JACK'S BACK, and this time, it's personal!
DATE AND STATUS: Thursday, September 6th, 2012, I'm fat and hideous, but at least I smell nice.
Goodness, we had a helluva thunderstorm last night, IT WAS WILD! My beloved dog, Angel saddled up beside me, and I could feel her shaking. I really hate it when my baby's upset. But, today is looking better, although, there certainly is a chill in the air.
It's not enough to know that all our summer holidays are over, and we return to work, (well, some of us,) but, the weather has to dramatically change as well! JEEZ, sometimes I think it's a plot!
And the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) channel! They keep running nothing but excellent films, how the heck can I possibly tune into "Days of our Lives?"
Yes, I'm fat and hideous, it IS a side effect from my asthma medication, but I still shouldn't delude myself that I'm the stud I once was. I'm not Brad Pitt, then again, I'm not Quasimodo either! (He really was ugly, HE REALLY WAS, don't you think?)
But, I do smell nice. I used to think that I smelled like celery, but, fortunately for me that malodorous condition disappeared, and I can stop worrying that someone' s going to put me in a salad!
Today, I'm supposed to have the stitches in my knee out. I fear it will hurt, let me amend that, I know it will hurt! The doctors always lie and say it won't hurt, but it does!
Relative of mine, Tallulah Taylor, got her driver's license today, yes, after six years of practising, she finally gets it!
My good friend, Pearl Ring, who's been married four times, told me she's ready to go down the aisle, yet again. ARE YOU KIDDING? And she had the nerve to ask me, why not? ME, of all people! The girl has to have had a slight cerebral disturbance, (it's in her family you know.)
Bran muffins don't always set you free.
Stephen King has probably written another book.
Mary Poppins is a bitch! Who the hell is she to spit spot? How come she keeps fooling everyone?
If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.
LIFE! It keeps going on, and we all have to face certain unpleasantness's, but if we face those painful matters with humour, courage, and conviction, knowing perfectly well that "this too shall pass," then we will have survived the worst of it, and we can laugh at adversity's face. SO THERE!
Big announcement time, HUGE, really: In the month of November, on Monday the fifth to Sunday the 11th, I will be having my very own salute to Humphrey Bogart. YUP, I have already picked out the seven of his films that I'll be first-time viewing, and then of course, reviewing them.
Why don't you share in this experience with me? It will be interesting, fun, and thought provoking because the movies I have chosen are:
"The African Queen"
"To Have and Have not"
"Key Largo"
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"
"The Maltese Falcon"
"The Big Sleep"
"Dark Passage"
HUMPHREY! HUMPHREY! HUMPHREY!
WATCH A GREAT MOVIE STARRING BOAGIE
READ ABOUT IT FROM JACK E
ENJOY A CUP OF TEA,
BUT DON'T FORGET TO TUNE INTO THE MOVIE!
I know it's corny-I had to!
On with today's review of "High Society!" which is yet, another remake of a classic movie,"The Philadelphia Story."
"High Society," (hoity toity, indeed,) directed by Charles Walters, and starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra is a musical comedy movie. The film was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, (MGM), famous for all those Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney musicals, and shot in Technicolour, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Pretty impressive, eh! Yeah, I thought so too.
Based on the film "The Philadelphia Story" the movie is about a successful popular jazz musician named C.K. Dexter Haven (Bing Crosby replacing Cary Grant's role) who tries to win back the affections of his ex-wife, Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly substituting for Katharine Hepburn, imagine?) who is preparing to marry another man, (conflict, we have to have conflict.)
The musician has huge competition from a National Enquirer-like reporter, Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra now standing in for James Stewart, who won an academy award in this role,) who also falls in love with his ex-wife, and the woman's priggish fiancee, George Kittresh, played by John Lund, whom I've never heard of before.
As an aside, this was Grace Kelly's last film appearance before she became Princess, consort of Monaco.
