Film Experience Blog

Jose here.

There are few things I enjoy more than "discovering" a new performance by an artist I adore. Such was the case last night when I screened The Harvey Girls for the very first time. I have always known Judy was adorable and could sing like nobody on the planet has since her. What I loved to see this time was her marvelous entrance performing the Oscar winning song "On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe".
The whole town seems to know what's coming in the petite package and they all come to greet her in the kind of musical extravaganza only Arthur Freed delivered.

When they sing:

Do yuh hear that whistle down the line?
I figure that it's engine number forty nine,
She's the only one that'll sound that way.

You can't tell whether they're talking about the locomotive or Judy...

Was anyone better at singing on board moving trains (or trolleys)?




Have you recently discovered a wonderful performance from the back catalogue of an artist you love?
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Actors on Actors



You know what's odd? Though Judy Garland excels at dreamy sadness, I always end up smiling when I listen to her sing. As soon as she tears up onscreen I feel way better; she alchemizes sadness and turns it towards the bittersweet at the very least. I love her two movie shout-outs here in Love Finds Andy Hardy: one is to Greta Garbo but she also has to reference her main man.

I'm allowed to go to picture shows. That is if Nurse is feeling able. But we only go to Mickey Mouse, I'm not allowed Clark Gable!

Oh Judy. They'd let you go to Clark Gable pictures if you hadn't already gotten so stalkerish just one summer earlier in The Broadway Melody of 1938.



All of this begs the following question:
Who made you love them when you were only 15?
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Journalistic Skepticism What are the 20 Best Movie Weddings? I'm surprised the AFI hasn't made this list yet.
Mind of a Suspicious Kind looks back over Danny Boyle's filmography prior to the release of 127 Hours
Totally Looks Like Miss Hattie (Despicable Me) = Dolores Umbridge. Huh. I do see it now.
Movies Kick Ass compares The Wizard of Oz with... Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker?


Self Styled Siren has a really interesting post on the Shirley Temple / John Ford film Wee Willie Winkie (1937) and...
Self Styled Siren ...another post on the attendant hulabaloo at the time by way of controversial critic/ screenwriter/ novelist Graham Greene who called wee Temple "a fancy little piece" in a review that prompted litigation.
Coming Soon First photos from the upcoming 647th film adaptation of The Three Musketeers (2011). This one stars Mads Mikkelsen and Milla Jovovich.
Antagony & Ecstasy reviews Cairo Time. I love this bit.

Which is an extremely good reason why you should never let a plot synopsis be the sole reason you choose your movies (whereas choosing them because of the lead actress - now that's just good sense).

Total Film has been surveying the movie blog landscape. I'm happy to be included on page 3 of their "another 600 movie blogs" but my goodness... 1200 is a lot of linkage with no real gain for anyone right? I mean you can't exactly list it in your bio. It's not like "Declared one of the top one thousand two hundred movie blogs!" is much of a blurb. But I kid. It's nice to be included. What's scary is that's probably only scratching the surface of all the movie blogs in the world.

offscreen
Wall Street Journal on "Judy Garland Lost Tracks"
Playbill on "Judy Garland Lost Tracks." Ummm... how had I missed this news? Seriously. Must have now. Either my brain is a sieve or the internet is because how are people totally discussing this and I didn't even know about it?! Argh. More Judy = yes.
Mighty God King "we need a human behavior patch" See, complainers? I'm not the only movie blogger who sometimes has to let off a little political steam. If you're not sometimes angry about things going on in this world, ur doin it wrong.
Parabasis "let freedom ring" another fine post on the anniversary of MLK's historic speech.
Boy Culture on last week's Scissor Sisters concert. I was there. T'was so fun, sexy, energetic, crazy, etcetera.
OMG Blog catches up with Björk. We hadn't checked in with her in awhile and we're going to Iceland soon. Yay.
The Film Doctor reads the latest horror novel The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains.

<--- Mrs. Best Actress and Mr. Best Actor, 1954.
But OOPS. Marlon Brando won but Judy didn't.

