The Lost Weekend is largely a cautionary tale about the dangers of alcoholism. We follow our main character, Don, in his desperate quest to find more whiskey, all while dodging his well-meaning brother and girlfriend's attempts to help him. This description makes it sound more gripping than it is. What it really is is hard to watch, the entire spectacle is so pitiful. You feel so desperately sorry for everyone involved (as you're meant to).
What struck me partway through the movie as I listened to Don describe how he turned to the bottle was that, at least in my armchair psychologist's opinion, what was really going on was that he had what we would call today severe anxiety, and was using alcohol to manage it. As a young man he was told he had talent as a writer, and he couldn't take the internal pressure to produce something great so to silence that little voice that told him he was going to fail he began drinking. I think we've all heard that little voice sometimes and have varying degrees of success in telling it to go fuck itself. In that was Don was very relateable even to someone who hasn't been impacted by alcoholism.
I'm going to refer to the particular run of music that played whenever Don felt the urge to drink "The Call of the Bottle." It got more insistent and more annoying the longer he went without a drink, and it reminded me of the screeching anxious violin theme from Psycho. Certainly it made its metaphorical point, if a bit overstated at times. Don't watch this movie with a headache--this score will definitely not improve it.
Propaganda? Yes. Nicely put together propaganda? Absolutely. It's not anti-alcohol per se, it's more about alcoholism, and it is well shot and well acted. It's just not exactly casual viewing. I felt like I was in an episode of Scared Straight that wasn't directed at me. I could appreciate what went into putting it together knowing that I was not the target audience. It says something about how rampant alcoholism must have been in the 1940s if this won 1945's Best Picture over more feel-good pieces like The Bells of St. Mary's.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Best Picture #17 Review: Going My Way (1944)
Going My Way was kind of like the forerunner of both Mary Poppins and Sister Act. It was a pleasant, humorous and uplifting story, about as different from Casablanca as it's possible to be.
Father O'Malley (portrayed by famous crooner Bing Crosby, one of the few people primarily known for their singing I've ever seen who can also act) is a young priest sent to the ailing parish of St. Dominic's in New York City. Its indomitable leader is Father Fitzgibbon, who at first resents this "progressive" new intruder who sweeps in and in his unassuming way seems to make friends with everybody. Crosby's character is of course very musically inclined, which gives myriad excuses for him and various other characters to sing periodically--unlike Broadway-style musicals, however, the musical numbers are incorporated into the plot rather than being interludes where everybody then has to pretend they hadn't randomly burst into song ten seconds earlier. So for example Crosby meets a young aspiring singer and to determine her skill the two sit down to the piano. He also starts a church choir made up of the local gang of hoodlums by explaining everything to them in baseball terms, and them singing songs he composes eventually raises the money to save the parish. (The dude is supernaturally good at everything. And I mean everything, including, for some reason, golf. I guess that's what angels do when they're bored in heaven. The movie only obliquely implies that's what he is, but that was my take on him.) Eventually he is called away to help another parish, leaving everyone happier in his wake.
As I understand it there is a sequel titled The Bells of St. Mary's (nominated for Best Picture in 1945), which is slightly better known today because it's mentioned in the perennial holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life (nominated in 1946). Apparently in the mid-40s there was a cinematic universe of feel-good Christmas movies. It is interestingly coincidental that we are hitting it in December in our journey through the Oscars.
Watched: December 9, 2017
Father O'Malley (portrayed by famous crooner Bing Crosby, one of the few people primarily known for their singing I've ever seen who can also act) is a young priest sent to the ailing parish of St. Dominic's in New York City. Its indomitable leader is Father Fitzgibbon, who at first resents this "progressive" new intruder who sweeps in and in his unassuming way seems to make friends with everybody. Crosby's character is of course very musically inclined, which gives myriad excuses for him and various other characters to sing periodically--unlike Broadway-style musicals, however, the musical numbers are incorporated into the plot rather than being interludes where everybody then has to pretend they hadn't randomly burst into song ten seconds earlier. So for example Crosby meets a young aspiring singer and to determine her skill the two sit down to the piano. He also starts a church choir made up of the local gang of hoodlums by explaining everything to them in baseball terms, and them singing songs he composes eventually raises the money to save the parish. (The dude is supernaturally good at everything. And I mean everything, including, for some reason, golf. I guess that's what angels do when they're bored in heaven. The movie only obliquely implies that's what he is, but that was my take on him.) Eventually he is called away to help another parish, leaving everyone happier in his wake.
