"No Sad Songs For Me" - I experiment with women's dramas (SPOILERS)

Hi there!

With last Wednesday being Natalie's birthday - as we all know by now - TCM honored her with a selection of her movies, most of them films from earlier in her career. A lot of these aren't available on DVD, so I hadn't seen them before. I recorded "No Sad Songs For Me" (1950), to watch later.

"No Sad Songs For Me" is not available on DVD, and there weren't any clips on Youtube, so I decided it would be a good opportunity to experiment with a new segment called "A Movie in 10 Minutes," in which I record highlights of a film for you, string it together, and post it on Youtube to share it here. I would love to upload the whole movie, but it would be a pain in the neck to get it done, and not only that, Youtube wouldn't be quite happy. If this goes well, who knows - it would be fun to do again!

"No Sad Songs For Me" is a weepy, "women's drama" of the late forties. These were basically melodramatic films enjoyed by housewives on a Thursday afternoon movie matinee when the housework was finished, the pot roast was in the oven, the Husband was away at work and the Kids at school. The housewives would sit in the balcony of the theater, dabbing at their tear riddled eyes with handkerchiefs that boasted their initials embroidered into the upper left corner. After the picture was over, they would dry their eyes and return back to the role of the stereotypical retro housewife, glad that they are not in the same shoes as the victim of the film.

This was pretty strong fare, in which everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. No wonder they call it a women's drama! When I set up to TiVo this, I did so with the intention of watching a Natalie film, but also with interest in watching a women's drama.

The plot is like this - Margaret Sullavan plays Mary, a devoted housewife and mother to husband Brad (Wendell Corey) and daughter Polly (who seems to be nine or ten - in reality, Natalie was twelve). She loves Brad very much and he her. The family hopes for another child, perhaps a boy. Mary visits the family friend and doctor, Rick, about "her project." He gives her bad news - she cannot have any more children, and sends her away, telling her to rest. But Mary thinks something else may be wrong with her, so she goes back and is able to squeeze out of him what he planned to tell Brad privately (how sexist! lol) - Mary has cancer. It is too late for treatment, and she has only six months to live. Mary decides not to tell anyone and tries to enjoy the last few months of her life - really. I mean, if you had six months to live, don't you think it would be a good idea to try and not be too angelic and tell your family? She only tells Brad that they can have no more children. Meanwhile, Brad hires a new draftsman at work, a pretty European tomboy named Chris, played by Viveca Lindfors (who tries her best to be Ingrid Bergman esque). Though he loves Mary, he feels attraction and affection to Chris and vice versa. And Polly doesn't know a thing.

Here is the "movie in ten minutes." I include the ending and a few spoilers, so if you don't want spoilers, don't watch all the way through. Truthfully, though, it's hard to find a copy of this film online (and it's not really worth all the trouble) so you may just want to watch it. I'm sorry the sound is so bad!

First Scene: The opening scene of the film
Second Scene: Mary learns she has cancer
Third Scene: Brad hires Chris
Fourth Scene: Mary confesses to Brad about the baby - but not about the cancer
Fifth Scene: Mary tries to continue living whatever is left of her life, like attending this New Year's Party. Brad spends a lot of the night dancing with Chris, but rushes to her side when the clock turns twelve - this is telling in his feelings for both women
Sixth Scene: Mary overhears two friends gossiping about her husband's relationship with Chris
Seventh Scene: Mary visits San Francisco to see her father one last time. She asks him about a former classmate whose wife died, and how he is getting along
Eighth Scene:  Mary writes Brad a letter from SF revealing the truth about her cancer, and to please meet her at the station and try not to look "too sad"
Ninth Scene: Mary returns home to find that Brad is not there, and that the letter is unopened. He does not know. He does not come home from dinner, and she gets a call from him that he is sorry he could not come home, while it is revealed to us he is really having dinner with Chris. Mary takes the car and drives like a maniac, but before she can kill herself, she runs out of fuel and a policeman finds her
Tenth Scene: Mary confronts Chris, who admits to her that she has always loved Brad - but she does not want to be a home wrecker and will leave now. Mary tells her not to go, and convinces Chris to stay, as she knows Chris will probably take her place when she dies
Eleventh Scene: Mary gets Polly to spend time with Chris
Twelfth Scene: Brad finds some pills of Mary's, calls the doctor up about it, and discovers the truth about her cancer.
Thirteenth Scene: Brad and Mary take a trip to Mexico like she has always wanted (in the last weeks of her life).
Fourteenth Scene: Chris, who is staying with Polly, gets a call from Mexico. I'm pretty sure it is Brad telling her that Mary has died.
Fifteenth Scene: Final scene.