• I didn't cover the new DVD releases last week but Alice in Wonderland and The Wolfman (previously reviewed) debuted and I figured 'Why hold a poll to see which movie you want me to cover when I know that Tim Burton's blockbuster will win?' I'll write about that one (finally) soon. In the meantime, now that you've had a chance to look at Benicio all hairy, what say you? This morning I was suddenly wishing Johnny Depp had played the werewolf and Benicio the Mad Hatter. Mixes up expectations a little, no? In both cases the casting felt a little too "spot on", which is why it's so weird that Benicio was so terrible (and terribly bored) while playing wolf. And maybe the Depp / Blunt pairing might've been a truer bodice ripper?
  
  
• From here on out the DVD reader request poll will be bi-weekly (starting next week) so that I can keep up with the reviews. Previously: An Education. Next: The Road and Alice in Wonderland.
  
  
• Streep at 60 the series returns this afternoon. I hope you'll have plenty to say about one of her craziest star turns.
  
  
  
• Today is the 88th anniversary of Judy Garland's birth (née Frances Gumm). Since Judy G is one of my ten favorite stars of all time, you know that the first thing I did this morning was click on over to Nick's Flick Picks to see him wrap up his Best Actress project with A Star is Born (1954). Oh, the torture! He's making us wait a little.
  
  
  
• Confession: I've been on a TV binge lately. Maybe it's those upcoming Emmy nominations (July) haunting me and convincing me to get caught up on Dexter, United States of Tara, Nurse Jackie, Glee (I continue to be madly in love with Lea Michelle's voice. I could listen to her all day long.) and Friday Night Lights. Regarding the latter: I know that it's not an Emmy favorite but that's just one more knock against their validity as an institution. Last week's episode "The Son" had me crying harder while watching television than I have since Buffy's "The Body" some years ago. Some fans and media types are trying to energize a Zach Gilford for Best Supporting Actor campaign but Emmy, as my wisest TV guru friend Joe Reid reminds me, has a really tough time noticing a show ever if they don't notice it right from the start. And if Emmy can't see that FNL's lead actress Connie Britton is consistently worthy of the actual statue (I'm talking even better than great movie actresses gone TV like Holly Hunter and Glenn Close on their respective shows and skyscrapers above some other regulars), well... how would they notice a supporting actor? Emmy's loss. With the exception of Mad Men, there's not a better drama on television.
  

Sound off on all of this randomness in the comments. Surely you have feelings to share, be they of the couch potato, lycanthropic or friend-of-dorothy variety.
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Instructables build an Iron Man arc reactor of your own
SF Gate "Is this the end of Downey Jr's greatness?" interesting peace from Mick LaSalle on taking up residents in franchises.
/Film yet another shortening of the theatrical release to home viewing window. The end is nigh and...
David Poland, always in touch with the business end, responds to this FCC ruling


flick filosopher 'damn those high society film critics!' I love it when MaryAnn gets pissed off at stupid people
Just Jared with new Inception poster and stills
Only the Cinema pays tribute to the just departed cinematographer William Lubtchansky (RIP)
Cinematical Rachel Weisz on the upcoming gender bending body horror film Invisible X
MNPP gets excited 'bout the new Gregg Araki movie Kaboom

Finally, I don't know how I missed this news in April (but then again that month. argh) but A Star is Born has been reborn again. If you've never seen this grand Judy Garland musical epic, you MUST mark June 22nd on your calendar and get the Blu-Ray of the restoration (from the original negative). Sadly, though,there's still a big chunk of it missing from the 1954 chainsaw edit it got when distributors complained that the film was too long. Damn you Hollywood powers-that-be (at the time), damn you retroactively!

I love what Robert Osbourne of TCM says

"As effective as Judy Garland is singing 'The Man That Got Away' in any medium, there's nothing like seeing her singing that song three stories tall, in Technicolor."

I can only imagine. I've only seen it on DVD and it's already one of my top five favorite song performances in the history of the cinema.

Glenn from Stale Popcorn here again to discuss one of the best actresses in the world and to help celebrate her birthday. Does she not amaze?

