Sue Jones-Davies

This is a picture of the Mayor of Aberystwyth, Sue Jones-Davies. She may look familiar to you, especially if you can imagine her about 30 years younger with very black hair. Or not. Here is a picture of her then:
Yes, it is Judith Iscariot, from the film "Monty Python's Life of Brian". She is in the news this week for finally lifting the local ban on the showing of the film. There was a special performance, attended by Pythons Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Hurrah.

UPDATE
for some reason the Daily Mail decided to do another story on Sue Jones-Davies. No new information, but the photo may be more recent. If you are interested, have a look at this.

The Oscars

Well, all the awards for films made in 2008 are over now I think. Here are the 10 moments that caught my attention:

1. Hugh Jackman can dance quite well.

2. There is no bad angle from which to shoot Angelina Jolie - whether the cameraman is kneeling at her feet shooting up her nostril, or allowing only her clapping hands to be seen in shot - she is totally stunning.

3. Maybe if Mickey Rourke had worn a tie he would have had a better chance of winning?

4. Worst camerawork was on the montage of the dead people - half the time the camera was dancing around so much the names were off-camera, and they totally missed Cyd Charisse.

5. Alicia Keys can pronounce foreign words quite well.

6. Brilliant Ben Stiller's impersonation of Joaquin Phoenix was, well, brilliant.

7. If Sophia Loren had had a better make-up artist she could have looked 20 years younger instead of only 10.

8. Thank you whoever decided to do the medley of the best songs!

9. I have a coat lining made of the same material as Whoopi Goldberg's dress.

10. Hurrah hurrah hurrah for Sean Penn's win as Harvey Milk!

Michelle Pfeiffer is back

Michelle Pfeiffer, a beautiful face from recent American movie history that has been absent for quite some time, is back on the radar this week as her new movie premiers at the Berlinale. Especially in Dangerous Liaisons, but in so many other films, I have, let us say, appreciated her pulchritude. As long, however, as she never appears as herself. I was so sad to discover, via an interview on The Ellen Show, that MP appears to be utterly vapid. Valley Girl vapid. I know I am being greedy when I ask for mental and physical luminosity, but it is possible. Emma Thompson. Kristin Scott Thomas. Ok, another American Blonde - how about Jodie Foster? And now Pfeiffer is starring in an adaptation of the Colette novel 'Cheri'. I am sure she will be gorgeous, especially in period costume again. I think, though, that I may skip the talk show appearances.

What do these films have in common?

Gone With the Wind
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Destry Rides Again
The Wizard of Oz
Wuthering Heights
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
Ninotchka
Gunga Din
The Lady Vanishes
Stagecoach
The Women
Goodbye Mr Chips
Beau Geste
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Bachelor Mother
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Rules of the Game
Babes in Arms

Well, I have seen them all. Some of them are rather good :-) Many of them have excellent roles for women. The thing is ... they were all made in the same year. And I only mentioned 18 ... there were more:

Dark Victory
Intermezzo
Only Angels have Wings
Le Jour Se Leve
Of Mice and Men
The Four Feathers
Drums Along the Mohawk
The Old Maid
The Man in the Iron Mask
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
Juarez
Humoresque
The Roaring Twenties

Maybe these 30 or so films were the best of that year - I am sure there were a few I forgot. It just blows my mind that so many classics all happened in the one year. Not to mention Bette Davis, who was in at least 4 of them.

While some of them were action movies, most of them were black and white, and there was little location shooting. Some were original scripts, some were from plays or books, some were historical fiction. I suppose they cost a lot in their day (e.g. GWTW), but there were no computer-generated special effects et al. So why do they endure?

Maybe I am just being nostalgic for what seems a better time. This would be quite stupid of me, considering what was happening in the world at that time. On the other hand, it was precisely what movies were for in those days - a way of coping with the economic and social problems all around. The protagonists triumph over adversity, whether filibustering in the senate, following a yellow brick road, finding a missing old lady, dancing together, getting the information to the colonel, or putting on a show. The good guys get a happy ending, and the anti-heroes teach us a lesson.

