Classic Films Video Game adaptations: designing "Roman Holiday"

You know that the video games industry is getting more money than the movies. That's why now the studios are spending so much money creating games related with the films; the actors are participating and giving their voices to the animated characters and the games even have their own soundtracks. So, I was wondering why nobody has created games based on Classic films. One I'd love to play is "Roman Holiday". Here's how it could be:

Video sequence 1 (all the video sequences are clips from the movie): the tiring life of a princess

Stage 1: Escaping from palace.

Playing with Princess Ann, you have to go from your room to a truck parked outside. Remember there's people keeping watch on you, so don't let them see you. Oh, collect the items on your way out.

Video sequence 2: the ride on the truck

Mini game 1: Card Game

Help Joe Bradley to win money playing cards. 

Video sequence 3: Joe and Ann meet. 

Stage 2: Going to Via Margutta 51

Playing with Joe, lead groggy Princess Ann to your apartment before she falls asleep.

Video sequence 4: Joe realizes the girl is the Princess.

Mini game 2: Getting the story

Playing with Joe Bradley, convince your boss of giving you the opportunity to write the story by answering his questions correctly.

Video sequence 5: Ann says goodbye. 

Stage 3: Visiting the Market

Playing with Princess Ann, visit the market. The goal is getting a pair of roman sandals by trading items in the different stands, starting with a free item.

Video sequence 6: Ann enters to the hairdressing salon.

Mini game 3: A new hairdo

Cut Princess Ann's hair following a pattern on screen.

Video sequence 7: Joe invites Ann to visit Rome. 

Stage 4: The motorcycle ride 

Help Ann and Joe to drive a motorcycle in the crowded streets of Rome. If you hit people you have to start all over again. Collect items on the road.

Video sequence 8: At the police station 

Mini Game 4: The Police

Get rid of the police by answering their questions correctly.

Video sequence 9:  The Mouth of truth

Stage 5: The best shots

Playing with Irving, Joe's friend, try to take the same pictures shown on the screen of Princess Ann in the different places she and Joe visit. Be careful, if she notices you, the game is over!

Video sequence 10:  Joe and Ann arrive to the dance

Mini Game 5: At the dance

Help Joe and Ann to complete a dance by pressing the controller buttons shown on the screen.

Video sequence 11:  a detective wants to take Ann with him

Stage 6: Getting rid of the detectives

Playing with Joe and Ann, get rid of the detectives before they got you. Punch them or hit them with elements like guitars. 

Video sequence 12:  Running.

Stage 7: Escaping from the detectives

Playing with Joe and Ann run following the map on the screen. Reach the river and swim.

Video sequence 13: the kiss. 

Ending of the game: If you didn't collect all the items in the different stages you see the ending sequence of the movie. If you collected all the items, you can see a brand new happy ending,  digitally created for this game :)

What do you think? Would you buy it? (or would you let your children play it?) Or you just don't give a duck-billed platypus's ass about games? ^_^

(Video) Poll Results: Irene Dunne is the funniest gal around...

The poll about the actresses that make you laugh the most is closed. Here's the countdown to #1, I embedded and linked funny scenes from each participant (you don't have to find the scene in the videos, I added a code to make them start in the relevant part). Enjoy:

# 11 (TIE)  Barbara Stanwyck (0%)

No votes for Miss Stanwyck? I mean, haven't you seen Christmas in Connecticut? Or this one?:

# 11 (TIE) Rita Hayworth (0%)

I couldn't find her hilarious job interview from Cover Girl, but she's really funny in this clip:

#10 (TIE) Paulette Goddard (4%)

I haven't seen many movies from her, plus there are not many videos with her scenes on Youtube and the ones available like the catfight from The Women can't be embedded, so I chose a tribute to her films with Charlie Chaplin:

#10 (TIE) Marlene Dietrich (4%)

 I couldn't find any clip from The lady is willing in which she's simply hilarious. I'm embedding a scene from Golden Earrings:

#9 (TIE) Claudette Colbert (6%)

I thought Claudette would get more votes, after all she was in one of the most famous comedies ever, It happened one night. I love most of her comedies with Fred MacMurray & Ray Milland. In the next scene from Arise, My love she pretends to be Ray's wife to save his life:

#9 (TIE) Marion Davies (6%)

