Lessons

What I learned from watching It's Always Fair Weather:

1. Dan Dailey was a very tall man, that or both Michael Kidd and Gene Kelly were wee men.  (I checked Imdb, Dan Dailey was 6' 3")
2. I am pretty sure that I saw the signature Pontipee dance move in this movie (done by Michael Kidd obviously).
3. Dan Dailey made a really poor facial hair decision with the mustache he sports in the later half of the movie.  
4. Gene Kelly was a great choreographer, but really only for himself.  Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd dance with Gene Kelly but really only Gene Kelly looks natural doing the moves.  Dan Dailey was about 6 inches taller than Kelly and Michael Kidd is a couple inches shorter than Kelly and both Dailey and Kidd have a different build than Kelly (both are thinner). And they look weird dancing next to Gene Kelly because they look kind of awkward. 
5. I remain indifferent in regards to Cyd Charisse. 
6. I kind of wanted to watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers after seeing Michael Kidd.  
7. I was kind of hoping that Tommy Rall would show up somehow.
8. I want to watch some more movies with Dan Dailey (and Betty Grable!). 

More Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly dancing with the Nicholas Brothers in The Pirate:

One thing I noticed while watching this was the complete difference in the build of Gene Kelly versus the Nicholas Brothers.  Well that, and the fact that there are many dance moves in this number that they did much better than Gene Kelly (which makes it sad that the Nicholas Brothers were not more famous).  

And this is just fun:

 

Gene Kelly, Dream Dancer

I went to AFI Silver today to see the Gene Kelly/Judy Garland musical The Pirate (directed by Vincent Minnelli and music by Cole Porter).  And about 2/3 of the way through, there is this crazy dance scene of Gene Kelly as a pirate in shorts (which I think is mostly to show off his giant dancer thighs):

This naturally made me think of other weird dance scenes from other Gene Kelly movies.  Like Singin In the Rain:

 

On the Town:

But the crazy weird dance sequence is not limited to only Gene Kelly movies.  There is also one in Kiss Me Kate: (the weird part is when Bob Fosse and his partner start dancing, after the weird scream).

White Christmas:

And let's not forget Oklahoma! :

The main purpose of these dance sequences is to show off different styles of dance (mostly modern dance) but the way the scene are added to the movie always seemed kind of awkward to me.  In a lot of the movies, one or more of the main characters is replaced by another (more talented) dancer.  This happened specifically in Gene Kelly movies since most often his leading ladies were mainly singers (all though Vera Ivy in On the Town was a dancer so I can't explain that one).  Out of all the clips from above, the one from White Christmas is the least awkwardly introduced because it a dance number for the show.  So be on the lookout for awkward dance sequences, they are in tons of musicals. 

Saving it up

I picked up an exciting surprise package from UPS today.  A couple of weeks ago, I filled out a feedback survey for a new RNA isolation kit at work.  My boss had signed our lab up to be beta testers for the company for future kits, so I mostly wanted to get familar with feedback system.  The company was running a promotion that you could win an iPad if you fill out the feedback survey.  I have to assume that very few people filled out the survey, because I won an iPad (and I never win anything).  I picked it up today and just started playing around on it.  So if anyone has any suggestions for fun apps, let me know!

That's not your place

A few weeks ago, I headed off to the AFI Silver to see the movie The Artist.  The movie is about the transition from silent movies to talkies with a silent film star (named George Valentin) resisting the move.  Therefore, the majority of the movie is silent with interstitial cards used occasionally throughout the movie.  As a result, the score is a very important part in conveying emotions since there is no audible dialogue.  And the score is really amazing and includes a little bit  the score from Vertigo written by Bernard Hermann.  The score (rightly so in my opinion) is getting strong Oscar buzz (as long as the score is 80% original material, it can be nominated).  So I was surprised to read last week that Kim Novak (who starred in Vertigo), took out a full page add stating that she felt like a rape had been committed against her by the use of Bernard Hermann's score.  Ignoring the extremely poor choice of words ( which seems to belittle the violence of an actually sexual assault),  I don't think that it is really Kim Novak's place to make this argument.  The composer got permission from Bernard Hermann's estate to use some of the score and furthermore Kim Novak didn't write the score.  Also, she claims that she is the only one left to defend Vertigo because Alfred Hitchcock and James Stewart are dead.  Vertigo is arguably one of Hitchcock's most famous movies (though not one of my favorites) and I'm not sure that the credit is due to Kim Novak.  I think most of the credit goes to Hitchcock and the crew that worked on the film. So to me, this arguemnt came off as a slap in the face of anyone else who worked on that film.  She totally overreacted to the situation and I think that she comes out in a poorer light than the composer or the director of The Artist (the director released a statement along the lines of Bernard Hermann was a great composer and we were lucky that were we able to pay our respect to him by using some of his work in this film).  But besides this Kim Novak rant, I highly recommend The Artist, especially for people who enjoy old movies.  The costumers, set directors, and make-up artists really capture the era beautifully and there is a great scene that feature some amazing sound design and sound editing.  And I have to hand it to the actors, they did a great job adapting to a medium that I'm sure was foreign to all of the them.  The cast is really great too, with nice supporting roles from James Cromwell, Missi Pyle, and John Goodman (who I usually forget that I like).

