Great Films Not on DVD: April

Despite the craziness of signing up for classes this week and the sudden realization that I have five weeks left of school, I have managed to actually get this post out on time! I felt really bad for posting my March list so late that you may not have had time to catch some of the films.

Looking forward to the multitude of great films in April has really brightened my mood, considering that its ungodly cold here and actually snowed a bit today. Winter seems to be holding on for dear life and I’m trying as hard as I can to be patient for spring to finally take over. Well, enough about the weather, let’s get to the movies!

Bundle of Joy (1956)
Starring Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher, and Adolphe Menjou
Airs April 1 on TCM

A cute little musical remake of Bachelor Mother. Debbie Reynolds is pretty decent as salesgirl Polly Parrish, but she is definitely no Ginger Rogers. It’s worth watching if you like the original. Click here for a short synopsis from a previous post.

The Actress (1953)
Starring Jean Simmons, Spencer Tracy, and Teresa Wright
Airs April 6 on TCM

Even though this film is now available for order from the Warner Bros. website, I’m still including it as a “Great Film Not on DVD”.

It’s based off of Ruth Gordon’s autobiographical play “Years Ago”. After seeing actress Hazel Dawn in a play, young Ruth dreams of becoming an actress to the dismay of her factory worker father. However, when her dream is suddenly crushed, her father steps in to help her build it up again.

Interesting fact: Anthony Perkins, in his film debut, plays Simmons’ love interest.

So Long at the Fair (1950)
Starring Jean Simmons and Dirk Borgarde
Airs April 17 on TCM

Yes, it’s another Jean Simmons film. If you didn’t know all ready, I’m a really big fan of hers and many of her films are still not on DVD.

The plot of this movie is very similar to that of Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes. Siblings Vicky and Johnny Barton travel to Paris for the Exposition Universelle in 1899. The morning after a trip to the Moulin Rouge, Vicky finds that Johnny is missing. After asking everyone at her hotel about her brother’s whereabouts, she realizes something fishy is going on. Everybody tells her she arrived at the hotel by herself. The only person who believes her is a young artist (Bogarde) staying at the hotel. Together, they unravel the mystery.

The Blue Dahlia (1946)
Starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake
Airs April 27 on TCM

In this third pairing of Ladd and Lake, Johnny (Ladd) returns from the war to find his wife with another man. After a dramatic fight, Johnny decides to take a road trip that is mistaken as running from the law when his wife is found dead. Once he learns what happened, he teams up with Joyce (Lake) to try and clear his name.

Interesting fact: This movie is rumored to be the inspiration for murdered actress Elizabeth Short’s nickname “The Black Dahlia”.

Also, if you are a Ginger Rogers fan like me, make sure your DVR is ready to go on April 8. TCM will be showing several of Ginger’s early films, most of which are not on DVD. I’m extremely excited because I haven’t seen a few of them and one of my goals in life is to see all of her films. Currently, I’ve seen forty of her seventy-five films.

TCM will be showing the following:

Suicide Fleet (1931)
Carnival Boat (1932)
The Tip-Off (1932)
You Said a Mouthful (1932)
Professional Sweetheart (1933)
In Person (1935)
Star of Midnight (1935)

Great Films Not on DVD: March

I’m sorry everyone. I’ve been super busy lately and haven’t had a chance to post my Great Films Not On DVD for March. I’m pretty sure I went to bed one night and woke up in March. When did February decide to end? Anyways, I’m so mad at myself because one of my favorite movies is finally on this month and I really wanted you all to have a chance to hear about before it was on. Well, you have a one day’s heads up, but that’s not very much.

Young Bess (1953)
Starring Jean Simmons, Stewart Granger, and Deborah Kerr
Airs March 11 on TCM

Pretty self-explanatory. It’s a biopic of Queen Elizabeth’s early years. The movie centers on Bess’ (Jean Simmons) relationships with her distant father Henry VIII (Charles Laughton) and the dashing Thomas Seymour (Stewart Granger).
Airs March 11 on TCM

Light in the Piazza (1962)
Starring Yvette Mimieux, Olivia de Havilland, and George Hamilton
Airs March 11 on TCM

I know I tend to call a lot of movies “my all-time favorites”, mostly because I don’t have a favorite, but I would probably call this one my favorite DVD-less film. It’s based on a 1960 novella by Elizabeth Spencer that also inspired a Broadway show of the same name.

While on vacation in Italy, American tourist Clara Johnson (Yvette Mimieux) falls in love with a dashing young Italian (George Hamilton). Their young love is complicated, however, when an accident from Clara’s past is revealed after her mother (Olivia de Havilland) tries to hide it from both her new love and his family.

If I get a chance, I’m going to take a crack at reviewing this film. Cross your fingers. I have yet to get up the motivation to review a film.

Show Boat (1936)
Starring Irene Dunne and Allan Jones
Airs March 16 on TCM

It may be less colorful than the 1951 remake with Keel and Grayson, but that doesn’t mean it’s not as good. I actually prefer this version to the glitzier Technicolor version as do most critics because it’s more faithful to the original stage version. I’m feeling lazy about summing up the plot so here is a nutshell version: Girl on show boat meets gambler, girl marries gambler, girl has baby, gambler leaves girl and baby, and so on and so forth.

Lili (1953)
Starring Leslie Caron and Mel Ferrer
Airs March 30 on TCM

After the death of her father, young Lili (Caron) finds herself all alone in a strange town. When a grocery store owner tries to take advantage of her, she is saved by a magician (Jean-Pierre Aumont) who recruits her to work as a waitress in the carnival. She is fired after one night and hits rock bottom until a group of puppets come to her rescue. However, the man behind the puppets (Ferrer) becomes her true rescuer and she ends up rescuing him in return.

Union Station (1950)
Starring William Holden and Nancy Olson
Airs March 31 on TCM

In this film noir, railway cop Bill Calhoun (Holden) encounters Joyce (Olson), a train passenger and secretary to a very wealthy man. On a train ride, she notices two suspicious men and soon her boss’ blind daughter goes missing. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Well, if you haven’t noticed, the Premio Dardos Award has been circulating around the blog community. I have been fortunate to have the award bestowed upon my humble blog here by Wendymoon, Lolita, and Nicole. Thank you so much for this honor! The rules say that I need to pass it along to five fellow bloggers, but it seems that pretty much everybody has received it already (multiple times). Therefore, I would like to give this award to every single one of you. Enjoy : )

The Dardos Award is given for cultural, literary, and personal values in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing appreciation and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

Back to Reality

Well, Monday marked the end of Thanksgiving break for me and a return to reality. It's a stressful time of year: presentations to give, papers to write, and final exams to study for. I have so many things I could be doing, but I'm writing my blog instead. Obviously, I've got my priorities in order.



I gave one of my presentations today, a fifteen minute speech about film noir (with many photos and movie clips, of course : ) It was to receive honors credit for my class so everybody else's presentations were much shorter. The other topics were some comic book guy, Stephen King, and Marlon Brando (ahh...I enjoyed that one) Anyways, I'm pretty sure I put about half of the class asleep with mine, especially during a clip of Glenn Ford from Gilda. I didn't really care though, at least I found it interesting!



It got me thinking about what my favorite film noirs are and what ones I really want to see. So, here they are:



Favorites:

The Postman Always Rings Twice
Gun Crazy
Night of the Hunter
The Third Man
Gilda
Double Indemnity
Sunset Boulevard
Out of the Past
Leave Her to Heaven

Want to See:

Angel Face
They Live By Night
The Killers
White Heat
Kiss Me Deadly
Touch of Evil
D.O.A.
Where the Sidewalk Ends



Any suggestions??