I would love to tell you more about these blogs-- but I would rather you know that they are amazing sources for classic film information. They are headquarters for dedicated fans, writers, bloggers, videos, photos, art, etc. They speak for themselves and are headed by fantastic people. Check them out and share the love :)
Kate Gabrielle from the blog Silents and Talkies has awarded me with the "Splash Award"! "The Splash award is given to alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive, and inspiring blogs. When you receive this award, you must:
1. Put the logo on your blog/post. 2. Nominate up to 9 blogs which allure, amuse, bewitch, impress or inspire you. 3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. 4. Let them know that they have been splashed by commenting on their blog. 5. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your Splash award."
So I am going to now reward blogs that I follow--
The first award goes to Pickled Beetnik, which is run by one of my best friends, Adi Price. She is a huge supporter of my online work and I would never be able to navigate this world wide web w/o her. Check out her blog and REALLY be sure to check out her art!!
My Visual Vocabulary-- This is my Dad's blog. He is a rockin' artist, a great Dad and a talented writer. W/o him, I would have never discovered classic film. Follow his alphabetical countdown of artists and work.
Alfred Hitchcock Geek-- This is Joel Gunz's AMAZING blog about all things Hitch. He has been a great "fellow geek" and he knows his ish. He selflessly promotes fellow bloggers and his writing is well articulated. We can all learn much from Joel.
ClassicForever-- This blog is one of the most fun blogs I go to! The "photo of the day" series is one of my favorite online ventures. Right now Millie is on "tour" but continues to drop in.
Lolita's Classics-- Lolita continues to support my efforts and the efforts of others in the classic film genre. Her entries are informative and fun and she holds lots of polls and participation type things. I love it. SPLASH!
So thank you again for the Splash Award and please continue to read and participate! :)
After my last post, I was presented with a task: To reveal my review and opinion on my favorite movie Notorious.
Part of a comment I received, from Emily, was:
"Alexis: Have you ever written a review of Notorious, anywhere? I'd love to read your thoughts on it, as it's my favourite film!"
I know that on one of my blogs, I had discussed my love of Notorious, but I think it was on Seriously? and not here.
This 1946 Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece is my favorite piece of cinema ever created. The film truly won me over, for me to narrow this down, is a feat in itself. I love that someone mentioned it because not 4 minutes ago, I switched on the DVD player and sure enough, I'm watching the movie right now. Ingrid Bergman is WASTED and they're about to go for a drive. I love that she says "My car is outside." Then Cary Grant replies, "Naturally." Beautiful. I could probably pick this movie apart second by second. I could devote myself to every frame, every emotion, the actors, the writers, directors, footage, etc. So now I will take you on a ride, a joy ride through my love of Notorious. "I'm going to take it to 80 and wipe that grin off your face."
The first thing I would like to share with you is my paper I wrote for an application to Chapman University. The objective was to express why a certain film is your favorite film in 2 pages or less. I cheated and didn't double space, and tried to include whatever I could. This was probably the most difficult paper I have ever written. To try and make something that is 102 minutes and part of your heart, soul, and mind, and put it into two pages of 8.5"x11", not an easy task.
The second thing I would like to do would be to section off different parts of Notorious and really break them down. I'm going to analyze the movie... in the way that I was talking about in a previous paragraph. Maybe not moment by moment, but important moment by moment (we'll see how it goes and there's a chance you will learn every possible thought I have about each frame).
The 3rd thing, if I still have your attention, is I would LOVE to have everyone's input during these blogs. I want to know if you know different elements about Notorious, if you have a favorite part, if maybe a scene I mention brings feelings to your life, or whatever...if you totally hate it, tell me, I may stop, I may not... please, no curses (lets pretend the M.P.P.A.A. would be on you, like the would in 1946).
Hope you're still with me here... let's get started! :)
Here is the paper:
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 film, Notorious, is my favorite movie because it combines several elements that I admire. The film encompasses the essence of post-war era film, stars Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, director Alfred Hitchcock, and a clever resistance to the production codes of the time.
