Check this out, folks, I'm actually writing two blog posts at once! I'm actually blogging here, at The Life of Meaning, and over at Word Press, where I'm equally disinterested in life, the Universe, and most things. You see, when one has nothing better to do all day than sit and stare at the wall, these crazy ideas tend to pop into one's head.
Any road, up, I am spending this Sunday morning copying films from my Sky Plus Planner onto DVD. Let those corporate pigs try and stop me! BBC 2 seem to have struck some deal to buy up loads of films from the RKO Radio archive. Last week we had the 1935 Katharine Hepburn film Sylvia Scarlett, and on Saturday it was the turn of Fred Astaire in The Sky's the Limit (1943) and Cary Grant in Every Girl Should Be Married (1948). They've all gone on DVD, thanks very much, Auntie. Oh, and that's not to forget the season of Fred & Ginger movies the Beeb have been showing over the last 8 weeks - every last one from Flying Down to Rio (1933) to The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle (1939). Of course, any film buff worth their salt will know that does not represent the entire body of work those two made together, because there is one more film, The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) that the two made together over at MGM. This film did not begin life as a Fred & Ginger vehicle; it was supposed to co-star Fred with Judy Garland, but the then Mrs. Minnelli was so addicted to prescription painkillers that she was not deemed fit enough by producer Arthur Freed to star in the film. So, in came Ginger Rogers. Incidentally, it wasn't the last time Judy Garland was kicked off a film - in 1950 she had filmed over half of Annie Get Your Gun before being fired. Things had to be serious to get booted off a production - all studios panicked about costs, and to do that to a major star meant some serious shit was going down. That same year her contract was torn up by the studio and she made just one more film in the next decade - A Star is Born in 1954 at Warner Bros. But I digress. The Barkleys of Broadway is not an RKO film but it does appear in my boxed set of Fred & Ginger movies - a great set that is too.
So, thank you, BBC2, for continuing to show these great films.
Speaking of digressing, that reminds me - a great-looking film is out in January - entitled The Artist, it is a brand new film from director Michel Hazanavicius about a silent movie actor's fears as the whole of Hollywood adapts to the coming of sound. Movie buffs, especially those of the "Classic" film, will notice a certain similarity with the 1952 musical classic Singin' in the Rain, but here's where The Artist is different. It is a 100%, bona fide silent film - possibly the first made during the sound era since Chaplin's Modern Times in 1936. I say possibly because no-one can be 100% sure, and I'm sure that one of the many thousands of you will correct me if, as is quite likely, I am wrong. And, if the buzz surrounding Oscar is to be believed, it could be the first film to win the coveted Best Picture Academy Award since Wings in 1928 to be completely devoid of dialogue and, indeed, sound effects - viz., to be silent. I hope it wins
Well, blog-watchers, I'll stop for now because, as I mentioned, I'm actually writing two at once today. I've no idea how to link to one blog whilst writing another. All I can tell you is to go over to WordPress and look up stephenbutler.
x
