Vintage Image of the Day: Shock Treatment

Posted Oct 10th 2006 2:02PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Comedy, Music & Musicals, Vintage Image of the Day, Remakes and Sequels

Last week, it was Susan Sarandon's birthday so I posted an image of her as Janet Weiss in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And today, it's Jessica Harper's birthday, so it only seems right that I post a photo of the actress as Janet Weiss Majors in the 1981 sequel, Shock Treatment. Harper's early film career is marked by a number of cult favorites: she was one of the schoolgirls in the classic horror film Suspiria and starred in the midnight favorite Phantom of the Paradise. She also appeared in Woody Allen's Russian spoof Love and Death, Allen's Stardust Memories, and Steve Martin's first failed venture into drama, Pennies from Heaven. In recent years she's moved to occasional guest roles on TV shows.

Shock Treatment is a mighty strange little film, set almost entirely in a TV studio with a plot that revolves around television shows and stars. Although Brad and Janet are back, they're played by different actors (Cliff DeYoung and Harper). Actors from Rocky Horror are in the sequel, but they have different roles. In the above photo, you can see Nell Campbell (who played Columbia), Patricia Quinn (who played Magenta), and Richard O'Brien (who played Riff-Raff) all playing alleged medical professionals. The medical aide in the right-hand corner of the photo is Rik Mayall, whom I always remember from The Young Ones although he's had better roles since then. I could go on and on, but the DVD was finally released last month, so you might want to see Shock Treatment for yourself.

[Photo via Shock Treatment Daily, a LiveJournal community that regularly posts screenshots from the film.]

Vintage Image of the Day: John Lennon in A Hard Day's Night

Posted Oct 9th 2006 2:09PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Comedy, Music & Musicals, Vintage Image of the Day

When I compile lists of films that were never made and that I wish I could see, I always think of Up Against It, the script that British playwright Joe Orton rewrote for a Beatles movie, which allegedly was too racy for the band's then-wholesome image. According to Prick Up Your Ears, the Orton biography by John Lahr, Up Against It would have had The Beatles' characters "caught in flagrante, become involved in dubious political activity, dressed as women, committed murder, been put in prison and committed adultery." Can you imagine the possibilities? Instead, we have to satisfy ourselves with the zany Richard Lester movies featuring The Beatles in clean-cut situations, A Hard Day's Night and Help! (There's also Magical Mystery Tour, but I've never been able to sit through the whole mess of a film.)

The above image is from the credits of A Hard Day's Night -- of course, that's John Lennon, who was born on this day in 1940. A Hard Day's Night is still considered by many to be a comic masterpiece, but I fear it hasn't dated well over the years. In high school, I loved watching, reading about, and listening to John Lennon, but I'm not as blind to the film or the musician's flaws these days. The last time I saw the 1964 film, I felt restless and bored in spots. The non-Beatles actors aren't particularly interesting, and the "frenetic pace" is old hat for contemporary viewers. But the music is great and the guys are fun to watch as they race around mischievously parodying themselves, or titillate audiences of packed girls with their energetic musicmaking. It's the best chance we have these days to visualize The Beatles at their peak, when they were practically idolized by their followers.

Vintage Image of the Day: Twentieth Century

Posted Oct 6th 2006 11:32AM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Classics, Comedy, Vintage Image of the Day

Without a doubt, my favorite Carole Lombard film is Twentieth Century (although Nothing Sacred does run a close second). Today is the actress's birthday: she was born in 1908 and died in a plane crash in 1942. Her best years in film coincided with the beginning of the romantic comedy film in the Thirties, and she proved herself a versatile comedienne. She starred in movies directed by a surprising number of notable filmmakers, including Ernst Lubitsch (To Be or Not to Be), Alfred Hitchcock (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, his one stab at screwball comedy), Gregory La Cava (My Man Godfrey), and Howard Hawks (Twentieth Century).

Some might argue that Twentieth Century, released in 1934, is one of the first romantic comedies, but there's not enough romance between Lombard and John Barrymore. Their colossal egos are too busy competing with one another to make room for actual hearts and flowers. Broadway director Barrymore continually fires his long-suffering associates with the line "I close the iron door on you!" then rehires them five minutes later. His protege actress Lombard, who becomes a star, refuses to be controlled by him, although he tries every trick in the book ... and then some. Although the main characters are rarely sympathetic, the outrageous situations and witty dialogue, written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, contribute to a side-splitting comedy. My favorite scene is the one on the train where Lombard is seriously trying to kick Barrymore in the crotch (and you thought Thirties movies were prudish?), but it's one gem among many in the film.

