I just watched the 1934 version of "The Merry Widow" the other day and decided to compile some neato f(un)-facts about it. Did you know...
*The operetta on which this was based was titled "The Rather Sprightly and Dare We Say Quite Gay In Spirit Woman Who, Having Lost Her Husband, Encountered Love." Director Ernst Lubitsch said, "Hey, let's call it 'The Merry Widow.'" That's the Lubitsch Touch!
*Star Maurice Chevalier took 3 weeks of voice lessons to lose his thick New York accent for this film.
*Co-star Jeanette MacDonald's singing voice was dubbed by a young Andy Williams.
*The opening musical number "Girls! Girls! Girls!," in which soldiers march and sing about how the only reason they wage war is for Girls! later inspired the Motley Crue hit single of the same name.
*If you look closely at the scene in which Chevalier's character reintroduces himself to the ladies of Parisian society, you can see Cloris Leachman dancing in the background.
*This story, set in the kingdom of Marshovia, is based on a real incident. Only the real incident precipitated World War I, while the movie takes some dramatic license and ignores that consequence.
*In an ironic turn of events, the producers, lured by tax breaks, filmed "The Merry Widow" not in Marshovia, but in neighboring Freedonia.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Brooks on Books: Semi-Tough by Dan Jenkins
Let's say good-bye to football season with a look at this 1977 novel. Now, I've read a lot of books and a fair number of novels in my lifetime. I don't know offhand how many sports novels I've read, though, so I may not have the best credentials, but I'll say this: Dan Jenkins' football novel "Semi-Tough" must be one of the best and funniest sports novels ever written. It has to be.
The conceit is that we are reading the transcribed dictations of star Giants running back Billy Clyde Puckett, mostly dictated during the weekend leading up to the Super Bowl against the "dog-ass" Jets, as Billy Clyde refers to them about a thousand times. It sounds simple, and it is, as we get a breezy read written in Puckett's "down-home" but razor-sharp voice. However, within this gimmick, we also get a whole lot of material for an alleged several days of audio recordings.
On one level, the book is a diary of a fictional pro football player, a work that takes us into the locker room and beyond to give a riotous and insightful look at the sport behind the scenes. We also become well acquainted with the other two points of the trio of lifelong friends that form the book's core: wide receiver Marvin "Shake" Tiller and his girlfriend Barbara Jean.
But through Puckett's narration, Jenkins also examines racism, friendship, love, materialism, popular culture, big business, and a host of other topics. The deceptively casual style of the book often belies its depth. Don't underestimate the narrator's intelligence just because of his Southern dialect and name. The character is a canny commentator with a fine eye for detail and a great wit. Yet he's credible throughout as a professional football player. You never get the feeling Jenkins is forcing his own authorial voice at the expense of his characters.
One might also underestimate "Semi-Tough" because of its no-holds-barred profanity, sex, and other adult themes. Of course, one might also embrace the book BECAUSE OF those things. Either way, this is an adult book all the way. It's often juvenile--one character's defining characteristic is his unparalleled ability to summon awe-inspiring flatulence at will--but never too much so. There's stupid crude and funny crude, and this novel is the latter, though for many, it may skirt the line.
Just as it still seems raunchy nearly 40 years later, it's also still relevant. Jenkins, a former sportswriter, gets a lot of football in here, describing some of the subtleties of the game on the field and poking fun at the corporate nature of it off the field. Even then, Jenkins saw the NFL as overcommercialized, and his comedic expression of that holds up well today. His exploration of race, particularly race relations in the locker room, may shock more today, actually. I get the sense that Jenkins is of the "let's just put all our cards on the table and not be afraid to offend anybody" school of fighting racism, and he sure gets them on the table right from the get-go.
Cultureshark Remembers James Whitmore
I think the best way to pay tribute to veteran performer James Whitmore, who passed away the other day, is to share this video with you. I'm not a huge scanner of YouTube, but this is one of the funniest things I've ever seen there. Without further ado, courtesy of the thunderchild.com, a "lesson" on how to steal a scene, delivered by Mr. Whitmore in "Them!":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqkGli5qHB8
(Sorry, but I don't think this is embeddable)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqkGli5qHB8
(Sorry, but I don't think this is embeddable)
Saturday, February 7, 2009
5Q Movie Review: The Dark Knight
Q: Hey, what took you so long to see this?
