Merry Xmas! [Part 1]: A Classic Hollywood Christmas

Okay, if you read my post for the Bogie blogathon earlier today, you'll know how I screwed up the blogging schedule I've quite carefully figured out for this week (with two blogathons, several birthdays, and CHRISTMAS). I really wanted to follow up with the post I'd planned for today, Christmas Eve, so I'm going to go ahead and write it anyway, despite the fact I'll be showing up twice in your feed today (at least, in my time zone). Apologies once more (I don't like to overhaul people with posts, lol).

All December I have been spotlighting my favorite Christmas films as a part of my Sunday Movie Review. Tomorrow is a Sunday, and is also happens to be Christmas Day, and therefore I'll be following up with my little Christmas blogathon by reviewing my favorite Christmas movie of all time.

However, in pledging myself to do this I realized I'd be missing out on some of the other Classic Hollywood/Christmas stuff there is to talk about, and so I decided to do a two part post. This is the first part, and the second part will be tomorrow, which will consist of my movie review.

For this first part I present to you all a list of ten random, Classic Hollywood Christmas things I felt compelled to share with you all.

10 Things That are Classic Hollywood and Christmas

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AVA

Ava and one of her pet corgis wishing you a merry Christmas! Ava is one of my favorite actresses and I like her despite her faults because over all, she was still an awesome person. And she had good values about particular things, like she was ahead of her time when it came to racism: she didn't believe in it. But anyway, the point is that today, Christmas Eve, is her birthday! I read in her biography that it was a ritual on the 24th for two cakes to be baked: one chocolate and one coconut. One was supposed to be for the baby Jesus and the other for her but she always thought of them both for her. Anyway, any person born on Christmas Eve must be awesome, and Ava was. Happy birthday, Ava!

2. I LOVE LUCY: CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

I'm sorry, I could only find the colorized version (yuck!) on Youtube. However, this is a flashback episode and the flashbacks are still in B&W, I believe. Anyhow, try to ignore the colorization and enjoy this. It's a "walk down memory lane" episode for the Ricardos and Mertzes, and it takes place on Christmas Eve so I guess it's particularly appropriate for today. This episode isn't run in syndication with all the others, so if you watch Lucy on TV (versus online or on DVD) you might haven't gotten the chance to see this yet.

3. THE DONNA REED SHOW: A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

I just watched this the other day, I'd never seen an episode of the Donna Reed Show before. I liked and it so I'm sharing it! It was a little mushy but mush never hurts anyone in the holiday season [expect perhaps the Grinch and Scrooge]. Plus, this show's got Donna Reed, who should be the queen of holiday mush as she starred in The Best Christmas Movie of All Time (can you just guess what movie I'll be talking about tomorrow). I like her a lot, I think she's an underrated actress. (Donna Reed, I mean.)

4. GREER AND AN ADORABLE LITTLE BOY WISH YOU HAPPY HOLIDAYS

[via]

I would SO much rather get this in my mailbox instead of the usual tacky Christmas cards (just saying). The GIF (which isn't mine, you know where to click, yep, that's right, the "via" link, because that Tumblr is pretty awesome) is from "Blossoms in the Dust". (A Greer and Walter movie, I saw it but never did a review of it. It's good, though, so watch it! Albeit, not a Christmas film, it only has a Christmas scene in it, just so you know.)

5.  CHRISTMAS PIN-UPS

So many awesome Classic Hollywood Christmas related pin-ups! This is a handful of so many. From left to right: Paulette Goddard opening presents, Elizabeth Taylor showing off her kitten and wishing us a happy holiday, Mary Pickford changing the street sign from "Hollywood" to "Santa Claus Lane", Ginger Rogers fooling around with the Christmas tree, Doris Day boasting the presents she's got, Carole Lombard admiring her presents, Natalie Wood smiling through her adorned wreath, Audrey Hepburn hugging Santa Claus, and Lucy and Desi bashfully exchanging gifts with one another. :) 

6. CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST


"The Little Drummer Boy" by Bing Crosby

"Silent Night" by Lena Horne 

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Doris Day

"We Three Kings (of Orient are)" by Ella Fitzgerald

Some Christmas carols I love. I know I've been adding a Christmas carol with each movie review, but these are a few that I like that I didn't get the chance to share!

7. SUSPENSE RADIO: TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

"Twas the night before Christmas..." Christmas Eve with a mysterious twist! Greer Garson stars in this Suspense Radio Theater production that was broadcast on December 21st, 1953. A suspenseful take

on one of the most cheerful holidays of the year! 

8.  I ♥ ASTA ORNAMENT

I made this myself. Honestly, who WOULDN'T want this ornament. Seriously,  if this were a real item it would totally have been in my holiday gift guide. Because who DOESN'T love Asta, I tell you. [Lassie?? Pfffhtttt].

9. LUCY: SANTA LUCIA

"I squinted up into the blazing sun and saw a figure hovering over me dressed all in black with a Santa mask and beard and rolled up orange hair. "Santa Lucia!" I cried out."

- I LOVED LUCY by Lee Tannen

* did you ever see a more beautiful Santa? *

10.  THE MOVIES I MISSED

I decided to share with you my favorite Christmas films this December, and I only had four Sundays, which meant only four movies. I had to leave out a few that I love. Here are clips from them --

THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940)

Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan 

THE THIN MAN (1934)

Myrna Loy, William Powell

HOLIDAY (1938) [New Years]

Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant 

***

The second part of this post will be up tomorrow [the movie review]. Now, I'm off to enjoy "It's a Wonderful Life" (I always watch it on Christmas Eve! ;D).