Vintage Image of the Day: Oh, Rocky ...

Posted Oct 4th 2006 11:33AM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Classics, Music & Musicals, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Vintage Image of the Day

October 4 is a popular movie-star birthdate: I could have picked a photo from a film starring Buster Keaton or Charlton Heston, or perhaps Felicia Farr. But it's October, I've been thinking about Halloween, and costumes, and here it is Susan Sarandon's birthday. So why not find an embarrassing photo from the film Sarandon probably wishes most that we'd forget, The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Sarandon was in her late twenties when she played innocent heroine Janet Weiss in the movie, which eventually turned into a midnight-movie staple and a cult classic. Millions of people have seen Sarandon cavorting onscreen in her bra, yelling "Slut!" when she appears, and enhacing her dialogue with lines of their own.

Many people have at least one Rocky Horror story in their past; and if they don't, maybe they ought to. When I was in high school, it was an interesting thing to do after midnight if we couldn't get into any bars. (I lived in New Orleans, so we didn't see the movie that often.) In college, I fell in with a bunch of people who performed scenes from the movie live as it played on the screen at Sena Mall theater in Metairie. I tinted my hair red and performed as Columbia a few times one summer -- the challenges were to keep the tube top and later the bustier from slipping down (in the movie, Little Nell's bustier actually does fall at one point, but I didn't feel the need to be that faithful to the film), and to writhe on the floor with the guy playing Eddie ... movie-theater floors can be pretty nasty. Eventually the theaters where we performed the show all closed and we went back to watching movies on VHS.

Do you have a Rocky Horror Picture Show story you can share in public? If so, do tell all.

Vintage Image of the Day: A Night at the Opera

Posted Oct 2nd 2006 12:08PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Classics, Comedy, Vintage Image of the Day

Today is Groucho Marx's birthday -- he was born in 1890. As someone who has a cat named Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho's character in Duck Soup), I felt I had to commemorate the occasion. And I thought, what better way to start a Monday than with a reminder of the famous stateroom scene in A Night at the Opera?

A Night at the Opera isn't one of my favorite Marx Brothers movies; I'm much fonder of their earlier films Duck Soup, Horse Feathers, and Monkey Business. I realize a lot of people will argue with me, but I feel like the opera bits tend to slow down the comedy. However, no one can argue that the stateroom scene, in which 15 people manage to cram themselves into a tiny room, is a wonderful gag. The contract-signing scene is also memorably funny. The cast includes Margaret Dumont, who was the Marx Brothers' best straight man, as well as a young Kitty Carlisle. More info, trivia, and photos can be found at the Night at the Opera fan site.

Vintage Image of the Day: Duck Amuck

Posted Sep 21st 2006 2:02PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Animation, Classics, Vintage Image of the Day

Animator Chuck Jones was born on this day in 1912 and directed nearly 300 short and feature length cartoons for film and TV before his death in 2002. You've probably seen many of them even if you don't know who Jones is, unless you've been living in a cave with no access to Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. He was one of the top animators during the golden years at Warner Bros -- you'll find his name on What's Opera, Doc?, The Rabbit of Seville, The Scarlet Pumpernickel, and other classic WB cartoons. I didn't realize until I checked his filmography that Jones also directed several of the made-for-TV animated films I enjoyed as a child, such as Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and The White Seal. I did not, however, forget that he animated The Grinch Who Stole Christmas back in 1966, long before Ron Howard ever got his hands on the character.

The above image is from one of Jones' most memorable WB shorts, Duck Amuck, from 1953. It was a groundbreaking cartoon in terms of story structure: the animator is present in the film, getting involved in a duel of sorts with his creation, Daffy Duck. You can argue whether the film is postmodern, deconstructionist, ahead of its time ... but it's inarguably hilarious. I love watching cartoon shorts before a feature film (unless they're DVD ads in disguise) and wish that films like Duck Amuck, or any of Jones' shorts, would be shown before movies these days.

Vintage Image of the Day: Sing Like a Pirate!

