Recommended Songs: I would say her an entire album(The Family Jewels) but if you want to hear her absolute best, then I would sugges! t listening to either, "I am Not a Robot", or "Oh No!"2. If I could be any two characters, from any movie, they would be: Nora Charles in "The Thin Man'' and Ann Lemp in "Four Daughters". 3. Favorite Leading Man of the 1940's(Not Including Jeffrey Lynn!) would definitely be Cary Grant, Robert Cummings, and William Prince.
4. Two actors, that I wish could have worked together would be Myrna Loy and Humphrey Bogart, Myrna Loy and Jeffrey Lynn, and Jeffrey Lynn and Jean Harlow 5. The 1930's are my favorite style decade, with the 1960's close behind.6. If I could steal away any Myrna Loy look, it would be her amazingly brilliant striped dress, she wore in "The Thin Man". As a matter of fact, I would steal her entire wardrobe from that film. 7. I pr! efer watching Jeffrey Lynn in his more comedic roles, such as ! his role in "Four Daughters" or his very uptight role in "It All Came True". Even when his character is tensed up, the environment of the film is lighthearted. 8. I survive solely on these four shows: "CSI", "Infomania", "Deadly Women", and "Glee".( I confess to being an informative Deadly CSIer Gleek and I'm quite proud to admit it!) 9. I will NEVER read or watch anything to do with "Twilight". All I have to say to that is, BLEH!10. I HATE HATE HATE Peanut Butter!I know, you were not expecting that last one, were you???? Hahaha :D It's all in good fun, so if you want to join in, come on and have some fun! ;) 
Great classic films, best all time movies
Talented but temperamental actress Miriam Hopkins had the reputation of stealing scenes and chewing scenery throughout her prominent career. Her earliest days onscreen were no exception and as a bright and shiny new star at Paramount in the early 1930’s, she did not hide her light under a bushel. Making her film debut in 1930 in Fast and Loose with fellow Paramount pretty Carole Lombard ( Lombard had been in films for over half a decade by then), she had a hit in her second feature The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) co-starring movie novice Claudette Colbert. By her third film, she was the sure fire star of the show, even though Clive Brook and Kay Francis were billed ab! ove her. The film was called 24 Hours, and it was a prime example of pre-Code Paramount, with a great line-up of actors to boot.
Jim and Fanny Towner (Brook and Francis) are a wealthy yet bored couple who are each involved in an extramarital affair. Jim’s alcoholism doesn’t help the problem and he finds solace with his paramour Rosie Duggan (Hopkins), a brassy speak easy singer, who is married to a weak and neurotic small time hoodlum named Tony (Regis Toomey, whose 40 year screen career began the year before this film was made). Tony is on the skids after his wife has the bouncer at the club where she works, toss him out on his keyster. Later that evening, she carries the! falling down drunk Jim home with her to see that he sleeps of! f his bu zz. When Tony comes aknockin’ in the middle of the night, crazed look in his eyes, he accidentally kills the two-timing torch singer, while her sugar daddy is passed out in the other room. He beats it when he realizes what he’s done, as does Jim when he awakes the next morning and realizes he could be blamed for the chanteuse’s demise.
As much as a dramatic showcase 24 Hours is for Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis has the tougher job of giving a more subtle yet still effective performance. To an extent she succeeds, but her character is written so that she has little more to do than look forlorn about the lack of love in both her marriage as well as her affair. Her dramatic gl! ory days would come with her tenure at Warner Brothers a few years later, a working relationship that was both extremely profitable as well as turbulent for the raven haired star. British born Clive Brook worked in silent films for years and made the transition to sound successfully. He looks rather bored in the first half of this film, but I suppose that is his job, as he is bored with his life AND his wife. (Brook made a telling statement about his profession in America when he said: "Hollywood is a chain gang and we lose the will to escape. The links of the chain are not forged with cruelties but with luxuries."). Although given a small role, veteran stage actress Lucille LaVerne gives the audience a visual once-over as Tony’s slovenly and tough-as-nails landlady. I recognized immediately her voice as that of the old hag in Walt Disney’s animated masterpiece Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). It was the last performance of her very lengthy caree! r, and the one for which she is most associated, as the animat! ors actu ally used the actress as a visual model for the crone.Based on the novel Twenty-Four Hours by Louis Bromfield, the film is a lost gem, a part of Paramount’s film library, owned by Universal/MCA, most of which are unreleased to the general public. Copies aren’t easy to find and when they are, the quality sometimes has much to be desired, but if you do get a chance to gander the charms of the young Mesdames Hopkins and Francis, I’d jump at it.
