Catty Kim Novak

Press play. It magically provides your soundtrack for this post*



A happy 77th birthday to one of the screen's most famous sirens, Kim Novak. I always picture her with/as feline since I fell for her as a kid watching Bell Book and Candle on the telly.


And there's still more! This 50s sex kitten was always surrounding herself with feline friends.

Meow!


If I were a sexy actress, I'd also surround myself with cats for photoshoots. and then I'd become a crazy old cat lady. Which I desperately hope Kim Novak now is. It's a perfectly natural beautiful progression. We haven't seen Kim in decades so I feel it's a safe guess.

If you were a famous actor, which animal would you accessorize with?

*I've been stuck in a Prince loop lately after a recent spin of Purple Rain which to my astonishment doesn't seem to have aged even a day in its 26 years. Timeless classic!

May Flowers, Vertigo

For the finale of May Flowers I thought we should gaze at Alfred Hitchcock's immortal Vertigo(1958). Aside from Vertigo descendants like Robert Altman's Three Women or David Lynch's Mulholland Drive what film is more appropriate for this time of year when we're ruled by twin sign Gemini? Hitchcock films generally deserve complete dissertations but we don't have Scottie Ferguson's (Jimmy Stewart) stamina when it comes to fetishizing doppelgangers. So in the space of this blogpost we merely glance at his introductions to Madeleine/Judy (Kim Novak).


Ferguson has been hired to follow Madeleine and as he first spots her in the deep rose red restaurant, Hitchock slow zooms out from Scottie (far right) at the bar and pans left, following his gaze, into the dining area filled with flowers and well heeled customers and even a painting of a floral arrangement framed by floral arrangements before it finally stops at Madeleine (tiny, far left) in her emerald green dress.

As she leaves the restaurant we get Kim Novak's first bewitching close up, carefully calibrated and emphasized by Hitchcock's editor George Tomasini and cinematographer Robert Burks. Scottie likes what he sees but this is a job.

Some enchanted evening
You may see a stranger,
you may see a stranger
Across a crowded room
And somehow you know,
You know even then
That somewhere you'll see her
Again and again.

-"Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific which (trivia note!) opened in theaters two months before Vertigo.

Scottie will indeed be seeing Madeleine again and again. His interest is piqued. Hitchcock sees this man's spiral into obsession coming long before he does. When Scottie next follows Madeleine she enters a door in an alley way and he enters, not knowing what he'll find there.

This is psychologically astute visual storytelling. Once he's in pursuit, Scottie is cast into shadow and suddenly it's all color, flowers, woman. This will be happening to Scottie again and again, albeit not in the literal sense. His personality will darken (obsessive bullying voyeur coming right up) and soon his life will be entirely focused on colors (it must be the gray suit!), flowers (his eyes darting from bouquet to bouquet) and this particular woman. All he will be able to see is Madeleine.

Or Judy as the case may be...


Scottie also first "meets" (okay, stalks) Judy, who looks suspiciously like Madeleine, in a setting bursting with colored petals. His eye is drawn there by a familiar bouquet... And then he spots Judy, introduced with a right profile closeup just like Madeleine. Her shot isn't as elegant but she's from Selina, Kansas. What did you expect?


Though she lacks Madeleine's class, she's practically a fraternal twin. Scottie will force the issue until she's identical. Hitchcock, Novak and Stewart aren't afraid to commit to unlikeable characters (pity that neither actor was Oscar-nominated for this, but then Oscar treated this masterpiece quite shabbily, extending only sound and art direction nominations) and the movie is richer and darker for it.

Vertigo makes you dizzy with its duplicate women, tripled bouquets -- oops, I didn't mention the third woman, Carlotta Valdes, and that painting that hypnotizes Madeleine? No?!


We can't venture there, lest we be sucked into the knotty insane spiral of all of these doppelgangers. We don't want to end up like Scottie or Madeleine who'll violently toss her flowers into the river before jumping in herself.

This movie was all too much for her.


