Anyone who is a fan of classic films knows that Carole Lombard is the queen of cool. She's gorgeous, carefree, and hilarious. One just has to watch some of her films (My Man Godfrey, True Confession, Fools for Scandal, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, To Be or Not To Be). Here is some fashion advice from Carole to help you look fabulous this summer.
Striking pose? White bathing suit?
Cape? Check.
Fur to sunbathe on?
Kerchief?
Slimming black suit? Check.
Place to entertain?
Two-tone suit with matching swim cap? Check.
And lastly, a cute cover-up and sombrero? Check!
Don't forget your sunglasses, high-heeled sandals, and jewelry! Full make-up is also essential.
(Lombard and William Powell on their Hawaiian honeymoon)
She acts sort of teenaged, just in-between age, looks about four foot three.
Although she's just small fry, just about so high, Gidget is the one for me.
I discovered Gidget last year. I had seen the 1965 TV show starring Sally Field, which I loved, and decided to see what the movie was like. Best decision I ever made.
Gidget is based on the 1957 novel by Frederick Kohner. The book was based on his daughter Kathy's love of surfing. In 1959, it was made into a film starring Sandra Dee as Frances Lawrence "Gidget."
Click here for an interview with Kathy Kohner and here for a review of Gidget with an awesome photo of the real Gidget with the movie Gidget!
Gidget is the story of a girl who "grows up" over the course of the summer. The film begins with Gidget and her friends going on a man-hunt at the beach. Unfortunately, the boys pay no attention to the girls. All they are interested in is surfing. Gidget doesn't mind though - she didn't want to go anyway. She just wants to be able to hang out with the guys and have fun. She purchases a surfboard and learns to surf - by reading a book! The boys give her the nickname "Gidget" - "girl" and "midget."
Gidget eventually develops a crush on one of the surfers, Moondoggie (James Darren). Since he doesn't seem to be interested in her - all he's interested in is becoming a beach bum like the Kahuna (Cliff Robertson) - Gidget sets out to make him jealous. The plan works, but Gidget is involved in a "beach brawl" and her social life is put in her parents power. Her father sets her up on a date with a co-workers son, Jeffrey Matthews. He turns out to be none other than Moondoggie. In the end, Moondoggie decides the life of a beach bum isn't for him and goes back to college, not before asking Gidget to wear his pin though! And the Kahuna... well, he gets a job too, as an airline pilot. The point to take away from the movie - "A real woman brings out the best in a man." To read a better description of the film, click here.
There are a lot of things that make me love this film: the characters, the music, the clothes, the location - it all comes together to make a delightful film. My only regret is that I didn't discover it sooner!
Sandra Dee plays Gidget, or, as the picture above states, IS Gidget. Don't get me wrong, I love Sally Field as Gidget too but she's a... "different" Gidget. But seriously, Sandra Dee is adorable. I love her dresses and bathing suits (three of which can be seen in the first picture). I wish girls still dressed like that! Here are some of the dreamy dresses she gets to wear:
"You look like you're out to hook some guy."
This one is gorgeous!
And I LOVE these babydoll pajamas!!
One of the other girls wearing a Rose Marie Reid bathing suit.
The character of Moondoggie is played by newcomer James Darren. They originally wanted Elvis for the role but he was too expensive. I can't even imagine the film with him! Darren had to record a record to prove he could sing. He sings twice in the movie - the title song and the one below:
"The Next Best Thing to Love" was featured in an episode of The Donna Reed Show prior to the release of Gidget so that Darren would be a little more known and a bigger box-office draw. You can watch the episode on Hulu (free with trial). In another episode, he plays a different character, and someone asks him to sing a few bars of "Gidget." He doesn't but I thought it was funny that they mentioned it.
