Random Thoughts

By Emacs! There’s something strange happening on my TV! The pixels! Instead of just showing luminicity, they’re also showing… Hue! How is that possible!? What strange innovation is this!!!

Was New York really smoggy in the 40s?

I mean…

See? Smog?

Or just foggy? For the entire shoot?

Whenever I see Frank Sinatra in one of these sort of films, I think he looks like he’s more than a bit embarrassed. Gene Kelly, of course, is never embarrassed. He commits totally.

The sap.

Scenic…

So that’s what makes the smog…

This is a fantastic film. It’s so funny. And I’m guessing that the choreography is Gene Kelly’s, since it’s so muscular. Nothing understated at all.

I don’t think there was a single nanosecond of watching this film where I wasn’t smiling.

If it hadn’t been for the slightly unfortunate Miss Schmeeler sub plot, and the really weird “stage fantasy” at the end (featuring Gene dancing a lot (and where I was thinking “is Frank the one to the left? Or the right? Gee, he’s dancing a lot better now…” until I realised that the two other ones were professional dancers)), it would have been the perfect musical comedy, but this is the rating I’m gonna give it anyway:

On the Town. Stanley Donen. 1949.

Morning Cocktail

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“I’m dead common, I am.”

Heavy flow.

I was going to see Rio Bravo, but I had apparently mistagged the year. (It’s from 1959, not 1950.) So another Hitchcock film. Yay?

But this is much weirder than the last two Hitchcock films I saw. Way more interesting actors, too.

Stage Fright. Alfred Hitchcock. 1950.

Pink Glow

Monte Carlo

Doris Tinsdale

(The Monte Carlo was too boozey after some sips, so I dumped Coke into it and dubbed it the Doris Tinsdale. It’s rye, Benedictine, Angostura bitters and Coke.)

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Well, this is a pretty tense thriller, but it’s a bit mechanical. I mean, there are lots of fine touches, but I found myself being impatient with it all.

I’ve probably seen it before, though, so that might explain my dissatisfaction… Or it might be the pretty, and pretty non-descript, actors. The only interesting actor here is Robert Walker, I think.

Strangers on a Train. Alfred Hitchcock. 1951.

Basil lemonade rose wine cocktail

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Ok, it’s not exactly the funniest Marx Brothers film (it’s more of a Marx Brother film), but it’s amusing. There’s only a few bits I LOL-ed out loud to, but it’s pleasantly silly throughout.

And I kinda loved the two rather dim characters at the center of the shenanigans (Jane and Bert).

A Girl In Every Port. Chester Erskine. 1952.

Sunflower Highball

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Max Ophüls is another director I’m unfamiliar with. And I’m not sure whether it’s the cocktail confusing me or the film being kinda odd, but I’m not totally tracking what’s going on here! So I’m throwing this die mostly based on how it looks and whether I liked the dialogue:

Madame de…. Max Ophüls. 1953.

Mexican Grasshopper

This might be the most disgusting cocktail colour I’ve ever seen…

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