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usergreenpixel · 3 years

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JACOBIN FICTION CONVENTION MEETING 1: La Seine no Hoshi (1975)

1. Introduction

Well, dear reader, here it is. My first ever official review. And, as promised, this is one of the pieces of Frev media that you have likely never heard of before.

So, without further ado, sit down, relax, grab drinks and snacks and allow me to tell you about an anime called “La Seine no Hoshi” (The Star of the Seine).

“La Seine no Hoshi” is a children’s anime series made by Studio Sunrise. It consists of 39 episodes and was originally broadcast in Japan from April 4th to December 26th of 1975.

Unlike its more famous contemporary, a manga called “Rose of Versailles” that had begun being released in 1972 and is considered a classic to this day, “La Seine no Hoshi” has stayed relatively obscure both in the world of anime and among other Frev pop culture.

Personally, the only reason why I found out about its existence was the fact that I actively seek out everything Frev-related and I just happened to stumble upon the title on an anime forum several years ago.

So far, the anime has been dubbed into Italian, French, German and Korean but there is no English or even Spanish dub so, unfortunately, people who do not speak fluent Japanese or any other aforementioned language are out of luck ( if anyone decides to make a fandub of the series, call me). That being said, the series is readily available in dubs and the original version on YouTube, which is where I ended up watching it. The French dub calls the anime “La Tulipe Noire” (The Black Tulip), which could be an homage to the movie with the same name that takes place in the same time period.

Unfortunately, while I do speak Japanese well enough to maintain a basic conversation and interact with people in casual daily situations, I’m far from fluent in the language so the version I watched was the French dub, seeing as I am majoring in French.

So, with all of this info in mind, let’s find out what the story is about and proceed to the actual review.

2. The Summary

(Note: Names of the characters in the French dub and the original version differ so I will use names from the former since that’s what I watched)

The story of “La Seine no Hoshi” revolves around a 15-year old girl called Mathilde Pasquier - a daughter of two Parisian florists who helps her parents run their flower shop and has a generally happy life.

But things begin to change when Comte de Vaudreuil, an elderly Parisian noble to whom Mathilde delivers flowers in the second episode, takes her under his wing and starts teaching her fencing for an unknown reason and generally seems to know more about her than he lets on.

Little does Mathilde know, those fencing lessons will end up coming in handy sooner than she expected. When her parents are killed by corrupt nobles, the girl teams up with Comte de Vaudreuil’s son, François, to fight against corruption as heroes of the people, all while the revolution keeps drawing near day by day and tensions in the city are at an all time high.

This is the gist of the story, dear readers, so with that out of the way, here’s the actual review:

3. The Story

Honestly, I kind of like the plot. It has a certain charm to it, like an old swashbuckling novel, of which I’ve read a lot as a kid.

The narrative of a “hero of the common folk” has been a staple in literature for centuries so some might consider the premise to be unoriginal, but I personally like this narrative more than “champion of the rich” (Looking at you, Scarlet Pimpernel) because, historically, it really was a difficult time for commoners and when times are hard people tend to need such heroes the most.

People need hope, so it’s no surprise that Mathilde and François (who already moonlights as a folk hero, The Black Tulip) become living legends thanks to their escapades.

Interestingly enough, the series also subverts a common trope of a hero seeking revenge for the death of his family. Mathilde is deeply affected by the death of her parents but she doesn’t actively seek revenge. Instead, this tragedy makes the fight and the upcoming revolution a personal matter to her and motivates her to fight corruption because she is not the only person who ended up on its receiving end.

The pacing is generally pretty good but I do wish there were less filler episodes and more of the overarching story that’s dedicated to the secret that Comte de Vaudreuil and Mathilde’s parents seem to be hiding from her and maybe it would be better if the secret in question was revealed to the audience a bit later than episode 7 or so.

However, revealing the twist early on is still an interesting narrative choice because then the main question is not what the secret itself is but rather when and how Mathilde will find out and how she will react, not to mention how it will affect the story.

