Caption it #6: Deborah and the beer

So, guys, tell me...how would you call this pic? What is Deborah thinking? You know, whatever, just caption it!

I know you all are very creative people, but if you need some inspiration, check the previous comments of this game.

Happy Birthday Audrey!!!

Yes, I know you all know, but I just wanted to say happy birthday to one of my favorite actresses ever, a splendid human being, Miss Audrey Hepburn. 

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I think the best way I can pay a tribute to her is that you leave this entry knowing something you didn't know before about her life and career. So I'll try to introduce you to some of my posts about her:

In Audrey I wrote a personal post about how I became a classic film lover because of her and why I admire her so much; then I chose her as my favorite actress and talked about how perfect she is in The Nun's Story and Two for the road.

For some reason, I haven't written a post about her complete filmography, but I'm very proud of my defense of Paris when it sizzles, a movie even she disliked. I also wrote about the lovely things from "How to steal a million" I had forgotten.

Also about her films, but from a different angle, I participated in a Movie Haiku Contest with a poem about Breakfast at Tiffany's (I ended as runner-up...with another haiku) and also shared a clip from my "Wait Until Dark" failed stop motion project:

After DorianTb asked me about Pippin, Audrey's deer, I did a super investigation and shared it with you. I learned a lot.

Because I always loved her handwriting, I made a digital font and shared it. The response from the fans is still awesome (but, for some reason, it only works on PC).

Books? Not many, but I reviewed the lovely "Just Being Audrey" by Margaret Cardillo. I also shared my special edition of War and Peace, illustrated with stills from the movie.

Finally, Audrey was part of my Gift Guide for classic movie fans with (a lot of) imagination. 

Here's looking at you, kid.

When I say, you say #10: Wagon

Hi guys, welcome to a new edition of the movie game When I say, you say, in which I say a word and you write your first (1st) classic movie related thought: titles, actors, scenes, names, passages from biographies, etc...

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So when I say WAGON, you say...

Giveaway: win a copy of "New Year's Eve" (2011)

Hi guys! Just a quick post to let you know that Warner Bros. wants to give you a Blu-ray copy of New Year's Eve.

If you're interested, just leave a comment and cross your fingers! You can also take a quiz in the application below:

(This app may take a few seconds to load)

Have a great week!

UPDATE: The winner is Sebastián! Thanks for particpating, enjoy your Blu Ray!

The 10 SADDEST old movies (I've watched)

NOTE: This entry was reposted over MovieFanFare, becoming one of their most popular articles with nearly 1,000 comments :)

Well, you know them. You're watching them and you're thinking:

"Mother of god, life can be awful. Why people have to suffer so much! I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry. Think of something positive. Or something that makes you angry. Oh no, a tear is coming. I'm gonna cough to try to pass this heavy lump in my throat. Oh, what did she or he have to say that line? That's the saddest thing..."

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Anyway, I sacrificed myself for you, and re-watched some of these films. I included movies in which the predominant feeling is sadness or those whose endings are very dramatic.

So, grab your tissues, here we go (warning: spoilers ahead):


10.- Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
Plot: A girl and a boy fall in love and have a child but can't be together (review).
You can't hold your tears when...they say goodbye at the train station (watch).

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9.- Waterloo Bridge (1940)
Plot: Vivien Leigh thinks her boyfriend Robert Taylor is dead so she finds a socially rejected way to survive (mentioned in 5 movies in which tragedy was caused by chance).
You can't hold your tears when...the camera focus a little special object after some tragic event and then Robert remembers Vivien in the bridge (watch the ending).

8.- The Wedding Night (1935)
Plot: A writer (Gary Cooper) falls in love with a girl (Anna Stern) from a strict Pole family of farmers (review).
You can't hold your tears when...at the end, Gary looks out the window and "sees" the love of his life disappearing (watch a clip from the movie).

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7.- This Land Is Mine (1943)
Plot: Awesome Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara respectively play a coward teacher and his love interest in this World War II film (review).
You can't hold your tears when...Charles sees how a teacher he admired and respected is killed. But the worst part is the ending, one of the best fictional uses of the Declaration of Human Rights (watch).

6.- Camille (1936)
Plot: An impossible love between a courtesan (Greta Garbo) and Robert Taylor (listed in Favorite Movies).
You can't hold your tears when...Camille faces Lionel Barrymore and when Robert visits a "very weak" Camille in the last scene (watch the trailer).

