Blog Archives
Loving Lucy: Miss Grant Takes Richmond
I was going to write a lengthy post about my love for Lucy’s film Miss Grant Takes Richmond with William Holden, but as many of you know my internet connection has been non-existent for a few weeks now and my internetting has been limited to a few minutes every morning sitting on a bench in the freezing cold.
If you click the link on the title above you can read a review I wrote of the film for YAM Magazine. I wish I could have written more on the film, but I will say it is definitely worth your time if you can find it. The two of them are fantastic together. The ending is particularly fantastic. I wish I could have found a video of it to share with you.
Don’t forget to check out all the other posts in TrueClassics Loving Lucy Blogathon
Oscar Vault Monday – Picnic, 1955 (dir. Joshua Logan)
This is a year wherein I 100% agree with the winner the Academy picked – Marty. It’s one of my favorite films period, let alone one of my favorite Best Picture winners. That being said, the three nominees I’ve seen from that year (Marty, Picnic and Mister Roberts) are all fabulous films. I decided to talk about Picnic because it has one of my all-time favorite performances and there’s lots of shirtless William Holden. Picnic was nominated for six Oscars, winning two: Best Score, Best Color Art Direction-Set Decoration (won), Best Film Editing (won), Best Supporting Actor Arthur O’Connell, Best Director and Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were: Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, Mister Roberts, The Rose Tattoo and winner Marty.
Movie Quote of the Day – Sunset Blvd., 1950 (dir. Billy Wilder)
Joe Gillis: You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in pictures. You used to be big.
Norma Desmond: I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.
Joe Gillis: I knew there was something wrong with them.
Oscar Vault Monday – Sunset Blvd. 1950 (dir. Billy Wilder)
When I first netflixed this film I watched it three times before sending it back – twice back-to-back and then a third time the next morning. I was completely blown away with how wonderful it was, from start to finish. I know a lot of people consider Some Like It Hot to be Billy Wilder’s best film and as much as I like that one, I have to disagree and go with Sunset Blvd. It is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning three for black-and-white Art Direction, Best Writing – story and screenplay and Best Score. For Best Picture it was up against Father of the Bride, King Solomon’s Mines, Born Yesterday and lost to All About Eve. All About Eve wound up winning six Oscars in all. Another tight race that year was Best Actress, Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. was up against Bette Davis and Anne Baxter in All About Eve, but all three lost to Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday. Having watched all three of those films within a few days of each other it is my belief that, although Holliday’s performance was stunning, the other three women spilt the vote so severely that Holliday won by default. I’ll say it up front, I enjoyed All About Eve, but I deeply love Sunset Blvd. and think it is by and far the greater of the two films.
Beware: there be spoilers after the cut.
the diary of a film history fanatic 