That being said, even the filler episodes do drive home the point that a hero like Mathilde is needed, that nobles are generally corrupt and that something needs to change. Plus, those episodes were still enjoyable and entertaining enough for me to keep watching, which is good because usually I don’t like filler episodes much and it’s pretty easy to make them too boring.

Unfortunately, the show is affected by the common trope of the characters not growing up but I don’t usually mind that much. It also has the cliché of heroes being unrecognizable in costumes and masks, but that’s a bit of a staple in the superhero stories even today so it’s not that bothersome.

4. The Characters

It was admittedly pretty rare for a children’s show to have characters who were fleshed out enough to seem realistic and flawed, but I think this series gives its characters more development than most shows for kids did at the time.

I especially like Mathilde as a character. Sure, at first glance she seems like a typical Nice Pretty Ordinary Girl ™️ but that was a part of the appeal for me.

I am a strong believer in that a character does not need to be a blank slate or a troubled jerk to be interesting and Mathilde is neither of the above. She is essentially an ordinary girl with her own life, family, friends, personality and dreams and, unfortunately, all of that is taken away from her when her parents are killed.

Her initial reluctance to participate in the revolution is also pretty realistic as she is still trying to live her own life in peace and she made a promise to her parents to stay safe so there’s that too.

I really like the fact that the show did not give her magic powers and that she was not immediately good at fencing. François does remark that her fencing is not bad for a beginner but in those same episodes she is clearly shown making mistakes and it takes her time to upgrade from essentially François’s assistant in the heroic shenanigans to a teammate he can rely on and sees as an equal. Heck, later there’s a moment when Mathilde saves François, which is a nice tidbit of her development.

Mathilde also doesn’t have any romantic subplots, which is really rare for a female lead.

She has a childhood friend, Florent, but the two are not close romantically and they even begin to drift apart somewhat once Florent becomes invested in the revolution. François de Vaudreuil does not qualify for a love interest either - his father does take Mathilde in and adopts her after her parents are killed so François is more of an older brother than anything else.

Now, I’m not saying that romance is necessarily a bad thing but I do think that not having them is refreshing than shoehorning a romance into a story that’s not even about it. Plus most kids don’t care that much for romance to begin with so I’d say that the show only benefits from the creative decision of not setting Mathilde up with anyone.

Another interesting narrative choice I’d like to point out is the nearly complete absence of historical characters, like the revolutionaries. They do not make an appearance at all, save for Saint-Just’s cameo in one of the last episodes and, fortunately, he doesn’t get demonized. Instead, the revolutionary ideas are represented by Florent, who even joins the Jacobin Club during the story and is the one who tries to get Mathilde to become a revolutionary. Other real people, like young Napoleon and Mozart, do appear but they are also cameo characters, which does not count.

Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI are exceptions to the rule.

(Spoiler alert!)

Marie-Antoinette is portrayed as kind of spoiled and out of touch. Her spending habits get touched on too but she is not a malicious person at heart. She is simply flawed. She becomes especially important to the story later on when Mathilde finds out the secret that has been hidden from her for her entire life.

As it turns out, Marie- Antoinette, the same queen Mathilde hated so much, is the girl’s older half-sister and Mathilde is an illegitimate daughter of the Austrian king and an opera singer, given to a childless couple of florists to be raised in secret so that her identity can be protected.

The way Marie-Antoinette and Mathilde are related and their further interactions end up providing an interesting inner conflict for Mathilde as now she needs to reconcile this relationship with her sister and her hatred for the corruption filling Versailles.

The characters are not actively glorified or demonized for the most part and each side has a fair share of sympathetic characters but the anime doesn’t shy away from showing the dark sides of the revolution either, unlike some other shows that tackle history (*cough* Liberty’s Kids comes to mind *cough*).

All in all, pretty interesting characters and the way they develop is quite realistic too, even if they could’ve been more fleshed out in my opinion.

5. The Voice Acting

Pretty solid. No real complaints here. I’d say that the dub actors did a good job.

6. The Setting

I really like the pastel and simple color scheme of Paris and its contrast with the brighter palette of Versailles. It really drives home the contrast between these two worlds.

