Favorite Things: Shadow of a Doubt (Repost)

One of my favorite movies is Hitchcock's 1943 Shadow of a Doubt.


Apparently, it was one of Hitchcock's favorites, as well, although there are lots of people who have never seen it. It is not as famous as other of Hitch's films, like Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, or To Catch a Thief. Each of those had bigger names or, in the case of Psycho, overtly more famous scenes (Janet Leigh's slashing murder in the shower, combining sex and blood, mmmm).

I have always found Shadow of a Doubt terrifying, creepy, and a fine mix of comedy and skin-crawling suspense.

The scriptwriters are worth noting. One was Alma Reville, Hitchock's wife. She was his editor and assistant director, but one of the writers not only on this film but on Secret Agent, Suspicion and The Paradine Case for Hitch. The other two are more intersting to me, personally. One was Sally Benson, the author of Junior Miss (a novel that became a successful play and radio program, one of my period favorites when I was a pre-teen, about the wholesome experiences of a young girl in high school....), as well as the filmscripts for Anna and the King of Siam, Little Women, The Singing Nun, Come to the Stable, and (hilariously!) Viva Las Vegas, yes--the Elvis film! If you know these films, you recognize them as generally wholesome, optimistic, upbeat films. Her most famous filmscript is undoubtedly Meet Me in St. Louis, the Judy Garland/Margaret O'Brien musical.

...and Shadow of a Doubt? Her first film credit.

Huh.

The other writer is Thornton Wilder--yes, the author of Our Town. Only five years after writing Our Town and winning the Pulitzer Prize for it, Wilder co-pens this disturbing view into the emotional corruption of a happy suburban girl.

The participation of Benson and Wilder in this film actually intrigues me and freaks me out.

Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright are marvelous as the central duo, young Charlotte, known as Charlie, and her maternal Uncle Charlie. This is one of Hitchcock's films based on visual/metaphorical duets, like Strangers on a Train or Vertigo, where two characters mirror each other's emotional, psychological, or physical acts. Charlie is a young woman from a nice middle-class family who lives in Santa Rosa, California; she has no job, seems to have graduated from high school, and appears to drift without direction or purpose--in the most pleasant and charming manner. Uncle Charlie, in his niece's eyes, is a sophisticated, handsome man-of-the-world for whom she has been named and in whom she seems to see a kind of shadow self (male, older, wealthy, unattached) who can do the things and go all the places she fantasizes about. In reality, however, Uncle Charlie is the Merry Widow Murderer who marries and strangles wealthy widows, using all that charm, all those good looks, all his focus to seduce and kill.

The script opens with a remarkable dual sequence showing, first, Uncle Charlie in ugly East Coast Philadelphia, living in a tenement, pursued by government agents, and apparently sick to death of life. The rooming house with its gossipy landlady, the slum streets, and the overhead angles make the city look as filled with exhausted, as broken down, and as empty as Uncle Charlie does. Then we fly to Santa Rosa, young Charlie's city, where everyone smiles, the town sparkles, and golly, there are trees and big houses with shady porches. But Charlie is bored, distracted, and irritable with her lovely, simple family.

The problem is that once young Charlie and Uncle Charlie get into the same house, something's got to give. Charlie sets out to learn her uncle's secret--not knowing there is one and how bad it is. She simply wants to know more about the man she admires and emulates.


The film follows both of them, young Charlie as she discovers the ugliness behind her uncle's handsome facade and Uncle Charlie as he tries to evade government agents and his niece's questions. He tries to kill her three times--unsuccessfully. He reveals the nastiness inside himself--but only to her. He takes her to a bar, where she has obviously never been; this is a great scene, a kind of spiritual initiation for young Charlie into Uncle Charlie's world.

I love this film for its creepiness, for its weird mix of the obliviously happy/normal Santa Rosa folks and the self-aware/transformed people (like young Charlie, the government agent who is our romantic hero, and Uncle Charlie himself) who have been infected by the negative stuff of the 20th century (serial killing, consumer envy, urban blight). There is a scene that suggests that Uncle Charlie's "disease" comes from a fall he took on a bicycle when he was six or so, smacking his head and nearly dying. As his sister, young Charlie's mother, notes, "After that there was no holding him." Before, Uncle Charlie had been a bookworm, a reader, a quiet, well-behaved boy; after, an adventurer, a rover, a physically active boy who detached himself from their household. I like that this is hinted at but not some easy Freudian explanation of where a serial killer comes from; the scary thing is that Charlie himself doesn't seem to have any kind of conscience or guilt about his murders, simply the desire to enjoy its fruits and to stay out of jail... which seems more about freedom and preserving his reputation than fear of authority, either civil or religious. Uncle Charlie is almost, nearly a prophet: he looks at the modern world and seems corruption rather than progress, disease rather than stout health, and self-absorption rather than optimism. But he is, of course, corrupt himself, and murdering silly, lazy women isn't actually justifiable because they're, well, silly and lazy.



Wilder's participation in this is most interesting to me, because this seems the flip side of the simple optimism and flag-waving patriotism most people see in Our Town, without looking more deeply into the playwright's message. I have always thought that Wilder used that play to send a message about complacency and knee-jerk self-satisfaction; I think he does the same here.