As I understand it there is a sequel titled The Bells of St. Mary's (nominated for Best Picture in 1945), which is slightly better known today because it's mentioned in the perennial holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life (nominated in 1946). Apparently in the mid-40s there was a cinematic universe of feel-good Christmas movies. It is interestingly coincidental that we are hitting it in December in our journey through the Oscars.
Watched: December 9, 2017
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
The Devil & the Lily Available
My second novel, The Devil & the Lily: A Retelling of the Fairy Tale 'Bearskin' is available for purchase via Amazon starting today! Just the ebook is available right now, but stay tuned for the physical book. Click below to buy it!
The Devil & the Lily
Never heard of Bearskin? It's an obscure Grimm Brothers fairy tale. I went for a deep cut this time around, but I've loved the story ever since I came across it and I am very pleased with the results of my retelling. You can read an annotated version of the original story on the Sur La Lune Fairytales website.
This is also a sequel to Poppies & Roses in that it's set in the same universe, though it is a standalone story and you don't have to have read the first book to enjoy this one. Some characters from Poppies make cameos, but unless you've read the first book they blend into the background.
The Devil & the Lily
Never heard of Bearskin? It's an obscure Grimm Brothers fairy tale. I went for a deep cut this time around, but I've loved the story ever since I came across it and I am very pleased with the results of my retelling. You can read an annotated version of the original story on the Sur La Lune Fairytales website.
This is also a sequel to Poppies & Roses in that it's set in the same universe, though it is a standalone story and you don't have to have read the first book to enjoy this one. Some characters from Poppies make cameos, but unless you've read the first book they blend into the background.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Best Picture #16 Review: Casablanca (1943)
The best word I can think of to describe Casablanca is "complicated." Not in a bad way, like, it wasn't too complicated to follow, but everything about the situation and the characters is very nuanced and complex. Nobody fits perfectly into a box and their personalities are all shaded with gray.
I don't really need to describe the plot to you, do I? Jaded nightclub owner bumps into old flame and discovers they never really knew each other all that well but that made no difference to their feelings, which are quickly rekindled. Ultimately, he has to make a choice: let her go with another man or escape Casablanca with her himself. Of course there's a lot more to it than that but it's the best I can do without going into every detail and we'll be here until next Tuesday.
One of the things I think this movie does well is capture what it was like for a lot of people to be in WWII. Survival and principles were constantly warring, and making a choice with your heart instead of becoming cynical and suspicious about everything could easily cost you your life. Each of the major characters here are shown having to walk the fine line between self-preservation and making a moral choice, and where they fall on the spectrum depends on what they decide they can ultimately live with versus what might be worth dying for.
A surprise for us given this movie's reputation as one of the Top Movies to See Before You Die was the quality of the acting. At times it was stilted and stiff, and the actors, especially Bogart as Rick and Bergman as Ilsa, wavered between feeling like real people and obviously Acting For the Camera.
Ultimately one of the superior Best Pictures we've seen thus far movie-wise, no question, but not one we're likely to return to now that we've seen it once.
Watched: December 2, 2017
I don't really need to describe the plot to you, do I? Jaded nightclub owner bumps into old flame and discovers they never really knew each other all that well but that made no difference to their feelings, which are quickly rekindled. Ultimately, he has to make a choice: let her go with another man or escape Casablanca with her himself. Of course there's a lot more to it than that but it's the best I can do without going into every detail and we'll be here until next Tuesday.
One of the things I think this movie does well is capture what it was like for a lot of people to be in WWII. Survival and principles were constantly warring, and making a choice with your heart instead of becoming cynical and suspicious about everything could easily cost you your life. Each of the major characters here are shown having to walk the fine line between self-preservation and making a moral choice, and where they fall on the spectrum depends on what they decide they can ultimately live with versus what might be worth dying for.
