Desk Set, the classic 1957 film starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, is a humorous and well crafted romantic comedy about what happens when the computer is introduced to corporate America. The film is a nice way to look back at the way things used to be, before computers took over the world and work depended on a group of knowledgeable individuals who knew how to get the answer to a question without doing a google search.
The film is set in the New York offices of the fictional Federal Broadcasting Network where Hepburn is in charge of the research department and Tracy is an implementation and efficiency expert who, it seems, is brought in to replace everyone with an "electronic brain". With Hepburn and Tracy at the center, you know you're in for a witty couple of hours, and the screenplay and direction give our two leads plenty of time and situations for the banter and wit to flow. They are both strong determined characters who think they have the other figured out, but aren't always correct in their assumptions. The plot is the same way as well, as you might think you know where it's going but there are a couple of surprises in store so your assumptions aren't always correct.
Blondell, Hepburn and Tracy
The supporting cast is pretty good too. Joan Blondell is Hepburn's close friend and co-worker and Gig Young is Hepburn's romantic involvement, a romance that has been going on for 7 years with no engagement in site. Blondell plays another one of her usual wise cracking characters and she is given a few moments to shine, but always has plenty of warmth behind the delivery of the lines. The same can be said about Hepburn, who is not only warm, but smart, loving, concerned about her co-workers and sexy as well. I don't think Hepburn has ever given a bad or even just slightly less than great performance in any of her films. In Desk Set, she continues that trend of playing another determined, strong, but fragile character and she also gets to play tipsy, and manages to completely capture that state of being in an honest, sincere, realistic and very funny way. Tracy, as usual, is more of the straight man to Hepburn, and in the case of Desk Set, he serves that role for Blondell as well to a degree. He perfectly plays the role with just the right balance of low stated humor in his delivery and extreme intellect but with the added touch of his words giving fuel to the fire of the situation without necessarily knowing that he is feeding the flames.
Based on the 1955 play by William Marchant that had a nine month run on Broadway and starred Shirley Booth in the role that Hepburn would play on film. The 1957 film was directed by Walter Lang with a screenplay by Henry and Phoebe Ephron, Nora Ephron's parents, who the previous year wrote the screenplay for the film of Carousel. Lang directed many other stage to film transfers including The King and I, Call Me Madam and Can Can as well as the original film musicals State Fair and There's No Business Like Show Business and the classic family films Cheaper By The Dozen, The Little Princess and The Blue Bird.
Hepburn and Tracy had an amazing connection on screen and in their personal lives. They made nine films together and Desk Set was the first of the films they starred in made in color. If you're looking for a fun night at the movies, with well written dialogue and a top notch cast, then put Desk Set in your Netflix queue now.
Click below to buy the film from Amazon- also included the nine film Hepburn/Tracy dvd collection as well.
Since "royal wedding fever" is upon us, I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at the 1951 film Royal Wedding. Starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell, the film is set during the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. It tells the story of brother and sister dance team Tom and Ellen Bowen, played by Astaire and Powell, who get booked to play their show in London during the time of the wedding. Stanely Donen directed the film, Alan Jay Lerner wrote the script and lyrics and Burton Lane wrote the music
The film begins in New York at the closing of the team's current show, takes our team on their boat journey that gets them to England, then features many scenes set in the London streets, hotel rooms and theatre where the Bowen's show is running. Royal Wedding is your typical MGM 1950's backstage Hollywood movie musical, with minimal plot but maximum musical sequences.
And this film has several musical sequences that have become "classic" movie musical moments. The first one has Astaire doing a solo dance, set to the instrumental song "Sunday Jumps." First he dances with a coat rack then with various other set pieces and props including barbells that are in the dance rehearsal room. Notice how there are very few edits in this sequence and that the shot always includes Astaire's entire body so you can see what his feet and hands are always doing.
This is almost immediately followed by a great number that includes Astaire and Powell dancing in a ballroom on the ship. The sea gets a little bumpy so the ship starts to rock while they are dancing so the couple have to adjust their dance accordingly. A very funny and lovely sequence.