It is a brilliant, chilling film with many individually fine performances, including and especially Patricia Collinge as young Charlie's mum and Uncle Charlie's older sister. The sequence in which she bakes a cake for the government agents is marvelous, highlighting the character's obliviousness to what is happening in her house under her nose. Because it is so "normal" Uncle Charlie's performance is scarier, in many ways, than the one-off horror of Psycho.

Pearl

2014... and now what?

I have definitely been absent for a while. 2013 turned out to be a complicated, crazy year full of twists and turns.

For 2014, I look forward to a return to, well, calmer waters. I have plans to spend the summer in England, teaching in both London and Oxford. I hope to take a bookbinding class, starting to learn a new skill... an "old school" kind of one.

I am also continuing my attempts to de-clutter my house and life, to get and stay healthy, to develop and strengthen my personal community, and to be more creative on all levels.

What's new, then, in the Pearl 2014 blog?

Recently I've been asked by no less than five friends to give them advice about what to see and do, where to stay and eat, and similar questions about Paris. Not surprising, really, since I've lived there twice (1999 and 2008) and visited multiple times since 1981. I know the city, although I am always learning more. Most importantly, I give great advice about things to do and see and buy while there.

I've decided to post my favorite 50 tips about visiting Paris. This will include information about travel, hotels, cafes and restaurants, shopping, museums and monuments, and even day trips. Since my travel budget was usually small, most of these will be inexpensive (verging on cheap), but some will be splurges worth every euro. I'll also point out etiquette along the way, manners and attitudes that will keep you from standing out as an Ugly American.

To my mind,the whole point of visiting someplace away from home is to engage with that place and its culture--not your own reproduced. Travelling broadens us because we aren't at home and can't act like it.

I'll also include a list of movies, books, and music that you can use to prepare yourself for visting Paris, or simply to indulge in a virtual visit.

This means every week will see a new tip plus new materials about Paris. So if you can't visit in person, you can still enjoy the City of Light.

Lana Turner--Aquarian

Lana Turner (1921-1995) was one of the most successful actresses of the 1940s and 1950s, bracketed by the 1941 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the 1959 Imitation of Life. She continued to act in films into the 1960s, but with fewer and fewer roles.

Discovered as a teenager (age 16!), Turner was actually spotted in a Hollywood drug store buying a Coke by the publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, who contacted Zeppo Marx about her. Marx was not only the fourth famous Marx Brother and an actor, but an agent. Turner was quickly signed to a contract and cast in a film, They Won't Forget.

She made a series of films with MGM, and became a pin-up girl during WWII. After the war, she made the film noir The Postman Always Rings Twice, based on the novel by James M. Cain, with co-star John Garfield.

Turner was brilliant in The Bad and The Beautiful, with Kirk Douglas. It's one of my favorite "industry" films, a film about film, like All About Eve is a film about theatre. Turner is actually a better actress than most people give her credit for: mostly, people consider her a pretty, sexy blonde, but she really shines in a handful of films.

One of her biggest pictures is Imitation of Life, a remake of a 1930s film with Claudette Colbert. It is a melodrama, a pot-boiler, but an important film about race, nonetheless. She made a lot of money from this picture--in fact, Turner was consistently one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood.

Her private life was a source of interest for her fans and underscored her films, as well. She was married seven times: to bandleader Artie Shaw at 19; twice to Joseph Crane, father of her daughter Cheryl; millionaire Henry Topping; actor Lex Barker; Fred May; producer Robert Eaton; nightclub performer Ronald Pellar. The biggest scandal of her career was the killing of her lover Johnnie Stompanato by her 14-year-old daughter Cheryl--this nearly killed Turner's career. Stompanato was a low-level gangster with Mickey Cohen's organization, and Turner and he had a violent and abusive relationship. Cheryl claimed she killed Stompanato because he threatened her mother.

Turner made 55 movies between 1937 and 1991, plus roles in television series and movies.

Photo of the Day

Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger.

Midnight Margaritas

Courtesy of Practical Magic (1998)


Fab-u-lous Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest, as well as Sandy and Nicole.

Humphrey Bogart

Bogart's career, like Davis, Colbert, and Grant, began in the 1930s with early talkies. Unfortunately, it ended in the late 50s due to his relatively early death from cancer; if he had lived, he would undoubtedly have continued making films, like his colleagues. Maybe we would have seen Bogart on 60s game shows and sit-coms: imagine.

Bogart's status as a star usually rests on his work in The Petrified Forest (1936), when he was still playing criminals and cons, and closes with The Caine Mutiny and Sabrina, both in 1954, as his last "big" pictures. These three give a clue to Bogart's usually ignored range as an actor: comedy, drama, suspense.

Type-cast early as a crazy guy with a gun in B-movies, he was able to transcend such successful but limiting casting and move into what we now think of as his regular gig: romantic leading man in major pictures. Unlike Grant, Bogart was completely contemporary -- no period pieces for him. Like Colbert, he started in plays, but turned to films in the late 20s, breaking into regular work in the 1930s. In 1934 he was cast in the play of Petrified Forest, which was a huge success on Broadway; Leslie Howard bought the film rights, and both he and Bette Davis were cast. Howard insisted Bogart reprise his B'way role, and Bogart's film career took off.