You know my opinion about her terrific skills for comedy. So I'll just leave you with a clip from The Patsy:

#8 Una Merkel (8%)

It was a great and positive surprise to see Una getting so many votes. Youtube doesn't do her justice, there aren't many clips from her. I uploaded a bit from Evelyn Prentice:

#7 Jean Arthur (13%)

Maybe a scene from The More The Merrier? Or maybe the pig scene from Easy Living? Or maybe Jean just being funny in The talk of the town? I'll go with the discussion about percentages in Easy Living, I love when she says "You don't have to get mad just because you're so stupid"

#6  Ginger Rogers (12%)

There are hundreds of hilarious lines and moments from all the films she did with Fred, like the kiss scene from Swing Time. Ginger was so funny: maybe you love how she played a little girl in The Major and The Minor? Or her drunk scene from Stage Door? Or a funny remark from Bachelor Mother? Well, the one I chose was the catfight from Vivacious lady:

#5 (TIE) Katharine Hepburn (15%)

Again, too many funny scenes, from this one to this one. But one of my favorites is how she tries to prepare a breakfast in Woman of the Year:

#5 (TIE) Myrna Loy (15%)

I know you all have your favorite funny scene from Miss Loy. Maybe a witty line from "The Thin Man", maybe her instructions for painting the house in "Mr. Blandings build his dream house" or even her secondary role in the overall dull  Love me tonight. So I tried to choose a more unknown part, the scene where her character goes out with Clark Gable in Test Pilot (watch until they go to the cinema):

#4 Eve Arden (17%)

Wow, fourth position! I haven't seen her tv show,  but her secondary characters in Mildred Pierce, Cover Girl & One Touch of Venus were great. This clip is from the latter:

#3 (TIE) Rosalind Russell (19%)

Roz always makes me laugh. She was hilarious in The Women or practically every film she was in, from My sister Eileen to The Trouble with Angels, and obviously her performance as Hildy Johnson is one of the funniest ever. But I'm embedding a scene from Auntie Mame (when she hears the kid talking about drinks, she seems to be embarrassed but in the next second she makes a proud gesture with her face, lol):

#3 (TIE) Carole Lombard (19%)

She was so funny! I almost prefer her outtakes to the actual movies :) What did I choose? A clip from Mr. and Mrs. Smith? Or maybe from My Man Godfrey, Nothing Scared or To have and have not? No, the clip is Lombard pretending to be an annoying phone operator in Hand across the table:

# 2  Lucille Ball (37%)

Does she need any explanation? I couldn't decide what clip to choose, I had like a million in my head. One of my favorites is the Vitameatavegamin scene, but it was too long. I also love the restaurant scene with William Holden or every time she has problems with Spanish (that clip has one of the bests punch- lines ever : 'yeah, well that's what we're having'). Anyway, I finally picked this one:

#1  Irene Dunne (38%)

Finally the number one: Irene Dunne was just great at everything. Her comedies were hilarious and of course, my favorites are the ones she made with Cary Grant. In this clip from The awful truth she pretends to be an uneducated woman just to annoy Cary (my favorite part is when she says: 'don't anybody leave this room, I've lost my purse!')

And here's the official data:

 I'd love if you could leave a link to your favorite comedy scenes from these girls (or describe them) ^^

Tarzan and His Mate (1934): a sexy film

OMG, this movie has PRE-CODE written all over...I loved it! 

I'm gonna start with a side note. According to this movie, a woman living in the jungle for a whole year without any element besides her loincloth, should look like this:

Anyway...I'm gonna be very concise about this one, because I explained my general sentiment toward Tarzan with Johnny and Maureen in their first movie together. If you haven't seen this one, I know you're wondering, why especially Pre-code? Besides the obvious elements you can see in the pictures (Jane's outfit was changed to a less revealing dress in the next films) let me tell you this movie has one of the most romantic scenes ever. Jane is sleeping covered with what seems to be a lion fur. Tarzan starts blowing her face in close-up. When she wakes up, he says in his primitive accent: "Good morning, I love you". Awww.
Then he says he wants to go swimming. She puts on a dress that was given the previous night by visitor explorer Harry Holt and when she's about to jump into the lake, Tarzan rips off her dress. And then they go skinny dipping in a very controversial but beautifully shot scene:

An Olympic medal winner swimmer replaced Maureen in this scene. This was a quite shocking for its time, so they shot three versions and each theater chose which to show. 