Today is Judy Davis' birthday. You may have forgotten just how good Judy Davis can be when she really wants to be - and not fluffing about on screen in stuff like The Break-Up, but I understand the need to let go once in a while - and that, by all rights, she should be an Oscar winner, not just an Emmy/BAFTA/AFI/Golden Globe winner. She seems to have moved primarily to television since even directors like Woody Allen have ditched her for younger, hotter property. But that doesn't mean we (well, I) don't still love her!

One could say that Judy Davis has had - oh yes, I am going there - a "brilliant career". Who can forget her temperamental "Sally" in Allen's Husbands & Wives, or her temperamental "Caroline Chausser" in The Ref, or her temperamental "Joan Fraser" in Children of the Revolution or her temperamental "Sybylla Melvyn" in My Brilliant Career? I'm sensing a pattern here! What about the most temperamental of all, playing Judy Garland in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, a performance that Anne Hathaway is going to have a helluva time beating when that cinematic biopic eventually gets off the ground.


One of my very favourite Judy performances is her turn as "Kate Dean" in Phillip Noyce's Sydney-set political thriller Heatwave. This 1982 film revolves around the wheelings and dealings of a high-powered architecture firm with Davis playing the, you guessed it, temperamental environmental activist who stands in their way. It's a ripper of a film that just drips atmosphere. If you've ever lived through a heat wave in Australia then you'll recognise much in that film. It is unfortunately not available on Netflix for Americans, but I'm sure it's out there somewhere if you want to look.

She's been nominated for ten Australian Film Institute awards (won six), two Academy Awards (Passage to India, Husbands & Wives for which she should have won!), ten Emmys (won three), three BAFTAs (won two) and six Golden Globes (won three). And that's not mentioning the SAG Award, the Independent Spirit Award and a bevy of critics prizes. How is this woman not hailed as one of the best actresses of her generation? Express your love and devotion for this woman in the comments if you so wish. What's your favourite performance? Speak up!

REVISED POST Do you ever watch Turner Classic Movies 31 Days of Oscar? It's a fine way to catch up on Oscar favorites that you missed or that you'd love to revisit. Their month-long golden celebration is going on right now.



They've offered us a great giveaway prize here at The Film Experience, allowing me to choose 5 Oscar nominated movies on DVD for one lucky reader. Sometimes I take a hateful amount of time in sending out prizes myself but this time that procrastination problem is alleviated since TCM is running the contest. So I have to follow their rules -- which means US entries only. There can be only one winner but two others will get a party-pack consolation prize.

To enter send me an email by Saturday Feb 20th with "5 dvds" in the subject line. Include your mailing address, full name and a gripe about a multiple nominee who has never won the prize, be they a cinematographer, costume designer, actor or whatever... I'll excerpt some of the gripes right here in one week when I announce the winner.

I opted to make the big prize a bittersweet reflection of Oscar glory and how hard it is to achieve, even if you get close. Four of the films are selected because they're a) awesome b) received multiple nominations c) lost all of them and d) starred awesome women who went competitive Oscarless in their careers. So next time you're upset about the Oscar-free status of modern ladies who are running out of time to take the prize (Julianne Moore, Glenn Close, Sigourney Weaver) just remember that Oscar has a way of ignoring the most consistently brilliant performers in order to reflect any given year's "hot buzz" -- it's been happening since forever. (If you ask me it's much harder to win an acting Oscar if you're consistently brilliant than if you have one great performance in you.)

The giveaway pack includes:

• The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) * sorry. This was not available on DVD in the US format. I had to replace it.
• Double Indemnity (1944)
  Was nominated for seven Oscars and lost all of them. Critical darling Barbara Stanwyck (4 noms/0 wins) does femme fatale duty in this classic noir. This is also the movie that inspired Body Heat (1981) which brought the world Kathleen Turner, another spectacular actress who never won an Oscar.
  
• A Star is Born (1954)
  Was nominated for six Oscars and lost all of them. Judy Garland's (2 noms/0 wins) classic performance is about hundred times more impressive than the deglamming performance that took the gold prize away. Speaking of things that got away... "The Man That Got Away" is pure emotional / musical bliss.
  