Like all three of the other actors in this group, there are a few well-known Bogart films, but lots of great unknowns, which are worth renting or watching on Netflix. Again, a great way to spend your holiday weekend, checking them out from the library or local rental place, or looking online for free streaming versions.

My recommendations of famous Bogart films include:
The Petrified Forest (1936) -- bonus, you get Davis and Howard, too. This is Bogart's signature "tough guy" role, the killer without remorse but still complex.
The Roaring Twenties (1939), with James Cagney, where Bogart is a bootlegger. Again, b-movie bad guy with style.
The Maltese Falcon (1941). Brilliant Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet and Elisha Cook Jr. as supporting cast. Read the Hammett novel after, but watch this for the fun of the John Huston screenplay/directing. Huston and Bogart were life-long friends--you can see why!

Casablanca (1942), this time with the fantastic Howard Koch screenplay. The role cemented Bogart's status as a star, and he never had to do a B-picture or struggle for casting again. Bergman and Henried are fantastic, but don't miss Greenstreet, Conrad Veidt, and Lorre, as well as the bar staff. Best moment: "La Marseillaise."
To Have and Have Not (1944), the film where Bogart met Bacall. Based on a Hemingway story, this is one sext action picture. Bacall was 19 and Bogart was 45: that didn't seem to be a problem. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? And the music of Hogey Carmichael.



The Big Sleep (1946), Bogart's first Chandler picture, playing Phillip Marlowe--again, with Bacall. Read the book after (it's better!) but see the picture.
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948), another John Huston picture, and one of my favorite Bogart films. he's not a good guy, here. The brilliant Walter Huston, John's dad, co-stars. Both Hustons won Oscars: acting and directing/writing. Bogart? Bupkis.
Key Largo (1948), again Bacall and the return to the complex loner hero. Claire Trevor deservedly won an Oscar for Supporting Actress (she's really, really good!) and Edward G. Robinson is just fun.
The African Queen (1951) with Kate Hepburn. Fun and funny to watch.
The Caine Mutiny (1954), where he plays the nutty Commander Queeg. Again, worth watching for the raft of great performances, anchored by Bogart's complex character.
Sabrina (1954), the original, with Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. Ooh la la! Ok, it is Hepburn's transformation from awkward teen to stylin' Paris girl that I love, but Bogart and Holden are a great pair of suitors. And Bogart, despite being, yes 55, to Hepburn's 25, is still sexy. I prefer this to the later version with Harrison Ford because it is simply funnier, wittier, and better done all 'round.

But rent these, too:
Dead End (1937), based on the stage play. Fantastic Bogey as escaped criminal come back to old neighborhood. Depression-era grittiness.
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), with Cagney and Pat O'Brien. Bogart is third-billed behind these two but gives a solid performance in this story of a thug trying to corrupt a gang of local kids, while their tough priest tries to save them. Surprisingly good script.
The Oklahoma Kid (1939) a Western (yes!) with Bogart and Cagney playing basically ganster versions of battling cowboys in the old West. You know you want to see it.
The Two Mrs. Carrols (1947), with Barbara Stanwyck. Meller-dramma with Bogart as insane, wife-killing  artist.
We're No Angels (1955), another odd Christmas film with Bogart, Peter Ustinov, and Aldo Rey as criminals escaped from the notorious Devil's Island who save an impoverished family. Witty, funny, and bright. It almost seems a parody of Bogart's bad guy role... delightfully.

Comic publicity shot

These are the best, but there are obviously more. I love that Bogart wasn't the typical gorgeous actor, but in either bad guy roles or romantic hero roles always added some twist.

Don't they look happy?

Cary Grant

Like Davis and Colbert, Grant had a flourishing career beginning in the early 1930s, and, like Davis, his career in film lasted into the 1970s. Amazing.

Once asked about his life, Grant responded, "My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can."

When I lived in NYC (in a former life) The Regency Theatre on the West Side had a summer film festival with all Grant's pictures--it was a month-long festival and they showed every picture only twice. I saw a lot of pictures I'd never heard of, as well as the familiar ones. Believe me, seeing the less familiar ones is as big a treat as the famous ones you already know.

Grant could do comedy or drama. He was hilarious in, for example, His Girl Friday, The Awful Truth, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, and even in Charade, which is after all a mystery with violence. But he was also spectacular in such serious films as Notorious, North by Northwest, An Affair to Remember, and Suspicion. No one seemed to think he was acting much, just being himself, a ridiculously suave and charming man. I suspect there was a lot of acting going on, but he made it all seem simple.

In her famous book The Dress Doctor, Edith Head talked about how great Grant was to work with, and how smart he was about style, fashion, costuming, and the camera. He always worked to make his co-stars look as good as himself, and was extremely aware of the nuances of screen costumes.

