Next thing I know, I'm a councilman

So, I think I've done a fairly good job of keeping politics out of my blog. I don't know if that will continue - mostly because I don't know if I need to keep politics out of my blog. I have some ideas of things I want to discuss and how they relate to classic movies and the movie industry in general. I'm letting these ideas stew a bit before I put them on the blogosphere.

Anyway, this is a big year in politics: midterm elections! Last year around this time, I started thinking about running for office. It's something I still think about, although I don't know if I'd be cut out for fundraising and campaigning. Maybe someday. This year, I'm planning to volunteer with a campaign and see what that's like. There are a lot of up-and-comers running this year. It's pretty exciting. Last year, I kept feeling so powerless and wanting to do something. I'm glad other people felt the same and have acted on those feelings.

When I was doing my preliminary research about running for office, I kept thinking of Dave (1993). Do you all remember that one? I love that movie. I realize a movie from the '90s may not constitute as classic but it's a fantastic movie so I'm going to base my spotlight on a scene post on it. There's this wonderful scene between the main character, Dave (played by Kevin Kline), and the Vice President (Ben Kingsley) where Dave asks the Vice President how he got started in politics. What follows is a scene that probably could have been bland but Ben Kingsley's performance of it has stuck with me since I was a teenager.

Well, you must admit I've got pretty good taste

The Thin Man (1934) is one of my favorite Christmas movies. I feel as though it's in the category of Die Hard where you have to argue that it is, in fact, in the Christmas category. But the Christmas morning scene is one of my favorites in the whole movie. It's so funny. And I inevitably think of it every Christmas:




What are some of your favorite unorthodox Christmas movies?

I could have sworn you took in more territory than that

Today's Spotlight on a... scene. I'm going to post about one of my favorite scenes in Sabrina (1954): the scene when Sabrina arrives from Paris.

It's a wonderful scene because we (and David) finally get to see Sabrina as she really is, a witty, beautiful, sexy, confident, classy woman. She's no longer the shy, lovelorn girl she used to be. I love the character's growth and how Sabrina coming into her own is what makes her so irresistible.

If only half the things said about me were true, I'd be a very happy man.

And enter Louis Jourdan.

I added Three Coins in the Fountain to my Netflix queue when I had finished watching Gigi and Can-Can and was completely enamored by Louis Jourdan (sigh). And then by the time the movie got to me, I had kind of moved on, as I often do, and was pretty disappointed that I had to watch a movie I was no longer terribly interested in. Well, two minutes into this video clip and I think you'll see what recaptured my interest.



Honestly, I think a predatory prince who looked like that could invite me to Venice any day!

If a nightingale could sing like you...

This scene cracks me up every time. It's one of my favorites. Classic stuff!!

Was you ever bit by a dead bee?

It's almost here. Almost Valentine's Day. And who better to talk about as we approach this romantical day than Bogie and Bacall?

image source

Okay guys. It's happened. I've jumped on the Bogart and Bacall bandwagon. Took me long enough! I was nervous to try out their movies because I like happy movies and I try to stick to that. Emm over at The Stupendously Amazingly Cool World of Old TV told me that all of their movies have happy endings. So I decided to give it a try. I got To Have and Have Not from Netflix and settled down to watch it.

It was fantastic! I really enjoyed watching it just to see them together. They were so fantastic! It's so exciting to see them interact - giving each glances, looking each other up and down - even when they're not sparring with witty repartee they're fun to watch together.

One of my favorite bits in the movie was when Slim would talk to Eddie. Throughout the film, it's an interesting point that most of the characters ignore Eddie or insult him. She's the first character in the film, other than Harry, that we see treat Eddie with any kind of respect. I love the first exchange where she responds to his often repeated "Was you ever bit by a dead bee?" It's such a great scene! This scene at the end is also fantastic:



Also, can we rewind to the Golden Age for just a touch so I can chat up all of those brilliant songwriters that just happened to be hanging around. Here's Hoagy Carmichael, just being awesome:

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!

I'll take it!

One of my favorite scenes from the classic Christmas movie. Although, to be honest, I'm a little disappointed that they don't have the whole scene in there. I like the whole "this is a very interesting situation!" bit.

I eat husbands.