And, one of the most famous musical scenes in a movie musical appears in Royal Wedding - where Astaire literally dances on the ceiling - see video clip below. Warren Newcombe was responsible for the special effects in the film, and this scene is simply breathtaking. I can't imagine what it was like to see that scene in theatres back in 1951. I'm sure there were gasps in the audience when Astaire started to walk up the wall of his room.
The film is a very enjoyable one, with a fairly basic plot but the musical sequences alone are enough to warrant a recommendation. And while stock footage of the royal wedding is included, the film pretty much has absolutely nothing to do with a royal wedding except for the title!
Looking back over my post the other day about John Williams made me remember that the first Oscar nomination he received was for writing the score to the camp classic film from 1967 Valley of the Dolls. So, I thought I'd take a look back at that film, a film that has brought me numerous hours of enjoyment over the years. Dolls was based on the hit 1966 novel by Jacqueline Susann, which has sold more than 30 million copies, and directed by Mark Robson who previously directed Peyton Place, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness and Von Ryan's Express and who would go on to direct the disaster camp classic Earthquake in 1974.
"You've got to climb Mount Everest to reach the Valley of the Dolls" is the statement made as the film begins and for those of you reading this who haven't had the pleasure to see the film or read the book, "dolls" are what the characters in the film call drugs. And there are a lot of "dolls" in this film, as it documents the swinging 1960's and the rise, and fall, of three career girls, showing their successes but also their self destruction as they climb up but eventually fall down their own personal Mount Everest's.
Parkins, Tate and Duke
The film stars Patty Duke, Barbara Parkins and Sharon Tate as the three career girls with Susan Hayward as the "seen it all Broadway star." Neely O'Hara and Jennifer North (Duke and Tate) meet when they both are working on a Broadway show that Helen Lawson (Hayward) gets Neely fired from when she feels threatened by her talent. Parkins is Anne Wells, the new girl in town, working for Helen's agent but finding herself siding with O'Hara. Together the three young ladies find themselves on the road to success. The plot takes us from Broadway to Hollywood and back. With occasional stops in snuff films, psych wards, bars and back alleys and boyfriends, husbands, lovers, hidden medical conditions, unplanned pregnancies, bust exercises, "incognito traveling," lasagna, the occasional wig pulling cat fight and "boobies, boobies, nothin' but boobies" just things they encounter along the way.
The first part of the film, set in New York theaters and night clubs includes several musical numbers. The songs were written by Andre and Dory Previn. Both Patty Duke and Susan Hayward are dubbed on their songs by Gail Heideman and Margaret Whiting, respectively. Judy Garland was originally cast as Lawson, but was fired for various reasons, either for being drunk or late for filming depending on who you believe. She did record the song that Helen sings in the film, "I'll Plant My Own Tree" before she was fired and I posted a clip below that dubs her vocal track over the film soundtrack.
Though today the film is looked at as one of the "it's so bad its good" types, it was actually a hit at the 1967 box office, making over $40 million dollars. John Williams' Oscar nomimation for Best Score Adaptation was the only Oscar nod the film received.
There have been various stage productions of the story, usually using the film script as the basis. I actually had the pleasure of attending two of the most famous ones. In the late 90's, the LA based Theater-A-Go-Go bought their production of the film script to Off Broadway. It was a complete tongue in cheap humorous production with Helen Lawson played by the drag queen Jackie Beat (who was quite good in the part) and Neely played by Kate Flannery who now stars as Meredith on the tv show The Office. The other famous presentation of the story was the 2010 Actor's Fund benefit concert that starred Broadway stars Martha Plimpton, Charles Busch, Heidi Blickenstaff and Nancy Anderson as Anne, Helen, Neely and Jennifer. Clips below show highlights from both of those theatrical endeavors.
Hayward
If you've never seen the film before and you're looking for a camp filled humorous film with some of the most unintentionally humorous scenes and dialogue you'll find yourself quoting, just like I've been doing in this post, then definitely put this one in your Netflix queue. Or better yet, just go ahead and order the film from Amazon, as it is one that you will definitely find yourself watching over again. And if you find yourself drummed out of Hollywood and back in a show on Broadway, just remember that if "you come crawling back to Broadway, well Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope!"