A list of Grant films would take you through the month I mentioned above, so I've got two categories:

My favorite famous Cary Grant films (a must-see collection):
She Done Him Wrong (1933), the early vehicle with Mae West that might be considered Grant's first break-through; he plays a temperance guy who tries to reform West, while being tempted by her. Oh, yes.
I'm No Angel (1933), again Grant and West, this time as a lion-tamer. Her earthiness and his class are an... interesting combination. And her costumes!

His Girl Friday (1940) with Rosalind Russell. Fast-talking version of B'way hit originally starring two male leads, Grant and Russell plays a soon-to-be-divorced newspaper couple caught in the story of the century! Quick, witty dialogue, with the delectable Ralph Bellamy as the fiance and a mob of great character actors.
The Philadelphia Story (1940) with Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart and, again, a fantastic supporting cast. Grant is a huge star by now, and in this, the third of the Grant-Hepburn match-ups, they are at their best. Again, great style, witty dialogue, and fantastic characters. Super date movie, as well. The scene with Stewart, drunk, and Grant, sober, is priceless--better than anything else in the film, except maybe the song "Lydia."
Notorious (1946), Grant's second Hitchcock work, is my favorite romantic film of all time. He and Bergman were lightning in a bottle, in my opinion. But, hey, look for yourself.



To Catch a Thief (1955), third Hitchcock outing, with Grace Kelly... the film where she met Prince Rainier, as it was shot in Monte Carlo. The scenery is gorgeous, as are Grant and Kelly.
An Affair To Remember (1957), with Deborah Kerr. This is actually not one of my favorites; I think the tearjerking melodrama is over the top, but the style is fantastic. And it is considered an iconic "romantic" film, and the basis for Sleepless in Seattle's romantic use of the Empire State Building. I think the script is weak, but Grant and Kerr are both master actors and their scenes are often wittier and more complex than the thin script suggests.
North by Northwest (1959), fourth and final Hitchcock match-up. This one with the beautiful and talented Eva Saint Marie. The iconic race against the crop-duster.

My favorite unknown Cary Grant films (the follow-up, just for your own pleasure!)
Blonde Venus (1932), a very early film that pairs Grant with Dietrich. He's "the other man" and kind of a bad guy.
Madame Butterfly (1932), as, yes, Pinkerton. This is the original stage version (pre-opera!), and Grant plays the careless American sailor who seduced and "marries" the Japanese geisha, then deserts her, only to return and claim their child. In 1932, Sylvia Sidney, who played Cho Cho San, was much more famous than Grant; she is not Asian, he is a total cad, but oh, boy, worth every minute of the drah-ma.
Alice in Wonderland (1933) -- Forget Tim Burton and Johnny Depp (ok, well, for a minute) and get this live-action version of Alice starring major actors and character actors in Carroll's story. Oh, early Hollywood! Grant plays the Mock Turtle, Gary Cooper is the White Knight, Edward Evertt Horton is the Mad Hatter, and W.C. Fields is Humpty-Dumpty. Just get it!
Topper (1937) with Constance Bennet and Billie Burke. Grant and Bennet are a young couple killed in a car wreck who come back to haunt their stuffy banker. Light comedy with, again, great style.
The Awful Truth (1937) the first film with Irene Dunne--one of my personal favorites because of the great chemistry between Dunne and Grant, the witty script, and the supprting cast which again includes Bellamy and the ever-great Cecil Cunningham.

Only Angels Have Wings (1939) with Jean Arthur and the deightful young Rita Hayworth.
My Favorite Wife (1940), the second Grant-Dunne pairing, this time with Randolph Scott as the handsome man with whom Dunne, married to Grant, was stranded on an island for 7 years... oh, yes, hilarity ensues.
Penny Serenade (1941), the third Dunne-Grant film, this time a serious film about a couple trying to have a child. Charming.
Mr. Lucky (1943), with Laraine Day. Here, Grant plays a gambler trying to romance a society dame (Day) while cheating her charity out of lots of cash. This is his cad-turned-honest guy character, and again, well done.
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). The stage play turned film -- RUN, do not walk, to get this fabulous comedy. Peter Lorre is priceless as Dr. Einstein, Raymond Massey terrifying and hilarious as evil brother Jonathan, and the supporting cast simply brilliant. The timing, the dialogue, the physical stuff--perfect.



None But the Lonely Heart (1944) with the great Ethel Barrymore are his mom. Tear-jerker extraordinaire.
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947), one of his best comedies with the luscious Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple, and Rudy Vallee. Temple gets a crush on Grant, and her sister, the judge (Loy), mandates dating to cure Little Sister of her crush... hijinx ensue when Big Sister too get a crush (who wouldn't?). Best scene: the nightclub (below)... or maybe the Fourth of July picnic? Mellow greetings, yukey dukey!

