Musings of the Obsessive Kind

Yes, I am on a classic movie kick.

Sometimes when I look at how lush some 1930s movies were with their fancy elegant gowns and gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, it is almost a physical pleasure...

I mean, look at this:



These are Hedy Lamarr and Robert Taylor in Lady of the Tropics, a doomed romance set in Vietnam the way only MGM made it look (any resemblance to real Vietnam is surely non-existent). Robert Taylor is an American on tour who falls madly in love with the gorgeous Hedy Lamarr (and who could blame him). However, *gasp* Hedy is a half-blood, with a white father and a Vietnamese mother - she and others like her are ostracized by the prejudiced European society (this movie is unintentionally quite telling about matter-of-fact and prevalent racism of the time). Nobody would blame Taylor for a fling but when he goes and marries her, this is clearly taking things too far! The lovebirds soon find that not only can they not live on love alone (nobody will hire Taylor now because he married a non-white woman who also used to be *gasp* someone else's mistress) but even Taylor's application for a passport for his wife so they can go back to America is stalled. For his own good, of course. *gag* Bad things happen. Really really bad things. It's all angsty and romantic and wonderfully tragic, but permit me to note that at the end, Hedy is dead (and Taylor inconsolable) thus puttting an end to plainly icky interracial cooties. To have a successful and viable interracial relationship in a 1930s movie was plainly impossible - it could show the love as true and other people bigoted, but that was as far as a movie of the time was willing to go.

( A few more gorgeous stills )

Another glossy and delicious melodrama (decidedly undoomed, as it came from Pre-Code days) is the Joan Crawford/Clark Gable bonbon Possessed.



Just look at her dress. *weeps in envy and desire*

Even the title is somewhat provocative, invoking, rightly, carnal desires and kept women. Joan plays a small town girl with big dreams, who will do anything to get out of the slums and a hard life with a dull boyfriend. Cue her going to a big city armed with nothing but her stunning looks and her confidence. It is there she meets the upper-class Clark Gable. No nonsense and secure in what she wants, she offers to be his mistress in exchange for comforts of life. Since it's Joan Crawford decades before wire hangers (she really used to be gorgeous!) he readily accepts. Since it's Clark Gable, she finds herself in love with him. But can his political career survive the scandal of having a mistress? Will he be insane enough to propose to a low-class kept woman? Will they try to outsacrifice each other in delicious emo melodrama? You bet. I have read some hilarious comments on this movie which boiled down to 'every Depression-era woman would love to be so possessed - shamed by having to make out with Clark Gable who showers her with jewels.' Too true.

( A few gorgeous gorgeous stills )

Is it any wonder I love kdramas - just look at the plots of these!

(Possessed is available on DVD and LoT is not. TCM plays it occasionally though).

Today's picspam of the day is courtesy of a silent stills website and is stills from a bunch of silent movies. I picked most because they had such delicious titles: "Changing Husbands," "Are Parents People?" (I've seen that one), "Her Body in Bond," "Putting Pants on Phillip," and "Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model."

From ridiculous (Fifth Avenue):



To sublime (Barbed Wire):



Hah!

( Lipstick, short hems and men in evening wear )

Today's picspam of the day is courtesy of a silent stills website and is stills from a bunch of silent movies. I picked most because they had such delicious titles: "Changing Husbands," "Are Parents People?" (I've seen that one), "Her Body in Bond," "Putting Pants on Phillip," and "Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model."

From ridiculous (Fifth Avenue):



To sublime (Barbed Wire):



Hah!

( Lipstick, short hems and men in evening wear )

I have been reading two Latina chick-lit books both of which are delightful.

( Book ramblings )

Oh, and yes, am obsessing over Bichunmoo drama. I enjoyed the 2000 movie but it is not a favorite like CTHD or HOFD, in part because the ending is so OTT melodramatic, even for me (I want to smack both of them) and in part because the story is definitely crammed to fit the movie running time. You find yourself going ‘whaaaa?’ And both of these problems are taken care of in this adaptation. The OTP’s deaths aren’t ridiculous but noble, and the running time problem has been solved. Also, one thing I prefer is that, unlike meganbmoore, I am gleeful with the change of Xiu-Li (the heroine) to a warrior woman. In the original she is very ornamental and court ladyish, which might be more historically accurate but not nearly as fun.

