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Showing posts from June, 2015

Quote of the Week

+++ ********* When two people love each other, they don't look at each other, they look in the same direction. (Ginger Rogers) *********

The Classic Movie History Project Blogathon: Juvenile Delinquency in Mid-1950s Cinema

During the eight-year presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, at the height of the Cold War, the United States was the most influential economic power in the world. Despite constant threats of Communism and nuclear annihilation, it looked as though the «American Dream» was finally a reality. People across the country were comfortably complacent, indulging in new cars, suburban houses, television sets and all sorts of new consumer goods. For the nation's adults, who still remembered the hardships of the Great Depression, life had never been better. However, for their teenage children, who had grown up during World War II, shielded from the most worrying of its effects, life was flawed by powerful feelings of alienation and anger.   As the number of teens doubled in the wake of the post-war baby boom, young people began turning their backs on the conformist ideals promoted by adult society. Parents could no longer impress their value system on their children, who longed for greater exci

Film Friday: "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947)

Although Valentine's Day was months ag o, this week on "Film Friday" I am bringing you one of the most romantic films of all time according to the American Film Institute . The reason for this is that this particular film had its original premiere exactly 68 years ago. Theatrical release poster Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) opens in the early 1900s when the young widow Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) moves to the seaside English village of Whitecliff, where she takes up residence at Gull Cottage with her daughter Anna (Natalie Wood as a child, Vanessa Brown as an adult) and her housekeeper Martha (Edna Best). On her first night in the house, Lucy meets the ghost of its former owner, a roguish sea captain named Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), who is impressed by her love for the cottage and agrees to let her stay, promising to make himself known only to her. One day, Angelica (Isobel Elsom) and Eva Muir (Victoria Horne), Lucy's mo

The "...And Scene!" Blogathon: The Gin Rummy Scene from "Born Yesterday" (1950)

George Cukor's Born Yesterday (1950) follows a newspaper reporter as he takes on the task of educating a crooked bussinessman's brassy girlfriend. The crooked businessman, Harry Brock, is played by Broderick Crawford, who received the Oscar for Best Actor for All the King's Men (1949) just before he started working on Born Yesterday . He is a crude, menacing, nefarious self-made man who goes to Washington D.C. looking to "influence" a politician or two. The brassy girlfriend, Billie Dawn, is played by Judy Holliday, reprising the role she originated on Broadway in the play written by Garson Kanin. After Billie's ignorance and lack of manners embarrass Harry during a meeting with a congressman, he hires Paul Verrall ( William Holden ) to be her tutor. She eventually learns not just about U.S. History and Literature, but also about self-respect and love . I n the end, Billie turns out to be much smarter than anybody knew. Billie prepa