The Bishop's Wife (1947) in which Grant (an angel) competes for Loretta Young's attention with her husband, David Niven (the bishop). A lovely Christmas film you should see all year.
Crisis (1950), in which Grant, a brain surgeon, has to save the life of a South American dictator. I know! Just see it, for the fun of Grant operating.
Houseboat (1958) with Sophia Loren as the "housekeeper" Grant takes on to care for his three kids after their mom dies. Loren is on the run from her constricted life as a socialite (natch!), and hilarity and romance ensue. Loren is young and earthy, a great match for Grant's maturing glamour.
That Touch Of Mink (1962), Grant's only match-up with Doris Day is witty, again, as he pursues her. He wants an affair, she wants marriage... guess what?
Charade (1963), another personal favorite, that matches Grant with Hepburn--Audrey this time--in Paris. How could it go wrong? Clever, charming, and funny. The drip-dry suit: I love that Grant could laugh at himself so effortlessly. And I think I stayed in that hotel... but in the 1990s. Imagine!



What a list!

A mix of any or all would be an excellent use of your weekend.

One last image:

Claudette Colbert

Colbert is one of the best comediennes of her era (the 1930s and 40s) as well as one of the most stylish stars of the movies.

Her career started in the 1920s, when she was just a girl. She was born in France--actually, in the eastern Parisian suburb I lived in on sabbatical--in 1908, so her first movies, made in 1927, were when she was just 19.

Like Davis, she made a bunch of minor melodramas initially, really breaking out in 1934 with It Happened One Night, with her co-star Clark Gable. For both of them, it was a break-out picture, but before she made this, she made 26 films between 1927 and 1934. Any of those are fun, but it was her appearance as the Empress Poppaea with her bath of asses' milk that made early censorship happen. Forget Janet Jackson--this is the original peek-a-boo, and Colbert is great, just acting while naked. But don't ignore the "slavegirls'" BDSM chains and peek-a-boo dresses, either.

Her final, great film might be The Egg and I (1947) with Fred MacMurray (of future My Three Sons' fame). Like Davis, in the 1950s her career turned to TV, but by 1961 she was done, retired from the spotlight, until her final appearance in 1987. Unlike most actresses, she had only two marriages, one short when young, and one long marriage to a surgeon who died in 1968.

My favorite Colbert films include:
The Wiser Sex (1932) with Melvyn Douglas and Franchot Tone, two very classy actors no one knows anymore.
I Cover the Waterfront (1933)
It Happened One Night (1934), the great classic comedy

Cleopatra (1934) -- watch this, then the Liz-and-Dick one. Laugh!
Imitation of Life (1934) which also stars the great Hattie McDaniel; later this was a Lana Turner tear-jerker of the 1950s, of the same title, with the great Juanita Moore. I prefer the Colbert version, perhaps because it is more honest about the issues of "passing" and race that are central to this piece.
The Gilded Lily (1935) with Fred MacMurray and Ray Milland.
I Met Him in Paris (1937) with Melvyn Douglas and Robert Young, later of Father Knows Best on TV.
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) -- a pretty great comedy with Gary Cooper.

My personal favorite of all is The Palm Beach Story (1942), with Joel McCrae, Rudy Vallee, and Mary Astor. Simply brillant! Here's the trailer, with French subtitles.



Since You Went Away (1944) is one the host of "at home" picture studios made during WWII about life without husbands and fathers. It also stars the beautiful Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotton, who were  a great movie couple as well.
The Egg and I (1947) is charming and surprisingly holds up well. It includes Ma and Pa Kettle, too, so if you've never seen Marjorie Main in this role, definitely find it!



Colbert's films are definitely a record of the star system (she refused to be filmed from the left, for instance, after learning about film lighting) and the studio/contract era of Golden Hollywood. Unlike davis she was never considered a "great" actress, but watching her films you see that she had strong comic timing, the ability to handle complex language (whether comedy or drama) as well as weaker dialogue (and make it look good), and that she was a professional. She, too, made the transition from ingenue to "mature" roles gracefully.

Bette Davis

From the time I was 7 or 8 until I started college, one of my greatest pleasures was watching what are now called "classic" movies on TV. Where I grew up there were two channels devoted to them, one that showed movies everyday between 430 and 6, and on weekends, when not covering sports, other channels also ran old movies. Why not? They were cheap and no one had heard of reality TV, cable channels, 24-hour news, QVC, or the Food Network.

I watched everything possible, especially films made from the advent of talkies to about 1965. I had to be a lot older to appreciate the nuances of the gritty movies made after that.

Other than that, I wasn't very discriminating about my viewing: musical, comedy, drama, costume drama, great literature, b-movie, film noir, etc. No one was showing foreign classics, few showed silents, so it was 99.5% American studio industry films.

My suggestion for summer savings? Get these "old" movies from your library, Netflix, wherever, and enjoy.

Bette Davis.

 A career that spanned the early 30s to the late 80s (Wow!), Davis played everything from comedy to drama to costume pieces. Probably she is best known for the endless series of melodramas she appeared in during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, bounded by Jezebel (1937), her first Oscar win that went a long way to legitimize her and separate her from the herd of young, blonde actresses of the period, to All About Eve (1950), her amazing turn as an aging actress shadowed by a young wannabe. Of course, after that came The Virgin Queen, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, as well as a string of TV appearances (Bette Davis in Perry Mason and Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Wagon Train and Gunsmoke!) and TV movies.