• The Umbrellas of Cherbourgh (1964)
  Was nominated for five Oscars -- in two separate years! -- and lost all of them. The Belle Toujours of Cinema, Catherine Deneuve (1 nom / 0 wins) is still Oscarless.
  
• The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
  Was nominated for four Oscars and lost all of them. "Susie Diamond" is the performance that put Michelle Pfeiffer (3 noms / 0 wins) in the pantheon.
• They Shoot Horses Don't They (1969)
  This harrowing excellent drama is the exception to the rules in this contest. It did not go home Oscarless, winning 1 statue (Best Supporting Actor, Gig Young). But here's the "biggest loser" kicker. It was nominated for 9 statues and not Best Picture, making it the most nominated film ever to have hold that dubious distinction. Also Jane Fonda herself did not go Oscarless. She won two statues later on (Coming Home and Klute) both well deserved.
  

Can't wait to hear which Oscar-free person makes you craziest. Good luck!

Nick's Flick Picks remembers moviegoing experiences this decade. A great angle on a 'decade in review', and as beautifully written as you'd expect
Dear Jesus appreciates the kids movies that weren't really for kids in 2009: Mary & Max, Where the Wild Things Are and Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Film Doctor reasons why Fantastic Mr Fox is the coolest film


The Advocate famous TV mom Meredith Baxter (Family Ties) comes out
The Wrap on Invictus and The Lovely Bones
GreenCine Daily Overheard at the Gotham Awards
Cinema Styles has a wonderfully heartfelt piece on Boris Karloff and changing taste in actors as you age
Filmbo Judy Garland time. Wish I'd written this: "Is there no one running a marathon of her show today? What a waste of a TV schedule."
MNPP remembers comeback-man Woody Harrelson in Indecent Proposal. Going back to the roots are we? Well, I suppose that's cheers but he didn't enjoy frottage with Demi Moore on Cheers now did he?


Empire Magazine 20th Anniversary Photo Gallery (which maybe came out months ago but which I'm just now noticing... I'm not a regular reader) is very guy-film-only mainstream. Actors (no actresses -- unless they're with the actors) recreate their iconic roles. With 20 years of cinema to play with though it's kind of a shame that the net wasn't a bit wider. Would have been fun to see Thelma & Louise again or Julia redoing Pretty Woman or Linda Hamilton with Schwarzenegger in the Terminator pics but what is featured is super fun.
Sunset Gun remembers Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
IonCinema speculates about the Sundance lineup
/Film Robert Duvall as Don Quixote?
Towleroad Glee's Chris Golfer gives funny interview
MTV I hesitate to link to this article on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse because I think the writer must have been on some sort of drugs while typing it out. But it's so weird I must. It basically asks (without irony) what the franchise could do to widen its audience. Dear god... it's not popular enough?!? These are not struggling limited release art films, crazy-person-who-wrote-this!

And in case you haven't seen this web goodie "Hollywood Vs. New York"

1694 Voltaire, Enlightment philosopher, writer, progressive. Candide is his work that's most familiar to modern audiences having been filmed, adapted, and put on lists like this one as well as being adapted into a popular and oft-revived comic operetta. Kristin Chenoweth doing "Glitter and Be Gay" is theater heaven.
1912 Eleanor Powell, queen of tap. Broadway Rhythm it's got me Everybody...



1938 Marlo Thomas, That Girl. Yes, that one.
1941 Juliet Mills, Globe nominated film actress (Avanti!) best known for TV roles. She was a cougar before they had a word for it, marrying hunky Maxwell Caulfield when she was 39 and he was 21, before he'd even made Grease 2. They're still married, going on thirty years now. Today's generation might know her best as witchy Tabitha from her long campy run on daytime soap Passions.
1943 Brigitte Broch, favored production designer of both Baz Luhrmann (Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Powder Keg, Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Perros). Oscar winner (Moulin Rouge!)
1944 Harold Ramis actor/writer/director/ghostbuster
1945 Goldie Hawn, giggler
1952 Lorna Luft daughter of high maintenance legend, half sister of high maintenance legend. 'my mother! my sister! my mother! my sister!' *slap*
1956 Cherry Jones theater giant, tv president, film cameoist (seriously... where are the bigger roles?) and right on awesome gay activist. Most famously, she's the original Sister Aloysius in Doubt. Check out how many big names she had to beat for her Tony statue below. Curiously both of her Tony Awards are for Oscar-loved film roles from two-time winners: Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress (1949) and Meryl Streep in Doubt (2008).



