"Fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy night!"
Okay, not really. But I got your attention, didn't I?
And this Treasure Box Wednesday is all about movies that grab the ol' attention and keep it. I was thinking about what to discuss for today, and in addition to curling up with those good books, another favorite winter pastime is spending a few hours with a great old film.
And there really are some gems out there, too. Ones, I was thinking perhaps, not all of you lovers of the vintage have gotten a chance to see.
Like how about All About Eve, the tale of a fading star, a rising starlet and treachery?
Or Sunset Boulevard, with another aging screen diva-- Nora Desmond-- tries to recapture her fame anyway she can?
Maybe To Kill A Mockingbird is more your style-- a beautiful adaptation of Harper Lee's book starring Gregory Peck...
Or perhaps you might enjoy The Philadelphia Story. You get Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, to boot!
Mr. Grant makes another appearance in Arsenic and Old Lace, a screwball comedy about murder, old aunties, Teddy Roosevelt impersonators and the criminal element.
And if you think you're seeing 6-foot-eight rabbits before your eyes in Harvey, well you won't be the only one. Just ask eccentric Elwood P. Dowd, likebly played by Jimmy Stewart.
Some other screen classic suggestions include:- Bogart in Dark Passage with Lauren Bacall (very film noir) or The African Queen with Katharine Hepburn
- The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, the original film on which the TV series was based.
- Fred Estaire and Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face
- And one of my favorite Hitchcock films, Rope-- based on a play and shot as if all experienced in one long scene.
And for some more modern pictures to while away the hours? How about:- A Little Princess, based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's book (always makes me cry, unfortunately)
- Chocolat, starring Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche
- Or a modern take on the classic Wizard of Oz-- the Tin Man miniseries. While more sci-fi than the original stories and very much its own picture, I thought this was very nicely done
Well, that should be enough to get you started, anyway! If you have any movies that are favorites of yours for cold and snowy days, I'd love it if you'd share them with our readers in a comment.
- If you happened to miss last Sunday's post, of funny ads from the 1950s farm journal, click here.
Until next Sunday-- happy viewing!
19 comments:
Great Movie selections! I love To Kill a Mockingbird and Funny Face. Hubby and I recently watched a Hitchcock film, To Catch a Thief, with Cary Grant and Grace Kelley. It was a wonderful movie! I also really like Chocolat and The Tinman. These are great modern movies!
Lissie- You might also enjoy, of Hitch's films, Spellbound and Rear Window, if you haven't caught them yet. Spellbound is pretty melodramatic, but features a very lovely young Gregory Peck.
Well, you certainly picked a great selection of films there! Every one of them fabulous. Makes me want to cocoon and pretend that television doesn't even exist and subsist completely on old, wonderful films.
To paraphrase Homer Simpson, "To Kill a Mockingbird" was a disappointment. It did not mention even one tip for killing mockingbirds.
I did notice the movies you selected were heavily gender influenced. No John Wayne or any westerns for that matter.
:(
Heidi Ann- Me, too-- wish I had more time! :)
Da Old Man- Well, probably true. So for you, if I were adding a John Wayne, I'd suggest "True Grit" or "Rooster Cogburn."
Since you featured that handsome devil, Tyrone Power, in the last post, I actually dug up my VHS copy of "The Mark of Zorro". It also has Linda Darnell and Basil Rathbone, if I remember correctly. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but with the weather today, I might just pop it in when the kids go down for a nap.
I think that TMC was running a Fred Astaire film fest yesterday- I taped "Flying Down to Rio" to watch this weekend. Nothing like "froth" to raise the winter spirit! When American Movie Classics still ran old movies, I used to love watching the romantic comedies of the 30's and 40's. I got such a kick out of the ones that featured stunt casting of the "Ladies of the Moment" (Sonja Henie, the Olympic skater, or Lily Ponds, the Opera singer). "Sun Valley Serenade" is still a great watch. Henie's best trick was a single axel- quite a feat at that time!
You turned my frown upside down.
