casablancalover
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Posts posted by casablancalover
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h4. the Second Half of the Fiscal quarter?
Are capitalists football fans?
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I do feel validated as they use Whales in flight.. the action of the music has always suggested to me the movement of flight.
Back to the bittersweet of the week.
Neil Sedaka was like Bobby Darin in that he dropped out of classic (or formal) music to go the popular route. And, he's Eydie Gorme's cousin.. didn't know that.
His song list is long, but I will note two favorites for Heartbreak week.
You Mean Everything To Me:
Should've Never Let You Go (with daughter Dara):
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I'm relieved someone brought this up. Most productions never do *every* thing on location. Mostly establishing shots. Or the eccentric shot that ties to the location immediately. The unsung heroes of this discussion are Production Designers and DPs. They help put us into the story visually better than anyone else.
Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House always struck me as shot in NYC/Conn, while it was Hollywood all the way. The house is still standing in Malibu Creek State Park.
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No Immortal Beloved soundtrack? Amazingly, neither do I. But most of the music from the film is already on my iPod, and most of it Von Karajan.
Today, Sunday, Super Sunday... otherwise called up here as Broken-hearted Sunday ('cuz of the VIkes) or in Church, "Coast Sunday" - pastors don't really even try with a message, unless they can tie forgiveness to a failed game and a missed chance.
I was sitting in Church this morning, even more distracted by the light in the windows and my imagination than usual. During the sermon, my mind pulled up the earworm of Respighi's *Pines of Rome-Pines of the Appian Way*. And the scenario I had to write in a screenwriting class. Many instructors will have you write the action and Show the Story rather than try to tell the story. So my beloved embrace of dialog was quickly suspended on my first assignment. We could create any story but it must be a scenario that starts, has action, and a conclusion without dialog. The instructor did not say we couldn't have a inspiration point, however.
I was always tied emotionally to this particular piece of music. An unrelated theme would come to my imagination about it. So, I wrote a brief script of a man returning to a woman waiting for him at the airport. Deja vu moment.. forgive me if I've written about this before. I timed the sequence to the music. Exteriors of the plane -mechanics of a large jet aircraft landing, air conditions, long shots of the airport and its closing in on the runway--intercut in with Interiors of the airliner and the man reacting in anticipation and anxiousness, and the woman at the airport waiting with matching feelings. Story ends at the moment the airliner touches the earth, and absolute joy spreads on the faces of my two protagonists. My instructor asked where the conflict was, and I said "It wasn't about conflict, but resolving the last obstacle." I got a Pass. It was pass/fail.
This is the Disney version.. the music is truncated a bit, which I find very ironic since it's animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGZeT07rqlU
Again, my classical hero Von Karajan, with the version I would hear to my video, if I ever get to Editing class...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oqasTguizM
Edited by: casablancalover on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 PM
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>Gordon Walker: *Well, I'll tell you what I want you to do then. I want you to go in that room there, shut the door after you, and write me your autobiography in one hour. Everything you can think about yourself. In one hour.*
>Tom Rath: *Along any particular line?*
>Gordon Walker: *Explain yourself to us. Examine your life, tell us what kind of person you are, and why we should hire you. And at the end, I want you to finish this sentence for me: The most significant thing about me is...*
Arthur O'Connell and Gregory Peck, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
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I mentioned in another thread a resemblance between Gary Oldman's Beethoven and Herbert Von Karajan, who is recognized as one of Beethoven's best modern orchestra conductors.. I couldn't get quite the same angle..
Gary Oldman (as Beethoven)
Von Karajan:
Maybe it's just the hair. I kept thinking how similiar they were watching Immortal Beloved)
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What will be happening with your temperatures, MM? Any chance it can be melting from beneath the layer? --Like happens in late snows in Minnesota..
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h4. The Music Box stairs
When you get to Los Angeles, it is the 900 block on Vendome Street, in the Silver Lake neighborhood.
The locale is not like the movie any longer, with real estate values and all..
It looks like this:
There is a small plaque marking it on the second to the bottom stair..
Happy hunting!
