And Then I Saw

I did a challenge on Facebook recently.  People were asked to post pictures of their 10 most influential films, in no particular order. Films that really made an impact personally, and are still on my rotation list, even if only now and then.  I thought I would share some of them.  I won't talk about A Star Is Born because I've done that enough.

The Seventh Veil.  I saw this in grammar school.  I know this because Ann Todd is a pianist and I was taking piano lessons at the time and one piece I played, by Haydn, always reminded me of this movie.

After attempting suicide Francesca, once a world-famed pianist undergoes psychotherapy, trying to figure out what drove her to that decision.  It is revealed that she was sent to live with her cousin, a stern taskmaster who controlled her life, and thwarted her attempt to marry a man she thought she loved.

Mason is the cousin, cold, distant, and cruel, hiding his feelings for her.  I developed a big crush on James Mason after seeing this movie I guess I always had a thing for this kind of character.

A Private Function.  I really don't remember a lot about this movie, except that it was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.  It takes place in England during WWII when there is strict rationing and a couple become involved with the bacon black market. 

Somehow they come into possession of a pig, which is definitely against the law but they decide to slaughter him and eat him themselves.

The vision of Maggie Smith chasing this pig around the house with an exacto-knife, the only sharp implement she had available, still makes me laugh.

The Blue Veil. This is a real tear jerker about a woman whose husband dies in the war while she is expecting their first child.  Things go wrong during the delivery and the baby dies, and she herself is unable to have more children.

She finds a job as a nanny and throughout her life takes care of a succession of young children, leaving when they no longer need a nanny. When she is too old to be a nanny any more, one of her former charges meets her and arranges for many of those now adult kids to come back to honor her--and one of them has children for her to care for.

I always thought how neat it would be for there to be a gathering of a lot of foreign students who lived here back in the 1980s.

Interrupted Melody.  I drove my mother nuts after seeing this movie.  It's the story of Australian opera singer Marjorie Lawrence and her battle with polio, how she eventually overcomes it and returns to the stage.

The finale scene is from Gotterdammerung and she gets so emotionally involved playing the scene that she stands for the first time  Very climactic.

After that movie I decided I was going to become an opera singer, tho I had no talent whatsoever, and spent evenings while doing the dishes singing scales, trying to hit high notes until my mother begged me to stop.

The Nun's Story.  I don't remember if I wanted to be a nun before or only after seeing this movie, but I saw it during the period of time when I knew I wanted to go into the convent.  Ultimately I wanted to be a Daughter of Charity, who were my teachers (think "Flying Nun") but after seeing this movie, I wanted to be a missionary in Africa.

Of course I hate the way she is treated, as some sort of leper, after she decides to leave the convent (and a book I read recently about someone who left the Daughters of Charity) made me glad ultimately that I made a different decision.

The Quiet Man.  Is there any female who saw this movie in the 1950s who didn't love it? I felt my Irish roots tugging at me, I tried to dye my hair auburn to look like Maureen O'Hara (but it turned out more bronze-purple) and I just loved every minute of it.

Seeing it with eyes today, I see how little women are valued, how corporal punishment is encouraged and how, really, it's an awful story, but I still watch it if it comes on.  It did make me love Ireland, many years before I visited it, however.

Dave.  I love this movie and wish, frequently these days, that it were possible today.  The president has a stroke and his handlers don't want to let the country know, so they hire a look-alike to stand in for him until he recovers.  Only a very few people know what is going on (his wife eventually figures it out).

As Dave gets into the role of president, he begins to make changes in the government, cutting back expensive programs to give poor kids meals at school, calling his buddy to come in and help him balance the budget, etc.

He can't continue indefinitely, of course, but the conclusion is a good one and the president (who eventually dies without regaining consciousness) goes down in history as a good president, not the jerk he actually was.  Ahhh...if only....  But where could one find a Trump look-alike!

There were a few more on the list, but that's enough for this entry.  It was fun thinking about movies that affected me throughout my life--and why

A Davis Happening

According to the opening remarks by former mayor Dave Rosenberg, this is the 9th year that there has been an Oddfellows Classic Film festival.  Previous festivals have featured Academy Award Best Picture Films, Classic Westerns, Classic Courtroom Dramas, Classic Film Noir, Classic Screwball Comedies, Classic Comedies, and Classic Science Fiction, Classic Jimmy Stewart.  I didn't attend any of them, though Walt remembers going to one movie once. 

This year, however, the festival features Hitchcock movies.

I love Hitchcock so we decided to go.  I discovered it was a real Davis "happening."  The event takes place in the upper hall of the IOOF building.  I saw people entering carrying their own chairs and wondered if we would have to sit on the floor, but there were folding chairs (very uncomfortable) and I was jealous of those who had brought their own more comfortable seating.

There's no entrance fee, but they do ask for a donation to keep the group going.  And once you pay, you get free popcorn and get to enjoy the background music playing by a group that features, I think, an accordion, though I only heard it, but couldn't turn my head around enough to see it.

Drinks are for sale and Walt bought a beer, which he was tickled to see came in a 2009 Octoberfest glass with a caricature of the aforementioned former mayor, Dave Rosenberg.

Dave, then and now!

Paul was a particular favorite of Dave and his wife when Paul was still alive. 

The audience was about our age and I was actually surprised that we didn't see more people we knew (though we saw some...I was cornered by someone who wanted to complain about the acoustics at the Sacramento Convention Center, where she had seen Book of Mormon).  Lots of silver heads and canes, like us, in the house.

Davis' own Derrick Bang, former editor of the entertainment section of the newspaper (and my first boss as a critic) took over the movie section of the paper after they had to drop the entertainment "section" for financial reasons.  (I never write the phrase "Rodgers and Hammerstein" without remembering Derrick hammering into me that there is a "d" in Rodgers!)

In addition to being an expert on Peanuts and all things Charles Schulz (he has written several books on Peanuts and was a participant in the creation of the Schulz museum in Santa Rosa many years ago), he is also a walking encyclopedia of film and started the evening off with a fascinating history of Hitchcock, starting with his youth and early movies in England and then tidbits about the movie we were seeing this evening.

And then it was time for the movie itself.  The metal chairs were killers and I was very uncomfortable, but watching the movie helped me forget, occasionally, how much my back was hurting.

It was very dated, very hokey in spots, very Pro-America and Anti-Fascist, but also fun.  Derrick had a Q&A after the movie but Walt didn't ask him the question he wanted to ask.  The bad guys want to blow up a ship and they do but after they halfway succeed, the bomber for some reason goes to the Statue of Liberty, where he is followed by the heroine, who lets the police know where they can catch him, but he, for some reason, has  to catch a certain ferry back to NYC and she is trying to prevent him from leaving.  But there is no given reason why he goes to the Statue of Liberty or why he is so intent on getting back on time.  I explained to Walt that the reason was that it was in the script.