5.- A star is born (1937)
Plot: After two actors marry, the success of their careers enter in a inversely proportional relationship (review and haiku).
You can't hold your tears when...the granny takes her granddaughter to the station. And when Fredric March embraces Janet Gaynor knowing it would be the last time and then he says "do you mind if I take just one more look?" (watch the second moment).

4.- Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Plot: An old couple (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) realize they have the worst children in the history of cinema (mention).
You can't hold your tears when...these people are humiliated and separated, which is practically the whole film (watch an example).

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3.- Three Comrades (1938)
Plot: After World War I, three German friends (Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, Robert Young)  meet Margaret Sullavan and their lives change forever. Adapted by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
You can't hold your tears when...you watch the final scenes. Really. (here are some of them edited).

2.- The small one (1978)
Plot: A poor family have to get rid of their old donkey, a task that is entrusted to the kid (mention).
You can't hold your tears when...the last time I saw this one I cried my eyes out like the whole film, especially when the kid tries to cheer up his little animal and the ending (watch the whole film).

1.- Ever in my heart (1933)
Plot: Barbara Stanwyck marries a German before World War I (review).
You can't hold your tears when...the family faces tragic situations (I mean TRAGIC) and the ending (trailer).

Honorable mentions: Letter from an Unknown Woman (mini review), I Remember Mama (mention), Penny Serenade and Doctor Zhivago.

What do you think?

Caption it #5: Bogie and the diapers

So, guys, tell me...what's happening in this picture, what are they saying, what are they thinking or how would you name it?

You know, caption it!

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Need to get inspired? Check the previous posts of this game. 

Movie review: A star is born (1937)

Last night I re-watched A star is born and remembered I had written a review like two years ago, that was never published. Now I'm sharing this review, with some improvements. It's great to realize that the way I write reviews has changed; I used to tell the whole movie and consider that a review :)

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I thought this movie was about a completely frivolous girl that wanted to become a star (obviously) by any means and it would have a lot of musical acts (one of the songs would be "A star is born", where hundreds of dancers would move around the girl, and a chorus would say something like "A star is boooorn, and you are the staaaaar, etc"). BUT -at least the version I watched, the one from 1937- was completely the opposite.

It made me cry. It made me laugh. I loved it.

So what's about? Well it's about a not-frivolous girl, Esther Blodgett (Janet Gaynor), who loves stars and dreams of becoming an actress. The problem is that she lives with an awful aunt, a mocking cousin, and a passive uncle, who don't believe in her at all and "encourage" her to get a husband. But she also has a really cool granny, (May Robson) who gives great speeches (For every dream of yours you make come true, you'll pay the price in heartbreak) and has money saved. Yay.

A story like this could have had a really soppy treatment, but the acting is great that we don't even stop to think about it. You see how the old granny gives her granddaughter all her savings, you see her waving at the train station in a cold dark night...you instantly root for the girl: she *must* go to Hollywood and be a star!

And  you suffer when you see that things in Hollywood are not too easy; that are hundreds of people who want the same, that despite the granny's sacrifice, Esther hasn't enough money to pay the rent (that also gives you the opportunity to visualize better how things worked then). And you're glad when she finds a good friend, Danny McGuire (Andy Devine) who tries to help her even when he's equally broke. And you're totally happy when she meets gorgeus famous actor Norman Maine (Fredric March), who helps her to get a contract with head of studio Mr. Oliver Niles (Adolphe Menjou) and become the great star Vicky Lester...

One of my favorite things from the movie is, obviously, Norman + Vicky: Their relationship is delightful and the script puts them in very original situations (like talking about marriage in the middle of a box fight). Both are funny (the scene where Esther is preparing her lines is priceless) and charming, and you see that Norman, a big star at the moment, who loves drinking and has problems with paparazzis is also very sweet and says things like:

"Hey!...Do you mind if I take just one more look?"

"You know, I'm a screen...I'm a... you know...but whatever I do I still respect lovely things and you're lovely"

Another amusing scene is their honeymoon, wich remind me of Mickey's Trailer (1938). Mickey/Vicky are trying to cook in the moving trailer while Goofy/Norman are driving annoyingly indifferent. And then Donald/Norman tries to get a shower, etc.

But the strongest point is that the main drama still feels very real and relevant. It makes you comprehend a little bit more what famous people have to deal with, why is so difficult for them to overcome addictions and pressure. Fredric March could play drunk people in a very natural, believable way, without overacting (see also Merrily we go to hell). He makes the ending of this movie memorable.

