Thursday, January 27, 2022

"Cloaked," Alan Ladd, and "Shane" (1953)

Rachel Kovaciny of Hamlette's Soliloquy is one of my favorite bloggers. We have a lot in common when it comes to our movie tastes - we're both big fans of John Wayne and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015). She has written three books and is working on a fourth - Western re-tellings of fairy tales. I've been wanting to read her first book, Cloaked, ever since I read the excerpt on Amazon. And I would have ordered it long ago except there was some suspicious activity a few years ago on my account and I have been too nervous to add my card information. Also, I don't like Amazon. But anyway... So this year I put it on my Christmas list! Well, I read it a couple days ago and absolutely loved it!! Cloaked is based on Little Red Riding Hood, which is a story everybody knows, but Rachel has written a story so interesting and unique that you forget that you kind of know what's going to happen.

But why am I writing about this on a Classic Movie blog? Because one of the characters, Hauer, is "played by" Alan Ladd, which, if you've ever visited Rachel's blog you know he's her favorite actor. Just look at her current blog header. Now, I've never particularly liked or disliked Ladd, but reading Cloaked has finally made me a fan. It was easy to imagine him in the role, as well as the other actors she cast (she has a Pinterest mood board with her character choices). Another character, Old Joe, is "played by" Walter Brennan. I could hear the voices of the characters in my head as I read (I had a little trouble with Felicity Jones as Mary Rose and Michael Fassbender as Mr. Linden as I've only seen them in one movie each, so their voices aren't familiar to me). My "teenage heart" especially loved the dance scene and Deputy Christopher Small "played by" Armie Hammer (I know there's a lot of controversy about him right now, but a man is innocent until proven guilty - if you like him but don't know what I'm talking about, don't look it up). I also loved Judi Dench as "Grandmother," Jubilee. In short, I loved the book and am looking forward to reading her second book which I've actually had for a while, Dancing & Donuts (The Twelve Dancing Princesses).

After I read the book finally watched Shane (1953) for the first time (the only thing I knew about it was that they said "Shane" a lot because my dad would say "Shane! Shane!" anytime he saw it on TV). I really enjoyed it. The mountain scenery was stunning and I loved the sweeping score by Victor Young (who also did Rio Grande, my all-time favorite score). It was interesting seeing Ben Johnson as a "bad guy." I wasn't too impressed with Bradon De Wilde's acting at the beginning of the movie but he got better as the movie went along. It's definitely a movie I will watch again. I would love to see the Grand Tetons on the big screen!

I thought it would be fun to dress up my American Girl "Samantha" doll as Mary Rose. She is wearing her "brown traveling dress" (handmade by me several years ago), Felicity's red cloak, and Josefina's moccasins. P.S. It's really hard to carry a doll out the front door without the neighbors seeing lol.

7 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness. This is so delightful!!! I'm so, so glad that you enjoyed Cloaked... but is it weird that I'm equally chuffed that it led you to watch and enjoy Shane too? :-D And helped you start appreciating Alan Ladd? Cuz I am. Also, um... if you love Hauer, well, he shows up about halfway through One Bad Apple....

    I LOVE the picture of your Samantha doll dressed as Mary Rose. Samantha is my favorite American Girl, and I yearned to have a doll of her when I was a kid, but we could never afford it. So seeing her dressed as my character, with my book? ALL THE FEELS! Would you be open to me including your photo in my author newsletter next month? I've done that with other fan photos, fan art, etc, from time to time. I would obviously credit it to you -- just let me know!

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    1. I'm ready to watch Shane again and I keep listening to the soundtrack lol. I knew you'd be happy about how your book finally brought me around on Alan Ladd :) And yay!! I need to get myself a copy.

      So glad you liked my photo. Of course you can share it! When I asked to get the AG catalogs as a kid I had to promise I'd never ask for a doll because they were too expensive. Then one day my cousin asked me which one I'd get if I could and I said Samantha because "she has brown hair and brown eyes just like me." My family surprised me with her for my 9th(?) birthday. My grandma, aunt and uncle, and parents had all chipped in. I remember my jaw dropped when I opened the box. She is very special to me :)

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    2. I also loved Samantha in part because she had brown hair and brown eyes, just like me. So many girls in books I read at that time were blondes, blondes, always blondes, and I started to seek out brunettes and feel very fond of them for not being blondes, lol. I know part of the reason I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder's books were that Laura had stick-straight brown hair like me!

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  2. This is so fun! I've been wanting to watch Shane for ages since I first read Rachel loved it, and I have a copy of the book that I've been meaning to dig into. I LOVE seeing your AG doll dressed up as Mary Rose!

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    1. It's funny, I'd never had any desire to watch Shane until I read Cloaked. I figured I'd watch it one day just to say I did. Let me know how you like them when you read/watch them! And thanks!!

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  3. Phyl, I love your comments on Rachel's book. She's been one of my favorite authors since she was a little girl writing stories on my old typewriter. She amazes me every time I read something of hers - in my humble opinion she just keeps getting better. I loved Cloaked, too, but then I read One Bad Apple and I think her writing style improved even more with it. I can't wait to read her new book. I love your Mary Rose doll, btw. In case you haven't guessed, I'm Rachel's mom, and one of her biggest fans.

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    1. Nice to "meet" you Rachel's mom :D I haven't read One Bad Apple yet but I am looking forward to both it and her new book. Thank you for your kind comments!

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