I've Got It!

And what is it that I have got?

Van Johnson: MGM's Golden Boy!

I'm hoping to get through it this weekend -- it's definitely not a long book, so I should be able to zip through it pretty quick. Although, I might add, I am very disappointed by the lack of photos! I want (at very least) glossy black and white photos of Van throughout his life. Cutesy baby pictures, embarassing adolescent pictures, his accomplishments on the stage, stills from a couple movies, and maybe a few family photos. Sigh. I guess that's what happens when you don't get your subject's permission to write the book. Sad.

The Studio Era

I recently read a really interesting book all about the studio system. The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era by Thomas Schatz was fascinating. I was familiar with the studio era -- the so-called “Golden Era” of filmmaking from the 20s through the late 40s and early 50s – but I really only knew one studio, MGM. And of course, my favorite studio executive, Irving Thalberg, who was really cute.

But this book opened my eyes to more than just MGM -- there was Warner Brothers, RKO, David O. Selznick, etc. It seems like Irving was probably the most skilled at working the studio system in order to get quality product out of it, but he was not the only person capable of running the studio.

The book covers the filmmaking process in parts, but definitely looks at it from more of a business perspective. I had never really thought of filmmaking as a business before. Obviously, there is the obsession with box-office grosses now, but first and foremost, I think of filmmaking as a kind of art. But apparently that is more of a modern idea -- I believe it came from the idea of the director as auteur and sole creator of a film. After reading this book, I realized that there is definitely a lot of input and restrictions and advice by others than appears on the surface.

I don’t know that this book would be a good read if you weren’t interested in the business aspect of filmmaking, or wanted a more in-depth look at the mechanics behind the stars, but I found it very interesting. It seems rare to have a look at the moguls who financed and made the mechanics of filmmaking work.

But if you agree that Irving Thalberg is cute, I would suggest reading this. It shows that he was both a cute creative guy with a shrewd sense of business.

Introducing Cable TV

I have been watching movies and reading movie related books -- but I just haven't had the opportunity to write about them lately. (Yes, things are busier at work!)

But today I am getting cable television installed. And with it I will have several movie channels, including (best of all!) TCM. And August is going to be an excellent month for TCM. It's a different star every day -- and I've already gone through their schedule and have found thirty-one movies that look good. THIRTY-ONE! That's a movie a day! So my goal for August is to write about a movie a day. And as August ends, I'm going to try get up my thoughts on several movies I've recently seen, why Van Johnson remains fascinating to me, how Jimmy Cagney is actually kind of hot, and the books I've been reading. All in the next forty-eight hours!

Remakes: Good or Bad?

And there is one particular remake in mind that I want to discuss: The Manchurian Candidate.

I love The Manchurian Candidate. I saw it in the Intro to Film class that I was a senior mentor for, and I was very much drawn into the story of Raymond Shaw and his brainwashing. It was very much a movie of its era -- fear from the Cold War and what could possibly happen, including the assassination of a presidential candidate. After seeing the film, I went out and got a copy off of Ebay.

The one scene that I absolutely love from The Manchurian Candidate is when the men believe that they are at a meeting of a women's gardening club and the camera pans 360 degrees to eventually show that they are before their enemies. What a technological advancement -- and it stands up today!

So why did they decide to remake it? I don't know -- it was such a great movie. I know that the remake includes some great contemporary actors -- Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, and Liev Schreiber (the lone reason I would even think of seeing it). But the original had Frank Sinatra (at his sweaty best!) Laurence Harvey (perfect as the uptight sargent), and Angela Lansbury (whom I will never forget as the evil mother). The supporting characters were great as well -- James Gregory as Johnny Iselin was the perfect buffoon manipulated by his wife and John McGiver as Senator Thomas, the lone vocal opposition to Iseland and his witch hunts!

Angela Lansbury also said in Entertainment Weekly about the remake:

I'm so unhappy. I'm so sorry they had to mess with something that was so perfect. I couldn't believe it when I heard they were remaking it. I said, "There's no way they would be foolish enough to walk into that trap."

(On Meryl Streep): "I have great admiration for her. She'll probably be very interesting. I just wish she hadn't chosen to do it."

