75th: "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Other the years I've been writing for The Film Experience I've realized I'm quite obsessed with chronologies and time. Stars that have been part of our rear view mirror of film history our whole lives were once fresh faces. It's a simple concept but intermittently hard to absorb. I mean, Olivia de Havilland and Mickey Rooney, two of the oldest living film stars, were once newbies! In fact, seventy-five years ago on this very weekend in 1935 the Shakespearean adaptation A Midsummer Night's Dream opened, introducing the world to Olivia, than billed as de Haviland for some reason. She picked up an extra "l" shortly thereafter.

Mickey Rooney playing "Puck" at 14 years of age.

Have any of you seen it? It still looks beautiful in 2010, all black and white and shimmering; the fairy motif helps with the sparkliness.

Rooney, who'd been acting since he was 6, was already famous and his "Andy Hardy" franchise was just around the corner. I know this will read like an exceptionally odd non-sequitor, but if you get a chance to watch this movie soon, I swear that you'll have to wonder whether Leonardo DiCaprio watched this performance directly before playing What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993). I'm not saying that Puck is mentally disabled in this picture, only that there's a shocking similarity of early teenage exuberance and tree branch bounciness, paired with uninhibited squealing and odd vocalizations. (It struck me as entirely uncanny, but perhaps it's only that I watched Gilbert Grape just recently.)

When we first spot the lovely Olivia de Havilland as Hermia, she spots her love Lysander (Dick Powell). This is our endearing introduction to her.

Introducing! Olivia de Havilland (and Hermia)

This introduction was doing double duty 75 years ago, since movie audiences had yet to meet the actress herself. She would of course go on to major stardom (The Adventures of Robin Hood, Gone With the Wind), double Oscar wins (To Each Their Own and The Heiress) and an enviable place in the twinkling constellation of Classic Hollywood stars.

One thing that's totally odd about the movie though is the battle between the male romantic leads: Dick Powell as Lysander vs. Ross Alexander as Demetrius. A Midsummer Night's Dream is built to withstand a lot of silliness and comic flexibility,  Powell is doing a weirdly fey/sassy interpretation while Alexander keeps standing with arms akimbo like he's Superman or Gaston. Presented with these options, Hermia responds like Lysander is the barrel-chested dreamboat whilst Demetrius is the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Weirdness.

Take these screenshots for example.

Lysander (left) to Demetrius (right): "Oh no you di't girlfriend!"

Lysander (right) to Demetrius left (after literally tossing his cape up around
himself like a shawl / fur wrap): "Sashay... away. Chanté, you stay!"

But no matter. A Midsummer Night's Dream is hardly the right place to get all heternormative gender reductive and freak out about a lack of "butchness". Never mind!

Though I've gone on record many times as suggesting that filmmakers should give Shakespeare a rest for at least a decade, I was actually happy to see another version back in 1999. Or at least, I was happy in theory before it arrived. At the time I thought that the casting of Rupert Everett and Michelle Pfeiffer as King & Queen of the Faeries was unexpected but inspired.

It's just that the finished film lacked a certain... je ne sais quoi. Maybe it was too safe. I don't remember it well. Perhaps it just didn't find the right balance between naughty impishness and guileless magical innocence. That's hard to pull off, sure, but I had hoped for more.

Have you seen either version? Would you like to see any of today's filmmaker have another go at this magical comedy... and if so who would you cast as Puck, Hermia or Oberon & Titania?
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Actors on Actors: "The Susan Hayward of it All"

Actors on Actors looks at screen moments when stars are name-checked... by other stars! It's very meta. Since we're multi-tasking today trying to catch up, it's also a Tuesday Top Ten! In this episode, a scene from My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)

Julia Roberts: I have big plans for dancing. Just give me 30-35 years."
Rupert Everett [the voice on that ginormous cel phone]: The misery. The exquisite tragedy. The Susan Hayward of it all!"

The umimpeachably witty Mr. Everett (aided by that film's wonderful screenplay from Ronald Bass) is, of course, referring to the grand high priestess of exclamatory drama, Miss "I Want to Live!" Herself. It's not just those curtain-chewing performances, the desperate women she played or the trashy films but the gleefully histrionic taglines, too.

For no reason other than that I plan to live my life with exclamation points this week...

10 Best Taglines from Susan Hayward Films

 (We really should do like a Hayward tribute week at some point.)

10 "She made good - with a plunging neckline, and the morale of a tigress"
from I Can Get it For You Wholesale (1951)

09 "LOVE-WRECKED!"
from Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman! (1963)

08"They branded her "Adulteress"!
from The President's Lady (1953)

07 "HARD-MUSCLED! SOFT-HEARTED!"
from The Fighting Seabees (1944)

06 "Do you know what they say about Laura Pember? They say she uses men like pep-up pills!"  from Stolen Hours which is also known as Summer Flight (1963)

05 "Love can make a killer out of a woman... and a fool out of any man!"
from I Thank a Fool (1962)

04 "She fell from fame to shame!" from I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)

03 "The way SHE loved a Man could lead in only one direction - DOWN!"
from They Won't Believe Me (1947)

02 "A FAST BUCK... A FAST BRONC ... A FAST THRILL"
from The Lusty Men (1952)

01 "This story was filmed on location...  inside a woman's soul!"
also from I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
It's not just the greatest tagline from a Susan Hayward picture, it's the greatest movie tagline of the 20th century! And probably the 21st century too!! It deserves so many exclamation points !!!

