I bet I'm not alone in this. Hearing that Doris Day died was like getting the news that a beloved relative had passed away. She made me smile for most of my life. I first discovered her movies on local Channel 9 in my Los Angeles youth. To come home from school and find CALAMITY JANE, LULLABY OF BROADWAY, TEA FOR TWO, APRIL IN PARIS, MY DREAM IS YOURS or THE PAJAMA GAME on TV was all I needed to be in a state of total happiness. Just Doris Day -- and an after school snack. Such was some of my 1960s boyhood.
In 2005 back in New York City, I was putting together some new demo reels. My editor was a young Eastern European dude who, in the 1980s, was a little boy with his family behind the Iron Curtain. One of my pieces for my local morning TV news show years had a clip of Doris Day singing in one of her Warner Bros musicals. As soon as my editor saw her face appear on the monitor, he broke out into a huge smile. Behind the Iron Curtain, they could get Doris Day movies on TV. He said that the sound of her singing and the sight of her face always made him so happy when he was a youngster. Doris Day gave the same rush of joy to a Czech kid behind the Iron Curtain that she gave to a Black kid in South Central Los Angeles.
Did you ever see the 1954 remake of A STAR IS BORN? The remake screenplay by Moss Hart was well-tailored for the talents of Judy Garland. For the 1954 version directed by George Cukor, Esther Blodgett was the singer with a big band before she's discovered by Hollywood forces and her named is changed to Vicki Lester. A big star had been slated to make a musical for a major studio but there was some sort of a contractual snag. The studio takes a chance on Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester. She makes her movie debut and … a star is born.
Doris Day was like a real-life version of that 1954 Vicki Lester. She was a singer with a well-known band. Warner Brothers took a chance on her when Betty Hutton reportedly was unavailable, enabling Doris to make her big screen debut in 1948. Within five years, Doris had shot up to being one of the top stars on the Warner Bros. lot. She'll make CALAMITY JANE. The original musical comedy, a western, will have her acting, dancing and singing new songs written for her. She'll introduce a new song, "Secret Love," that will be a hit record and win the Oscar for Best Song. Doris Day's name will appear on the big screen before the title in the opening credits.
After 1953's CALAMITY JANE, Doris Day took her All-American, sunny image and played its dark side. She should've been a Best Actress Oscar nominee for her dramatic work in the 1955 musical biopic, LOVE ME OR LEAVE. James Cagney, her leading man, was in awe of Day's natural dramatic acting ability and praised it highly in his autobiography. He made two films with her, one comedy and one drama. He urged her to never take acting lessons the studio. He told her to continue using her natural instincts. He felt that, if Warner Bros. put her through its acting classes, she'd become like a Pringles potato chip. She'd have the same look and style as the other actress put through the process. She never took any acting classes. Doris Day played singer Ruth Etting opposite Cagney. In the movie, the ambitious singer gets hooked up with a known hood who can help get her to where she wants to go. She can be feminine. She can also be as tough as he is. She followed it with another dramatic part. The played the tourist wife and mother whose sunny disposition darkens with despair when something sinister happens to her little boy during the overseas vacation. Hitchcock's 1956 remake of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH was a thriller in which Doris introduced a new song -- "Que Sera, Sera" -- and played a wife who reclaims her voice in a husband-dominated marriage. Doris' emotional breakdown scene in which the wife is told her son has been kidnapped was further proof of her impressive dramatic skills. "Que Sera, Sera" won the Oscar for Best Song.
There was such high regard, respect and affection for Doris Day's talent that she was cast as the leading lady opposite veteran male stars who were in classic films of 1939. James Stewart, James Cagney, Clark Gable, Cary Grant and David Niven were amongst her co-stars. LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME should've brought Doris Day an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
During my VH1 years, in the late 80s into 1990, I gained a fresh awareness of what a special and often under-rated performer Doris Day was. At the same time was tops at the box office, she was also tops on the Billboard charts, adding hit records to her accomplishments. This is a feat that, in the 80s/90s, pop divas such as Madonna, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez couldn't match. Doris was a wonderful singer, a good dancer and her acting ability got her an Oscar nomination (for PILLOW TALK). Oscar winners like Cher and Jennifer Hudson could not pull off being triple threats like that. Doris Day and Gene Nelson were a sharp dance team in her 1950s musicals.