Anyway, the film, just like "The Opposite Sex" was/is a musical remake. The location of the story was changed from Philadelphia to Newport, Rhode Island.
INTELLECTUALLY speaking, there was never much sense or sanity to Philip Barry's "The Philadelphia Story," either as play or film.
Its story of a society woman whose psyche was so confused that she could think herself thoroughly devoted to a priggish fiancee, a magazine writer yet, and her ex-husband, all within the span of one day was a sheer piece of comedy contrivance.
The attractiveness on stage and screen was due almost wholly to the sparkle of Katharine Hepburn as its erratic heroine. Since its brittle material has been cast into a musical film, there is little chance of disguising its bright but faux qualities.
"High Society," its new pretentious name set to music, is as flimsy as a gossip-columnist's word, especially when it is recounting the weird behavior of the socially elite. With pretty and lady-like Grace Kelly flouncing lightly through its tomboyish Hepburn role, it misses the snap and the crackle that its UN-musical predecessor had.
For sure, there are moments of amusement in this handsome film,. One bit is when Frank Sinatra as the magazine writer sent to do a story on the mores of society plies the haughty heroine with wine and gets her drunk, loosening her inhibitions. Mr. Sinatra does make hay with this scene.
Some other scenes include Louis Armstrong and his band beating out some catchy tunes that have been borrowed from Cole Porter records, or especially written by him for this show. In spite of the austere surroundings of a gold-plated Newport chateau, Mr. Armstrong beams as brazenly as ever and lets the hot-licks fall where they may.
Musically, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby sing some catchy songs together. The best is "Well, Did You Evah?", a spoof of the haughty and blase, and Mr. Crosby makes "I Love You, Samantha" (whoever she is) a pleasingly romantic thing.
There do come tedious stretches in this socially mixed-up affair, and they are due to direction, and the miscasting of Grace Kelly in the pivotal role. The part was obviously written to be acted with a sharp cutting-edge. Miss Kelly makes the trenchant lady no more than a petulant, wistful girl.
Mr. Crosby seems a curious choice in the role of the young lady's cast-off husband, and who gets her back at the very end. Humphrey Bogart would have been a better C.K. Dexter Haven, yeah, Boagie, too bad for us we got Bing Crosby. He strolls around the place like the favourite uncle, having fun with Mr. Armstrong, and his boys, and viewing the feminine mystique with an amiable masculine disdain.
Mr. Crosby, also strokes his pipe like a phallus, and with more affection than he strokes Miss Kelly's porcelain arms. I know, I couldn't believe it either, and in a musical, YET!
Adding to the general hubbub of pre-wedding day madness in the Newport set are: John Lund as the stuffy fiance, Celeste Holm as a smart photographer, is usually better in films than she is here. Louis Calhern as a wicked old uncle, seems much too believable, if you know what I mean, and Margalo Gillmore as the mother of the bride.
DATE AND STATUS: Thursday, September 6th, 2012, I'm fat and hideous, but at least I smell nice.
Goodness, we had a helluva thunderstorm last night, IT WAS WILD! My beloved dog, Angel saddled up beside me, and I could feel her shaking. I really hate it when my baby's upset. But, today is looking better, although, there certainly is a chill in the air.
It's not enough to know that all our summer holidays are over, and we return to work, (well, some of us,) but, the weather has to dramatically change as well! JEEZ, sometimes I think it's a plot!
And the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) channel! They keep running nothing but excellent films, how the heck can I possibly tune into "Days of our Lives?"
Yes, I'm fat and hideous, it IS a side effect from my asthma medication, but I still shouldn't delude myself that I'm the stud I once was. I'm not Brad Pitt, then again, I'm not Quasimodo either! (He really was ugly, HE REALLY WAS, don't you think?)
But, I do smell nice. I used to think that I smelled like celery, but, fortunately for me that malodorous condition disappeared, and I can stop worrying that someone' s going to put me in a salad!