A: Uh, well--hey, come on! I wanted to, but life got in the way. Give me a break, OK? A fairer question might be what took me so long to write about this, since I saw it over the holidays at my parents' house. But let's not ask that question.
Q: So does "The Dark Knight" live up to the hype?
A: This is going to sound like a cop-out, but I don't really know. I think I need another viewing to digest it and really think about it. One of the amazing things about the film is the ideas that are thrown out there. On one hand, it's surprising, almost exhilarating, to see a superhero movie be so much ABOUT something--several things, actually.
On the other hand, by straining to cover so much intellectual ground, I think the film loses some visceral ground. The movie brings some exciting sequences, but when it was all over, I still felt that "The Dark Knight" didn't deliver on the action as much as I would have liked. I also had a sense that, after all the speeches, I was being lectured at for a while--not advocacy-wise, but just generally lectured at, like I was watching a debate.
In short, I feel I need to see it again to really evaluate it, but for now I think it was a really good movie but just short of my expectations given the hype and the incredible box office and reviews.
Q: Well, does Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker live up to the hype?
A: Absolutely, it does. Ledger's performance will endure as a chilling portrait of unhinged evil. It's one of the best movie villains ever, partly because of the acting and partly because the film doesn't give him a backstory or motivations, and we never see him as a "normal being." Contrast this with, say, the bad guys in the "Spider-Man" movies, and you see how this character is so much more effective. Of course, "Dark Knight" is also more grim (it's amazing that a movie this relentlessly bleak could make so much money) than those flicks. Ledger's Joker is an essential piece of this dark movie, a genuinely disturbing presence.
Q: Is "The Dark Knight" better than "Batman Begins"? And will you be pumped for the third one?
A: In some ways, this sequel betters its predecessor. The fight scenes that are there are shot better, for one thing. and there aren't as many cutesy jokes cluttering up the dialogue. Ledger's Joker brings a whole new dimension to the proceedings, and as a secondary character, Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent brings more depth than did Scarecrow.
But where does the franchise go from here? I can't help but think the story would have played out a lot differently were it known Ledger would not be available. It looks like a lot of potential was used up in this second installment. Not that Ledger's death is in any way a positive, but perhaps the closing of several avenues (not just Ledger, but other characters and ideas) will force the series to reinvent itself with another fresh take. As long as Christopher Nolan is in charge, I have no reason to think the next movie won't be as ambitious as the first two and I definitely want to see how it turns out.
Q: What's the deal with all the so-called political ideology? How does this comic book movie work as a metaphor for the dark times of the Bush Administration?
A: I know a lot of people said that at the time, but seeing it at the end of 2008 and trying to find some political content, I couldn't discern such a blatant theme. The themes I think are more philosophical, sociological, and psychological than political. I'm willing to listen to anyone who believes otherwise, but I think for every "anti-Bush" or "pro-Bush" aspect, one could come up with a counterargument.
For the record, I don't quite understand all of Batman's actions at the end, but I agree with most of what he did in the movie, and the citizens of Gotham were nuts for turning on him--one of the plot elements I find hard to take.
A: Uh, well--hey, come on! I wanted to, but life got in the way. Give me a break, OK? A fairer question might be what took me so long to write about this, since I saw it over the holidays at my parents' house. But let's not ask that question.
Q: So does "The Dark Knight" live up to the hype?
A: This is going to sound like a cop-out, but I don't really know. I think I need another viewing to digest it and really think about it. One of the amazing things about the film is the ideas that are thrown out there. On one hand, it's surprising, almost exhilarating, to see a superhero movie be so much ABOUT something--several things, actually.
On the other hand, by straining to cover so much intellectual ground, I think the film loses some visceral ground. The movie brings some exciting sequences, but when it was all over, I still felt that "The Dark Knight" didn't deliver on the action as much as I would have liked. I also had a sense that, after all the speeches, I was being lectured at for a while--not advocacy-wise, but just generally lectured at, like I was watching a debate.