Dionne Warwick music video for the "Theme to Valley of the Dolls" -
"Come Live With Me" performed by Tony Scotti -
Judy Garland's version of "I'll Plant My Own Tree" dubbed over the Margaret Whiting track that Susan Hayward lip syncs to in the film.
Lena Horne sings "I'll Plant My Own Tree" -
Scene where Hayward gets Duke's character fired -
Patty Duke actually released an album called "Patty Duke sings Songs from Valley of the Dolls and other Selections" - here is her recording of "It's Impossible" synced up over the film track - it's kinda obvious why they chose not to use her singing voice for the film but to have her dubbed by Gail Heideman
Bonus feature from the DVD that talks about the stage version - I saw it in New York twice- it was great- the lead who played Neely now co-stars on the tv show The Office!
Compilation video of clips from the 2010 Actors Fund benefit reading of the film script- I was there! -
Paper Moon, the 1973 film that stars Ryan O'Neal and his daughter Tatum, tells the story of a conman and a 9 year old girl. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, and based on the book Addie Pray the film is set during the Great Depression. Tatum is Addie, an orphaned girl who's mother was once associated with Moses Pray and since she has his chin she thinks he might be her father. Even though Moses originally wants nothing to do with her, only agreeing to get her to her Aunt's house by putting her on a train, when he finds himself owing her money he let's her travel with him as he conducts his business until he earns enough to pay her back.
The film follows Moses and Addie as they travel across Kansas in Moses' car. Addie quickly realizes not only just how Moses makes money- mainly by convincing recently widowed women that their husband's had recently ordered expensive bibles with their names engraved on them, but also that she is pretty good at conning as well. So, they find themselves drawn to each other and acting much like a father and daughter behave, well ones that swindle people and fight and bicker at least.
Madeline Kahn is Trixie Delight, a "performer" at a carnival they visit. Moses becomes enraptured with her so she joins them on their journey, bringing her young black maid, Imogene and multiple pieces of luggage as well. While Addie appreciates having Imogene along since she is close to her age, she quickly becomes jealous of Trixie and realizes that Trixie is just using Moses to get what she wants. Addie must find a way to get Trixie out of the picture and Moses still needs to get Addie to her Aunt's house. But there are bootleggers, the police, stolen cars and various other obstacles they have to deal with first.
How Addie and Moses get out of the situation they're in and what happens between the two of them once Moses earns the money he owes Addie takes the film to it's conclusion, one that isn't exactly how you think it will be.
Tatum O'Neal clearly deserved the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress that year, she is a complete natural in the role. Her father is also in top form and while this is a departure from the "straight man" he played in the classic comedy What's Up Doc? just a year before, he has beautiful comic timing that easily translates into this depression era drama with many comic moments. It is also interesting to note that Kahn, who was also in What's Up Doc? is playing a very different, yet in many ways very similar character to the one she played with O'Neal just a year before. But in the earlier film, she was a completely out of control character, here, she is in complete control of the situation. Also, Bogdanovich directed both of those films. So, clearly, the three of them knew how to work extremely well together and the results show in both films.
The black and white cinematography of Paper Moon is absolutely beautiful. The wide open fields that butt up against the roads that Moses and Addie travel along clearly are stark and extremely representative of what one believes the effect the Great Depression had on states like Kansas.
So, if you're looking for a film with great performances, a well thought out and plotted story with some twists and turns along the way, check out Paper Moon.
The film was actually turned into a musical that had plans to play Broadway. In 1993, the musical had a try-out at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ, just about 30 minutes from New York City. Unfortunately the reviews it got said it was too overproduced, misdirected and unfocused so the show never made the journey from New Jersey to Broadway. At Paper Mill, the musical starred Gregory Harrison as Moses, with Christine Ebersole as Trixie and Chandra Wilson (from tv's Grey's Anatomy) as Imogene. The musical had music by Larr Grossman, a book by Martin Casella and lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh and Carol Hall. The musical has been produced a couple of other times in other cities outside of NYC in the mid 90's, but still received mixed reviews.