Don't get me wrong, I am usually delighted to see a rom-com with 2 beautiful people (say George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer), set in a great city (say New York with lots of shots of the Chrysler Building). At the beginning they dislike each other intensely, or have some other reason for not getting together. There are a few misunderstandings. The audience roots for them and in the end they reconcile. "Sleepless in Seattle is a good example. Almost as good as "An Affair to Remember" :-)

I suppose I may find even more escapism in retreating into the past as well as into a romantic comedy. Or maybe I am still waiting to find the contemporary Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Vivian Leigh, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers, Paulette Goddard, Joan Crawford, Jean Arthur; Cary Grant, James Stewart, Clark Gable, James Cagney, Fred Astaire, David Niven, John Wayne, Robert Donat, Claude Rains and Gary Coopers.

Who knows? Meanwhile, back to 1939 and fond memories of those who have given me so much pleasure through their work.

PS It occurs to me I mentioned only star actors. Directors also, and all the others (although one is far less likely to see the names of women in those lists) could make this post much longer. Can I resist more names? No. George Cukor, Frank Capra, John Ford, Ernst Lubitsch Howard Hawks, Garson Kanin, William Wyler and Busby Berkeley come to mind. Ok. Done now.

Where are the movies for women?

Wanting to find a new angle in award-winning season from which to write, the showbiz editor of the Telegraph tries to grab the attention of women ignored by Hollywood. Worked for me :-)

"Women have flocked to see Mamma Mia! because they are otherwise ignored by Hollywood, according to Meryl Streep. Mamma Mia! has taken nearly £402million worldwide and is nominated for three Baftas. The feelgood movie has smashed box office records, overtaking Titanic and Harry Potter to become the highest-grossing release of all time in the UK.

Streep, the Oscar-winning star who played the lead role in the musical, said women are woefully under-served by Hollywood and jumped on a film which was made just for them. "I know the studio is gobsmacked by its success, and a lot of the critics have been surprised, but I wasn't. It was a no-brainer," the actress said of the film, which features the songs of Abba and is based on the West End stage show. "I knew it would do well because it was aimed at an audience that has been neglected in recent years in film offerings - women. They are the last group anybody ever cares about.""

This is a perennial complaint. In the end, my attention was grasped by the question of whether or not Ms Streep would actually use the word "gobsmacked".

Folly feet

Strange news in the Telegraph yesterday - a horse broke into a cinema:

"The horse was one of three which escaped from a farm and ran through the automatic doors at the Cineworld complex in Boldon, South Tyneside. The incident was caught on CCTV and was put on the YouTube website, but it has since been removed. The horse walked down a corridor before turning round and fleeing through the exit as filmgoers looked on. One witness said: "The horse noticed the cinema and headed towards us, and when it got close, the automatic doors opened and in it came. "It was a bit of a surprise but it was all over in 20 seconds." No-one was hurt and the horse was captured safely soon after the incident."

I guess it was disappointed that 'Black Beauty' wasn't on ...

anthony minghella r.i.p.

the rather young (54) and extremely talented writer and film-maker, anthony minghella, has died unexpectedly today in london. we thank him for such pleasures as 'truly, madly, deeply', 'the english patient' (for which he won an oscar), and cold mountain. he also wrote for one of my favourite programmes as a kid - 'grange hill'.

bbc entertainment news
grauniad collection of news and video
the independent
the times obituary
the telegraph

most romantic film scene ever

deborah kerr and cary grant
the times newspaper officially announces (about a month ago but i seem to have missed it) that the most romantic scene in a movie ever is the denouement of 'an affair to remember'. it was voted for by readers, and of the choices available it was the one for which i voted. as long as you cut out the unbelievably awful last line ("o nicky - if you can paint, then i can walk!"), then huzzah!

julie christie is back, for a while

the ny times has a review here about julie christie's latest appearance in a major film role. she plays a woman fading away with alzheimer's.

julie christie was one of my first major crushes. not in dr zhivago, actually, but in 'fahrenheit 451' and 'far from the madding crowd' (alongside alan bates, my other great crush of that era. i have been sworn at by mr bates. i took a movie producer who was a friend of my father's to qpr once, and on our way to the match he pointed out the house in which his friend alan bates lived. a few days later i went back to that house, and jumped up and down in the front garden trying to see into the house. he opened the window and told me to go forth and multiply. i drew a cartoon about it ... must dig that out and post it)

o yes, julie christie. most of all, i loved her in 'heaven can wait'. i think i caught a glimpse of her as madame rosmerta in the last harry potter, but since harry was under the invisibility cloak at the time it was not a clear shot.
anyway, i cannot wait to see her on the screen again.