I went to Derrick and asked the expert the question and his answer was "who the hell knows?" and we both decided the only reason was so that Hitchcock could film a chase scene on the statue itself (a precursor of the similar chase seen on Mt. Rushmore in North by Northwest years later).

The whole evening was such fun and we are looking forward to seeing Shadow of a Doubt next week (right after we see a matinee of Guys and Dolls to review).  That's one of the movies I remember.  I will bring my own chair next time, though.

12 Movies

The challenge came from our friend Jim Lane on Facebook this morning.  Actually I think he posted it several days ago, but I only saw it today.  "List 12 movies that have stayed with you, but only one per director. Don't take too long and don't think too hard."

This is the list I came up with.  The first title on the list...maybe the first two...should not be a surprise:

1. A STAR IS BORN, of course, the 1954 version. (George Cukor)
2. AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (Leo McCary)
3. THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER (Clyde Bruckman)
4. DAVE (Ivan Reitman)
5. GAIJIN, A BRASILIAN ODYSSEY (Tizuka Yamasaki)
6. CHUSHINGURA (Hiroshi Inagaki)
7. ALL THAT JAZZ (Bob Fosse)
8. THE SEVENTH VEIL (Compton Bennett)
9. THE BLUE VEIL (Curtis Bernhardt, Busby Berkley)
10. VERTIG0 (Hitchcock)
11. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (Vincent Minnelli)
12.THE RED SHOES (Powell & Pressburger)

Some of the others I have never mentioned in "favorite movies" lists.  I don't know if they are actually favorites, but they are all definitely movies that have stayed with me.  #10 was a toss-up between Vertigo and North by Northwest, both of which are my favorite Hitchcocks, but given that I think of Vertigo every single time we drive down Highway 101 to Santa Barbara (where James Stewart takes Kim Novak), I think that maybe has stayed with me more strongly than the other.  It also has the edge because it was filmed in San Francisco.

The Fatal Glass of Beer is a W.C. Fields short which has been a family favorite for years. It's maybe most famous for the line, "'Tain't a fit night out for man nor beast."  I remember the first time David saw it and said "this is the stupidest movie I've ever seen" and then invited all of his friends over to see it.

Gaijin was one of the movies that got to me very strongly.  It tells the tale of the Japanese coffee plantation workers who immigrate to Brasil to work there.  It follows the life of one couple and the child they eventually have.  The thing about it, though, is that it involves the Japanese workers, their Brasilian bosses, Italians and Americans and all speak their own language.  And you must watch it with subtitles, not dubbed, because if you watch it dubbed, you miss the whole point of the movie.  In the end, when the mother is telling the daughter, in Japanese, that they are going "home" to Japan and the daughter is answering her in Portuguese about her friends, you realize that the daughter is Brasilian.  It's more poignant that this brief description, but I just loved that film.

I honestly don't remember a lot about Chushingura,  also known as The 7 Samurai.  That movie ran at a little art house in Berkeley for at least 6 months.  We thought it would never leave.  But I also still remember that it was one of the most beautifully filmed movies I'd ever seen.  I still remember the breathtaking opening sequence of cherry blossoms.

Of course I also had to add Meet Me in St. Louis, which may have been the movie in which Judy Garland was most beautifully filmed.  Someone says that when she sings "The Boy Next Door," looking out the widow of her family's house that it is like Vincente Minnelli's making love to her with the camera.  Almost as breathtaking as the cherry blossoms of Chushingura.

I haven't seen All that Jazz in years, but it had a profound effect on me at the time and I watched it several times.  The same goes for The Red Shoes, which I might not even like now (I started watching it recently and turned it off), but at the time it was a movie that stuck with me like glue--still does.  The ballerina and the mad choreographer.

The Blue Veil is a movie that never made it to videotape.  It was pure 1950s sentimental schlock, but I still keep trying to find a copy of it.  Jane Wyman plays a woman whose husband is killed in the war. She is pregnant and loses the baby, and unable to have more children, hires herself out as a nanny.  Over the years, she cares for many children and finally is too old do it any more.  The family she is working for at the time gathers together all of the children she cared for over the years and surprises her with them, all grown up now, many married with children of their own.  The end is so touching.

I always thought it would be wonderful to have that happen with the foreign students we hosted here.  There were some 70 of them and how wonderful it would be to be surprised by the return of a lot of them with their spouses or significant others and their children.  That would be a real United Nations assembly here for sure.  It's been so long since I've seen most of them, I probably wouldn't recognize them...or remember who they are!

The Seventh Veil was maybe the movie I remember being the most moved by in my impressionable years.  I also developed a huge crush on James Mason, which was a step up from my previous crush on Claude Rains.  Early on I was finding myself attracted to older, cold, distant types.

In this movie, Ann Todd becomes the ward of her 2nd cousin, a confirmed, grumpy bachelor, James Mason.  They have little to do with each other until he learns that she is a talented pianist.  He then takes over her education and, when he has taught her all he knows, sends her to the Royal Academy for more instruction.

Along the way she falls in love and Mason takes her to France for several years to get her away from the guy.  It gets very convoluted, with her rising fame and insecurity, his beating of her when she tries to defy him, and the auto accident that she thought ruined her playing career.

The title refers to the seven veils of the mind which psychiatrist Herbert Lom says he must remove to get to the core of her problems and of course he does and she can then choose among the 3 men in her life -- Mason, or the other two men she almost married.  Naturally she chooses Mason.

This is another schlocky romance but with beautiful piano music.  After I made out my list, I checked Amazon Prime and lo and behold they had The Seventh Veil, so I sat up until 1 a.m. watching it again...and I loved it as much tonight as when I first saw it in the 1950s.

That's My Answer

I've mentioned before, a few times, that one of my favorite sites on line is "That's My Answer," the question and answer site with only a handful of regulars, but which poses a different question or two every day for us to answer and then on the weekend there is a Q&A where a question is posed and then the first person who answers it posts their own question for the next person to answer, and so on.  I've been answering those questions for years now, and the regulars have grown into this strange community where basically the only things we know about each other are from our answers to the questions (or from our blogs, if we check out the writings of the others in the group).

The other day the question was posed "What is your favorite movie starting with the letter M."  I had to think about it and I checked the answers that had been posted, the first of which was Meet Me In St. Louis, posted   by "l'empress," who frequently posts comments here.

Well that's a bummer, I thought.  Here I had the perfect movie right under my nose and I didn't get it posted in time.  I could, of course, have chosen the same movie, but what fun would that be?  Instead I picked Miracle on 34th Street, which I love, though it is one of those 40s movies that I loved when I first saw it for the magic in it and now, having become a jaded old lady, I see it for the cheesy shlock that it is...but if I can get in the right mindset, I still do love it.

Later in the day, I checked out l'empress's blog, A Place of My Own, where I saw that she had written an entry based on her That's My Answer answer.  She wrote an entire blog entry about Meet Me In St. Louis and never mentioned Judy Garland!  I left a comment to that effect on her entry and she answered back that "Seriously, I didn't really notice her the first time around.  In my mind, this was a movie about Margaret O'Brien."  