The character designs are pretty realistic, simple and pleasant to watch. No eyesores like neon colors and overly cutesy anime girls with giant tiddies here and that’s a big plus in my book.

7. The Conclusion

Like I said, the show is not available in English and those who are able to watch it might find it a bit cliché but, while it’s definitely not perfect. I actually quite like it for its interesting concept, fairly realistic characters and a complex view of the French Revolution. I can definitely recommend this show, if only to see what it’s all about.

Some people might find this show too childish and idealistic, but I’m not one of them.

I’m almost 21 but I still enjoy cartoons and I’m fairly idealistic because cynicism and nihilism do not equal maturity and, if not for the “silly” idealism, Frev itself wouldn’t happen so I think shows like that are necessary too, even if it’s just for escapism.

If you’re interested and want to check it out, more power to you.

Anyway, thank you for attending the first ever official meeting of the Jacobin Fiction Convention. Second meeting is coming soon so stay tuned for updates.

Have a good day, Citizens! I love you!

- Citizen Green Pixel

#review #french revolution #anime #history #television #frev media #Jacobin Fiction Convention #marie antoinette #French Revolution anime #la seine ni hoshi #la tulipe noire dessin animé #la tulipe noire

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natromanxoff · 3 years

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Daily Mail - June 1, 1987

Thanks so much to @astrophysicist-guitar-god for helping me with transcription!!

Freddie Mercury’s Night at the Opera

Words by Peter Sheridan

EVEN in the bizarre world of rock, they made an amazing duo.

Like a sequinned galleon under full sail, internationally acclaimed soprano Monserrat Caballe burts into thunderous song.

Beside her, the normally outrageous star of rock group Queen, Freddie Mercury, belted out the composition that he hopes will take them to the top of the charts.

And Mercury and the prima donna dubbed La Superba by her adoring Spanish fans certainly made sweet music together. They were acclaimed by a star-studded audience at a music festival in Ibiza, Spain.

The couple now plan to record an album to follow their single, called Barcelona.

In a concert that featured Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Marillion and Chris Rea, the undisputed highlight was the combination of rock’s (…) Mercury, and Caballe, more accustomed to performing Verdi and Donizetti.

“It blew my mind to sing with her,” said 40-year-old Mercury, who abandoned his traditional sequins and body-hugging black leather, for a slick black dress suit and bow tie.

Dream

Mercury has already had an operatic-inspired Number One hit with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and also a big selling album called A Night At The Opera. But in recent months, the rock star and La Superba, reportedly the world’s highest paid opera singer in the 1970s, have collaborated closely.

Mercury said: “I have never written anything for opera, or the operatic voice before. I have liked her for years, but it is a dream come true that she said she would do something with me.”

Their debut concert was filmed for television, and is expected to be sold worldwide, including Britain. Spokeswoman for the shows’s organisers, Roxy Mead, said last night: “Freddie Mercury has a great passion for opera, and when he expressed interest, Monseratt Caballe actually said she was very keen to work with him.

“They have planned this duet for a long time, and the TV spectacular gave them the opportunity they needed.”

Caballe’s talent was discovered when she was only 14 and her parents agreed to let her study to become and opera singer provided she became a big one – “I was already that in size,” she says.

A giant among opera singers, the 53-year-old soprano is more than a musical match for Mercury, whose European tour with Queen last year netted more than ₤11 million, and played to a record 400,000 people in Britain alone.

“I’m a chameleon – I change,” said the singer whose last hit was The Great Pretender. But the outlandish rocker, who this spring shaved off his trademark moustache, has rarely changed his appearance so comprehensively as the clean-cut, crisp-suited, wing collared crooner he became to partners the imposing Caballe.

Imposing

After the concert in the open-air of Ibiza’s celebrated Ku Club, Mercury spoke of their plans.

“We are making an album now, but we don’t yet know its name,” he said. “What I have done is gained her confidence, and in fact, that is now a bigger burden to me because she has said she will do whatever I say – which is worse!”

#queen #queen band #freddie mercury #daily mail june 1987

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queen-erika-the-songful · 3 years

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what did you think about the live action beauty and the beast?