So, what did I think of this film? I thought it was interesting. I mean, it was overtly dramatic - Mary has cancer, is going to die in six months, won't tell anybody out of the good of her heart, she has a little kid, her husband is cheating on her, but she encourages his mistress to stay... Mary is more a goody two shoes than Olivia de Havilland's Melanie in "Gone with the Wind" - and that's saying a lot! 

Still, the fact that it is so dramatic keeps you on your toes. It is a big showcase for Margaret Sullavan, who, in reality, committed suicide herself at the age of 50 (and, in succession, two of her three kids committed suicide after that), so obviously this film didn't teach her anything about the preciousness of life. It is also a bit of an ominously ironic film for Natalie, who died at the age of forty-three (drowning), with daughters about Polly's age.

It is overly weepy. But it does tug at your heartstrings. You will be upset at Brad for cheating on Mary when she's DYING (even though he doesn't know it... BUT. STILL!), and you'll be sad when Mary dies. (My God, this post is riddled with nasty spoilers... sorry! But I couldn't resist on this). You will feel sorry for naive little Polly, who has no clue about what is really going on in her life with her philandering father and dying mother, and it is left to play the piano with her father's mistress.

I guess my final verdict is I would give it three stars out of five. If you have an empty afternoon and want to keep yourself entertained, this should do the trick. You'll also enjoy this if you are a fan of soap operas - which I, personally, am not. it was fun one time around, but I doubt I'll become an avid collector of "women's dramas"... I guess I watched this mostly for Natalie, who, as Suzanne Finstad (the author of her biography) put it - "This picture was a showcase for stage actress Margaret Sullavan; Natalie was basically a backdrop." And she was. Oh, well.

Thanks for reading, and I'll be back tomorrow with a lookalike contest: which child looks mostly like their (Old Hollywood) celebrity parents? Lol, I can't wait. ;)

I'll leave you with a interesting picture of Michael Jackson and Princess Diana at one of his London concerts for his "Bad" tour... that evening in which he omitted "Dirty Diana" from the lineup, to the Princess's chagrin, who admitted the song was "her favorite of his." 

Ciao!

Rianna Recasts - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Hello everyone,

It's a lazy Saturday afternoon, and I was filled with tons of of new inspirations for Blogging. So I thought I'd Blog a little more - just one more time!

This post is the first of a new series called "Rianna Recasts." In this segment, I take a movie and change the cast of actors to people who I either wished was in the movie, or thought more suitable than the original actors, etc. On occasion, I will perhaps take a book that was never made into a movie and use my imagination to dream up the perfect cast for it - with Old Hollywood actors, of course.

One of my favorite books ever is "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. I just read it this summer, but it is AMAZING. It is basically based on Betty Smith's own growing up experiences in Brooklyn, New York.

It is basically the story of Francie Nolan, from the time of birth to the age of sixteen, and her coming of age in a place she loves but also knows the deep truths of - Brooklyn. Her mother, Katie, is a hardworking woman who loves Francie but can't help but love her brother, Neeley, more. Her father, Johnny, is a good man but a drunk - still, that doesn't stop Francie from loving him with all her heart. There is her Aunt Evy, and Aunt Sissy - a kind, loving woman, though she can be "bad" because she has been with many men.

I'm sorry for such a weak summary -Google it for a better description, perhaps. Anyway, it is a Fantastic book so please read it! Now, back to where we were. There is a 1940's version of the movie, the first directed by Elia Kazan. Unfortunately, i have yet to see it because it is not available on Netflix yet. I believe Dorothy McGuire plays the mother. But anyway, I thought it would be fun to recast.