Didn't really notice the star of the show??  In fairness she was young at the time and says that her parents took her to see it because of Margaret O'Brien.  So I guess she can be forgiven for "not noticing" Judy Garland.  

But what she missed!  This was Garland's first experience with director Vincente Minnelli and she never looked so beautiful in any movie before (and possibly since).

From the early scene where we see her sitting in the window singing "The Boy Next Door" to the red dress she wore for the ball (red was her favorite color)

To the almost ethereal shots of her singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to Margaret O'Brien, trying to cheer her up.

She never looked more beautiful.  Some say that Minnelli was falling in love with her during the filming (he would later marry her and father Liza Minnellli) and that in these gorgeous shots he's making love to her with the camera.

The movie was released in 1944 and was an instant hit, becoming the second highest grossing film, after Gone with the Wind.  It is still, today, considered one of her three best performances (the other two being Wizard of Oz and A Star Is Born).  

The movie was all about the importance of family and home and released at a time where many young men were serving in the war and nobody knew for sure if they would return to their homes again, it must have been nice to escape into a simpler time, when problems were much smaller.

I often think of the very final scene of the movie...

...with Esther and John standing in the St. Louis World's Fair watching the fireworks and marveling about how other people have come long distances to be there, but they don't have to go a long distance because this wonderful fair is right where they live, right in their own back yard.  Whenever I visit San Francisco, especially during some sort of special event, I think how lucky I am, like Esther and John, that I don't have to come from far away to be a part of it, but that it is right in my own home town (even if I now live 80 miles away).

Yeah, Margaret O'Brien was in the film too, but I never paid much attention to her...I was too busy enjoying Judy Garland's performance.

Cinema Survey

I have felt "pre-cold" for the past couple of days (throat, nose, aches), starting last night.  So I kind of took it easy today, except for a run to the post office to send off a package to Peach and a Swap-Bot package.  I called my mother to tell her I was taking a couple of days off so as not to expose her to my germs, if they exist.  So there is nothing really to write about today (she says, judiciously avoiding any discussion of Washingon, DC), but I found this in my files that I never did and thought it might be fun to do, since it's right up my alley.

1. What is your favorite movie starring William Powell and Myrna Loy?
I have probably seen several of their movies, but the only ones that I remember are The Thin Man series, which I always enjoyed.

2. Name a screen team that appeared in only one film together but are still noteworthy for how well they complemented each other.
I loved the relationship between Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger in Shadowlands. Winger was less annoying that usual.

3. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' best film together?
I have seen all of their movies together and don't have a favorite, though the Gershwin score for Shall We Dance made that one fun to watch

4. Your favorite actor named "Robert"?
Robert Downey, Jr.  I will never forget being blown away by his performance in Chaplin.

5. An actor/actress who, when you see one of their movies, you always wish that someone else was in his/her role?
I never liked Randolph Scott.  

6. An actor/actress that someone close to you really loves that you can't stand or vice versa?
I'll go vice-versa.  Nobody shares my love for Judy Garland 

7. An actor/actress that you both agree on completely?
Walt and I both like Jacques Tati.

8. Complete this sentence: Virginia O'Brien is to Ethel Merman as...
Vera Ellen is to Rosemary Clooney

9. What is your favorite film starring Ray Milland?
Dial M for Murder ... always go for Hitchcock (though Lost Weekend was pretty good too!)

10. You had to have seen this one coming: what is your favorite movie of the 1960s?
Wow...that's a toughie.  So many, but To Kill a Mockingbird is at the top.  Also The Manchurian Candidate and The Music Man.  

11. Best movie kiss?
Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief.  Never have fireworks been more x-rated.

12. Who was your favorite of Robert Montgomery's leading ladies?
I had to go look up Robert Montgomery's filmography and discover that I don't think I've seen any of his movies, except possibly Meet Mr. Jordan.

13. You think it would have been a disaster (or, at least, not as good) if what movie starred the actor/actress who was originally asked to star in it?
Shirley Temple was originally supposed to be Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz but her studio wouldn't release her.  I think MGM lucked out on that one!

14. An actor/actress who you will watch in any or almost any movie?
Duhh.  Judy Garland, of course.  I love them all, though like the later ones better, but I have seen each more than once and A Star Is Born probably 100 times. Seriously.  As for actors, I have probably seen all of Cary Grant's movies.

15. Your favorite Leslie Howard film and role?
Intermezzo. Leslie Howard was such an odd duck.  So Ashley Wilkes...but I loved the chemistry between him and Ingrid Bergman.  (I never really did like Ashley. Too much a marshmallow.)

16. You have been asked to host a marathon of four Barbara Stanwyck films. Which ones do you choose?
Stella Dallas, Double Indemnity, Sorry Wrong Number and even The Thornbirds...That pretty much spans her entire career., 

17. What is, in your mind, the nearest to perfect comedy you have ever seen?
I am not into slapstick, so the Marx Brothers, most W.C. Fields and all the 3 Stooges (as well as more modern slapsticky type movies) don't count for me.  My very favorite comedy is The Frisco Kid with Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford, near the start of his career.  Also several Mel Brooks movies, like The Twelve Chairs, To Be or Not to Be, and, of course, The Producers.

18. You will brook no criticism of what film?
The 1954 version of A Star Is Born.  However, if you want to critique the Barbra Streisand remake, feel free...I'll happily join you!

19. Who is your favorite Irish actress?
Hands down Maureen O'Hara, especially inThe Quiet Man. Oh how I loved that movie!  I wanted to dye my hair auburn, though in watching it today, there is an awful lot of spousal abuse going on.  I don't want to think about that!

20. Your favorite 1940s movie starring Ginger Rogers?
Kitty Foyle.  She was probably also good in The Barkleys of Broadway, but since she took the role when Judy Garland was fired, I can never quite like her.

21. Do you enjoy silent movies?
Some, yes.  You can't find a more emotional movie than The Kid.

22. What is your favorite Bette Davis film?
I like schlocky movies, so I would choose Dark Victory, though there are others far better.  I always liked her softer side better than her hard edged side.

23. Your favorite onscreen Hollywood couple?
Definitely Tracy and Hepburn!

24. Who is your favorite Hollywood costume designer?
Cecil Beaton. His costumes for My Fair Lady were exquisite.  But then there was Edith Head....

25. What is your favorite tough action film?
Not much for tough action films, but I still marvel at how much glass was broken in Die Hard (the original)

26. Franchot Tone: yes or no?
My mother always hated him, so I grew up not liking him.  Now she can't remember who he is or ever not liking him. . Go figure.

27. Favorite actor?
Spencer Tracy

28. Favorite actress?
Judy Garland, of course

29. Of those listed, who is the coolest: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Steve McQueen, or Patrick Stewart?
Probably Paul Newman.  He was not only a good actor, but his charitable works push him into the "cool" category.