A surprise for us given this movie's reputation as one of the Top Movies to See Before You Die was the quality of the acting. At times it was stilted and stiff, and the actors, especially Bogart as Rick and Bergman as Ilsa, wavered between feeling like real people and obviously Acting For the Camera.
Ultimately one of the superior Best Pictures we've seen thus far movie-wise, no question, but not one we're likely to return to now that we've seen it once.
Watched: December 2, 2017
Friday, March 15, 2019
Poppies & Roses On Sale!
From today until 3/22/2019, the ebook of Poppies & Roses is only $0.99! Pick up your copy before the release of The Devil & the Lily on Tuesday!
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Best Picture #15 Review: Mrs. Miniver (1942)
If anyone ever asks you what the phrase "Keep calm and carry on" really means as it was originally intended, show them Mrs. Miniver. It might as well be the slogan of this movie.
Made in 1942 and set in 1939 and 1940, the plot centers around an upper middle class English family living in the English countryside just outside London. It first shows a glimpse of their lives just before WWII breaks out. The husband is a successful architect, the titular Mrs. Miniver a cheerful housewife. They have three children and a few servants, and live in a beautiful house. Their oldest son comes home from college for a visit, spouting philosophy as only the young and idealistic can. He meets and is smitten with the sweet, lively granddaughter of the local lady of the manor. The lady herself reminded me of the Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey: old-fashioned but always ready with a cutting quip and not so unbendable as she first appears.
The war begins and very quickly everything changes. The Minivers' son joins the Air Force and begins hasty training to combat German bombers, which very soon begin to drone overhead and wreck havoc. Blackout curtains hang everywhere and the family digs a bomb shelter out back, to which they are forced to frequently retreat. Mr. Miniver is called out with other civilian boat owners to assist with the retreat at Dunkirk and does not return for days. During this time, a downed German fighter pilot who had thus far evaded capture invades the Miniver home and threatens Mrs. Miniver at gunpoint. She bravely waits until he faints from his injuries, takes his gun and calls the police. When he wakes, he rants about how the Germans will soon own the world while she listens in mute horror. Once he is taken away, Mr. Miniver returns home, as does their son. He marries his sweetheart, but she is quickly killed in a bombing raid, along with many others in the village, and the family's home is partially destroyed while they cower in their bomb shelter. Through it all, Mrs. Miniver keeps the proverbial stiff upper lip. She remains as cheerful as she can and stoically makes the best of everything with a smile plastered on her face. Sometimes it's even genuine.
The tragic irony of the war coming home for the Brits is of course made manifest in the death of the son's wife: she is killed by machine gun fire while her husband, the Air Force pilot, lives to come home. In our Oscar movies about the previous war, it was all of the young men who went off to inevitably die in the trenches or in aerial dogfights. No one is safe in this war, and all the British people can do is Keep Calm and Carry On, as the pastor giving his eulogy for the wife and the others in the village killed in the bombing raid makes abundantly clear as he stands in the ruins of the church. They are all at war, not just the soldiers, and if they all do not fight, they are lost. A convenient plea to the watching American audience to buy war bonds immediately follows the list of the movie's cast, which, I admit, left me with the impression that the entire movie was nothing but an extra-long, very well-made ad for the war effort.
It is interesting to think about the impact of this movie, since when it was made the outcome of the war was far from certain. Indeed, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union stood poised to own a good chunk of the globe and the Allies were only beginning to make any headway in fighting back.The Battle of Midway, the first big American victory in the Pacific, took place the very day this movie was released to theaters. The Blitz and Pearl Harbor were recent, very raw, memories. The invasion of Normandy was exactly two years away. This movie was very timely and very needed to keep up everyone's morale, knowing this was going to be a long, bloody global war in which civilians in Europe and Asia would be in as much danger as active troops. It was a reminder to try to cling to normalcy as much as possible and to remember the good in life in the face of that danger. For that alone, I can see why it won the Oscar.