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Oh, he was the Lord Peter Wimsey of the PBS Mysteries series. Another great Brit production.. I am glad I could enjoy him when I could. RIP
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I like the rarely seen Carol Reed drama, The Running Man (1963). That one starred Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick and Alan Bates. Two men and a woman starring-- you can tell where it's going.
A Londoner (Harvey) fakes his death so he and --widow-- /wife Remick can live the good life in Spain on the Insurance money. Once there, they run into the Insurance agent (Bates). Great scenery, and very interesting story.
Reed does very well incorporating his locales into the story. He does a wonderful job with Summertime with Rosanno Brazzi and Katharine Hepburn.
btw, do not confuse this The Running Man with Schwartznegger's film of the same name. Reed's also makes a star out of a 1963 Lincoln convertible. It shows more personality than Arnold...
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You poor folks! And it looks terribly wet and heavy. Don't shovel if you don't have to, and take it real easy on yourself if you do.
It looks like some of our March storms in MN.
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>Agatha Morley: *What do you want the public to believe, Mr. Finley?*
>Anders Finley: *To believe in our type of 100% Americanism. Now, a 100% American is...*
>Agatha Morley: *White?*
>Anders Finley: *Right!*
>Agatha Morley: *No foreign-born?*
>Anders Finley: *Right!*
>Agatha Morley: *The right kind of religion?*
>Anders Finley: *Exactly right, Mrs. Morley.*
>Ethel Barrymore and Art Baker.
>Barrymore's character has Baker thrown out by Charles Bickford...
>The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
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Bobby Darin, (Robert Walden Cassotto) earned a scholarship to Hunter College. He only stayed one year. He was a man on the mission. He wanted to be bigger than Sinatra. Tall order. According to the stories, he fell hard for Sandra Dee on the set of Come September. They married after the film. They were divorced 1967.
Multiplication (from Come September):
Bobby did country too. This one is a favorite, though I never hear it anymore:
You're the Reason I'm Living (I like the double meaning):
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Just being single at the start of the *"Couples week"*... If you don't mind, I'm bumping the music back up...
*Later post:* Darin is a favorite of mine. That was something about him and Connie Francis wasn't it? He's politics and Francis may have never jelled anyway. She seemed almost an acolyte to Phyllis Schlafly, early right wing maven.
Edited by: casablancalover on Feb 6, 2010 8:37 AM
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So starts the darkest week in the life of a divorced woman. Especially a divorced baby-boomer.
Connie Francis, _Stupid Cupid_ :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTF3ggSaUGI
Connie almost married Bobby Darin. Bobby wanted them to elope. Her father broke it up-according to sources --strict Italian. Connie started to have hits on her own with the support of song writers Sedaka and Greenfield, a couple of kids in NYC wanting to break into the teen music market. They wrote Stupid Cupid. More about Neil this week.
Connie's music has been associated with unsuccessful love. And the rise of Florida bizarreness. Anyway, she's a singer I will feature this week, along with Darin, Sedaka, King, Gore, Brenda Lee and Ricky Nelson. Gene Pitney fits in here too, but he's getting his own day on Feb 17th. They were taking over the sound on radio, and it was the rise of the Baby Boomer music generation...
Bobby Darin, _Dream Lover_ :
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> {quote:title=molo14 wrote:}{quote}
> I rarely watch the new films put out today. I really don't even have enough time to watch the old films I want to see, but I will occassionally check out a new film. I don't go to movie theaters anymore unless it's a special showing of a classic. My ears are very sensitive and the sound is just too loud for me.
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> I come here to these boards for support all the time. So don't feel bad. As Casablancalover said, there are a lot worse things you could be addicted to.
Thanks for your post, but may I take a moment to maybe offer an explanation to the sound.
I am glad you still get to the movies. I know they can be loud. The sound is actually applied in post so carefully and so layered, that when the premieres take place in LA, technicians maybe there taking readings to be sure the decibel level is correct for the showing to best display their work. It's not unlike the DP showing up with light meter to make sure the projection isn't too light or too dark. I must ask around if the digital projection renders it a moot point now..
Getting back to sound. I can recommend two movies at least where sound is technically fascinating to the story. One is The Great Raid about the rescue of POWs from a Japanese Camp. The other is The Alamo where the battle sequences are loud, but sound-wise extremely busy.. Listen for them. They go from whispers to *explosions*.