30. What is your favorite movie from each of these genres:
Comedy: The Frisco Kid / The Fatal Glass of Beer
Swashbuckler: The Princess Bride
Film noir: The Third Man
Musical: A Star is Born (Garland, of course)
Holiday: Miracle on 34th Street (the original, with Maureen O'Hara and Margaret O'Brien)
Hitchcock: North by Northwest and Vertigo

Classic Films

I found this a long time ago and it just seemed right up my alley.  This meme defines "classic film" as anything at least 40 years old.

1. Favorite classic Disney?
Oh, without a doubt, Bambi.

2. Favorite film from the year 1939?
Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Intermezzo, GWTW

OK, this isn't the original GWTW,
but maybe my favorite scene--ever

3. Favorite Carole Lombard Screwball role?
I never saw a lot of Carole Lombard movies, but I do remember liking her in To Be or Not to Be with Jack Benny.

4. Favorite off screen couple?
Oh, how could it be anybody but Hepburn and Tracy?

5. Favorite pair of best friends? 

Randolph Scott and Cary Grant
(who weren't gay, they say)

6. Favorite actor with a mustache?

Clifton Webb

7. Favorite blonde actress?
Grace Kelly or Doris Day

8. Favorite pre-code?
I was too young to have seen any when they were first released, but how could you not remember Public Enemy where James Cagney shoves a grapefruit into Mae Clark's face?

9. Which studio would you have liked to join?
None of them.  Especially not MGM. (But visiting MGM would have been fun for a star struck kid with an autograph book!)

10. Favorite common on screen pairing that SHOULD have gotten married?
Again, Tracy and Hepburn

11. Favorite I Love Lucy episode?
I was never a huge fan of I Love Lucy (sorry, Jimmy), so don't know a lot of episodes off the top of my head, but the episode with William Holden, where she set her nose on fire, was very funny

12. Out of these actresses which one do you like best: Lucille Ball, Ingrid Bergman, Natalie Wood, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Greer Garson, or Katharine Hepburn?
I like them all, but probably Audrey Hepburn would rank #1, with Bergman and Kelly tying for 2nd.

13. Shadowy film noir from the 1940’s or splashy colorful musicals from the 1950’s?
Oh definitely the splashy colorful musicals from the 1950s.

14. Actor or actress with the best autograph (photo preferred).
Judy Garland, because you can make out every single letter. For a woman with such a chaotic life, she had a remarkably controlled signature.  She autographed a photo for me once, and a few years back, I gave the photo to my friend Michael, another Garland devotee.

15. A baby (or childhood or teenage) photo of either your favorite actress or actor.

Judy Garland (of course)

My City by the Bay

This has been a relatively slothful weekend, one I didn't deserve.   If I had hosted a big Thanksgiving dinner, with lots of relatives, clean house, etc., I could have justified taking a couple of days off, but all I did was cart food to my mother's and cook it--she even cleaned up (which she insists on doing).  But I did take a couple of days off, mostly because there were good movies to see.

I couldn't pass up the chance to see Hitchcock's Vertigo again.  One of my favorite classic movies, and a toss-up between this and North by Northwest as my favorite Hitchcock.

This particular movie is near and dear to my heart because it's set in my neighborhood.  For one thing, John "Scotty" Ferguson (James Stewart) lives about 3 blocks from where I grew up.  I used to drive by that house with the iconic red door all the time (the door has since been painted).  But all the places they visit--Fort Point, under the Golden Gate Bridge, where Kim Novak leaps off into the bay (an impossible situation today, since the area was fenced off after 9/11); the Palace of Fine arts; Mission Dolores (the oldest building in San Francisco, across the street from where I used to work for The Lamplighters); and many other famous sites.

Hitchcock loved San Francisco and filmed many movies there, Shadow of a Doubt and The Birds for example.  Authors Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal wrote a book called "Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco."  I had never watched Vertigo with the book in my lap before and it was fun, following the back story of the shooting locations as I watched the familiar story unfold on my TV screen.

I learned a lot about Ernie's restaurant, for one thing.   Ernie's was "the" place to go for dining in San Francisco.   With its dark wood paneling and red flocked wallpaper it represented for me the ideal in elegant dining.  Hitchcock recreated Ernie's on a stage in Hollywood, but borrowed or copied art work and other ephemera from the actual restaurant.  The owners of the restaurant appear in the movie as a waiter and the maitre d' and Hitchcock was so concerned with realism he had actual meals from Ernie's served on the set when filming that scene.

Alas, Ernie's went out of business in 1998, so I never did have the "Ernie's experience."

But the authors failed to answer a question for me (the reason I bought the book, actually!) which I must investigate myself some day.  Kim Novak as Madeline enters the Mission Dolores chapel and walks toward the front of the church.   She exits out the door on the right side of the chapel.  Scotty follows her into the attached cemetery.  BUT, the cemetery is on the left side of the chapel.  I don't know if there is a path that leads around the back of the church and into the cemetery and it bothers me every time I see the movie.  It seems such a glaring error to anybody who is familiar with San Francisco, and especially a director who is so persnickity as Hitchcock was.

(This photo is also wrong.  Scotty's windows face the street
and it would be impossible to see Coit Tower from those windows)

Glaring errors are common in movies about San Francisco, though, most commonly those exciting chase sequences where a car goes sailing over the top of a famous San Francisco hill...and lands on a hill that is on the opposite side of the city (Foul Play is the movie that comes immediately to mind!)

On Saturday evening, Walt and I watched a strange movie called Dark Passage. This was the third of four movies that Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made together and it got mixed reviews, with Bogart getting poor reviews and Bacall glowing ones.  It's a strange movie where Bogart, wrongly imprisoned at San Quentin for the murder of his wife, somehow manages to escape from death row and tries to solve the mystery of his wife's murder.  The first third of the movie is seen entirely from Bogart's point of view since he get plastic surgery so we don't see the familiar Bogart face until after the surgery (which is performed in office in about an hour, with no follow up, a one-week recovery time and no scars...Talk about suspension of disbelief!)

The movie has plot holes that you can drive a truck through though somehow it was strangely entertaining.  Most of the reviews, however, talk about the real star of the film as San Francisco. 

[t]he city of San Francisco, which is liberally and vividly employed as the realistic setting for the Warners' Dark Passage...For Writer-Director Delmar Daves has very smartly and effectively used the picturesque streets of that city and its stunning panoramas from the hills to give a dramatic backdrop to his rather incredible yarn. So, even though bored by the story—which, because of its sag, you may be—you can usually enjoy the scenery, which is as good as a travelogue -- Bosley Crowder

Unlike Vertigo, this film noir movie deals more with the seedier sides of the city, but also sweeping vistas, for which San Francisco is best known.  I love seeing movies made in this era and comparing the skyline to the skyline of today.