What else happens? As I said, Harry Holt accompanied by a really cruel hunter/explorer and his crew visits Jane in the jungle. Harry hasn't lost hopes and still loves Jane. He wants to take her back to England plus finally take all the precious ivory from the elephants graveyard, something that upsets Tarzan. Jane has to choose between her two worlds. 

Besides these opposite forces, there are a LOT of fight scenes with random, ferocious animals (really, like every two minutes Jane is in mortal danger) and combats with cannibals. At the end, all the different forces are involved in a pitched battle: like 20 lions and cannibals versus Jane thinking she's a widow and the two English men that are attracted to her. A great but entertaining mess.  The only thing that I didn't like from this one, is Jane call, like Tarzan's but ridiculous. 

In conclusion, you totally should see this one. Here's the trailer:

Random post about why sometimes I feel like Dory

Two years ago. Elective Cinema class @ university. Final exam. The teacher explains that the test is really easy: you just have to see a scene on the screen and write down the title of the movie. Simple. He presses play. This is the English version of what happened in my mind:

Neuron 1: Uhhh, I think we saw this movie...

Neuron 2: Yes, it was in the class about...

Neuron 1: Italian Neorealism!

Neuron 2: No...uhm...how can you tell?

Neuron 1: Black and white? Depressive atmosphere?

Neuron 2: Yeah, but why not German Expressionism? 

Neuron 1: Do you see any Nosferatu or Doctor Caligari around?

Neuron 3: Stop you two! We need the title, that's the name of the movie not the style! OMG, the clip is ending and we have like 12 more questions to go... we'll never gonna make it...

Neuron 1: Let's try identifying the actors... 

Neuron 2: OK...

Neuron 1: ....

Neuron 2: .... 

Neuron 3: OMG, why are they silent??? The teacher is so mean, he chose a silent scene just to confuse us!!

Neuron 1: Maybe this film is from the class from Silent Films?

Neuron 2: Oh, just shut up, you're just giving stupid ideas! Does this clip have crappy quality? No. Is the people wearing creepy make-up? No! Do they act like in a freaking theater in Ancient Greece? No! Does it have titles everywhere? No! And hear that, the silent guy just puffed out...with sound, you moron! 

Neuron 3: OMG, I think that everyone around already answered, they are smiling conceitedly, they all are gonna have great grades and we're gonna fail the class...Oh, I think the teacher is going to show the next clip...OMG, I think I'm going to faint...

Neuron 1: Let's write anything, maybe we get it right...

Neuron 2: What should we write?

Neuron 3: ANYTHING, just hurry, hurry, HURRY!

Neuron 1: OK, OK, let's write...uh...Stromboli!

Neuron 2: But that's Italian Neorealism! Rossellini! AND Ingrid Bergman stars in it!! Do you see any Ingrid Bergman around?

Neuron 3 [thinking to herself in a lethargic state after being so hysterical]: Wasn't Stromboli the bad guy from Pinocchio?

Neuron 2 [interested]: Haha, yeah! That guy was so creepy!! He locked Pinocchio and wanted to exploit him and then use him to light the fire...

Neuron 3: OK.

Neuron 1: Or maybe this is a Nouvelle Vague film? After all, it's in black and white and is very depressing...

Neuron 4 [waking up]: What are we watching?

Epilogue: Multiply this for 12. Strangely, I passed that exam. Anyway, at some point the teacher did show a clip from Stromboli. Oh and I still don't know what movie was that.

Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)

LOL

Continuing with the adventure movies reviews...

Tarzan the Ape Man (1932; W.S. Van Dyke)

Who's in it: Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, C. Aubrey Smith

What is it about: While searching for an elephant graveyard with her father and crew, Maureen O'Sullivan meets Tarzan in the African jungle and they live happily 5 movies after...

The good: Obviously the story by Edgar Rice Burroughs of a man growing up with apes is incredibly interesting, so kudos just because of the plot. Maureen and Johnny are great together; her Jane is an independent woman with good humor that goes from being hysterical and screaming like an old nuts in Tarzan's presence, to appreciate and  love him. Johnny --an Olympic medal winner swimmer-- is simply great as Tarzan:  incredibly athletic, handsome and with a childlike personality. 