In her acting, Doris Day seemed to know instinctively know the layers and dimensions of a good script and how to play it. YOUNG AT HEART is a remake of the hit Warner Bros. 1938 drama, FOUR DAUGHTERS. We see what seems to be the picture of the ideal 1950s suburban family, but there's darkness at the edges and some emotional dissonance in the marital lives of the three close sisters. Doris' character doesn't marry the lucky and privileged composer who falls for her. She marries his down and out singer/songwriter buddy (Frank Sinatra) who turns out to be the perfect man for her. If she can only convince him of that. Doris introduces another new song. It's called "There's a Rising Moon for Every Falling Star."
This is my favorite Doris Day vocal. It's not as popular as her hit songs as CALAMITY JANE and THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH but I love it. Through the years, as I grew up, got older, had my heart broken again and again, I would turn to this song to turn that light of hope back on in my heart. Here it is.
That Doris Day vocal will continue to turn on a light in my heart.
During World War 2, famed Hollywood producer David O. Selznick put together another A-list movie. SINCE YOU WENT AWAY brought moviegoers into the lives of three women -- a mother and her two daughters. The wife and mother worries about her husband, the daughters worry about their dad and all three bond lovingly together to keep the home fires burning. They'll take in a lodger, one daughter will fall in love with sweet young soldier on leave and they'll take an active part in helping the war effort by joining the labor force outside the home. It's a sentimental tale of love and struggles in a typical American home, a movie with punch and heartbreak. This moving take is beautifully produced, very well-acted and the black and white cinematography by Stanley Cortez is absolutely rich and evocative. SINCE YOU WENT AWAY was directed by John Cromwell. You've seen his tall, lean, talented actor son James Cromwell in the following films: BABE, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, THE GREEN MILE, THE QUEEN and THE ARTIST. John Cromwell's SINCE YOU WENT AWAY got several Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress (Claudette Colbert, middle) and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Jones, right).
Right now, you may be saying "Where's the black history in all that?" One of the supporting players in the film is an Oscar-winning actress who worked previously for David O. Selznick in his most legendary Hollywood success. Hattie McDaniel of GONE WITH THE WIND. As you know, Hattie was the first Black performer ever nominated for an Oscar and she was the first to win. This versatile, under-utilized and groundbreaking talent won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1939's GONE WITH THE WIND, a Civil War epic. She played "Mammy." True, in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, another wartime drama from Selznick, she's a maid again but she's a modern-day domestic in the suburbs. Also, she has the most stylish wardrobe in this feature than she did in any other. Hattie McDaniel looks fabulous in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY. She's a domestic who's dressed like she's off to see a hit Broadway show after she has a cocktail at Sardi's.
However, this is still a Hollywood film in the old studio days. You see familiar actor faces in this movie but the main faces are the three females at home. Claudette Colbert stars as the loving wife and mother. Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple play her teen daughters. Joseph Cotten, Robert Walker, Monty Woolley, Agnes Moorehead and Keenan Wynn are also featured. Here's a publicity cast photo for 1944's SINCE YOU WENT AWAY. Three of its stars had won Oscars. Claudette Colbert won Best Actress for 1934's IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, Jennifer Jones won Best Actress for 1943's THE SONG OF BERNADETTE and Hattie McDaniel got her Oscar for 1939's GONE WITH THE WIND. Notice that one of the Oscar-winning ladies is not in the photo.
Hattie should be in the photo. She had a supporting role and she acts opposite the movie's three main stars. She was an Oscar-winner by then. But she was also Black in Old Hollywood.
There's a famous farewell scene in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY. Jennifer Jones, as the oldest daughter, falls in love with a shy young soldier played by Robert Walker. We follow the two young sweethearts to the train station for their poignant goodbye. The station is busy. As we are walked through the crowd, we see an African-American soldier in officer's attire. He's noticeable because most Hollywood movies of that era about WW2 didn't show Black GIs. And this man was an officer. The well-dressed lovely lady playing his wife has one line in that scene.
The actress who had one line as the Army officer's wife was Dorothy Dandridge. Dorothy Dandridge would go on to make Hollywood history herself. She'd be the first Black woman to be an Oscar nominee for Best Actress thanks to her sizzling performance in the 1954 musical drama, CARMEN JONES.
Hattie McDaniel and Dorothy Dandridge in the same movie. That is some Black History in 1944's SINCE YOU WENT AWAY.
First, Judy Garland gives a stunning dramatic and musical performance in the classic 1954 remake of STAR IS BORN. It's an acclaimed big screen comeback that gets her a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar nomination.
But she loses the Oscar to Grace Kelly for THE COUNTRY GIRL.
