And it's simply groovey!

It's almost Christmas! Hooray! I'm going to include 2 clips today. Both are from Miracle on 34th Street. But one is the trailer and it is, in my opinion, one of the funnest trailers ever. It's so cute! And I love all of the random cameos!



the second clip is just one of my favorite scenes. It makes me tear up every time!

Why do I believe? I guess that I believe because!

Stumbled upon this gem while perusing through Doctor Macro. Such a cute photo!!

Yeah, but the gym's neutral territory.

I'm actually not a crazy huge fan of West Side Story - nothing against the movie but it's not my favorite plot line of all time and it's horribly depressing. But. The music and the dancing - brilliant. Whenever I watch movie tributes like That's Dancing! they include "Cool." I agree that that dance is amazing but it's not my favorite. My favorite is, without a doubt, the Dance at the Gym. And since YouTube will not allow me to embed it, just click the photo.

Women have to emancipate themselves in order to emancipate men so they can emancipate each other where it counts the most.

Seriously, how gorgeous is she? Wish I could look like this!

Two Kwakiutls in the same blanket... were warmer.

I fell behind in reading and writing blog posts in the past few days. I'm only now catching up! Phew! Some quick business before I launch into my post: Thank you again to all who voted in this week's poll! The results were a landslide, which rather surprised me, to be honest. In the question, who is your favorite regular in the Fred and Ginger series, Edward Everett Horton scored a whopping 64% of the votes (11)! Helen Broderick had 3 votes (17%), Eric Blore had 2 (11%) and Erik Rhodes had 1 (5%). I'm still brainstorming about this week's poll. I'll let you know at the end of the post what I've decided to ask.


I realized that I promised to theme all of my posts romantically but that hasn't really been happening, so I don't think you will mind too terribly when this next post doesn't quite fit into the Valentine's Day setting. The photo above may have tricked you into thinking this is an ultra-romantic post with a very clever tie-in to the insanely cold weather everyone has been having. Unless, of course, you recognize the photo, in which case, you weren't tricked at all and can probably guess what's next on my count-up of 100 movies:

#15 The Great Race (1965)


(There were several posters for this film but I picked this one because I think it captures the zaniness best. Just check out that list on the left-hand side! Classic!)

I rewatched this film the other day and fell back in love with it. I loved it years ago when I was a kid (although I suppose some would still consider me a kid), but this time around I appreciated the over-the-top, campy, crazy hilarity that is this film.

The basic plot is as follows: The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) is a champion daredevil who constantly breaks records, wins lady loves, and wears white. His arch-nemesis, Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon), constantly (and unsuccessfully) attempts kill Leslie so that he, Fate, can be the champion, fails at all of his own daredevil attempts, and wears black. When Leslie suggests an automobile race stretching from New York to Paris, Fate is the first one to accept the challenge. Shortly behind Fate in rising to the challenge is journalist, suffragette, female emancipator, Maggie Dubois (Natalie Wood), who is out to prove that she can be any man's equal, particularly if the man is Leslie. Along for the ride are Leslie's assistant, Hezekiah (Keenan Wynn) and Fate's cohort, Max (Peter Falk). So, there you have it, in a semi-nutshell. A crazy race across the globe that includes everything from a sing-along song (complete with lyrics and bouncy ball) to a coronation (not to mention everything on the list in the poster!). If you have not yet seen this film, I highly and thoroughly recommend it. I'll link to the trailer here in case you need your appetite whetted (whettened?) even more.


The movie includes many hilarious lines. One of my favorites is in the title of the post.
Here are a few others:

Max: Come on, Professor, rise and shine!
Fate: Rise and shine?!
Max: Yeah. 7:30.
Fate: Then you rise, you shine!

Fate: Bury the hatchet.
Leslie: And we know who has the hatchet.
Max: He doesn't have a hatchet, I promise you.

Leslie: Are you a native of Boracho?
Lilly: I ain't no native! I was born here!

Prince Hapnik: Rah! Oh rah!

What are your favorite lines from the film?