Watched: November 25, 2017
Made in 1942 and set in 1939 and 1940, the plot centers around an upper middle class English family living in the English countryside just outside London. It first shows a glimpse of their lives just before WWII breaks out. The husband is a successful architect, the titular Mrs. Miniver a cheerful housewife. They have three children and a few servants, and live in a beautiful house. Their oldest son comes home from college for a visit, spouting philosophy as only the young and idealistic can. He meets and is smitten with the sweet, lively granddaughter of the local lady of the manor. The lady herself reminded me of the Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey: old-fashioned but always ready with a cutting quip and not so unbendable as she first appears.
The war begins and very quickly everything changes. The Minivers' son joins the Air Force and begins hasty training to combat German bombers, which very soon begin to drone overhead and wreck havoc. Blackout curtains hang everywhere and the family digs a bomb shelter out back, to which they are forced to frequently retreat. Mr. Miniver is called out with other civilian boat owners to assist with the retreat at Dunkirk and does not return for days. During this time, a downed German fighter pilot who had thus far evaded capture invades the Miniver home and threatens Mrs. Miniver at gunpoint. She bravely waits until he faints from his injuries, takes his gun and calls the police. When he wakes, he rants about how the Germans will soon own the world while she listens in mute horror. Once he is taken away, Mr. Miniver returns home, as does their son. He marries his sweetheart, but she is quickly killed in a bombing raid, along with many others in the village, and the family's home is partially destroyed while they cower in their bomb shelter. Through it all, Mrs. Miniver keeps the proverbial stiff upper lip. She remains as cheerful as she can and stoically makes the best of everything with a smile plastered on her face. Sometimes it's even genuine.
The tragic irony of the war coming home for the Brits is of course made manifest in the death of the son's wife: she is killed by machine gun fire while her husband, the Air Force pilot, lives to come home. In our Oscar movies about the previous war, it was all of the young men who went off to inevitably die in the trenches or in aerial dogfights. No one is safe in this war, and all the British people can do is Keep Calm and Carry On, as the pastor giving his eulogy for the wife and the others in the village killed in the bombing raid makes abundantly clear as he stands in the ruins of the church. They are all at war, not just the soldiers, and if they all do not fight, they are lost. A convenient plea to the watching American audience to buy war bonds immediately follows the list of the movie's cast, which, I admit, left me with the impression that the entire movie was nothing but an extra-long, very well-made ad for the war effort.
It is interesting to think about the impact of this movie, since when it was made the outcome of the war was far from certain. Indeed, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union stood poised to own a good chunk of the globe and the Allies were only beginning to make any headway in fighting back.The Battle of Midway, the first big American victory in the Pacific, took place the very day this movie was released to theaters. The Blitz and Pearl Harbor were recent, very raw, memories. The invasion of Normandy was exactly two years away. This movie was very timely and very needed to keep up everyone's morale, knowing this was going to be a long, bloody global war in which civilians in Europe and Asia would be in as much danger as active troops. It was a reminder to try to cling to normalcy as much as possible and to remember the good in life in the face of that danger. For that alone, I can see why it won the Oscar.
Watched: November 25, 2017
Friday, March 8, 2019
Preorder for The Devil & the Lily
Follow this link to preorder Hedgewitches' Tales book 2, The Devil & the Lily!
Best Picture #14 Review: How Green Was My Valley (1941)
This was definitely one of the duller Best Pictures we've watched so far, though it was not insufferable. It's basically a nostalgia piece about a Welsh coal mining valley with a man looking back on his idyllic childhood there and the gradual end of his innocence. We get to watch as life in the valley for the boy (Roddy McDowall) and his family slowly slide from happy to intolerable, and it was really hard to care. The most engaging scene was when the local boxing talent goes to the boy's school and beats the shit out of the teacher because he was excessively punishing the students. But it also shows what passes for excitement compared to the rest of the movie. It simply isn't very attention-holding.
It is an interesting note that this movie beat Citizen Kane for Best Picture. Certainly Citizen Kane has had a more lasting cultural impact, though its quality to anyone but film students is, I believe, open for debate.
This is an early role for child actor Roddy McDowall, who went on to star in films like Lassie Come Home and Planet of the Apes, and had supporting roles in a long and illustrious TV and feature length career that included Cleopatra, The Poseidon Adventure, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Pinky and the Brain, and A Bug's Life.