And now....this. There's a biopic coming starring …Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland.
What Caucasian heterosexual Gen Xer thought this production was necessary? Renée looks more like Adam Lambert as Polly Bergen in CAPE FEAR: THE MUSICAL.
Oh, well. Who knows? It could turn out to be a hit with the critics. In the meantime, here's the real show biz great, Judy Garland herself. She introduces the new blues song "The Man That Got Away" in George Cukor's 1954 remake of A STAR IS BORN co-starring James Mason.
I can write with total honesty that I probably would not have had many of the TV career highlights that I did if not for Fred Astaire. His movies, shown on local TV in L.A. when I was a youngster, were my gateway to embracing films, classic and new films. I developed a passion to see the films, to know about the people in front of and behind the cameras and to interview them. I was at my happiest doing such interviews on TV. That passion started when I was a little boy and a Fred Astaire musical from his 1930s years at RKO came on TV one weekend afternoon. FLYING DOWN TO RIO opened the gateway for me. TOP HAT with Ginger Rogers sparked me to dash through it. I was in the 1st or 2nd grade. Dad was in the living room with me and I asked him to read the credits to me when they appeared. When I saw Fred Astaire dance, I felt like a Christmas tree had just lit up inside me. I was in a state of sheer glee. I got books about Fred Astaire, records by Fred Astaire, I watched his movies on TV, I begged Mom and Dad to let me stay up at night to see his network TV specials. I accidentally broke a living room chair trying to imitate a Fred Astaire dance number bit from 1950's LET'S DANCE. Yes, I was that much of a fan when I was in middle school. I'm still a devoted Astaire fan.
One of my most prize possessions is an 8x10 autographed photo of him. Did I want to be a singer and dancer? Of course. But it just wasn't meant to be. Nevertheless, he was an inspiration to my TV work. When he was no longer doing musicals, he kept working. He acted in dramas. In the 1970s, he got a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for the box office champ disaster movie, THE TOWERING INFERNO. He did made-for-TV movies, he co-starred on an ABC TV series with Robert Wagner (IT TAKES A THIEF), made talk show appearances and he did a lot of fine work as a network host on TV specials. I'd love some bookings like that myself.
There has never been a time in my life when I have been so heartbroken that I felt I'd never laugh again when my spirit could not be lifted a bit by seeing a Fred Astaire dance number. After the loss of my partner, my parents and my apartment because of the Recession, I ultimately turned to some of his film work to bring me out of deep emotional darkness. When layoffs from two consecutive jobs triggered the long period of unemployment the led to me losing my home and being flat broke during the Recession, Astaire and Rogers singing and dancing "Pick Yourself Up" in SWING TIME helped me pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again.
There's one thing that movie bloggers and other classic film fans do -- or, rather, don't do -- that really gets my goat. Gene Kelly is constantly praised for being "athletic." That word is never attached to compliments about Fred Astaire. It should be. He combined elegance and grace with an almost subliminal athleticism.
When he was in his early 40s, Fred Astaire starred in a wartime musical comedy called THE SKY'S THE LIMIT. In WW2, he's a decorated pilot and is recruited to do publicity to boost morale for the war effort. He's embarrassed by the attention, feeling that all GIs are heroes, so he goes incognito to New York City while on leave. He meets a magazine photographer, they fall in love, but she doesn't know he has to return to duty. Her magazine boss, however, does. The hero pilot is conflicted.
THE SKY'S THE LIMIT had original songs written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. One of them became so popular that Ida Lupino sang it in ROAD HOUSE (1948), Frank Sinatra sang it in YOUNG AT HEART (1954) and Bette Midler sang it to Johnny Carson in his final episode of THE TONIGHT SHOW with guests (1992).
The song is "One For My Baby" (And One More For The Road). Here is Fred Astaire -- in his early 40s -- introducing the song in 1943's THE SKYS THE LIMIT and performing a dance number that he choreographed. I could not move like this when I was in my 20s.
Some of that certainly looked athletic to me. To state my case further, watch his 1953 classic directed by Vincente Minnelli, THE BAND WAGON. When you see all his numbers in that gem, especially the private eye flavored "The Girl Hunt" jazz ballet with the sensation Cyd Charisse, keep in mind that he was in his early 50s when he did all those moves choreographed by the very athletic Michael Kidd.
Even in these modern times, I'd drop hints to immediate family members for Astaire books or DVDs when my birthday or Christmas approached. I can tell the hints weren't strong enough because I'd inevitably wind up sending a thank-you for the gift box of socks in those three festive colors -- black, charcoal and navy blue.
