A Yank at Oxford (1938)

Do not ask me why but one day I watched an episode of The Jersey Shore where they go to Italy (it is bad enough I live a half hour away from Sleazside- excuse me- Seaside). All I could think of was why did the Italian government allow these assholes into their country. They are the last group of people who should be allowed in a cultured place. I was so pissed off because they went to the country for free and none of them appreciated the culture or the art and architecture when someone like me who loves art and history and appreciates and respects other cultures has to pay an arm and a leg to go.

            This just proves how ignorant people can be of other cultures. I find that Americans are the worst at respecting other cultures. When you are in a foreign country you need to respect the people who live there and their customs and shut the hell up about how they think America is awesome. That drives me so insane.

            A Yank at Oxford pokes fun at Americans and their ignorance about other countries. The film is about Lee Sheridan (Robert Taylor) who is an All-American colligate athlete. His father Dan (Lionel Barrymore) does nothing but praise him in his paper and reports on Lee’s events. The college Lee is at in his small hometown does not want him there anymore since he does not do well in his classes so the dean decides to send him to Cardinal College (a fictional school) at Oxford where he happens to be friends with one of their deans. Right away Lee sees this opportunity as a way to show the Brits what Americans are made of and thinks of ways he can beat them at sports. He is given a big send off with a parade that the whole town attends.

            While taking the train to London he meets three fellow Oxford students named Paul Beaumont, Wavertree, and Ramsey. They see Lee as an American showoff and they do not like that. They play a trick on him telling him that there is a procession waiting for him at the station that he should get off at the next station. Lee agrees he does not want to make a bad impression on the other students. Before he gets off he meets Paul’s sister Molly (Maureen O’Sullivan). Lee gets off the train and finds that the school is ten miles away.

            When Lee gets to the college Paul plays another trick this time it is one that is meant to boost Lee’s too big ego. Lee sees through the trick and is upset. This starts off his rivalry with Paul that threatens to run both of them out of the college.

            The athletes begin to like Lee. He wins the track team some titles. At one race everyone sees him for the ultra competitor he is when he get taken out of a race but knocks Paul out when he feels Paul is running too slow. Molly does not like what Lee has done not just because he knocked her brother out of the race but because it was very un-sportsman-like.

            As the film goes on there is still a lot of back and forth between Lee and Paul and they actually cover for each other when each gets into big trouble. They eventually make up and become friends to help win the rowing championship against Cambridge. And Lee does end up with Molly; she and Dan help to get him out of some deep trouble. In the end Lee learns to be a team player.

            Robert Taylor was the best choice for the lead. He really did have that All-American colligate look to him. He was incredibly handsome and outrageously well built. Maureen O’Sullivan was ridiculously adorable and sweet as Molly. This is the best film I have seen her in she was not over the top she was just right. There was a very cute scene between her and Taylor in the bookstore when they talk between the bookshelves. Vivien Leigh plays Elsa Craddock who is a much younger woman married to a much older man. Elsa and her husband run the local bookstore where the students go for their books. She gets all her attention from the younger men on campus. Paul is her latest squeeze but of course she starts flirting with Lee as soon as she lays eyes on him. Leigh was a year away from playing her most famous role, in her few scenes you can just see that she had a load of star power she completely commands your attention (even if she looks awful with pencil thin eyebrows and a bad hair style). Lionel Barrymore was made to look like a little old man. He was good but I have not seen a film of his yet where he was not excellent. The rest of the cast were all well known British actors.

            Knowing that Vivien Leigh got the part of Scarlett O’Hara most likely that year there is a good part in the film: Lee is meeting with his tutor for the first time and the tutor asks him what he is reading. Lee responds that he is reading Gone With the Wind but he is only half way through it.

            A Yank at Oxford is a very cute film romantic comedy. At times the constant back and forth between Lee and Paul gets tiresome but for the most part the film is very enjoyable and very funny. Robert Taylor, Maureen O’Sullivan, and Vivien Leigh were great to see together (especially O’Sullivan and Leigh because they were good friends in real life when they were still at school in England). I liked how A Yank at Oxford poked fun of how ignorant Americans can be and how ridiculously we are obsessed with sports and being the best.

 

North By Northwest (1959)

“Now you listen to me, I'm an advertising man, not a red herring. I've got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives and several bartenders that depend upon me, and I don't intend to disappoint them all by getting myself "slightly" killed.”

            As far as Hitchcock’s films go after the 1940s to me North by Northwest is his best. Many reviews and books will say that the film has all of the director’s favorite themes of suspense, drama, passion, love, wit, and mistaken identity and that it is the film to end all Hitchcock films.

            Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) is a middle-aged man who works in an advertising firm. While out with some friends he needs to call his mother to remind her of their plans for that night. At the same time he gets up to go to the telephone a waiter is calling out for a man named George Kaplan. Two sinister looking men waiting in the wings see Roger get up at the same time, they believe he is Kaplan and they grab him.

            The two men take Roger to the home of their boss Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) who claims his is a delegate who works at the United Nations. Vandamm asks him about some intelligence. Roger has no idea what is going he repeatedly tells them they have the wrong man that his name is not George Kaplan but Roger O. Thornhill. Vandamm does not listen at all they think he is just a very good spy with great cover. The three men get Roger drunk and try to send him over a cliff but Roger comes to in time and eventually gets arrested for drunk driving. No one believes his story not even his own mother or his lawyer.

            The next day Roger goes to confront Vandamm as the UN delegate he comes face to face with the real delegate. Before he and the delegate can talk a knife is thrown into the man’s back killing him. Roger pulls out the knife; everyone around him thinks he is the murderer.

            Now Roger is sent on a wild goose chase across the country to try to find the real Kaplan (which we and Roger come to find that there is no Kaplan he was a set up to bring out Vandamm and his men) and to clear his name. Along the way he meets a beautiful blonde named Eve Kendall who has the dual role of being Vandamm’s mistress and a government agent.

            Like all of Hitchcock’s wrong man stories Roger is eventually cleared and the real murderer/criminal is brought to justice.

            North By Northwest can be looked at a the beginning of the modern spy stories we are used to seeing in the movies and on TV. Apparently Ian Flemming author of the James Bond series got the idea for his famous spy from this film. In turn many spy action films and shows have gotten their inspiration from James Bond. You can see where Bond comes from when you look at Cary Grant; you can see where the smooth  and charming villain comes when you see James Mason; you can see where the spy’s gorgeous woman and weakness comes from when Eva Marie Saint first appears on screen.

            Cary Grant is stunning as the main character. The man was the epitome of class and sophistication and I think all his class and sophistication culminates in this film. I love how he played Roger’s fear with a calm and coolness and never made the character lose his head. You can see his fear under the surface but it never comes out in full force. It seems that from the moment he meets Eve Roger turns into the smooth man looking for some comfort. The chemistry between Grant and Saint is incredible (although I will say their first make out scene is so uncomfortable to watch, it is so awkward). There is no subtle sexual dialogue between them we know exactly what Grant means when he says that he wants to be alone somewhere in private where he can do things with her.

            The one thing I have noticed about Hitchcock’s blondes, aside from Grace Kelly, is that they were not really gorgeous. Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Tippi Hedren, Kim Novak- they were pretty but not exactly gorgeous. Eva Marie Saint was pretty but what made her really sexy was the confidence she exuded. In her first scene where she and Cary Grant first meet I am always left wondering how any man could have kept their hands on the table and their minds from wandering. Saint’s play of sexual confidence is enough to make a man melt. I found myself never really trusting the character even after we find out that she is really good. I was waiting for her turn but of course she never did in the end we had to sympathize with her otherwise she would have had to die.

            James Mason was perfect as the charming villain. Of course we are made to hate him because he has the hero by the throat by getting him into the mess, I did not like him either but at the same time I felt like I could not hate him he was just so good.

            North By Northwest has the most memorable scene from one of Hitchcock’s film where Roger has to run for his life from a dust crop airplane in the middle of nowhere. That scene is so suspenseful and tense because Roger has nowhere to go and nowhere to hide in the wide open field. That has to be the scariest thing to see someone needing to hide but there is nowhere to go. Sure he hides a bit in a nearby cornfield but that does not provide a very good cover.

            Bernard Herrmann created one his best scores. There is a reason Hitchcock worked with the composer so much the man created such intense scores that really enhanced every scene.

            The dialogue is amazing. Today it is not shocking at all but for back in 1959 I can imagine the audiences’ cheeks turning red and them being shocked. From the moment Roger and Eve meet their dialogue is so risqué. When they meet she says “I’m a big girl” to which he responds “Yes, I see and in all the right places too.”

            North By Northwest is one of the best films Hitchcock made. Several reviewers have said the plot is ridiculous and crazy but aren’t all spy dramas? The impossibility of the story is what makes it so enjoyable and what adds to the suspense. Hitchcock created the greatest and most enduring spy thriller that has been an inspiration for spy films and shows for decades. North By Northwest is truly one of the Master of Suspense’s ultimate films. 