Watched: October 29, 2017
It is an interesting note that this movie beat Citizen Kane for Best Picture. Certainly Citizen Kane has had a more lasting cultural impact, though its quality to anyone but film students is, I believe, open for debate.
This is an early role for child actor Roddy McDowall, who went on to star in films like Lassie Come Home and Planet of the Apes, and had supporting roles in a long and illustrious TV and feature length career that included Cleopatra, The Poseidon Adventure, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Pinky and the Brain, and A Bug's Life.
Watched: October 29, 2017
Monday, March 4, 2019
Best Picture #13 Review: Rebecca (1940)
Rebecca is a Gothic mystery directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was the only film of his to ever win Best Picture despite it being one of his lesser-known works today (I'd venture to say most people know him by his later efforts like Rear Window, Psycho, and The Birds). Interestingly, this film beat out Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator to win its award.
A young woman (played by Joan Fontaine, though we never learn the character's first name) is swept off her feet by an English aristocrat (Laurence Olivier) who owns an extensive estate in Cornwall, and they marry after a whirlwind romance at a hotel in Monte Carlo. Once back at his home, the young bride quickly realizes there was something strange about both the life and death of her husband's first wife, the titular Rebecca. She seems to loom over everything, jeopardizing the fragile happiness of a young couple who married quickly and don't know each other well.
In what I've been told is typical of Hitchcock films, a lot of things are implied or left for the viewer to draw their own conclusions. It was nice not to be hand-fed everything by the director. The plot itself seems to have been taking some inspiration from Jane Eyre and other Gothic-style tales with the huge mystery mansion, the brooding Byronic male lead, and the secrets surrounding the first wife. I even detected some inspiration from the fairy tale Bluebeard. I've seen some descriptions of it as "a Cinderella story gone wrong" but I'd put it more firmly in the Bluebeard family.
Olivier in looks and mannerisms kept reminding me of Cary Elwes. Or maybe the other way around. As an additional fun tidbit, Rebecca's oily former lover, who shows up to play tertiary antagonist behind the dead wife and the creepy housekeeper, was portrayed by George Sanders, the future velvety voice of Shere Khan the Tiger from Disney's The Jungle Book (I had one of those "I know that voice!" moments).
I was curious from the moment we were first shown the exterior of the creepy house which real-life house it was, because the Haunted Mansion at Disney World is a dead ringer (ha ha) for it. In fact the house in this movie was entirely a model and no actual house was used. But I bet you anything at least one of the Disney Imagineers was inspired by it.
Watched: October 21, 2017
A young woman (played by Joan Fontaine, though we never learn the character's first name) is swept off her feet by an English aristocrat (Laurence Olivier) who owns an extensive estate in Cornwall, and they marry after a whirlwind romance at a hotel in Monte Carlo. Once back at his home, the young bride quickly realizes there was something strange about both the life and death of her husband's first wife, the titular Rebecca. She seems to loom over everything, jeopardizing the fragile happiness of a young couple who married quickly and don't know each other well.
In what I've been told is typical of Hitchcock films, a lot of things are implied or left for the viewer to draw their own conclusions. It was nice not to be hand-fed everything by the director. The plot itself seems to have been taking some inspiration from Jane Eyre and other Gothic-style tales with the huge mystery mansion, the brooding Byronic male lead, and the secrets surrounding the first wife. I even detected some inspiration from the fairy tale Bluebeard. I've seen some descriptions of it as "a Cinderella story gone wrong" but I'd put it more firmly in the Bluebeard family.
Olivier in looks and mannerisms kept reminding me of Cary Elwes. Or maybe the other way around. As an additional fun tidbit, Rebecca's oily former lover, who shows up to play tertiary antagonist behind the dead wife and the creepy housekeeper, was portrayed by George Sanders, the future velvety voice of Shere Khan the Tiger from Disney's The Jungle Book (I had one of those "I know that voice!" moments).
I was curious from the moment we were first shown the exterior of the creepy house which real-life house it was, because the Haunted Mansion at Disney World is a dead ringer (ha ha) for it. In fact the house in this movie was entirely a model and no actual house was used. But I bet you anything at least one of the Disney Imagineers was inspired by it.
Watched: October 21, 2017
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)