Dancer, singer, actor, choreographer Fred Astaire. The late, great artist was born on this day in history, May 10th. His life made my life better.
I admit it. I love musicals. I love classic films with big, deluxe musicals numbers. The MGM release of 1936, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD, certainly had those. It's a Hollywood biopic about the famous theatrical producer Florenz Ziegfeld. A lavish and technically amazing Ziegfeld Follies production number (given the top shelf MGM treatment) closes out the first half and brings us to an intermission. This number, to the song "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," is visually stunning and quite remarkable considering that movies had just learned how to talk in 1927's THE JAZZ SINGER. In those days, there were 10 nominees for Best Picture. THE GREAT ZIEGFELD won the Oscar for Best Picture. As much as I love THE GREAT ZIEGFELD, I still feel that the Best Picture Oscar should've gone to DODSWORTH, an excellent drama directed by William Wyler. The quality, performances and emotional journey of his film have thrilled me ever since I first saw it at an art museum in the 1980s one weekend. In fact, it so excited me that I went back the next night to see its final screening and I coaxed a buddy to go with me. At the end, he enthusiastically said "Wow! What a good movie." As I've grown older, my love for DODSWORTH has deepened. I think that's because I've grown into the same age category as Sam Dodsworth, the lead character richly played by tall, seasoned Walter Huston. His unforced masculinity and natural grace make watching Midwesterner Sam Dodsworth just walk into a room a thing of beauty.
This post will focus on an element in the first 20 minutes of the film. If you've seen DODSWORTH, then this article is meant mainly for you. The story starts in Zenith, Wisconsin. Sam Dodsworth, the successful and well-liked president of Dodsworth Motors is retiring after 20 years of work. As he takes a farewell walk through a crowd of well-wishing factory workers, you can tell the kind of down-to-earth relationship he's had with employees. Some call him "Mr. Dodsworth." Others call him "Sam." He and his wife are soon to sail away on a grand European tour. Mrs. Dodsworth is not so down-to-earth. She considers herself too posh for Zenith and too sophisticated for Sam's friends. She also claims to be younger than she is even though she and Sam have a grown and married daughter. On the tour, her obsession with youth will strain the marriage and force Sam to realize that her selfishness, neediness and insecurity have worn the marriage down to a nub. Fran will want to veer off into a separate and solo European vacation so she can have a fling. A lonely divorcée, also on the luxury liner and also middle-aged, will offer Sam a fulfilling new life.
When Sam and Fran are aboard the luxury liner, unpacking for their first night at sea, Sam happily mentions the "first time" he proposed marriage to her. That may seem like a casual, lightweight line but think about it. With most people who are truly in love with each other, one proposal of marriage is all it takes. Fran needed to be asked again before she said yes.
Sam is excited to see the occurrence of Bishop's Light as they approach England. Sam is on deck, watching the nighttime sky with an almost boyish zeal. He glances down at his watch and the light quickly sweeps across the sky. He's missed it. But, he's looking out at the sky when it sweeps across again. He catches it the second time around. He dashes to get Fran so she can share the experience. She's busy batting her eyelashes at a handsome young Englishman. He's a likeable cad, well-played by David Niven early in his long film career. Divorced American traveler Edith Cortright noticed the light and engages the fellow American in some cordial conversation. She's headed to Italy where she lives. Edith and Sam become fast acquaintances.
Later, Fran is having such a fling with high-tone Europeans that she coaxes Sam to return home alone to the U.S. while she remains abroad. Hurt, he returns home. His mood is lifted when he learns he'll be a grandfather. He returns to Europe where Fran is now seeing a young Viennese baron. Reunited with her, Sam gets the emotional jolt that she wants a divorce so she can marry the baron. Dejected, still having his pride, he says "Did I remember to tell you today that I adore you?" as they part. Fran's obsession with youth continues. With a wardrobe and hair color makeover, she does not want it known that she's a grandmother to a newborn.
Sam now seems older, uncertain and sad. He's traveling through Europe alone and that special spark about him has dimmed. In Naples, he goes to an American Express office to arrange a sightseeing tour for himself. Edith Cortright is in the same office mailing packages. We see in a wide shot that they are in the same section, their backs to each other, at different counters, and unaware of each other's presence. Edith walks right by him on her way to the exit She stops when she hears his name called out. They reconnect. They will spend time together. With her, Sam is rejuvenated.