The film shows an exciting adventure scene after another (walking in dangerous paths, fighting with savage animals, escaping from natives with killer instincts, etc) and I don't mind if the big monkeys were actually people in costumes or if Tarzan sometimes clearly uses a trapeze bar instead of vines. 

I also liked the fact that the characters are not stereotyped: Jane's dad is sweet but also greedy (at the point of risking his life), the macho guy (played by Neil Hamilton) really loves Jane and is sweet to her but also has an aggressive side (beats the slaves when they are tired), etc. 

And of course, Cheeta, the chimpanzee, is always great to watch, with all her humanlike behavior and great "acting".

The bad:  I didn't like some parts for very subjectives reasons (yes, even more subjective than the whole review). First, I never understood why some scenes with the animals are in fast motion, that always distracts me. Also, before The charge of the light brigade animals where treated with cruelty, so while watching the scenes with elephants, lions and hippos I wondered if they were actually suffering or being killed. And even more importantly, the way the natives are shown is really shocking, especially the aggressive pygmies (that enjoy watching how a gorilla kills people) played by white people in black faces.  

Should I see it? Yes, despite some shocking scenes, this is a great adventure movie (now I want to see Tarzan and his mate)

 More adventure films posts :

• The thief of Bagdad (1940): an entertaining adventure
• Adventure movies or what I'll be watching in the next few days 

PS - Remember to participate in the poll about the funniest actresses, I'm closing it soon!

Barbara Stanwyck called Vivien Leigh a "whore"?

Via: victoriastation.tumblr.com/

Yes, I know. This is like Classic Hollywood E! Entertainment and it's is all over (my) Tumblr. Questions:

a) Is this letter real? The sheet and the signature seem legit, but why it's written like in Times New Roman?

b) If it's real, why did she hate so much Vivien Leigh? What happened between Robert Taylor and Miss Leigh?

c) If the reason has something to do with that, why is she so considerate in the paragraph about Lana Turner?

On a side note, people have noticed the kick ass way this letter is written: the sentence “They must have like that whore, Vivien Leigh instead. I don’t really give a damn anymore” is immediately followed by  “Best of luck and wishes to you and your family”. LOL.

Can anyone shed some light into this?

The thief of Bagdad (1940): an entertaining adventure

As I promised, I'm reviewing the first of a dozen of adventure movies. This is the first because of actor John Justin. Really. I've never heard of him before (have you?) and I think he was just gorgeous and a fine actor. Seems that after this movie he never had much success in films, with the Second World War going on and all, but anyway his true passion was the theater. He was English, but his father was Argentinian. He lived some years in this neighbor country and even learned how to fly a plane when he was 12. I'm planing to see more films from him, like David Lean's The Sound Barrier and The Untamed with Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward and Agnes Moorehead. But that's another story. 

Princess: Who are you? 
Ahmad: Your slave.
Princess: Where have you come from?
Ahmad: From the other side of time, to find you.
Princess: How long have you been searching?
Ahmad: Since time began.
Princess: Now that you've found me, how long will you stay?
Ahmad: To the end of time. For me, there can be no more beauty in the world, than yours. 
Princess: For me, there can be no more pleasure in the world, than to please you.

British The Thief of Bagdad (aka An Arabian Fantasy in Technicolor) is the adventure of King Ahmad (John Justin) and thief Abu (Indian actor Sabu) trying to rescue the Princess from Jaffar (Conrad Veit), the Grand Vizier who took his throne. Evil Jaffar is really baaad. With his evil powers he:

a) makes Prince Ahmad blind

b) transforms thief Abu in a dog

c) kidnaps the Princess (June Duprez)

d) kills the Princess' father

He looks just like Disney's Jaffar. And the Princess' father too, playing with toys and fooling around flying in a...toy horse. Oh, well, not to mention Ahmad and his friend Abu, stealing melons in the market and eating them on the tents roofs. At the end they meet a Genius and Abu finds a flying carpet. Yes, the way the characters look and the design of some scenes from Disney's Aladdin are clearly copied from here, even when both films are inspired in the tales from One Thousand and One Nights. 