I've been trying to make my 100 movies posts a little bit more interesting so I looked up some trivia for this one before I wrote it up. There were some very interesting bits and pieces but the most interesting ones, I thought, were the ones that involved the major pie fight towards the end of the movie. Here's what I found out:


- the pie fight is the largest one ever staged
- the pies used were real and contained real ingredients (including fruit, custard, and whipped cream)
- there were more than 300 leftover pies after the scene, which the crew proceeded to eat
- the running gag in this scene that Leslie walks through the kitchen and remains unblemished was pretty tricky to film (which is something I've always wondered). Tony Curtis had to change costumes several times when debris from other pies got on his suit and messed up the gag.

I really did go a bit overboard with the pictures this time, didn't I? But they were all so irresistible! Ah well. Pictures are fun. Now for the aforepromised poll. This will require you to have seen the movie, so if you haven't seen it, go see it so that you can vote! Jack Lemmon plays two characters in the film, the devious Professor Fate and the drunken Prince Hapnik. Which of these two roles do you like better?

P.S. I have a new banner at the top of my blog. Go check it out! The plan is to change it every week in honor of Valentines Day month.

A pretty girl is like a melody

When I wrote my list of favorite 20 actors, I had so much fun that I couldn't wait to make a list of 20 favorite actresses. And then I realized that I should stretch out the fun and let it last all year long! So, the new plan is: every month I'll feature a new list. If you like the list, then please feel free to consider yourself tagged and make your own. So below is a list of my favorite 20 actresses and my favorite of their roles. Enjoy!

Oh, and a brief disclaimer: This aren't really in any particular order. Basically, the top ones are my favorites and the bottom ones are slightly less favorite. The top 5 or 6 are my tip-top favorites (I'm numbering them so that I can keep track of how many I have).

(Also, a second brief disclaimer: Grace Kelly is not on my list, despite the photograph of her here for the simple and shameful reason that I've only seen her in 1.5 movies, same goes for Barbara Stanwyck, who I've only seen in 1 movie. I plan to remedy the situation in each, I promise!)

1. Audrey Hepburn
Funny Face and My Fair Lady


2. Ginger Rogers
Roberta and Monkey Business


3. Myrna Loy
The Thin Man and Libeled Lady


4. Claudette Colbert
Midnight and It Happened One Night


5. Cyd Charisse
The Band Wagon and Silk Stockings


6. Olivia de Havilland
The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood


7. Kathryn Grayson
Thousands Cheer and Kiss Me Kate


8. Judy Holliday
Born Yesterday and It Should Happen to You


9. Marilyn Monroe
The Seven Year Itch



10. Julie Andrews
Mary Poppins


11. Irene Dunne
The Awful Truth


13. Donna Reed
It's A Wonderful Life


14. Sandra Dee
That Funny Feeling


15. June Allyson
Two Girls and a Sailor



16. Katharine Hepburn
Bringing Up Baby


17. Shirley Temple (okay, I know she's little, but I love her!)
Little Miss Broadway


18. Ava Gardner
One Touch of Venus


19. Natalie Wood
The Great Race
20. Ruby Keeler
Footlight Parade

Christmas isn't just a day; it's a frame of mind.

Today's choice was a tough decision. It's the last day to name a Christmas-y movie in time for Christmas and I was down to 2 choices: Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and It's A Wonderful Life (1946). In the end, I picked the former. I love It's A Wonderful Life but I just revisited Miracle on 34th Street this past week and it was such a lovely movie that I decided to go with it instead. I'm pretty sure I'll still have this list going by next Christmas (100 is a lot of movies) so I'm sure I'll get to It's A Wonderful Life by then. In the meantime...

#8 Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

I added this movie to my Netflix queue after Motion Picture Gems did a great write-up on it. Then I watched the trailer (I do love trailers) and there was no more decision left to make: I pushed it to the top of the queue. Speaking of Netflix queues, I have a film coming tomorrow that I'm very excited about (about which I'm excited - for all you grammatical experts out there). Christmas in Connecticut. I've never seen it (can you believe that?) and I can't wait! I've seen so many reviews for it lately and I feel as if I'm missing out on a classic.

The results are in on the White Christmas poll: out of 7 votes, 4 (57%) voted for the Crooner and 3 (42%) voted for the Comic. Thank you so much for voting!

