About Me

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Lover of anything vintage. I spend my free time looking at antiques,watching and collecting classic films,and reading some of the greatest literary classics known to man.This blog is just my way of sharing my interests with other people.

Monday, June 27, 2011

"I would rather lose a good earring than be caught without makeup."-Lana Turner

AAANND this is a post for all of you who like books that you don't have to read.

Or if you just like books in general.

And especially for those of you who like fashion.

Vintage fashion,to be precise.

FASHION:The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute
A History from the 18th to the 20th Century


That's right.
708 pages of fashion.
Pictures of actual outfits,ranging from 1580 to 1999.
We're talking dresses,fans,purses,jewelry,shoes,coats,corsets.
It's all in there.Everything.


The book is separated into four sections (18th Century,19th Century,and 20th Century parts 1 and 2) that begin with short and sweet write-ups on fashion trends and history for the corresponding section.
For the most part,it's just high quality pictures of these authentic,beautiful,and fascinating pieces of clothing.
Very entertaining,whether you read the write-ups or not.
I found my copy on sale at Barnes and Noble.


If you're interested in getting a copy,visit your local Barnes and Noble,or else visit their website and look it up:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/


If you're interested in learning more about the Kyoto Fashion Institute,or want to check out their Digital Archives,just follow the link:
http://www.kci.or.jp/index.html?lang=eng

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

"I thought acting was just a lark..."



JEAN SIMMONS



Born January 31,1929
Died January 22,2010


Born in London, England, just before the Golden Thirties.
Simmons was actually spotted as a dancer,at the young age of fourteen. She was then recruited and cast in the British film Give Us The Moon in 1944.She appeared in smaller roles in ten films before she was given the part of Ophelia in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet.It was for this role,at the age of eighteen,that she was nominated for her first Oscar.
1950 was a big year for Simmons,who, at twenty years old,made a succesful transition to American films,and married fellow British actor Stewart Granger.She made several movies with her husband,such as Young Bess (1953) and Footsteps in the Fog (1955).
Now a big Hollywood star,Simmons eventually switched from the smaller RKO Studios,to MGM.
Jean Simmons became an American citizen in 1956.
Also,in 1956,Simmons won her first Golden Globe for the musical Guys And Dolls.
In the 1960s and 1970s,she also added theater and television to her accomplishments.She stayed active in her career until 2009.
Jean Simmons died from lung cancer in 2010.


NOW
I've picked one film of Jean Simmons' that I hadn't seen before,and that I think everyone should watch.


SO LONG AT THE FAIR
1950


Starring alongside Dirk Bogarde,So Long At The Fair is set in Paris,France, in the late 1800s.
A young Englishwoman named Vicky Barton (Simmons) is staying at a hotel in Paris with her brother in order to see the Universal Exposition.One morning,Vicky goes to speak with her brother in his hotel room,only to discover,that,not only is he not there,but the room itself is apparently gone too.She appeals to the owners of the hotel,who insist that she checked in alone,and that there has never been a room #20.
Alone,and without a cent to her name,Vicky starts to panic.She goes to the police,but has no evidence that her brother was ever in Paris at all.They suggest she finds a witness to support that her brother ever even existed.She goes to a hotel maid,but before she can speak to her,the girl is killed in an accident at the Exposition.Beginning to give up hope,she goes to see George Hathaway (Bogarde),who gladly admits that he met her and her brother on their first night in Paris.Without the help of the police,Vicky and George begin their own investigation of her brothers whereabouts.In the end,they discover that her brother is alive,and was secretly taken to a nearby abbey in the night,because he was infected with the Plague.Vicky and George leave the abbey together as the movie ends.


Full of suspense,drama and romance,I hereby pick it as the Movie of the Month.
To learn more about Jean Simmons,and her filmography,visit
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/177854%7C80631/Jean-Simmons/


To see the movie clips for So Long At The Fair,visit http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/90651/So-Long-at-the-Fair/videos.html

Monday, June 20, 2011

"Never say you know the last word about any human heart."-Henry James

I have something a little unusual to post about today.

Unusual because it's a TV series.

Unusual because it was only filmed last year.


BUT


I watched it recently and have given it my stamp of approval,because it's fascinating.

Extremely historical,and very poetic in it's telling.


So,what is this unusual TV series?

Any Human Heart.




The story is based on the 2002 novel of the same name,by author William Boyd.

PLOT


The protagonist is a man named Logan Mountstuart,whose character is portrayed in flashbacks by three different actors as he ages: Sam Claflin(right), Matthew MacFadyen(center), and Jim Broadbent(left).


