RAMBLES Part II

[Bronxgirl48]

I just hope the rest of ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON isn't as predictable as Ginger's "Hello, Mama!"

 

Enjoy your champagne. My friend, who lives in the same building, said she was coming over later with STRAWBERRY martinis. She didn't know I had strawberries-and-pickles ( a la Debbie in SUSAN SLEPT HERE) in my peanut butter sandwich.

 

No sleep tonight, lol.

[SueSueApplegate]

Just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year!

[molo14]

 

and as always...

 

 

[SansFin]

 

I hope Father Frost and his granddaughter brought you all that you may wish for a happy and healthy New Year!

[JackFavell]

[JackFavell]

[Bronxgirl48]

We're all a year younger!

 

[JackFavell]

Well, I am quite sure you will all be proud of me - last night I decided to dip my toe into 1960's comedy. Lover Come Back was on, and I actually watched it.

 

I was really surprised! After some initial shock at how true some of the situations still are (women in the workplace being outmaneuvered by the good ol' boy network), I settled in with Doris and Rock for the evening. And you know what? It was cozy and fun, and one more thing I wasn't expecting - extremely _high class_ - even with the subject matter. This is what I appreciated the most from the film. The sets were GORGEOUS, and varied, my favorite was the hotel room the morning after Rock wined and dined that first client.... it was a deep charcoal blue/grey, with white trim, and a french looking fireplace.... but all the sets were equally lush and colorful - I think some of the designers today could take a page out of this book.

 

Doris's clothes were to die for, though I have NO idea how she could wear those bubble hats and still have poufy hair later in the day when she took them off. I notice she never took off her hat on screen, she would just magically appear perfectly coifed later on. If only I had a magic edit machine for my life!

 

Doris looked so young here, I realized that when I was growing up, I thought of her like my mom, but despite those sixties puffed up hairstyles, she looked like a 23 year old. Her figure was smashing.

 

Doris was great, but I expected that. It was Rock who really blew me away. Where did this confident, breezy guy come from? You see, I've been reading about Rock's beginnings in the film industry, as protege of Raoul Walsh, who saw something in the rugged but sensitive actor that no one else did, and cast him over and over again despite hesitancy on the studio's (and everyone else's) part. Everyone's opinion of him at that time was "he's no actor". So what happened?

 

Rock had me hooked, especially when he took on the persona of bearded Dr Tyler... his sheepdog eyes, the whole demeanor of intellectual, sad, unskilled lover was not only right on target, it was so cute! I had to laugh, when he so expertly manipulated Doris into falling for him... what intelligent woman wouldn't fall for his act? He knew she wouldn't go for him any other way. I wanted to hate him, but I couldn't, because he was just so darn likeable and charming, with his ridiculous suit that should have had patches on the elbows.

 

Tony Randall was insane - he enters wearing an all red outfit - red hat red jacket - and yet he played this mousy guy who can't do anything - except play the part of a rich tycoon. I enjoyed his performance, but it didn't in the least take away from Doris and Rock - this movie was all of a piece, it was wonderful that Hollywood could still make movies that had a definite tone, a sound, and a look that all went together like clockwork. I truly enjoyed it from beginning to end.

 

I had to step out just before the big blowup - at least, I think there must have been a big blowup - when Doris discovers she's been played, but I had to go put my daughter to bed. So when I got back, Doris was about to fix Rock's wagon in front of the commission... but at the last minute, he brought in VIP -the real thing, in it's brightly colored wrappers, and suddenly - BAM - they're married! I never saw that coming, and i think this is the great charm of the movie - you never see where it's going to go, except you KNOW that Rock and Doris will be sizing each other up until they fall into each other's arms. There is a delightful consistency that I bet people look forward to with their movies. Anyway, I just wanted you gals and guys to know....

 

I fell for Doris, I fell for Rock, and I don't even feel like I've been played.

[bagladymimi]

Well Jack, if you liked this one, you will be even happier with Pillow Talk and Send Me No Flowers. I think they are better than Lover Come Back. But my favorite Doris Day comedy is The Thrill of it All with James Garner. All three of these movies are really good. My favorite with Rock Hudson is Send Me No Flowers - I think it is funnier than the other two. You probably have a good chance to see all three of these movies in April - Robert Osborne announced after the movie last night that Doris Day is the Star Of The Month in April. So enjoy, you are in for a real treat! They are showing 28 of her movies.