A scene from Paper Moon with Ryan and Tatum - shows the great direction, cinematography, acting and dialogue -
With all of the news stories concerning the nuclear plant issues in Japan, it made me think back to that classic film from the 1970's The China Syndrome. For those of you born after the 70's or too old to remember what happened in the movie- here is a quick plot recap:
Jane Fonda is "Kimberly Wells", a news reporter for a local LA tv station. She often gets the "puff" pieces like a story about singing telegrams that we see her reporting on as the film begins. And even though she is a co-anchor on the nightly newscast, she isn't really taken seriously. Her next assignment is another "lifestyle" piece about a Nuclear power plant for an "Energy in California" series of reports. However, while at the plant, a strange occurrence happens in the control room that they have just been taken to visit. They can't hear what is going on, as they are viewing the control room from a series of second floor viewing windows. But it seems the water level in one of the plant's reactors is dangerously low, and the shift supervisor (Jack Lemmom) though able to get the situation under control, seems very concerned about what is happening, especially since one of the gauges they use to monitor the water levels doesn't appear to be functioning correctly. The freelance cameraman "Wells" brings with her, "Richard Adams" played by Michael Douglas, keeps filming the action in the control room through the glass windows, even though he is told by the plant's PR man to turn off his camera.
After the plant is under control, Fonda and Douglas leave the area and Douglas makes Fonda aware that he filmed the whole situation. They both believe something is seriously wrong even though the plant is making the whole situation seem very routine. However, Fonda can't get the station manager to let her show the film since they don't have rights to air it and Douglas, being the hot head he is, steals the film from the tv station so he can get the word out about the possible issues the plant might have. Lemmon is also very concerned and starts doing some research of his own into the plant's construction. That's the first 1/4 of the film, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in ethics, news reporting or just wants to watch a good classic thriller with good acting and writing and a very provocative, scary "real life" situation at it's core. Put it in your Netflix queue now.
The three leads are especially good, with Lemmon a stand-out. The emotions that he is able to show on his face during the possible plant melt-down are a good example for an acting class. He remains calm but you can see the wheels turning in his brain to try to determine what he needs to do to save the plant and all of the people in it. And, as far as what the title refers to, let's just say we should all hope we never hear those words mentioned - it is what they believe will happen if a nuclear core ever would melt. It would melt into the earth, and though it might not actually melt all the way to China it would do so much damage that, as they say in the movie, it would basically wipe out an area the size of Pennsylvania. Makes you seriously take another look at the benefits of nuclear energy, especially with what is happening in Japan.
The film was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Actress and Actor for Fonda and Lemmon, as well as best screenplay. The film was also produced by Douglas and directed by James Bridges.
Two last comments - 1) less than two weeks after the film was released in 1979, the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania happened. The plant experienced a partial core meltdown mainly due to human and system error that resulted in the release of thousands of gallons of radioactive waste water.
2) bringing this back to Broadway (all roads lead to Broadway, right?) - Jane Fonda was just on Broadway two years ago in a really great play called 33 Variations - and was nominated for a Tony for her work. She also just starred in a 2 month run of the play in LA. This is a really good play that combines a modern woman's research into Beethoven's "33 Variations on a Waltz" and Beethoven's creative process in composing that work. If it ever comes to a town near you, catch it.
Trailer for the film -
Fan made film that speaks to the movie and the Three Mile Island accident -
Ok, I've got a confession to make. I was obsessed with the movie of The Sound of Music. When I was about 6 years old, The Sound of Music must have been re-released and my whole family went to see it. I became obsessed with it, knew all of the songs and even have seen pictures that were taken of me and my family at that time where I had to have the soundtrack lp prominently displayed in the photos.
Crazy I know.
I remember watching the movie on tv on NBC during the many annual airings that began in the late 70's, and getting excited every time that it was going to air. Anyone else have a similar experience either with this film or another?
The first time I actually saw the stage musical that the movie was based on was in the early 90's. This was the Lincoln Center Theatre production that starred Debby Boone. While the production itself was very good and Boone made a fine "Maria," having known the film intimately, I was struck by how many changes were made from the stage production for the film. The elimination of all of the songs for Elsa and Max, how "Climb Every Mountain" ends the first act but in the film it is the beginning of the second and how "My Favorite Things" and "Lonely Goatherd" were used in different scenes. As much as I appreciate the stage version, I do think the film version was able to eliminate the parts that didn't focus on Maria, the Captain and the children and also was able to provide more depth to the characters through the addition and revision of some of the dialogue. And, of course, the use of location shooting in the movie to show us the cities and mountains of the story could never be matched on stage as well. Also, the fact that the film added the song "I Have Confidence" as a great "I want" song that was lacking in the stage version was an added bonus. And "An Ordinary Couple" is just a substandard song to "Something Good" that replaced it in the film. It is interesting to note how many current productions now include those two songs.