:)
True Grit is one of the greatest ever. But no good comedies like Blazing Saddles or Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
They have contributed so much to our culture.
Ok, I'll stop. :)
SongRoars- So you were way ahead of me on the movie inspiration idea! :) I think it was TMC that I first saw "Funny Face." They run some great stuff.
Da Old Man- Well, if I were going for comedies everyone should see at least once in their life, I would have put those on my list. Both those choices are terrific!
But given the vintage nature of the blog, and the types of ads, etc., we'd been discussing lately, I went with more of the Turner Classic Movie feel to things for this list.
Some great suggestions, especially for these long winter nights :)
How about the Princess Bride? There is swordplay, romance, death, double dealing and the ever lovable Andre the Giant. And Mandy Patinkin that lasts from beginning to end, ok that is sour grapes from his constant disappearing acts from my shows. ;)
I just watched Funny Face two nights ago...anything with Audrey is terrific! Here is my short list of faves.....Separate Tables 1958 Cyrano de Bergerac 1950
The Search 1948 and my absolute favorite, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 1968
I have been recording up to 5 movies per day on TCM. It's "31 Days of Oscar", so you know that they are great choices.
My choice for the best Tyrone Power movie is Alexander's Ragtime Band 1938. Talk about a smile!
I love old movies. My favorites are White Christmas and Breakfast at Tiffanys.
with audrey hepburn being my fav i must mention roman holiday, breakfast at tiffany's and charade. a young george peppard in that one of course!
How about more Bette Davis? Yes "All About Eve" was her triumph but she's also wonderful in "Dark Victory" & "Now, Voyager" and she's fabulously over the top in "The Little Foxes". Gotta see "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" too for it's unintentional comedy and two great, aging actresses. Bette lives on!
Down Comforter- And I bet you have the perfect blanket to watch 'em under! :)
Chyna- Ah, the Princess Bride is a great choice! That was the first film I actually saw Mandy Patinkin in. I was a kid and hadn't realized he wasn't really Spanish. :) Terrific quotes from that film, too.
Andrea- Wow, Tyrone really got around! I like how folks have worked him into the theme from last post.
Bec4- Where would we be without Holly Golightly and Mr. Varjack?
Tami- Ah! I have Roman Holiday and totally forgot to include that one. Another young Gregory Peck there, too. :)
Kristine- Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is wonderfully creepy and bizarre... A terrific choice.
It's fortunate that we can secure these films on DVD or VHS to view at our leisure.
You brought up quite a few of my favorites...I'll add "The Lady Vanishes" (vintage Hitchcock) and "Strangers on a Train," "Shadow of a Doubt," "Notorious," and "Rear Window" (slightly later Hitchcock) and "The Birds" and "North by Northwest" (late but fab Hitchcock.) Yes, I'm a Hitch fan.
A few other faves from my collection: Laura (Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews,) The Manchurian Candidate (Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh,) Seven Days in May (Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner,) To Be or Not To Be (Jack Benny, Carole Lombard--very funny, very subversive,) Now, Voyager (Bette Davis at her best,) The Maltese Falcon, and of course Casablanca, which is so cliched but still so, so good.
I know I'm forgetting some...I'm glad you mentioned Harvey. I think that's my favorite Jimmy Stewart performance. :-)
Boy, you covered a LOT of my favorites here. I would add:
Father Goose, Casablanca, North by Northwest, Dr. Strangelove, Lawrence of Arabia, Chinatown, The Apartment, and my ALL-TIME FAVORITE:
Singin' in the Rain
Carrie- It really is; when I think about how, as a kid, I used to wait for certain films to come on television-- like the Wizard of Oz-- and now, we can just watch them whenever we want-- I feel very lucky.
Janelle- I love Hitch, too, and you have some marvelous choices in your list. You also made me recall "Gaslight" with Ingrid Bergman is also a very good suspense film.
JD- Some excellent choices there, too! Quite a few of those we had to watch in college for our film history classes.
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