A Summer Place 1959
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Films of the 1950's
“As for you Troy Donahue, I know what you wanna do!”
If you are Familiar with the ‘Notebook this is a must see this is the godfather of period thwarted teenage love ,but when they made this when it was actually based in its time, the dawning of the golden age of Camelot in American which ended abruptly with bye bye birdy and the assignation of JFK in 1963..
After 2o years of absence Ken Jorgenson (Richard Egan) comes back to Pine Island a Wealthy ,Exclusive Isolated community of the coast of Maine where he worked as a lifeguard as a teenager,Now A Millionaire he brings his family to the mansion belonging to the Hunters who’s servants quarters he used to sleep in . Now a Holiday House as the Hunters have lost their fortune Bart Hunter a chronic alcoholic ( Arthur Kennedy) is indignant at the prospect of having the former help Lord it over him, however when he arrives that is the very least of his troubles, and Old Flame between Ken and Barts Wife Sylvia (Dorothy McGuire) is rekindled and the Children of both Ken and Bart
Johnny (Troy Donahue) and Molly (Sandra Dee) fall madly in love, all Goes belly after Johnny and Molly spend the night washed overboard from a dingy alone on and island, when Molly’s Mother played Mercilessly by (Constance Ford) a morally bankrupt hypocrite , demands Molly have a Medical Examination by a doctor to see if her “Virginity” is in tact.After the examination Molly Runs away and Johnny threatens to kill Molly’s Mother because of whats shes made her daughter go through, its then revealed that Johnny’s Mother is Having an affair with Ken Molly’s dad.
The children are separated by the Lawyers the hatred for their family but Johnny and Molly Still Try to write to Each over despite that happens hoping upon hoping they will meet again someday.
This Film had Risque Dialogue and Subject matter for 1959 including infidelity, divorce and premarital sex , and you still feel for the who you consider to be the good people in this case the adulterous married lovers, and despise the morally superior and upper Middle Class for their greed and their selfishness .
The only things people will remember (if anything at all) about this film if the popular theme by Max Steiner (Gone with the Wind) and a little song from grease called ‘Look at me Im Sandra Dee” The Film may seem like a soap in all its 1959 CinemaScope glory , but it still has the desired affect,you do feel for Johnny and Molly and what terrible consequences brought the two together
and you hope against hope nothing will pull them asunder
Tags: Alcoholism, Based off Novel, Divorce, Forbidden Love, Infidelity, Lost Love, Love for Children, Love Triangle, Marriage, Max Steiner
The Paradine Case 1947
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Film, Films of the 1940's
‘Disclaimer’ Any relation to ‘Body of Evidence’ is purely coincidental…
Highly successful London barrister Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck)takes on the case of Italian Maddalena Paradine (Alida Valli) who is accused of poisoning her blind military hero husband. Keane Starts by defending her but becomes increasingly bewitched by her, threatening both his marriage and his career. As as details in the case come to light ,Madame Paradines Veil begins to slip for all but her Champion , Her Lawyer
We have at least two love triangles in this film, and they not as obvious as you may think.
This is the Final Collaboration between Hitchcock and meddlesome Producer David O Selznick Who Brought him to America and Helped Create his first major American Film Rebecca , After The contract Expired with Paradine Hitchcock gained Creative Freedom of shorts and went on to experiment with new styles of editing such as in ‘Rope” and “under Capricorn”Hitchcock also pioneers the use of multiple cameras with live action almost a forerunner to what Television would do in Studios some Years later
Paradine was Considered in the “lesser Category” of the Cannon of Hitchcock However it does showcase his technique and the Entered of Louis Jordan is till one of the most startling is Cinema History. Gregory peck Plays Another Lawer, whos sexual frustration begins upon meeting the Beautiful Mrs Paradine Joan Tetzel Plays an Interesting role of the sudo lesbian Daughter of A Solicitor who dosnt wont the Market woman to hang as she ”hates breaking pretty things” louis Jordan Plays the Anti social Woman Hating Vallet of the Murded Mr Paradine Ann Todd aka Mrs David Lean as the Long Suffering ‘Good Wife’ Perhaps the Suspended Belief that Gregory Peck would Sacrifice everything for a Woman he had not even kissed seems a little slim, However as a Vehicle Created for the Mystique of Greta Garbo (who was offered the role first ) it may be been slightly more believable She Turned it Down after another film role Famously saying “No Mommies No Murderesses” ,Alida Velli Stills holds the attention of the Audience as the Mysterious Manipulative Passive Aggressive Madame Paradine , if you ever wondered what ‘Rececca’ may have been like in the flesh and why she seems to capture the hearts of Woman and Men give Mrs Paradine a look.