 

Oh, and by the way, I suspect Doris Day had great hair, but she also had hair stylists on the sets and she used hair pieces to make her hair look so perfect all the time.

[SansFin]

The production values of the Doris Day and Rock Hudson movies were very high. I doubt there was any concern for cutting costs or taking short cuts.

 

I missed in *Lover Come Back* that we saw only a picture of the kitchen with a lilac floor which the artist had drawn for a proposed advertisement. I would very much have liked to see that as a full set.

 

They were great good fun with no pretensions of being "serious" movies and so they are often dismissed as not being worth watching. I love these movies simply because they ask nothing of the viewer other than that they sit back and they allow themselves to be taken for a ride. They never disappoint.

 

I find it odd that they were held to be highly moral family-fare movies. In both of them she was ready, willing and eager to engage in extramarital sex with the "first gent who made her pulses jump" and she was stopped from throwing away her morals with her panties only because of a last-minute revelation about the man on which she was aching to pounce.

[JackFavell]

Mimi -

 

I am looking forward to the other Day/Hudson movies now, I'm glad to hear that there are other good ones....that I didn't end up watching the best one first....

 

Sansfin -

 

I want to at least see the drawing of that lilac floored kitchen! I guess great minds think alike, because I was thinking it would be cool to have a lilac floor in the kitchen, despite what Doris said.

 

I literally want to wallow in these films! they are relaxing and cheery, without the least pretention.

 

I was surprised at how forward the movie was, since nowadays it's de rigeur to look down at Doris' movies as "wholesome". It was much much better than I expected.

[MissGoddess]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Jackie. *Lover Come Back* is my favorite, actually, though it's a toss up sometimes. I really love Tony Randall, his character breaks me up. And Doris' wardrobe, of course. You have to see *Pillow Talk* for Thelma Ritter if nothing else. And Doris' apartment.

 

I finally saw Lubitsch's *The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg*. I was so moved by it! I wasn't sure if I was going to like the movie, despite my love for Lubitsch, but it's the most emotional film by him I've seen. I was crying buckets. It was great, just great.

[bagladymimi]

MissGoddess - I too, loved Tony Randall - he was a terrific actor. I particularly like the role he played in Send Me No Flowers when he is writing Hudson's eulogy. I think that is hilarious. He added so much to every film he was in. Did you know that he has his own acting company on Broadway? He helped many new actors get started with classes, workshops, etc. He was dearly loved in the Broadway community. I used to love him on the late night talk shows. He was really witty. I cried when I heard that he had died. Thank God we have his movies and TCM on which to watch all his movies.

 

[MissGoddess]

Hi, mimi...Randall was a class act. And who can forget his "Felix" in the television series "The Odd Couple".

[CineMaven]

I can't speak for all Message Board denizens but I, for one, am proud as punch that you were open enough to check out *"LOVER COME BACK."* Come to Mama, my child!!! Your review was so delightfully written, It, in and of itself, should make the most ardent die-hard anti-60's comedy-hater at least a little bit curious.

 

*DORIS DAY & ROCK HUDSON in "LOVER COME BACK" (1961)*

 

I can't quite (rationally) analyze the chemistry of this triumvirate (Day-Hudson-Us) with the precision of that crazy Greenwich Village chemist. All I can say is that they are likeable, fresh-scrubbed, sexy and good-looking. Also, we are not bludgeoned over the head with actors sledge hammering the comedy. (A poor example of a sledgehammer was *"That Funny Feeling"* - a film you might've seen in your youth, and sent hoardes running and screaming from "comedy." It undoubtedly wouldn't have cracked a smile on Mother Teresa's face...and you know how she used to like a good joke. But more on that later).

