Sidney Lumet: 1924-2011

The acclaimed director of such classics as 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon and Network, died this morning from lymphoma. He was 86.

~June 25, 1924 - April 9, 2011~

Father of the Bride

Marriage is hard. Well, not always the marriage itself. More so planning the wedding, as shown vividly in Vincente Minnelli's Father of the Bride.

Stanley Banks' (Spencer Tracy) daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) has recently announced to her parents her engagement, thus causing a whirlwind from planning the wedding.

Considering the only roles I've Taylor in were dramatic (A Place in the Sun, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly, Last Summer), so it was nice to see her in a lighter role. She had this certain aura to her that made people notice her, which is clear in Father of the Bride.

As for Tracy, I knew that he could do comedy after seeing Adam's Rib. He captures the right of essence from the stresses of something sounding so simple as planning a wedding.

I was smiling from ear to ear during most of the movie, especially when Stanley first sees Kay in her wedding dress. Yes, I had seen the remake years ago, but don't fix anything that ain't broke.

My Rating: *****

Pitch #3

I have been writing a lot of short stories recently. A few of them are related to Hollywood and the movie industry (no surprise). The one I'm currently working on I'll share the plot and characters with you. It's entitled Dying Embers.

Set in the mid-1930's, the story revolves around a burned-out silent film star whose career ended from the advent of talkies and a scandal involving an aspiring actress. Three of his friends, also actors, try to keep his spirits up, but his life starts crashing down on him.

THE CHARACTERS

• Charles "Chuck" DeVola, the lead character. Although he was acquitted in his trial, his career was sentenced to death. In his heyday he was known as the romantic lead, but in reality he has a fear of commitment.
• Ruth Malone, a fellow actress. She is known for playing the manipulative woman on the silver screen but in real life, she is very pleasant. She is close friends with Chuck.
• Clive Yorke, one of Hollywood's biggest stars. A Fairbanks-esque leading man, he has an ego almost as big as his popularity. But he also has a gentle side to him, especially towards women.
• Fiona Norwood, a striking leading lady. A temptress on screen, she is actually an one-man woman. The one man is Clive, whom she marries after a brief courtship.

If this was turned into a movie, who would you cast?

Who should play Richard Burton?

No, a biopic isn't in the works. This is actually something that's been floating around in my head for some time. I've come up with three candidates to play the Brit. Well, actually, Andrew came up with the last one.

CANDIDATE #1: Colin Firth

YES
There's resemblance in both facial structure and voice, so that's what made Firth my #1 choice.
NO
There's the matter of the eyes...

CANDIDATE #2: Clive Owen

YES
Voice (a little deeper than Burton's) and those eyes...*sigh*
NO
There's some resemblance, but not much.

CANDIDATE #3: Jude Law

YES
He was Andrew's #1 choice to play Burton when I brought this up on Twitter. Though I can picture him faintly as Burton through voice and eyes, I'd love to see Law as a drunk (yum).
NO
There isn't much resemblance between the two. Plus, I think Law is a little young to play Burton.

Might be covering the fictional casting of who would play Elizabeth Taylor in a later post. Who would you have to play Richard Burton?

FACT

Any good-looking man can become sexier from the following things:

• Glasses

Marcello Mastroianni

• Scruff

Clive Owen

• No shirt

Burt Lancaster

• Glasses and scruff

Jon Hamm

• Scruff and no shirt

Robert Downey, Jr.

Get your act together, men!

100 Followers!

Victory! Took a little longer than I expected, but I reached 100 followers. The 100th follower is The Lady Eve of The Lady Eve's REEL LIFE.

Here's to the next hundred.

Old Hollywood Alphabet

I got inspired by the tumblr the poor dancing girl she won't dance again for this post. But considering the author is a TCM junkie, it was easier for her to come up with names for the harder letters. So here's my effort.

Ava Gardner

Barbara Stanwyck

Clark Gable

Deborah Kerr

Elizabeth Taylor

Frank Sinatra

Gregory Peck

Humphrey Bogart

Ingrid Bergman

James Dean

Katharine Hepburn

Lauren Bacall

Montgomery Clift

Natalie Wood

Olivia de Havilland

Paul Newman

Robert Mitchum

Spencer Tracy

Tony Curtis

Vivien Leigh

William Holden

Question

Name a movie or movies you always recommend. (If you follow and talk to me frequently on Twitter, you know what I recommend.)

Open Thread

What's on your mind?

BOOK VS MOVIE: A Raisin in the Sun

I've read a number of plays in recent years, but I realized that there aren't many female playwrights. One I've come across is Lorraine Hansberry.

She is the author of A Raisin in the Sun, a play I call a favorite. It chronicles the life of the poverty-stricken Younger family. Each family member had dreams, but they require money. An insurance check comes in the mail. Will their dreams come true?

I admire A Raisin in the Sun for its dialogue. It's honest and believable, as though snatches of it were taken from Hansberry's own life.

The movie remains true to the original play, apart from a few minimal changes here and there. The two performances that stood out the most for me were from Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee, basically because they were the most down to earth.

All in all, I really liked both versions of A Raisin in the Sun. It's hard for me to choose which one I like best.

What's worth checking out?: I'd go with both.