There are so many movies made in San Francisco and I love watching every single one of them.  It always reminds me of Judy Garland at the end of Meet Me in St. Louis when she looks out at the big world's fair and comments that she didn't have to come from a great distance (or in my case go to a theater), but that she could see sights like this every day, because it was right where she lived.

I don't live there any more, but it's still "my city by the bay."

Wagging Tails

One of this morning's questions from That's My Answer was "What is your favorite dog movie?"

One movie didn't immediately leap to mind because I've seen (and loved) so many.  I'm a sucker for any sort of animal movie, with a special soft spot in my heart for dog movies.

The first one that came immediately to mind was Lassie Come Home, not necessarily because it is my favorite, but because it may have been the first dog movie I ever saw.   Mr. & Mrs. Carraclough are forced to sell the family's beloved collie to the rich duke (father of Elizabeth Taylor).  Son Roddie MacDowell is desolate and Lassie spends most of the movie finding her way home. Of course there is ultimately a happy ending for everybody.

I loved Lassie. I loved all the Lassie movies I saw and watched the TV show through the Tommy Rettig years and then the Jon Provost years.  I never could understand how Tommy's family could just leave behind their beloved dog when they moved off the farm. 

I remember hearing an interview with June Lockhart once where she was talking about what an amazing dog Lassie was supposed to be and how when her charactergot her foot caught in some sort of an animal trip, she sent Lassie home to get a "c-clamp" off of the kitchen counter in the house, which she described to the dog, Lassie, being only a dog, of course, instead brought the c-shaped cheese cutter and Mom had to send her back to the house again. 

I met Lassie once.  It was the only dog show I ever attended and we went because Lassie was the guest star.  I met "her" (all Lassies were really male) on the back steps when I went out to the bathroom.  Such a thrill for my dog-loving heart!)

But there are so many other dog movies I remember.  Oddly, I know I've seen Old Yeller, but I really don't remember it.  However, if you want a tear jerker, you can't beat Where the Red Fern Grows, the story of an Ozarks boy and his two coonhounds, Old Dan and Little Ann.  Even though the book was not written until 1961, which means I read it as an adult, I still idenified with the kid who gets these dogs and trains them and watching the relationship grow among all of them.

Of course, this being a tear jerker, the dogs die (both of them), but the miracle that follows their deaths helps ease the pain of loss for little Billy.

I always dreamed of having that kind of relationship with a dog.   By the time I had my own dog I was too busy with other things to go off wandering the woods with the dog, having close conversations with them, and training them to do wonderful things.  Heck, I still can't get Polly to understand that there are better places the inside to use for toileting, though now that I have puddle pads on the floor, it's slightly less annoying than it was before.  I do admit that I love it when she snuggles with me, when Sheila leaves her favorite place outside to come in and lie next to me as I sleep, and when Lizzie looks searchingly into my face, trying to figure out what is going on with me.  I suspect these 3 may be the closest I'll ever get to Old Dan and Little Ann.

There were other dog movies I remember that I liked.  Remember Milo and Otis?  It was the story of a dog and a cat and their adventures together.  I don't remember it well, but I loved it because of the pug (I don't remember if it was Milo or Otis!).   Those animal adventures are fun, if done well.  Homeward Bound, with two dogs and a cat trecking across the country to find their owners, was well done with major voices for the animals (Michael J. Fox was one I remember), but some of them just get too silly, like Beverly Hills Chihuahua.  I watched that one because of Polly, but I hated it.  I also remember that we had a spate of Chihuahua mixes turned into the SPCA for a year or so after that movie came out...same as the problem people had after everyone went out and adopted Dalmatians after 101 Dalmatians and then discovered that they were more active than they bargained for.  I can only assume that all those surrendered Chihuahuas were like Polly and the owners who thought they would be like Paris Hilton's dog were disappointed and frustrated and gave up.

But maybe the very best dog movie ever made was Best in Show.   I love anything Christopher Guest makes, but this is one of my favorites.

It follows several dog owners and their preparations and participation in a dog show, as only Christopher Guest can do it.  The sight of Guest with his bloodhound running around the ring is my favorite memory of that movie!

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for dog movies and am glad there are so many good ones out there!

But the Book was so GOOD

One of this morning's questions on "That's My Answer" was "What book  have you read the most times? How many times have you read it?"  I suppose there are books from my childhood that I read countless times (the Black Stallion series, for example), but in my adulthood, there are so many books and so little time to re-read them, that only one leaps to mind:  "Marjorie Morningstar."  I think I read that book in high school and it was my "go to" book to read whenever I needed comfort food of books for many years.  My copy became so dilapidated that Marta once borrowed it and, as a surprise, had it rebound and gave it to me for Christmas.  Like me, Marta is an avid reader -- much more voracious than I -- and she understands the relationship between a reader and her beloved book!

"L'empress," one of the regulars on "That's My Answer" (and commenter on my blog posts) posted a reply to my  answer of "Marjorie Morningstar," which said I'll bet one reason you liked it was because it was better than the movie.

Well, no...that's not the reason I liked it.  I had read it several times before the movie came out and I remember being excited to see the book brought to the big screen.  Natalie Wood seemed the perfect choice for Marjorie and while Gene Kelly might not have been my first choice to play Noel, her lover, I liked him as an actor, so I had high hopes for the movie.

But the movie was terrible.  It was one of those "it seemed like a good idea at the time" movies that changed the entire point of the story by casting handsome young Martin Milner as Marjorie's friend Wally Wronkin, with whom, at the end of the movie, she realizes she has been in love.  But it was wrong...wrong...wrong.  Marjorie would never have ended up with Wally (and, in fact, she married an attorney sometime after the point where the movie ends).  I wanted to throw things at the screen when I saw I saw Marjorie look in the bus driver's mirror and see Wally in the back of the bus and smile in that knowing way.  They had completely ruined my favorite book.

But how many times does Hollywood get it right anyway.  How many wonderful books have been ruined or trivialized or completely misunderstood by getting the Hollywood treatment.  Barbra Streisand is a person I admire.  She is a multi talented actress who has also had much success with producing and/or directing big blockbuster movies, but there are two for which I cannot forgive her.  You all know that I hate what she did to A Star Is Born, but even more, perhaps, I hated what she did to A Prince of Tides, another of my favorite books.

Prince of Tides is a coming of age story in which the hero, Tom Wingo, is meeting with his sister's psychiatrist in order to help the psychiatrist make sense of the sister's childhood, following the sister's suicide attempt.  The book is a series of long flashbacks to the Wingo children's growing up in South Carolina.   It is filled with memorable escapades, including pivotal one involving a white tiger, which was conveniently just dropped from the movie entirely.  Streisand made the psychiatrist (the role she played) the center of the story and the flashbacks just little vignettes that assumed less importance than her growing relationship with Tom (not a part of the book either).  I was so angry with that movie.