 

 

I find the writing top-notch and the situations believable, rooted in some semblance of plausible reality: ( two advertising execs compete over an account ). Yes, "the Rock & Doris films" had a formula but it was gently put to work in their three films:

 

 

 

* interior decorator and songwriter share a telephone party-line

* a hypochondriac mistakenly believes he has months to live, tries to find a suitable husband for his wife

The formula: Competitors...the Virgin and the Wolf...False Identities... and of course, Tony Randall - best friend / Greek chorus / comic foil. They’re very likeable. There’s subtlety and finesse in the way they handle the material. And the material...boy, the material is "Mwah!!!" Oooooh, I could just kiss those scripts. I'm all about the writing in movies.

 

This romantic tale fits like a glove, the cogs snugly and cozily nestle together like a well-oiled Swiss timepiece. Nice bright primary colors... clothes to die for....places you want to live. (But for me it's the dialogue and how Doris and Rock and Tony play it).

 

*Doris was great, but I expected that. It was Rock who really blew me away. Where did this confident, breezy guy come from?*

 

 

I think Rock's confidence in comedy, was bolstered while doing *"PILLOW TALK"*

 

 

*"PILLOW TALK" (1959)*

 

 

This is the first of the three movies he and Day co-starred in, she and Randall being old pros at comedy. I think the fun and camaraderie and being at ease with Day on the set helped tremendously. (Oh, the movie being a box office hit didn't hurt either).

 

 

 

* I can't explain Doris' bouffant coiffure unflattened by those bubble hats. That's movie magic for you. Sheesh! It took me an entire semester in Millinery class to make a hat in junior high. Oh, if they only let me at a Moviola...I'd have shown 'em a thing or three.

* I love the explosive visits to the Chemist's lab in the Village. (I liked Jack Kruschen as the chemist). At one point, I don't think Tony even makes it out of his car when there's an explosion and his car speeds off down the street. ...And his face getting discolored by chemicals, oh my! Poor little schlmeel.

* Isn't that Ellie May Clampett as secretary? Sho 'nuff, it is. And Kelly, (Rock's secretary) also appeared in "Pillow Talk" as a telephone company inspector who falls under Rock's charms).

* And the two businessmen with droll comments on Rock’s and Doris' relationship were very funny; precisely because they didn't try to be funny.

* Tony Randall - He's so cowardly, I love him. He's the straight man, the comic foil. He tries to put the blame on others...mostly his boy Hadley: (Joe Flynn of "McHale’s Navy"). He instructs Hadley to come over by the window: "You don't have to jump. I'll trip you. Double indemnity. Your wife'll be loaded...kids'll go to college. Come on boy. Run." (Hilarious).

And when the Feds come to visit Hudson, Tony immediate throws Rock under the bus. That cracks me up, and also Tony trying to force Rock's hand to sign the confession his lawyers have drawn up.

 

*I had to step out just before the big blowup - at least, I think there must have been a big blowup - when Doris discovers she's been played, but I had to go put my daughter to bed.*

 

First off, it's so warm and maternal that you put your daughter to bed. If you want to see a bit of what you missed...please go here and check this out:

 

 

*

*

 

 

There's such a lot to like about this movie and its romance & comedy, if one is open to it. In large part I think it's the attraction between Rock Hudson and Doris Day. I think Hudson and Day play at cross-purposes expertly. We are let in on the joke... and it's cleverly played out. We'll hear characters discussing something and we know what they're talking about. But when others come IN on the conversation, their mistaken interpretation about what the conversation is...is funny. Going to Alcatraz...the maids outside the honeymoon couple's window...the businessmen seeing Rock in a mink coat. All those moments and more I find hilarious. (I *wait* for the scene where the moose follows the mating call of Randall and Hudson in the canoe. Aaaah, the way Tony Randall says: "I take his picture." Funny).

 

 

As Miss G., says, it's a toss-up, but mostly for me this would be my order of preference for Doris and Rock:

 

 

*"Send Me No Flowers" ( 1964 )*

*"Pillow Talk" ( 1959 )*

*"Lover Come Back" ( 1961 )*

 

 

Jaxxxon, you gave the movie a chance and I'm really happy about that. (What can I say...we want our friends to like what we like). The comedy here *is* different from the 30's and 40's. There's a different rhythm, tone. But hey...you gave the movie a chance and now you've possibly given yourself another genre of films to appreciate. Now don't worry, I won't rush you into Doris and Rock. No no no no no! I remember you saying you like to discover films for yourself, so I don't want to spook you. But if you could find it in your heart and schedule to some day watch "Pillow Talk" and "Send Me No Flowers" I don't think you'll regret it.