A star is born (1937) is an excellent movie, with great actors/characters, moving interpretations, realistic but original situations and emotive scenes.

About Gregory Peck

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This post is part of Ruth's celebration of Mr. Peck's birthday, which is on April 5.

I didn't know what to talk about, because Gregory is one of those reliable actors you've always admired, but never really stopped to think about. So, that's exactly what I'm gonna do: I'll try to capture his screen essence through the twelve films I've seen from him. Hope you enjoy this little ride.

Before you throw tomatoes at me, I have to warn you, I haven't seen iconic films like Moby Dick or The Snows of Kilimanjaro. I'm sorry, I know I should.

Well, if you ask me what does Gregory represent for me, that would be confidence. For me, watching Gregory is like finding a secure, normal, down-to-earth refuge (except for Duel in the Sun, which I told in my own words). I'm not only talking about that security that people with great acting abilities project, people that no matter what, you know they're not going to fail or deliver a line in a wrong way. 

His presence on screen was clean and magnetic in a subtle way. If you were lucky to enter a room where Marlon Brando, Laurence Olivier and Gregory Peck were, and you didn't know them, I'm sure you would notice the other two first. But Gregory's presence would grab your attention sooner than later. He always seems to be there, without really trying, standing calmed and unharmed from any force the scripts make him face. Even if you see him suffer or fear in the most helpless way.

So you have his acting abilities and then his subtle but magnetic presence. Add to this that he seemed to be a great guy. I don't know much about his private life, but I've read about what he believed in and what he did for others or said about them; he was a noble person, a good, caring guy. With that, his brilliant (in every sense) screen presence is conformed. 

Should I tell you about his Joe Bradley, the reporter with the little but profound smile that once fell in love with a princess? Oh, how good Gregory is in Roman Holiday. In the outside, making a very prosaic comparison and almost as a side note I would say he's like a fresh, clean, recently washed sweater. And then, I would say he expresses his character's thoughts and changes through looks and nervous smiles; impatient gestures, pauses and silences. 

He's also a good guy in The Big Country, Designing Woman and The Million Pound Note. From the three, of course, I highlight the first. Here this noble guy we know is being pushed to be something else, to prove his strength and fierceness. But his character and Gregory himself were people that loved peace, even when that means violence against yourself, even when that means tough decisions. James McKay ends proving his qualities, but in his own terms, at night, when there's no one else but he and his opponent; no malicious looks, no people laughing at the other's disgraces. Even when he knows he's going to win.

Then you have the films that went a bit far, that showed Gregory the good guy in trouble: films like Spellbound, Beloved Infidel, On the Beach, The Great Sinner. In these movies he either was alcoholic, had a mental problem or carried great issues upon his shoulders. And yet, I don't really relate these characters, he gave each one of them something different, special. His Francis Scott Fitzgeral was an annoying drunk at some points, very different of his Great Sinner or his Cmdr. Dwight Towers.

And then we go even far. His kind screen presence was forced to face terrible menaces, that are more painful to watch because they come from other people. There you have the awesome The Stalking Moon, where he has to escape from a native and save Eva Marie Saint and her mixed-race son; To Kill a Mockingbird, were white men threaten him and his children just because he defends an innocent human being; and Cape Fear, were the previous plots are almost mixed, and he is persecuted by a guy avid of revenge through his family. 

In the three, he's just a human whose life becomes darker while trying to do justice. He's not a tough, super courageous man. He sometimes feels lost. He's not completely fearless, because he loves and cares for others. And that's why, when he raises victoriously, or he just raises and tries to move on, we feel identified. And we care about Gregory Peck.

Caption it #4: Cary Grant

So, guys, tell me, what is people saying in this picture? or what are they thinking? You know, caption it :)

Cary Grant

You can check the previous pictures of this game, if you want :)

When I say, you say #9: Notepad

Welcome to a new edition of When I say, you say, the game in which I say a word and you share your first (1st) classic movie related thought. Film titles, movie scenes, characters, passages from actors' biographies, etc, etc...

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So, when I say NOTEPAD, you say...

7X7 Link Award (x4): thank you girls!

