As God Is My Witness.

Jose here with a post seventy years in the making.



On December 15th, 1939 the city of Atlanta celebrated what President Jimmy Carter would later call "the biggest event to happen in the South in my lifetime." The entire city had been holding a celebration for the previous three days which had them decorate their houses in Civil War era style, lined their streets with Confederate flags and hold the largest costume ball seen to the date.

The worldwide premiere of Gone With the Wind would become an event of such magnitude that even a recent bestseller dedicated an entire chapter to the effect it had on its characters.
If that was only the premiere, can you imagine the effect the movie had on the world?

Unrivaled to this day in scope, box office and critical acclaim (although that has come with its share of controversy...) the film remains the epitome of Hollywood's Golden Age. Unlike revered classics of the era though, it has been able to remain timeless and thoroughly enjoyable (I dare you to mention any other four hour long movie which you can sit through without taking a look at your watch).

Most of the film's success is owed to what I consider to be the greatest Oscar winning performance of all time: Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara. The search for the perfect actress to play the iconic role is legendary and as such also remains a fascinating part of Hollywood lore. Watching the result is obvious that David O. Selznick made the right choice.

Few actresses have been as volatile, fearless and relentless as Leigh, who in Scarlett found a perfect outlet to channel a continent's entire view of upcoming disaster. Gone With the Wind was made during the time leading to WWII and while its American Civil War plot had little to do with the conflict involving the Nazis, the irreparable changes Scarlett will go through represent problems humanity has faced for as long as it has existed.

Even if Scarlett spends most of the film acting like what some would call a spoiled bitch, she has a surprising side filled with the kind of strength that would even lead to murder.
In the film's centerpiece she delivers the greatest speech captured on film.



The scene not only marks the ending of the movie's first part, it also establishes a point of no return after which none of the characters are the same they were in the two previous hours.
The scene, which was beautifully shot by Ray Haller and Ray Rennahan, also marked a landmark for Hollywood aesthetics.

Notice how we can't really see Scarlett as she addresses the heavens. Shot against light in what has to be one of the most beautiful use of matte paintings, it's as if not even Scarlett recognizes who she's become. As she raises her body she remains in the dark, but the second when she starts talking there's a timid light that illuminates her face (metaphor for inner enlightenment perhaps?).

As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill.

Then the camera moves one more time and once again we only see her silhouette as she repeats

As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again.

She's once again in the darkness, ignorant of what the future will bring. But this time she'll be prepared to face it.



If you have seen it, you know what I'm talking about and should put your DVD or Blu-ray in the player tonight and commemorate its anniversary. If you haven't seen it what are you waiting for? Tonight's a perfect chance for you to do so.

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Monologue: "He was a boy..."

Jose here bringing you the Monday Monologue, this time taken from Elia Kazan's production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

"Blanche, can I ask you a question?" says shy Mitch (Karl Malden) to Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) during one of their dates. She says yes and he proceeds "How old are you?". With this simple question Leigh takes us on a trip down memory, and insanity, lane as she reminisces about her unsuccessful marriage to a "boy" named Allan.

When I was sixteen I made the discovery: love. All at once and much, much too completely. It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, that's how it struck the world for me.

But I was unlucky. Deluded. There was something about the boy. The nervousness, the callousness, an uncertainty and I didn't understand.

I didn't understand why this boy, who wrote poetry, didn't seem able to do anything else, lost every job, he came to me for help. I didn't know then, I didn't know anything except that I loved him unendurably.

"I don't understand" says Mitch, "No, neither did I" says Blanche. And one might say neither did the audiences in the 50's who were oblivious to how the actual play went. You see, Williams made no point of hiding that Blanche had been married to a gay man. "He wasn't the least effeminate looking" she says in the play "still, that thing was there".
She goes on to reveal how she ended up discovering what was his problem "in the worst of all possible ways", by discovering him being unfaithful with another man.