From the commercials that I've seen for the remake, it looks like it's getting pretty good reviews. And apparently Ebert and Roeper gave it two thumbs up. And there is the worst part about a remake -- I want film critics to say that it is horrible -- especially ones like Ebert who really do appreciate classic films -- and judge it in the shadow of its predecessor. But when they say good things about it, I can't help but think that maybe it is a good movie. Perhaps not good enough for the AFI 100 Years...100 Movies list (the original is number sixty-seven!), but good enough to enjoy during the summer? I mean, after all, if it is up to par with the original, they would release it in the winter near Oscar season? You'd think so...

The International Years

While I was home on vacation, I managed to go through some of the books that I left back in Wisconsin. These includes some of my film reference books -- some of which are better than others. But one of them came back to Baltimore with me -- The Great Movie Stars: The International Years by David Shipman. It's another great biographical dictionary of movie stars. Sadly, it does not include lists of films (as The MGM Stock Company did), but it covers a wide variety of actors and actresses from the late '40s through 1972. And it includes a lot of international stars (hence the name!), many of whom I have never heard of.

It's got lots of pictures, and best of all, entries on people like Tab Hunter, Terry-Thomas, and Laurence Harvey. Quality!

I remember when I bought -- it was in Lansing, MI at a bookstore during the mid-1990s. I didn't have enough money to buy both volumes, so I decided to get the second one. I don't know what led me to buy it -- but I'm glad I did. I've read lots of books on golden age Hollywood stars, but not so many on the stars of the later years. And I will eventually track down a copy of The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years!

Cape Fear

Cape Fear is a grown up suspense film. I'm talking about the original 1962 version starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum, not some remake with a psycho tattooed Robert De Niro.

Anyway, it's pretty darn entertaining and suspenseful film. Peck plays Sam Bowden, a lawyer in some small southern town, who years before was witness to a crime (in Baltimore!) committed by Max Cady (Mitchum). Cady is out of prison, and he's not very happy with Bowden, who he thinks ruined his life after his wife left him while he was in prison. Cady used his time in prison to his advantage, and he's become quite the jailhouse lawyer. Bowden recognizes the threat right away, and gets his police chief friend involved to run Cady out of town, but it doesn't work.

The whole movie is incredibly suspenseful, and Cady is very menancing. I wouldn't want him near me or my family! After taking much of Cady's menancing (and after he poisons the family dog), Bowden finally uses his wife and daughter as bait to lure Cady up to a houseboat on Cape Fear. He takes the bait, and chases after the wife at first, but then switches tactics to go after the daughter. Will he abuse the young daughter before Bowden can get to him?

The music is fantastic in the movie -- Bernard Herrmann is excellent, as usual. Telly Savalas shows up as a private detective and actually has hair. And Martin Balsam, best known to me from Psycho is the police chief trying to help Bowden get Cady out of town.

It's hard to judge this movie, especially based on movie standards now. I kept expecting something more to happen, more blood, more violence. It was refreshing for me to watch a movie which was still be very suspenseful but yet it didn't go over the boundries of "good taste."

The MGM Stock Company

While I was back home in Wisconsin, I went to Schwartz's Bookstore in Milwaukee. I looked through the section that covers movies and movie criticism and that's when I saw it. The Golden Era: The MGM Stock Company.

As the blurb on the front cover says, "Stardust to goldust...the great actors and actresses on the MGM lot."

And isn't it fantastic! For only $7.95 I got "a cornucopia of film lore, with carefully detailed biographies and career studies of nearly 150 MGM greats from June Allyson to Robert Young." June Allyson! Robert Young! And everyone else from A to Y!

Actually, it is a really great reference materials, especially for someone like me who is very interested in MGM. It's got biographies of the actors, lots of film stills, and best of all, a list of films that they appeared in, including the company that made it and the year made. At the end, the authors include a brief history of MGM, really short biographies of the various MGM executives (including Irving Thalberg, my hero!), and a list of MGM Academy Award Nominations and Winners. It's not really the type of book that you would sit down and read straight through, but is worth dipping through to read about various stars. The only downside is that it's from 1972, so many of the stars included have died by now.

V-Jo

My obsession with Van Johnson, or as I'm going to start calling him from now on, V-Jo is reaching its peak.

I searched Amazon a month ago or so to see if he had an autobiography or biography floating around there. Apparently not too many people share my love for V-Jo and there is only one biography -- and it sounds juicy! Van Johnson: MGM's Golden Boy was published back in 2001 and I didn't find at either the library I work at or the library that I patronize as a non-librarian.