My personal picks from among her films:

Of Human Bondage (1934): in this filming of Maugham's novel, she plays a cheap tramp wiithout a heart of gold who tortures Leslie Howard (later Ashley Wilkes), who plays a sensitive med student/doctor infatuated with the girl. Davis is fabulous stealing this scene from Howard. Yes, over the top, but that is part of Bette's charm.



Petrified Forest (1936), again with Howard and also with Humphrey Bogart, pre-Casablanca.
Kid Galahad (1937) with Bogart and Edward G. Robinson.
Jezebel (1937) with Henry Fonda--Davis as the "headstrong Southern belle" who dares to wear red to the Cotillion! Great film, with Davis at her young peak.

Dark Victory (1939) Of course! Davis as the dying headstrong heiress, with Bogart and George Brent as the man she loves.
The Little Foxes (1941), based on Hellman's play. Fabulous! Especially, the scene on the stairs.
The Man who Came to Dinner (1942), one of her few comedies, but she is brilliant in the film version of the Kaufman-Hart stage play. Hilarious!
Now, Voyager (1942)--admittedly, one of my very favorites because despite being a melodrama, it is actually not over the top and Davis gives a controlled and layered performance as a spinster who falls for a married man, played by the ever-sexy Paul Henried. And yes, the clothes, hats, sets are all fantastic.



A Stolen Life (1946), in which she plays twins, one of whom dies in a tragic boating accident....
All About Eve (1950), which is the pinnacle of her career, in my opinion,because she never appears in a script as smart, funny, and perfect for her as this again.
The Star (1952), perhaps a little autobiographical.
Pocketful of Miracles (1961), the remake of a Damon Runyon-based story, with Glenn Ford and Hope Lange.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), brilliant, brilliant over-the-top film with Davis and Crawford trying to outact each other. A horror film, a mystery, a fantastic scary thing... with Davis doing her parody of Mary Pickford (ouch! Take that, Mary!).

My sister and I re-enact this scene. We worry which of us might end in the wheelchair: take note!

Davis was an incredible, enduring actress who adapted to new forms and genres, as well as "grew up" on screen, refusing to get stuck playing the ingenue (although she was a pretty one!).

We all know it is more fun to play the experienced, sophisticated grown-up girl.

Love this ad! Smoking, Jim Beam, that laser-sharp gaze, that amused smile.

Tomorrow, Claudette Colbert.

This Week!

I decided that with my heat-induced lethargy I had better give myself specifics for the week. So here goes, and here's what to come this week.

Monday/Review: Two plays by local theatres
Tuesday/New Frugality: My recent experiments in purging
Wednesday: Who knows?
Thursday/Clothing & the ongoing Express Checkout Experiment: My closets
Friday: If I were in Paris...
Saturday/Cooking, eating & drinking
Sunday: Who knows?

Plus, because it's summer and I'm always looking for good things to do, I think I'll have a piece everyday about one of my favorite actors in classic movies, with my suggestions for what to rent, checkout from your library, watch on streaming/regular Netflix, or, if you're lucky, see on a big screen in some revivial art house near you.

Monday: Bette Davis
Tuesday: Claudette Colbert
Wednesday: Cary Grant
Thursday: Humphrey Bogart
Friday: Fred Astaire & Gene Kelly
Saturday: Family films

Wednesday -- My Favorite Things: Laura and Charade

Two of my favorite old films are Laura and Charade. I can watch them over and over again and still enjoy the nuances of the plots, the suspense, the acting. And the style of them, as well.

Laura was made in 1944, during the war, from the novel by Vera Caspery. Simply, it is a black-and-white suspense film, revolving around the murder of a young woman, Laura Hunt, in the New York City of the era. The film starts with the assignment of Detective Mark McPherson to the case; he has come to question Waldo Lydecker, a famous columnist and Laura's friend. The film opens with McPherson (Dana Andrews) waiting on Lydecker (Clifton Webb), as Lydecker watched McPherson from his bathtub.

It turns out McPherson is a kind of cop-hero because of a prior shooting, and Lydecker's favorite hobby is murder. The first part of the film introduces us to the likely suspects, including Laura's aunt Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson), boyfriend and colleague Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), and maid Bessie Clary (Dorothy Adams). McPherson goes to Laura's glamorous single gal apartment, where her portrait hangs over the parlor, and begins to investigate.

This is a well-done romantic suspense melodrama: there are several twists you don't see coming. Gene Tierney plays Laura, and her character of a successful female ad executive is both glamorous and apparently charming, in the initial flashbacks of the film.

I won't say more, because the twists are key, but I will say it is only recently that I did the math within the script: Laura is apparently 17 or 18 when she first meets Waldo, and something like 24 or 25 when she is murdered, but has reached the top of her game through hard work, creativity, and intelligence--no whiff of sex or evil manipulation... interesting choices in that era.

Charade is later, 1963, and stars Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. The supporting cast includes Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, and Ned Glass, among others. Certainly I love it because it is shot on location around Paris -- the Theatre du Palais Royale, the Champs Elysees's stamp market, and even in the Metro.

