Singin' In The Rain (1952)

It has been raining cats and dogs here,  in Jakarta. well, i guess i've found my mood to do another writing about my top ranked favorite musical films : Singin' In The Rain, yay!

The Movie was voted as the highest ranked musical in 10th Greatest Film of all time by Entertaintment Weekly. and yes, i've got to agree with this one. Anyhow, the song "Singin' in The Rain" the one who sung by Gene Kelly, was recorded at the same date on my birthday, June 5th! Hooray!

Singin' In The Rain has a nice story with terrific scores and remarkable dance sequence, wrapped with an epic punchline and strongly played character. 

I might say that besides gene kelly's superb choreography (well, of course, he's amazing) Singin' In The Rain wouldn't be complete without Jean Hagen who played Lina Lamont! 

She had this shrill, annoying screeched voice. And also very, very dumb. My favorite villain.

Gene Kelly was co star with Donald O' Connor, played Cosmo, and Debbie Reynolds who played as Kathy Selden.  I read some of the facts about Singin' In The Rain, and it said that Debbie Reynolds have had a hard time to learned the choreography, Fred Astaire who's on the same set is the one who help her with the dance.

Some also said that she can't sing, that her voice was dubbed by Jean Hagen who played Lina Lamont, and correct me if i'm wrong, they both were dubbed over their role's voice!

So, Debbie was dubbed the screeches voice of Lina Lamont's singing in Would You, while Kathy Selden's part in "Would You" supposedly Debbie singing, was dubbed by Betty Noyes who has far greater voices than she did. And the idea of the movie was that Kathy dubbed all of Lina Lamont's voices in the film of the film while Lina is actually dubbed Kathy's part in this actual film. huh 

Later Debbie Reynold said that Singin' In the Rain and childbirth are the two hardest things in her life. And the child she gave birth to was Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia Organa. Whoa! 

Another amazing things about this film was the high difficulty of the choreography combined with only one take, continuous shot of the actors dancing through the numbers like in "Make Em Laugh" and "Singin' In The Rain". I noticed that "Make Em Laugh" was a crazy full of energy and cosmo's eyes is soooo blue. while "Singin' In The Rain" was giving me a very happy feeling from the first time i watched it. 

Singin' In The Rain story line was based on the music scores and numbers,so they add the plot later. But, they actually did a great job in script writing. Singin' In The Rain got a plenty of epic line : 

But the best thing about this film was the finale. I almost cry when Kathy turned away after Don (Gene Kelly) shouted from the stage 

"Ladies and Gentlemen stop that girl, that girl running on the aisle! stop her! That's the girl whose voiced you heard and loved tonight, she's the real star of the picture! Kathy Selden!" 

and then they sing "You Are My Lucky Star" in the finale. Even though, her voice were dubbed, but the ending sure is the best of Debbie Reynolds. Ah.

sorry!

so sorry for been gone to long and right now, i'm working on a new post(s) and a new look for the blog. i have my movie stock, my laptop and my love of black and white films to keep this blog alive. technicolor-escapade might not much a keeper for those hungry readers and/or other films reviewer. 

maybe i'm just another diletantte of writing, but i'll try my best to write good.

love, 

R

An American In Paris (1951)

Another good musical from the 50’s i enjoy is An American in Paris. Well, what can i say? The song was written by Gershwin brothers and the dancing part was coreograph by Gene Kelly himself. Directed by Vincente Minelli. Well, compared to another Kelly’s movie like Singing in The Rain (well, i love that one too) there are some parts from An American in Paris is better than Singing in the Rain. Well i actually confused which one is better because both were toooo good! 