We recently saw The Help on our last "family movie night" when Jeri was in town.  I had loved the book and so I liked the movie. Jeri and Walt were less enthusiastic about it and when I stopped to think about it, the reason I liked the movie is that I knew the back story of a lot of the action in the movie, and they did not.  I knew, for example, why toilets appeared all over Ms Hilly's front lawn.  It was a funny scene in the movie, but difficult to place in context.  There were a lot of things like that that I realized later you appreciated and enjoyed if you knew the story, and which wouldn't really have the same importance to you if you did not.

One of my favorite David Gerrold books is "The Martian Child," a loosely fictionalized account of his adopting of his son.  Right off the bat I was angry with the movie for wimping out.  Gerrold is gay and the issue of a gay man adopting a child was significant in the book.  In the movie the character of "David" is a widower.  The movie was otherwise not all that bad though, knowing David personally, Walt and I both guffawed at the magnificent home that fictional David lives in and the finale was just cheesy and not up to the level of the book.

I still don't know how Hollywood managed to take a book as gripping as "The DaVinci Code" and make it into such a boring movie.  Or maybe I just couldn't get past Tom Hanks' hair.  I'm sure there are a lot of classics that I have forgotten, or that I never read the book, so I can't really speak to how they were transformed to the silver screen....I'll bet a lot of you can.

I realize it's not possible to include every incident that is in a book in a movie, but it would be nice to at least stay faithful to the book.  Gone with the Wind is one of those movies that I feel did credit to the book.  Yes, there were things that were omitted, but basically I think that the movie itself does not disappoint people who love the book.

Likewise, Like Water for Elephants, while taking liberties with the story, ended up being pretty faithful to the book, in the circus parts of the story, though you missed the back and forth of the old man and what is going on in his life today, which was a big part of the book.

I've seen several movie versions of "Little Women" and each one seems to stay pretty faithful to the original book, as do the many screen versions I have seen of "Of Mice and Men."  

So it can be done.  It is possible to take a beloved book and put it on screen without having book lovers tearing their hair out about the liberties taken with a familiar plot.  It's just a shame that when a big blockbuster book makes it onto the screen, so often it is a disappointment.  I would never see a movie of a book I wanted to read without reading the book first.  And if I happen to see the movie first, I might skip reading the book, for fear of being angry with the movie.

100 Movies

As I have mentioned many times, Kwizgiver often gives me ideas for memes and lists.  Because of her, two months ago I attempted a list of 50 songs which had moved me (realizing, practically, that I could not make a list of 100).  Today I noticed that she had done a 100 movies list too and I thought I'd try that.  I might be able to make 100 which have had an impact on me, or that I would be likely to watch if I saw them come on TV, though I suspect that most of them will not be current movies, since we see so few movies these days.  As I make this list I discover that very few were released after 1970 and that most of them are high on schmaltz and not necessarily long on quality!   Very few are on the AFI list of the top 100 films.  I suspect people will relate to Kwizgiver's list more than to most of mine!

Where they exist, I will include links to the trailers on YouTube in case you want to check them out.  And they are in no particular order of importance, just as they come to mind except, of course, for the first one, which should surprise nobody.  Here goes:

1. A Star is Born.  It has to be the Judy Garland version.   The Janet Gayor version in 1937 was good and I like it, but I prefer it with music.   I am still angry with Barbra Streisand for her version.

2. The Quiet Man.   Take away John Wayne's cowboy hat and his Marines uniform and you have Sean Thornton, former boxer returning to his Irish roots and falling in love with Maureen O'Hara.  I rarely put this on lists of favorites, not because it isn't, but because I forget.  I love this movie.

3. Dave.  I love this movie because I would like to think politics could work like this.  Kevin Kline makes a great president.

4. Moon over Parador.   This is the movie on which Dave was based.  Same story set in a foreign country, with Richard Dreyfus as the stand-in president.

5. An American President.   While I'm looking at good presidents Michael Douglas does a good job too, and proves that even the President needs a little romance in his life.

6. The Frisco Kid.   Gene Wilder just after Willie Wonka and Harrison Ford before Star Wars.  Great little comedy about an innocent, naive rabbi trying to make it from Poland to Old West San Francisco, with the reluctant assistance of bank robber Ford.   Check it out!

7. Mrs. Doubtfire.  I love Robin Williams in almost anything, but he is in great form in drag, playing a British nanny to his own children.

8. The Birdcage.   Speaking of Robin Willliams in drag, how about the American movie based on the French La Cage Aux Folles.  Actually Williams doesn't do drag, Nathan Lane does, but it all takes place in the drag club Williams owns.

9. La Cage Aux Folles.   The original movie is wonderful too.

10. Victor Victoria.   While we're on the subject of drag, this classic with Julie Andrews playing a woman impersonating a man impersonating a woman is much fun. 

11. Tootsie.  Another drag movie, with Dustin Hoffman playing an out of work actor who gets a job on a popular soap opera by posing as a woman.

12. The Seventh Veil.   No video trailer of this movie, made in 1945, but I fell in love with James Mason, the aloof, somewhat cruel uncle to brilliant pianist Ann Todd.

13. North by Northwest.   My favorite Hitchcock thriller.  Cary Grant at his best climbing around the heads of Mt. Rushmore.

14. To Catch a Thief.   Or maybe THIS is my favorite Hitchcock thriller.  Cary Grant at his best.   :) chasing the elusive jewel thief that everyone thinks is him.  Best scene--the fireworks scene with Grace Kelly.

15. The Third Man.   This was the movie that made me understand why black and white movies are not better colorized!  Gripping story, directed by Orson Wells, beautifully photographed and death to anyone who tries to add color!

16. Bambi.  My very favorite Disney movie. I bought the DVD for Bri and wanted to watch it with her, but I don't even know if she's ever seen it.

17. Dumbo.  Also a favorite Disney, though not on a par with Bambi.

18. Song of the South.   This controversial Disney movie, based on the Uncle Remus stories, was re-released in 1986, after many years on the shelf, having been removed, apparently, because of material that came to be felt was politically incorrect and racist.

19. The Manchurian Candidate.   Speaking of movies that were pulled from circulation is the original of this movie, the Frank Sinatra version.  Rumor is that Sinatra took it out circulation for many years, following the JFK assassination, but happily it is now available again.  The original version is much better and more chilling than the updated version.

20. The Fatal Glass of Beer.   If you have 18 minutes to spare, do yourself a favor and click on the link to see the whole W.C. Fields movie, which David described as "the dumbest movie ever," and then invited all of his friends, in waves, to come and watch with him.  'tain't a fit night out for man nor beast!

21. Air Force One.  A gripping thriller of the hijacking of the presidential airplane.  Harrison Ford gets to strut his stuff in this one and Glenn Close plays the vice president trying to keep it all together at home.  For some reason, this movie seems to run quite often on cable...and I usually watch it (or watch "at" it)

22. The Nun's Story. This Audrey Hepburn flick was one that made me want to be a missionary for many years after I saw it.

