"Change comes in excruciating small parcels for those who want to do it " is my quote of the day from West Wing, where activity has been restricted to painting three canvases in layers of black or white acrylic. After weeks of failure after reaching 98 games of level 1 chess I am at game 76. The days when I reached 101 games three occasions within a month seem very distant
Of course suggesting as I did yesterday that British and American films prior to the ending of Second World War and then up to the early fifties had a distinctly different feel to those which came afterward was a generalization. I watched two films today where good manners and the appearance of things was considered more important than how people otherwise behaved. I do not know if I saw the 1933 American comedy Dinner at Eight during the years when I went to the Odeon Cinema Wallington every Monday and Thursday, but it has become a familiar story and another viewing this morning was also enjoyable. The film featured Jean Harlow, John and Lionel Barrymore, but for me the star was Billie Burke as the apparent shallow socialite wife who holds a dinner party during the Great Depression where the principal guest does not turn up. She shows her metal first by reorganising the guest list, and then when her husband reveals that they have been ruined, she immediately cancels as many expenditure commitments as she can and says they will move into less expensive accommodation and will learn how to cope. Her nineteen year old daughter has had a privileged life and is romantically and sexually involved with the aging actor more than twice her age, played by John Barrymore, who is seeking a refuge in alcohol as his career ends, his debts mount and he is asked to leave his serviced rooms. Facing reality he sends the girl away and commits suicide. The girl is persuaded not tell anyone about the relationship when a dinner guest discloses she knew about the affair, as she lives in the same block of rooms. This is Carletta, Marie Dressler, a gossipy aging matron who has been the mistress of anyone who was anyone in society, The new world is represented by a successful, dominating and ruthless businessman who had no time for the polite world of his hosts but goes along with his wife, Jean Harlow, who wants to be accepted on the world he is has not time for. His unlimited wealth and power no longer impress her. There is no point to this film other than using a pleasant couple of hours recapturing the brief years of the USA recovering from the Stock market crash and prohibition but it entertains and all the actors care about what they are doing.
Before the football commentaries, when it was necessary to have a radio on each ear until disaster struck Newcastle again and the Boro. but Sunderland managed a valuable point at Derby, I saw one of Gainsborough studio costume dramas produced during World War II which was also previously seen at the Odeon Wallington after the War. There were four, three I now know well, The Wicked Lady with Margaret Lockwood, James Mason and Patricia Roc which haunted until late adolescence; Fanny by Gaslight, with James Mason, Stewart Grainger and Phyllis Calvert: Madonna of the Seven Moons Phyllis Calvert and Steward Grainger which is not familiar; and The Man in the Grey Suit Phyllis Calvert, Margaret Lockwood, James Mason and Stewart Grainger. In both of her films Margaret Lockwood played villains, in this afternoon's offering a scheming, ruthless, two faced adventurer who resorts to murder when her ambition appears to be thwarted. This is the story of a playboy Lord who is persuaded to take a young bride by his mother in order to secure the blood line. Any resemblance to living people was never intended. The victim, just out of finishing school, Phyllis Calvert has the right breeding but her widowed mother has just about the funds for one Season and persuades her daughter to accept the offer of marriage although the couple have no interest in each other and live separate lives from the outset, except to provide the heir. Although they work hard to present one public image everyone in London society knows the truth.
Stewart Grainger is a dispossessed gentleman who Phyllis Calvert first encounters as a travelling actor playing Othello and Margaret Lockwood his theatrical wife who Phyllis previously encountered at finishing school and both become lovers of the Lord and his Lady and which is destined to lead them all to tragedy. The film uses the device of an auction to sell off the contents of the aristocratic home, in which a young airman, Stewart Grainer, meets with a descendent of the family, Phyllis Calvert, a device designed to encourage the belief in war time and post war audiences, that things would get better in time. They also revealed something fo the reality of behaviour behind he thin veneer of social conventions.