Over the years I owned the film on vhs, on laser disc, on a special edition laserdisc box set, on dvd and even as part of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical film dvd collection.
Recently the film was released on blu-ray dvd, and having watched parts of it, I have to urge anyone who is a fan of the film to get this blu-ray. The image quality is simply astounding and is a perfect example of how superior blu-ray is to regular dvds. The remastering of the film is amazing, you can now make out the threads on Maria's tweed coat and see fine details in every image like the crisp blades of grass in the opening and "Do Re Mi" scenes. I give this transfer and blu ray a huge A+.
I can step out of the confession box now with my head held high since the world now knows about my obsession with this great movie (well at least the few people who read my blog!)
Ok, I know that this post has nothing to do with broadway or even the theatre, but this is an "all things entertainment" blog afterall!
From my earliest childhood I've always been fascinated by monster movies. The recent destruction from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the photos and video of the aftermath made me think back to all of the Godzilla movies I enjoyed growing up. So many of the photos from Japan looked like they came from one of the many movies in the Godzilla series. I'm not trying to sound nonchalant about what happened in Japan, just saying what the images reminded me of as I can't begin to imagine what the people in Japan are going through, and my heart goes out to all of them for what they are dealing with.
So, back to Godzilla, when I was very young, every Saturday night they'd have a "Creature Feature" on tv. Where I grew up, the guy who hosted this local program was called "Sammy Terry" - get it? He was this ghoul who told bad jokes and introduced the movies -but he had a fairly large following and his series of creature features ran for many years. The local tv channels would also show monster movies on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. This was back in the days before cable when you only had 4 or 5 channels to pick from - anyone out there reading this today who is under the age of 30 can't imagine what life was like before cable tv.
My favorite movies to watch were Godzilla, Creature from the Black Lagoon, any of the Universal Monster movies like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf and I also loved to watch the 50's and 60's movies where giant creatures attack - movies like Them!.
I remember getting the weekly tv guide and flipping immediately to the Saturday listing to see what horror movies would be showing that weekend and getting very excited if one of my favorites was going to be shown. Also at that time, the early 70's, the one movie theatre in town would often show double features on Saturday aimed at kids. I remember many of these double features - Godzilla vs the Smog Monster and Beneath the Planet of the Apes was a very memorable one!
It is also interesting to look at how these types of horror films changed over the years.
Originally the films from the late 30's and 40's, were mainly based on the monsters in classic literature like Dracula, then that changed in the 50's to be movies as a result of the reaction to the Atomic age (Incredible Shrinking Man, The Deadly Mantis, etc) and in the 60's became a reaction to the issues with the environment (Godzilla, etc.) In the 70's you had the whole disaster movie phase, which is somewhat related to the monster movies I loved where now the "monster" was nature related in movies like Poseidon Adventure, and Earthquake, and horror classics like The Exorcist that definitely fall into the "monster" category if you ask me! Then in the 80's the genre really went more into intense horror with the "human" monsters in the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street movies. It didn't matter to me what period the movies where from, I loved them all.
As I got older, while still a fan of these movies, I have become an even bigger fan of the behind the scenes features that accompany a lot of the dvd releases - and the special features on the Universal monster series of films like Dracula, Bride of Frankestein and The Creature From the Black Lagoon dvds are a huge recommendation.
I also fell in love with the music from these films - there are many great compilation cds out there -some of which I'll list below -that I recommend for any monster movie music fans out there.
I mentioned previously how much I'm enjoying my home 3D tv experience, and I really hope that some of the monster movies from the 50's that were shot in 3D like Creature From the Black Lagoon and House of Wax get released on 3D blu ray for people to enjoy at home.
Amazon link for the Sound of Music on blu ray - 