 

 

*"SEND ME NO FLOWERS" (1964) Aaaah...marital bliss Day & Hudson-style*

 

Edited by: CineMaven on Jan 3, 2012 10:09 AM - b'cuz she doesn't have an "H" in her name.

[OllieTSB]

CM, yes yes yes. Every weak or bad observation about Bobby Darin films falls into place. I think he's the serious weak-link - even the fun COME SEPTEMBER (1961 with Rock versus Gina Lollobrigida, Walter Slezak, Brenda DeBanzie) suffers when Darin is on-screen. Maybe I'm too prejudiced against smirking wannabe's - I can't give Darin even close an 'even break' in his films.

 

But yes yes yes to the Doris comments. PILLOW TALK and LOVER are easily two favorites, and these are probably the films that introduced me to the Joys Of Fundamental Supporting Actors, because both use supporting actors so wonderfully. They're the reason I can re-watch these movies.

[JackFavell]

>I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Jackie. Lover Come Back is my favorite, actually, though it's a toss up sometimes. I really love Tony Randall, his character breaks me up. And Doris' wardrobe, of course. You have to see Pillow Talk for Thelma Ritter if nothing else. And Doris' apartment.

>

>I finally saw Lubitsch's The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg. I was so moved by it! I wasn't sure if I was going to like the movie, despite my love for Lubitsch, but it's the most emotional film by him I've seen. I was crying buckets. It was great, just great.

 

I plan on watching the others now, since someone was kind enough to send them all to me.....

 

I was going to try to watch *The Student Prince* today before I replied, but I got reading on the boards this morning and spent too much time here!

 

I'll try to watch this one as soon as I can - it's been sitting at the top of my stack of movies to watch for a year.

[JackFavell]

Ha! I guess I am glad I fell asleep after Sandra Dee put on her apron....

 

You are so right - the best part of *Lover Come Back* was for me, the leads, which is highly unusual for me, and the way everything just fell into place - the script really was very smart. But I am so glad I saw the character actors - Jack Kruschen (I just love him) Tony Randall (ditto) , Joe Flynn, and then spotting Ellie Mae Clampett! She was so pretty, I always wanted to look like her. These guys really add something great to the mix. I think I have to find Jack Kruschen's entire oeuvre.

 

You are making me crack up when you repeat all of Tony's lines - trying to find anyone to take the fall for his mistake! You really bring back all those hilarious moments so well.

[CineMaven]

TONY RANDALL as Pete Ramsey

 

"That's it. Hadley!! We'll pin the rap on him. Sure it's our word against his. Two agains tone. Let them break Hadley. He's not a Senior Executive."

 

**********

 

Pete: "We'll get Hadley to commit suicide. Then we'll pin the blame on him."

 

Jerry: "You may have a little trouble selling that idea to Hadley."

 

Pete: "He would dare refuse. His job depends on it!!"

 

*********

 

I enjoyed Tony Randall in all three outings he did with Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Wait till you see "Send Me No Flowers." ("It's so smooooth"). This'll mean more when you see him say it. The supporting cast in "Lover Come Back" is great. Jack Albertson and Jack Watts (the businessmen: "He's the last one I would have suspected.") The great Jack Oakie ("Just a touch...") The two maids. And didja notice the great John Litel as one of the men on the ad commission? Donna Douglas was pretty. I always wanted to marry Jethro. And then I wanted to marry Eb. Alas and alack, I still didn't get either one of them.

 

By the by...I love my DVD fairy-godfather!

[SansFin]

> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote}

> I want to at least see the drawing of that lilac floored kitchen! I guess great minds think alike, because I was thinking it would be cool to have a lilac floor in the kitchen, despite what Doris said.

 

We see only a distorted view as the drawing is on a pile. It can be seen at 5:42 within:

 

It appears to me to be large squares of lilac within a framework of dark blue.

 

I do not know what color of cabinets would match it.

[SansFin]

> {quote:title=MissGoddess wrote:}{quote}

> I really love Tony Randall, his character breaks me up.