So, one of my favorite screwball comedies is a lesser known Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche film called Midnight. I know I've mentioned it before. The plot is moderately simple: penniless chorus girl, Eve (Colbert), is on the hunt for a rich husband when she meets taxi driver, Tibor Czerny (Ameche). Afraid she's falling in love with him, she's runs away and runs right into a high society party and a tricky love triangle. Now, a rich husband, George Flamarian (John Barrymore), wants Eve to help him separate his wife (Mary Astor) and her lover (Francis Lederer). Eve assumes Tibor's name to put on the charade and help George out. When Tibor finds out, he's on his way to find out why she's using his name... and to make it permanent! Here's a scene from the movie and I hope it'll whet your appetite to see the whole thing; it's a delightful film!



P.S. I titled the post as such because I think that line is so funny! And weird. What kind of a line is that?

You have the loveliest profile in all Hartfordshire!

I love when I ask people which version of Pride and Prejudice they like best, they always say, "the good one!" I like them all, really, and this scene from the 1940 version is one of my favorites. The scene is the one where Jane is sick and and Mr. Bingley has to translate what the doctor is saying. So cute! The scene starts at 2:14 or thereabouts.

And it was raining, I think.

Okay. So I think it's fair for me to do an occasional (maybe once a month - only I'm not going to necessarily schedule it that way) contemporary/modern movie (in other words, post 1960's) clip. This one deals with a classic movie so I think it fits very well with my blog. This happens to be one of my favorite clips. I die laughing every time! So good! This is, sadly, kind of how I get with some movies. I was describing a scene in Finding Neverland to my sister the other day and got all teary eyed... I felt pretty ridiculous. But this movie makes me feel better because I'm obviously not alone!

It's a miracle of the Space Age.

Okay, so I know I don't often do this but I'm going to post a video of one of my all-time favorite contemporary movies and, actually, one of my all-time favorite movies ever. The movie is Down with Love and it is absolutely, side-splittingly hilarious. I've written about it before. I wrote a review of it for my list of 100 favorite movies and I also compared it to a couple of classic films because it's really an homage to the 50's/60's sex comedies of Rock/Doris and Tony/Natalie fame. This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. The banter is so funny and I think these two actors (David Hyde Pierce and Ewan McGregor) have very good chemistry together. All of their scenes in this movie are just gold. Anyway, here is the scene. Just to warn you, this movie, and this scene in particular, contain a significant amount of sexual humor - all done in good taste, but if that sort of humor offends you, you may not enjoy the clip.

Somewhere between a healthy Winesap and unripened Johnathon

Myrna Loy is, in my opinion, one of the best comedic actresses that ever lived. And this (much talked of) scene is among her (many) best. She's so darn cute!

In Roger's flick, it, like, rains.

I'm afraid this is quite belated. I was supposed to have this up on Monday but I hadn't written my August posts yet. And then on Monday I worked until 9:45 and then on Tuesday I worked at 7 so wound up on not having time. But enough of my excuses...

So, one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn movies is Paris When It Sizzles, which, incidentally, I believe should have been titled The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower (the title is symbolic, of course; she doesn't actually steal the Eiffel Tower). And this is one of my favorite scenes. It's so wicked funny!

You like to play games, don't you?

So, I have a question for you guys. I really want to watch a good Bogart and Bacall movie. I really want to see them together. Here's the catch: (it's actually the same catch as always) I really prefer happily-ending, fluffy type films and it seems as though all the movies they're in are pretty dark. But, then again, I don't really know because I've never seen them. In any case, what would you say is the best Bogart and Bacall movie to start off with? If it has a happy ending then I'm pretty much set.

See, here's what makes me want to watch them (click on the photo to get to the video clip).



They're so cute and sexy together!

A lady killer? Why, he's a regular Don Swan.

I don't really understand YouTube's weird embedding disabled thing. I mean, what exactly can you do by embedding that you cannot do by linking? It's just that embedding is more convenient. I honestly don't get it. And it makes for a very frustrating thing because I keep finding scenes that I really want to post up and then I can't embed them. So, I'm just going to start linking them via photos. It's not as nice as embedding, but then I can still share videos, such as one of my favorite scenes from Bringing Up Baby. So, click on the photo and it will take you to the scene.

It's been 24 for a long time.

I really did not like Once Upon A Honeymoon. I get mad when I think a movie is going to be a comedy and it turns out to be a drama. I feel cheated. Particularly when there is so much promise. Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers are so great together. The fact that they had chemistry on and off the screen makes their onscreen chemistry all the more exciting. Can you imagine them being paired in a comedy among Ginger's other great comedies like Vivacious Lady and Bachelor Mother? It was the same that Cary was off being amazing in his own comedies like The Awful Truth and Bringing Up Baby. A late 30's comedy with Ginger and Cary would have been fantastic. Ah well. At least I can have this scene. It leaves me in stitches every time.