Written by Peter Stone and directed by Stanley Donen, Charade is sharp, witty, funny, and suspenseful. Regina Lampert (Hepburn) comes home frm a vacation in the Alps determined to divorce her husband, but finds instead their apartment stripped to the bone and empty and her husband dead -- pushed off a train. very quickly, she comes to discover that her husband was not who she thought (multiple passposts and murder!), and that three men are chasing her to find the money he has stolen from them (Coburn, Kennedy, and Glass).

Reggie meets Peter (Cary Grant) in the Alps, and then he surfaces again in time to help her find a hotel and pursue her questions about her dead husband. Unfortunately, Grant's identity seems as slippery as her husband's, and Reggie, while attracted (of course!) starts to become fearful of Peter's involvement in the mystery.

Again, no spoilers. The bulk of my enjoyment, beyond the beauties of Paris, comes from the chemistry between Hepburn and Grant, as well as the series of wondeful outfits Hepburn wears, from hats to shoes, throughout the film. Grant seems perfectly comfortable making fun of himself, too, and adding to the suspense.

And both films have themesongs you probably have heard.

Beautiful Boy, the film

Meant to post this yesterday, but Monday got away from me.

On Saturday I got to see the film produced by my former student, Lee Clay, titled Beautiful Boy. It is a lovely feature film written by Shawn Ku and Michael Armbruster and directed by Ku. The film stars Michael Sheen (Underworld, The Queen) and Maria Bello (History of Violence, ER) -- two fot he hardest working actors in film and TV. The film is an intimate view of a couple who discover that their only son committed an act of violence and then killed himself.

The film is not about the violence or sensationalism of the act, nor about the media frenzy or placing blame. It is about a couple on the verge of divorcing who, because of a terrible, unexpected event, are forced to rediscover who they are individually and as a couple. Beautiful Boy focuses on the actors--including a small group of supporting actors--and on the intimacy of the relationships.

I expected to either cry or find it melodramatic, but instead I was moved by the strong writing, acting, directing, and production values of the film. It is a "small" film by Hollywood standards (made for something like $750K), but honest and simple. The moving camera at times irritated me, because it cut off my ability to witness reactions or continue focusing on the actor-character without acknowledging the director (man behind the camera)--this is a contemporary convention of younger filmmakers, and I am willing to be done with it. I know there is a person behind the camera, but frankly, I don't need to see you to enjoy your craft and creativity in the film. I think it calls attention to the wrong thing and just makes me jittery.

That said--I recommend Beautiful Boy. Limited release June 3 (NY and LA), opening on wide platforms through October (new terms I learned!). This is a film for adults, folks, not teens.

And, yes, in part I am thrilled because it was my student (go, Lee!) who produced it--but he, Michael, and Shawn came to meet my students last Friday and so generously spent three hours answering questions, chatting, and simply being delightful. It is great to see your students grow up and do you proud.

Oscars!

Dresses first, winners after.

Bullock: perfect

Best overall look: Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Lawrence, Hailey Steinfeld, and Reese Witherspoon. Dress, jewelry, makeup, hair, accessories: Brava! 

Witherspoon: Brava!  Berry: Tulle much?



Steinfeld: Age appropriate and excellent!

I loved Bullock's total look, which was so much better than her Golden Globes mess. Like Bullock, Reese Witherspoon went for simple elegance: a killer dress and gorgeous accessories. Witherspoon's black-and-white was so simple it made the perfect foil for those emerald earrings (I want!). The color isn't as brilliant here, but the style is visible, as is her pefect hair and makeup.

I loved that Hailey Steinfeld was so very age-appropriate, but in the prettiest possible way. And Jennifer Lawrence (my favorite actress of 2010) really wore that Calvin Klein sheath dress perfectly: only for a younger woman with excellent posture. The color and the style were perfect for her age, as well.

Great dresses with a ouch! factor: Gwyneth Paltrow (hair and handlers), Annette Benning (hair), Amy Archer (neckline and cap sleeves), Halle Berry (tulle froth), Jennifer Hudson (breast explosion)

Adams: Just the sleeves and neckline, ouch!

Lawrence, Hudson, Hathaway

What bothered me about Paltrow was that this dress on her was absolutely perfect: who can wear a silver sheath with that neckline? Prettier, I think, than the fabled pink Lauren gown (which was poorly fitted). But her hair! First off, color great, but her handlers and she kept fussing all night to make it lie perfectly flat. Visible fussing is like visible panty lines: disruptive.

That was also one of my problems with Hudson and Hathaway's dresses, see above. Initially nice to look at, but if you require 1-2 handlers to pooch or park the dress... uh-uh. Unless you want your grumpy minions in the pictures fussing and holding up your dress (like Hudson). The illusion is all, and seeing the stagehands ruins the illusion.

Hudson looks great and really found a color and a style that showcase her weight loss. The problem for me was that the inner curve of her breasts constantly stole the show from her total look. Their blatant featuring was completely distracting and in bad taste, in my opinion. Not saying you shouldn't rock a great figure and play up your best features, but the "here they are!" signal is tacky. Her eyebrows also looked overplucked... or something. Again, a small thing, but distracting to me.