23. Love in the Afternoon.   I guess this is the Audrey Hepburn section of this list, since I have loved so many of her movies.  In this movie Audrey plays the innocent young daughter of a Paris detective (Maurice Chevalier) falls in love with a middle-aged playboy (Gary Cooper). one of her father's most notorious subjects.

24. Sabrina.  In this Hepburn movie, the chauffeur's daughter gets caught between two wealthy brothers (William Holden and Humphrey Bogart).

25. Roman Holiday.   Hepburn won an academy award for this, her first movie, where she plays a runaway princess having a holiday in Rome, accompanied by reporter (Gregory Peck) who is determined to get a big story out of the fling.

26. My Fair Lady. Was she ever more regal than descending the stairs of Professor Higgins' (Rex Harrison) house on her way to the ball?  Loved this Hepburn film.

27. The Prince and the Showgirl is the unusual pairing of showgirl Marilyn Monroe and philandering prince Laurence Olivier but the result is a charming little film that I very much enjoy.

28. To Kill a Mockingbird.   Everybody's favorite attorney, Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) at his most noble.

29. Ocean's Eleven.   The original, with the Rat Pack. Yeah, I know that Brad Pitt and George Clooney et al are the new rat pack, but the original of this movie can't hold a candle to the remakes (IMHO).  The funeral scene is classic.

30. Affair to Remember.   How could I get this far without mentioning this movie?  Classic schmaltzy love story of a shipboard romance that changes the lives of the two lovers (Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr).  I have seen this movie maybe 100 times and still cry in the last 5 minutes.  In fact, I don't need to see the rest of the movie, just catch the last five minutes and I'm heading for the tissues.

31. Sleepless in Seattle.   While not a remake of Affair to Remember, that movie does play a big role in this film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan about two people finding each other.

32. Big.  Tom Hanks is more than believable as a young boy in a grown up body trying to get back to his original size, while at the same time learning what it means to be a grown up.

33. Philadelphia.   While I'm thinking of Tom Hanks, his performance as an AIDS victim fighting an improper job termination was just wonderful. What an impact his performance made!

34. Miracle on 34th St., my favorite Christmas movie--as usual, the original, not the remake.  Is Kris Kringle really the real Santa Claus, as he asserts?  Natalie Wood is the perfect little girl, and the ending is magical.

35. Driftwood.   Natalie Wood also plays the little girl in this movie, which has no YouTube trailer (link is to ImDB).  It has all you want in schmaltz -- a little girl, a lost dog, a virulent virus, and well-meaning doctor and a love interest. 

36. The Blue Veil. Another movie not on YouTube is this movie starring Jane Wyman, which you can't even find in VHS tape now.  Wyman plays a war widow, whose child dies at birth.  She spends the rest of her life working as a nanny and at the end there is a reunion of all of her former charges, now grown up.  It was probably a horrible movie, but I would love to see it again.

37. Ghost.  This movie was released about a year after Gilbert died, at a time when I really needed to believe in life after death.  Patrick Swayzie and Demi Moore convinced me!

38. Shadowlands. I loved this love story between Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, playing CS Lewis and an American divorcee, dying of cancer, whom he marries.  "The sadness then is part of the joy now...that's the deal"

39. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.  Spencer Tracy's last movie.  He died 17 days later.  Rather than linking to the trailer, I'm linking to my favorite monologue that gets me every time.   Are the tears in Hepburn's eyes acting or real?  I'm betting real.

40. Lilies of the Field.   The first time we paid attention to Sidney Poitier and it set the rest of his career.  I just loved his relationship with the German nuns.

41. The King and I.   This musical became the lifelong role for Yul Brynner, who did play other roles, but is most remembered for this which he played on stage for the rest of his life.   Tells the story of a British teacher who comes to Siam to teach the children of the king, and in the process changes the course of history for the country.

42. The Music Man.  In addition to being a movie I enjoy, it also became the family stage show, since Paul and Jeri did it once and Paul did it three times (winning an award once). Robert Preston is the perfect Harold Hill.

43. Lili.  Sweet story of a young girl (Leslie Caron) who  joins the circus and becomes involved with a group of puppets--and the puppetteer.

44. Gigi.  Caron comes into her own with this Oscar-winning movie about the coming of age of the daughter of a courtesan in Paris.  With Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jordan and Hermione Gingold.

45. Anastasia.  Even though DNA evidence proves that Anastasia, daughter of Czar Nicholas did not escape the execution of her family, this Ingrid Bergman/Yul Brynner movies still makes me wonder! Helen Hayes is marvelous as the Dowager Empress.

46. Summertime.   Katharine Hepburn as a single middle aged woman finding love with Rosanno Brazzi in Venice.

47. The King's Speech.   Hey!  A sort of reecent movie! The story of the relationship between King George VI and his speech therapist (Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush) is just beautiful.   I love triumph over tragedy stories!

48. Rebel Without a Cause.   This James Dean movie had an impact on any teen ager who saw it.  The alienation between the teens and their parents, the friendship that grows between Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, all three, in their own way, misfits.  Beautiful movie.

49. Death of a Salesman.   This version of the Arthur Miller play with Dustin Hoffman as the down and on his way out salesman Willy Loman is just magic. I've seen several versions of this play and this is, for me, the best.

50. Marathon Man.   Hoffman again in the thriller starring Laurence Olivier as an ex-Nazi war criminal (who also happens to be a sadistic dentist) will keep you on the edge of your seat.

51. Castaway.  Tom Hanks carries a movie about one man stuck for years on an otherwise deserted island after the crash of the plane in which he was flying.  He makes each scene special. And you'll never casually punch a volleyball again.

52. The Old Man and the Sea.   Speaking of solo performances, this movie telling Hemmingway's story of an old Portuguese fisherman battling his "big fish" against sharks and the elements is just amazing. I love that the only trailers I could find have Greek subtitles (but the film clips are in English)

53. Hoosiers.  Another David-and-Goliath type movie of a down and out coach (Gene Hackman) taking a down and out high school basketball team and bringing them to the state championships.

54. Superman.  Not "my kind of movie" ordinarily but Christopher Reeve's performance was so good...and his sad history after he finished making the Superman movies makes this one of the special ones.

55. Unfaithful.  This movie with Diane Lane having an affair with Richard Gere a brilliant romantic thriller.   The scene with Diane Lane on the bus was just classic.

56. For Me and My Gal.   Well, I should include another Judy Garland movie.  This was Gene Kelly's screen debut, as a vaudeville hoofer with eyes set on playing The Palace in New York, but who gets drafted and the effect that has on his relationship with Garland.  Maybe one of my favorite of her MGM years.

57. I Could Go on Singing.   Judy Garland's best film since A Star is Born.  More autobiographical in spots than most!

58. Back to the Future.   I enjoyed the whole trilogy, but #1 and #3 were the best.  Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly goes backward and forward in time with buddy Christopher Lloyd so often it will make your head spin.