*

TONY Award Nominations / Movie Connections

The Tony Award Nominations are upon us. As is my inconsistent tradition, I thought I'd share a little bit about a movies you can rent or think about to create an unfulfilling celluloid guilty-by-association approximation of the Broadway experience of the 2008/2009 season before the TONYs roll around on June 7th. Not everyone gets to New York to see the shows. And even if you live here, like me, you don't get to them in your financially challenged years. Tony Winners Cynthia Nixon (who seems to be everywhere lately, right?) and In the Height's man Lin-Manuel Miranda are announcing them live any minute now.

If you want a reminder of what's eligible which you can use to see who got snubbed check out this eligibility chart.

P L A Y R E V I V A L
Joe Turner's Come and Gone
This is the 2nd in August Wilson's famous 10 play decade by decade cycle of the African-American experience. The themes are identity and migration. There is sadly no great movie epic about The Great Migration (That's a missed opportunity A list writer/directors. Get on it!). The original production starred Delroy Lindo and Angela Bassett so you can rent one movie from each. Only one (!?!) of Wilson's plays has been filmed: The Piano Lesson with Charles S Dutton and Alfre Woodard in the lead roles.

Mary Stuart
Imagine a whole movie about Samantha Morton's doomed Mary Stuart instead of Cate Blanchett's cousin-killing Elizabeth in The Golden Age. Although maybe you wouldn't like to think about the Golden Age right now or ever again. My apologies!

A sampling of actresses who've played Mary: Helen Hayes, Vanessa Redgrave, Samantha Morton and Janet McTeer. Scarlett Johansson was set to play her in an upcoming film but that seems to be off her schedule now.

Better yet, rent Vanessa Redgrave's Oscar nominated turn as Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) with Glenda Jackson as her rival. Oscar nominee Janet McTeer (Tumbleweeds) is Mary of Scots in the Broadway revival. Further reading about Bess & Mary

The Norman Conquests
This comedic trilogy by Alan Ayckbourn was filmed in the 70s for television but it's not on DVD.

Waiting for Godot
This Beckett classic has been staged countless times and filmed a few times for television. It's so theatrical and abstract by nature (two men wait in vain on an empty country road. The end!) that it doesn't really invite the screen treatment. The current revival stars Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin. When I interviewed Bill Irwin (who shoulda been Oscar nominated for Rachel Getting Married) last year we talked about this a bit. I figured he could handle Nathan Lane what with all that sparring with Kathleen Turner already under his belt. I heartily recommend renting Beckett on Film in which interesting directors interpret Beckett's work. At the very least you'll get to see Julianne Moore doing Beckett's insanely great monologue piece Not I (see previous post)

M U S I C A L R E V I V A L
Guys and Dolls
The 1955 movie version starring Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons isn't really definitive since it's not particularly well loved and there are some singing issues. The current revival stars familiar actors from TV mostly (Oliver Platt, Lauren Graham and Craig Bierko). When they revived this musical comedy in London 4 years ago the Brits got two actors who fill me with glee: Ewan MacGregor and Jane Krakowski. No fair!

Hair
I LOVED this production (see previous post) but if you can't get to NYC to see it, you can always watch the 1979 Milos Forman film version.

Pal Joey
This got the film treatment back in 1957 with Frank Sinatra as star, so you'll want to rent that. Here's two videos to give you a slice of musical heaven this fine Tuesday morning...



Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak. That combo is almost too beautiful to look at. Double mmmmm. Stockard Channing and 80s teen star turned ubiquitous Broadway player Martha Plimpton are the "mice" on Broadway.

West Side Story
I really want to see this rare revival of my favorite musical of all time. But I could always watch the movie a gazillionth time.

B E S T P L A Y
Dividing the Estate
This isn't a new play but this family drama from Horton Foote is having its first Broadway run, therefore eligible for "best play". Foote died just two months ago but in his long career he wrote many plays and screenplays, too (including that film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird which marked his first Oscar win). His most successful play-to-screen transfers happened in the 80s with the Oscar winners Tender Mercies and The Trip to Bountiful.



