A BLOG DEDICATED TO MY LOVE OF THE SILVER SCREEN
Established May 2010.


Gordie: Do you think I'm weird?
Chris: Definitely.
Gordie: No man, seriously. Am I weird?
Chris: Yeah, but so what? Everybody's weird.
-STAND BY ME

Film Critic for Twin Cities Live

Member of THE LAMB: The Large Association of Movie Blogs LAMB #1588

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Monday, March 7, 2011

I'll Take "Classic Movies that Start with A", Alex.

Answer: These are the two movies that Paul and Ryan watched on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Question: What are All About Eve and An Affair to Remember?

I don't think I've ever mentioned my love of Jeopardy on the blog before. I'm such a nerd, I even DVR Jeopardy in hopes I can watch it in my spare time. I was hoping to write an Oscars Final Predictions blog or even an Oscars Wrap-Up blog, but alas that didn't happen. By the time I got around to having the time to write them, it was too late. I already exhausted myself whining about how David Fincher didn't win Best Director or that The Social Network didn't win Best Picture. I apologize.

Ryan and I have been meaning to watching All About Eve for some time. I had never seen it before, and it's one of Ryan's favorites. We decided to do a double feature and add An Affair to Remember to the mix. Both are now available in awesome Blu-Ray with fun bells and whistles.

All About Eve

All About Eve opens at a theater awards ceremony. Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) wins the big award that evening. Margo Channing (Bette Davis) and others look on with dismay.










Cut to the past, Eve is a huge fan of Margo's. She sees every performance of her current play. On a rainy night, Eve decides to get the gumption to go to the stage door to meet her idol. The playwright's wife, Karen (Celeste Holm), notices her and brings her backstage to meet Margo after a performance. Margo's boyfriend, Bill, is the director. He is headed out to Hollywood so he can make a movie.

Margo invites Eve to live with her while Bill is away. Eve assists her backstage and idolizes her even more with each passing day. After Eve makes a late night birthday call to the boyfriend and prepares him a welcome home party, Margo starts to suspect something is up with Eve. Is Eve just an innocent girl who idolizes her favorite star or is there more to her than meets the eye?

Margo comes to the theater late one day to find out that Eve has become her understudy. Eve was stunning in the audition and read the lines just the way the playwright wrote them. Not only is Eve in her twenties, but Margo never misses a performance. Margo does not take this news lightly. After a planned incident occurs, Eve has to go on for Margo. Critics just "happened to show up" and give Eve glowing reviews. This is just one step in Eve's plan to become a star and overtake Margo.










All About Eve scored the most Oscar nominations of its time at 14 until Titanic tied it during the 1998 Oscars. Both Anne Baxter and Bette Davis were nominated for Best Actress but lost. This is also one of Marilyn Monroe's earliest movies. She has a few brief scenes as an up and coming actress.

Like I said before, I had never seen All About Eve before. I am glad to say I have finally watched this classic. It's good proof that old black-and-white movies are far better than most of the movies that come out these days. A witty screenplay gives the actors great moments and one-liners no matter if they are Bette Davis or any of the supporting actors.

An Affair to Remember

Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr star in this classic romantic movie from 1957. Nickie (Grant) and Terry (Kerr) meet up on a ship. They are both in engaged but can't seem to stop running into each other and flirting. They are both socialists and have to keep their public image in check. They can't be seen in any scandalous situations. The longer their trip lasts, the longer their love grows.








On the morning they arrive back in New York, Nickie and Terry agree to meet up in six months at top of the Empire State Building. They leave the ship and are greeted by their significant others.













Will Nickie and Terry meet up on the Empire State Building? Will one of them go and get disappointed the other doesn't show? Will they ever meet up again? They make this promise to meet up exactly half way through the movie. I don't want to give away anything that happens in the second act. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr have wonderful chemistry together which makes you root for them throughout the movie.

An Affair to Remember has had a lasting impression on movie history. It's considered one of the most romantic movies of all time. It is actually a remake of 1939's Love Affair. It was remade again in 1994 with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening called Love Affair It gets mentioned quite frequently in another of my favorite romance movies, Sleepless in Seattle.

I miss romance movies where the couple actually has tons of chemistry. I typically pass on most "romanctic" movies these days as they usually have bad acting, terrible script, and no chemistry. There are exceptions, but most of them are pure stupidity.
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4 comments:

  1. I wanna see All About Eve, now! Thanks!

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  2. Great reviews, as always! I want to see both of these now.

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  3. I keep getting made fun of by my wife for never having seen All About Eve. Now I really want to see it. Thanks for the great reviews!!

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  4. Mark- Thanks for following the blog!

    ReplyDelete