I'll bet she's the fastest thing on the road.

So for Saturday Picture Show today, I'm going to post one more time about Come September. I'm not going to lie: it's one of my favorite movies so there's a very good chance that this theme will come up again. However, luckily, there are so many wonderful movies to talk about, I think I'll be able to fill plenty of space between Come September weeks.

You know, when I couldn't push my bike up that last hill... he carried it for me.

Today I'm going to talk about one of my favorite movies, Come September (1961). My mom introduced it to me a few years ago and the first time I watched it, I liked it. The second time I watched it, I loved it. And then I bought it and now I watch it once every other month or so.

Summary: American tycoon, Robert Talbot (Rock Hudson) comes to Italy every September to romance his Italian girlfriend, Lisa Fellini, (Gina Lollobrigida) at his Italian villa. What he doesn't know is that Lisa is engaged to another man and Robert's majordomo, Maurice, (Walter Slezak) has turned the Italian villa into a hotel. When Robert makes an unseasonable trip in July, Lisa hurriedly drops her fiancé and Maurice scrambles to turn the hotel back into a villa... and explain to Robert the group of American teenagers who have booked rooms!

It's a hilarious movie featuring some fantastic dialogue, a dreamy Rock Hudson, a gorgeous and sassy Gina Lollobrigida (along with her divine costumes), Bobby Darin singing, an adorable Sandra Dee, and a young, Pre-Cabaret Joel Gray. This was Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee's first film together - in fact, they met while making it!

The movie enjoys some wacky plot twists and ends perfectly.

I will admit that there is a section of the movie that I don't love because there is a bit of the "virtue is a woman's best quality" school of thought. However, it is delivered in something of a tongue-in-cheek way and that opinion doesn't necessarily win the end of the movie (although that is kind of arguable). I forgive that little section (usually by fast-forwarding it) because I just love the rest of the movie so much. And the movie ends with the girl getting the guy instead of the guy winning the girl, which makes me feel a little better about the whole thing. And if that sort of ideology doesn't bother you, then you can disregard!

Has anyone else seen this movie? What did you think?

How often does a man get rid of all of his troubles at the same time?

Style Sunday!

Have you ever seen Come September (1961)? It is a delightful movie. I'll go into more detail tomorrow about why you should see it if you haven't but, in the meantime, I'd like to talk about how amazing Gina Lollobrigida's costumes are in that movie.

I mean...

Every...

Single...

Outfit...

Is just...

 Divine...

I even love the wacky t-shirt she wears with the funky-looking fish. I showed my friend this movie and when this outfit came up, she said, "oh, god. That's awful." But I love the boxy cut of the top, the stripes behind the graphic. So cute! Not going to lie... I'm planning to make a top inspired by this one some day...

In the meantime, I have a dress that is actually quite similar to one of the dresses she wears. I'm not wearing a petticoat underneath it to give it the same poof - someday... But I was pretty excited when I realized I already had a ready-made inspired-by dress to wear.

You are as bold as you are brave.

My brother, I have discovered in recent years, has an impressive ability to find really obscure movies that I like. I don't really know how he does it - especially considering the fact that he finds me hard to buy for and doesn't like buying me movies (to be fair, I am picky) and we don't really see each other anymore. Last year (as in 2010), he bought me Give a Girl a Break and Holiday in Mexico, both of which were fun and fluffy musicals - right up my alley. This past year, he bought me a French '50s film called Fanfan la Tulipe. I'll be honest, I don't usually brave foreign film territory. Not because I don't like them or don't trust their quality, but because I don't know anything about them. I know a lot about American films; I'll stick to what I know for now.

However, this movie makes me feel like I'm probably missing out. Because it is fantastic!

found here

In fact, I'm going to add it to my much-neglected 100 movies list:

#39: Fanfan la Tulipe (1952)

found here

Imagine an Errol Flynn movie. Got it? Now, make it a little bit sillier, make it French and add some low-cut costumes and a lot of innuendo. Imagining it? That's Fanfan la Tulipe. It's a fun, swashbuckling film about a good-hearted, good-looking, impudent, and brave rogue-ish fellow named Fanfan (Gerard Philipe). After he receives a fortune from a bogus fortune-teller (Gina Lollobrigida), saying that he will marry the king's daughter, Fanfan goes in search of his destiny - even when he learns that the fortune was made up.

found here

It's a lot of fun, full of great sword-fighting scenes, romance, and excitement - I was at the edge of my seat! I really liked the main character and I really liked the girl and I really liked the sidekick. I figure that's pretty good if the three main characters are likable. There were a number of villains in this film. I didn't care for all of them as villains because one of them was just annoying but one of them (I'm trying to avoid spoilers) was a very good villain. I do recommend it if you have the chance. Netflix offers it. By the bye, the title of this post is part of the translated subtitles. I don't speak French so it's a little hard for me to quote it!

found here