( Binchunmu ramblings, not spoilery )

I've been rather neglectful of LJ lately. What with being exhausted, various RL commitments and similar, less lj time for me. Am sorry :)

First off, I finished Nodame Cantabile. It's not the kind of drama I have a lot (or any) meta for, but it was a great deal of fun. Two pet peeves: (1) whoeverplayed Straseman. I want to drown him. There is fun OTT and then there is this. Plus, if he is not Japanese, I'll eat my hairbrush. and (2) a bit too cartoonish in some reactions. I know it's on purpose, but it didn't work all the time. But overall, it was fast, fun, breezy and Tamaki Hiroshi is yummilicious.

Second (on Bednaya Nastya): Die, Michael! Seriously, I wasn't mad at his being angry on finding out Anna is a serf (she did lie to him), but his horrible reaction to her confessing to him that she went to Vladimir's room at night, prepared to 'sacrifice' herself to prevent the duel, made me want to choke the life out of him! He knows nothing happened, he knows she loves him (well, she is divided, but no character, her included, is aware of it yet). WTF is wrong with him! He treats her like some sort of leprous whore! He tells her to go back to Vladimir's bed etc etc. He asks her why she didn't come to his bed instead? (Did he want her to wade through the snow for miles, after dark, and try to break into a strange house?) I hate him. Seriously. I am also 'amused' to note that he has never mentioned marriage to her: he took her to a secluded room for sex, true, and was all about them being together, but not a word of marriage. Very honorable of him. *stab*

And oh, the duel itself. I love, when after it all, when Vladimir tells her that 'Baron Vladimir Korf has been slain' and she whispers, because she is so confused and in love, even though she doesn't realize it 'I didn't pull the trigger' (she was threatening him to drop the gun) and he replies 'nontheless, he is dead, and all that remains is to fulfill his last will' and gives her the freedom papers. OMG. And as he is about to ride off he tells Michael, quietly that he started this whole 'charade' with the duel, with only one goal in mind: for Michael to kill him (and it explains so much. He gave Michael first shot, and just stood there, eyes closed. OMG. Anna, he loves you so much!) and tells Michael that sometimes his (Michael's) nobility (in not killing Vladimir) is wrong and a punishment.

But I posted about this scene, with vids/translations before, but case you mised it, ( Here it is behind the cut )

Oh, Vladimir. And then Lisa shows up and they have OMG OMG a night together. And he is so sweet and just tries to be nice and comforting but she basically is begging for a one-night stand, no strings, and he thinks he lost Anna forever, so he gives in. And in the morning, I love the scene, where he is very gentle and sweet but just as closed off as ever to her, and so Lisa realizes she's lost and nothing has changed and leaves. But OMG Anna is back and their scene together just kills me. Because he doesn't know about her break with Michael. And he is so uncertain and just the sweetness and the loss and adorableness kills me.

In other news, Natalie and Alexander's pillow fight=WIN. They have great chemistry and his (finally) confession of his feelings being real is amazing. And when he sheds a tear later OMG. And she runs away to her fiance because he is safe and I bet she is in love and so overwhelmed.

The movie selection for today is one of my favorite movies, the bleakly smart The Manchurian Candidate. I refer to the 1962 version with Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury, not the recent remake, which I did not even bother to watch because when the original is one of my all time favorite movies, why would I?

TMC, for those who do not know the plot, involves political assassination, brain-washing, and a bunch of characters who you love (or love to loathe).



