasim. 
Zia Mohyeddin as Tafas. 
John Dimech as Daud. 
Fernando Sancho as the Turkish sergeant. 
Jack Gwillim as the club secretary.
Harry Fowler as Corporal Potter
Howard Marion-Crawford as the medical officer. 
Norman Rossington as Corporal Jenkins
Jack Hedley as a reporter



Today I spent about four hours on the most ridiculously long movie ever! Perhaps because I didn't want to watch it in the first place, maybe that's why I really didn't like it. Lets start with problem number 1: the length, unlike some of the other classic masterpieces i.e. "Gone with the Wind"  who have unforgettable lines and unforgettable moments, this movie had neither. Number 2, unnecessary shots of the desert and prolonging unnecessary. for example the whole crossing of the Nefud could have been more interesting if it wasn't thirty minutes long. Number 3, it had a good score but all the characters were gigantic asswipes including Lawerence himself. Call me crazy but how did this movie beat "How to Kill a Mockingbird"? Maybe it won for "Longest Picture EVER".   *Sigh*, maybe I just hate war movies, maybe I didn't understand the whole premise, hey I am not Roger Ebert and am entitled therefore to say this movie ... not to my liking. It was boring, but I will say this the music was beautiful and I am considering buying the soundtrack for it. My opinion, don't bother watching this movie, unless you've accepted a challenge such as this. 


It has also won awards for:





Best Director: David Lean 
Best Art Direction: John Box, John Stoll and Dario Simoni
Best Cinematography: Frederick A. Young
Best Substantially Original Score: Maurice Jarre
Best Film Editing: Ann V. Coates
Best Sound: John Cox

All About Eve

This movie reasures you that women are truly evil, conniving bitches when it comes to making it to the top. Also, that the late 40's-50's "accent" is very soothing. The movie almost put me to sleep, not out of boredom, but the actor's voices are just so damn soothing, I say!

Bolingbroke will for sure have talked about Marilyn Monroe's part in the movie, but shh...it could have been played by anyone. Though she did play dumb convincingly. Anyways, this movie is also worth a watch. Why? It's Bettie Davis, that's why! Great acting, great storyline. I likes. And I'm having a brain fart day so don't piss on my uber short reviews, ey?

~Salinger