As well as a resemble to Mrs Paradine Gorgeous Music of Franz Waxman which dominated the film of Rebecca Suffocated the Paradine case in wonder and Mystery
Its is to be appreciated for the things which Hitchcock alone brings to the film even in the little scenes that make this a very engaging film to watch
Tags: Accusation, Bi, Femme Fatale, Franz Waxman, Hitchcock, Infidelity, Love Triangle, Movies Garbo Rejected, Mysterious Death, Trial
The Seven Year Itch 1955
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Film, Films of the 1950's
Here Comes The Breeze from the Subway
A Window into a cultural phenomenon perhaps long past
In the summer in New York during the hottest Month The Husbands of New York Send off their Wives and Children on Holiday to the beach for at least a month, in that time the Husbands shave, buy a new shirt get a facial, and go ‘Wild” ,they go get plastered on alcohol they stay out all night they get tattoos, and pick up women. ‘The Apartment’ and The Seven year Itch’ Chronicles this perhaps forgotten mid century pastime. Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell,” Adams Rib”) Like many of his fellow New Yorkians has sent his wife and kid off for the summer with stick instructions not to drink too much and not to smoke,Richard is a mind mannered man in a publishing company who is nearly sitting on 40 , Alone in his family’s apartment his imagination goes wild , he starts to imagine many beautiful women throwing themselves at him ,but rejecting them all on the basis of him being married, all of a sudden who walks into his life but
but one of the most sexy woman of the 20th century.
An unnamed girl (Marilyn Monroe) moves into the apartment upstairs,and gets her Fan , stuck in the doorway (so to speak) from then on Richards imagination runs wild with the possibilities .He struggles between finding excuses to for her to come down to his apartment by luring her over with his apartment air conditioning and the guilt about feeling the need of cheating on his wife, Marilyn was never better in fact if any reason at all if you’ve never heard of Billy Wilder the director or Saul Bass the maker of the main titles (who did work for Hitchcocks Vertigo,Pyscho, and for Martin Scorsese Cape Fear and Casino) You will see this film because of the famous scene with Marilyn in her white Gown with the wind from the subway blowing up which is featured on every poster of this film.
Tom Ewell plays the same midlife crisis man he always seemed to play and well and Evelyn Keyes (Gone with the wind)who has some scene stealing moments . This could be culturally appropriated today on stage and you could cast Pamela Anderson for all anyone cares but Pam could not hold a Candle to the moments of sensitivity and sensuality especially in that quarter where the veil drops and reveals the girl isnt just a bubblehead but actually quite deep in her thinking and empathetic ,this film today still stands as the ultimate Mans Midlife crisis film and how differently he uses his energy to have a last gasp at youth, some men come to the same conclusion as Dorothy in the wizard of Oz ‘that at the end of the day there’s “no place like home’ and others use adultery to change partner and their lifestyle for good for good . Perhaps when Im older I may Appreciate this film a little more as someone who feels the need to be invigorated by the youth or the attraction of another to show men a different reflection in another’s eyes, but unfortunately it wont be Marilyn Monroe.
Tags: Based off Play, Billy Wilder, Comedy, Dream Sequence, Imagination, Infidelity, Marilyn Monroe, Midlife Crisis, New York, Temptation
Juliet of the Spirits 1965
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Film, Films of the 1960's
Mommie Dearest
Juliet of the Spirits (Italian: Giulietta degli spiriti) is a film directed by Federico Fellini
Juliet is a 40 something bored married woman who after a strange experience during a New Aged Séance , starts to feel a contact with Spirits as she did as a child She soon becomes aware he husband is having an affair and starts to explore her spititual and sexual self through daydreams and Nightmares,
Described by “Annie Hall” as the smoking gun of Fellinis self indulgence , (he was experimenting with LSD at the time) it is however a film that profiles how people who have forgotten how to live either through career or marriage and become lifes Wallflowers can deal be helped to deal with their own psychological hang ups and empower themselves to live without guilt or shame.
Tags: Decadence, Fellini, Infidelity, Marriage, New Age, Porn Star, Psychotherapy, Séance, Spiritualism, Supernatural