The movie opens during the Korean War, when a platoon of American troops, among whom are Ben Marco (Sinatra) and Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), is ambushed. However, soon the boys are back home, having been heroically rescued by Raymond, a blue-blooded, aloof stepson of a slimy politician, Sen. John Iselin. Raymond even receives a Congressional Medal of Honor for his efforts, along with gratitude of his mates. And yet…shall-shocked Marco is haunted by nightmares of the time in Korea, nightmares that show a rather different picture. And he is not the only one. What really happened out there? And what does it really mean, for Marco, and for Raymond, and for the rest of the characters, including, in a completely tour-de-force, Raymond’s loathsome mother played by Angela Lansbury.

TMC is a clever-clever, bitter-bitter movie that takes no prisoners. But what I really love about it is that along with the twisty, intelligent plot, it actually makes you care for the characters. You care for the tough, messed-up, cynical, falling-apart-in-front-of-your-eyes Marco. But what is even better, and makes the movie so worthwhile, IMO, is that the movie makes you care about Raymond (who is my favorite character in the movie, actually. Hey, you know me. Messed up and aloof? Am so there).

Anyway, the rest is spoilery so behind cut. Spoilers for the whole enchilada. Seriously, you don’t want to be spoiled for the movie.

( It’s a terrible thing to hate your mother. But I didn’t always hate her. When I was a child, I only kind of disliked her. )

I've been rather neglectful of LJ lately. What with being exhausted, various RL commitments and similar, less lj time for me. Am sorry :)

First off, I finished Nodame Cantabile. It's not the kind of drama I have a lot (or any) meta for, but it was a great deal of fun. Two pet peeves: (1) whoeverplayed Straseman. I want to drown him. There is fun OTT and then there is this. Plus, if he is not Japanese, I'll eat my hairbrush. and (2) a bit too cartoonish in some reactions. I know it's on purpose, but it didn't work all the time. But overall, it was fast, fun, breezy and Tamaki Hiroshi is yummilicious.

Second (on Bednaya Nastya): Die, Michael! Seriously, I wasn't mad at his being angry on finding out Anna is a serf (she did lie to him), but his horrible reaction to her confessing to him that she went to Vladimir's room at night, prepared to 'sacrifice' herself to prevent the duel, made me want to choke the life out of him! He knows nothing happened, he knows she loves him (well, she is divided, but no character, her included, is aware of it yet). WTF is wrong with him! He treats her like some sort of leprous whore! He tells her to go back to Vladimir's bed etc etc. He asks her why she didn't come to his bed instead? (Did he want her to wade through the snow for miles, after dark, and try to break into a strange house?) I hate him. Seriously. I am also 'amused' to note that he has never mentioned marriage to her: he took her to a secluded room for sex, true, and was all about them being together, but not a word of marriage. Very honorable of him. *stab*

And oh, the duel itself. I love, when after it all, when Vladimir tells her that 'Baron Vladimir Korf has been slain' and she whispers, because she is so confused and in love, even though she doesn't realize it 'I didn't pull the trigger' (she was threatening him to drop the gun) and he replies 'nontheless, he is dead, and all that remains is to fulfill his last will' and gives her the freedom papers. OMG. And as he is about to ride off he tells Michael, quietly that he started this whole 'charade' with the duel, with only one goal in mind: for Michael to kill him (and it explains so much. He gave Michael first shot, and just stood there, eyes closed. OMG. Anna, he loves you so much!) and tells Michael that sometimes his (Michael's) nobility (in not killing Vladimir) is wrong and a punishment.

But I posted about this scene, with vids/translations before, but case you mised it, ( Here it is behind the cut )

Oh, Vladimir. And then Lisa shows up and they have OMG OMG a night together. And he is so sweet and just tries to be nice and comforting but she basically is begging for a one-night stand, no strings, and he thinks he lost Anna forever, so he gives in. And in the morning, I love the scene, where he is very gentle and sweet but just as closed off as ever to her, and so Lisa realizes she's lost and nothing has changed and leaves. But OMG Anna is back and their scene together just kills me. Because he doesn't know about her break with Michael. And he is so uncertain and just the sweetness and the loss and adorableness kills me.

In other news, Natalie and Alexander's pillow fight=WIN. They have great chemistry and his (finally) confession of his feelings being real is amazing. And when he sheds a tear later OMG. And she runs away to her fiance because he is safe and I bet she is in love and so overwhelmed.