Award time again! This time it was given to me by four awesome bloggers:

• Sophie from Waitin' on a Sunny Day, 
• Brandie from True Classics, 
• Rianna from Frankly, My Dear
• and  Perfect Number 6

THANK YOU, I'm honored :) And I just created this Sound of Music gif to illustrate my thankfulness:

Well, the rules, as usual, are composed by a very narcissistic part (like Julie said in Julie & Julia: "But what do you think a blog is? It's me, me, me day after day") and the nominations. I hope the first part is brief enough:

• Tell everyone something that no one else knows about: I started a very strict diet yesterday. I can't eat ANYTHING that contains sugar and really small portions of the rest.
• Link to one of my posts that I personally think best fits the following categories: Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful Piece, Most Popular Piece, Most Controversial Piece, Most Surprisingly Successful Piece (this series), Most Underrated Piece, and Most Pride-worthy Piece
• Pass this award on to seven other bloggers: well, I don't know if I'm breaking the rules here, but I nominate back the four girls who gave me this award, because I adore their blogs and their posts always put a smile on my face. I also want to pass this award to: Kate from the lovely Scathingly Brilliant (happy 2 year Blogaversary in advance!),  Emma from the adorable Emma's Music and Carley from the classy Kitty Packard Pictorial :) 

So that's it. The award goes now to the award section in the footer:)

Caption it #3: Ava Gardner & Robert Taylor

Hi guys, here's the third edition of Caption It:

Get inspired, check the previous posts:

• Ben-Hur, Messala & the Vespa
• Greta & the Lion

Thanks and goodbye Robert B. Sherman

Richard and Robert Sherman (right). Photo by Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Before I heard the sad news this week, I didn't know who Robert B. Sherman was. That name meant anything to me, I didn't associate it with anything.

But I did know a part of his inner world, the way he and his brother Richard perceived life, the way they captured it.

Because I did know some special songs. These songs were different from others: even when they were meant for kids, they had an unusual component of nostalgia, of sadness and realness. I discovered some of these songs when I was a child and some of them when I was grown up. And it didn't really matter, the feeling was the same. These pieces celebrated being a child and at the same time I heard in them that eagerness to come back in time, which is tinted black because of its impossibility. 

Little Black Rain Cloud, tender and sad, makes my mind wander and think of what's irremediably gone, not just for me, but for people in general, no matter the time they were born in, how they look back to their childhood, just like Christopher Robin did in Winnie the Pooh. The songs from Mary Poppins, especially Chim Chim Cher-ee and Walt Disney's favorite, Feed the birds captured this same mixed essence, what's good, kind, noble, sad and fun in the world. Even songs like The Aristocats' Scales and Arpeggios, The Sword in the stone's Higitus Figitus and The Jungle Book's That's What Friends Are For had something different, a darker atmosphere, or a sound that wasn't composed just to maintain kids entertained.

Of course, I also celebrate those incredibly happy songs, like Let's get together, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and I Wan'na Be Like You. I celebrate the legendary Sherman brothers, Disney, the magical movies that always put a smile on my face and make me think that It's A Great Big, Beautiful Tomorrow...

Thanks and goodbye Robert B. Sherman.

Guest post over "Lollipops and Roses"

Hi guys! Hope you're having an awesome week. I just wanted to let you know that Stephanie from the lovely/beautiful Lollipops and Roses asked me to share an item I love with her readers. 

Hope you can go there and find out what I picked. And follow her too, she posts interesting entries about Classic Hollywood :)

PS. Thanks for your birthday greetings!

Caption it #2: Ben-Hur, Messala...& the Vespa

Most of you asked it to be a weekly feature, so here's the second version of Caption it:

If you want to get inspired, check the previous answers, in Greta & the lion.

Just wanted to say that right now I'm leaving on vacations for a whole week, I'm going to spend my stupid birthday (Tuesday) away. 

So behave :)

Valentine's Day Movie Meme: Forever Classics Edition

First of all, thanks to the people who left their caption for the first Caption it post . Also thanks to those who answered the poll: seems it's going to be a weekly feature.
 

Now I'm answering a meme for Valentine's Day. It was created by Merdith @ Forever Classics. Sorry I've never been able to pick just one thing per question :)

1. What is your favorite romantic comedy?

Some of my favorites are: His Girl Friday, The Apartment, The Thin Man (because that's what it is, right?), Ball of Fire, Charade, Ninotchka, Roman Holiday, Mr. Deeds goes to town, Vivacious Lady, City Lights, and most of the comedies directed by Mitchell Leisen like Remember the Night, Midnight & Arise, My Love. 