Posted Sep 19th 2006 2:05PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Music & Musicals, Vintage Image of the Day

Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, so I thought it would be fitting to share an image of my favorite pirate in film: Kevin Kline in The Pirates of Penzance. Forget about Errol Flynn or even Johnny Depp. The Pirate King doesn't wear an eyepatch or a parrot and never says "Arrrrrr!" but Kline was born to wear that shirt and those pants, to wave a sword dashingly ... or occasionally drop it, but he does that well too. If you're not a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, you may not be quite as enamored by Kline's performance, but I find him irresistable. The rest of the cast, mostly carryovers from Joseph Papp's stage production, includes Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, Angela Lansbury, and one-time Muppeteer Louise Gold (although her singing voice is dubbed). There's a lot of slapstick that perhaps Gilbert and Sullivan never intended, but if you're not a purist you'll find it all in good fun.

The 1983 film of The Pirates of Penzance has an unusual history: Universal experimented for the first time with a day-and-date release. The movie premiered on pay-per-view cable at the same time it was released in theaters. Many theater chains refused to show the film because of the day-and-date release, so it grossed very little money, not that Gilbert and Sullivan would have broken any box-office records anyway. The movie is currently unavailable on DVD.

Vintage Image of the Day: Ninotchka

Posted Sep 18th 2006 1:02PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Classics, Comedy, Vintage Image of the Day

Fans of classic Hollywood films love to talk about "the golden year of Hollywood," 1939, and the many well-known films released in that year, including Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz and Stagecoach. But I'd rather remember director Ernst Lubitsch's contribution to 1939: Ninotchka, the film billed with the tagline "Garbo Laughs!" I was reminded of the film because Greta Garbo was born 101 years ago today. Perhaps because she does laugh, and makes me laugh, Ninotchka is my favorite film of hers -- I'm not so fond of watching her in more dramatic or even melodramatic roles.

Ninotchka is a romantic comedy about a seemingly humorless Soviet official (Garbo) sent to Paris to complete an important government transaction. Melvin Douglas is the playboy who tries to distract, thwart, and even corrupt her. The script was written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, who slipped some pointed comments about Communism into the dialogue. Ninotchka, defending her government, says, "The last mass trials were a great success. There are going to be fewer but better Russians." Fortunately, she mellows as the film progresses and I love the trio of easily corruptible Russians who bring Ninotchka to Paris in the first place. The only aspect of the film I'm not crazy about is Melvyn Douglas, who can't utter his romantic dialogue with much credibility. It doesn't matter much, though, because Garbo is so delightful to watch.

Vintage Image of the Day: Golfing in Korea

Posted Sep 7th 2006 1:33PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Comedy, Vintage Image of the Day

I have to confess: The photo I shared from The Freshman yesterday was not my first choice of a football scene in a movie: I really wanted something from MASH. I couldn't find any stills from the 1970 film's climactic and hilarious football game, but I did find this marvelous shot of Trapper John (Elliot Gould) and Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland) sporting colorful golfing outfits from Tokyo that clash terribly with the Korean War. How they ended up in Tokyo with their golf clubs in the first place is something you'll have to watch the movie to experience -- I am sure that the golf scene in Animal House must be a direct tip of the hat to Trapper and Hawkeye using the helicopter landing pad as a driving range.

The first time I saw MASH I didn't like it -- I was in high school, watching the film late at night while on a babysitting gig. It was probably the dirtiest film I'd seen up to that point, even edited for late-night network TV, and seemed downright sacreligious to a Catholic girl. I loved the TV show but was shocked by the movie. And yet, a year or so later, I wanted to see it again. And again. (My favorite line: "How d'you want your steak cooked?") When I finally saw MASH in a theater I realized that I'd been watching pan-and-scan versions on TVs so small that many amusing background details were unnoticeable. I own the DVD now, but I try not to pass up the opportunity to enjoy MASH in a movie theater.

Vintage Image of the Day: Football with Harold Lloyd

Posted Sep 6th 2006 11:03AM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Classics, Comedy, Vintage Image of the Day

The continuing box-office success of Invincible reminded me of other great football movies and football scenes in movies. Mark Wahlberg's character, struggling against the odds to make it in pro football, recalled another movie in which a guy tries to rise to stardom on the football team: Harold Lloyd in the 1925 film The Freshman. (Don't confuse it with the 1990 Matthew Broderick/Marlon Brando film -- this silent film is Komodo Dragon-free.)