God of Carnage
A friend of mine has already seen this one three times. The play is about two sets of parents who meet to discuss an altercation between their childen. The civilized meeting goes haywire and everyone behaves very badly. The couples are film and tv regulars Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels and awards magnets James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden (yay! my love grows)

reasons to be pretty
This is the latest provocation from Neil Labute also from my alma mater BYU in which a boyfriend's offhanded comment about his girlfriend's beauty-deficiency gets back to her sparking much trouble in their social circle. Thematically this is supposed to close an unofficial trilogy which started with The Shape of Things (which was made into a film with its original cast intact: Rachel Weisz, Paul Rudd, Gretchen Mol and Fred Weller) and continued in Fat Pig. LaBute's film career started strong with the vicious In the Company of Men which introduced movie audiences to Aaron Eckhart (another BYU alum) but lately he's been sliding: Lakeview Terrace and Wicker Man? Really... that's what you got?

33 Variations
This is the play that brought Jane Fonda back to Broadway. It's a story of a mother and daughter relationship and also a story about a composer: it spans 200 years from contemporary New York to 19th century Austria... plays aren't as literal as movies, you know.

Fonda is a nominee for Best Actress. Why can't somebody give her another shot at a third Oscar? Streep shouldn't be the only one giving Katharine Hepburn a run for her 4 Oscar record.

<--- Here's a photo from Jane Fonda's blog of 92 year-old Oscar winning supporting actress superstar CELESTE HOLM (!) visiting her backstage. This photo makes me so happy.

B E S T M U S I C A L
Billy Elliott
You've already seen the movie but why not watch it again. I'm still confused about how it makes a stage musical. If everyone is singing and dancing what makes little Billy so special. He's no longer out of place which was sort of the whole emotional point. That said, reviews are strong so maybe they worked magic.

Oh and yes, this will easily be the Slumdog of TONY night. It's up for 15 prizes including a special 3-way nomination for Best Actor

Film to Stage: It takes three boys to fill Jamie Bell's talented shoes

Next to Normal
A family in crisis (the mother is bipolar)... sings. More than 30 original songs. Alice Ripley (Side Show) headlines.

Rock of Ages
This is a head banging musical comedy (lots of famous songs from 80s radio) which unfortunately continues the trend of putting American Idol stars in Broadway roles -- this time it's Constantine Maroulis. Since this is a send up I guess maybe This is Spinal Tap! could be a vaguely connected movie rental choice. Or, go see Anvil! The Story of Anvil in theaters. It's a goodie even if its comedy is less intentional.

Shrek the Musical
I am in the tiny .001 percentile of the population that finds the whole Shrek phenomenon completely overrated and disheartening. I still think it's embarrassing that the movie beat Monsters, Inc to the Oscar . This musical doesn't have a prayer of accomplishing a similar feat, thank goodness. Small comfort because I am tremendously annoyed that my beloved Sutton Foster keeps wasting her bankability and starpower playing roles in mammoth productions that don't need a star of her calibre to sell tickets and for which no one will remember her. If your name alone can generate press and sell tickets why not harness your power for good and support new composers and smaller shows?

Here she is yukking it up at Joe's Pub last year and on Rosie O'Donnell in 2002 when her star first exploded in Thoroughly Modern Millie


(sigh) I love her so. It's so weird to me that she's never made a movie though she has finally done a bit of TV (Flight of the Conchords)

That's it! Whew. I'll talk about the actors and actresses soon (in brief) Have you seen any of these productions? If not, what's the last Broadway or touring show you saw?

100 Favorite Actresses

It's a Tuesday Top Ten blow-out. Top 10 multipled by 10. In other words, a Top 100. Can you tell I'm exhausted this week? Guest bloggers start pitching in Thursday --I've got freelance stuff due, friends visiting for the Yaz reunion concert [insert synthesized "woot" here] and more.

Enjoy fumes...

(For best results hit play in the "video of week" sidebar so that this gif has Old Hollywood musical accompanient!)

