YoYo, a Film by Pierre Etaix, co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière

It is 1925 and the scene is the unbelievably elaborate chateau of an extremely wealthy man suffering, because of his wealth, from severe ennui. Nothing, not even a woman seductively removing one of his shoes, can cure his boredom.

He has servants to free him from every task, he has a dog, he has hobbies, he has his chateau with huge rooms and secret passageways, he has musicians performing while women dance an elaborate Charleston to entertain him, and yet nothing rouses him from his boredom.

All of these entertainments he “enjoys” alone; his aloneness in the world is emphasized by the out-sized and exaggerated way the life he has created surrounds him.

If he, because of his loss of wonder, forbids himself from enjoying his world, we, from afar, can still do so. The movie abounds in visual jokes and in this first part, a homage to silent films, we are treated to parodies of famous French art, a still life painting which is not what it seems, a man becoming a statue, a cruise ship turning into something else, and other jokes that I probably missed. It is quite deliberate, wonders abound, in fact we presume his wealth has created them, and yet he is blind to them.

New Games: Cinephile and Son of Cinephile

The other night, watching Hombre with Paul Newman on one of the free TV retro stations, I picked up our 2002 edition of the Leonard Maltin video guide to look up an actor, and I thought up a new game. A board game, to use a slightly off kilter word for a game that doesn’t actually use a board, but also doesn’t involve dice or cards.

For those who like things short, it is basically the Dictionary Game for movies, except using a movie guide instead of a dictionary and movie plots instead of word meanings. In getting a present for my daughter, my son and I went to a local toy and game store and I was struck by how many games were based on other games from the past, including a spy, card game that was just a variation on Crazy Eights. So here’s my take on the idea.

To play, four or more people gather around a table with: some kind of a movie guide containing short plot summaries; pencils; and scrap paper. A guide to family friendly films may be used for a kids’ version.

One person, who probably doesn’t actively play, and who doesn’t change throughout the game, is designated the “Producer” and will read the proposed plot descriptions out loud. The other players take turns getting the movie guide and writing down the real plot of a movie from the guide. He or she is called the “Director.” The Director also starts a round by announcing the title of the movie. That movie should only be used if nobody knows beforehand the real plot of the movie.

After the title of the movie is announced, the Director writes down the real plot on a scrap of paper called a “Storyboard,” and each of the other players comes up with a clever, but convincing, plot to write on their own Storyboards. The scraps of paper, or Storyboards, with the plots are then folded over and passed to the Producer in a way where they won’t be seen by other players. The Producer shuffles them, then reads them aloud. Players then vote on which one they think is the real plot. If it is essential to use the name of an actor in describing the plot, all male actors are designated as either John Wayne or Paul Newman (even when they are not) and all female actors (or actresses, for my fellow denizens of the 19th Century) are designated as Joan Crawford or Carole Lombard (even when they are not) to make it harder to guess which is the real movie plot.

Movie Review: Every Girl Should be Married

Director, Don Hartman, Starring Cary Grant and Betsy Drake

 

Anabel Sims, a twenty-year-old department store clerk believes strongly in the title’s sentiment and a chance encounter with pediatrician Madison Brown at a drugstore strongly convinces her that he is the husband meant for her. She then embarks on a scheme that takes her the rest of the movie to convince him that she is the wife for him. Her best friend Julie, wary but helpful, isn’t so sure.

Anabel is devoted to the idea of marriage, children and the small honeymoon cottage with the crotchet chair next to the fireplace. And this vision is the, to say reluctant would be putting it mildly, Dr. Brown. She engages in what out time would be called stalking,

The Movie, Three Men in a Boat

A very slapstick version of a novel by Jerome K. Jerome.  [Although the novel itself is pretty funny, it is not as funny as this movie.] A clever and lighthearted play on the themes of male camaraderie, the desire to mess about with boats, poking fun at what happens to men who believe they have impeccable outdoor skills and really do not, and the tension for men with what to do when you are bound to one woman and another very intriguing one comes along.  Don’t worry, it is all very innocent, and everyone behaves themselves in the end.  If you are the type of man or woman with the whole, “Wouldn’t it be great to take a trip down a river with a boat and camp on the shore each night?” dream, you will love the movie, even if it might dampen, and I mean that literally, that dream. 

The Movie, The Maggie

This is a great, small movie which until now had passed me by despite my affection for British Ealing Studios’ 1950’s black and white comedies.

 

The plot involves the captain of a small, steam transport ship outsmarting a wealthy American businessman. The ship is of a class that was rapidly going out of use at that time, called “Puffers” by an affectionate public. As you may have gathered by now, I love both the David versus Goliath and tradition versus progress themes in literature and movies, but only if, unlike real life, David and tradition win. In general, these black and white comedies seem to share that vision.

The puffer’s captain has finagled a contract to carry the businessman’s goods for £300, the amount he needs to keep the puffer afloat. The businessman, discovering this, is appalled and is desperately trying to get the goods off of the puffer and on to a reliable ship.

The Movie, I Know Where I’m Going

I Know Where I’m Going

Another of the wonderful Archers films.  The character Joan Webster, intent on marrying an older, wealthy businessman, in large part because he is wealthy, tries unsuccessfully to reach the island in the Hebrides where their marriage is to take place.  She is unable to reach the island as there is a major storm battering the area.    Along the way, she keeps running into, and depending on, the local laird, Torquil MacNeil of Kiloran. 

It is funny how many old films and plays depend on the encounter of the urban sophisticate with the natives of a more rural, traditional area, where generally the sophisticate learns something essential about life to their own benefit.  “I Know Where I’m Going,” fits into this mold. 

The title, “I Know Where I’m Going,” comes from a folk song with the refrain, “I know where I’m going, and I know who’s going with me, I know who I love, but the day knows who I’ll marry,” a variation on the “Man proposes, but God disposes,” theme, which gets played out in the movie.

The Movie: The Smallest Show on Earth

 

Who with a love for movies, hasn’t had the dream of owning their own theater, where on a Thursday night, say, they could show the classics, or perhaps on a Saturday afternoon revive the old adventure serials for the neighborhood youngsters?

In this film, a young couple, played by Bill Travers and the incomparably beautiful Virginia McKenna (having the Carole Lombard quality of looks and comic ability) have that dream thrust upon them. The husband learns that his great uncle has left him his entire estate. We first meet the couple in their small apartment when they discover their good fortune from a letter, speculate as to what this estate may consist of, and, as all of us would, have the money spent in their minds in very creative ways before they get it. Only later do they learn that the estate consists of a movie theater. Not too bad, they realize, when they get to the industrial town with the glue factory smell, at least this theater is huge, modern, and well run—“The Grand.”

Alas, the cab driver who told them “The Grand,” was the only theater in town, had misspoke. There is another theater, “The Bijou,” and everything the Grand was, the Bijou is not.