Edith and Sam will be the Bishop's Light in each other's middle-aged life. True love will come the second time around.
In the Best Supporting Actress category, Maria Ouspenskaya was nominated for her one scene role as the young baron's piercingly honest mother who meets her son's not-so-young girlfriend, Fran. She's good in the role. However, Mary Astor should have been nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for her sublime performance as Edith Cortright. You cheer for this woman. She's warm, wise, honest, passionate and supportive. She deserves true love. It's a beautiful performance.
The three characters -- Ruth Chatterton as Fran, Best Actor Oscar nominee Walter Huston as Sam and Mary Astor as Edith -- are perfectly cast. They do memorable work. If you haven't seen DODSWORTH in quite some time, watch it again. And pay attention to Bishop's Light.
Over the same weekend, I was able to watch two strong dramas. I've seen both films before and these films always magnetically attract me again and again. Thanks to the Movie Channel and Showtime, I watched the 1974 classic CHINATOWN and the 2007 Oscar winner, THERE WILL BE BLOOD. They aired uncut and commercial free, just as I'd seen them in their original release. Wow. What gripping films with two elements, a pair of forces, that we have been told do not mix. You have oil in THERE WILL BE BLOOD directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as an oil baron.
You have water in CHINATOWN directed by Roman Polanski. John Huston stars as a water tycoon.
Oil and water. Two men hungry for wealth and power. One wants oil. The other wants water. Both men are rich and ruthless and corrupt. Both men are irresponsible fathers. We never see their wives. The corruption of both male characters will cause a death.
Daniel Day-Lewis starred as Daniel Plainview in THERE WILL BE BLOOD. In a church service, he will shout "I abandoned my child!" He did abandon his child, but he will continue his ruthless ways. It seems that his corruption grows the wealthier he gets and Daniel Plainview gets extremely wealthy. He may have been in a church but he will brush religion out of his life like brushing bread crumbs off his suit after having eaten his fill at a free lunch. "I'm an oil man, ladies and gentlemen." That, he truthfully states to an audience of rural folks. He will not be truthful in telling them what their land is worth -- because he wants their oil-rich land.
Daniel Day-Lewis took home one of his three Best Actor Oscars for THERE WILL BE BLOOD. When the film opened, a few critics wrote that there is no female lead in the story. I feel that the land is the lead female equivalent in THERE WILL BE BLOOD and his constant drilling of it symbolizes how he rapes the land with his greed and lust for power.
Oilman Daniel Plainview sounds like he could've been related to Noah Cross, the wicked tycoon in CHINATOWN. There's a Department of Water and Power in Los Angeles. This dark Noah wants to part the waters -- part them from L.A. during a late 1930s drought for his financial gain. Noah Cross seeks to own the water company. He will double-Cross his glacially elegant heiress daughter. CHINATOWN is a classic and exceptional example of film noir in color, masterfully directed by Roman Polanski. THERE WILL BE BLOOD was based on the novel OIL! by Upton Sinclair. CHINATOWN comes from a brilliant original screenplay by Robert Towne. Jack Nicholson stars as private eye J.J. "Jake" Gittes and Faye Dunaway is perfect as heiress Evelyn Mulwray.
If you've never seen CHINATOWN, make it a must-see on your movie rental list. Pay close attention. The screenplay is intelligent. Words and visual images echo with more than one meaning. I felt a new chill of evil when I watched it again over the weekend. For those of you who have seen it, you know how the characters in Los Angeles are complaining of the drought and the heat. When Jake drives over to the Evelyn and Hollis Mulwray mansion, that home has a lush and sprawling green lawn in front of it. Hollis is a top executive at the L.A. Department of Water and Power. Noah Cross is his father-in-law. There's a verdant lawn in the backyard too where an Asian gardener tends to the horticulture and the man-made pond. The backyard and the pond also show no sign of suffering from the Los Angeles drought.
Think about the last act of the drama. Jake Gittes, hot to uncover who's committed a murder and why, returns to Evelyn Mulwray's backyard and hears the Asian gardener say "Salt water very bad for grass."
Jake spots something in the pond and points it out to the gardener. Watch as the gardener, wearing high boots, steps into the pond. The wide shot gives us an idea of how deep the water in the pond is. Think about what happened in the pond. That is chilling. Says the rich, malevolent Noah Cross to the private eye, "You see, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they're capable of...anything."
Oil and water. Water and power. Father and child. What a pair of memorable films and what a pair of bad dads in THERE WILL BE BLOOD and CHINATOWN.