Cliff Robertson plays the Great Kahuna (real name Burt Vail). I love him in this film (literally). He plays a "Korean War Air Force veteran twice the age of Gidget who was fed up with all the rules he had to live by when he flew combat missions and dropped out of normal society. He travels the hemisphere surfing with his pet bird. Kahuna and Gidget enjoy each other's company with Gidget questioning how he can survive an aimless and lonely existence without a job. She questions whether if Kahuna knew then what he knew now would he still make the same lifestyle choice after leaving the Air Force. Kahuna later reflects on Gidget's words after the death of his only friend, the pet bird." source
Cliff Robertson is the perfect "kind" surf bum. His pet name for Gidget - Angel.
The Four Preps, who sing the title song, also sing a song at the big Luau. It's a catchy song called "Cinderella" and I'm sure they were a big draw to the film.
One more character I want to mention is Mary LaRoche, who plays Gidget's mother. She is beautiful and looks like she could really be Sandra Dee's mother.
In the TV show starring Sally Field, the main relationship isn't really between Gidget and Moondoggie, but Gidget and her father, a widower (played by Don Porter). Arthur O'Connell, who plays Gidget's father in the movie, doesn't have that special bond with his daughter. It's the mother/daughter relationship that is more prominent as she gives kind advice to her worried teenage mom. Just listening to her soothing voice makes you think that everything is going to be okay (love-wise).
Though originally filmed in Cinemascope, both the DVD and VHS have the full screen version.
Hopefully it will be released in Cinemascope one day.
The DVD comes with two sequels: Gidget Goes Hawaiian and Gidget Goes to Rome. The actress who plays Gidget is different in each one (Don Porter plays the dad in the third one). The only consistent character is James Darren as Moondoggie. The only reason I like Gidget Goes Hawaiian is that it has Michael Callan in it. He is adorable!
Right here is when I fell in love.
Deborah Walley, however, is a really annoying Gidget. She treats Moondoggie terribly! And I would like to say, NEVER, NEVER watch Gidget Goes to Rome. That is however long that movie was that I will never get back. The plot was SOOOO stupid! I had read somewhere online that anyone who loves Gidget should not watch it but I watched it anyway because of Don Porter. What a mistake!
Getting ready for a shot.
Sandra Dee with her dog on the set.
Gidget is an important film because it basically launched the beach party movie genre (as well as the Teen movie genre) and started the surfing craze. Everyone wanted to be Gidget! And it still hasn't lost it's appeal. Every time I've watched it (and that has been several times already even though I've only known about it about a year) I want to move out to California, learn to surf (after I learn to swim of course), and wear cute outfits like Gidget. Like Gidget says, "It's the absolute ultimate!"
Ad for Gidget. Dee is wearing a bathing suit from A Summer Place (1959).
On June 1, the TCM Film Noir class started (there's still time to join!). Already I have learned some new things about Film Noir. I learned the definitions of these words (source):
Still of Orson Welles in The Third Man (1949) - an example of chiaroscuro
chiaroscuro Literally, the combination of the two Italian words for "clear/bright" and "dark"; refers to a notable, contrasting use of light and shade in scenes; often achieved by using a spotlight; also referred to as low-key lighting or high-contrast lighting (more examples).
Deep focus shot in Citizen Kane (1941)
deep focus
A use of the camera lens and lighting that keeps both the close and distant objects being photographed in sharp focus.
Example of diegesis - the beginning of M (1931) uses natural sounds
such as children's voices to set the creepy mood
diegesis, diegetic
The “world” of the story and all the elements that belong to it: the sight and sounds of the action (e.g., footsteps, explosions), including off-screen action and objects (e.g., birdsong, church bells). The most common non-diegetic sound is music, which would only be diegetic if the musicians or source of music were part of the action (great article).
Example of the Dutch Angle with low-key lighting in The Third Man
Dutch angle
A tilted camera angle that shows images obliquely slanted to the frame's vertical axis; also called oblique or canted angle.
Establishing shot of San Francisco in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
establishing shot
A shot that shows the environment in which the action will take place, usually early in the sequence.