Gaslight (1944)

“I am mad. I'm always losing things and hiding things and I can never find them, I don't know where I've put them.”

            Ingrid Bergman was the first classic film actress I admired. Before I found out how to download movies and found them used on Amazon I would spend a lot of money buying the DVDs. During that time I made some lousy purchases but one of the best films I got during that time was Gaslight. I can remember buying it just because Ingrid Bergman was on the cover. I remember buying the DVD like it was yesterday I bought it along with another Bergman film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. The first time I saw Gaslight I was floored by how amazing Bergman was and how beautifully it was filmed.

            Paula Alquist (Bergman) was a young girl when her opera star aunt Alice was murdered in their home. The murder was never solved there seemed to be no motive. She was sent away to Italy where she studied music. While there she meets and falls in love with an older man named Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). He convinces Paula to live in her old home in London.

            For a while they live happily in their home facing a square. Things begin to change one day when Paula finds a note from a man named Sergis Bower hidden among her aunt’s sheet music. After that she begins to hear footsteps in the attic and the gaslight dims down then burns brightly again. Gregory convinces her that she is losing her mind and losing things around the house and that she is seeing and hearing things.

            One man who sees something is not right is police detective Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotton). He is curious why after so many years Paula has come back. When he first meets Gregory he senses the man is no good. No matter how hard he tries he cannot get into the house to speak to Paula.

            By the time Brian is able to get into Paula’s house to help her she has been driven towards real insanity. Gregory wants something in the house that once belonged to Alice and the only way he could get what he wanted was to drive Paula away to an asylum.

            I have to say even though the story of a man driving a woman to insanity or to a breaking point had been done before and has been since 1944- Rebecca, Suspicion, Sorry Wrong Number, Laura- but what makes Gaslight so menacing comes down to the direction and lighting and acting by Charles Boyer. It is a gothic story filmed in the noir style; they are two of the most interesting and psychologically thrilling genres mixed together.

            While reading reviews of the film on IMDB one person excellently wrote: “If you're looking for everything you've ever wanted to know about horror, mystery, depression, and suspense, go take a peek into Ingrid Bergman's eyes.” The reviewer summed up Ingrid Bergman perfectly in the film. You can see Paula’s fear, sadness, and confusion in her eyes. There are so many shots of just her eyes and they say so much. Bergman is amazing this is definitely one of her best films she ever made. This film attests to her incredible acting talent. Bergman was one of those great actresses that no matter what type of character she played you believed she was the character you were not watching an actress you were watching the character. You believe she is a woman who wants love, the love she thought she found is only trying to drive her mad and you can see her questioning her identity and struggling to find herself again.  I will admit there are quite a few scenes that Bergman goes a little too dramatic but those are balanced out with her other scenes especially the one at the end (you will know what I am talking about if you have ever seen it or when you see it).

            Charles Boyer as Gregory Anton creates the most tension. He has the look of a person who is only out for what they want and does not care who they hurt or how to get it. You really just want to punch him the face. He was perfect for the part I cannot imagine anyone else in the role.

            Joseph Cotten was wonderful as the good guy. He was the perfect balance to Boyer’s evilness. You want Paula to trust Brian and go with him when he eventually gets into the house. Cotten was such a great actor though he had that silent greatness he never commanded a scene either playing a bad guy or a good guy he was just there… in a good way. I look forward to seeing a film where Cotten is one of the stars.

            This was Angela Landsbury’s first film. She was eighteen years old at the time. She plays the tart house maid who aids in helping Paula lose her mind. All I ever think of her as is the sweet old lady from Murder She Wrote which makes her role in this film even better.

            George Cukor is known mostly for his adorable women’s comedies and dramas. To me this film is a world apart from what I am used to seeing from him. He did a fantastic job of filming Ingrid Bergman and creating an air of tension that does not let up until the very end.  

            Gaslight is one of the greatest psychological films ever made. Even one of my friends who is into all these weird modern psychological thrillers told me that one of his all time favorites is Gaslight. I think it holds up very well today there is so much suspense and so many things that Gregory does that drives not only Paula crazy but you as well! Every time I watch this film the more I love it and the happier I am that I spent money on the DVD all those years ago. Gaslight will have you on the edge of you seat from beginning to end. 

The Artist (2011)

Ever since I read about The Artist, saw pictures of it, and saw the trailer on TV I had to see the movie. After waiting for months for the movie to come out somewhere around me I finally got to see it.