In The Freshman, Lloyd plays Harold Lamb, a mild-mannered if not nerdy guy who plans to become the toast of his freshman college class, if not the entire college. Like other Lloyd characters, he studies books to determine the best road to popularity, but the books don't exactly steer him the right way. For example, I love the little jig he dances when he shakes hands. His football skills provide a number of comic moments. If this sounds a bit like the Adam Sandler film The Waterboy ... well, the Lloyd estate thought so too, and actually sued for copyright infringement (but lost the case). Many of Lloyd's films were finally released on DVD last year, so you can rent The Freshman and compare "Speedy" Lamb to Vince Papale, if you like.

Vintage Image of the Day: Raquel as Lust

Posted Sep 5th 2006 10:04AM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Comedy, Vintage Image of the Day

It's hard to believe that the once-popular pinup girl Raquel Welch turns 66 today. Her big breakthrough film role was in the 1966 film One Million Years B.C. -- but it led to enormous sales of posters of the gal in her skimpy prehistoric bikini, not to serious acting offers. She also appeared that year in the sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage, but I've never seen any pinups from that film. (If you have a pinup of costar Donald Pleasance, I would rather not know.) In the next ten years, Welch had the title role in one of the most notable flops of the Seventies, Myra Breckinridge, as well as a charming supporting role as Constance in The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers. She also appeared in James Ivory's The Wild Party and with Bill Cosby in the comedy Mother, Jugs, and Speed (she played Jugs). She switched to TV movies in the early 1980s and her roles in subsequent theatrical films (most recently Legally Blonde) have been essentially cameos. Even if you haven't seen her movies, you probably recognize the redheaded actress on sight.

The above photo is from the 1967 film Bedazzled, in which Welch played the personification of one of the Seven Deadly Sins -- Lust, of course. Bedazzled was directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain) and stars the delightful comedy team of Dudley Moore and Peter Cook. Cook plays The Devil, who grants Moore seven wishes in return for his soul. I don't remember exactly how Welch figures in all this, except that she's scantily clad and dances at one of Cook's groovy parties. It's a fun movie and definitely superior to the 2000 remake (Harold Ramis, how could you?), which omits Lust as a character and instead makes The Devil a woman (Elizabeth Hurley). Sadly, the 1967 movie isn't available on DVD in the U.S., so you'll have to scrounge up an old videotape if you want to catch Raquel's portrayal of Lust.

Vintage Image of the Day: The Awful Truth

Posted Sep 4th 2006 8:04AM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Classics, Comedy, Vintage Image of the Day

Actress Irene Dunne, who died on this day in 1990, didn't look like a likely candidate for the lead role in romantic comedies. She was handsome rather than pretty, and she was in her late thirties herself when she co-starred with Cary Grant in the 1937 film The Awful Truth (in fact, she was more than five years older than Grant). The three leads shown in the above photo all had roles in romantic or screwball comedies before The Awful Truth: Dunne starred in the screwball comedy Theodora Goes Wild, Grant was the suave costar in Topper, and Skippy, aka Asta, made a name for himself in the Thin Man series of films.

The Awful Truth is one of my favorite romantic comedies from the 1930s. It's part of a subgenre known as the comedy of remarriage: the romantic leads are usually together at the beginning of the film, separated by misunderstandings or unfortunate events, and then somehow manage to reunite on some level by the film's end. (I'm not spoiling the movie -- anyone who's seen more than one film knows how romantic comedies end). Grant and Dunne's characters have to split custody of their adorable dog when they divorce; meanwhile, the oilman played by Ralph Bellamy, whose characters never get the girl, tries to replace Grant in Dunne's heart. (I'm very fond of the scene in which Bellamy recites her a poem he's written.) My only complaint is that Asta doesn't get enough screen time near the end of the film; he should have been included in the movie's resolution, although I can't imagine how it would be managed. Sadly, The Awful Truth was one of the last comedies directed by Leo McCarey (Duck Soup) -- his later films included Love Affair, Going My Way, and An Affair to Remember.