So here goes.

***

Katie Nolan (Francie's mother)

I thought about this quite a bit, contrasting different actresses for the role of Francie's hardworking, determined, yet pretty mother. Finally, I came to a conclusion some may find strange - Ingrid Bergman. As you probably know, Ingrid is one of my favorite actresses. I wanted to put her into this movie. And the more I thought of it, the better Ingrid seemed for the role of Katie. Katie is German, and Ingrid had some German blood in her, too. I'm not a hundred percent sure on this one, but I know without doubt that Ingrid would have done a fantastic job.

Johnny Nolan (Francie's father)

I thought a lot about this one, too. And perhaps I have come up with an equally strange conclusion (well, picking Ingrid wasn't THAT strange) - Bing Crosby.  Johnny was more than a drunk - he was kind, and loved to sing, and loved his children. More emphasis on "loved to sing". Plus, I always thought that Johnny probably looked a lot like Bing Crosby. I considered Robert Mitchum, actually, for a moment - but came to the conclusion he was a little too gruff for Francie to love so much. Bing also played a drunk in "The Country Girl", so he is well-suited. So, Bing it is - and BESIDES, he was Irish, like Johnny!

Aunt Sissy (Francie's aunt)

I think, with the exception of Francie, maybe, that Sissy was my favorite character in the whole book. She was brash but so kind and wonderful at the same time. She just seemed like a person with a big heart, and a lot of affection to give, though a lot of people took this offensively and labeled her because of her many lovers. So, I found the perfect girl for the role of Sissy in Ava Gardner. I was even more sure when I saw Ava in "Mogambo" last night. Watch the movie, and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, my only restraint was that Sissy is supposed to be Katie's older sister, and that Ava was about ten years younger than Ingrid.  But, who cares, really?

Aunt Evy (Francie's aunt)

This one was pretty hard to cast, too, simply for the reason that I didn't feel Evy's character had that much depth. I mean, I liked her and all, but she seemed a vague character compared to the in depth-ness of every other character. So I finally just landed up on picking Olivia de Havilland. I'm not sure why - I just figured that Olivia LOOKED like an Aunt Evy. And besides, she was such a brilliant actress, she could probably brings of depth to Evy - then again, weren't they all? ;)

Officer McShane (Francie's stepfather)

I wanted to avoid telling you, but I guess it wouldn't be a spoiler, anyway - because if you read the Forward in the beginning of the book, they tell you straight off of Johnny's fate. Anyway, it was pretty easy for me to choose McShane - I wanted someone kind of old, but still likeable. So I chose Gary Cooper - he just seemed like the perfect choice.

Neeley (Francie's brother)

I also had a heard time picking this one. Any actor i considered just seemed too old, or just not right for the part. Then I remembered Dennis Hopper, who played one of the sons in "Giant." This is probably not the sort of movie I would imagine him doing. Plus, I don't know if we'd all be fitting into the right year of filming here (lol). But he could pass for Bing's son, and so I kind of landed up picking him. Yes, I know, I pick strange choices.

Francie

Of course, I thought long and hard about who would play Francie herself! I decided on Elizabeth Taylor. Just picture her in "National Velvet", without all the frilly dresses and with braids in her her hair instead. Would it work? Who knows!

***

Well, there it is. I know some of casting is sort of strange, but then again, I guess I'm sorta strange, too. ;)

Ciao!

Grace's Glasses

A popular fad among the teen crowds these days is a style of dressing labeled "nerd chic." To fully complete this style, one must don a pair of "nerdy" glasses like the one pictured below -

There they are! Even if you didn't know what I meant by using the word "nerdy glasses" you probably recognize what I mean now. 

However, and this is easily forgotten, the first pioneer of the nerd glasses were, believe it or not, Grace Kelly! I was looking at pictures of the "American Princess" and after reading several biographies was amused (and endeared) by the fact that she was indeed, in desperate need of glasses. She never wore them on screen (with the exception of "The Country Girl," of course), but off screen collected them. She could even be seen putting them on at fancy galas to help read a dinner menu.