The movie selection for today is one of my favorite movies, the bleakly smart The Manchurian Candidate. I refer to the 1962 version with Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury, not the recent remake, which I did not even bother to watch because when the original is one of my all time favorite movies, why would I?

TMC, for those who do not know the plot, involves political assassination, brain-washing, and a bunch of characters who you love (or love to loathe).



The movie opens during the Korean War, when a platoon of American troops, among whom are Ben Marco (Sinatra) and Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), is ambushed. However, soon the boys are back home, having been heroically rescued by Raymond, a blue-blooded, aloof stepson of a slimy politician, Sen. John Iselin. Raymond even receives a Congressional Medal of Honor for his efforts, along with gratitude of his mates. And yet…shall-shocked Marco is haunted by nightmares of the time in Korea, nightmares that show a rather different picture. And he is not the only one. What really happened out there? And what does it really mean, for Marco, and for Raymond, and for the rest of the characters, including, in a completely tour-de-force, Raymond’s loathsome mother played by Angela Lansbury.

TMC is a clever-clever, bitter-bitter movie that takes no prisoners. But what I really love about it is that along with the twisty, intelligent plot, it actually makes you care for the characters. You care for the tough, messed-up, cynical, falling-apart-in-front-of-your-eyes Marco. But what is even better, and makes the movie so worthwhile, IMO, is that the movie makes you care about Raymond (who is my favorite character in the movie, actually. Hey, you know me. Messed up and aloof? Am so there).

Anyway, the rest is spoilery so behind cut. Spoilers for the whole enchilada. Seriously, you don’t want to be spoiled for the movie.

( It’s a terrible thing to hate your mother. But I didn’t always hate her. When I was a child, I only kind of disliked her. )

Can I die a little now?

( Pic in question )

Yup, that’s SRK from the upcoming Om Shanti Om. *dies*

The best part? Prior to reincarnation, he is a struggling extra, but after, he is an utterly talentless superstar. LOL. Love him.

( Here are more OSO pics )

And in addition, here are the pictures from Saawariya, my other most anticipated Bollywood movie of the year. It looks so dream-like.

( Pics here )

And to finish it off, pics from Laga Chunari Mein Dag, opening october 12, with Rani and Abhishek.

( Pics here )

Eeek! I really really want to watch the 1998 Russian adaptation of the Dumas novel La Dame De Monsoreau (one of my all time favorite books, and yes, I do own the 1970s French miniseries based on it. Bussy was one of my earliest crushes). And I can find it, too, but OMG, it’s over $120 and yes, it is 9 discs and 20 episodes long but still. *faint* I’ll think about it long and hard, I suppose. (There is also a Russian adaptation of Queen Margot and is way cheaper, but I am less interested in it because I love the French move so).

Oh, and Bednaya Nastya! This gets better and better. Apparently Vladimir has some sort of unspecified war PTSD trauma? Mmmmm. YES. I do love the scene where he is just getting drunk and hopeless, and the ‘witch’ (she isn’t really, but she is this odd lady who lives in a house in the woods) comes there, and even though he can’t stand her, she gets him going again because she says this is his new war, to recover what has been taken from him. And she is all ‘I can read faces and I see strength, and also love in your heart.’ :P So he glares at her and snarls ‘so, is the name of my beloved also written on my forehead?’ And she replies ‘Anna.’ And she adds that she knows that he loves her but she loves someone else and it’s eating him alive but he should put it aside and focus. Heh. But I’d be more impressed with the ‘witch’s’ being able to tell that the woman he loves is Anna if it wasn’t for the fact that even a blind person can read it. In large print.

( Love triangle ramble )

And because I love pictures. Here are stills from Vladimir and Anna’s first on-screen interaction (in ep 1). The scene just has scary chemistry and a LOT of repression.



( More and larger stills of hotness here )

Never fear, I am not lost to drama world :) Next week, tatterpunk and I are going to meet up and watch My Name is Kim Sam Soon.