Alexander Korda, the director, used very well the Technicolor. I like when movies invite me to a new world using colorful sets and I don't really mind if they don't look very real. This film has special effects that work, even when some of them look very outdated (the flying Genius for example). The main actors are fine in their roles: Justin being troubled because the kidnapping of his love and Sabu being a positive and cheerful rascal. He has some funny lines and helps the film to move.

Conrad Veit is great as Jaffar, assuming the way the villain is presented in this film: a bad guy who really wants the love of the Princess without using his magic powers and fails. June Duprez is fine as the Princess, but don't expect a very energetic character because the script just asked her to be pretty, fall in love at first sight and wait for her rescue (although in one scene she attempts to kill herself by jumping from a ship on the high sea). 

But what I liked the most is that Ahmad and Abu have to face many different vicissitudes, like escaping from prison, trying to survive with the limitations Jaffar has temporarily imposed to them, sailing in a little boat and being surprised by a storm created by the evil wizard, meeting fantastic creatures and people etc etc. It also contains a cool scene of Abu fighting with a huge spider. The scenes are not very extended, so the movie moves fast, showing you a kaleidoscope of exciting situations. 

My only problem with this film is the way it's told, using flashbacks during the first half of the movie. At some points you don't know what is really happening and what is a memory. But when you get used to this, it doesn't really mind: The thief of Bagdad is that entertaining. Roger Evert called it "one of the greatest of fantasy films, on a level with The Wizard of Oz" (I wouldn't go that far though).

 You can see the complete movie in one file on Youtube : Click here!

A blog you should follow: 'My Love of Old Hollywood'

Today I wanted to write a special post about an interesting blog I found the other day: My Love of Old Hollywood. Page, the owner, writes about Actors and Actresses from the silent Era to the 1940s. The info she provides is really amazing (I found several anecdotes that I didn't know) and very easy to digest, plus she makes a special Youtube video roll related with the person reviewed. But the most exciting thing is that she posts about stars whose autographs are in her personal collection, so her entries are illustrated with signatures of Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Fay Wray, Douglas Fairbanks, Jean Harlow, Charles Boyer, James Cagney, Colleen Moore, Una Merkel and more. 

Janet Gaynor's handwritten note.

Charles Boyer's signature. 

"Sincerely, Irene Dunne"

Page explains in her first post And So We Begin:

I get asked a lot about when I started collecting this type of memorabilia and why. The why goes back to about the age of 8. My mother would find a quiet room in our house and sit down to an old black and white movie whenever she could. After seeing the joy on her face and complete contentment while watching The Thin Man movies or hearing her infectious laugh while watching Cary Grant and Kate Hepburn, I wanted a part of it and I found myself just as lost in the beauty of Old Hollywood as she still is today.

My collection started about 15 years ago and it is now at over 250 pieces and growing. The items that I will list on this blog are from The Silents to the 1940's. In no way is this site meant to sell or buy items and its not a place to argue about Star Wars ruling over Hitchcock. Everyone is welcome to comment on the blogs and items that will follow, and hopefully we can keep it all about our love of old movies and the stars that filled the silver screen.

I realize my collection may not appeal to everyones taste and I welcome hearing from and showing anyone else's items from this era. The more the merrier. Just realize that although some collect fridge magnets, matchbooks and even beanie babies, thats a discussion for another site, and I am sure theres a website out there for anything collectible that you can imagine. (Okay, I do collect fridge magnets)...Don't judge me. There will be plenty of time for that later when we get started. : )

Oh, she gave me an foretaste of her next posts including items from her collection: Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Norma Talmadge, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, Gloria Swanson and Elizabeth Taylor. Plus she will post on Myrna Loy next at my request :)

Visit Page's site here: My Love for Old Hollywood. 

* Credits: All the pictures from My Love for Old Hollywood.  

Marlon Brando and the welcoming fan

In 1951, Marlon Brando received this letter from a 13-year-old girl from Marshalltown, Iowa:

Mr Brando,

I know how hard it must be with all those photographers and reporters chasing you around, so if you would like to come and stay at my home, my family would like you to come and stay as long as you like.

Marlon never answered. Anyway, five years later, the girl would be picked by Otto Preminger to play the leading role in Saint Joan: she was Jean Seberg. 

Got interested? Read Una Merkel and the indecisive fan. 