1965 Björk, genius
1984 Jena Malone actress, Jake Gyllenhaal makeout partner. Currently onscreen riding Ben Foster in her birthday suit in The Messenger.

Jose here trying to stop obsessing about The Wizard of Oz without any success...

The beloved masterpiece turns 70 tomorrow and remains as fresh and delightful as the day when it first came out.
Its timeless success is owed to what I think is the greatest monologue in film history, Judy Garland's iconic delivery of "Over the Rainbow".

As Dorothy Gale, Garland puts onscreen the ultimate performance of misunderstood childhood; you know the one, where we make everything way bigger than what it is, where we drown ourselves in a glass of water and the easiest solution is always the one that comes in the shape of escapism. For Dorothy it's the threat that her dog Toto will be taken away from her for destroying one of her neighbor's gardens.

Her Aunt asks her to "find a place where you won't get yourself into any trouble" which prompts the girl to belt out the Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg tune, as she looks towards the sky wondering if whatever is beyond the rainbow will help her.

The Academy Award winning song had originally been removed from the film after producers deemed it "dull" following a preview. Fortunately they had a change of heart and re-inserted what has become an anthem for those in need of assistance in times of great stress. Here is the scene for those who have never seen it or simply crave to enjoy it again:



Interestingly the song also has some lines and verses which are rarely used and have remained obscure, but help to add more to that feeling of angst inside Dorothy. This introductory verse for example, is limited mostly to theatrical productions of "Oz" and was sung merely once by Garland herself.

When all the world is a hopeless jumble
And the raindrops tumble all around,
Heaven opens a magic lane
When all the clouds darken up the skyway,
There's a rainbow highway to be found
Leading from your window pane
To a place behind the sun,
Just a step beyond the rain

It seems as if it would've helped the song obtain more depth, but considering how flawless the sequence is, the verse is important if only in terms of historical value.

There is also a second chorus,

Someday I'll wake and rub my eyes
And in that land beyond the skies,
You'll find me
I'll be a laughing daffodil
And leave the silly cares that fill
My mind behind me

which has been used even less times (Jewel sang it once).

What becomes clear from these unused pieces is that the place Dorothy sang about was always Oz and that the film's finale, again perfect and not to be tampered with, only adds a touch of melancholy to the fact that Dorothy found the place she dreamed of but had to give it away.

If that happiness/sadness duality isn't magic, I don't know what is then...

Hello, Jose from "Movies Kick Ass" here. Have you ever wondered when animal treatment began being monitored in the film industry? Well, neither had I until the other day when I was browsing in YouTube looking for cinema urban legends.

I obviously started with the infamous Munchkin suicide from The Wizard of Oz and was amazed by how many people taped themselves examining the events a la Sherlock Holmes. Fortunately the whole thing is just a myth; it was proved that it's a bird and not a person. But this led me to feel sorry for the poor bird who was kept as an ornament inside a studio while they shot the movie (if studio bosses were mean to Judy Garland, I shudder thinking how they treated stock actors, extras and animals).

My search didn't lead me too far away from Emerald City because it was in 1939 when the American Humane Association began monitoring how animals were treated after a controversial
sequence in Jesse James where a horse was killed after falling off a cliff.

The horses were blindfolded (made me wonder about the poor horse in Gone With the Wind's burning of Atlanta) and when one passed away he was simply replaced by a new one (sums up the early film era huh?), incredibly even more animals died in the making of this movie and going back in history there's a large record of inhuman treatment onscreen (Thomas Edison was notorious for this).