Example of German Expressionism in M (1931)
expressionism and German Expressionism
A style of filmmaking that distorts physical reality in some way in order to "express" strong feelings about it. Typical expressionistic techniques include the use of distorting lenses, extreme camera angles, bizarre lighting and sound effects, and fragmented editing. The personality of the director is always paramount and obvious in this type of film (more on German Expressionism).
forelengthening The linear distortion caused by a wide-angle lens; the perception of depth is exaggerated.
high-angle lighting
Lighting coming from above a person or object, usually in order to outline the upper areas of the figure or to separate it more clearly from the background; also called top lighting.
Example of mise-en-scène from Laura (1944). Note the portrait of Laura in the background.
mise-en-scène French term from the theatre that literally means “what's put in the scene.” In the cinema it refers to the elements of a shot—the set, the props, the actors, the use of color and light—and the way these elements are composed or choreographed.
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I also checked out these books from my library:
Noir's preferred landscape is the night, that playground of our conscious fears and subconscious desires, the period of time when we're simultaneously at our most apprehensive and reckless (xvi).
Also the author of Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir
The book traces the lives and careers of six actresses: Jane Greer, Audrey Totter, Marie Windsor, Evelyn Keyes, and Coleen Gray, focusing of course on their contribution to Film Noir.
A femme fatale was...a figure of enticing eroticism and ambiguous motivation, a woman possessing far more urgency and power than the men who tried to possess her (from the introduction).
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One of the recommendations for this class is, of course, to watch as many of the films as possible. Here are the ones I have selected to watch that aired June 5th:
Since in Week 2 there is a podcast on The Maltese Falcon, I will include my thoughts on the film in my next Summer of Darkness post. You can find it and other podcasts on noir films here.
36 Hours is a WWII drama starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, and Rod Taylor. Released on Feb. 19, 1965, it is also it's 50th anniversary year. Here is the description from the DVD case:
It's 1950. Major Jefferson Pike (Garner) is in an allied military hospital under the care of an American doctor. Pike is an amnesiac, and if he could recount the details of D-Day, his last memory, perhaps it would unlock his mind. Only it's really 1944, and Pike is deep in German territory in a faux hospital built just for him. The Nazis have only 36 Hours to pull off their elaborate ruse and get the D-Day plans out of Pike. But if that doesn't work, they will use any means necessary.
The DVD menu - at no point in the film does Eva Marie Saint dress or pose like that.
The film is described as a "tense cat-and-mouse, twist-filled wartime thriller."
Eva Marie Saint plays a nurse who is also posing as Garner's wife, one he can't remember. Rod Taylor is the German posing as an American doctor and friend of Pikes'.
Rod Taylor and some cool looking maps of the hospital grounds.
The film opens with a newsreel followed by the opening credits. It then moves into a meeting about the location of the D-Day invasion. Pike (Garner) is sent to Lisbon on a routine trip so as not to arouse suspicion that he knows about the invasion. Once in Lisbon however, Pike is knocked out and taken to a fake hospital in Germany.
Making Pike look older
A two-way mirror... sneaky
The 115 minute film was highly engrossing and put together very well. I can't believe I hadn't seen it before! I discovered it when I was writing about the passing of Rod Taylor. Then, recently, I looked up the trailer and, finding it interesting, got the movie through my library.
Fun Facts:
Was remade in 1989 as a TV Movie starring Corbin Bernson in Garner's role. It was titled Breaking Point.
The movie was filmed in Lisbon, Portugal and Yosemite National Park. The Wawona Hotel was temporarily made in the "hospital." After filming was completed, they were given 24 hours to remove all traces of the film from the park.
The real hotel
Travel poster
Is thought to be based on the book by Road Dahl, "Beware of the Dog," in which a WWII British Flyer is recovering and put into a hospital. He's about to tell everything he knows until he sees a sign, "Beware of the Dog."
My only complaint was the quality of the DVD. Several shots were extremely blurry, as if they put three strips of film on top of each other and then moved them just a tad so that they no longer lined up. It seemed mainly to be on the outdoor shots. Hopefully this film will be restored soon, as it is one that is an essential to anyone who likes watching films set during WWII.
And while we're on the subject of James Garner I suggest you also watch Support Your Local Sheriff (1969) and his TV show, Maverick (1957-59). Oh, and read his autobiography, The Garner Files :)