When the movie was made, the League of Decency and their strict Production Code reigned over Hollywood with a firm, prudish hand. The notion of homosexuality being mentioned in film was unthinkable (how could you talk about something that didn't"exist" back then?), this left the filmmakers and cast with a void that needed to be filled. Blanche's monologue is one of the most crucial moments in the plot and Kazan was already having trouble with other elements featured in the play which included shameless lust, domestic violence, nymphomania and rape.

Therefore Kazan had to work his way around a controversial twist that revealed key traits in the lead character without alienating audiences who had to at least try to understand her. What he does then is turn the monologue into an atmospheric confession where Blanche reveals how she "killed" her husband.

Watch how Kazan plays with light, music and setting - they are almost theatrical in their stylized expressionism - and pay special attention to how Leigh bares Blanche's soul so much that for a moment we even forget Mitch is standing right in front of her. As the Varsouviana plays in the background like a nightmarish lullaby, she travels back in time, but always conceals part of who she really is.

The Code may have been an atrocity with the arts and freedom of expression. But who needs obviousness with this kind of acting? Leigh's capacity to elicit fear, pain and hope is miraculous, but the way in which she gave audience members the liberty to choose what was Allan's problem is what makes her immortal.

Like she says "sometimes-there's God-so quickly" and her performance is proof of that.

"The Look" Gets the Gold

Some people are never down for the count. And Lauren Bacall is one of those people. The famously silver tongued siren began bewitching moviegoers when she was only 19 -- surely the most mature teenager the screen ever saw -- in To Have and Have Not (1944). Aside from a fallow 1970s, she's been working steadily since. In all that time she's never learned to hold her tongue (so many choice soundbites over the years, god bless) and she's still a lively soul at 84 going on 85. Her birthday is next week.

When she lost her only Oscar nomination (1996's The Mirror Has Two Faces) to Juliette Binoche in The English Patient, most assumed that she would be of the Have Not variety when it came to the statue, despite her marriages to two legendary Haves, Oscar winners Humphrey Bogart and Jason Robards. But now, the wait for her very own golden boy is over. She'll receive her honorary Oscar in November.





While we'll see a clip of Bacall at the Oscar ceremony in March, it rankles me that it'll only be a clip. Such a stupid move. The Oscar were made for live moments like that, moments where you can celebrate the last of dying breeds and/or movie legends on the industry's High Holy Night as they mingle with contemporary stars and gazillions of people watch. And make no mistake, there are still plenty of people watching the Oscars every year despite the media's constant reports of Falling Sky! Falling Sky!

Just for fun, here's some of my favorite Tweets from "Lauren" over the past few months as she sounded off on smoking, cats, an unfinished Tarantino script, vampire and horror movies. So what if they were fake? They were so fun. Legendary name dropping, opinions, project pimping...




Now that the news and the tweets are out of the way I have to admit that I'm not really that well versed in Bacall's long career. I've always enjoyed her as a celebrity but aside from To Have and Have Not and How to Marry a Millionaire, my mind goes blank when it comes time to discussing her films. What's your favorite of her performances? Give us rental suggestions in the comments.

In Defeat: Defiance.

Jose here with a bit of history and the movies. The title of this post appears in Winston Churchill's WWII memoir The Gathering Storm, but might as well describe Sarah Miles; Julianne Moore's character in The End of the Affair.

The 1999 film, based on Graham Greene's semi-autobiographical novel takes place in WWII London where Sarah, who is married, has an affair with writer Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) until the Blitz provokes the film's title.

You see, it was 69 years ago today that the German Air Force began bombing England for almost a whole year. Once it began, London was bombed continuously for 57 days. One one of those days Sarah faces her greatest fear.



During one of their illicit rendezvous, she sees Maurice leave the room as the bomb alarms fill the city. A sudden blast (and a chance for cinematographer Roger Pratt to shine) makes Maurice disappear into a cloud of smoke and broken glass.