In Notorious, Ingrid Bergman plays the part of Alicia Huberman, a woman with loose morals who we first see as promiscuous, drunk, and cynical. Whether it is for her ravishing looks, outlandish partying, or deceitful father, Alicia is the center of attention. This character is a prime example of the female Gothic character (a victim as well as victimizing woman) found within post-war film noir. She is wronged by men (particularly her romantic partners in the movie, T.R. Devlin played by Cary Grant, and Alexander Sebastian, played by Claude Raines) and society (the United States C.I.A. as well as the Germans in Rio) but she also makes them her prey. Alicia is, as she puts it, “the Mata Hari— she makes love for the papers.” She is powerful when she uses her sexuality, street smarts, and looks, but she lives outside of her designated gender role, seeking power and freedom that is not rightfully hers (with in the guidelines of the time). She drinks too much, parties too hard, and yet Bergman portrays her with a sensitivity that makes her loveable and believable. She wants Devlin’s love as well as a normal life that is disassociated with her father’s Nazism and her less than perfect track record. This character is complex. She is funny, hard boiled, sensitive and has feminist qualities. Alicia Huberman is a main character, though not credited as such, without her, there is no conflict and no picture and as far as I am concerned, the same can be said about Ingrid Bergman. She is my favorite film character in perfected by my favorite actress.
Cary Grant depicts T.R. Devlin, a mysterious, handsome C.I.A. agent whose first name is never revealed. He brings a sense of humor to the picture that is not at all flighty; it is dark and sometimes shrewd. Devlin acts as the perfect juxtaposition to Alicia’s character. He is supposed to be a man of high morals, a government worker, who follows and uses the rules to their full potential. He is smart and uptight but a romantic when the mood calls for it. His character appears at first, in a film noir fashion, as a black silhouette. He does not reveal his name for quite a while and he is very quiet. I fall in love with this character every time I watch the film. He says most of my favorite lines, including “Dry your eyes baby, it’s out of character.” and when Alicia tells Devlin, “My car is outside,” he simply responds with “Naturally.” Devlin is statuesque in contrast to Alicia’s fluidity. He says so little yet says exactly what he means and exactly what she wants to hear. Devlin is Alicia’s “dream man” and though he (and the audience) has to wait to take her away from her old life, he ends up satisfying her dream of a life of “daisies and buttercups.”
Notorious finds a new genre of drama and humor for Cary Grant, outside of his classic screwball comedy films such as Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, and Arsenic and Old Lace. Both Grant and Ingrid Bergman played characters that were contrary to their public images at the time. In 1946 Cary Grant was seen as a happy-go-lucky kind of guy and the life of every party. in her early career, Bergman was seen as “saint-like” (at the time) due to her previous work in The Bells of Saint Mary’s, Casablanca, and Spellbound. They brought a new authenticity to their acting abilities as well as to Notorious when they starred as Alicia Huberman and T.R. Devlin. Their acting in this film and willingness to break expectations are two of my favorite elements within this classic.
Hitchcock presents several shots which I especially admire. When Alicia is in bed nursing a nasty hangover there is a camera angle that throws off equilibrium with a rotating, first person point of view shot. It attains empathetic, claustrophobic, and nauseating feelings, provided by the character and for the audience. There is a shot on the plane, when Devlin says “…we’re coming into Rio.” Alicia leans over his lap to look out of the opposite side of the plane. He looks directly at her and we see him fall in love in that instant. The shot sets two characters in completely separate worlds: she is focused on the future that lies ahead and he is focused on her. This shot is quick, simple, and perfect. Many transitions in this film are achieved with quick dissolves and fades. My favorite transition of all time is found in this film. The two characters dine at a street café, sitting opposite one another. This is where they discuss love, hate, and all that lies in between. When the mission is set and their bond is put into jeopardy, Devlin is sitting in his chair sipping coffee and Alicia is absent from her chair. The shot then dissolves into a scene at a restaurant where Alicia is sitting on her side of the table, but in a different locale. For a split second, the dissolve looks like the two are sitting together, but as it clears, Alexander Sebastian takes Devlin’s place and the plot ensues. This message is loud and clear but can be missed at first glance. The attention to detail is beautiful. There is one series of shots (though I could go through all of them, if given the chance) that is worth noting. The first is a lengthy shot of Alicia and the tea cup that carries the poisoned coffee. Hitchcock wanted both the cup and Ingrid Bergman to be in sharp focus so he had props make a tea cup three times the size of the original. The tea cup takes on personification that cannot be ignored. The cup’s haunting, human-like presence creates a new suspense that is only enhanced further by what happens next. When Alicia realizes that she is being poisoned and that Alex and his mother know who she is, she becomes panicked and her vision blurs. Alex and his mother become disfigured silhouettes and the sound as well as the lighting becomes distorted. There is nowhere for Alicia or the audience to go and the psychological thriller is fully developed; there is only hope for a rescue. Hitchcock’s resourceful nature comes through in with my last favorite shot. He used a lift that would take his camera, a focus man, and himself to the top of Sebastian’s ballroom for a long shot of the party and would take him down for an extreme close up of Bergman’s hand clenching the wine cellar key. This shot, though elaborately staged, is essential to finding out the weight that this key has for the plot. The key is symbolic of relationships between Devlin and Alicia, the Allies and the Germans, Alex and Alicia as well as others. The ingenuity is amazing and the shot is beautifully accomplished.