Nathaniel's 100 Favorite Actresses -in animated gif format... don't look for a link ;)
Extremely subject to change as I see more older movies. The goddesses appear in very rough ascending order... (Ask me tomorrow and the order will vary considerably but the actresses will remain the same, give or take a dozen of them... cuz you know it'd be a top 200 if I had the time)

Did you see your favorites? If not, too bad. They're mine. Mine. All mine! Jealousy will do you no good. Feel free to discuss them or make a case for some of yours.

Tuesday Top Ten: Witches

Tuesday Top Ten is back ~ A weekly series for the list lover in you and the list maker in me

I have done nothing to get myself in the proper Halloween spirit this year. No costume contemplation, pumpkin purchases, candycorn chomping, demonic deeds --nothing. You got plenty of bloodsuckers last year, so let's stir some spellcasters into the top ten spot

Top Ten Witches

This list is dedicated to Billie Burke's pill popping Glinda (pink bubbles are not a natural method of travel -even for witches. She's supplementing) and Margaret Hamilton's eternally cackling Wicked Witch of the West. They set the good witch/bad witch mold in The Wizard of Oz (1939) and they've never been surpassed. Rest in peace my pretties...

10 "Gil" (Kim Novak) in Bell Book and Candle (1958)
I haven't seen this in so long but I loved it as a wee tyke. Seen it lately? Does it hold up?

09 "Lamia" (La Pfeiffer) in Stardust (2007)
Defying the Oz rule that only bad witches are ugly, this old crone is actually as beautiful as Michelle Pfeiffer once you get the dumb CGI scowls and excessive latex out of the way. Pfeiffer's BIG performance may be a thing of cartoon beauty but Lamia's is only skin deep: unless you're Hannibal Lecter you probably don't see the pretty in eating hearts and entrails. [prev Stardust posts]

08 "Grand High Witch" (Angelica Huston) in The Witches
From my review: "When Huston first arrives in the film, outside of the hotel where the bulk of the film's actions takes place, she's greeted with a sudden swelling of the film's score. It's entirely redundant. It's not like you could ever miss Angelica Huston's unconventional and powerful screen presence. From her very first lines and tunnel visioned haughtiness its clear that she's having a ball with the role, and making very specific imaginative choices. She zeroes in on "the most evil woman in creation" tag and wears it with pride. Not for this fearless actress a glimmer of humanity, then... "

07 "The Scarlet Witch" in The Avengers
I'm glad this comic book heroine hasn't been moviefied yet. I don't think she'd adapt well: they'd screw up either the luscious curls, the silver fox twin brother, her android loving ways, and especially her "hex" powers --I'm more than certain they would visualize her unpredictable chaos magic as bursts of colored CGI energy balls and who needs any more of those? (see also #10 and #3, sigh)

06 "Alexandra, Jane and Sukie" (Cher, Sarandon, & Pfeiffer) in The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
In this case a picture is worth a 1,000 1,000,000 words

photo by Richard Corman -a gift to actressexuals everywhere

05 "Madame Mim" in The Sword and the Stone (1963)
Her magical duel with Merlin --they try various animals on for size-- is the best part of a Disney movie that almost no one discusses.

04 "Witch" (Bernadette Peters) in Into the Woods
"It's the last midnight / It's the last verse / Now, before it's past midnight / I'm leaving you my last curse" Possibly my favorite stage musical of all time. Vanessa Williams was also pretty good in this role in a recent revival...they added a funny booty shaking beat to her reemergence as a beautiful witch and boy did she sell her strut across the stage. As Sondheim's arguably most commercial endeavor, I've always wondered why Into the Woods isn't the one to make it to the movies. Any theories?

03 "Willow Rosenberg" (Alyson Hannigan) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
You may have noticed that it's so hard for me to get through any topic without mentioning Buffy... damn Joss Whedon for usurping so much of my hippocampus.

02 "Samantha" (Elizabeth Montgomery) in Bewitched (1964-1972)
No matter how hard I try I can never make my nose wiggle from side to side but even had I mastered that impressive skill, who would have provided the tinkling sound effect? And what good is nose wiggling without it?