This leads Sarah to unexpected behavior that consequently gives Moore a chance to own the film in the subtle way only she knows how. Her portrayal of quiet dignity, unbridled passion and otherworldly faith earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

As a piece of Blitz trivia, the movie featured in The End of the Affair is 21 Days, starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier (who were also engaged in an extramarital affair). The film is about a man who kills his lover's husband and then has only three weeks to be with her before surrendering to the authorities. When Fiennes' character watches the movie he must've wanted to be the leading man. That the film condenses the themes of guilt, forbidden passion and limited time frames to love, speaks to Jordan's cinematic knowledge and his spoiler-ish slyness.

Karl Malden (RIP)

<--- Marlon Brando, Nick Dennis, Rudy Bond and Karl Malden in Broadway's original production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947 [via]

This past week has been very rough on the entertainment industry and our cultural history. Today, with Karl Malden's death, we've lost the last remaining principal cast member of Tennessee William's legendary play turned movie A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Now, Malden's career was much larger than mama's boy Harold "Mitch" Mitchel but that classic role, which he originated and owned, is a vital part of his legacy.

Strangely, Jessica Tandy's TONY honor (the original "Blanche DuBois") was the show's only attention from 'Broadway's Oscars' if you will. All the principles transferred to the movie except Tandy who was replaced by the cinema's most legendary southern belle (even though she was British) Vivien Leigh. When it came to the Oscars, three of the four actors (including Malden) collected statues. In typical Oscar fashion the performance most often regarded as game changing for the entire art of acting (Brando's) was the one snubbed on Oscar night. That's not a knock on the other indelible performances, don't misunderstand. It's a knock on Oscar. I'm getting off track but it's a sore spot for me as I'll never understand the instant or enduring love for The African Queen.

Malden was very prolific in the 50s and 60s and his second most treasured performance is probably his man of the cloth role in another Elia Kazan / Marlon Brando film, On the Waterfront (1954). Other enduring features include Baby Doll (1956, pictured right), Pollyanna (1960) The Birdman of Alcatraz and Gypsy (1962), Patton (1970) and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979).

Goodbye Mitch.
Rest in peace.

Vivien Leigh (1913-1967)
Marlon Brando (1924-2004)
Kim Hunter (1922-2002)
Karl Malden (1912-2009)

Victor Fleming: Did the Auteurist Theory Do Him Wrong?

You must... you simply must set aside ten minutes today to read this terrific piece at The New Yorker on Victor Fleming and 1930s Hollywood. It digs into Fleming's heavily debated contributions to the twin immortals of 1939 (Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz -- he was a replacement director on both) and what it unearths is fascinating, indeed. Frankly my dears, I gave a damn... several damns if you're counting.

<-- Clara Bow on Fleming: "Of all the men I've known, there was a man."

For instance, I knew that Vivien Leigh didn't like Fleming and was angry that George Cukor who worked with her closely on her performance was fired. But I had no idea how complex and influential Fleming's relationships to Hollywood's top actors (Gable prominent among them) and actresses actually were (nor what an actressexual -- ok womanizer but we're splitting hairs here -- Fleming was. He had affairs with Clara Bow, Norma Shearer, Lupe Velez and Ingrid Bergman among others). This is but one of many quotes worth sharing.

"Despite his later reputation as a ‘man’s director,’ ” Sragow says, “Fleming launched or cannily revamped a host of female stars from the 1920s on.” The hot-wired Bow did her sexiest, best work for him, in “Mantrap” (1926), and he got sensationally funny performances out of Jean Harlow in “Red Dust,” “Bombshell” (1933), and “Reckless” (1935). The sacred male companionships of seventy years ago did not have the effect of downgrading women—anything but. Fleming, along with his friend Hawks, created women onscreen who were resourceful, strong-willed, and sexual—the kind of women they wanted to hang out with, partners and equals who gave as good as they got. For a while, they, too, were an American ideal.