I was even more charmed when I got a look at the glasses - and found them to be quite identical to the "nerd chic" craze of today! What do you know? Take a look for yourself:

She had been seen with them on more than one occasion -

Spencer likes Grace's glasses, too!

So, like they say, anything new is really old. Like when you put on a pair of oversized glasses, you're really channeling Jackie Kennedy. Well, next time I see someone in a pair of nerd glasses, I'll congratulate them for bringing out their inner Grace - and they'll give me puzzled looks in return. ♥

Reviews By a 10 Year Old Kid (AKA: Rianna embarrasses herself)

Taking a note from a few other bloggers, I have decided to embarrass myself greatly and share with you five little reviews I wrote as a nine or ten year old kid. Please remember that I was nine. I hope you get a good laugh out of it, my lovely little blog readers. I was in a bit of a writer's block today - but tomorrow I can probably produce something more worthy of your time. For now... have a good giggle.

***

Well will start off with Rianna's incredibly embarrassing ten year old child review for "Forever Darling" (1956), with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

"FOREVER DARLING (1956)"

Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz

Ten year old Rianna says -

Even though this movie litrally would've been titled, "Four More Years, Darling", since the love duo of Ball and Arnaz lasted until 1960 only, "Forever, Darling" is sweet and charming. It's a lot like the amazing TV series and "The Long, Long Trailer", but I liked this better than the Long, Long Trailer. Ball and Arnaz play similar characters to their TV show, but slightly different. Arnaz is a scientist this time and Ball is not always botching things up. Susan Vega (Ball) and Larry Vega (Arnaz) were the perfect couple when they were married. But five years later, they are drifting a part. Susan is turning into a clone of her cousin Millie Opdike, and no matter how hard she tries, she can't stop swooning over James Mason at the movies! Larry is almost never at home for dinner nad is constantly eating, breathing, and thinking all about his new pesticide. (Except for that one time when he has a dream about Ava Gardner.....). Then Larry announces that he and Susan will be taking a 2 year field trip to test the pesticide! Susan is furious. After having a fight with Larry, her guardian angel, James Mason, shows up. She has mixed emotions about Mason-first she's scared of him, then angry at him, and then in love with him! But Mason, in his charming voice and attitude, is able to coax Susan into learning more about Larry's work. Susan suddenly, with a burst of inspiration, agrees. She finds the perfect oppertunity to do so when Larry announces he's going on a camping trip for a day to test the pesticide before the 2 year field trip. Nothing can go wrong, can it? But, of course, in it's usual Lucy way, it does! This movie, of course, is perdictible. But Ball and Arnaz's acting, of course, is superb. So what, it's not an Oscar-y movie, but it's still great for Lucy fans. Four stars for pure Desiluness! ~~~~~~~~

What Makes Teenage Rianna Cringe the Most - 

• My usage of the phrase "love duo". UGH! What the bloody L is that supposed to mean? (Yes, I'm  American - but I have habit of using British phrases. Long story... you'll get used to it) This makes me cringe so much I was contemplating not even mentioning it ;)
• The fact that I give away nearly the entire plot, making this review about a thousand pages long. 
• My insane obsession with "~". I guess i thought it looked cool. (?)
• Last but not least, my equally obnoxious use of "Desiluness." Only a true Lucy fan could use a word like THAT. Plus, as much as I love Lucy and Desi, too, it isn't really a four star movie. And "The Long Long Trailer" is much better. But I guess, in my little ten year old brain...

Next to suffer my ten year old wrath is "The Lady Eve" (1941). * shivers *

"THE LADY EVE (1941)"

Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda

Ten year old Rianna says - 

'The Lady Eve' is a fun movie, good for kids ages ten and up. (They will understand the idea more.) The beginning is a little rocky, but soon you will be propelled into the plot as Stanwyck, playing a young daughter of a con-artist tries to ploy into Fonda, a 'geeky' but handsome young man who has just come back from an Amazon tour and "isn't used to seeing women still.” As expected, he is loaded with cash. Stanwyck and her father try to con money out of him by playing casino games, and Stanwyck begins a planned romantic relationship with Fonda. Fonda, easily fooled, plays along and soon Stanwyck finds herself actually in love with the young man! The rest, I will leave to everyone else to find out, but you’ll find a lot of inner-joy and pleasure to watch this movie, and will be very ‘pleased as pink’, as they say, at the nice turnout. I’d give it a 4 and a half stars if I could, but I can’t, so it’s displayed as 4 stars above, but really, I’d give it 4 and a half. Rent this movie as soon as you can! (And try to ignore Stanwyck’s fur coat, please).