At the annual convention of TLCOM (Tag Line Copywriters of America) their lifetime achievement prize is called "The Hayward".*

*I made that last part up but it should be the truth.

10th Anniversary: MUSIC

Ten years ago today, Madonna's Music (2000), one of her very best records, dropped into record stores. Director Guy Ritchie, to your left, was then her new man. He was advertising -- the record I mean! See the "Music" logo on his tanktop? Ever the selfless altruist, Madonna wore a black t-shirt promoting his project, Snatch (2000) which had opened the month before in the UK and was soon going to the US. It would become his biggest hit. Until Sherlock Holmes (2009) that is.

But back to 2000. Ah, the heady days of early romance. She had given birth to Rocco, her only biological child with Guy, the month before. They were married by December.

Madonna was of course, no stranger to loving alpha male movie men since actor/directors Sean Penn and Warren Beatty preceded Guy. Famously, she's now entered their realm. Paparazzi are basically snapping Madonna daily now while she films W.E. (2011) starring Abbie Cornish (see previous post). There must be a lot of outdoor shots. I suspect she wanted to do this much earlier than her first feature Filth & Wisdom (2008) -- I remember her discussing it back in the early 90s when she was still trying to become a film star and mentioned how much she loved Sally Potter's Orlando! It's curious that she didn't start with her own music videos. That career path has no stigma anymore given how many hipster cinematic giants have transferred over from music videos: David Fincher, Mark Romanek, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze etcetera...

The videos (and movie connections) in order of release.

Music

Is you Madonna? You babylons look less big than they do on the telly but I still definitely would.

With this video, directed by Ray of Light man Jonas Åkerlund, Madge introduced Americans to Sacha Baron Cohen before HBO's Da Ali G Show and Borat and Brüno.

The actress Debi Mazar makes her fifth Madonna video appearance. They've been friends since they were both hitting dance clubs in the early 80s (before the Fame hit). To your left is a private pic of them from Fire Island which Debi showed Wendy Williams. It's around the Dick Tracy time period since they were flying there in a private plan with Warren Beatty. Lifestyles of the rich and famous, you know.

Don't Tell Me



This one comes from frequently collaborator Jean-Baptiste Mondino. It was a huge success worldwide and parodied by Kirsten Dunst and Jimmy Fallon at the MTV Movie Awards. The costumes are by DSquared and Oscar nominee Arianne Phillips. Phillips is also a frequent Madonna collaborator and is working on W.E.. There was a fascinating interview with her in the New York Times when she was promoting A Single Man (2009) that you should read if you haven't. Phillips has only been nominated for one Oscar (Walk the Line) but her filmography includes costuming gems like The People Vs. Larry Flynt, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 3:10 to Yuma, Tank Girl and The Crow. Oscar's costuming branch doesn't regularly have an eye for iconic contemporary or genre wear, preferring superbly executed period pieces for the bulk of their nominations and especially their wins.

What It Feels Like For a Girl



The third and last official single was directed by Guy Ritchie and banned on MTV for violence. Not that banning on MTV meant anything by this time since they weren't really showing videos. But the song largely tanked, ending the singles release from Music.

The spoken word portion is by singer/actress Charlotte Gainsbourg from this scene in the film The Cement Garden (1993). As you know I thought she was pretty fantastic as the Bob Dylan-proxy's abandoned wife in I'm Not There's (2007). Other people went nuts for her recent turn in Antichrist.

American Pie



This is not an official song from Music but is on some of the CDs depending on the country. It's from the soundtrack to The Next Best Thing (2000) which is why you get then Madonna BFF Rupert Everett himself -- Sean Penn introduced them when Penn had just started dating her -- on back-up vocals and dancing with Madonna toward the tail end. They were very tight and though Rupert claimed in a revealing and typically prickly interview (he can be such a handful) that they're friends again, most sources say they she did not react well at all -- in a permanent way -- to his book in which he claimed that she dropped gay friends due to Guy Ritchie's homophobia.

I've only ever read Rupert's first book Hello Darling Are You Working? Has anyone read the one that caused the rift? If you own Music are you about to put it in for a 10th anniversary spin? [tangent: I'll use it today for workout soundtrack. I've finally gotten back to the gym. But I can't be proud of it until it becomes an actual habit rather than a once a quarter "maybe this time" delusion.]

Speaking of the now... Rupert Everett will be back in cinema's next month opposite Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt in Wild Target. But wouldn't his brutal Brit wit be a perfect fit for the Sherlock Holmes franchise in some capacity? Ah well, something tells me Guy Ritchie won't be casting him any time soon. The untitled sequel starts shooting next month (?) with Noomi Rapace and Daniel Day-Lewis joining RDJ & Jude. The Guy Ritchie film will be opening for Christmas 2011. No word yet on when his ex-wife's movie will arrive.

Put the tunes in your headphones for an anniversary spin.




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