Selznick, Fleming, Leigh & Gable on the contentious Gone With the Wind set

Gone With the Wind gets the most time in the article. It's a great read and now I think I'll have to look into Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master as well since this essay references that work frequently.

Don't you wish old photos came with audio tracks?

Or that you could time travel into the room as they were being taken.

[photo src]

And if either of those things were possible, wouldn't you grab every Old Hollywood candid you could find in order to listen in or join the party? What exactly would Rosalind Russell, Greer Garson and Merle Oberon chat about anyway? Roz only cares about the camera but who are Greer and Merle all smiles about?

I mean just fantasize for a moment about a night at ... on the bar with Marlene Dietrich and Claudette Colbert.

[photo src]

How much would you have to drink to not be starstruck and join right in. Too much. Too much I say. The mind clouds. The hangover would be epic.

Here's a photo I've cherished my whole life from an old out of print Natalie Wood book from the 80s. It's Dennis Hopper and Wood discussing acting styles as they screen A Streetcar Named Desire in the 50s. (Vivien Leigh was Natalie's favorite actress)


Imagine how many times "Method" and "Actor's Studio" were invoked in that conversation. Imagine the names that were casually dropped.

Blog challenge!
If you have a blog, post a hollywood candid or three you'd most like to hear the accompanying audio track to. I'll link up right here. Spread the namedropping / eavesdropping love.

first responders
Opportunistic Cinephile imagines that Bette Davis cares
Film Awards Watch goes on set with Jane Fonda and to theater with Orson Welles
A Blogwork Orange wonders if Liza Minelli was faking her laughter. Robert DeNiro can be so touchy. 'You talkin' to him?'
My New Plaid Pants gets kinky with Hitchcock and Kim Novak. Throw in Brando and Dean while you're at it.
Extra Criticum has a laugh with Monty & Liz. (sigh... How much do I love these two together? As much as kittens chasing their tails. Yes, that much)
Wipe That Smirk... attack of the princesses: Grace & Audrey
got here as soon as they could
Situated Laundry chooses Bette Davis and Joseph Cotton on the set of Beyond the Forest (I haven't seen this movie, have you?)
Culture Kid doesn't think Judy G needs that much cake. And what the hell are Queen Latifah and Meryl Streep doing?
The Silver Screening Room goes for Peter O'Toole and the "ladies", two Dames and confessions of a shopaholic?
Oscarvations wonders if DW Griffith was an the alpha male of United Artists? (I'm guessing it was Mary Pickford)
backup has arrived
StinkyLulu Sophia, Sal Mineo and Mae West. Oh my.
Stale Popcorn goes mental with Liza and Liz. Ha!
Reel Artsy Dorothy Dandridge wonders...

Where My Heart Lies. And Yours?

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

Audrey, Kate, Vivien, Ingrid, Natalie, Jane, Bette, Meryl,
Kathleen, Julie, Diane, La Liz, Norma, Carole, Michelle,
Judy, Julianne, Catherine, Julie and Joan

Because sometimes you need to be reminded.

P.S. 1 my apologies to Marilyn Monroe who I did forget (and whom I prefer to, say, Audrey Hepburn) and about 20 others I love nearly as much as these 20 including the much maligned Ms. Kidman and everyone's favorite Georgia Peach --no, not Julia, HOLLY! ...

P.S. 2 Let's have a meme of all time actress love. Post them just like so --no explanation and no ranking necessary

P.S. 3 I've linked up as they came in but I really must stop updating this post now.

P.S. 4 if you need something more accurate about my love please see the earlier post Top 100 of All Time OR the Top 100 of the Aughts which is about 3 years old now and which I will revise in late 2009 to reflect the last 4 years of cinema.