Adventure movies or what I'll be watching in the next few days

So today I went to the last session of the Movie Genres seminar I was attending on Saturdays. The genre we reviewed today was previously chosen by vote and even when the competition was fierce, my option, ADVENTURE, won. Yay! I really wanted to know more about this genre since I just liked it because I love Errol Flynn's movies.

It was really cool to discover new exciting titles that I'm planing to watch and review very soon. Here are some of them:

→ Tarzan the Ape Man (1932; W.S. Van Dyke)
Of course I knew about this one, but it never caught my attention. Anyway, knowing that Johnny Weissmuller was Olympic medal winner swimmer and that even Clark Gable was one of the options to play Tarzan, was all I needed to really wanting to see it. Plus the scene we saw was very exciting, with crocodiles AND hippos trying to eat Maureen O'Sullivan and her people. I'll try to watch the 6 starring Johnny and Maureen.

→ The Thief of Bagdad (1924 and 1940)
I really never heard of this one before. Douglas Fairbanks stars in the one from the twenties playing a thief (that's all I know about it), but the one from the 40's was directed by Alexander Korda and Indian actor Sabu plays the thief Abu and John Justin (never heard of him before but he was gorgeous) plays the Prince that has to rescue the princess from Jaffar. Oh, there's a genius too and a flying carpet. Disney's Aladdin anyone?

→ Moby Dick (1956)
The famous book by Herman Melville, directed by John Huston and starring Gregory Peck. The end.

→ Les tribulations d‘un chinois en Chine (1965)
Based on a book by Jules Verne and directed by Philippe de Broca this is really an adventure comedy set on the Himalayas and the clip we saw was hilarious because of the dialogs and the situations.

→ Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
This is the one that I liked the less, but I'm gonna watch it because:
a) Ray Harryhausen's motion picture effects (they look really outdated in this one but it seems that his work was brilliant and everybody admire him and even in Pixar's Monster Inc. a restaurant is called like him as an homage)
b) John Wayne's son, Patrick, plays Sinbad and Tyrone Power's daughter, Taryn, plays the daughter of an old alchemist, thank you very much.

→The man who would be king (1975)
Three names: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, John Huston. The director wanted to do this movie like all his life, and even wanted Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart to play the leads. Anyway, it's based in a book by Rudyard Kipling, and it's about two English soldiers in an ancient place where Connery is taken as a divinity. Disney's Road to El Dorado?

→White Hunter, Black Heart (1990; Clint Eastwood)
I'm watching this one just because it tells the story behind John Huston wanting to shoot a movie in Africa ("The African Queen"). It seems that what he really wanted was to hunt elephants.There are characters that are supposed to be Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Katharine Hepburn, so I really want to see how that came out, even when the film ends before they start shooting "The African Queen".

Of course more movies were named today. I already saw some of them, like "The African Queen" or "Around the world in 60 days" and I won't see Bernard Herzog's movies like "Aguirre The Wrath of God" or "Fitzcarraldo" because they give me the creeps. 

New Poll: actresses that make you laugh the most?

This is my post # 200, so I decided to choose a joyful subject for my next poll.

I'd like to know which of the next actresses make you laugh the most (you can choose more than one option on the sidebar):

Carole Lombard
Lucille Ball
Ginger Rogers
Myrna Loy
Una Merkel
Jean Arthur
Rosalind Russell
Barbara Stanwyck
Marlene Dietrich
Rita Hayworth
Irene Dunne
Katharine Hepburn
Paulette Goddard
Marion Davies
Claudette Colbert
Eve Arden

I added people that are not mainly known for their comedy skills (like Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth); people who generally played secondary characters (Eve Arden, Una Merkel); and left out some actresses like Marilyn Monroe, the Bennett sisters, Miriam Hopkins, Judy Holliday, etc, because it was too crowded already :) But you can comment and give them kudos.  

My latest tribute: "Merrily we go to hell (1932): Careless Whisper"

The other day I was listening to Careless Whisper by George Michael and it dawn on me that it fitted very well the plot of Merrily we go to hell (1932), a movie directed by Dorothy Arzner, starring Fredrich March and Sylvia Sidney. I mini-reviewed it some time ago as What happens if you marry a jerk. Oh, Cary Grant has one scene too (he appears at 03:15). I hope you like this tribute and contrary to Imdb ratings (seems that few people have seen this one), I recommend this movie. Keep rocking.