I wish I could like it more, but there’s just way too much that I can’t stand about it.

To start positively, I did like:

The new songs, “Evermore” especially. I think it’s the perfect compliment to “If I Can’t Love Her” from the Broadway musical. If you pair them together, they’re a great representation of the Beast’s character development

The overall visual aesthetic. The costumes were really nice, the sets were beautiful, and I really did like various mixes of white and gold in the castle.

Emma Watson and Dan Stevens had better chemistry than I was expecting. I appreciate that.

Luke Evans absolutely killed “The Mob Song”. He was really scary.

The attempt to give Belle and Beast some more scenes together. I think Belle reading to him outside and the talk they had in the garden were both sweet moments. They reminded me a bit of when Belle reads King Arthur out loud to Beast in the Broadway show. during “Something There”. They really needed some bonding moments between them to make the romance work. It also helps that I’m a big sap.

The main cast overall was pretty good, but Kevin Kline was the best actor in the entire film. His Maurice was so tender and loving; I really felt every emotion he portrayed.

Belle having a more active role in the climax, which is something I actually did want to see. I really like that she caught up to Gaston, and tried to take him on, even if was just for a second.

But then there’s stuff like this:

Like I said before, I do like the new songs...but seriously? We didn’t get one song from the musical?! And Menken even teases us with an instrumental version of “Home” when Belle first enters her new room. I mean they didn’t need to make it a full-on remake of the stage musical, but it would’ve been nice to see at least one or two of them implemented into the film.

WAY too much auto-tune used for Emma. Her voice isn’t even bad. It’s not totally grand but it was serviceable. They should’ve either let her sing and not process her vocals or just dub her over with another singer. There’s really no shame in dubbing, I mean even the first High School Musical dubbed over Troy’s parts.

They cut the original version of “Days in the Sun” with the Queen and Beast’s verses, which I think was a massive mistake. It’s so much better than the final version.

The push to make Belle more “feminist” didn’t feel entirely genuine. I initially liked the idea of her being the inventor and Maurice a clockmaker, but they don’t do much with it. In addition, she was already a pretty feminist character anyway. She saw through Gaston’s handsome exterior to his black heart right away, traded her freedom for her father’s with little to no hesitation, and didn’t give the Beast even an inch of a chance until he started being nice. Not to mention, she also tried to fight off wolves to save Phillip with just a stick and later tried to save the Beast from Gaston even though she was small and weak compared to both of them. She was a kind, brave, perceptive, clever, romantic - it’s not like being a bookworm was her entire personality.

They tried to make Gaston a “deeper”/more “complex” villain by making him a war vet with PTSD. That was completely the wrong decision and a little disgusting. My dad actually has PTSD from being a Marine, so this is a bit of a personal gripe. But I can’t understand the decision to make turn the villain, the guy we’re supposed to see as the “true” monster, someone with a real mental illness that clearly just needs help. I’m not saying that Gaston wouldn’t use his position as a war hero to boost his ego and be all high-and-mighty, because he is supposed to be egotistic, but like what was the point? What was wrong with him just being a vain, misogynistic hunter that wasn’t going to let Belle say no?

Also why did they put a set date/time for the movie anyway? What did that actually add? Maybe I just don’t get it.

What the hell was up with Agathe being the Enchantress and her showing up at the end? I don’t get it. She doesn’t need to show up in the story at all. She just needs to show up in the prologue and curse the Prince and that’s it. I know she’s supposed to be watching them or whatever but after the spell is broken she just stands around saying nothing. The leads don’t even see her so what was the point?

Who in their right fucking mind thought that the Lefou subplot was a good idea?! Oh yes, let’s make one of the first LGBTQ+ characters in a major Disney production the villain’s henchman with whom he is secretly in love, then give him a literal 2 seconds of screentime with one of the random bargoers at the very end of the film. Like...having him break out of a toxic, one-sided relationship isn’t a bad idea exactly, but it was done so poorly. Not to mention his name means “the fool” - sure, that’s a great name to give the only gay character. If they really wanted to break barriers, why not put Cogsworth and Lumiere together instead?