 

I find him very convincing as so very clueless when he complains that Rock Hudson's character had all the advantages by growing up poor in that there was no where to go but up.

 

I also love his statement in *Pillow Talk* (1959) when he complains that the amount of money with which his grandfather once cornered the cattle market and started a panic in Omaha will not even frighten a songwriter 'today'.

 

His art in performing these characters is like how it takes true skill to appear to be totally inept on ice skates. His flailings must be perfect to give the illusion of haplessness while keeping him moving along in the scene. To be so glibly wrong on so many levels takes true craftsmanship and great talent.

[SansFin]

> {quote:title=CineMaven wrote:}{quote}

> Edited by: CineMaven on Jan 3, 2012 10:09 AM - b'cuz she doesn't have an "H" in her name.

 

If you were writing her name as "Dorish" I would suspect you had sampled more of the Christmas Cake ingredient than was good for you.

 

> > I love these movies simply because they ask nothing of the viewer other than that they sit back and they allow themselves to be taken for a ride.

> I find these films more than just an 'asking nothing of us but...'. Yes, we get some laughs. Ha...loads of laughs. And I enjoy the ride. But the films do give us a little something to think about, don'cha think? Women in the workplace. She was hardworking, diligent. He was a hardplaying dilettante. And he's rewarded for it.

 

I do not think of such things as it was greatly exaggerated for comic effect. There is also a reverse: men who were hard-workers were at times denied promotions in favor of women who were sleeping their way to the top.

 

It was what it was and it was not as if she was suffering. I know many people who would endure far worse for such an apartment in NYC.

 

> I think back when the film was released, it was looked on as a saucy romantic comedy.

 

I believe it was in reaction to these movies that Oscar Levant said: "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin."

 

> Happy New Year to You!!! Hope you and Capuchin had a lovely time bringing in the new year.

 

I wish you also have a Happy New Year. We celebrated with vodka, caviar and blini. I hope your celebrations were as joyous.

[JackFavell]

> I finally saw Lubitsch's *The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg*. I was so moved by it! I wasn't sure if I was going to like the movie, despite my love for Lubitsch, but it's the most emotional film by him I've seen. I was crying buckets. It was great, just great.

 

 

 

[MissGoddess]

That's one of the many moments that had me in tears!!! You just knew by some way I can't explain that this moment they were sharing was ephemeral, was not destined to last; it was inextricably tied with the quicksilver of youth and first love. When Lubitsch took Kathi back to that hill, and the tree was bare, and no stars in the sky....boo hooo!!!!

[JackFavell]

Oh, I thought this was one of Lubitsch's finest films! I was completely dissolved into tears by it. You are so right about how it has such tenderness. I don't think this kind of rhythm and beauty ever again would be achieved after sound, except maybe in GWTW. So the movie is ephemeral in more ways than one.

 

It's a tragic story unfolded as if it were light comedy. Is there such a thing as light tragedy?

 

It feels like Lubitsch caught youth, and passion, but such innocence, too. And so sad! I cried right from the first scene when poor little Karl Heinrich was brought to the palace. This wonderful young boy never had a chance. The wheels of those carriages, taking him to freedom, to his loved ones and then away were like the wheel of fate, of life.

 

Remember the fluidity and richness of Hans Schwartz' *Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna?*

 

Though that movie was much different, I felt the same shock at the rich settings and milieu of *The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg*, which felt like no set at all. It felt like you were dropped into the middle of the real 1902 Karlsburg - which doesn't exist, of course.

 

It seems as if Lubitsch had the entire universe at his fingertips.... and could move people, trains, anything, in the lightest manner and still evoke emotion! it is a lush fantasy, but it felt completely real. The way crowds moved in tandem or passed by the main characters created an authentically full and mellow world as a backdrop. How he did that I'll never ever know. I don't want to know. I want to keep my illusion!

 

How rigid life was for the young fellow - I could have cried for happiness when fate sent him Dr. Juttner. Actually, I did. When something bad happened to Karl Heinrich, fate intervened and sent him something good, but there was always the looming presence of that same fate turned against him, when those longed for joys were happening. Juttner always knew and tried to keep him safe and childlike, happy to let him be normal for a day.

