It's turn of the century America when Andrew and Veronica first meet - by crashing into each other. They develop an instant and mutual dislike which intensifies when, later on, Andrew is forced to hire Veronica as a saleslady at Oberkugen's music store. What the two don't know is that while they may argue and fight constantly throughout the day, they are actually engaged in an innocent, romantic and completely anonymous relationship by night, through the post office.
**Trivia Question for Today: Who is the little girl who appears with Van Johnson and Judy Garland at the end of In the Good Old Summertime?
Trivia Answer for Previous Post: MGM considered Seven Brides for Seven Brothers a B movie - they had higher aspirations for the more expensive Brigadoon (1954). For this reason, they slashed the budget on "Seven Brothers", forcing Stanley Donen to use painted backdrops instead of location filming.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Classic Movies - MGM Musicals: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Adam (Keel), the eldest of seven brothers, goes to town to get a wife. He convinces Milly (Powell) to marry him that same day. They return to his backwoods home. Only then does she discover he has six brothers - all living in his cabin. Milly sets out to reform the uncouth siblings, who are anxious to get wives of their own. Then, after reading about the Roman capture of the Sabine women, Adam develops an inspired solution to his brothers' loneliness.
**Trivia Question for Today: MGM considered Seven Brides for Seven Brothers a B movie - they had higher aspirations for the more expensive film also made in 1954. What is the name of this film?
Trivia Answer for Previous Post:
**Trivia Question for Today: MGM considered Seven Brides for Seven Brothers a B movie - they had higher aspirations for the more expensive film also made in 1954. What is the name of this film?
Trivia Answer for Previous Post:
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Classic Movies - MGM Musicals: Easter Parade
Today we will continue Classic MGM Musical Movies. Another of our favorite Judy Garland pictures takes us to 1948 when MGM produced Easter Parade, which is our featured movie for today.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Classic Movies - MGM Musicals: The Harvey Girls
Today we will continue Classic MGM Musical Movies starring Judy Garland. One of our favorite Judy Garland movies and the film in today's spotlight is The Harvey Girls (1946).
Monday, November 1, 2010
Classic Movies - MGM Musicals: The Wizard of Oz
This month let’s talk Classic MGM Musicals. Today's featured film was highlighted in an earlier post in Let's Talk Classic Movies. It is definitely worth repeating! Released by MGM Studios in 1939, The Wizard of Oz is a remarkable classic for all ages and the “best family film of all time” according to the American Film Institute. During childhood and long after, this magical film is one that we watched on TV with each yearly telecast. We would eagerly anticipate our annual walk down the “yellow brick road” with Dorothy and friends and were saddened when Dorothy’s final “There’s no place like home” was spoken, knowing it would be another year before we would make the journey through “Oz” again. Now that we own the film on DVD, we can watch it anytime we want and still enjoy it as much as ever. The songs are just as delightful, though we know them by heart, and the characters are still as lovable (or despicable) as they’ve always been. Opening with a dedication to the “young at heart”, The Wizard of Oz is quite possibly the most wonderful gift Hollywood ever presented to young and old alike.
The amazingly talented Judy Garland plays Dorothy, the wide-eyed youngster from Kansas who dreams that she and her dog, Toto, are swept away by a tornado and dropped (house and all) into the enchanting “Technicolor” land of Oz. (It was years before we ever saw the film in its colorful splendor.) In search of a way back home to Uncle Henry and Auntie Em, Dorothy heeds the advice of Glenda, the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke) and the little folk of Munchkinland (The Singer Midgets) and follows the “yellow brick road” to Emerald City to implore the “Wizard of Oz” (Frank Morgan) for help. Along the way, she encounters “three marvelous personifications of human frailty”-the Scarecrow, with no brain (Ray Bolger), the Tin Man, with no heart (Jack Haley), and the Cowardly Lion, with no courage (Bert Lahr). Like Dorothy, they wish to seek help from the “Wizard” and go along with her. Before and after reaching the “Wizard”, they all must suffer the menacing wiles of the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), who, with the aid of her “flying monkeys”, is determined to retrieve the powerful “ruby slippers” that Dorothy wears. Her evil plans, however, are foiled at every turn, either by the Good Witch, or by the cleverness and courage that Dorothy and her companions unknowingly possess, but constantly display throughout their journey together.
“Dorothy and company succeed because they abide by the prescription of L. Frank Baum’s original story: believe, and the rest will follow. Nothing evokes Baum’s theme more than the song Dorothy sings while still in her native Kansas. Dreaming of something lovelier than the endless expanse of Midwestern plains she looks up and sings, “Somewhere, over the rainbow…” It was an irresistible magnet for sentimentalists and romantics willing to believe and one that thrust Garland into superstardom and helped make this movie the most enduring of childhood-fantasy films.” (Author, Paul Trent)
The Wizard of Oz is a beautifully made film, produced by Mervyn LeRoy and directed by Victor Fleming. The songwriting team of E. Y. (Yip) Harburg and Harold Arlen masterfully penned the legendary songs with which we are all so familiar, “Over the Rainbow”, “Ding-Dong the Witch is Dead”, “Follow the Yellow Brick Road”, “If I Only Had a Brain (Heart, the Nerve)”, etc. Unfortunately, several fabulous musical dance numbers (staged by Bobby Connolly) were cut from the film due to length. Would any of us have actually minded watching an additional 15 or 20 minutes of this thoroughly entertaining motion picture? We think not.
