One of my favorite movies at LikeTelevision is My Man Godfrey, starring Carole Lombard and William Powell. The film was nominated for six Oscars - including Best Actor (William Powell), Best Actress (Carole Lombard), Best Supporting Actress (Alice Brady), Best Supporting Actor (Mishca Auer), Best Director (Gregory LaCava), and Best Writing (Eric Hatch, Morrie Ryskind). And I think the performance by Eugene Pallette was also worthy of a Best Supporting Actor as Mr. Bullock.
Also of interest, a few years before the film was made, Carole Lombard and William Powell were husband and wife in the real world. The studio wanted another actress to play the scatter-brained Irene Bullock, but Powell insisted the role be offered to Carole Lombard. In any event, it is easy to see the deep affection they had for each other and it is indeed quite endearing. And so is the film - I bet you will enjoy it. Check it out if you have not seen it, or perhaps if it has been a while since you've seen. It is a great treat and always leaves you with a good feeling as many great movies do.
After watching a bunch of Quentin Tarantino movies, it was easy to see what a huge fan he was of the rich history of film. I also guessed that he has a lot of fans who missed all the cool references and hat tips he gave to directors of days gone by.
In Kill Bill, both one and two - he honors so many of the great Japanese film makers of the 1950s and 1960s. Yes, of course there are short segments in most of his films which recall the work of Akira Kurosawa, and Kill Bill is no exception. Go and watch Yojimbo, Seven Samurai and Throne of Blood and you will see what I mean. But, did you notice in the final scene of Kill Bill 1, how the fight scene recalled Hiroshi Inagaki's final fight scene in Samurai III, Duel at Ganyru Island. And also, for good measure - a nod to Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan, Women of the Snow. Trust me, if you are familiar with some of these Japanese film classics, the Kill Bill series will be much more fun to watch.
Or take another Tarantino film, Inglorious Bastards. Do you remember the part about how film used to be made of nitrate and was highly combustible? And then there was a shot of a little boy carrying some films, and a policeman not allowing him on the bus? Well - guess what. That scene came from a terrific and very suspenseful movie from the great Sir Alfred Hitchcock called Sabotage. And that scene with little Stevie carrying the film, which was rigged to be a bomb was so good. Awesome good. In the Tarantino movie, the shot lasted about 10 seconds, but if you had the benefit of having already seen Sabotage, that whole episode added immensely to the beauty of the Tarantino film. And if you have never seen a Leni Riefenstahl film, you would not appreciate the ambiguity of what a great director she was, and also - how creepy to be doing this high art for the Nazis of World War II Germany.
The bottom line with any Quentin Tarantino movie - the more you know and appreciate film history, the more enjoyable it will be to experience a Tarantino film.
On May 19, 1935, T.E. Lawrence, an avid biker who favored Brough Superior bikes, died in a motorcycle accident near his cottage in Dorset. He was just 46 years old, and he died as he swerved to avoid hitting 2 boys on bicycles, lost control and went over the handlebars. Check out this newsreel, with some brief footage of T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. (ed. note - oddly enough, I was also in a bad motorcycle accident as a 46 year old, trying to avoid a young kid who was making an illegal left turn on a side street into oncoming traffic... me :~) And thankfully, I didn't die, but it was really close. And years before that, I wrote a song called funky motorcycle(mp3 download) produced by Frank Random in my garage circa 1995.)
If you'd like to learn more about T.E. Lawrence, check out wikipedia's extensive entry, or better still, read one of his books, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. This book was edited by his friend, George Bernard Shaw. And David Lean's movie, Lawrence of Arabia is a great film, sorry - an amazing film, one of the best but not the best source to learn about the man.
Also of note today, May 19 - a young girl named Janet Gaynor cleaned up on the first Oscar night, winning three Academy Awards in one evening, for her role in A Star is Born.