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I love the Disney clips too. I think the Beethoven one is my favorite, love the whole concept. Debussy is a tone poem and rather blank, so the emotion left out of it leaves it flat. Pretty, but flat.
I'm afraid of opening your clips to Ravel.. It's not you JF, but if I see one more Bolero to the movie *10* I will scream...
I do love the Ice Dancers Torvill and Dean however. Here's two views:
-casablancalover (who still wears her hair similar to Jayne Torvill)
starting her third year on these boards
Edited by: casablancalover on Feb 5, 2010 10:38 AM
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Ro-
Thank you for finally seeing this masterpiece! I loved your ramble about your impressions of the story and characters and especially your reference points in your own life. The movie is loaded reference-wise to the period.
h4. It's not about the Damn Ham on Rye
One that is alluded to that means more to me each time I see it is Ray Teal's (Mr. Mollet) character -the one who orders the ham on rye.. It is not the sandwich-making that is the essential driver in the scene, but the comments to Homer how he didn't have to lose his hands, suggesting that the WAR was some conspiracy to destroy America -(good, old-fashioned, Americanism). It was and I think still is a talking point for the John Birch Society, and that is what the reference was about. I do like the direct way Homer and Fred deal with him. And Homer, after the battle, claims the flag that has fallen, for himself because he's earned it.
h4. G.I. Rights and privileges
The scene in the bank with the SeaBee and Fred's interview at the drugstore are very important reference points. If it weren't for the G.I.Bill of Rights, the recovery out of abyss for two out of the three servicemen would have been deep. Continued Unemployment and disability benefits, continuing education (Marie's snide comment about the prospect of Fred going back to school), and LOANS (ta-dah! that's why Stephenson's a banker) were so important to the recovery of the US following the war, I don't think we've grasp the full import yet, even after reading Brokaw's Greatest Generation.
Al Stephenson must fight with his men, this time for seeing that the returning vet's lives can be productive again, and Fred Derry must confront society's leaders who never went to battle, and now are determining his fate. The kind, friendly druggist you see is probably a WWI vet, and understands Fred's adjustment. But the new owner of the Drug Store (a corporation) is only too quick to point out that They are under no obligation to keep a job open for Fred.
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In the mood for Elvis before bed:
Devil in Disguise:
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That was so good, MM. Von Karajan reminds me of Gary Oldman; never noticed that before.
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Dr. Handsome-
If you are looking to meet women, you've got a great name!. Welcome to the boards!
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The nightmare scene someone had mentioned..
The next morning scene is a delight
Fred: *"You know, I'm married.".*
Peggy: *"Yes I know."*
The startled look on his face at the fleeting thought he'd actually told her this last night! Notice that she is making scrambled eggs in a Pyrex pan. During the war metal was scarce, so Pyrex cookware became popular.
*I guess the best of them are all ready married.*
Then the cute visual joke Wyler plays for us using March and Loy:
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Ah, kindred spirit! I love the Second Rhapsody. Jake played Beethoven earlier in the day (one of my absolute favorites-1st part of the Moonlight Sonata) and I thought about the melody progression from Mozart to Beethoven to Brahms to Tchiakovsly to Debussy to Gershwin to Bernstein...
Beethoven 6th Symphony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPKpFNm3QMM
Tchikovsky Nutcracker Suite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKcQX03S3_o
Debussy Claire de Lune:
What do you think of the final clip,that didn't make the cut into Fantasia..?
I guess nothing is more magical to me than moonlight...
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I like the morning after. You can see what he's thinking:
The gesture with the Boots is a great one too. It's universal. My son did sort of the same thing when he was mustered out of the service.
Off Topic: Favorite Music?
in Your Favorites
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Neil Sedaka has some great hits, and sadly youtube doesn't carry them all. I love Eydie Gorme, and can see how he could have been influenced.
His song list is impressive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Sedaka#Singles
Many you can find many on Pandora.. Who here hasn't heard of Pandora? Keeps me having fun, even when it's heartbreak week...
Neil Sedaka:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IQj4vEnaJU