Fortunately things have changed since (except in Lars von Trier land but that's another story...) and now all movies featuring animals have an AHA representative to make sure they stick to the rules. I guess 1939 was more significant in film history than just for the quality of the movies, but for the changes being made inside the industry.

Oh and no animals were harmed in the making of this blog post.

W Magazine Bruce Willis and his new wife star in quite a photo shoot. Is it weird that I totally miss Bruce Willis?
BlogStage Annette Bening as Medea at UCLA. I expect reports from California readers in September! Or maybe I should fly out myself? It's been ages
Kenneth in the (212) meets Susan Seidelman and talks Desperately Seeking Susan
Topless Robot 2,500 Smurfs?! Dear god
Planet Fabulon "what becomes a legend most" -- I haven't seen this ad campaign in so long: Natalie Wood, Bette Davis, Marlene Deitrich? Wheeee


Pop Seoul John Woo to choose between Rain and Won Bin for next action pic. Isn't that a win/win?
Russia Magazine Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Wanted) is making a movie that sounds suspiciously like Knight Rider. I guess that fits into his whole ouevre of bizarre action films that require 23 times the usual amounts of suspension of disbelief
Big Screen Little Screen how great is this Quentin Tarantino magazine cover from Germany?
Cinematical Michael Cunningham sells horror screenplay. Interesting... though with just minor tweaking wouldn't The Hours be a horror film of the soul?
Fin de Cinema Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching coming to DVD. Greenaway sure has had a hard time getting eyeballs since 8 1/2 Women.
Noh Way sad news for diehard Liza & Judy fans
Screen Rant Alexander Skarsgard talks about his near miss on Thor. I'm personally a little bummed he didn't get the role... not that I have high hopes for the movie.

P.S. It's only 95 days until Dollhouse comes back on the air. Wheeee

Had Judy Garland not died tragically at 47 of an accidental overdose she would be turning 87 years-old today. Okay, so she might have died by now but we would have had much more of her work to enjoy. To give you an idea of how young that is for a world class entertainer, consider people who outlived her.

Had Frank Sinatra died at 47 his career would have ended with The Manchurian Candidate. He'd have never recorded his signature song "My Way" or any of his live records. Had Shirley Maclaine died at 47, she would never have sent up Debbie Reynolds in Postcards from the Edge or made Terms of Endearment which was arguably her greatest screen triumph. Had her co-star Jack Nicholson died at 47, Terms... would have been his last film: no Prizzi's Honor, Witches of Eastwick, Ironweed, The Departed, About Schmidt. Had Paul Newman, only three years Judy's junior, died at 47, "Judge Roy Bean" might have been his finale. No classics like The Sting, The Verdict or that long awaited Oscar win for reprising his role from The Hustler. Had Meryl Streep died at 47, The Bridges of Madison County would have been her swan song. No "Miranda Priestley", The Hours or Angels in America, no miraculous rebirth as a top box office draw in her late 50s. She would never have become the most nominated performer in Oscar history.

This is all a long way of saying that Judy Garland's death, while providing a fascinating spark to rush the gay liberation movement (more on Stonewall when it hits its 40th anniversary in a couple of weeks), was a great loss to the world. So here's to Judy in the celluloid heavens. Her cultural immortality is greatly deserved.



Related post: Nathaniel's 100 favorite actresses of all time. His harem (?) imaginary celluloid mansion (?) actress castle (?) has many wings but Judy's throne is very elaborate. She rules the afterlife wing alongside Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe and Natalie Wood.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Variety is reporting that Anne Hathaway is going to become Frances Ethel Gumm (i.e. Judy Garland) in a biopic called Get Happy

When will the madness end? If the pop culture on pop culture on pop culture joke weren't overplayed already, I'd be peering out from under a bedsheet, mascara running face contorted screaming...


Judy Garland is one of the film experience's sacred ten* and just as She Could Go On Singing, I Can Go On Bitching that she does not get the credit she deserves. Another biopic detailing her sad life probably won't do much for her legacy which should be one of enormous contribution to cinematic and musical culture rather than yet another recounting of her personal tragedies. See, they didn't call her "The World's Greatest Entertainer" for nothing. Can we please talk about that.