PS: It contains the ending, I hope you don't mind.  

Bette's Classic Survey

So 12-years-old Bette from Bette's Classic Movie Blog (she's a fan of Bette Davis but her real name is Bette)...and THAT's a lot of Bette in one sentence, I think I should review my Redaction and Editing notes and also return my degree...anyway, just look at this:

...that's what I was trying to tell you. She came up with a new survey, which I'm proceeding to answer:

1. Favourite Actor? Cary Grant.

2. Actress? Audrey Hepburn.

3. Judy Holliday: love her or hate her? Neither, I just have seen her in Born Yesterday and Adam's Rib and she was good.

4. Steve McQueen, Errol Flynn and Laurence Olivier. Who out of the names listed do you think would be most likely to don a sword and shield and confront a dragon? I don't picture Steve using a sword or fighting with a dragon; Laurence Olivier would talk and talk in a Shakespearian way until the dragon fall asleep (kidding) so obviously I pick Errol Flynn. That would be a nice confrontation to watch.

5. From dragon slaying to sheer madness (not that much of a leap), which crazy movie do you like best: Sunset Boulevard or Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? This one is difficult...uhm, dead monkeys or dead rats? I'd think I go for Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond was crazy in a cool way, but Bette...OMG, too painful to watch.

6. What do you think is the best movie book ever made? To be honest, I haven't read any movie book, just biographies and list books like "1001 movies you must see before you die".

7. Who do you think is the most attractive male movie star? Another difficult one! I can't decide between Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, William Holden or Cary Grant.

8. Female movie star? Probably Audrey Hepburn.

9. If you had to be a maid/butler (?) to someone, who would it be? I don't know, who paid the most?

10. Who do you think Cary Grant worked best with? Oh, Cary work the best with everybody! From the Bennett sisters to Leslie Caron, from Jeanne Craine to Katharine Hepburn.

11. Do you like black and white movies more than colour movies? I don't a priori. I mean there are some b&w movies that I wish they had been filmed in color (early Fred and Ginger films for instance), but I do love black and white movies in general.

12. 1930s films or 1960s films? 1930s definitively.

13. Who would you rather be: a Margo Channing or an Ilsa Lund? Things seem to end better for Margo Channing, so Margo.

14. Is there ever a film you have seen that you thought would be funnier if meerkats played the leads? You mean meerkat as in the animal? Like Simba's buddy? Uhm...LOL, "A streetcar named desire"...you know, something like:

15. What is your favourite "Oh my goodness" phrase from a movie? "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"...that was the phrase, I'm not telling you that I don't give a damn about the question :)
16. Favourite "Yee Haw" classic movie phrase? I'm so bad remembering quotes...but maybe "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!"...Yee Haw!
17. You and your family have to agree on a movie for a night in. What will it always be? Probably "Gone with the wind". Prissy always cracks us up: "Miss Scarlett, Miss Scarlett, I know all about babies...[2 seconds later] ♩♩♩♩♩♩.....Miss Scarlett, Miss Scarlett, I don't know anything about babies!!!" Or classic Disney movies.
18. Doris Day: Dramatic or Frothy? Frothy most of the time, but I like her performance in "The man who knew too much".
19. What male team did you think did a great job in a movie, but never made another one together? Cary Grant and James Stewart in "The Philadelphia Story".
20. You have been asked by your friend to chose your favourite movie title. What is it? "Friend, don't ask me that"...that would be my response, not the title of a movie...then I'd add, I just have too many favorite movies.
21. This is just out of curiosity... have you at some point experienced rivalry on a I-have-seen-that-and-you-haven't level? Uhm, I generally like when people tell me that they saw a great classic movie that I haven't seen, because I'm probably gonna like it and add another favorite to my list. But last week I experienced a rivalry like the mentioned in the question:  the exponent in my Movie Genres Workshop said something like "Well and I saw The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in 35 mm on the big screen". I love that movie and I'd love to see it that way!!

22. Most romantic film you have ever seen..."Roman Holiday" or "Camille".
23. What was the film that really got you into old films? Two actually: first Vertigo (read the story) and then "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (read the story).

Thanks Bette ^^
That's all folks!