In short, I feel I need to see it again to really evaluate it, but for now I think it was a really good movie but just short of my expectations given the hype and the incredible box office and reviews.
Q: Well, does Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker live up to the hype?
A: Absolutely, it does. Ledger's performance will endure as a chilling portrait of unhinged evil. It's one of the best movie villains ever, partly because of the acting and partly because the film doesn't give him a backstory or motivations, and we never see him as a "normal being." Contrast this with, say, the bad guys in the "Spider-Man" movies, and you see how this character is so much more effective. Of course, "Dark Knight" is also more grim (it's amazing that a movie this relentlessly bleak could make so much money) than those flicks. Ledger's Joker is an essential piece of this dark movie, a genuinely disturbing presence.
Q: Is "The Dark Knight" better than "Batman Begins"? And will you be pumped for the third one?
A: In some ways, this sequel betters its predecessor. The fight scenes that are there are shot better, for one thing. and there aren't as many cutesy jokes cluttering up the dialogue. Ledger's Joker brings a whole new dimension to the proceedings, and as a secondary character, Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent brings more depth than did Scarecrow.
But where does the franchise go from here? I can't help but think the story would have played out a lot differently were it known Ledger would not be available. It looks like a lot of potential was used up in this second installment. Not that Ledger's death is in any way a positive, but perhaps the closing of several avenues (not just Ledger, but other characters and ideas) will force the series to reinvent itself with another fresh take. As long as Christopher Nolan is in charge, I have no reason to think the next movie won't be as ambitious as the first two and I definitely want to see how it turns out.
Q: What's the deal with all the so-called political ideology? How does this comic book movie work as a metaphor for the dark times of the Bush Administration?
A: I know a lot of people said that at the time, but seeing it at the end of 2008 and trying to find some political content, I couldn't discern such a blatant theme. The themes I think are more philosophical, sociological, and psychological than political. I'm willing to listen to anyone who believes otherwise, but I think for every "anti-Bush" or "pro-Bush" aspect, one could come up with a counterargument.
For the record, I don't quite understand all of Batman's actions at the end, but I agree with most of what he did in the movie, and the citizens of Gotham were nuts for turning on him--one of the plot elements I find hard to take.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Panel Discussion: Dick Tracy Part 1
I was slowly working my way through Volume 1 of the excellent IDW "Dick Tracy" reprint series, trying to prolong the experience as much as possible, until somewhere along the way the book went from really good to great. Now I'm finding it difficult to slow down.
Part of what makes the old "Dick Tracy" so great is the violence, or sometimes the threat of it. Check out this panel from October 31, 1932:
Pretty hardcore for 1932, huh? No--it's hardcore for today. I just don't see this kind of material in the funnies today. Granted, the "adventure strip" is increasingly rare, and I could hardly expect to see Alexander Bumstead threatened with disfigurement from a hot iron, but still...
A while back, I discussed this book with one of my local comic book shop guys and we mentioned how violent the strips were. "Someone's always getting shot," I said. He responded, "Yeah, but they don't just get shot, they, like, get shot in the gut and bleed out."
And, ladies and gentlemen, I actually giggled at that--not a Pillsbury Doughboy full-on giggle, but a giggle nonetheless. But he was right.
In the next "Panel Discussion," we'll take a break from this danger and violence to explore the glamour of "Dick Tracy"--ooh, la, la! Then, in part 3, it's back to the dark side with one of the most shocking comic strip panels ever! Stay tuned!
Part of what makes the old "Dick Tracy" so great is the violence, or sometimes the threat of it. Check out this panel from October 31, 1932:
Pretty hardcore for 1932, huh? No--it's hardcore for today. I just don't see this kind of material in the funnies today. Granted, the "adventure strip" is increasingly rare, and I could hardly expect to see Alexander Bumstead threatened with disfigurement from a hot iron, but still...
A while back, I discussed this book with one of my local comic book shop guys and we mentioned how violent the strips were. "Someone's always getting shot," I said. He responded, "Yeah, but they don't just get shot, they, like, get shot in the gut and bleed out."