Judy G was the subject of a popular television biopic as recently as 2001. Tammy Blanchard played her as a young starlet. Judy Davis took over as she became a great star and netted AFI, Globe, BFCA, SAG and Emmy statues, a sizeable haul by any account, for her impersonation.

Now, it's no secret that my love for Anne Hathaway has been growing exponentially (she made me love her. I didn't wanna do it. I didn't wanna do it) these past couple of years but is she right for this? She keeps getting stronger as an actress and she can sing beautifully but, here's the catch: Would they really let anyone not lipsynch to Judy? (This isn't a Tommy Femia show! It's a movie) And if Hathaway is going to be in a musical I want to hear that showtune friendly voice of hers, damnit.


Hathaway turns 27 this year and even though I'm no great fan of biopics I must admit that it's probably the perfect age to play Garland. It's young enough to just barely get away with playing her as a teen star and it's old enough to play her at the peak of her movie powers (the Meet Me in St. Louis years of the mid 40s) followed by her quick flameout and first career ressurrection. I think modern audiences tend to think that Judy Garland's comeback in A Star is Born (1954) was the comeback of a middle aged star, regaining her luster for another iconic role (in the same category as Bette Davis in All About Eve for example). But it's not so. Garland was in fact only 32 when A Star is Born surfaced. Like the last inimitable iconic vocalist to get a biopic (Edith Piaf, who some consider the French Judy) she aged rapidly. That's what numerous addictions will do to you. (Let us pray they don't feel the need to scramble Judy's narrative)

Would Hathaway win a Marion Cotillard style Oscar doing this or is this just a bad idea all around? I suspect it's a moot question. Remember when various actresses were going to play Marlene Dietrich (Uma Thurman, Gwyneth Paltrow, etc...)? That bio also didn't have a script or a director. It was merely a dream vehicle intended to drive someone towards gold statues. It never found keys for the ignition.

Updated to add ~ Paul Outlaw is right: Hathaway actually looks more like Judy's offspring Liza Minnelli



and she's never had a biopic. It figures. I have an unhealthy relationship to biopics and she's one of the only stars I'd love to see get one. Therefore it shan't happen. My love is a curse!

*for new readers, the other nine favorite actresses in alpha order: Deneuve, Davis, Fonda, Monroe, Moore, Pfeiffer, Streep, Taylor and Wood. But here's the top 20 and here's the top 100 ...because why stop at 10? There are so many actresses worth loving?

Nathaniel's 20 all time favorite actresses (in no particular order and if you ask me on another day...)

This post is for my musical of the month party as well as the latest in my Personal Canon (100 favorite films). It's one of two entries in the countdown for Judy Garland, one of my top ten favorite actresses of all time

It's Summer 1903 in Missouri and the Smith family are buzzing about the World's Fair coming to their town the following spring. Teenage daughters Rose (Lucille Bremer) and Esther (Judy Garland) are dreaming about proposals from handsome men, the eldest son Lonnie (Henry H Daniels Jr) is off to college and the father Lon (Leon Ames), a junior partner at a law firm, is about to tell the family that they're all relocating to New York Ci -- oh, but let's stop there. For any plot summary of Meet Me in St. Louis does the movie a great disservice. This classic musical isn't plot driven at all so much as a series of three seasonal vignettes of family life: Summer, Autumn and Winter with the following Spring in 1904 serving as a coda. Almost all of what might be called "plot" in Meet Me In St. Louis is imagined. That is to say, that the story drivers are all in the future. One day the family will move to New York. One day Rose, Lonnie, and Esther will be married. One day St. Louis will catch the attention of the nation. In essence the movie is a lovingly rendered still life of a family (and town) on the brink of great changes rather than an animated portrait of the changes themselves.