The Wizard of Oz garnered two Academy Awards out of six nominations; one for best song, “Over the Rainbow” (Harburg and Arlen), and the other for best music-original score (Herbert Stothart). Judy Garland also won a miniature “Oscar” for the year’s best “juvenile” performances for Babes in Arms and The Wizard of Oz. The film would probably have won more in any other year, but 1939 produced some of the best movies to ever come out of Hollywood, including mega-blockbuster, Gone with the Wind. We thoroughly recommend The Wizard of Oz to one and all; young, old, and in-between. It is an enduring and timeless classic that remains an audience favorite after seventy years, proving that truly great films never die.
More pictures from The Wizard of Oz 1939:
I'm melting, melting, aaaaaaaaaaahhh.
There's no place like home.
**Trivia Question for Today: Whom did Jack Haley replace as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz and why? The answer will appear in our next post.
Trivia Answer for Previous Post: Lon Chaney, Jr. portrayed the mummy, Kharis in three 'Mummy' movies. Besides his first 'Mummy' portrayal in The Mummy's Tomb, the titles of the other two movies: The Mummy's Ghost and The Mummy's Curse, both made in 1944.
The amazingly talented Judy Garland plays Dorothy, the wide-eyed youngster from Kansas who dreams that she and her dog, Toto, are swept away by a tornado and dropped (house and all) into the enchanting “Technicolor” land of Oz. (It was years before we ever saw the film in its colorful splendor.) In search of a way back home to Uncle Henry and Auntie Em, Dorothy heeds the advice of Glenda, the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke) and the little folk of Munchkinland (The Singer Midgets) and follows the “yellow brick road” to Emerald City to implore the “Wizard of Oz” (Frank Morgan) for help. Along the way, she encounters “three marvelous personifications of human frailty”-the Scarecrow, with no brain (Ray Bolger), the Tin Man, with no heart (Jack Haley), and the Cowardly Lion, with no courage (Bert Lahr). Like Dorothy, they wish to seek help from the “Wizard” and go along with her. Before and after reaching the “Wizard”, they all must suffer the menacing wiles of the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), who, with the aid of her “flying monkeys”, is determined to retrieve the powerful “ruby slippers” that Dorothy wears. Her evil plans, however, are foiled at every turn, either by the Good Witch, or by the cleverness and courage that Dorothy and her companions unknowingly possess, but constantly display throughout their journey together.
“Dorothy and company succeed because they abide by the prescription of L. Frank Baum’s original story: believe, and the rest will follow. Nothing evokes Baum’s theme more than the song Dorothy sings while still in her native Kansas. Dreaming of something lovelier than the endless expanse of Midwestern plains she looks up and sings, “Somewhere, over the rainbow…” It was an irresistible magnet for sentimentalists and romantics willing to believe and one that thrust Garland into superstardom and helped make this movie the most enduring of childhood-fantasy films.” (Author, Paul Trent)
The Wizard of Oz is a beautifully made film, produced by Mervyn LeRoy and directed by Victor Fleming. The songwriting team of E. Y. (Yip) Harburg and Harold Arlen masterfully penned the legendary songs with which we are all so familiar, “Over the Rainbow”, “Ding-Dong the Witch is Dead”, “Follow the Yellow Brick Road”, “If I Only Had a Brain (Heart, the Nerve)”, etc. Unfortunately, several fabulous musical dance numbers (staged by Bobby Connolly) were cut from the film due to length. Would any of us have actually minded watching an additional 15 or 20 minutes of this thoroughly entertaining motion picture? We think not.
The Wizard of Oz garnered two Academy Awards out of six nominations; one for best song, “Over the Rainbow” (Harburg and Arlen), and the other for best music-original score (Herbert Stothart). Judy Garland also won a miniature “Oscar” for the year’s best “juvenile” performances for Babes in Arms and The Wizard of Oz. The film would probably have won more in any other year, but 1939 produced some of the best movies to ever come out of Hollywood, including mega-blockbuster, Gone with the Wind. We thoroughly recommend The Wizard of Oz to one and all; young, old, and in-between. It is an enduring and timeless classic that remains an audience favorite after seventy years, proving that truly great films never die.
More pictures from The Wizard of Oz 1939:
I'm melting, melting, aaaaaaaaaaahhh.
There's no place like home.
**Trivia Question for Today: Whom did Jack Haley replace as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz and why? The answer will appear in our next post.
Trivia Answer for Previous Post: Lon Chaney, Jr. portrayed the mummy, Kharis in three 'Mummy' movies. Besides his first 'Mummy' portrayal in The Mummy's Tomb, the titles of the other two movies: The Mummy's Ghost and The Mummy's Curse, both made in 1944.
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