thesuperfluity

[thesuperfluity]

The 1983 version of To Be Or Not To Be is probably Mel Brooks's most underrated film, but it is still inferior to the Ernst Lubitsch classic starring Jack Benny and Carole Lombard. Both films are about the exploits of a Polish Theatre Company in the weeks following the Nazi occupation of Poland. Brooks adds two musical numbers (not much to speak of) and an interesting subplot about a gay dresser in the theatrical company who is seen wearing a pink triangle and then must be rescued from being sent to a concentration camp. Brooks is just too heavy-handed as a director/screenwriter/actor to pull off the "Lubitsch touch" that worked so well in the original version. He telegraphs his jokes and worse: he even sometimes explains his jokes in case the audience missed that last bit. But that is what Brooks does. He's better when he has additional screenwriters like Gene Wilder or Richard Pryor. It's still one of Brooks's better films, and we get the added in-jokes that his screen wife is played by his real wife Anne Bancroft (who is brilliant, by the way.) What makes the original version particularly interesting is that German-born film-maker Lubitsch (he'd been in Hollywood for 20 years at this point) made this film in 1942, right in the middle of the war and when the outcome was far from certain. It's impossible to watch it in that context now, of course, but I do like to imagine what audiences were thinking about this film then. Of course, they may have also been thinking about the fact that star Carole Lombard had been killed in a plane crash just a couple of months before the film's release. She had been on a War Bonds tour of the country. (She even raised $2 million in just one night!) I prefer the 1942 film, but I can recommend either one. The older version is harder to find, but - last I checked - it was available for streaming on Hulu.

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If you've never seen a James Garner film (or have only seen one or two), these are the five I would tell you to see.

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I'll be the first to admit that the story of a recently-divorced single mother starting over in a small Arizona town by returning to her roots as a horse trainer doesn't immediately scream "Carole King score!" However, the jazz/pop feel of the music reminds us that this is a slightly unconventional love story, and it's one of my favorite things about this film.

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How James Garner became my favorite actor by not appearing to act.

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The first of I don't know yet how many remembrances of James Garner, my favorite actor.

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In which the know-it-all blogger impertinently replaces four films on the AFI 100 list.

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Final Five!

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I don't get Gone With the Wind. I really don't.

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Getting closer to the top of the list . . .

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Entering into the top 20.

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I believe that films are a very personal experience for the viewer, so I hope you'll indulge me as I share a couple of films that I actually regard as  part of my family.

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Firefights, Femme Fatales, and Filibusters.

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Deuxième chat mort.

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Soundtrack for an ex-cat.

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Two-thirds of the way through the list now. 

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Five more from the list. If you haven't seen them, you should.

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Today's blog entry on the AFI list included The Philadelphia Story, which was re-made as the musical High Society with songs by Cole Porter. One of these songs was "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which would later be featured on the 1990 AIDS fundraiser album Red, Hot + Blue featuring contemporary cover versions of Cole Porter songs. "Millionaire" was covered by The Thompson Twins. This is not my favorite version of this song, but it is certainly interesting.