“Black Legion†is an early Humphrey Bogart film that remains stark and knowing as it explores bigotry and mob rule. This 1937 release has Bogart playing Frank Taylor, a factory work well-liked by his peers. When he loses out on a promotion to foreign-born Joe Dombrowski, who’s been going to night school to better himself, Frank is bitter and begins to direct his anger at Joe. One night on the radio, he hears discussion that “America is for Americans†and eventually gains admission into the Black Legion, a hooded, Ku Klux Klan-type group that promises to rid the world of types they deem threatening to the American way of living.This taught, well-told story comes from Warner Brothers, a studio that w! asn’t afraid to look at blue-collar life and tackle issues that were socially relevant during the 1930s. It’s not that other studios ignored such stories, but Warner Brothers did so on a regular basis. This time the issue is bigotry and white supremacy.What works is how well the film is told, with story by Robert Lord and screenplay from Abem Finkel and William Wister Haines. It’s not as sensational as “Confessions of a Nazi Spy†(thank goodness), although it can be a bit preachy toward the end. But it touches all of the right topics: the irony of this self-important group forcing members to call the leaders “sir,†eerily foreseeing a Hitler-led army of hate; the top level looking at how much money can be made from the Black Legion enterprise; the willing recruits who must profess their total devotion at gunpoint and whose hatred is essential at fueling the Legion’s success; and the ultimate pain inflicted not only on the victims but also on family members o! f both victims and Legion members.
If the story, which can be shocking and disturbing in its continued timeliness, falls off toward the end with its sermonizing, it’s all held together by Bogart’s strong performance. This was still early in his career. He’d scored a breakthrough hit the year before in “The Petrified Forest.†During these years between “Forest†and “The Maltese Falcon's†release in 1941, Bogart worked hard and developed his craft. It’s clear in “Legion†what a good actor he was becoming. Frank Taylor is a character the audience has to like in order to follow his descent into hatred. Bogart beautifully plays the conflict â€" the well-liked employee to the swagger of inclusive righteousness to self-loathing at what this has cost him. It’s gr! eat character work from a magnetic star, and it’s fascinating to watch him be so good this early in his career.The solid supporting cast includes another Warners star, Ann Sheridan, early in her career. There’s also a mature musical score by an uncredited Bernhard Kaun.“Black Legion†remains a potent film from a studio willing to play to its strengths. Warners was never as glossy as MGM or Paramount during this period, but the studio was no less important with films like this. Check it out, because "Legion" is as relevant with its take on hate crimes.
In addition, during this holiday season, check out "Humphrey Bogart: The Essential Collection," a 13-disc DVD set with 24 Bogart films from the 1930s and 1! 940s as well as “The Brothers Warner†documentary. It has ! plenty o f commentaries and featurettes, and I like how the movies are also packaged as “a night at the movies†old-school style, complete with shorts and trailers.All of the major titles from this period are included, from “Maltese Falcon†to “Casablanca†to “Treasure of the Sierra Madre†to his films with wife Lauren Bacall. It makes a great gift for classic movie-lovers.It also made me realize how many films of Bogart’s I haven’t seen. I’ll start working my way through them and perhaps in 2011 post several of them.Warner Brothers Online
Calendar Straddlers
The news coming out of Korea these days is upsetting so... let's direct our focus on something beautiful from thereabouts: the movies. The 31st annual Blue Dragon Awards were held this weekend in Seoul. Here are the winners and a few comments. [photo and info sources]Picture: The Secret ReunionThis is an espionage thriller involving North and South Korean spies. It stars the seemingly ubiquitous Song Kang-ho who you've probably seen if you've ever seen a South Korean picture. He previously starred in the monster flick The Host, the disturbing vampire romance Thirst and the drama Secret Sunshine. The Secret Reunion won the top prize over kidnapping thriller The Man From Nowhere, Moss, epic action flick Woochi and the erotic Cannes drama The Housemaid (a remake of a classic). Lee Chang-dong's awesome Poetry (my review) was ! not nominated. Apparently he has a rough history with this awards body.Director: Kang Woo-seok (Moss)Actor: Jung Jae-young (Moss)Actress: Yun Jeong-hee (Poetry) and Soo Ae (Late Night FM)Supporting Actor: Yu Hae-jin (Moss)Supporting Actress: Yoon Yeo-jung (The Housemaid) Steamy trailer for The Housemaid starring the brilliant Do-Yeo Jeon from Secret Sunshine.New Actor: Choi Seung-hyun also known as T.O.P. (71: Into The Fire) New Actress: Lee Min-jung (Cyrano Agency)New Director: Kim Gwang-shik (My Gangster Boyfriend)Screenplay: Kim Hyun-seok (Cyrano Agency)Art Direction: Lee Ha-joon (The Housemaid)Cinematography: The Secret ReunionLighting: I Saw the DevilMusic: Mowg (I Saw the Devil)Technical Effects: Park Jung-ryul (The Man From Nowhere)Popularity Awards: Won Bin, T.O.P., Jo Yeo-jung, Sohn Ye-jinBox Office Award: The Man From NowhereA couple more things j! ust because.
You may remember popular star Won Bin (or Bin Won) from two previous Oscar submissions (Mother, which was released in the US to great acclaim early this year, and Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War). He escorted child star Kim Sae-ron down the red carpet. They co-starred in the Box Office champ The Man From Nowhere which rather confusingly has two separate additional titles depending on which websites you go to. It's also known as Ajusshi and This Man.
