Monthly Archives: November 2014
Female Filmmaker Friday: Under The Tuscan Sun, 2003 (dir. Audrey Wells)
Somehow I didn’t see this movie when it was first in theaters. I have no idea why not, since I was a senior in high school when it came out and went to the movie theater in my hometown practically every weekend. I do, however, remember when I first saw it. It was about a year after it originally came out, when I came home to visit during winter break after my first semester at UC Berkeley. It was exactly the kind of escapist rom-com that I loved when I was a kid and it was exactly what I needed after a tough first semester. NB: writer-director-producer Audrey Wells is also a Cal alum. Go Bears! I subsequently bought the DVD about a year later from the Walgreens on Shattuck on a rainy day and proceeded to watch it once every few weeks for the rest of college and then some. I’m really not sure how many times I’ve seen it (including the few times I watched it on TV!) I love it so much. This is a Best Friend kind of movie. Comforting and warm and dependable, but every time I watch it I notice something new to love.
Movie Quote of the Day – While The City Sleeps, 1956 (dir. Fritz Lang)
Ed Mobely: You know, you have very nice legs.
Nancy Liggett: Aren’t you sweet.
Ed Mobely: Nice nylon stockings too. What holds your stockings up?
Nancy Liggett: There’s a lot your mother should have told you.
Ed Mobely: I didn’t ask my mother. I asked you. It’s, uh, simply a matter of scientific research.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Woman on Pier 13, 1949 (dir. Robert Stevenson)
Bradley Collins: Bring the lady a Ward 8.
Waiter: Ward 8, sir?
Bradley Collins: Three fingers of bourbon and beer for a chaser.
Christine Norman: Use the imported beer.
Movie Quote of the Day – Woman on the Run, 1950 (dir. Norman Foster)
Inspector Martin Ferris: Why won’t you help us, Mrs. Johnson?
Eleanor Johnson: I’m helping! What do you want me to do?
Inspector Martin Ferris: I want you to answer a few questions.
Eleanor Johnson: Go ahead, ask.
Inspector Martin Ferris: Where does he generally go when he’s not at home?
Eleanor Johnson: I haven’t the faintest idea.
Inspector Martin Ferris: Has he any relatives in this area?
Eleanor Johnson: No.
Inspector Martin Ferris: Who are his friends?
Eleanor Johnson: I don’t know his friends. The dog is our only mutual friend.
Movie Quote of the Day – Cause for Alarm!, 1951 (dir. Tay Garnett)
Ellen Jones: It was one of those awful dreams, the kind I used to have when George was overseas. That man lying there was George, my husband, and he was dead. He died trying to kill me.
Movie Quote of the Day – Two Smart People, 1946 (dir. Jules Dassin)
Ace: There isn’t any kind of after for people like us. We’re a special kind of breed. We were born after the clock stopped. No yesterday, no tomorrow.
Movie Quote of the Day – Lust For Gold, 1949 (dir. S. Sylvan Simon)
Julia: A man named Jacob Waltz has just arrive in town. I want to meet him.
Pete: Why?
Julia: He’s discovered gold.
Pete: What do you want to meet him for? I’ve got a right to know!
Julia: Really? Well, I have a right to some things too! Like being sick and tired of running a bakery.
Pete: Now, wait a minute, Julia!
Julia: You’ve had four years to do something about getting me out of here, Pete.
Pete: I’ve had bad luck! I’m doing the best I can.
Julia: Yes, you’ve done very well. Have you been able to keep a job? Have you replaced our savings you so cleverly invested in grazing lands no animal could live on? Have you, Pete?
Pete: That wasn’t my fault! I got swindled!
Julia: No, I got swindled! So now you’re going to bring that man here.
Pete: Oh no, I won’t, Julia!
Julia: Yes, you will. There’s still that unsolved murder in Milwaukee.
Pete: Alright.
Julia: Good. Of course, he’s not to know I’m married to you.
Movie Quote of the Day – Destination Murder, 1950 (dir. Edward L. Cahn)
Laura: Aren’t you forgetting the man upstairs?
Alice: Him? What’s he got that anybody wants?
Laura: Money. Position and power. What else is there, Alice?
Female Filmmaker Friday: Love & Basketball, 2000 (dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood)
Somehow I missed this film when it was first in theaters and just saw it for the first time a few weeks back at a screening at the Cinefamily with writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood in attendance. This look at the film will be partially my thoughts on the film and a some of the insights she shared with the audience during the Q&A after the film. There will be some plot spoilers.
Movie Quote of the Day – His Kind of Woman, 1951 (dir. John Farrow)
Dan Milner: I’m too young to die. How about you?
Mark Cardigan: Too well-known.
Dan Milner: Well, if you do get killed, I’ll make sure you get a first-rate funeral in Hollywood, at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
Mark Cardigan: I’ve already had it. My last picture died there.
the diary of a film history fanatic 