A Night to Remember — The Other Titanic Movie

Posted on April 12, 2012 at 3:14 pm

On the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this week, I want to recommend the other Titanic movie, “A Night to Remember” with Clifton Webb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okgLvnAh8Gg

And here is the striking memorial in Washington DC, put up by the women of America in honor of the men who died so that women and children on the ship could be saved. Many thanks to photographer Ron Cogswell for granting permission to use this image via Flickr.

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Neglected gem Rediscovered Classic

Lists: The Funniest Movies and the All-Time Best

Posted on April 7, 2012 at 4:10 pm

I always quote Mrs. Miniver when the subject of making “best of” lists of movies. She wasn’t talking about movies but her comment is applicable in many contexts: “Indefensible but irresistible.” And they’re a great way of finding some good movies for your Neflix queue? Yahoo has a new list of the 100 funniest movies of all time. And Roger Ebert, who often says how much he dislikes being asked to make lists, admits that there is one list, or really two, that he thinks is worthwhile. Once a decade, the distinguished film journal Sight and Sound publishes all-time best lists, most recently one from critics, one from directors. Ebert’s 2002 ballot:

Aguirre, Wrath of God (Herzog)
Apocalypse Now (Coppola)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Dekalog (Kieslowski)
La dolce vita (Fellini)
The General (Keaton)
Raging Bull (Scorsese)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
Tokyo Story (Ozu)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)

Will he change it this year? What would you include?

“The Best Man” and My Dad’s Un-Conventional Idea

Posted on March 29, 2012 at 2:51 pm

I’m very proud of my dad’s piece in Politico today about the advantages of a brokered convention.

I’ve been at a brokered convention and worked for a candidate who came out of it. Even though my candidate lost the general election, it was still a far more robust and constructive process than the primary-caucus marathon of the past half-century.

My dad, who has been involved in national, state, and local campaigns since 1948, says that

primary voters push GOP candidates to the right, and Democratic candidates left. Independent voters, who occupy the center, wonder why the parties nominate candidates who don’t represent their views. The nominees then spend the general election recanting what they said in the primaries, to persuade the independents, who decide elections.

We thought getting rid of the brokered conventions would do away with smoke-filled rooms and backroom deals. We just substituted one set of bosses for another.

I also read today that a new production of Gore Vidal’s play, “The Best Man” is about to open on Broadway with an all-star cast that includes “Will and Grace” star Eric McCormack, Candace Bergan, James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, and, in a small role, Donna Hanover, who knows something about politics as the former wife of the mayor of New York City. Vidal, whose political expertise was in part based on his being related to Jaqueline Kennedy, penned a sharp story about two Presidential candidates at a brokered convention along the lines of the ones my dad wrote about. The movie version, starring Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson, is one of my all-time favorite political dramas and as timely as the day it was written.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbJoI6yToc4

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For Your Netflix Queue Neglected gem

TCM Salutes Sisters on Screen

Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:00 am

I’m the oldest of three girls and so I have always had a special fondness for movies about sisters. I was delighted to see that Turner Classic Movies has a full schedule of sister movies today, from the classic Meet Me In St. Louis (Judy Garland, Lucille Bremer, Margaret O’Brien, and Joan Carroll) to the less classic but highly entertaining Two Weeks With Love (Jane Powell and then-newcomer Debbie Reynolds). Big hugs to my sisters, Martha and Mary — I wish we could make popcorn and watch the whole line-up together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVZH_rwwvA4

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Neglected gem Television

List: Amnesia Movies

Posted on February 8, 2012 at 10:58 pm

In honor of this week’s romantic, fact-based movie, “The Vow,” here are some of my favorite movies featuring memory loss. You know what I’m going to say — the characters may lose their memories, but these movies are unforgettable.

I Love You Again William Powell and Myrna Loy made 10 films together. The best remembered are the delightful “Thin Man” series but my favorite is this neglected gem about a prim, dull man who is hit on the head and discovers that he is a slick con man who lost his memory and somehow found himself married and living in a small town. Witty, charming, and wise.

Unknown White Male Amnesia is such an inherently gripping plot line that there are more movie characters (and soap opera!) with amnesia than real patients. But this is a documentary about a real-life case, made by a director who was once a friend of the subject.

Dead Again Kenneth Branagh wrote and directed this mystery about a detective (Branagh) trying to discover the truth about a woman (Emma Thompson) who cannot remember her past.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind This fabulously imaginative and deliciously loopy romance is about a couple who consult a firm that erases memories of bad romances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnSgSe2GzDc

Memento A damaged man must surround himself with reminders to track down the person who killed his wife.

Random Harvest This deeply romantic film from the author of “Lost Horizon” and “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” has Ronald Coleman as a soldier who loses his memory and falls in love with a singer played by Greer Garson. They are exquisitely happy until a tragic loss leads him to remember his old life and forget all about her. She applies for a job as his secretary to be close to him and he hires her without knowing they were once in love.

Runners-up: 50 First Dates, The Bourne Trilogy, Overboard, Total Recall, The Notebook

What am I….forgetting?