Again, I'm going back to my years of reviewing new movies on national TV to recommend a couple of good movies you may have missed. The two films in this post are foreign films. Both came to us from Great Britain. The first one is a gentle feature that runs about 90 minutes and gives the lead role to that wonderfully gifted actor, Eddie Marsan. This 2013 British film is STILL LIFE, gracefully directed by Uberto Pasolini. TV viewers here in America will recognize Eddie Marsan immediately as the guy who plays Terry on Showtime's gritty RAY DONOVAN series. Terry, Ray's brother, is a former boxer diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In STILL LIFE, Eddie Marsan fights for the dead and forgotten. He's a case worker who tracks down next-of-kin to arrange respectful funeral services for the town's unclaimed dead. He's a polite man, dedicated to his job. This may not sound like an exciting plot, but stay with it. Marsan is marvelous in the role.
The dead people died alone with no loved ones who kept in constant contact. The case worker himself is like the people who passed away. There is no loved one who keeps in touch with him. He lives alone. He eats alone. At several funeral services, this mild-mannered case worker is often the only person in attendance. Just because his life is simple and without frills, that doesn't mean he lacks personality and passion. He truly cares about providing some dignity for the dead. He wants them to be remembered. As he goes about his sterile job, his life begins to change and take on some color. Something sweet and unexpected enters.
Marsan brings nice layers to this ordinary, overlooked fellow who appears to exist in a still life -- like a painting in which there seems to be no activity. It's a lovely and intelligent performance. Marsan shows this character come to life again, in a way, like trees in the spring. Eddie Marson in STILL LIFE delivers a performance right up there with the one Alec Guinness gave in the 1950 British classic, LAST HOLIDAY. I highly recommend this thoughtful, poignant film.
To give you examples of Eddie Marsan's amazing range as an actor, watch him in Mike Leigh's 2008 British film, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY starring Sally Hawkins. This should've brought Hawkins her first Oscar nomination. She played Poppy, a working class woman whose bright and constantly optimistic outlook cannot be darkened. Not even when her driving instructor's temper explodes and he's so full of rage trying to teach her how to drive that he turns about as red as a fire hydrant. Marsan plays the hot-tempered driving instructor.
After that, see if you can find copies of the medieval sitcom, GALAVANT, on Netflix. It had a short bur hilarious network run on ABC in 2016. GALAVANT had a lot of that MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL flavor. The last three episodes are among the funniest in the lot and Eddie Marsan is a knockout in the episode called "Love and Death." He played Death -- and Death has a fabulous musical production number.
Mike Sargent. My big, Black buddy who lives in Harlem. Mike is a veteran film critic who had his own Saturday film review/interview show that aired on cable TV out of New York City. He was the host. On every show, he was joined by two guest critics. One was always a female because women of all colors had been excluded from the field of film critics on national TV for a long, long time. Mike's a burly, sweet hetero bear of guy who put a weekly TV spotlight on women directors, LGBT filmmakers and foreign features. I loved doing his show. On one edition, three of us Black film critics -- Mike, a guest female film critic and myself -- gave high praise to STILL LIFE. He and I loved another British film too.
Mike called me one day and enthusiastically said, "You have got to see this new movie called PRIDE." I already had and I shared his enthusiasm. PRIDE is a 2014 film, based on a major 1980s news story in Great Britain during the reign of Margaret Thatcher. Mike and I didn't recall hearing about this British news story in American reports. PRIDE should've had better promotion here in the States. Moviegoers saw the above poster but they had no idea the actors were portraying real people.
The 1984 strike of miners in Wales was a U.K. news headline. In London, gay and lesbian activists were shouting out loud for LGBT civil rights. Those LGBT activists realized that they had something in common with the financially struggling miners and their families. They were all challenging Margaret Thatcher, the cops and the conservative party. The LGBT activists raised money for the needy British miners and their families, This led to an unlikely alliance with heterosexuals and the beginning of the "Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners" campaign. It's a fascinating story of two disenfranchised communities, groups of different sexual orientation, who open their minds and hearts to each other and come together for a good cause. There are excellent performances in this inspirational film which has Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine and Russell Tovey in the cast. PRIDE is worth your time.
I'm still surprised there was no campaign to get Imelda Staunton a Best Supporting Actress of 2014 Oscar nomination for PRIDE. Tell her there's a couple of Black film critics in New York City who felt she should've been a nominee.
There you have it. Two British films that had a short flight under the radar in U.S. movie theaters but they are first class films that I wholeheartedly recommend.