Seen in the long version onstage, Adams' dress was gorgeous. The color--not balck or navy but a vibrant deep blue--was great on her skin tone. But I don't like the cap sleeves or neckline, and given the stunning diamond and emerald necklace, felt that the glittery gown was a distraction from a sincerely amazing piece of jewelery chosen to stun us. A matte fabric or a deeper neckline would have been better. Loved the back and the leg slit: ladylike but glamorous.

Halle Berry: someone finally wore the pale off-white/cream color perfectly. Finally! Gown is perfectly fitted, gorgeous fabric... and erupts into a flurry of tulle. Ugh. The tulle seemed an afterthought that, again, distracted from a nearly perfect dress and thus overall design. Like Bullock, she was soooooo much better than her Golden Globes disaster (OMG!). But not dead-on.
Shoulda stayed home: Melissa Leo (oh, dear!), Cate Blanchet (some green growth is eating my very square shoulders and giving me unibreast, Cap'n Kirk!), Anne Hathaway (too much going on behind), Nicole Kidman (what a very fancy apron, or shouldn't your wrap be around your shoulders?).

Oh, no

Huh?

Melissa Leo was just not right. Too many things: lace, gold metallic, slit, shoulders, whoa! The hair was too casual for this very fussy dress. I suspect that as a working actress rather than a celebrity, she didn't have the stylist or the experience to solve the total conundrum that is working the red carpet. It's not a sideline: it is an event in itself with its own culture.

Anne Hathaway: why have a big, loose bag on your butt? And... visible handlers. Ugh.

Cate Blanchett: ??? I know people will disagree with me because there is a Cate-cult out there, but this was a huge misstep. The shoudlers, the frothy stuff, the color, the portrait breasts... everything. her hair and makeup: dead on. The skirt of the dress: great. The bodice: sooo many things gone wrong.

Nicole Kidman: again, someone who can wear white without washing out, but... ???? I don't get the notion of this dress with its big wraparound satin thing. Un-clear. Cuts her in two, bulky, architecturally useless, and awkward. And red shoes? Not with white satin embroidered in gunmetal. What happened to the woman who rocked puce as a color?

I also want to speak up for Helena Bonham Carter, partly because I am envious of her gorgeous porcelain skin. Ok, she's a kook blah blah blah... who cares? She and Colleen Atwood designed her gown and it was unique and who cares? Shut up already about her personal style: we all get it. Kelly Osborn judging HBC on style? Please.

I heart HBC

She's a character. A unique woman who plays the fashion game in her own way. Get on her train or get off, but don't condescend or treat her like everyone else: you only make yourself look jerky.

As far as the awards: Annette Benning and Jennifer Lawrence were robbed for Best Actress (I am also officially over pregnant = "awwww!" = my business = award-worthy). Completely surprised THE SOCIAL NETWORK didn't win everything, not that I liked it or saw it, but everyone was so ga-ga over it at the Golden Globes. Glad for THE KING'S SPEECH, an old-fashioned kind of picture with old-fashioned kind of acting (the good kind!). Ridiculous Amy Adams didn't win Bes t Supporting Actress because she was sincerely brilliant in THE FIGHTER in the kind of specific, non-showy part that makes the picture and the other actors look good, while Leo was simply not.

My two cents.

Eartha Kitt -- Aquarian

Eartha Kitt was a fascinating person. Most people know her as the sexy singer of "Santa Baby," but she was a dancer and actress as well.

According to sources, Kitt was born in South Carolina and her parents of mixed racial heritage, with her mother being Cherokee and African-American and her father German. She was raised by a woman she thought was her biologival mother, but it wasn't until she was 8 that she actually met her mother (or the woman she thought was her mother) in New York City. Prior to and after that, Kitt was abused; first by her South Carolina family for being "too white" and then by her mother. She ran away, began living off and on in subways, and finally--on a dare--auditioned for the Katharine Dunham Dance Company. She was accepted, and worked with the troupe for 5 years. In the 1940s, from about age 18 to 25 she appeared on Broadway and started her cabaret act, which she took to Paris.

Kitt sang in seven languages, although she is best known for her songs in French and English.

In the 1950s, she worked in films, especially for Orson Welles, who was reputedly her lover. In the 1960s, she added TV work to her career, most specifically as Catwoman in the third seaon of Batman. A different and sexier Catwoman.

In 1968 at a lunch at the White House, she clearly stated anti-war sentiments to Lady Bird Johnson, expressing sympathy for mothers who lost their sons and daughters in Viet Nam, as well as a definite statement that the protestors were onto something. Lady Bird burst into tears, and Kitt became persona non grata in the US for a while. She went on tour outside the country.

In the 1980s she returned to the US and nightclubs, finding popularity among gay male audiences. She also started to work for HIV/AIDS awareness and funding. In the last two decades of her life, she did voiceovers, TV roles, Broadway, cabarets, and film. She advocated gay marriage and gay rights.

As I said, Kitt was a remarkable and fascinating woman. Though most people only know her as a sex kitten-type who sang sultry songs, clearly she was a woman of character and intelligence, with a will of iron and a backbone of steel.