2. What is your favorite romantic drama?

Some of my favorites are: Two for the road, An Affair to Remember, Camille, Holiday (this one is not really a comedy), Gone with the Wind, The umbrellas of Cherbourg, To have and have not, Morocco, Penny Serenade, In name only, People Will Talk, The Quiet Man, Waterloo Bridge, Hold Back the Dawn, Merrily We Go to Hell.

3. Worst romance film you've seen?

10 by far. Then Tender Comrade, The Proud and the Profane, Duel in the Sun, The Garden of Allah, and some others I don't remember because my mind completely erased them.

4. How do you feel about the majority of romantic films being labeled "chick flicks"?

I don't really care. Good movies always get recognition beyond any label. Except for The Notebook.

5. Favorite on-screen couple?

Photoset here.

6. Favorite off-screen couple?

Gable & Lombard. Their story is just epic.

7. Best kiss in a movie?

The first that comes to my mind is the first one in Roman Holiday. It looks real and spontaneous. 

8. Favorite romantic scene?

So many! I like romantic scenes that are not THE romantic scene of the movie, but like the previous moments. Example: when Jack Lemmon prepares a dinner for sick Shirley Maclaine. And I like playful scenes, like the ones from Charade. Oh, oh, and sweet scenes like this one with Cary and Carole:

Ugh, I have so many I need to write a post about them.

9. Who are 2 film characters you wished had gotten together, but never did?

Uhm...like forever? Like Princess Ann & Joe Bradley? Or Armand & Camille?

10. Two actors you think would have great chemistry, but have never done a film together?

Lauren Bacall and Burt Lancaster. Rita Hayworth and Richard Burton. And all these.

11. Favorite romantic song in a film (doesn't have to be from a musical)?

I LOVE the main song from Two for the road, composed by Henry Mancini:

There's a song that I really like from A foreign affair, called Illusions:



There are so many great songs that I'm dying here, like Would you?

And Night and Day (Youtube) , True Love (Youtube) sung by Grace Kelly or the most popular song from The umbrellas of Cherbourg. I really have a lot of favorites.

12. Best score from a romance film?

Besides the obvious, like Gone with the Wind & Breakfast at Tiffany's, I'm gonna pick (again) the one Henry Mancini composed for Two for the Road. Great sound and perfect fit, since it reflects the different stages in the main character's relationship.

13. Most romantic film quote?

My problem with the questions about quotes is that I never remember the ones I want, and then, when the post is published I start "hey, but this is my favorite quote ever? How didn't I mention it? etc". Anyway, here are two pretty romantic:

From For Whom the Bell Tolls:

Robert Jordan: Are you afraid?

Maria: Not now. I love you, Roberto. Always remember. I love you as I loved my father and mother, as I love our unborn children, as I love what I love most in the world, and I love you more. Always remember.

Robert Jordan: I'll remember. 

From Robin and Marian:

Maid Marian (to, uhm, Robin): I love you. More than all you know. I love you more than children. More than fields I've planted with my hands. I love you more than morning prayers or peace or food to eat. I love you more than sunlight, more than flesh or joy, or one more day. I love you... more than God.

14. A film you'd recommend to watch on Valentine's Day?

Any of the mentioned in question 1 & 2 :) Or new ones, like You've got mail, Pride and Prejudice, and Crazy, Stupid Love. The thing is watch anything but 10 :)

Caption it: Greta & the lion

New series! So if you're not reading this directly in the blog, come on in :)

Inspired by this feature of the Australian Open (and every instance in which this game was played since the beginning of time) I'm inviting you to caption crazy pictures from Classic Hollywood. 

The first ever is:

Be brave and participate! 

Ready? Well, before you go, please choose one of these options:

Thank you!

How many of these famous (classic) actresses do you recognize?

I love when newspapers surprise me. This quiz appeared the other day in a national newspaper.

Shame on me, I couldn't guess all the names (and I didn't know at all a couple of the girls)...there are some tricky pictures, so don't be so confident...

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The answers:

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How many did you recognize? Share your number in the comments ;)

CMBA Comedy Classics Blogathon: "The Richest Girl in the World"

First thing about the film I selected for this blogathon: I had seen it like two years ago. I remember I enjoyed it very much, but two years ago I had barely seen classic comedies, therefore my mental map has changed since then.

Was it as good as I remembered it? Let's see.