            If you are a classic film buff like me you will have read about the silent era and how with the coming of sound many of the most famous stars were out of a job. Gloria Swanson thought sound was a fad but she made her silent film masterpiece Sadie Thompson in 1929. Several actors and actresses were never the same again after their careers disappeared and turned to alcohol as they faded into oblivion.

            The Artist tells such a story (without the tragic ending) about a silent actor named George Valentin. He is the idol of millions and the most handsome man on the screen. Everyone at the studio loves him. He makes all kinds of films that also star his dog. Like most actors of the time (and since) he is married but he has a wandering eye.

            At the premier of one of his newest pictures he bumps into a young girl. The papers snap pictures of the girl and the star together and wonder who the beautiful girl could be. The next day the girl- named Peppy Miller- walks into the studio where George is the star and gets a small part in one of his films. There is a bit of a spark between the two of them.

            By 1929 the sound era has begun. George’s boss wants him to do a talkie but he tells the boss that he is an artist he does not want to make sound movies they are a fad. Meanwhile Peppy goes from a chorus girl to top billed star. George sinks money into a silent film he has written, acted, and directed in. No one goes to see it everyone is on line to see Peppy’s first starring film.

            George loses everything. All his possessions have to be auctioned off to pay the bills. He pawns whatever he can so he can get alcohol. One night in despair he unravels his films and sets fire to them. He saves his one film though, which Peppy’s sees was her first film. Peppy has always had a soft spot for George. She loves him and feels bad for what has happened to him. In the end she helps him find his way back into films.

            There is so much more to The Artist but why give a good thing away.

            I could seriously just gush over how perfect this movie was. There really was no flaw in it everything was just perfection. The direction and cinematography are incredible. The director Michael Hazanavicius said that he filmed the movie in the traditional 1:33:1 ratio because “it was perfect for actors” it gave them power, strength and presence since “they occupy all the space of the screen.” I think that is highly missing in films today the actors do not convey presence or strength or power because there is too much going on around them we are not meant to focus on the actor. The story is about actors and we are focused for the entire run of the movie on these actors they occupy the screen and do so magnificently. Why do you think Garbo was so adored? Imagine seeing her beautiful face on a thirty foot high screen, 1920s and 30s audiences couldn’t get enough. Hazanavicius also wrote the screenplay. You can tell he really liked what he wrote about and really has a passion for it because he added much homage to era and many of its stars (Peppy’s house was actually Mary Pickford’s home, for one).

            Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo were flawless. They had the look they seem to have come right out of the silent era. They looked great together. The characters were written beautifully and Dujardin and Bejo brought their character’s beauty out fantastically.

            Sitting through The Artist is one of the most amazing movie experiences I have ever sat through. I had high expectations about it from all I had read and seen and every one of those expectations was met with ten times more than I expected. I did not want it to end I wanted to see more of these characters and their lives. I felt like I was watching two classic actors and usually when I like a classic actor/actress (or even modern ones) I want to see whatever film I can find of them and that is what I felt as I watched George Valentin and Peppy Miller. I knew I loved this movie when I walked out wondering when it was coming out on DVD. The only other films I have ever done that with have been The Adjustment Bureau and Midnight in Paris this year. The Artist gives me hope that more filmmakers and screenwriters in the future will make high quality, unique movies like this.

            The Artist is hands down my pick for best movie of 2011

War Horse (2011)

When I was in London one summer no matter where I went or form of transportation I took I would always see a poster for the play War Horse. I did not really know what it was about nor did I particularly care to know because I do not have a slight interest in horses. Also the posters looked odd… from this you could say posters really do create interest or not. Until last year I totally forgot about the War Horse posters until I heard a film based on the play was going to be released. I saw the trailer and thought alright why not see it this time since I now slightly know what the story is.

            The story is set before World War I in the small English village of Devon. A man named Ted Narracott buys a horse for more money than he has once he sees his landlord that he hates bidding on the same horse. His wife his angry with him but his son Albert is more than thrilled because for a few years he has watched the horse grow and run wild. He names the horse Joey.

            Albert and Joey are inseparable. Albert teaches the horse to do several things including plowing the land that was thought unable to be plowed and how to come to him when he whistles a certain way.

            As time goes on Ted is unable to pay the landlord in full. A heavy ran wiped out their crop and they have no money without that. Ted takes Joey early in the morning and sells the horse to the army when war is declared. Albert is too late to stop his father and the boy is heartbroken.

            Joey’s story of survival and how many hands he passed through is incredible. After his rider dies in a raid on German soldier he was taken in by two young German soldiers looking to escape their army and head home. He was then found by a little French girl who was so happy for something beautiful in her life. He was taken by German soldiers who used him to carry weapons.

            Through war and years apart Albert and Joey find each other and return home.

            War Horse is a spectacular film. I went with my younger brothers to see this and they said it was like Band of Brothers only instead of soldiers of the human kind it was about a horse. Everything about it was perfect even though at some points it felt like it was dragging (maybe that was just me because we saw it at like 10:30 in the morning). Steven Spielberg has made one of his best movies to date and is one of the only directors around who truly cares in making quality films from production down to stories and actors. War Horse is one of the best movies to come out in the past few years. 

Happy New Year!!! Looking Back and Looking Ahead

                                     Happy New Year to all my wonderful followers!!

            For me 2011 was both a good year and an incredibly frustrating one. School was not very kind to me last Spring semester, I was stressed out to the max because my college’s administration was terrible with paperwork and letting me know what classes I still needed to graduate. I wound up last Spring getting three As and two Bs and I made the Dean’s List for the first time in my college career. I also made great friends I still talk to and see. I finally got a job after not working for quite some time…. it is not a job I particularly want but I need a Master’s Degree before I can even look for the real job I want.

            The best thing to come out of the last year was this blog. I started this blog as a way to get my opinions out about the films that I watch. If you follow this blog enough you will know that my passion lies in viewing classic films. No one in my family or my friends watches classic films like I do so I cannot really talk about the films with them. This blog allows my passion to come through.

            When I started Une Cinéphile (for those of you who do not speak French the name means “cinema enthusiast”) I was taking a class called Music in Film just for fun. My professor was amazing he knows so much about film history and was so into what he was teaching he and his class really inspired me. I love to learn and I love to take what I learn and teach others. After viewing Sadie Thompson and King Kong in the class and learning about the music and some trivia I felt like I had to share the information with others.

            Since starting Une Cinéphile I have viewed and written about 258 films. I know some bloggers have seen way more than me in one year alone but this is with me going to school as well as working. Each film I have viewed and written about has been an incredible experience for good and bad. I love looking back and seeing how in awe I was with some of the films or how I thought I a film was crap. I also like to look back to see how much my love for film has expanded to so many different genres and decades and actors and actresses.

            Looking Back

            I have viewed so many films with so many different actors and actresses but the ones I have become a huge of fan and the ones who have written about over and over are Myrna Loy and William Powell. Without a doubt they have been the most talked about actors on this blog since last January. It amazes me that just last January when I was on winter break I downloaded all The Thin Man films. From the way I have talked about these two you would think I have been a fan of theirs for years and years not just one. Myrna Loy gets the win for the most written about classic movie star. I have written about thirty-four of her films! and I have so many more to see.

            I have also become a huge fan of Pre-Code films. I love watching them and reading about them. Pre-Codes were risky and adventurous and best of all they featured women out on their own and being as ballsy and free as men. The more I see of these films the more I adore them. They reflect the times they were made in and how women were living and viewing the world.

            Besides Myrna Loy I have become a fan of so many actresses. One actress I have become a great fan of this year has been Olivia de Havilland. I was a fan of her sister Joan Fontaine’s first which is how I came to hear of her. Ever since I first viewed Olivia de Havilland in The Adventures of Robin Hood I have adored her. All her films I have seen so far are just flawless.

            My list of favorite classic actors grew significantly this year. My favorite additions have been William Powell and Charlie Chaplin. From the moment I first viewed The Great Dictator I understood why Charlie Chaplin is so important to film history and the industry. He was a genius and one genius I am proud to be a fan of.

            Looking Ahead

            2012... a new year with plenty of new films coming out. I plan to see a lot more new films. Hey, I am only twenty-four and there are a lot of new stars and new films I enjoy. My brother keeps my classic film loving heart young by keeping me up to date with what is coming out. New films out/coming out so far I would like to see: War Horse, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Young Adults, Hugo, Tintin, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and One For the Money.

            My brother has a ton of newer films I would like to watch as well. He has all, what I like to call, “boy movies”. He has got all the action and adventure movies. I have wanted to further my film genres and films in general and he has the perfect collection for that. So look out for more “boy movies” posts.

            I could never fully neglect my oldies. I have been finding more and more films becoming available on Youtube to my absolute delight. That makes my viewing of old films so much easier.

            To wrap things up I would like to thank all my followers for being fabulous. Thank you all so much for sharing a passion for movies with me to where you have decided to follow Une Cinéphile.