Hitchcock’s cunning manipulation of the production code is something I consider very admirable. He found loopholes everywhere regarding morality codes and post-war sentiment, and most famously a kissing scene. The film writer, Ben Hecht, and he created lines that subtly questioned the pro-American ideals of the time such as: “No thank you. I don’t go for patriotism…waving the flag with one hand and picking pockets with the other. That’s your patriotism.” They cleverly created a movie completely about Nazism and international affairs without ever uttering the word “Nazi.” Also, they defied moral standards by working their way around the rules. The three-second kissing standard made by the Production Code Administration was contrived into a three-minute scene where Bergman and Grant nuzzled and cuddled with a kiss here and there. The kiss was awkward for the actors to shoot, but beautiful to watch. All of these elements combine for a cinematic masterpiece and my favorite film of all time.
In 1938 Ingrid Bergman was obligated, by a contract with the U.F.A. in Germany to complete a series of 3 films. Die Vier Gesellen or The Four Companions is one of the films she completed. A couple facts about this film:
Ingrid refused to go to the concentration camps to see the Nazi "progress" in Germany. She was actually quite disinterested in politics, especially at this time and was never quite as "worldly" as most people assumed.
Her "Aunt Mutti" (Aunt Mommy) was a near and dear aunt while Ingrid was growing up but when the war came about, Aunt Mutti dated an SS officer and Petter Lindstrom did not care for this behavior. He and Ingrid stayed with them but refused to salute with the "Heil" (In some references it is said that Ingrid did salute in the house to keep from an uproar from her aunt, but never in public.).
Ingrid was nervous that one of Hitler's right hand men, Joseph Goebbels would want her company intimately (he had a reputation for liking actresses) and was told NOT to refuse him. He never called for her. She said that she probably "wasn't his type." Lol. She openly refused his company, though it never became a true issue.
They had to use large objects and taylor Ingrid's costumes during the shoot because she was pregnant with her daughter Pia during this time (She and Petter found out about the pregnancy during the shoot of A Woman's Face in Sweden, the place where Pia was later born).
One of the actresses on the film did go see the camps and said that it haunted her for the rest of her life. She said her husband made her and they later divorced, hinting that it helped cause a schism.
Ingrid never fulfilled her contract with U.F.A. because of the war and dangers it held. She was not associated with the Nazi Party and really held no political preferences. By the time her 3rd film would have come around, she was already busy with David O. Selznik in the US.
It was not uncommon for European actors, directors, creative types to be contracted out to various countries. Alfred Hitchcock was another who was lent to various companies. The issues of loyalties only happened due to the war and its cruelties.
I have found a community for classic film lovers... with the help of a newly found friend, Joel Gunz. He is a writer... well you know what... if you want to know about him, go to his page!!
Joel has created a new favorite hangout, Alfred Hitchcock Geek. This page is dedicated to all things Hitchcock and has tenticles that reach into the general Classic film fan world. I have found other people out there who are equally obsessed with the genre and enjoy bringing it into their daily lives.
Joel's page is well articulated and has some great pictures as well. He links to various sites that include video, pictures, history, trivia, etc.
I thoroughly enjoy his pages and I suggest that you check them out! :)
An avid Ingrid Bergman fan, I am a student of her life and work as well as film, filmmaking and Classic Film in general.
I have my M.F.A. in TV/Film Production from USC School of Cinematic Arts and have been making a living in the business they call show.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter @alexis_morrell