The Sea Wife is a minor work, of interest because it featured a fine performance by the young Joan Collins before she developed into Dallas and films such as The Stud and the charismatic Richard Burton played himself. Four individuals, Joan and Richard are two, are torpedoed by a Japanese Submarine. Richard is an injured serviceman and the other two men in the dingy are the ship's captain who is a bigot and a racist and Cy Grant in his first film, Cy was a British Guiana born shot down Flight Lieutenant and RAF POW in World War II, who subsequently qualified as a barrister and then decided to become an actor, singer and author, These three men and Joan survive after a long sea journey to an island which has limited water and natural food, so they construct a raft to try and reach a more habitable island and at this point the sea captain chose to try and abandon Cy Grant (The British answer to Harry Belafonte) who is then killed by a shark as he attempts to swim out to the departing craft. They are rescued and Richard spends time in hospital and on the continuing war before discharge and coming to England in search of Joan who was nicknamed Sea Wife, and who although tempted by the attention of Richard remained chaste. He does not find her. She was a nun. The ending of this short feature film is a poor one because Richard gives up his long and expensive search on being told by the Sea Captain that the girl is dead and without making any further checks about her. In fact his failure to find out from the shipping line or from his rescuers what happened to her or what happened to Cy Grant is unbelievable. The film makers should have followed what happened in Neville Shute's A Town Like Alice which is having its annual/biannual showing at this time
The punch line of the film is that no one looks at the face of nun. This is nonsense of course. But nonsense can also become reality which is the subject of S1m0ne, the Al Pacino 2002 movie in which a computer generated actress becomes internationally famous, allegedly giving live interviews, and a holographic stage performance. As the deception becomes world wide he likes less and less his creation, so he makes the worst film he can imagine and then in created interview he makes her spout the most extreme and offensive of views but all this only makes the media and public love her more. He then decides to kill her off only to be accused of her murder. What happens next is all too believable, alas.
Before bedtime I could not resist another showing of One Night at McCool's, previously seen in theatre. The moral of this film is beware Greek that bares her gifts, especially one whose ambition is a DVD recorder and a large screen TV media centre. This leads Matt Dillon to become a thief and complicity in two killings, one directly and one indirectly by the young women in question played by Liv Tyler. Paul Resier is the lawyer relative of the bar tender Matt Dillon, married with children and a penchant for dressing up in bondage gear and being whopped, what happens to him in the last flick of the film is worth the ticket money alone. John Goodman plays a detective who she is seduced when he finds out she is implicated in one of the deaths and his willingness to lose the evidence is needed. Michael Douglas his the hired assassin who runs off with the wicked wench as the twp are as well matched a pair of villain as James Mason and Margaret Lockwood of my generation. The final scenes are farce and funny but were not worth going out to the theatre for
Happy mother's day.
Of course suggesting as I did yesterday that British and American films prior to the ending of Second World War and then up to the early fifties had a distinctly different feel to those which came afterward was a generalization. I watched two films today where good manners and the appearance of things was considered more important than how people otherwise behaved. I do not know if I saw the 1933 American comedy Dinner at Eight during the years when I went to the Odeon Cinema Wallington every Monday and Thursday, but it has become a familiar story and another viewing this morning was also enjoyable. The film featured Jean Harlow, John and Lionel Barrymore, but for me the star was Billie Burke as the apparent shallow socialite wife who holds a dinner party during the Great Depression where the principal guest does not turn up. She shows her metal first by reorganising the guest list, and then when her husband reveals that they have been ruined, she immediately cancels as many expenditure commitments as she can and says they will move into less expensive accommodation and will learn how to cope. Her nineteen year old daughter has had a privileged life and is romantically and sexually involved with the aging actor more than twice her age, played by John Barrymore, who is seeking a refuge in alcohol as his career ends, his debts mount and he is asked to leave his serviced rooms. Facing reality he sends the girl away and commits suicide. The girl is persuaded not tell anyone about the relationship when a dinner guest discloses she knew about the affair, as she lives in the same block of rooms. This is Carletta, Marie Dressler, a gossipy aging matron who has been the mistress of anyone who was anyone in society, The new world is represented by a successful, dominating and ruthless businessman who had no time for the polite world of his hosts but goes along with his wife, Jean Harlow, who wants to be accepted on the world he is has not time for. His unlimited wealth and power no longer impress her. There is no point to this film other than using a pleasant couple of hours recapturing the brief years of the USA recovering from the Stock market crash and prohibition but it entertains and all the actors care about what they are doing.