59. Chaplin.  Robert Downey, Jr. makes Charlie Chaplin live again.  Fabulous film.

60. The Kid.  Charlie Chaplin's first full length film, with Jackie Cooper playing the child Chaplin adopted as a baby.  Funny and a tear jerker at the same time.  The link is to the full movie.

61. Rear Window.   Another Hitchcock thriller, which shows that terror can be produced with very little actual action.  Grace Kelly plays Jimmy Stewart's girlfriend.  I remember watching this with Paul, who was clutching a pillow the whole time.

62. Vertigo.  I love this movie not only because it's a good Hitchcock thriller, but because it was shot in my neighborhood -- James Stewart's character's flat is 3 blocks from where I grew up.

63. The Great Escape.   One of the great prisoner of war movies, starring everybody (James Garner, Steve McQueen, Richard Dawson, etc.).  Hogan's Heroes this ain't!

64. Moscow on the Hudson.   This was the movie that made me realize there was more to Robin Williams than his comedy. 

65. Patch Adams.  This is how I wish medicine was practiced...at least with the level of care that Patch has.   The scene welcoming gynecologists to the hospital is priceless.

66. Steel Magnolias.   What a wonderfully empowering women's film...showing that those ol' southern belles are really made of steel!

67. The Trouble with Harry.   An early Hitchcock film that is more quirky than terrifying.  Shirley Maclaine's movie debut in a starring role.

68. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.  Leonard Nimoy's first outing as directing one of the Star Trek films.  This is the one with the whales and, of all the films, my favorite.

69. Calendar Girls. What a wonderful, fun movie.  The women's club of a small town in England comes up with an unusual way to make money for the group.

70. Waking Ned Devine.   I laughed so hard during this Irish movie, which involves a winning lottery ticket found on the body of a dead man.  Can the money be claimed?

71. A Private Function.   Another hilarious movie about a small town in England dealing with post-World War II rationing...and a pig.  Michael Palin and Maggie Smith are both very funny.

72. 84 Charing Cross Rd.   It's one place I wanted to go when we were first in England.  Charing Cross Rd. exists,but #84 does not.  Still this story about a British book store owner (Anthony Hopkins) and a book enthusiast in America (Anne Bancroft) is a classic.

73. Mr. Holland's Opus.   We knew a couple of Mr. Hollands and I love this movie, which celebrates teachers who make a difference.

74. Whiskey Galore (aka Tight Little Island).  This is more one of Walt's favorite movies--a Scottish island which runs out of whiskey...and how providence provides for them!

75.  Gaijin. This is a beautiful Brasilian movie that I saw back in the 1980s.  It is about the Japanese migration to Brasil to work on the coffee plantations.  To truly appreciate the message of this film, it is important to watch the captioned version, so you can appreciate the Portuguese, Italian, English, and Japanese languages spoken during the film, and how important the language mix is to the understanding of the story.  Couldn't find a film clip from it.

76. Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  A children's classic that can be enjoyed by adults as well.   Wouldn't everyone like to live in a chocolate factory?

77. Gia.  Angelina Jolie plays model, Gia Carangi.  She brings such power to this portrayal that it is mesmerizing.

78. Interrupted Melody.   When I first saw this movie about Australian opera singer Marjorie Lawrence, when I was in grammar school, I decided I was going to become an opera singer and probably drove my mother nuts with my attempts to skreetch high notes!

79. Experiment in Terror.   Not only was this Blake Edwards movie shot in San Francisco, but my then-boyfriend, Randy Ray Jones, was in a couple of scenes as an extra.  In addition to that, it holds you on the edge of your seat.

80. Days of Wine and Roses. Coming from a long line of alcoholics, I was particularly taken with this film, which shows how an upscale couple, Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick, begin to sink into alcoholism.   Title song won the Oscar.

81. Show Boat.  I am sure I must have seen movies before Show Boat but this is the movie I remember going to for the first time, with my grandmother.  I even remember that we arrived late.

82. High Society.   Bing Crosby! Frank Sinatra! Grace Kelly! Louis Armstrong! Cole Porter! Is there any need for further explanation?  This is the musical remake of the old Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn movie,The Philadelphia Story.

83. White Christmas.   While I'm mentioning Bing Crosby, I must add White Christmas as a favorite Christmas movie.

84. The Court Jester.   Danny Kaye classic.  Where is the pellet with the poison anyway?

85. Oh God.  As is obvious if you have made it this far down this list, my tastes in movies do not go deep.   I will forever more picture George Burns when you ask me what God looks like!

86. Going My Way.   Bing Crosby crooning at his best, a young priest sent to help a failing parish.   Barry Fitzgerald was younger than I am when he played the doddering old priest.   Sigh.

87. Bells of St. Mary's.   Obviously movies that affected me in my early years had a lot to do with religion, particularly catholics.  In this one Ingrid Bergman is a nun and Bing Crosby is a priest ... and no hanky panky takes place.

88. Paula.   Oh this may be the schockiest of them all.  Loretta Young plays a society matron who hits a young orphan (Tommy Rettig, who went on to be in all those early Lassie TV shows) with her car and causes injuries that prevent him from speaking (he also loses his memory).  The movie is about retribution and acceptance and is worth a few tissues.

89. Half Angel.   I don't really remember much about this movie (other than I remember loving it) about a woman (Loretta Young) who suffers from sleep walking.

90. Come to the Stable.   Another nun movie.  This one takes place at Christmas time and stars Loretta Young.  This link is not to a trailer, but to the first of seven parts, so you can see the entire movie in 7 chunks on YouTube.

91. The Apartment.   How C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) find his cajones and a girlfriend (Shirley Maclaine) to boot.

92. Slum Dog Millionaire.   A feel good movie about poverty in India...and an introduction to Bollywood dancing!

93. Shawshank Redemption. Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

94. Toy Story.  I would be hard pressed to name which of the 3 Toy Stories I prefer.  The first one was wonderful because it was something new.  The 3rd one was wonderful because it brought the story full circle perfectly. The second one was just wonderful.

95. Hotel Rwanda.  I was appalled that I had known so little about what happened in Rwanda and angry that the United States did so little to help the people who were killed.

96. The Sixth Sense.   I wonder how many people, like me, have to see this movie for a second time, knowing how it all ends, trying to figure out where it all began.

97. Good Will Hunting.   Another non-comedic role for Robin Williams, and a first outing for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck...and we all know where that led!

98. The Horse's Mouth.  This quirky film stars Alec Guinness as Gulley Jimson, a vulgar but dedicated painter. The Lt. Kizhe Suite by Prokofiev features prominently.

99. Kind Hearts and Coronets.   A distant poor relative of the Duke of D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession.   Alec Guinness x8.  What could be better!

100. The Mouse that Roared.   An impoverished backward nation declares a war on the United States of America, hoping to lose so they can get financial assistance, but things don't go according to plan. I can never hear the phrase "Grand Duchy" without adding "Fenwick." Peter Sellers plays four different roles in this movie.

I probably could have gone for 200.  Aren't you glad I didn't?