What Makes Teenage Rianna Cringe the Most -

• My trying to determine the perfect age group for watchers of "The Lady Eve." Because a 10 year old kid would totally know that, right?
• My use of "inner-joy" and "pleased as pink." 'Nuff said.
• My great indecision and babbling about the film's rating.... that would just make any person annoyed, wouldn't it?
• The "trying to ignore Stanwyck's fur coat, please." I am still totally against fur - I have a chinchilla, after all! - but still... it's just... I don't know. annoying sounding. To me, anyway ;)

Okay, I'll give you just one more. This is for "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" (1947).

"THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY SOXER (1947)"

Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple

Ten year old Rianna says - 

I wasn't surprised that I enjoyed Cary Grant (a la Archibald Leach.....funny) and Myrna Loy's preformances in this movie, but I was surprised that I enjoyed Shirley Temple. I was very much afraid this would be another showcase of her dripping sweet cuteness and silly songs, but thank goodness, I guess growing up helped. Surprisingly, she really DID deserve to be in this movie with these two Hollywood stars and made the best out of it. Temple plays a love-struck teenager who is in love with a man, Grant, that comes to speak at her school. Loy, who plays Temple's older sister, however, finds the man horribly annoying. It's a really cute movie if you're trying to introduce a teenager to classic movies and show that classic movies CAN be cool (and in many situations, cooler than today's movies). It's sweet and what I would call a classic chic flick (You don't need Kate Hudson or designer Prada labels in a movie for it to be a chic flick, or made in the last few years). I enjoyed it; it was really cute, for sure. It will bring you back to the era.....of bobby-soxers! ~ rent this movie!!!!!

What Makes Teenage Rianna Cringe the Most -

• My use of "dripping sweet cuteness and silly songs" - it just doesn't make sense. I mean, as much as I am not a big Shirley fan, she was a teenager by now, so really, what was I expecting?
• The whole business about me blabbering away about using this movie to introduce classics to teenagers - in spite of the fact I wasn't yet a teenager myself. I mean, yeah, it's a good movie. But still, I'm just blabbering too much.
• My spelling of chick flick as "chic flick." Good God! 
• "back to the era.........of bobby soxers!" follow by yet another "~" and more !!!!!!

***

Well, I don't know about you, but I've finished embarrassing myself at the present moment. Oh, who knows? I may embarrass myself like this some more another day. But for today, I'm finished.

Before I leave you, yesterday I went to the bookstore and got two books - "Diana at 50" by Life magazine (it's got tons of great pictures... more on that later) and "Desilu", which i am not sure why I didn't get it earlier! It's got some great pictures of Lucy and Desi inside, and the following is one of my favorite. I scanned it for you. It's so awesome/and lovely. I love the pictures of them as children on the wall with the plaques underneath that read "Our President" and "Our Vice President." (They mean President and Vice-President of Desilu, of course).

 

Happy 73rd Birthday, Natalie Wood!

Bonjour!

You probably know by now that Natalie Wood is one of my favorite actresses. Or, even if you didn't know, you know now, don't you? And that's what matters!

If Natalie had not drowned in 1981 (at the age of 43) she would have turned 73 on today, July 20th. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to look back one the life one of my favorite movie stars.