Eeek! I really really want to watch the 1998 Russian adaptation of the Dumas novel La Dame De Monsoreau (one of my all time favorite books, and yes, I do own the 1970s French miniseries based on it. Bussy was one of my earliest crushes). And I can find it, too, but OMG, it’s over $120 and yes, it is 9 discs and 20 episodes long but still. *faint* I’ll think about it long and hard, I suppose. (There is also a Russian adaptation of Queen Margot and is way cheaper, but I am less interested in it because I love the French move so).

Oh, and Bednaya Nastya! This gets better and better. Apparently Vladimir has some sort of unspecified war PTSD trauma? Mmmmm. YES. I do love the scene where he is just getting drunk and hopeless, and the ‘witch’ (she isn’t really, but she is this odd lady who lives in a house in the woods) comes there, and even though he can’t stand her, she gets him going again because she says this is his new war, to recover what has been taken from him. And she is all ‘I can read faces and I see strength, and also love in your heart.’ :P So he glares at her and snarls ‘so, is the name of my beloved also written on my forehead?’ And she replies ‘Anna.’ And she adds that she knows that he loves her but she loves someone else and it’s eating him alive but he should put it aside and focus. Heh. But I’d be more impressed with the ‘witch’s’ being able to tell that the woman he loves is Anna if it wasn’t for the fact that even a blind person can read it. In large print.

( Love triangle ramble )

And because I love pictures. Here are stills from Vladimir and Anna’s first on-screen interaction (in ep 1). The scene just has scary chemistry and a LOT of repression.



( More and larger stills of hotness here )

Never fear, I am not lost to drama world :) Next week, tatterpunk and I are going to meet up and watch My Name is Kim Sam Soon.

My obsessions and interests go in cycles which, I am sure, surprises no one who’s had this livejournal friended for any length of time (when it started it was, after all, Star Wars central). Part of it is that there are just too many things to be obsessed with and I have a short attention span.

But sometimes what this means is I manage to be obsessed over more than one thing at a time. What brought this on? Farscape. Months back, I went into a renewed Farscape frenzy, doing write-ups for every ep I watched, and stopped in mid season 2, moving on to something else.

Well, guess what? The frenzy is back. Expect renewed Farscape blabbing as I continue with the rewatch.

I did finish the “Look at the Princess” trilogy. I wrote about the first two parts extensively, so this is just about the final episode of the three. ( Thoughts on part 3 )

Tonight, it’s the “My Three Crichtons” episode, which is probably a lesser FS ep, objectively speaking, but one that to me, presents such fascinating foreshadowing and contrasts to what Crichton has been and what he will become. The summary is pretty simple and traditionally scifi. Due to an alien race’s attempt to capture Crichton for its collection (it had never seen a human before) and the Moyans (of course) meddling with this, Crichton is now confronted with both a ‘prehistoric’ proto-Crichton, and a so-called ‘Future Crichton’ (aka Crichton as he would have been if he would be a product of humanity’s future development).

( Blabbings on the ep )

In movie news. OMG! Ralph Fiennes, one of my all time favorites (btw, what happened to his younger brother Joseph? I loved him in Shakespeare in Love but he seems to have dropped off the radar) is co-starring with Kiera Knightley as the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire in The Duchess, which is supposed to come out next year. YESSS!

ETA: I found these awesome character posters (for Cecilia, Briony and Robbie) for Atonement. *swooooon*

( Posters here )

Also, since I know I have Jason Isaacs fans on my flist, found this on comingsoon.net

( Movie stuff )

And in more movie news, OMG!!!! Apparently some studio bought the rights to I, Claudius and plans to make a movie. I loved the book entirely too much so we shall see…(there are rumors that Leonardo Di Caprio will play Caludius and much as I really really love him, I just…my mind boggles and I can’t see it at all. But we’ll see).

ETA: I am watching more of Bednaya Nastya and it's official. My ability to meta is severely hampered by the fact that the male lead is so hot he is making my brain dribble out of my ears, causing brain damage...