But it's available at some other libraries in Maryland -- and I will have it! And then I will learn what V-Jo's life was really like. Excellent...

Stage Door Canteen

I watched Stage Door Canteen in bits and pieces over the last few days. It was one I taped during my Memorial Day tape-a-thon, and it came right after Above and Beyond, a cheesy WWII movie starring Robert Taylor (best known [to me at least] as Johnny Eager). I'm saving that one for another day.

So, Stage Door Canteen. It's all about the fabled Stage Door Canteen that served young servicemen in New York City during WWII. Apparently, lots of famous people actually worked there, and the movie is jam-packed with appearances by various famous people, my favorites being Johnny Weissmuller, Katherine Hepburn, and Gypsy Lee Rose, who sadly does not take it all off.

While watching the movie, you follow four soldiers who have twenty-four hour passes. Dakota, hailing from one of the Dakotas, California, the young, innocent, never-been-kissed boy, a guy from down South named Tex, and Jersey. Jersey's the only one with a girl, and he ends up getting married by the end of the film and not enjoying the Stage Door Canteen. Too bad for him, because Dakota, Tex, and California all end up meeting wonderful hostesses who make their last days before leaving worthwhile. California even manages to have his first kiss on the dance floor and Dakota warms up a chilly hostess (called a heel by her roommates!) by the end of their third twenty-four hour pass.

Basically, Stage Door Canteen follows the same theme as Two Girls and a Sailor, as kind of a musical revue. There are lots of songs and dances by popular musical groups of the day, and a plethora of movie and stage stars popping up.

The plot is terribly thin, but it's entertaining enough. I don't think I'll ever feel the need to watch it again, but I felt like it gives a good flavor for the era. Stage Door Canteen is from 1943, back when the war was less certain, and it gives the feeling that people really did care about the soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen and what happened to them.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Yeah, responsibility to make a more interesting and entertaining movie.

On a very rainy Fourth of July, I saw Spiderman 2 in the theater. I had never since the first installment of this comic book adaptation, but my choices were very limited: Shrek 2 or The Stepford Wives. I would like to think that I chose the best of three evils.

Anyway, it's a basic comic book story with the exception that Spiderman is conflicted. Oh, he's so sad and mopey. Totally emo, only he's a superhero type guy and doesn't want to love any one because then they'll be in danger. (Say it with me: Awww.)

So he pushes away Mary Jane for her sake. And gives up being Spiderman to be normal Peter Parker. But then Doc Oc -- some freaked out Alfred Molina who has been taken over by four robotic arms -- causes him some problems. And Doc Oc wants to create some big energy source -- because his love has been taken away from him!

The best part of the movie has to be J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, the crazy editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugel. He manages to come across as the stereotypical 1940s editor -- chomping his cigar and everything. His scenes were the funniest bits out of a very mopey movie.

Yes, Roger Ebert gave it four stars, but I honestly think he steered me wrong. Or perhaps I will never appreciate the superhero genre of movies.

Brando

Wow.

I just went to the New York Times to finish reading an article and his obituary was on the front page.

I can't say that I have a lot of opinions about Marlon Brando -- I've only seen a few of his movies and my personal favorite is probably Guys and Dolls, a choice few Brando fans would probably make.

But he is such a name in acting -- it seems as though, as the obit in the Times mentions, acting is divided into before Brando and then after Brando. Film even has a way of dividing itself fairly neatly -- around 1950 things began to start changing, and Marlon Brando was one of the reasons.

He will be missed.

New DVDs

I got new DVDs on Tuesday night. It always such fun to come home and actually have a package sitting on the register for me. It so rarely happens that I was especially happy to see the DVDs.

And they are the last DVDs that I will be getting until September. I have officially sworn off DVDs -- in fact, I wasn't even supposed to buy these. But I got them from Deep DVD Discount which has awesome prices in the first place and then I got an extra 20% off with a secret code. So I got three DVDs for $7.50 each -- Breakfast at Tiffanys, Sabrina, and (although this one hasn't been delivered yet) Paris...When It Sizzles. I also got It Happened One Night for under $15 I believe. So it was like around $10 per DVD -- an excellent price. But, unfortunately, I cannot afford to keep getting DVDs. At the rate I'm going, I could get cable and it would be cheaper.

But it is so fun to get new DVDs. I love unwrapping all the plastic, peeling off the stickers, and opening them up to remove the security tags. Ah, what fun.