St. Louis begins smartly in the kitchen, the heart of any home. Mrs. Anna Smith (Mary Astor) and her maid and cook Katie (Marjorie Main) are preparing ketchup. Katie thinks it's too sweet, Anna thinks her husband will like it that way. Various members of the cast scoot through the kitchen sharing their opinions, too. They can't seem to agree on the flavor: too sweet? too sour? too spicy? too watery? Vincente Minnelli the real gourmet cook in the director's chair doesn't have the same problem. He gets everything right.

READ THE REST...

All Personal Canon articles
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It's time for the "Musical of the Month" celebration. This month it's the Vincent Minelli/Judy Garland holiday spectacular Meet Me St. Louis (1944). Unfortunately something came up on my end so my article --incidentally another addition to my personal canon project-- won't be ready until tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime enjoy these Meet Me in St. Louis pieces from other MotM participants. I'll add more links if any come in...

• Gratuitous Violins sees this holiday classic for the first time and shares her thoughts (and a first name "Esther" with Judy's character. How nifty)
• Here and There and Everywhere CrazyCris loves Garland. What's not to love?
• Movies Kick Ass looks into the blossoming romance of Garland & Minelli behind the scenes. That led to Liza Minelli, so it's more than just a movie. It's an event.
  

Clang!Clang!Clang! Went the trolley...

Previous Musicals of the Month:
Velvet Goldmine, Cabin in the Sky, Little Shop of Horrors and Calamity Jane

While I was in DC I missed this fab issue of The New Yorker wherein rarely seen Richard Avedon photos were suddenly published (there's a new photo book coming out next month). Since it's Sophia Loren's birthday today and since StinkyLulu always reminds us that they share the same self-celebratory day, here's one of the new/old photos: Avedon in NYC with Sophia, circa 1966.

Just lovely, yes?

Click over to see new/old shots of La Liz, Garland, Monty Clift in Montauk and more... and if 2009's big starry musical adaptation of Nine is any good next year, expect a huge Sophia Loren resurgence in the media. After all, she'll be celebrating the big "75th" next year on this very day. Just in time for Nine's Oscar buzz to kick in before its December release.
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I'm heading to DC in a few hours where I'll be staying for the next few weeks for an off-writing gig [editors note: it's true: TFE doesn't pay the bills. *sniffle* so I take non-writing jobs to replenish the bank account on occassion]. I've been to DC a couple of times before and always enjoyed the journey.

I've heard they've shuttered every single one of the wild clubs I once hit and loved (ugh. DC was so sexy/crazy just 5 years ago... what happened?) but my favorite touristy things aren't going anywhere ever. They'll all be standing long after we're all dead and buried. The three things I'm craziest about.

1. the hugely moving Vietnam memorial. You'll never see anything like this built again. Public pieces are too artistically diluted these days by committees, polls, media scrutiny and aesthetic unfriendly corporations.
   
2. the ruby slippers in the Smithsonian. It's my Judy G problem -- or my Judy G blessing however you wanna see it.
   
3. The majestic Lincoln Memorial. I've always responded to massive statuary.

I was thinking about that last one today and wondering when and if we'll ever see Liam Neeson (an underrated star) play Abraham Lincoln in the Steven Spielberg directed biopic which is currently slated for 2010. I hope so. Spielberg has made a few bios in his time atop Hollywood's directorial pack but Schindler's List (starring, hey... Liam Neeson!) was easily the best of them. Lincoln seems like a good match of actor and role. Supposedly Neeson has already read 22 books on the 16th president to prepare. Biopics are usually the quickest way to Oscar glory but it's never a sure thing: Kinsey didn't win him a nomination even after an LAFCA prize. Maybe the reunion with Spielberg will give him a boost?

I was on iChat with a friend yesterday and I jokingly suggested he pop over to DC to see me. Unfortunately he had vowed he wasn't setting foot there until Bush have moved on. So the timing was wrong. For him, I throw up this hilarious (and true) running mate campaign logo...


...which I found at Lazy Circles . Also I'd like to remind y'all that Obama has way better taste in reel presidents than John McCain.

Anyway... If you're familiar with DC, I'd love to hear suggestions about things to see and do and places to eat on the odd evenings when I'm out on the town.