Henri, Jerry and Adam do a number By Strauss

The movie opens with a lines from each of the male character perspective, telling about themselves. Jerry Mulligan the painter, Adam Cook the pianist and then Henri Baurel the gentlemen.  The director had a persistence way in telling each of the changes of perspective yet,  it all come back to 3rd person’s view.  Gene Kelly played as  Jerry Mulligan, the leading character. I always remember his first line : “This is Paris. And i’m an american who lives here”.  Jerry was an ex G.I. When the war is over he decided to stay in Paris to become a painter.  An American In Paris had few good lines like : “Brother if you can’t paint in Paris, you better give up and marry the boss’ daughter”  or “Let’s just say I’m old enough to know what to do with my young feelings”.  

But this one’s probably the best :

“I don’t want you to discuss my work, i’m not interested in your opinion of my work. If you say something nice it won’t make me feel any better, if you don’t it’ll bother me. Thank you. Good day.”

- Jerry Mulligan

Alright so, back to the plot. For short, the three man met at the cafe below Jerry’s apartment. Jerry was introduced to Henri by Adam. Jerry was on his way to sell his painting, later he met a gal and managed to get to know her. Her name is Lise,  she was 19 year old in the movie. Boy i’m 19 ._.  Lise was played by Leslie Caron. I really like her face and her dancing. Jerry didn’t know at the time that Lise was actually Henri’s fiancee. He was devastated when he knew Lise was going to leave him.  

ever meet a folks trying get to know you this hard? nah, don't think so

The Musical Number

Compared to Singin’ In The Rain, An American in Paris might have a too much portion of musical number in the movie (except for the An American in Paris ballet in the finale) that could make you boring.  But it all pay off with songs from Gershwin brothers plus Kelly’s Coreograph in “By Strauss”, “Our Love is Here to Stay”,  “I Got My Gal (who can ask for anything more)”, “S’ Wonderful” etc. The best number i think was the duet ballet in "Our Love is Here to Stay". Leslie Caron was just perfect in playing her character. 

and then sealed it..... with a kiss 

An American In Paris Ballet

This one’s is probably the best feature to put in the finale. I love the fact that it was captured beautifully so the audience can enjoy the show like we’re watching a ballet show live not through a motion picture.  The plot for the ballet itself was actually quite random because it didn’t have an actual story behind it. It was just Jerry’s fantasy when Lise leave him for Henri. So yes, it was random. But beautifully random. 

Jerry and Lise in silhoutte

here's a link to see An American In Paris Ballet 

La Strada (1954)

i suddenly wanna write about 1954 La Strada, an italian classic when one of my friend ask me whether i knew any european films with a patriachy in its story. well, little did i know patriarchy is about male dominations over women which been rooted in a society throughout time all over the world. Directed by Frederico Fellini, La Strada tells the story about a heartbreaking girl named Gelsomina (Giulletta Massina) whose been forced to come with her sister's husband, Zampano to help with his work. While he give 10.000 lire to Gelsomina's mother in exchange. Zampano's is a solo street performer, later he join with the circus. In other words, Gelsomina's mother had sold her daughter to a circus man. 

poor Gelsomina

Nah, i'm not gonna rip the whole story here. But i think, La Strada is the best examples of european films. Being black and white is just a bonus. La Strada means The Road, in English. The theme song was beautiful too, especially the Trumpet solo part. Of course, Nino Rota wrote that symphony. Every single things were in the right composition to present a one melancholy motion picture at a time.

 Gelsomina's playing the La Strada theme song

So, where's the patriarchy?

The whole films were about Zampano's domination over Gelsomina. Whether its about his job which he could loose a hooked chain with his only chest, which, caused him a big ego of a strong man. The leading lady character too was weak and had a lost, confused look on her face all the time. She runaway once, but when Zampano found her, he beat her. Gelsomina's twice had a clean opportunity to runaway from Zampano, but she decided to stay. Not because she's afraid, but she's remembered what her dear friend Il "Matto" from circus said Zampano wants to keep her, because she must be good at something. 

The loveliest scene

Gelsomina eventually stays with Zampano, hoping for a romance along the way. She never realize that the only one she got was Il "Matto" until he died when he's got in a fight with Zampano. In the end, Zampano left her in a side of the road in a cold winter because she's feeling too depressed after Il Matto's dead. She didn't want to eat again, she's just keep saying "Il Matto, he's dead" over and over again when Zampano tries to talk to her. 