Before the football commentaries, when it was necessary to have a radio on each ear until disaster struck Newcastle again and the Boro. but Sunderland managed a valuable point at Derby, I saw one of Gainsborough studio costume dramas produced during World War II which was also previously seen at the Odeon Wallington after the War. There were four, three I now know well, The Wicked Lady with Margaret Lockwood, James Mason and Patricia Roc which haunted until late adolescence; Fanny by Gaslight, with James Mason, Stewart Grainger and Phyllis Calvert: Madonna of the Seven Moons Phyllis Calvert and Steward Grainger which is not familiar; and The Man in the Grey Suit Phyllis Calvert, Margaret Lockwood, James Mason and Stewart Grainger. In both of her films Margaret Lockwood played villains, in this afternoon's offering a scheming, ruthless, two faced adventurer who resorts to murder when her ambition appears to be thwarted. This is the story of a playboy Lord who is persuaded to take a young bride by his mother in order to secure the blood line. Any resemblance to living people was never intended. The victim, just out of finishing school, Phyllis Calvert has the right breeding but her widowed mother has just about the funds for one Season and persuades her daughter to accept the offer of marriage although the couple have no interest in each other and live separate lives from the outset, except to provide the heir. Although they work hard to present one public image everyone in London society knows the truth.
Stewart Grainger is a dispossessed gentleman who Phyllis Calvert first encounters as a travelling actor playing Othello and Margaret Lockwood his theatrical wife who Phyllis previously encountered at finishing school and both become lovers of the Lord and his Lady and which is destined to lead them all to tragedy. The film uses the device of an auction to sell off the contents of the aristocratic home, in which a young airman, Stewart Grainer, meets with a descendent of the family, Phyllis Calvert, a device designed to encourage the belief in war time and post war audiences, that things would get better in time. They also revealed something fo the reality of behaviour behind he thin veneer of social conventions.
The Sea Wife is a minor work, of interest because it featured a fine performance by the young Joan Collins before she developed into Dallas and films such as The Stud and the charismatic Richard Burton played himself. Four individuals, Joan and Richard are two, are torpedoed by a Japanese Submarine. Richard is an injured serviceman and the other two men in the dingy are the ship's captain who is a bigot and a racist and Cy Grant in his first film, Cy was a British Guiana born shot down Flight Lieutenant and RAF POW in World War II, who subsequently qualified as a barrister and then decided to become an actor, singer and author, These three men and Joan survive after a long sea journey to an island which has limited water and natural food, so they construct a raft to try and reach a more habitable island and at this point the sea captain chose to try and abandon Cy Grant (The British answer to Harry Belafonte) who is then killed by a shark as he attempts to swim out to the departing craft. They are rescued and Richard spends time in hospital and on the continuing war before discharge and coming to England in search of Joan who was nicknamed Sea Wife, and who although tempted by the attention of Richard remained chaste. He does not find her. She was a nun. The ending of this short feature film is a poor one because Richard gives up his long and expensive search on being told by the Sea Captain that the girl is dead and without making any further checks about her. In fact his failure to find out from the shipping line or from his rescuers what happened to her or what happened to Cy Grant is unbelievable. The film makers should have followed what happened in Neville Shute's A Town Like Alice which is having its annual/biannual showing at this time
The punch line of the film is that no one looks at the face of nun. This is nonsense of course. But nonsense can also become reality which is the subject of S1m0ne, the Al Pacino 2002 movie in which a computer generated actress becomes internationally famous, allegedly giving live interviews, and a holographic stage performance. As the deception becomes world wide he likes less and less his creation, so he makes the worst film he can imagine and then in created interview he makes her spout the most extreme and offensive of views but all this only makes the media and public love her more. He then decides to kill her off only to be accused of her murder. What happens next is all too believable, alas.
Before bedtime I could not resist another showing of One Night at McCool's, previously seen in theatre. The moral of this film is beware Greek that bares her gifts, especially one whose ambition is a DVD recorder and a large screen TV media centre. This leads Matt Dillon to become a thief and complicity in two killings, one directly and one indirectly by the young women in question played by Liv Tyler. Paul Resier is the lawyer relative of the bar tender Matt Dillon, married with children and a penchant for dressing up in bondage gear and being whopped, what happens to him in the last flick of the film is worth the ticket money alone. John Goodman plays a detective who she is seduced when he finds out she is implicated in one of the deaths and his willingness to lose the evidence is needed. Michael Douglas his the hired assassin who runs off with the wicked wench as the twp are as well matched a pair of villain as James Mason and Margaret Lockwood of my generation. The final scenes are farce and funny but were not worth going out to the theatre for
Happy mother's day.
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