JA's list. Sissy, Samantha, Sigourney oh my.
J.D.'s list. Annie, Knightley, Linney, Ziyi...
El Gringo's list is specifically meant to provoke me. He steals away an adolescent crush (Elisabeth Shue) and my current imaginary gf (Marisa Tomei). He must be stopped!
Nick's list (and I didn't even tag him. Show off) Tilda up top
Peter's list. Lovely photos and my Natalie is there
Glenn's list down under. Toni. Nicole. Michelle. Lily...
Flickhead's list. Deneuve. Kidman. Wood. Weld. yummy
Jeremy's list. Though he cheated and left out the "all time" part ;) It's post 70s only
Ivan's list is fascinating: Holm, Remick, Trevor, Grahame
Celinejulie's list. Very different than the rest
Ed's list. Dalle, Seberg, Schygulla, Thurman...
Sheila's list. Adjani, Kahn, O'Hara, Monroe...
Rick's list. Cheung, Colbert, Pfeiffer, Dunaway. Mmmm
Dave's list: Marlene. Mia. Miranda.
Tony's list has Fonda (Bridget!???), Abril (si!) and more
Bob's list: Masina, Moreau, Testud, Gyllenhaal
Cinebeat's list cheats with 23 ~Three of them have to go!!! But which?
Jonathan opts for only character actresses. StinkyLulu would be proud
Dame Jame's has Marie Dressler & Thelma Ritter. I love this
Darren goes all mysterious with only pics. Can you name all 20?
J.C. goes classic Hollywood. My Norma is there!
Kotto honors performances rather than actresses
StinkyLulu narrows the 20 down even further turning it into a history of his smackdowns
Laura's list: Loretta, Ginger, Irene
Jason cheats too. It's just top 20 of rightnow
Tim's list reflects on all of these lists
Wendymoon commits heresy. Says she likes actors better!

Help -- the meme has totally evolved! Soon it will walk on two hind legs and learn how to make fire

And... if you would like to read more on any of the actresses above chase their labels below.
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20:08 (Best Pictures From the Outside In)

screenshots from the 20th minute and 8th second of movies.
I use a VLC but different DVDs do come up with slightly different screenshots. It's an inexact exercize.

It's a very plum... plum

Even Pee Wee Herman would love this redundant statement from The English Patient. 'Mmm, plummy!' But it gets at one of the best things about the movie, the feast it offers the senses.


In this first frame from Gone With the Wind, "Good Morning Scarlett", our heroine is all ablur ready to wreak havoc at the Wilkes Plantation. In the second frame (20:08 if you remove the overture) she's transferring her affections to Charles when she can't find a wedge inbetween Ashley & Melanie, newly betrothed.

Charles Hamilton, I want to eat barbecue with you! And mind you don't go philandering with any other girls because I might be jealous.

Such a troublemaker, that one! Or as her husband hunting rivals call her, "a hornet".

Visit Nick's Flick Picks for the new episode of Best Pictures From the Outside In as Mike, Nick and I tackle these two film giants, two of the longest best picture winners evah. "Fiddle Dee Dee"

And here's a chart of all episodes as per requests
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Good (?) Mornin'

This week's banner (I change them up, see? If they don't quite scroll, they pan as some stars disappear, replaced by others) wishes you a good morning. With coffee. The banner is inspired by Peter @ Coffee Coffee and More Coffee who rarely reviews a movie that I've even heard of. Which I consider quite a feat.

The self-portrait in the sidebar is too small for fine details but I'm drinking some too. I raise my cup to Mads, Fonda, Sigourney and the rest of the guzzlers. I'm drinking from the same Pinocchio coffee cup I've had since the Disney marketing blitz of 1940. The first blog post I wrote while sipping from it was a bloodshot ode to crazy/beautiful Vivien in Waterloo Bridge. I haven't slept since!

Admire my stamina.
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Viv takes a break

Relax, Nathanial will be back soon. And I'm sure he will delight us with tales of magical wonder and wonderous magic.