In terms of other areas, though, I might do well to take a lesson from the protagonists of some of these films. Lucky Garnett and Snow White each persevered to find love, David Huxley persevered to keep his sanity around Susan Vance, and Scarlett O'Hara and Jefferson Smith just personify perseverance in all things. If those folks can stick with something, I should be able to, right? I'll tell you what, next new project I start, I'll finish that one. ;)
Movies 16-20
1936 - Swing Time (#90) - I contend that life would generally be better if people more often broke into spontaneous song and dance in everyday situations. I distinctly remember one time that my Mom and I were waiting in line at the DMV, and instead of grousing about the wait she suggested that we should jump onto the counter and sing something starting with "I'm tired of waiting! I'm tired of waiting!" Unfortunately we didn't have the rest of the song written yet and I'm sure I would have been too shy to do any actual dancing. I guess until we all come up with some good choreography and lyrics for common scenarios, I'll just have to stick with song-and-dance musicals to get my fix. Emotions of all sorts are heightened by song, and who doesn't love a good dance? With all that said, a simple romantic comedy starring Fred & Ginger with sweet songs and impressive choreography should have been a great film, right? I did enjoy aspects of it: the chemistry between the leads and the comedic value of the supporting characters were right up there with songs like "A Fine Romance" and "The Way You Look Tonight." But if there's one thing I hate, it's an overly contrived ending, and this movie had one of the worst conveniently-happy wrap-ups I've ever seen in film. I really liked the way things were going, but they went and rushed through a lame ending, which left me feeling rather disappointed. I'd like to rate it higher, but the last thing you see is what sticks with you after the movie.
Three pairs of tap shoes out of five
1937 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (#34) - In our house growing up, there were two sets of VHS drawers, the "kids movies" and the others. With eight years between my sister and me, there was a long period of time where the only options available to us when we were home alone came from the kids' drawer. Which was fine because most of those films were great, especially the Disney options. I can't tell you how many times I've seen The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Anastasia or Mulan. However, one movie we didn't seem to watch too often was Snow White (I don't even know if we owned it or not, but either way we seldom watched it). I had seen it, I knew the story and the characters, but watching it again as an adult was a strange experience. Let's just say that this movie, though historic as Disney's first big film, doesn't hold up as well as many of the others. The animation still seems to be a work in progress, and a lot of the people/creatures that are supposed to be cute kind of looked creepy to me. Snow White's singing voice is, let's say, not great. And the plotline is really simplistic; where the heck did this prince come from anyway? So it's not my favorite Disney movie, I probably won't rewatch it a ton anymore, but it's a classic. It gets some love for being an animated classic, but I'd rather spend my time watching a newer one.
Three apparently useless diamonds out of five
1938 - Bringing Up Baby (#88) - I'm learning that I apparently like the genre known as screwball comedies. It Happened One Night, the soon-to-be-reviewed Philadelphia Story, Woman of the Year, and this film; just as they all share a similar plot formula, these movies go through a similar process when I watch them. I watch, laugh and enjoy. Then I deliberate on how to rate the movie and think to myself that it was rather silly, kinda dopey and probably doesn't deserve a high rating. I'll put something like two stars on it, then every time I look at my list I want to raise the rating, remembering some funny scene or moment. Eventually it ends up being somewhere around 4 stars, so I should probably just admit to myself that I like these movies. Bringing Up Baby, in particular, has a great dynamic between Katherine Hepburn as the confident independent woman and Cary Grant as the nervous, socially inept scientist. Sure, it gets pretty zany at times, and you might think there's too much screaming and running around, as I believe I mentioned in my prior review. But at its heart this is a witty and funny movie, and if you watch it for what it is, it's really enjoyable. I particularly enjoy the scene in the jail, and the dinner at Hepburn's house with the very confused big game hunter. Just thinking about it, I have to smile a little bit.
Four dinosaur bones out of five
1939 - Gone With the Wind (#4) - How can you not love Gone With the Wind? Well, I can think of one reason, and it kind of jumps out at you when you look at the DVD box. Running time: 238 minutes. For those who don't want to do the calculation, that comes to 3 hours 58 minutes. It's a lot! I usually end up having to break it into a few views, but even so, that's a big commitment to one story. But if you can deal with the incredible length, you are in for a really good movie. Following spoiled plantation girl Scarlett O'Hara before, through and after the Civil War, the plot is expansive, the sets grand and glorious, and the emotion huge. The score also does a great job bringing the story to life. At its heart, though, this is a great movie for the characters. The suave and charming Rhett Butler, played to perfection by Clark Gable. And the duplicitous and scheming Scarlett. She's a character you love to hate (or is it hate to love?). Scarlett is a survivor, and will do just about anything to get what she wants. At the same time as you want to commend her for her successes, you can't help but to be incensed by how she got them. It's really fascinating, and I'm not sure if anyone else could have pulled it off as Vivien Leigh did. Some might argue that this movie romanticizes the plantation era, and perhaps it does a bit, but its so much more a character study and a tale of how we are changed by unexpected events. But for the length, it would be a five.
Four fancy hats out of five
1939 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (#26) - Put simply, I love this movie. I think it's my favorite of the entire reboot project, which is saying quite a bit given the company that it's in. There are few movies that I can think of that are more inspiring, more patriotic or make you want more to do something of lasting value in life. And in our modern political climate, it's something it would do many of our representatives well to watch. If you haven't seen it, it's the tale of a simple honest man who is selected for his naivete to replace a Senator who's died in office. As Mr. Smith moves a bill forward, he comes face to face with the might of the major political machine and how things really get done in Washington. I don't want to give too much away, though you might be able to guess how things go, but let me just say that the filibuster is one of the best sequences in any movie ever. And the speech that Saunders gives to Jeff Smith at the Lincoln Memorial is profoundly moving. I've seen discussions online trying to decipher which political party Smith would have belonged to, but this film transcends that, with Smith's quest focusing more on "plain, decent, every-day common rightness." It's enough to give you hope in our government, in our process, even in a time that frankly looks rather dire, politically. Watch this movie, and be inspired.
Five boy ranger badges out of five
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