Movies & Such Summer2020
2June2020: This House
It’s 1974, and Britain has a hung Parliament. The corridors of Westminster ring with the sound of infighting and backstabbing as the political parties battle to change the future of the nation.
During this era of chaos, when a staggering number of politicians die and age-old traditions are thrown aside, MPs find they must roll up their sleeves, and bend the rules, to navigate a way through the Mother of all Parliaments.
I didn't understand some of the language, some of the references, and most of the legal stuff. But I did enjoy this play. I kept rooting for the Labour government.
7June2020: From the Globe Theatre: The Merry Wives of Windsor (2019)
Directed by Elle White, this production stars Olivier Award-nominated Bryony Hannah as Mistress Ford, Sarah Finigan as Mistress Page and Pearce Quigley as Falstaff.
I've seen production of the Merry Wives that make me uncomfortable laughing at Falstaff, but this one was fun. I didn't fee that Falstaff was going to be hurt, and he was a mischievous fellow on the make and not malicious. Pearce Quigley was great.
Also fun, of course, is the Frenchman, Dr. Caius who 'makes the turd'
9June2020: Snows of Kilimanjaro
Wikipedia| Directed by | Henry King |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck |
| Screenplay by | Casey Robinson |
| Based on | The Snows of Kilimanjaro 1936 story by Ernest Hemingway |
| Starring | Gregory Peck Ava Gardner Susan Hayward |
A 1952 film based on a 1936 short story by Hemingway. A disillusioned writer is wounded and near death while on a safari in Africa. He relives his love life and his supposed failure to live up to his potential while his current companion nurses him and fights off witch doctors and despair. The recurrent thread of the story is a conundrum -- near the top of Kilimanjaro is the frozen carcass of a leopard and no one can explain why the leopard went there.
We saw this film with the Credit Union crowd. Jeffrey zoomed and then we switched to Wikimedia -- it's in the public domain. It was fun to watch.
Part of the great commercial success lay with the cinematography: lots of scenes of animals and countryside that people just had not seen in color before. Evidently, in the short story Harry Street dies and joins the leopard on the mountain. In the film, there is a supposed happy ending since the plane gets there to take him to a hospital. Supposedly, Hemingway didn't watch the movie, although he took the money and did not disavow the film. He said that the best performance in the film was the hyena, voiced by Henry King, the director.
I found the dialog stilted -- Hemingway dialog is one thing on the page and another in the ear. I also have little patience with the obsession with masculinity -- how hard is it? how long will it stay up? Why do I always marry rich women? Why do I sacrifice my relationships on the alter of my great talent? If I'm so talented why am I such a sell-out?
18 June 2020: Small Island - National Theatre
National Theatre at Home: A Midsummer Night's Dream
From the Bridge Theatre in London. Gwendoline Christie (Game
of Thrones), Oliver Chris
Sunday, 12 July 2020: The Deep Blue Sea with Helen McCrory | Free National Theatre at Home Full Performance
Monday, 17 Aug 2020: Of Human Bondage
mons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18512713
We saw this via YouTube with the Credit Union outreach.
1934 adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel telling the story of a club-footed would-be-artist turned half-hearted-medical-student who obsesses on a lower-class, sadistic waitress. Directed by John Cromwell and starring Leslie Howard and Bette Davis.
I remember the book -- distasteful, sadistic. I had no sympathy for anyone. That was a long time ago and the book was much more powerful than the movie. Watching the movie this time, I still had no sympathy for the Leslie Howard character. He was irritating, and I could completely understand the impatience of the Bette Davis character. At the end, Maugham killed her off with syphilis and the movie hints at TB, she looked like a wraith. I felt that her character had been treated very shabbily and that it would have been very satisfying to learn that she'd met a Rockefeller or an earl.
Monday, 14 September 2020: The Road to Bali
Road to Bali is a 1952 American comedy film directed by Hal Walker and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Released by Paramount Pictures on December 25, 1952, the film is the sixth of the seven Road to … movies. It was the only such movie filmed in Technicolor and was the first to feature surprise cameo appearances from other well-known stars of the day.
A Credit Union movie night film. A hoot. Lots of 'in' jokes, gag cameos -- including a clip of Humphrey Bogart pulling the African Queen through the swamp. I kept thinking of the Oceans 11 etc. movies. A cast in control of content. Lots of ad libbing. Seems like a lark for all involved. Cool guys doing their schtick.
17 September 2020: 13th
Directed by Ava DuVernay
Produced by Howard Barish, Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick
Written by Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick
Music by Jason Moran
Cinematography Hans Charles, Kira Kelly
Edited by Spencer Averick
Production
company Kandoo Films
Distributed by Netflix
Release date September 30, 2016 (NYFF)
October 7, 2016 (United States)
Running time 100 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1 million
Box office $566 (UK only)
First film shown in OLLI Documentary Films class.
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