What did the Wardrobe/Madam Garderobe and the Harpsichord/Maestro Cadenza add? I mean, maybe they wanted to do what they did for Wardrobe in the Broadway show, but it’s different. There, she was given the name Madame de la Grande Bouche, and she was the palace opera singer. She and Babette (Feather Duster) were major side characters along with Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Chip, and Cogsworth. In the live-action she and Cadenza weren’t even part of the court, they were visiting from another land. So why did they have to get cursed too? They were literally just there to perform and got caught up in the curse by chance.

They casted Audra McDonald and she didn’t even sing that much. Sorry but she should’ve been the one to sing “Beauty and the Beast” instead of Emma Thompson

I’m sure there are more things I’m forgetting to feel free to send in more asks if you want.

I guess if I was babysitting one of my school kids I wouldn’t mind watching it with them but I would rather just stick to the original and the Broadway show. I really feel like in an effort to “fix” the original, they both added too much and took away a lot and it ended up a bit of a mess. A mess that’s pretty to look at and listen too, but a mess nevertheless.

#asks #anonymous #beauty and the beast

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vintagegeekculture · 5 years

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What are some actually GOOD Sword and Sandal movies?

One of the bigger genres in Italy who’s popularity came and went in waves from the silent era to the present, Sword and Sandal (or Peplum) films are Italian movies about gladiators, musclemen, Ancient Greece and Rome, and who’s main characters include Hercules, Spartacus, Ursus, Maciste (a homegrown, semi-Marxist Hercules who fights the rich and decadent who is purely a creation of Italian cinema).

The genre started in 1912, with Cabiria, an ultra-early Italian feature that predated D.W. Griffith, featuring a muscular African slave named Maciste, and due to his muscles and screen presence, Bartolomeo Pagano may have been the first true movie star, making dozens of sequels. The popularity of these movies went into hibernation in Italy until 1959, when it got a huge resurgence when Steve Reeves starred as Hercules, and consequently became the highest paid star in Europe. Hercules (1959) caused literally hundreds of movies to be made, assembly line, in a burst of about 5 years. The genre burned itself out through repetition in only a half decade, only to be replaced by the Italian horror/slasher film and the Spaghetti Western. It was down for good, only to have something of a resurgence of popularity in Italy in the wake of the popularity of John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian in the early 1980s.

Sword and Sandal seems to be a genre where any given film picked at random could be a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode. For the most part, Sword and Sandal movies are mostly known for being the training ground of people who showed their skills in other genres, like how Mario Bava became a horror director, or how Sergio Leone, a second unit director on a few, was best known later for Spaghetti Westerns. And there is certainly some truth to the idea that, if you have seen one, you’ve seen them all. But there are certainly some good examples of the genre that are worth seeing.

Goliath and the Dragon (1960)

Don’t be fooled, this is a Hercules movie, but they renamed it because of some begobbled distribution rights issue.

If you were a Greek mythology kid (and most nerdy kids went through a phase they were into sharks, dinosaurs, Greek mythology, AV/Radio, writing in Dwarf runes under your desk after reading Tolkien for the first time, and lego) you might remember reading about Hercules’s semi-tragic end, poisoned and killed by his own wife and a centaur. It was the most fascinating story, where Hercules’s great strength and courage was defeated by jealous and anxious little people who tore him down. Americans don’t have much of a taste for tragedy, so it’s very seldom been adapted for American audiences.

Goliath and the Dragon is that story. It literally starts with Hercules finishing his hardest heroic Labor, and retiring. However, his younger brother is jealous of him, and a conspiracy of schemers work to get rid of Hercules by manipulating envy. Along the way, Hercules feels abandoned by the gods and he turns against them in anguish after a lifetime of service. It has a dragon, and quests into the underworld, yes, but it is primarily not an adventure film, which is what makes it interesting.

It also stars Mark Forest, who might be the only one of the bodybuilders to play Hercules to have a legit screen presence. He later left movies to become an opera singer and voice coach.