Vintage Image of the Day: The Last Detail

Posted Sep 1st 2006 9:00AM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Comedy, Vintage Image of the Day

Director Hal Ashby's birthday is on Saturday, although he died in 1988. At first I thought I ought to feature a photo from Harold and Maude, then remembered that I already did that earlier this week. So I found a fitting photo from The Last Detail instead. The 1973 film stars Jack Nicholson and Otis Young as two Navy men who are required to escort a young sailor to prison -- and the kid is played by Randy Quaid. The older sailors decide to show the lad a good time before he's locked up, and the above photo shows Nicholson approaching prostitute Carol Kane as part of this plan. Nicholson and Young curse like, well, sailors the entire time, but the film is oddly touching as well as raucous fun. Robert Towne adapted the script from a novel -- and he also wrote the script for a film made year later that starred Nicholson, Chinatown.

I thought of The Last Detail because I'd read some news related to the film, via MTV: Richard Linklater wants to direct a sequel. He's adapted the novel Last Flag Flying, which takes place years after the events of The Last Detail, but with the same (older) characters. I like Linklater a lot, but while I enjoyed A Scanner Darkly, I thought the remake of The Bad News Bears was inferior to the original and entirely unnecessary. Mr. Linklater, please stop messing with cynical Seventies films. You've got so many other projects you can focus on instead.

Vintage Image of the Day: Alan Arkin

Posted Aug 31st 2006 3:31PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Comedy, Vintage Image of the Day

After watching Little Miss Sunshine last weekend, I was reminded of how much I enjoy watching Alan Arkin in movies. He gets many of the best lines in Little Miss Sunshine, but that's nothing new. Arkin's first big film role was in the 1966 Cold War comedy, The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! for which he received an Oscar nomination. Since then, Arkin has appeared in a variety of films, from thrillers (Wait Until Dark) to dramas (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter), but mostly comedies. He had a regular role on Sesame Street for a couple of years, he played the title role in the obscure Inspector Clouseau, he voiced a part in the animated The Last Unicorn. He had the title role in one of my little brother's favorite films, The Return of Captain Invincible.

The above image is from the 1970 film Catch-22, in which Arkin played that carzy bombadier Yossarian. I liked Arkin in the role even though I didn't like the movie much (I'm much fonder of MASH). More recently, you might have seen Arkin in Slums of Beverly Hills ("C'mon, kids, we're going to Sizzler!") -- he's also had smaller roles in Grosse Pointe Blank and Edward Scissorhands. I've been dying to see him in Richard Rush's wacky 1974 buddy-cop film Freebie and the Bean with James Caan, which isn't on DVD. I especially like watching Arkin when he's just that little bit crazy. Or a lot crazy.

Vintage Image of the Day: The Palm Beach Story

Posted Aug 29th 2006 11:02AM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Classics, Comedy, Home Entertainment, Vintage Image of the Day

Good news, just in time for writer-director Preston Sturges' birthday: Universal is releasing a boxed DVD set of seven Sturges movies on Nov. 21. Some of the films are being released on DVD for the first time in this country, such as Christmas in July and The Great McGinty. Other movies, such as The Lady Eve and Sullivan's Travels, have been available only as pricey Criterion DVDs. The only problem is that the movies aren't being released individually, so if you already own The Palm Beach Story on DVD (like I do) and you want to see the newly released movies, you're forced to double-dip and buy the whole boxed set. Bleah.

The above photo is from the opening credits of The Palm Beach Story, which is probably my favorite Sturges film. So many romantic comedies of the Thirties ended with a wedding, but this movie begins with one, and then the ominous sentence: "And they lived happily ever after ... or did they?" Several years after the screwball wedding in the opening credits, Tom (Joel McCrea) and Gerry (Claudette Colbert) are having money and other problems, and Gerry decides to run away to Palm Beach for a divorce. The film is full of bizarre characters like The Weinie King, the Ale and Quail Club, and the oft-married Princess Centamillia (Mary Astor). And Toto, too! The film is also full of one-liners, from Gerry's "You have no idea what a long-legged woman can do without doing anything at all" to Princess Centamillia's "You will care for me, though. I grow on people. Like moss." And let's not forget "Nothing is permanent in this world ... except Roosevelt." The final shot is a classic spoof on the traditional romantic comedy -- I wish I could include it here, but I'd ruin a very funny movie.

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