The Richest Girl in the World (1934) is about the richest girl in the world. Seriously. As we all know normal rich people have a lot of problems to deal with, like losing kids inside their mansions, having to assist to dreaful ceremonies and parties, not knowing what to buy next, not knowing what kid to adopt next, etc. But they also have sentimental problems. Especially if you're Miriam Hopkins, the RICHEST girl in the world.

Miriam founds herself continually asking: this guy that says he loves me, is in love with me or with my money? So after her honest fiancé says he won't marry her because he's in love with another girl, Miriam starts thinking. She also sees her dear secretary Fay Wray deeply in love with her husband and she wants something like that for herself.

For security reasons she's pretending to be her secretary, while her secretary pretends to be her. In that situation she meets Joel McCrea, an impossibly tall, tanned, athletic, handsome, cute guy, who says he couldn't care less about the RICHEST girl in the world. Hope is born in Miriam's heart. And a kitten just died because that last cliché. Well, Miriam will prove Joel's will by throwing the fake richest girl in the world in his face.

One of the things I like about this film is how writer Norman Krasna gave a little background and humanized the character of the girl with a lot of money. First, we learn that her parents died in the Titanic (no, her dad wasn't Leo DiCaprio) and that a good ol' man took care of her (one of the bests scenes is when Henry Stephenson, the protector, tells this story). Then we learn that she's practical, not spoiled, that she's a good friend, doesn't have a lot of clothes and has a good humor. So you root for her.

I also like the way Miriam Hopkins acts...most of the time. She gives naturalness to her character and a playful presence. The are few secondary characters, but they make a good group: Fay Wray being always supportive, her husband (Reginald Denny) being a good sport about the whole incognito deal, and the mentioned Henry Stephenson, also very effective and funny. 

The negative side: in a movie that was in this "humanized" trail, some scenes are out of place. For example, in a moment of anger, Miriam goes after Joel and her secretary/fake rich girl that were in a canoe. With her motorboat she makes the little canoe overturn. That would work in a normal screwball comedy, but not in this one. There are other scenes in which she drinks with Joel that were a bit repetitive, long and didn't add much to the story. Maybe this would have been less notorious if the movie had some kind of music, but it just have two songs in dance scenes. And, in my very humble opinion, Joel is very handsome and all but he's very wooden as actor. Except for a few moments.

Anyway, Norman Krasna got an Oscar nomination for Best Original Story. He was 22. He says he attended to the ceremony with Groucho Marx and his first wife, Ruth. Norman didn't win and got drunk. Suddenly he rises and shouts "Everybody!". Silence. Then he invited everyone to his place, even when she just had a can of sardines at home. Groucho had to take him home. 

Closing lines. Maybe this one is not really a HA-HA film, but is very enjoyable little comedy anyway. The end :)

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Written for the CMBA Comedy Classics Blogathon.

Cool Old Music: The Puppini Sisters' "Hollywood"

Just a quick post to (hopefully) put a lasting smile on your face. 

Remember when I told you about The Puppini Sisters, that super awesome trio that sings in close harmony style (like The Andrews Sisters, The Lennon Sisters, etc etc)...

Well, in December they released an album called Hollywood and I just found out today. According to their own description,

HOLLYWOOD is a gloriously evocative record that pays homage to the music of the silver screen in the Puppini Sisters' inimitably stylish manner that has been dazzling audiences worldwide since the release of their debut album, 2006's Betcha Bottom Dollar. Their ability to renew and rejuvenate each song, effortlessly harmonizing vocal lines while staying true to the classic Tinseltown aesthetic, is evident throughout Hollywood, which was recorded in the old-fashioned way with the three ladies all standing round one microphone.

The album takes in a whole range of dynamics, from the tongue-twisting "Moi Je Joue" and the high-energy upswing of "I Got Rhythm" - written by the Gershwin brothers - to a delicately fragile take on "Moon River" and Frank Sinatra's memorable "September Song". On each song, the sweetly charming vocal harmonies of the Puppinis bring new life to songs that have existed in the public consciousness for over half a century.

So what do you know? One of my favorite retro bands singing cool old songs from movies. Awesome.

Here's the tracklist; you can preview it on Amazon.

1. Hollywood

2. Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friends

3. I Got Rhythm

4. Moi Je Joue

5. True Love

6. Good Morning

7. Get Happy

8. Moon River

9. I Feel Pretty

10. September Song

11. Parle Plus Bas

And here's the video for Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friends: