:An American in Paris:
This movie was sexist and dreadfully dated. I was not charmed. I did not think it was cute. Pretty impressive that I’ve been able to get through several decades of winners without dragging out the “gender card” but I’m just calling it like I see it this time.
Betsie and I watched this together and she was more articulate about it than I so here is a live! Betsie! Review!: she expected to enjoy it much more than she did. She thought the stereotypical gender roles were nauseating. She was looking forward to a fun, light-hearted musical and while she liked the sets, costuming and the dancing it was just so cliched it was hard to enjoy. She found there was no originality to the story even though the music and dancing were top notch. Betsie, however, also feels it necessary to acknowledge that this was the post-war era. Llightheartedness and extravagance in everything from the 17-minute half-million dollar ballet that finished the movie off to how much fabric was used in garments was much in vogue. It just doesn’t manage to carry the movie however.
I find myself agreeing with Betsie hands-down on this one and have nothing more to add.
:A Streetcar Named Desire:
Talk to me about the Napoleonic fuckin’ Code.
I loved this movie and was completely swept off my feet by the acting performances of Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando. I kept comparing Leigh’s performance to her role in Gone With the Wind, perhaps inevitably. It was truly striking. The only other picture I’ve seen Brando in is The Godfather. Talk about that for a comparison. A real doozy of a story. Violence, family, alcohol, and sex. And way too much of all four.
Hands down superior to An American in Paris, although of course a completely different feel. Still, this story stuck with me like Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf and that’s saying something.
:A Place in the Sun:
This is the movie based on Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy which is one of my favorite books (“favorite” is a tier). My mom gave me a copy maybe 15 years ago and it really affected me.
It’s the story of a young man from a poor background who gets a shot at rising both economically and socially, something he wants desperately. The problem is that he has a poor, pregnant girlfriend demanding that he marry her.
A Place in the Sun is an exceptional adaptation, beautifully cast with a wonderful screenplay and excellent direction.
This was actually my first Elizabeth Taylor film. What a dish! I know her from her perfume ads as a mature woman. I remember my grandma saying how much she enjoyed Taylor and now my grandma and me have just one more thing in common.
Selecting a favorite for 1951 is a really difficult call. Streetcar is more dramatic but Sun is more complex. They’ll both make my Tops list for the 1950s. I think my “favorite” would have to depend on my mood.
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