The Ending

The ending scene was powerful. The movie ends with sad and drunk older Zampano, walk from the restaurant all the way to the beach in the night. He already knew that Gelsomina was dead five years ago. He walks toward the sea, wash his face and then drop himself in the sand. His look was kinda precious, the moment before he cries. It makes you wondering what's in his mind. I'd love to think that he hear the sound Gelsomina's playing the theme song with her trumpet. Even though its actually the waves.

older, regretful Zampano

Five Came Back

finally i have time to write again! yeay!

alright, so recently, i just watched 1939 Five Came Back, directed by John Farrow starring Lucille Ball, Chester Morris and Wendy Barrie 

five came back

Twelve passenger that were heading to panama city by plane, got crashed somewhere in south america. The story began with telling a short background of each and every passenger a moment before they get on the plane. The twelve passenger are a runaway couple (Alice and Judson), an elderly couple professor (Henry) and his wife (Martha), a gangster's son (Tommy) and his escort (Pete), a woman with bad reputation (Peggy), a man (Crimp) bringing a criminal (Vasquez) for extradited. and the pilot (Bill) the co-pilot (Joe) and the steward (Larry)

The story began with telling a short background of each and every passenger a moment before they get on the plane. Bill tell the passengers that a murderer, Vasquez, were joining in the flight for extradition under Crimp's supervision. And then the storm is coming and the plane crashed in a middle of a jungle in Amazon. The plane were damaged real bad. for 23 days, the 12 passenger learned how to survive, until.. the plane are finished in repairing and  it is time for them to leave. But only 5 can.

During their stay in Amazon, the twelve passenger were live together and the experience has changed each of them for better, but Judson. Meanwhile, they hear a sound of a drum for days from the local tribe. The professor said that it's still okay if the drum stops, that means they ready to attack. if they found the target alive, they will torture them. Pete and Crimp were killed by the local tribe.

at the end of the story, when the drum stops, Vasquez snatch Bill's gun and said that he had to decide who's going into the plane and who doesn't because he himself are no good for returning since he's a dead man. as soon as the engine starts, he choose Bill, Joe, Peggy, Tommy and Alice to get on a plane. Henry and  Martha were staying because they said that they have lived their life. Judson is angry because Vasquez didn't pick him and he ended up shot by Vasquez's gun. Vasquez told professor that the gun still got three bullets left, but he's lying. He shot professor and his wife and wait for his life to be taken by the tribe.

When you watch this movie, you'll think that Vasquez is a con man, because 1) he's a criminal. 2) because he snatch a gun to threat people so many times. Well, he is not.

This 75 minutes of a tense drama can bring the (now) audience (like me) to feel the horror, the situations. But unfortunately the part before the story enters the conflict is too long. But, Joseph Calleia's acting could be consider as an  apology for it ;) He's a one good actor by playing Vasquez the criminal.

here's one of my favorite :

"Hanging is such an unpleasant death. Besides a hanged man always dies alone. I much prefer dying in the company in a decent citizens like you. Always provided i'm the last to die. So don't try to stop me"

Joseph Calleia

Lucille Ball, of course

for the record, i only write for my own sake. so i'm not gonna write about the whole cast, the award they receiving, or the rating i give. because you can find that on websites like imdb, rotten tomatoes, and et cetera. meh, it's just a view from a classics freak like me =)  so, ciao!

the opening

hi!

salute to all of the classics lover from all over the world!

yep, for the love of the vintage (and despite of having a 2 days off from college and stuffs)  i finally made this blog come true ;)

here i'll write about almost anything and everything i know, about the good ol' movies, stars, and maybe musics too from the era below the 1980's. 

it might take a little while till i write my first-non introductory-post, cause the 3rd term is so dang busy at the time. 

ps : i don't even feel sorry for my french. 

ciao!