Happy Halloween!!!

SHMWAHAHAHAHAHAH!

When the usual load of halloween horror films hit the screens, I would be much more likely to be found curling up in bed with something like Bringing Up Baby (1938) to take away the scariness. I love thrillers and have quite a penchant for non-gruesome scary films but when things start getting to chopping off heads, or serial killers with graphic murder resumes, I find I'm much better off behind my sofa. But come halloween I try at least to go in for a little of the scary nonsense... But mainly Hitchcock thrillers. Here are some of my favourite halloween movies. "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!", "The Telltale Heart" and House On Haunted Hill (only a B-Picture, but it has Vincent price, and it's fun!). I've embedded the latter two in full, but for "The Great Pumpkin" there are only clips.

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

{Found here}

The Telltale Heart, a surrealist animation of the classic horror story by Edgar Allan Poe narrated by James Mason,

and House On Haunted Hill (1959) starring Vincent Price.

An eccentric millionaire invites some of his colleagues to stay overnight at his mansion. If they survive they will receive $10,000... But will they survive?

Both are available in full on Youtube, so I thought it might be fun for you to take a look... If you dare... MWAHAHAHAHAH!!! (do you think I should stop the evil laugh? didn't think so... MWAHAHA! Sorry ;-D)

~Bette

A Star Is Born!

Happy birthday Lauren Bacall!!! Her birthday was yesterday and she is 86. That is pretty awsomesauce and snazzy. To be 86 i mean. She must be so wise...

I have to admit that I have only seen one of her movies (The Man With A Horn) but she was married to Bogie, and that puts her way up in my books ;D.  But this post is really about A Star Is Born so I better get back to that.

I watched this film quite a while ago. Maybe about 2 months ago, but I can still remember it very strongly. Its not the kind of film you can forget very easily. The film starts with some sort of Hollywood gala, and the main appearance is supposed to be that of Norman Maine (James Mason), a famous film-star who's carreer is in decline. He apppears on stage while Esther Blodget (Judy Garland) is singing, and he is obviously intoxicated. She turns the awkward situation into a comical but sophisticated entrance for Norman. He thanks her and draws a heart on the backstage wall with her lipstick. He then goes to see her sing The Man That Got Away after hours at a club in Hollywood. He recognises her talent and makes her quit her band and make a carreer in movies. He mentions her name to the studios but on the day she arrives he has been taken to a location for fiming a new "comeback film" and she assumes he was just flirting with her. After a series of unpredictable events, he hears her singing on a TV commercial and the proccess starts all over agian, except this time she gets a job with his studio. The studio changes her name to Vicki Lester, and she makes a big success in a musical where she performs songs such as I Was Born In A Trunk. Norman and Esther marry and live very happily together for a while. But as her carreer soars, his declines even more. Can their mariage survive?

*Weep weep* Even as I *blow nose* watch I Was Born In A Trunk, I remember everything *sob* that happens and I just can't bear it!!!!! I dont want to spoil the story for you all, but after half-way through the film, every time James Mason walks into view I sob. Judy's performance is just beyond words. She is so sensitive, and in some scenes it is like it's her story that she is acting, not Esther Blodgett's. The direction is that of George Cukor of Gaslight, Gone With The Wind, and The Philidelphia Story, and it is pretty fantabiedoobie directing. Just to let you know, that I will know if someone is worthy of being my friend, if they draw a heart on a wall with MY lipsick! That is a pretty cool thing to do. Almost as cool as Paul Henried lighting 2 cigarettes in Now Voyager.

Judy in Meet Me In St. Louis

I wanted to tell you that there will be no more posts until Tuesday/Wednesday (this is supposed to be the bit where you are all sobbing at your computers) because I am staying at a friend's house because my parents are going away for a few days on Sunday.

~Bette

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)

North by Northwest (1959). Suspense. Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. Screenplay: Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures". North by Northwest is a tale of mistaken identity, with an innocent man chased across the United States by agents who want to stop his interference in their plans to smuggle out microfilm holding government secrets. Hitchcock, used this technique in many of his films. This is one of several Hitchcock movies with a music score by Bernard Herrmann and features amazing opening sequence by graphic designer Saul Bass.

There are so many wonderful blogs written about the movie North by Northwest, instead of a review. I will write about what I thought was interesting about the film.

Hitchcock worked on the movie script North by Northwest for nine years. He wanted a change of pace after directing Vertigo. Hitchcock said that he wanted to do something fun, light-hearted, and free of symbolism.

There are similarities between this movie and Hitchcock's film Saboteur (1942), whose final scene on top the Statue of Liberty foreshadows the Mount Rushmore scene in the film. In fact, North by Northwest can be seen as the last in a long line of "wrong man" films that Hitchcock made according to the pattern he started in The 39 Steps (1935).

North by Northwest has been referred to as "the first James Bond film" because of its similarities with amazing settings and secret agents. Hitchcock was considered to direct the first Bond film. Hitchcock read the script Thunderball and was interested in directing it. Xanadu Productions had doubts about the amount of control over the picture they would have. Hitchcock passed on the Bond film to direct Psycho.

MGM wanted Alfred Hitchcock to cast Cyd Charisse for the part of Eve Kendall, but Hitchcock insisted upon Eva Marie Saint.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST MOVIE TRAILER.
One of my favorite things in a Hitchcock film is: (spoiler alert) the Director Cameo: Hitchcock arrives at a bus stop (during the opening credits) but gets there too late and the door is closed in his face. He misses the bus.