P.S. Elizabeth Montgomery is a babe

01 "Maleficent" in Sleeping Beauty (1959)
You sent her an invitation to your latest party, right? Please tell me you sent her an invitation.

[gulp]

if you haven't had enough witchy women, please see the awesome Eartha Kitt "I Want to Be Evil" video in the sidebar. meow

Season 1 of Tuesday Top Ten (for new readers)
Alexander(s) The Great -from Desplat to Xander
The Three Amigos -Del Toro, Cuaron, Innaritu
Best of 2006 -From Marie Antoinette to The Departed
Oscar Talking Points -from Winslet's record breaking to Dreamgirls snub
Christian Bale -From Newsies to American Psycho
Horseplay -From Equus to National Velvet
Celebrity Couples -From Madonna & Guy to Brangelina
Bald Heads -From Channing Tatum to Professor X
Art in Movies -From "David" to some girl with the pearl earring
Political Women "Pick Flick!" or reelect Laura Roslyn
Holly Hunter -my favorite Georgian ~take that Julia!
Tarantino Performances -From Harvey to Uma
Prosthetic Appendages -beer filled legs, Dirk's Diggler
Loveable Cads -from Rhett to 'Bond, James Bond'
Funny Girls from Jame Lee Curtis to Reese Witherspoon
Lesley Ann Warren -embarrassing things I might have said had I met her...
Box Office Bizarre -the sad reality vs. the paradisical imagined
Men of Summer -From Willis to Damon
Women of Summer -From Hathaway to Pfeiffer
Catwoman -Michelle's greatest role? meow
PTA Performances from Fiona Apple to "Rollergirl"
Pixar -What's your 'toon preference?
Top Ten of 2007 (so far) From Grindhouse to Once
Oscar Nominationless -The Stars Oscar Refuses to Love
Fall Film Preview -anticipation for "prestige" season
Future Biopics -From Monty to Liza
H.S. I Love You -an unexpected love letter

Top Ten: Oscar Nominationless

With the Toronto Festival rapidly approaching, early Oscar buzz will soon be in the air. Time for a list!

One of the most common delusions of fans is "one day [my favorite actor] will be nominated for an Oscar!" The reality is that statistics are against it. Even actors with massive careers (Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, Richard Gere, Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey) might go without...even when they manage to get close by either

_____a) snagging Oscar bait roles or
_____b) finding regular precursor attention @ the Golden Globes.

This year we might see long time shutouts like Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tilda Swinton in the mix, but you never know. For today's top ten I'm focusing on names that are even bigger headscratchers. These ten stars --well, I can never quite wrap my head around their absence from Oscar's history book. I've excluded foreign language actors since it's always believable that they'll be snubbed -- sorry Isabelle Huppert. Everyone knows you rule but Oscar is a slow reader and you have cooties (i.e. subtitles)

Movie Stars That Oscar Refuses To Love

10 Christian Bale. He's done everything: wowing as a child star, headlining hits, Oscarbait gimmicks like weight loss and accents. Part of the golden resistance is the kind of movies he's made: too challenging (American Psycho) or small (The Machinist). Given the way his critical and audience cred grows each year, Oscar is starting to look dense.

09 Jeff Daniels. It might be a stretch to call him a "star" but he is nearly as reliable as that other Jeff (Bridges) who also makes superb acting look easy. The other Jeff has four nominations to his name despite the perceived effortlessness. Daniels is always good but he was plain ol' magnificent in The Squid and the Whale (FB Award) and The Purple Rose of Cairo (review) two very difficult and different roles. Yet, Oscar won't acknowledge him. Do they have something against Michiganders.

08 Myrna Loy She's best remembered for her classic stylish "Nora Charles" role in the Thin Man series but in the early days of Oscar they weren't so afraid of comediennes (Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne and others were nominated) so what gives? Even when she worked the ensemble dramas late in her career (Lonelyhearts, Airport 75, From the Terrace) it was always a co-star who was noticed instead. She was denied one of those 'you're really old and we forgot all about you!' sympathy nods that Oscar watchers are so familiar with. They apologized with an honorary Oscar two years before her death.