This is Soo Ae (Late Nite FM). Either Soo Ae is exceptionally popular as a celebrity or she's a magnificent actress because she somehow tied Jeong Hee-yoon who was so moving as the ailing grandmother in Lee Chang-dong's Poetry (see my review) for "Best Actress".And like all awards shows they h! ave cheesy musical numbers. Here's KARA performing "Jumping"Bin WoAre any of these films available on Netflix? The answer is "not yet" but you can save the following four to your queues for when they're released: THE HOUSEMAID, POETRY, WOOCHI and THE SECRET REUNION. If you'd like to catch up on recent Korean titles that made something of an international splash try THIRST (instant watch) or MOTHER (instant watch).Kang-ho Song
Addictive Personalities There are about as many themes and concepts explored by war films as there are war films. Still, they can be generally be narrowed down to three types. There are films about the physical toll of war (Saving Private Ryan), the mental toll of war (Apocalypse Now) and the spiritual toll of war (The Thin Red Line). Both The Deer Hunter and The Hurt Locker fit into the second category, but they're special. We're not talking about Colonel Kurtz level madness here. In fact, we're not talking about madne! ss at all. What both films are most interested in is the "hook" of war, the adrenaline rush. The Hurt Locker doesn't beat around the bush here. It starts with the quote "for war is a drug" from Chris Hedges' essay "War is a force that gives us meaning." The Deer Hunter and The Hurt Locker are about two men whose worlds were torn clean of meaning by the nihilism of war and then gifted with meaning by the rush of war.There are a lot of surface similarities between the two films. Both follow three men, one of whom sustains a physical injury, one of whom comes to the realization of his absent legacy back home and one of whom can't bring himself to leave the battlefield. Interestingly enough, both films find the excesses, and sterilized nature of a grocery store an apt contrast between war and home. But unlike most war films, neither The Deer Hunter nor The Hurt Locker are interested in traditional extended battle scenes. The emphasis in! stead is on moments that feature the slow build of suspense, e! ventuall y the release of survival. 
Game of ChanceOther films have dabbled in the idea that soldiers find themselves compelled to return to or remain in war. Yet few films can really make us understand why that is. But a speech given late in The Hurt Locker by Sargeant James to his son makes it pretty clear. There is only one thing left that he loves. Why? Because he's good at it... very good. He's dismantled eight hundred and seventy three bombs successfully. But can the same be said of The Deer Hunter's Nick? Certainly his endeavors into Russian roulette yield enough money to send wads and wads back to his friends. In this case, skill may not be required, but the exhalation of winning and living is still the same. It's that exhalation that seems to have ma! de the lasting difference. Even Sgt. James box of souvenirs that almost killed him aren't there to remind him that he almost died. They're there to remind him that he lived. What back home can compete with such an experience? Is it hard to believe that the enhanced reality of facing death daily and surviving is preferable to a reality of not facing death at all? The idea of enhanced reality in both films (and many war films in fact) suggests that normal feelings just don't cut it any more. There is a sense in that the characters have been numbed and require over-stimulation to feel again. This is perhaps why Nick self-injures, or why the men of Operation Liberty punch each other for fun.Welcome to the Soldiers' SideOne of the primary differences between The Deer Hunter and The Hurt Locker is rooted in the influence of outside social factors. In 1978 making an anti-Vietnam film wasn't exactly a bold statement. But in 2009, Th! e Hurt Locker opened after a long line of anti-Iraq films that! were re ceived coolly by a divided public. The film dodged controversy by focusing not on the question of the moral righteousness of war but simply on it's effect on soldiers. Contrastingly, the 70's cultural climate gave Michael Cimino such a free hand to declare the Vietnam war wrong, some viewers felt he overdid it, specifically by inventing the factually inaccurate device of North Vietnamese soldiers forcing prisoners into Russian roulette games. Still, the protesters outside were not enough to keep the film from winning Best Picture.
While it's hard to make an argument that subtlety is making a comeback, these two films, each in their respective political climate are a lesson in the softening touch of a message. Could you imagine The Hurt Locker closing with a sad rendition of "God Bless Ameri! ca?" Equally it shows far less of the characters' home lives than The Deer Hunter (which it needs for the most extreme possible contrast). Nick's mental state is far more deteriorated than Sgt James', and his end is far more dramatic. But in addition to the political climate, you could argue that in the thirty years between the films, audiences have broadened their scope and definition of what constitutes the meaningful effect of war on its participants. So as it becomes more difficult to deliver an overt anti-war message it becomes easier to display the subtleties of its lasting impact.There is one more important distinction is perhaps the difference between a film about a war that's ended, where Nick's fate is known and one that has not, where Sgt. James' fate is up to you or me. The Deer Hunter tells us how things ended. The Hurt Locker asks us to wonder how we'd like things to end.