It starts with an old Logan,living in peaceful seclusion in the French countryside,and being told by his doctor that his heart is bad,and basically,he hasn't got much more time.Logan then goes into a room in his house filled with piles of his old journals,and boxes of old belongings,and old pictures of people he has loved and lost.There,he begins to reminisce over his life,which brings us to the first flashback.
In the 1920s,Logan is finishing his last term at Cambridge,along with friends Peter Scabius,and Ben Leeping.Logan is trying desperately to beat his friend Peter at losing his virginity before he leaves school.Once he has left,he returns home to a dying father,who expects him to carry on in the family corned beef industry,and makes him promise he will do so.Problem:Logan wants to be a writer.He does not keep his promise,but soon has his own flat,and gets himself an agent and starts to try to write the masterpiece he has always dreamed of.He has a love affair with a girl named Land,whom he proposes to,and she rejects him,leaving him heartbroken.He shortly thereafter rushes into marriage with a girl named Lottie,even though anyone could (and did) tell him that it wouldn't make him happy.
As predicted,his marriage with Lottie is a failure,even the birth of their son Lionel not able to bring any peace between them.He leaves the country for a vacation in Spain and meets a girl named Freya.They fall in love,and throughout the story it becomes apparent that Freya has always been the only woman he ever truly loved.They eventually settle down in a house outside London (once divorced from Lottie) and have a daughter named Stella.Things are never happier for Logan than at this time in his life.He begins to go on assignments for the British Naval Criminal Intelligence during WWII.On his last assignment he is captured and imprisoned for over a year.Once released,the war is over,and he returns to London to discover that Freya and Stella were killed in a V-2 bomb attack.
With a failed suicide attempt under his belt,Ben Leeping comes back into the picture,offering Logan a job at his art gallery in NYC.Logan accepts,and moves to the United States.He has a run as an alchoholic,has another failed marriage to a woman named Alannah,and is shortly but happily reunited with his son Lionel.Shortly,because Lionel sadly overdoses on drugs and dies.
Logan eventually returns to London,where things go on as uneventuful as ever,as Logan slips into old age.One day he is hit by a car,and has to spend time recovering in a hospital.He is shocked by the poor treatment people receive there,and greived to learn that his friend Ben has died of cancer.After a brief career with the SPK,he eventually moves to the south of France,where we found him in the beginning.
Logan finishes his reminiscing,and burns a large quantity of his most personal letters and items that he has gone over.He then continues on with life for a few more quiet days,before he dies outside his home,hearing Freya's voice for the last time.
His journals are discovered after his death,and published,being the best selling masterpiece that Logan tried so long to write,but never did.


Admittedly,it is a very sad story,but very poetic,and extremely fascinating. It provides a look into some of the biggest occurences of the 20th century,and introduces you to some of the most prominent names of the day along the way,including Ernest Hemingway,and the Duke of Windsor.
Be warned,that there are several graphic moments in the story,but overall,it is a touching,and historical tale.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

"Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril."-Oscar Wilde

That's from page two of The Picture Of Dorian Gray.

I just bought that book today,and it will be the first time I've read this infamous story,written by Oscar Wilde. It was first published in 1891,after many revisions,and it is the only novel that has ever been published by Wilde.

I have,however,seen the 1945 film adaptation...


Starring Hurd Hatfield as the lead role of Dorian Gray



I'm not all that familiar with any of Hatfield's other work,but the film also stars
Angela Lansbury,Peter Lawford,and Donna Reed.
All well known actors of their day.


THE PLOT


The main character,Dorian Gray,is very young,and extremely easily influenced.
He comes to believe that life is only worth living if you are young and wealthy.
His friend Basil paints a portrait of him as a gift,and Dorian makes a wish that
his portrait might age instead of himself,so that he could remain young forever.
Time passes,and Dorian falls in love with a girl,but is convinced to break her heart
in pursuit of "more important things."He leaves her,and soon after hears that she
has killed herself.Rather than grieve,he chooses to concentrate on worldly things
instead.He soon notices that his picture is changing.Scared,he locks it away in
his upstairs childhood bedroom.

Time continues to pass,and Dorian continues to remain young,even though he
should be aging.He occasionally looks at his portrait,which has become uglier
as he has become more sinful,cold,and hedonistic over the years.He does not
change his ways,but the portrait weighs on his mind.Eventually,his paranoia
over it causes him to murder a close friend.He feels his responsibility for the
death,and realizes the person he has become.Wishing to spare the girl he now
loves,he stabs his portrait in the heart,thereby breaking the spell and killing himself.


THE PORTRAIT


Before:


After:

It's actually a fascinating tale,and I'll be sure to post what I think of the book.

"Fasten your seatbelts,it's going to be a bumpy ride."-Bette Davis

Why the classics?


I get asked all the time WHY I'm so into classic movies. People think it's weird, and I must admit, it is a rather unusual hobby. But my answer is simple-or at least,to me it is. Classic movies (not "old") possess qualities that today's movies can't even touch.


If you go to the movies today, they're all the same. Every movie has the same plot line. They're all shallow romantic comedies, or movies with the only apparent goal of figuring out how many sex scenes can fit into two and a half hours of screen footage, or "shoot-em-up" movies where everyone dies.

And (partly because of the afore mentioned reason) the actors are so generic. They're all the same. They're like brain-washed little goats who don't care that they're starring in the exact same movie that was released a week ago, except that their character is "Anna" instead of "Emma," or else "John" instead of "Joe." For some actors today,that's just as well because I don't believe they probably possess real talent anyways. But for others, it's such a shame,because it's clear that they're extremely gifted,and it makes me want to see them in a more creative,passionate,original story.


Classic Movies are just different.


So many of the great actors and actresses from Hollywood's Golden Age (late 1920s-early1960s),had made a career for themselves with silent films,which meant that they had to know how to portray real emotions, and stories without the use of actual words. Can you imagine how much skill that took?

And even those who didn't make any silent films grew up watching them,and studying them,so they had an understanding of them,and they took that understanding,along with all the technique they had observed, and applied it to their own careers later on.

Then there are the directors,producers,and writers that helped create exciting and original stories. Yes, there were romantic comedies,but they were actually funny. They didn't borrow the same plot lines from other films. There actually weren't any "shoot-em-up" films,because they had something better-film noir.Those two little words span SO many different elements used to create fascinating movies: suspense,mystery,murder,vixens,romance,gangs,mafias,etc.


Classic movies just had it all. They portrayed a real depth that the film industry today has lost.They were complex,and yet many of them were so simple. They were made in a simpler time,and reflected that. They are pieces of art,that also show actual history in the making.

That's why I love classic films.That's why I want to share my love of them with others.

Simple enough.