And, ladies and gentlemen, I actually giggled at that--not a Pillsbury Doughboy full-on giggle, but a giggle nonetheless. But he was right.
In the next "Panel Discussion," we'll take a break from this danger and violence to explore the glamour of "Dick Tracy"--ooh, la, la! Then, in part 3, it's back to the dark side with one of the most shocking comic strip panels ever! Stay tuned!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
This Week in DVD
First, the "Can't possibly be as good as the box covers indicate" DVDs of the week:
Now on with the show:
*Zack and Miri: In some places, they're just Zack and Miri. In others, they "Make a Porno." I'm not feeling particularly edgy today, so we'll go with the conservative version of the title of Kevin Smith's latest. This one is at Cultureshark Tower just waiting a screening.
*Mystery Science Theater 3000: Another box set of 4 new-to-DVD episodes. I came late to the party on this series, so all I can say is I love seeing these.
*Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: Billed as an intelligent teen comedy, but then again, if Michael Cera starred in a shot-for-shot remake of "Porky's," it would be billed as an intelligent teen comedy.
*Martini Movies: Sony gives us another batch of 5 seemingly disparate films: "Vibes," "Our Man in Havana," "Gumshoe," "Getting Straight," and "Five." What could these possibly have in common? Duh! They're all on DVD, silly.
*Natalie Wood Collection: There are a lot of her movies I haven't seen, but I feel I should mention this, anyway, What a gorgeous woman she was.
*Oliver and Company 20th Anniversary Edition: You know, I'm celebrating the 19th anniversary of having forgotten this Disney animated feature ever existed.
*Becker and Dave's World Seasons 2: Part of Paramount's unofficial "Forgotten Sitcoms of the 90s" line. I'll tell you what, though, for a forgotten show, "Becker" sure is on TV a hell of a lot. Nothing against it, but in what kind of world can this be on a dozen times a day and "Cheers" not at all? Have I gone mad?
*Night Court Season 2: There are now as many seasons of "Dave's World" on DVD as there are of "Night Court." Apparently, season 1 of "Night Court" didn't set the charts ablaze, so fans now get a second chance. And if you make sure you buy THIS set...there's still a snowball's chance of getting the rest of the series.
And I'm outta here...hey, did I mention Steve Guttenberg plays Jessica Simpson's agent in "Private Valentine?"
Now on with the show:
*Zack and Miri: In some places, they're just Zack and Miri. In others, they "Make a Porno." I'm not feeling particularly edgy today, so we'll go with the conservative version of the title of Kevin Smith's latest. This one is at Cultureshark Tower just waiting a screening.
*Mystery Science Theater 3000: Another box set of 4 new-to-DVD episodes. I came late to the party on this series, so all I can say is I love seeing these.
*Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: Billed as an intelligent teen comedy, but then again, if Michael Cera starred in a shot-for-shot remake of "Porky's," it would be billed as an intelligent teen comedy.
*Martini Movies: Sony gives us another batch of 5 seemingly disparate films: "Vibes," "Our Man in Havana," "Gumshoe," "Getting Straight," and "Five." What could these possibly have in common? Duh! They're all on DVD, silly.
*Natalie Wood Collection: There are a lot of her movies I haven't seen, but I feel I should mention this, anyway, What a gorgeous woman she was.
*Oliver and Company 20th Anniversary Edition: You know, I'm celebrating the 19th anniversary of having forgotten this Disney animated feature ever existed.
*Becker and Dave's World Seasons 2: Part of Paramount's unofficial "Forgotten Sitcoms of the 90s" line. I'll tell you what, though, for a forgotten show, "Becker" sure is on TV a hell of a lot. Nothing against it, but in what kind of world can this be on a dozen times a day and "Cheers" not at all? Have I gone mad?
*Night Court Season 2: There are now as many seasons of "Dave's World" on DVD as there are of "Night Court." Apparently, season 1 of "Night Court" didn't set the charts ablaze, so fans now get a second chance. And if you make sure you buy THIS set...there's still a snowball's chance of getting the rest of the series.
And I'm outta here...hey, did I mention Steve Guttenberg plays Jessica Simpson's agent in "Private Valentine?"
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