 

But back to Lubitsch's settings. Even the chairs in the palace were straight backed and set at exactly the same angle as every other, in cavernous rooms with thick, ornately carved doorways, as opposed to the close comfort and harmony of the inn at Heidelberg. Karl doesn't even fit in the chairs at the castle, he's always at an angle in them. In Heidelberg, there is velvet and lace, and old world charm, and warmth. You can sit in the chairs! And there is cake!

 

There is a texture to Lubitsch's silents, but it isn't the texture of a Ford film - it's rich and antiqued, yes, but flavored with the most intoxicating, satisfying ingredients, yet still warm and childlike.....somehow, his movies make me feel like I do right after Christmas dinner. Lubitsch feeds you. Cake!

 

At the beginning, I enjoyed how he took us from the big world of the moving trains and carriages and crowds and movement in the city to the small, still, empty world of Karl Heinrich. He takes us there by carriage wheel and by hat. The palace, looming beautifully on the outside, is sumptuous but austerely gigantic on the inside, and it made Karl Heinrich's tight imprisonment seem even more harsh somehow. Alone, but in a huge space, like a Keaton hero, but with more fear. I liked how when he got to Heidelberg, he turned to Juttner for help in telling him whether the rooms were OK.

 

I laughed at how every person in the town of Karlsburg had a portrait or bust of the king, so his presence loomed over them even when the king was not there - as if he were spying on them. Later the thought of that scene caught in my throat. And of course, every time the Prince tried to have even the smallest joy that anyone might have, a cigarette, perhaps, such a small thing, there was that awful pretentious courtier from the king, his watchdog, showing up suddenly, always as a harbinger of bad news. He was forever just behind the door, whether it was the dark carved door of Karlsburg Castle, or the simple but pretty light wood door of the rooms in Heidelberg.

 

Lubitsch's attention to the minutest detail, the doors, the hats, the portraits, the wheels, the carriages, the couches, the furniture, the clothing, the outsides of buildings, the movements of the actors - each moment and prop was mirrored later in the film. I could do an entire dissertation on the meaning of just the hats! How they show Karl Heinrich's change from boy to student, to lover, to man, to ruler. How his own sweet personality was usurped and over-ridden by the stifling environment the king and his duty created for him.

 

For instance, at the very beginning, there is a shot of the king's portrait - he is shown without a hat, but the shot then fades to him riding in his carriage in a parade, on the way to meet Karl Heinrich for the first time. The king in real life is wearing a monstrous violent looking Germanic helmet which for a split second seems to appear on the portrait's head before fading fully to his face on the carriage ride! And everyone along the route of the carriage is cheering him... and raising their hats at the same exact time, as if they were one person. And all their hats are exactly alike. In fact, the ride is a long one, and each section of the public has their own type of hat, all rising and falling at the same time as the king passes by. Enter Karl Friedrich into this world of conformity and isolation, where one man is set apart, in a world in which he cannot fit but also cannot escape. Later, he will gladly become a brother of the Saxonians, where he is acknowledged as a good fellow and a normal student by being given a cap, the same cap they all wear - he is finally accepted somewhere as one of the gang. A symbol of a friendship, and even more, of a normal life.

 

Every small element was elaborated here by Lubitsch, but swiftly, in the lightest, most charming and unobtrusive way. The sway and rhythm of the film, the expert creating of a space in which Lubitsch's characters live, all done with that Lubitsch touch. I think I understand it somewhat now. Those exquisite moments of tenderness and sorrow and joy were weighted just a little more - but with the merest of feathers for a counterbalance. I'm thinking of the touch of one character's hand on another's heart. It's such a tender thing.

First, Karl Heinrich does it to Dr. Juttner after Juttner tells him the king will fire him because his job is over, giving him the boot. KH lets his hand rest on Juttner's lapel for a moment, his only friend, then brushes off the cigar ashes that have fallen there - and Juttner takes his hand and holds it briefly before he goes. Then later, in that beautiful field of flowers, at the instant they truly fall in love, Kathi touches Karl Heinrich once again, on the breast, over the heart with her hand lingering. It's as if she smote him to the core with love. It makes me want to cry again.

 

Edited by: JackFavell on Jan 4, 2012 2:26 PM