1940's Party!!

How awesome is this?! I went to this party last year and it was amazing. So many guys dressed up in old school military uniforms, even a couple of nurses, and the rest of us in 1940's style garb. Big band orchestra, and even dance lessons during the band's set breaks!

Not sure if I will be partaking this year due to my insanity of a work/school schedule, but if any of you are in the San Diego area you should definitely check this event out!

http://www.fortguijarros.com/WhatsNew.html

Fiona Apple's classic cover is the cat's meow!

I first heard the song "After You've Gone" during the closing credits of the movie The Cats Meow (2001) which starred Kirsten Dunst. The movie, while not particularly good in script nor acting, was still an entertaining watch because of the stunning costumes, great soundtrack, and intriguing subject matter. It dealt with the conspiracy theories surrounding what could have happened aboard a getaway weekend on William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924, when movie producer Thomas Ince turned up dead.

Officially they say he died of heart trouble, but because of the fishy nature of his death and the fact that everyone aboard was sworn to secrecy, not to mention a couple of the ladies ended up on the payroll of Hearst, many thought he was accidentally shot and killed by Hearst himself. Rent the movie if you haven't seen it, again while not the best quality cinema it's still entertaining.

In any case, back to "After You've Gone". I really loved this tune playing during the closing credits, and turns out it was Kirsten Dunst herself who did the vocals for this version. Very nice set of pipes she's got! I ended up searching more about the song and came across this AWESOME cover done by the great Fiona Apple. She totally makes the song her own, I LOVE IT!

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)...

... is on TV right now, and I'm totally crying at the part when Fred is sleeping at the family's apartment and having a nightmare about the war and he's crying while Peggy's comforting him. BWWAAAAAHHH!

I've seen this movie many times before so I don't know why all of a sudden I'm crying!

I think I'm PMS-ing hehe.

Gloria Stuart Dies at 100

She was a GORGEOUS actress, and personally I enjoyed her early films, even though apparently she grew tired of how she was typecast and eventually turned her back on her career and Hollywood.  Most will now remember her as the actress who played the older Rose in Titanic, but I still remember her as the beautiful blonde actress from the 30's, with my personal best memory being from Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm as we watched that movie many times over when we were kids.

Rest in peace Gloria, we sure liked your movies <3

Thelma Todd - Suicide, Accidental Death, or Murder?

Cue thriller type music! I was obsessed yesterday looking up information about the silent/talkie film star Thelma Todd. I had been reading some article, I can't even remember where or what it was, but it was recent and made a reference to a movie that starred Thelma Todd. Google her I did as I was not too familiar with who she was or what she looked like. I found out that she died very young, at 29, of quite fishy circumstances.

She was found in the early morning hours of December 16, 1935 in her garage, slumped over in the driver's seat of her parked car. The police determined she had committed suicide, and then later changed that determination to accidental death by carbon monoxide poisoning. Something was afoot though.

For one they found her lip bruised and some blood on her face and dress. Also, in order for her to have reached her driveway she would have had to climb a large outdoor staircase on a hill which would have dirtied her shoes. The shoes she was wearing were clean. Other things such as the autopsy showing beans and peas in her stomach, when that's not what was served at the dinner she attended the night before, her connection to a mobster, a jealous wife of her lover, a fight with that lover that night, etc. just give more fodder to anything BUT an accidental death.

It just saddens me at how young she died, and if indeed she met her end through no fault of her own inebriation then it also makes me mad that someone got away with such an awful crime. I shall be adding some of her movies to my Netflix queue.

The Big Parade (1925)

If you like films of the silent sort, definitely check this one out. It was on TCM the other day and caught my eye as the heroine was played by Renee Adoree who was a silent film star I had often heard of but hadn't actually seen any of her films yet. A long time ago her biography caught my eye as she passed away very young of tuberculosis, after having had a very successful silent film career that did transition well over to talkies. Her eyes are STUNNING and just jump off the screen!

The film was very moving, tells the tale of a young American man who ventures off to fight in World War I, experiences the atrocities of war, and also falls in love with a French woman. Lots of emotions involved here and then more showing his return home to his family having been also physically scarred from war. It's a touching film and apparently was a huge blockbuster back in its day and also was a big inspiration for many future war films. So much so that in 1992 it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

TCM the new AMC?

So lately I've been noticing a slightly disturbing trend on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) that is reminiscent of what American Movie Classics (AMC) did back in the day. More and more I'm seeing movies made post 50's being aired, and while I of course love all types of films they are not the reason I tune into TCM. Give me my black and white flicks damnit!

I remember when I was in junior high/high school I used to watch AMC all the time. That is where I first started my romance with classic films after having been exposed to a few by my parents growing up. AMC was where I found out there was much more to that world than Singing in the Rain, My Fair Lady and Knights of the Rounds Table. Then I discovered another channel that provided the same types of films from the 20's-50's, TCM! Hooray! Two channels to gobble up old time cinema!

Then I remember noticing AMC was switching up their offerings. Movies like E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, and Jaws started popping up every now and again and eventually more recent "film classics" were all that was being shown. Again, I LOVE those movies but where was I to go if I wanted a good ol' fashioned black and white fix? I noticed those films were mostly being played at ungodly hours of the day when I just couldn't watch, and this was pre-DVR days. TCM however was still my hero!

That is until now. Sadness. Of course I'm still able to see a good ol' flick on TCM, but like AMC started doing those black and white classics seem to be airing less and less to make room for films that were made in the 60's and 70's. Before long will I not be able to see ANYTHING from the Golden Age of Hollywood?? I used to be able to turn on the TV and go straight to TCM to see what was playing and now I feel like every time I do I just want to change it because I'm just not interested in a film I could catch on any other channel.

I guess I should just start making good use of that DVR and hope that at least my black and white flicks will still be aired, even at those ungodly hours of the day!