But in advance: Merry Merry Christmas, my readers - or whatever holiday you're celebrating this time of year!

Sunday Movie Review: "High Society" (1956)

Boy, have I had a busy weekend!!!

And because of that, I have been (sniffles) unable to watch a movie this weekend. :( I know, I get really sad too when I don't get to watch a classic movie over the weekend, because, you know, when I'm watching one of those I'm at some of my very happiest.

HOWEVER, I still have a movie review for today. Though it's going to be extremely short, and so let me explain a new set of rules I'm going to apply to the Sunday Movie Review.

1. We can refer to it as "SMR" - is that a clever acronym or what? (Yeah, I'm being sarcastic).
2. Now here's the more important part: so something I realize is that my reviews are short to begin with, but if I have not just seen the film the past couple of days, I stumble over my words and use too many photos and overall the review tends to be extremely short and choppy for me. I don't like producing work that falls short of what I want to do, so...

So, now when I go ahead and admit to you "Dahhlings, I didn't watch a movie this weekend", I'll label that SMR a short review. Basically, I take a review from my Netflix reviewing history and paste it into here. Since Netflix doesn't give you all the space in the world to you know, write reviews, these reviews will just be, well, short. 

I will try and not do this often, only on the weekends when I do not get the opportunity to watch a movie and have to pull something from my movie past.

As for this first SMR short review, I'll start with one of the longer short reviews I could dig up. The movie is "High Society".

Also, you may notice I have tweaked my format for these movie reviews slightly - this will apply to all of my SMRs. I have decided to make it a little more organized and neater, which hopefully make the over all review seem more.. polished?? Any feedback on this is greatly appreciated. 

***

The poster: I like it. Simple, perhaps, but fun and it's cute :)

The plot:

In this musical reworking of The Philadelphia Story, Newport blueblood Bing Crosby tries to win back his ex-wife, "ice goddess" Grace Kelly, while Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm (reporters for Snoop Magazine) gum up the works. Cole Porter wrote the score (which includes the Oscar-winning song "True Love"), and Louis Armstrong and his band are on hand to syncopate all the shenanigans. [from Netflix]

The starring players:

• Grace Kelly as Tracy "Samantha" Lord
• Bing Crosby as C.K Dexter-Haven
• Frank Sinatra as Mike Connor
• Celeste Holm as Liz Imbrie
• Louis Armstrong as himself

The verdict:

3/5

***

This film had a lot of things going for it for me. 1) the lovely soon-to-be-Princess-of-Monaco, Grace Kelly, 2) the supporting talents of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Celeste Holm, 3) the sophisticated setting of Newport high society, and 4) brilliantly bright Technicolor filming. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The original "Philadelphia Story" is one of my favorite films and I wanted to see what they would do with it. They use some of the same dialogue, except they throw in awful bits and pieces - "I want you to marry me not because I'm worthy, but because I'm unworthy," (?) Grace insists - and string in some songs. If you are a music enthusiast, you'll probably be excited to hear Crosby and Sinatra, the two greatest crooners of all time, sing together but trust me, it's not as fun as it seems. Grace is sophisticated and wears some gorgeous outfits, but as lovely as she is she is not enough to save this film. At an hour forty minutes, it dragged on for what seemed like an eternity. It was a sticky and as slow as molasses when it came to the point where we began fast forwarding it. If I despise it so much, you wonder, why do I bother to give it 3 stars?? Grace, Bing, Frank, and Celeste deserve some sort of a cheer for forcing themselves through this. It gets some brownie points for sophistication. Perhaps if I had never seen Philadelphia Story (gasp!), I could bring myself to like it more. But I was raised on that movie, and this is hodgepodge in front of it, I'm afraid. Watch the original instead and you'll have a lot better time.

The bottom line:

Though I liked particular elements of this film (the star studded cast, the beautiful clothes worn by Grace, and the "high society" setting), I just could not like the whole thing very much. Everyone makes a good effort, and the intentions are good, but as a great lover of "The Philadelphia Story", it was not very easy for me to love this movie. If you have a hardcore musical lover and perhaps not a big fan of the original, you may like it, but each to their own, I suppose! Three out of five stars.

Some photos:

Some trivia:

• The first choice for Tracy Lord was Elizabeth Taylor, but she was unavailable so it was given to Grace. It would be her last feature film before leaving Hollywood to become Princess of Monaco.
• Tracy Lord's engagement ring in the film was in reality the ring given to Grace by her real life fiance, Prince Rainier of Monaco.
• Features the song "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?", which is where the TV quiz show of the same name would get it's title.

A movie tidbit:

***

There it is, my first SMR in it's newly revamped edition. I like the structure myself - hopefully it'll be better for you readers and I must admit, it was a lot easier for me to put together, as well. Oh, and my first "short review", too. Hopefully they won't be that frequent.. .but it wasn't that bad, was it? :) 

By the way, I found this on Tumblr the other day and decided to share it... if I could choose which place and year I could live in, this would probably be one of my very top choices:

New York in the late 1930's. ;) Isn't it glorious?

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!