07 Kim Novak This star shone brightly in the 50s but AMPAS wore blinders. Her biggest Oscar success was undoubtedly Picnic (1955) but she was not among its many nominees. She is one of a long line of actresses who suffered from the 'too beautiful to be taken seriously' fate. Novak didn't do any de-glamming to win kudos, she tested studio patience with an affair with Sammy Davis Jr and --most importantly for the discussion here -- she had the misfortune of giving her greatest performance in Vertigo (58) a movie which was way ahead of its time. It's maddening that her double your pleasure star turn, an entirely bewitching act, was passed over. The snub is even more painful knowing that Deborah Kerr's worst performance (Separate Tables) was in the mix.

06 Dennis Quaid. That disarming grin never fails to charm. The only known defense against it is a membership within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. That'll make you impervious. Quaid has tried against-type critical hoopla (Far From Heaven -FB award), biopic mugging (Great Balls of Fire), comebacks (The Rookie) and working the ensemble in a Best Picture nominee (Traffic, The Right Stuff, Breaking Away) --all tactics which have put the red carpet under the feet of many lessser actors.

05 Marilyn Monroe Kim Novak's problem again: if you're viewed as a trophy you're too pretty to earn one. It took a long time for Monroe's reputation to rise from movie star to fine actor. But decades later her work in Bus Stop, The Misfits and a number of musical comedies more than holds up. Her face has been over merchandized but there's still fresh discovery to be had in watching her actual work. Monroe as an icon is overvalued but Monroe the actor? Still underappreciated if you ask me.

04 Christopher Plummer Plummer has been a revered workaholic actor since the 1950s. He was invited to join AMPAS recently and one imagines that's an apology of sorts. He's been featured in Best Picture winners (Sound of Music, A Beautiful Mind) but even in a year when he won multiple precursor awards within a Best Picture nominee (The Insider) they politely looked away.

03 Steve Martin. This enduring star is currently testing critical patience with insipid family comedies, but that doesn't negate his overall career genius. It's easy to write this one off as "Oscar doesn't like comedy" but that doesn't entirely quell the dissatisfaction. His work in the romantic comedy Roxanne or his dramatic but funny spin in Grand Canyon is on par with your typical Robin Williams acting. And speaking of... that less original funny man has multiple Oscar nods and an actual trophy to show for his work. Injustice! Has he ever been as inspired as Steve Martin was in All of Me?

02 Donald Sutherland. Some stars become legendary through the force of their own charisma (think Julia Roberts) even if the bulk of their actual filmography is not much to envy. Other actors achieve immortality by being in so many great films that their work will be seen forever. Pairing Sutherland's Oscar loved films with the knowledge that he's always passed over is a jaw dropping exercize: MASH, Klute, Don't Look Now, Fellini's Casanova, Ordinary People, JFK, Six Degrees of Separation, Pride & Prejudice ...(whew)

01 Mia Farrow On rare occassions I feel guilty for writing about the movies as in... 'stop reading right now and watch THIS!' I know there are people reading who haven't seen Farrow's haunting work in Rosemary's Baby, her unrecognizable and funny scenery-chewing in Broadway Danny Rose (1984), her perfectly judged star-gazing in The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) or her quicksilver moodshifts in Alice (1990) ...and that's just four (four!) great performances off the top of my head. Mia Farrow has led an oft controversial, confrontational and tabloid-friendly personal life ever since her early days of stardom on Frank Sinatra's arm. But here's the thing: Oscar voters should be setting aside prickly personal lives when judging the merits of performance.


Mia's glory days are gone but she was brilliant more than once and has the classic films to show for it. But no honors from the Academy. Making this sting even more: Woody Allen films, which make up about a third of Farrow's filmography, have won many acting nominations and trophies, but Mia was never along for that ride. AMPAS has absurdly mistreated her. She's more than earned an honorary Oscar, don't you think?

Who would you add or subtract from this list? Which omission makes you the most bonkers? [for related posts, chase the labels @ the bottom of zee post]