Today, I'm supposed to have the stitches in my knee out. I fear it will hurt, let me amend that, I know it will hurt! The doctors always lie and say it won't hurt, but it does!
Relative of mine, Tallulah Taylor, got her driver's license today, yes, after six years of practising, she finally gets it!
My good friend, Pearl Ring, who's been married four times, told me she's ready to go down the aisle, yet again. ARE YOU KIDDING? And she had the nerve to ask me, why not? ME, of all people! The girl has to have had a slight cerebral disturbance, (it's in her family you know.)
Bran muffins don't always set you free.
Stephen King has probably written another book.
Mary Poppins is a bitch! Who the hell is she to spit spot? How come she keeps fooling everyone?
If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.
LIFE! It keeps going on, and we all have to face certain unpleasantness's, but if we face those painful matters with humour, courage, and conviction, knowing perfectly well that "this too shall pass," then we will have survived the worst of it, and we can laugh at adversity's face. SO THERE!
Big announcement time, HUGE, really: In the month of November, on Monday the fifth to Sunday the 11th, I will be having my very own salute to Humphrey Bogart. YUP, I have already picked out the seven of his films that I'll be first-time viewing, and then of course, reviewing them.
Why don't you share in this experience with me? It will be interesting, fun, and thought provoking because the movies I have chosen are:
"The African Queen"
"To Have and Have not"
"Key Largo"
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"
"The Maltese Falcon"
"The Big Sleep"
"Dark Passage"
HUMPHREY! HUMPHREY! HUMPHREY!
WATCH A GREAT MOVIE STARRING BOAGIE
READ ABOUT IT FROM JACK E
ENJOY A CUP OF TEA,
BUT DON'T FORGET TO TUNE INTO THE MOVIE!
I know it's corny-I had to!
On with today's review of "High Society!" which is yet, another remake of a classic movie,"The Philadelphia Story."
"High Society," (hoity toity, indeed,) directed by Charles Walters, and starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra is a musical comedy movie. The film was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, (MGM), famous for all those Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney musicals, and shot in Technicolour, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Pretty impressive, eh! Yeah, I thought so too.
Based on the film "The Philadelphia Story" the movie is about a successful popular jazz musician named C.K. Dexter Haven (Bing Crosby replacing Cary Grant's role) who tries to win back the affections of his ex-wife, Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly substituting for Katharine Hepburn, imagine?) who is preparing to marry another man, (conflict, we have to have conflict.)
The musician has huge competition from a National Enquirer-like reporter, Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra now standing in for James Stewart, who won an academy award in this role,) who also falls in love with his ex-wife, and the woman's priggish fiancee, George Kittresh, played by John Lund, whom I've never heard of before.
As an aside, this was Grace Kelly's last film appearance before she became Princess, consort of Monaco.
Anyway, the film, just like "The Opposite Sex" was/is a musical remake. The location of the story was changed from Philadelphia to Newport, Rhode Island.
INTELLECTUALLY speaking, there was never much sense or sanity to Philip Barry's "The Philadelphia Story," either as play or film.
Its story of a society woman whose psyche was so confused that she could think herself thoroughly devoted to a priggish fiancee, a magazine writer yet, and her ex-husband, all within the span of one day was a sheer piece of comedy contrivance.
The attractiveness on stage and screen was due almost wholly to the sparkle of Katharine Hepburn as its erratic heroine. Since its brittle material has been cast into a musical film, there is little chance of disguising its bright but faux qualities.
"High Society," its new pretentious name set to music, is as flimsy as a gossip-columnist's word, especially when it is recounting the weird behavior of the socially elite. With pretty and lady-like Grace Kelly flouncing lightly through its tomboyish Hepburn role, it misses the snap and the crackle that its UN-musical predecessor had.
For sure, there are moments of amusement in this handsome film,. One bit is when Frank Sinatra as the magazine writer sent to do a story on the mores of society plies the haughty heroine with wine and gets her drunk, loosening her inhibitions. Mr. Sinatra does make hay with this scene.