The Apprentice has become the master

I have proof that I have seen too many film noir movies.  I was watching The Killing today which is a film noir movie by Stanley Kubrick.  And during the entire buildup to the heist, I was trying to identify which characters was going to get killed (there were about 2 characters I was sure were going to bite it, but they lived) and how the heist was going to go awry (I was pretty close on this one).  I will still watch more film noir films, some for the titles alone( there is one called Hell's Half Acre!) and because during a certain period in the late 40s/early 50s, there were are lot of actors and actress that I really like in film noir pictures (not to mention one of my favorite old studios, RKO Pictures, is known at The House Noir Built). 

Rich man, Poor man, Beggar, Thief

Last Saturday, I went to my beloved AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring to see the new movie adaptation of John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  This adaptation was chock full of British actors that I know and like including Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Gary Oldman, Cirian Hinds, Toby Jones, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, and Benedict Cumberbatch (which means Sirius Black starred in a spy thriller with Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Knightley, Captain Wentworth, and Mr. Darcy).  So I really liked the movie. Beyond the great casting, the director did a great job with establishing the fear and paranoia of the Cold War.  And the set design and costuming was really good.  But I have to say this is a movie that will benefit from repeat viewing.  Once you know the basic plot, you will probably notice/understand more of the subtle plot points and will make the movie more enjoyable (this is how I feel about the movie Gosford Park, by the 3rdv viewing I figured out what the familial relationship and who the couples were).  All in all, it was a good way to spend an afternoon.  However, there was one guy at the movie who both did not turn off his phone (and then didn't seem to understand that his ring tone was ruining the movie, seriously someone had to tell him to turn off his phone) and then fell asleep during the movie (I could hear his snoring, he was only a few rows in front of me).

Beautiful Meloncholy

Today I listened to a podcast called To The Best of Our Knowledge from Wisconsin Public Radio.  This is a podcast that I really enjoy, but hasn't made it into my weekly rotation. And really it should, because the shows are really interesting and kind of similar to This American Life where they take a topics and do short news/non-fiction pieces about it.  The episode I listened to today was called Why Do We Love Sad Songs.  And I was introduced to this amazing piece of music called Adagio for the Strings by Samuel Barber:


It premiered on the radio in the late 1930s but gained popularity as song played at funeral after being played several times following the death of FDR.

Spelunking

In honor of finally being able to hear the latest series of Cabin Pressure, a BBC Radio 4 show that I adore, I thought I would write a post about discovering shows like Cabin Pressure.  While living in Ohio, I got used to listening to audiobooks from time to time (my local library had quite a selection).  So when I moved home, I tried the website Audible.com which lets you download a variety of audio programs which, fortunately for me, includes BBC radio shows.  The first thing I search for was David Mitchell and Robert Webb, who are the creators of a TV show I enjoy called That Mitchell and Webb Look.  And then I decided to look up actors that I really like.  The first was Marcus Brigstock, who wrote in and starred in a one season show called The Savages.  And I discovered this weird but funny radio show The Museum of Everything (which I can't really accurately describe). This was followed by searching for Benedict Cumberbatch (who Steven Moffat or BBC fans will know plays Sherlock in the updated series).  And through that I discovered the show Cabin Pressure which is a work place series that takes place in a small contract private airline.  I really love this show, it is a great combination of warmth, cynicism, and humor.  It doesn't hurt that is was written by John Finnemore who also worked on That Mitchell and Webb Look.  But I think on my favorite discoveries is Richard Armitage (of North and South and The Vicar of Dibley) narrating the work of Georgette Heyer, who wrote Regency novels.  And so those audiobooks represent the meeting of two things that I love.  Until Alan Rickman starts recording audiobooks (can you believe that he doesn't? I would listen to him reading the phonebook), Richard Armitage will do in a pinch (I've listened to one several times while falling asleep).  By searching for actors that I enjoy, I was able to find other projects from these actors that I truly enjoy.