The poll this week is about kids in Christmas movies. Which kid in a Christmas movie is your favorite? Susan from Miracle on 34th Street, Susan from White Christmas, Zuzu from It's A Wonderful Life, Daphne & Vanderbilt in Holiday Inn, or Debby in The Bishop's Wife? Have fun voting!

Oh, and speaking of holiday films, here's a holiday-centric vid to get you in the mood. The performer is Emma Wallace who has a lovely blog of her own and the video was edited by, well, me. Enjoy!



Happy Holidays! Thank you for reading and thank you to my 13th follower for following me!

Up with chocolate!

So... long time no see! I wish I could blame my lack of updating on a lack of time, but that would only be partially true. To make up for my terribly bad manners, I will write a more in-depth blog entry for you. I do hope it isn't too long... Okay, so that title was a little misleading, wasn't it? Those of you who recognize it, however, will likely guess what movie I'll be discussing next. The truth is, I'll actually be discussing 3 movies! Pillow Talk (1959), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), and Down with Love (2003).

Down with Love is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's quirky, it's romantic, it's hilarious, and it pays homage to the sex comedies of the 1960s. It is a common misconception that Down with Love is based on Pillow Talk. I am a firm believer that it is not; rather, it was highly influenced by it. The two movies do have striking similarities, but their differences are so important that one cannot say they are even "practically" the same movie (which I have heard

said).

This summer, I was able to watch a good handful of new movies (thanks to Netflix!), and one of them was Sex and the Single Girl. The movie reaffirmed my opinions in the above matter because Sex and the Single Girl, like Pajama Game, has major similarities with Down with Love - but different similarities.

All three of these movies are 1960s sex comedies in style (despite the fact that one was made in the late 50s and one was made in 2003). Thus, all of them share similar story-lines and similar attitudes towards romance. They're all about the "battle of the sexes" and so they all deal with an intelligent, independent, single woman and a suave, smooth, womanizer. The plots, as I said earlier, are all pretty similar: basically, the woman, in her independent and free-spirited way, angers the womanizer to the point where he feels he must get even with her. And, as each womanizer feels that each woman needs to understand a thing or two about sex and love, they all decide to pretend to be the sort of man that could seduce the women. And there you have it, a basic wrap-up of each plot.

Now for the differences and similarities (these may contain spoilers):

Pajama Game, like Down with Love, features the female protagonist (Jan Morrow and Barbara Novak, respectively) despise the man (Brad Allen and Catcher Block) for his womanizing ways. In Pajama Game, Jan Morrow is infuriated that Brad Allen allows his social life monopolize her phone line and in Down with Love, Barbara Novak argues that Catcher Block is "the worst kind of man... men who change women as often as they change their shirts." To get back, both men pretend to be pure, innocent Southerners, the kind who like home-cooked meals, pipes, and quiet home life. Another similarity to point out is the use of split screens in both. Pajama Game includes a sexy scene where both characters are taking a bath in their seperate homes but the split screen creates the comical illusion that they are sharing a bath instead. This idea is taken to an exaggerated measure in Down with Love, where the couple (unintentionally) does several sexual favors for each other in an innocent phone conversation. Now, add in a luckless, hapless, neruotic, and rich best friend to the main male character (not to mention Tony Randall), and that about sums up the similarities between these two films. If I have left anything out, please feel free to let me know and I will be happy to edit this post accordingly.

Sex and the Single Girl features different similarities with Down with Love. Far from criticizing the man's social schedule, this female protagonist, Helen Gurley Brown, encourages it and encourages the singe girl to partake in the fun as well. Her encouragement is detailed in her controversial book, as is Barbara Novak's who, like Helen Gurley Brown, encourages women to stimulate their sex life, modeling it after the womanizer's; at the same time, however, she judges men for using women in such ways. In both of these two films, Catcher Block and Bob Weston are journalists, working on exposés to unveil the true romantic inclinations of the women.

Well, now that you've had a (somewhat) brief description of the differences and the similarities between these three zany sex comedies, you know what to expect (oh! did I mention the car chase in Sex and the Single Girl?).

So, rent these movies, grab a cocktail and, of course, some chocolate, and enjoy!