Jul 10, 2010

Saw "The night of the iguana" on the big screen last night


...and it was amazing. Yesterday morning I noticed that my university movie theater was showing John Huston's movies, and the one selected for last night was "The night of the iguana" (as you can see, it is one of my favorite movies). Called a friend that I hadn't seen like in months and invited her. The movie started at 19 pm and I finish my work like at the same hour, but it didn't matter, I had to see this film. But when I left the office I took a taxi (because the subway station is always really crowded, and I usually spend like 30 minutes just to get in) and we got stuck in the usual traffic jam. I arrived like 15 minutes later. We entered to the theater room and there was a lot of people (which makes me happy: I remember when I saw "Funny face" at the same theater...alone) so we just relaxed and enjoyed the movie. 
And my gosh, Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner looked great and people laughed constantly at the guys with maracas, Richard's lines and Ava's playful mood. If you haven't seen this movie, please watch it. It's great: profound, dark and deals with people's strongest and deepest emotions just like the rest of Tennessee Williams' plays and also has excellent photography.
When the lights came on I noticed that all the assistants were old people, and there was an adorable old lady with white hair and a bun. Aww.


I'm copying and embedding a nice poem that is recited near the end by an old man, Deborah's character's grandpa (if you haven't seen the film, maybe you shouldn't read/watch it yet):

How calmly does the olive branch
observe the sky begin to blanch:
without a cry, without a prayer;
with no betrayal of despair.


Sometime while light obscures the tree,
the zenith of its life will be:
gone, past, forever.
And from thence, a second history will commence:


a chronicle no longer gold,
of bargaining with mist and mold;
and finally the broken stem,
the plummeting to earth, and then


An intercourse not well designed
for beings of a golden kind
whose native green must arch above
the Earth's obscene, corrupting love.


And still the ripe fruit and the branch
observe the sky begin to blanch:
without a cry, without a prayer;
with no betrayal of despair.


Oh, courage! Could you not as well
select a second place to dwell?
Not only in that golden tree
but in the frightened heart of me?

AND www.deborahkerr.es has the writings from Deborah while filming the picture, "The Days and Nights of the Iguana". Very interesting.

8 comments:

  1. i adore the night of the iguana and would love to see it on a big screen! it's such a great character study (well, minus the boys with maracas but they play their part) ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really love this film - not only because it has Deborah and Ava in it, but because it is such a magnificent film! I'm so jealous you got to see it on the big screen! :O ;D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Meredith: LOL, the guys with the maracas are so funny...I guess they help to lighten the movie :)

    Sophie: Yeah, it's great, I really love it, so it was a nice surprise to realize they were showing it that same day :)

    Thanks for commenting girls! ^^

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's funny that you just saw this--because Sue Lyon's birthday was this week! It is so much better to see movies on the big screen. How lucky that you were able to see this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love Ava Gardner in this. I almost bought a blouse in the style that she is wearing in that picture last week but the fabric was wrong. My search continues.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous, yeah, this one and "The barefoot contessa" are my faves movies from Ava. Good luck with your search ^^

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous, yeah, this one and "The barefoot contessa" are my faves movies from Ava. Good luck with your search ^^

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love Ava Gardner in this. I almost bought a blouse in the style that she is wearing in that picture last week but the fabric was wrong. My search continues.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...