I've seen your pictures in the paper and I've wondered what you looked like.

Spotlight on a scene!!

Do you know something depressing? Every time I write a post, I think this is it. I'm going to get back into circulation. And then I don't write anything again for weeks. What's weird is that I don't know why. I'm busy. But I was busy at the beginning of the year and I wrote a lot then. Ever since I started this blog I've been busy but that hasn't stopped me from writing in it. So I don't know what the deal is. I intend to crack the case and figure out what is going on. Maybe I just need to get back into the swing of things. Anyway, we'll see.

So, spotlight on a scene. Last night I watched The Awful Truth with my sister. I love that movie. It was neat watching it with my sister because it gave me a whole new perspective on the movie. When I was a kid, I'd watch the movie and relate to Cary Grant's character because... well, it's Cary Grant. Then as I started watching it when I grew older, I began to relate to both characters a bit more. Well, last night, the whole movie changed. It wasn't about Cary Grant and how he tries to win Irene Dunne back after their divorce. It was about Irene Dunne and how spunky and spirited she is throughout the film. It tells about how her husband wants to divorce her even though she hasn't done anything (and even though he has) and how she eventually shows him that she was right all along. Watching through my sister's eyes was fascinating because she'd say, "Oh, that poor girl!" Her attention was entirely focused on Irene Dunne and, consequently, so was mine.

Anyway, for my spotlight I want to focus on quite possibly my favorite scene in the film: the scene where Lucy pays Jerry back for ruining her engagement by ruining his. It's side-splitting hilarious. I may have shown it on this blog previously but that's okay.



I hope you enjoyed the scene! Do any of you have movies that you've begun to see in a different light?


P.S. I'm always getting that silly "My Dreams Have Gone With The Wind" song stuck in my head. It's been in my head all morning!!

Perfect! You can be Queen of the Fairies!

Spotlight on a scene! I've decided to get back into the groove of things slowly. I'm going to attempt to write a once a week. If I try to get back into the swing of things in one full swing then I'll keep putting it off. So, bits and pieces. In the meantime, a segment post.

These scene is from the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire. I've always lumped this movie into the old movies category despite its late date just because it has an older feel to it. This probably has to do with the fact that the film is set in the 1920's (the costumes are amazing). I was introduced to this film in a religious context, but don't let that throw you if you're not a religious type. It's a very enjoyable movie with or without the religion. It tells the true story of two British athletes during the 1924 Olympics, one Jewish and the other Christian, and how one must run as a fight against Antisemitism and the other runs to make a statement about Christianity. It really is very good. (By the way, the picture below is not of the two main characters but one of the main characters - Harold Abrahams on the left, and one of the supporting characters, Lord Andrew Lindsay on the right.)



Anyway, I wanted to show this scene because this is one of the first scenes I think of when I think of this movie. When I went to college I was very disappointed that club rush was not exactly like this because this looks incredibly fun - people standing around singing, music playing, people yelling in heated debate - so much fun! When I went to club rush, it was just people standing around offering candy if you signed up for their club and they just put up photos of past events - not as much fun. Also, the scene immediately afterward, the college dash, is incredibly enjoyable as well (Lord Andrew Lindsay is my favorite!). So enjoy! The scene actually starts at 4:10 in case you want to skip straight to the scene.




P.S. When I went to England, I spent a day in Cambridge and spent a good portion of the day looking for Gonville and Caius College. People kept saying, "Oh, you mean King's?" "No! Caius! You know, like Chariots of Fire." Sadly, the college was closed when I finally found it. More's the pity. Ah well. Some day.

Wife, do we know anyone who smells of violet?

Today, I'm going to highlight a particularly good scene. (It seems like a long time since I've said that, doesn't it?)

This scene is from Holiday (1938) with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. It's my favorite part of the entire movie and when I think of this movie, I'm usually thinking about this scene. You can probably guess which one I'm talking about. It's the scene where Linda entertains her party of "very unimportant people."


You get to see all of the best people in the film all thrown together in a room, having a marvelous time. They're all getting drunk, playing instruments, putting on puppet shows, and performing acrobatic feats - another one of those scenes that makes me want to jump into the movie and join them! I'll embed the video below. I came across this clip from the incomparable Curious Mel, whose own blog is perfectly delightful. Enjoy!



And I realize I already used this photo for the last time I discussed this movie, but I don't care. It's such a neat photo and I love the way it's at an angle. I just find it a very fascinating shot.


Click on photos for sources.