Biography

Natalie Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko to Maria and Nicholas Zakharenko on July 20th, 1939, in San Francisco, California. She was named "Natalia" was picked out by her godmother, who apparently chose it after a pretty blond relative in China. "Nikolaevna" (a la the Romanov children) means "daughter of Nicholas" in Russia. However, it was not long before her father changed their last names to "Gurdin", a name he figured would be easier for Americans to pronounce. And they all called her "Natasha." She got work as a child actress, her best known movie likely "Miracle on 34th Street." The movie that helped her "grow up" and brought her to fame was as Judy in "Rebel Without a Cause," alongside James Dean and Sal Mineo, and directed by the notorious Nick Ray. After this, Natalie shot to stardom. In the next years, she was nominated for an Oscar in "Splendor in the Grass" and "Love With the Proper Stranger" (unfortunately, she did not win for either) and imortalized herself in one of the best musicals of all time, "West Side Story." In her personal life, she married Robert Wagner at the age of nineteen but divorced in 1962. She remarried to a Richard Gregson in 1969, from which she had her first child, a daughter, named Natasha. They divorced in 1971, and once again she returned to Wagner. Her third and final marriage took place on his yacht in 1972. She changed Natasha's name to Natasha Gregson Wagner and had her second and final child, another daughter, named Courtney in 1974. All her life, Natalie had feared dark waters and was scarred by a childhood accident in which she almost drowned. On November 29th, 1981, Natalie, Robert, and her new co-star, Christopher Walken, were boating on the Wagners' yacht, "The Splendour" (named after her 1961 film with Warren Beatty). The three of them had been intoxicated. For reasons that no one can fully explain, Natalie slipped off the boat that night. It took Wagner three hours to inform the Coast Guard that his wife was missing. They found her body floating off the coast of Santa Catalina Island the next morning - drowned from the waters she'd feared all her life.

That's just a very brief biography of Natalie's life. There is so much more to her story - from her stage mom mother to her personal struggles to her "kismet" death. Unfortunately, very few biographers have wandered into the "Natalie Wood" category - but there is at least one well done and authorized biography of her... "Natasha" by Suzanne Finstad. I strongly suggest you read it to learn more about Natalie's life. It as an excellent read - one of the best bios I've ever read.

For more info on buying "Natasha" go here: http://www.amazon.com/Natasha-Biography-Natalie-Suzanne-Finstad/dp/0609809571/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311126566&sr=8-1

Some Trivia 

• Vivien Leigh was her favorite actress ever since she had seen her in "A Streetcar Named Desire" as a little girl
• She apparently cooked great Spanish eggs
• Once told Robert Redford that, as as a child star, when she was required to cry for a part but couldn't squeeze the tears out, her mother would snap a butterfly in two before her and remind her of a pet dog that had been run over right before a young Natalie's eyes

Here's some of my favorite Natalie pics:

This reminds me a lot of the one on my site header. I adore it - it's so 60's!

There is a scene in "Miracle on 34th Street" in which she is teaching Kris Kringle how to blow bubbles with gum. Here she does it so many years later on the set of "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice." I <3 this one, too!

She looks so fashionable here! I love her bracelets! Unfortunately, her love for chunky jewelry has a sad meaning... on the set of "The Green Promise" in the 1940's, she nearly drowned in a water accident on set. Her left wrist was broken, but her mother never took her to the doctor, afraid of being blacklisted. It grew back deformed - and Natalie used to cover it up with thick bracelets.

Finally, I've made one of my very first videos for what I'm planning to call "Frankly My Dear TV"! I didn't have much time to make this, so I'm not completely satisfied with the outcome, but I still did put work into it and so I hope you enjoy it. I do not own the song or the clips. It sticks at points, and for that I apologize, but there's Windows Live Movie Maker for you! The song is "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper (I thought I'd do something kind of fun for Natalie's 73rd, lol) and the clips are from "Gypsy" (1962), "West Side Story" (1961), "Sex and the Single Girl" (1964), and "This Property is Condemned" (1966)... well, enjoy!

Well, there it is. I hope you enjoyed this Birthday Blog to Natalie - who, in all fairness, should still have been with us today. Don't you think? And I encourage you, since today is her birthday, to watch some of her films! TCM will be showing her movies most of the day, including some rare movies from her childhood, so you can catch her there.

By the way - since I'm here, on the topic of birthdays and July birthdays in particular, I'd like to make a quick birthday shoutout to my friend Jovanna who also celebrates her birthday this week... Happy Birthday!!

Ciao!