Classic Films

Hello friends,

Alex and I mention watching TV shows and movies a lot. Mostly because one of the perks of knitting, embroidery, etc. is that you can sit and do it while watching TV.

The two of us part company sometimes when it comes to what we watch (like when Alex watches Doomsday Preppers) but mostly we agree. We can actually spend an embarrassing amount of time discussing movies and TV shows. But, I would have to say that the genre that gets us most excited is old movies Classic Films. It's another tie that binds us as friends.

Cary Grant (think of a George Clooney who smokes)

It always shocks me when I hear people of my generation say they've never seen Gone with the Wind (or any of the blockbusters of the past). Because if you've never seen a movie like that, odds are that you've never seen less well-known gems like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or The Long Hot Summer. Tragedy.

Rita Hayworth (all this, and I sing too!)

I could wax poetic about why I love classic films, but I won't. Instead I have created a list of 10 classic films that will knock your socks off. By no means is this list my "top 10", it is more of a starting point for someone who doesn't know where to begin when it comes to picking out classic movies to watch. The catalog of those films is HUGE and I think it's helpful to see a few first off of recommendation because then you can get a feel for which type of classic film you like best.

1. Laura (a mind-trip)
2. 12 Angry Men (an emotional rollercoaster)
3. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (if you thought Liz Taylor's acting skills are overrated, think again)
4. Gigi (lushest sets and catchy tunes)
5. Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford acts her ass off)
6. Maltese Falcon (it's Bogart, nuff said)
7. The 7-Year Itch (just plain fun)
8. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (can turn you into a straight-up steampunk)
9. Harvey (heartbreakingly charming)
10. The Searchers (deeper than you expect it to be)

Good gravy I could go on and on. What would you add to the list?

–Cassandra

Let me tell you about Wes

Every movie that Wes Anderson has made has given me shivers of pleasure. His aesthetic is everything that I love all rolled up in one place. As a matter of fact, when I am watching one of his films, I feel like he made it just for me. When I meet him one day, I'm going to thank him for that.

Last night I went to see Anderson's latest production, Moonrise Kingdom. I walked into the theater giddy with excitement and walked out wiping my eyes from the sweetness. On the car ride home I was framing everything in my field of vision - the traffic, the buildings, the people in their yards - as if they were storyboards in a Anderson film. Try it sometime, even the shabbiest of sights morph into something artistic and curiously innocent.

People dance together when they fall in love.

That innocence that he finds in everything and everyone, to me, is the heart of his work. No matter how deceitful the character or how ordinary the place, you get the feeling that you're viewing the scene as a childhood memory. And all the filters and revisionist history of remembering the past come along for that ride.

Sometimes grown-ups need to go outside with an axe and a bottle of red.

Anderson's movies have a "hey kids, let's put on a show!" (Little Rascals) quality. The sets, costumes, characters, dialog (and all the other stuff that movies are made of) seem to be designed from impressions. Let me clarify. I can draw a shark by sitting at the aquarium and sketching from life, or, I can just sit down with paper and draw a shark. An actor in a Wes Anderson's movie doesn't follow a doctor around for a month to learn to play a believable doctor... he puts on a white lab coat and stethoscope and plays his idea of a doctor, seemingly drawing from childhood impressions. Pulling that technique off so beautifully is one of the reasons I think Anderson is brilliant. It is a slippery slope where the movie could come off lame and amateur, but his never do. It becomes charming and leaves room for the visuals and music to help buoy up the story he's trying to tell. I think his characterizations work, in part, because he employs actors who "get it" and are able to make the process sing.

So, what makes me watch his movies over, and over, and over again? More than anything, it's the sets. I want to live on a Wes Anderson sound stage. The colors, the light, the furnishings...all so imperfect, but somehow perfect together. The style is always a careful blend of artistic and utilitarian. Every prop in every shot tells the story of the place and gives you insight into the character who belongs there. The most obvious example of this is the children's rooms in The Royal Tenenbaums:

I know that Anderson has a distinct style, and some scoff that he is a "one trick pony". I disagree. He's not a filmmaker who is bringing to life someone else's screenplay, his movies are cradle-to-grave his own. He is an artist creating a body of work. Like Picasso's cubism or Richard Avedon's portraits, he is creating a series that in retrospect will make perfect sense. An artist has to explore every nook and cranny of the theme that is driving them to create.

Thanks for letting me gush on about this subject. And, for the record, I could keep on going...

–Cassandra