Some other scenes include Louis Armstrong and his band beating out some catchy tunes that have been borrowed from Cole Porter records, or especially written by him for this show. In spite of the austere surroundings of a gold-plated Newport chateau, Mr. Armstrong beams as brazenly as ever and lets the hot-licks fall where they may.
Musically, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby sing some catchy songs together. The best is "Well, Did You Evah?", a spoof of the haughty and blase, and Mr. Crosby makes "I Love You, Samantha" (whoever she is) a pleasingly romantic thing.
There do come tedious stretches in this socially mixed-up affair, and they are due to direction, and the miscasting of Grace Kelly in the pivotal role. The part was obviously written to be acted with a sharp cutting-edge. Miss Kelly makes the trenchant lady no more than a petulant, wistful girl.
Mr. Crosby seems a curious choice in the role of the young lady's cast-off husband, and who gets her back at the very end. Humphrey Bogart would have been a better C.K. Dexter Haven, yeah, Boagie, too bad for us we got Bing Crosby. He strolls around the place like the favourite uncle, having fun with Mr. Armstrong, and his boys, and viewing the feminine mystique with an amiable masculine disdain.
Mr. Crosby, also strokes his pipe like a phallus, and with more affection than he strokes Miss Kelly's porcelain arms. I know, I couldn't believe it either, and in a musical, YET!
Adding to the general hubbub of pre-wedding day madness in the Newport set are: John Lund as the stuffy fiance, Celeste Holm as a smart photographer, is usually better in films than she is here. Louis Calhern as a wicked old uncle, seems much too believable, if you know what I mean, and Margalo Gillmore as the mother of the bride.
Miss Lydia Reed as an impish younger sister is kept pretty closely confined. She appears to have the waspish nature that Miss Kelly could use to good advantage. But then, who amongst us, besides that Poppins woman is perfect!
UPCOMING MOVIES FOR REVIEW:
"Elmer Gantry." Both Burt Lancaster and Shirley Jones received academy award nominations for their work here. I want to see if they deserved them, you know how the Academy can be.
"Adam Had Four Sons." This movie stars Ingrid Bergman and Susan Hayward, two of my favourites, and that is reason enough for me to watch this movie. But I bet I end up liking this movie for all sorts of reasons, and not just because of Miss Bergman and Miss Hayward.
"Blow Dry." For no other reason that when I saw the title of this movie in the television guide, it intrigued me.
"Thief." This film stars James Caan and is reported to be one of Mr. Caan's personal favourites. Well, now it is time for us to decide if we want this movie to make our favourites list.
"An American in Paris." I love musicals, and this one gets great reviews from practically everyone, we'll see what I think very soon.
"The Maltese Falcon." I've avoided seeing Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre in this story of murder and intrigue for far too long, (I'm supposed to be a film buff!) The time for me to see it has been changed to November for my salute to Mr. Humphrey Bogart.
"Zorba The Greek." This film stars Anthony Quinn as an amoral Greek peasant who teaches a British student the meaning of life. I want to see if the movie can teach me anything.
FILMS COMING SOON: Exodus, The Sand Pebbles, Giant, Big Night, The slut at four o'clock, can't wait to see all of them!!!!
Great blog Jack Sorry we missed you at the cottage
ReplyDeleteThank you for the compliment, if only I knew who you were. Hmmmm. Anonymous, is that you again Barbra Streisand?
DeleteAfrican Queen is my favorite of all Bogart films. Zorba the Great sounds like fun.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this film when I saw it a number of years ago, but I think I enjoyed your review more. Still I think I'll watch it again, more critically since I've got your comments as a guide.
ReplyDeleteThe music was enjoyable but without Grant and Hepburn as in the original some of the spark is missing. Nonetheless it's worth a look.
It's the Bogart festival I'm really looking fowrward to, though Do we really have to wait until November?