Eric the Conqueror (1961)

This is one by Italian horror titan Mario Bava, and because it’s kind of a well known film, it actually has a half-decent transfer, including availability in the original language instead of a shoddy 70s dub - this is utterly, absolutely unheard of in this genre, where the copies of these movies on streaming (even on Amazon Prime!) are sometimes literally off VHS and have “snow lines” and other phenomenally half-assed signs of VHS transfer, like the original FBI WARNING stickers.

The film is about two Viking brothers, one of who is raised by Christians as a knight, the other of whom grows up the son of a pagan Viking warlord. It’s a film about the contrast between Christian and Pagan, and the one thing about it people remember is that it stars a pair of Playboy Playmate twins. Stylish and action-oriented with lots of red blood, it’s like a cool version of Disney’s “The Island at the Top of the World.”

Hercules in the Haunted World (1961)

Hercules vs. Christopher Lee –need I say more? Christopher Lee is a vampire who took over a kingdom and hypnotized Hercules’s true love, shrouding the land in eerie darkness…and so Hercules has to descend into the underworld. This is a case where the screenshots really tell the story, they get across the eerie, surreal Gothic ambiance of the film. It doesn’t actually feature Castle Greyskull, but it would perfectly fit in with the décor.

As far as I know, Hercules never actually encountered vampires in Greek folklore, but in Italian cinema, they seem to feel that the supreme challenge for the Son of Zeus is the undead (see also, Kobrak in Goliath and the Sins of Babylon).

I feel guilty having two Mario Bava movies on here. But of the two, this one feels the more…Mario Bava, in lighting, design, and ambiance, which is really the reason to see it. Essentially, it’s Hercules Goes to Hell, and it’s treated as more of a truly eerie horror movie, with weird lighting. The presence of Christopher Lee makes it feel like a bodybuilder accidentally wandered onto the set of a Hammer Horror film, with crumbling castles and she-vampires in negligees.

Maciste in Hell (1925)

Speaking of the essential plot of a muscleman going to hell, you wouldn’t think a movie of that kind would be whimsical, charming, imaginative, and creative, but it is. Satan tries to tempt Maciste, a pure in heart muscleman who represents the pure, incorruptible goodness and strength of the working class. Maciste movies, distinct from Hercules films, always had a strong Marxist undertone, with villains who were super-rich and decadent, all the while Maciste resisted their temptations and hung out with the lower classes and sponsored a revolution. The movie is full in intertitles like “the Dragon – Hell’s Aeroplane!” And the quest by female devils to turn Maciste into a demon himself with a kiss. Essentially, it’s a movie where if you’re pure in heart and have biceps of steel, there’s no problem you can’t bench press, grip, or grapple, even Satan.

According to his memoirs, this was the movie that made Fellini want to become a director.

Hercules and the Princess of Troy (1965)

Made at the absolute dying gasp of the genre, this one is essentially the “Enter the Dragon” of Sword and Sandal movies, in that it was a Hollywood/Italian co-production, much like how “Enter the Dragon” was the first Hollywood/Hong Kong co-production. It wasn’t a movie at all, but a pilot episode for a television show that never went to series…to everyone’s shame, because if it had been made, it would have been a crowd pleaser, if the pilot was anything to go by. I all but guarantee it would be a syndication favorite that would have turned everyone in it into a star, the kind that would be on Nick at Nite forever, or the earliest incarnation of F/X, where it was just a scrappy rerun network with a pre-Survivor Jeff Probst (I still remember the F/X house all the VJ like hosts lived in).

This one has Hercules (played by Tarzan Gordon Scott) as a sea captain and leader of a Greek ship named the Olympia, who is accompanied by two sidekicks, Ulysses (a young, clever Ulysses as Herc’s sidekick was also a trait of Paul Levine’s Hercules and Hercules Unchained), and Diogenes, Hercules’s smart friend, a medical doctor and proto-scientist who comes off as the project’s most interesting character, a Dr. McCoy like curmudgeon who adventures to stay away from his awful wife, who creates a chemical that burns on water and who uses the Socratic Method to solve a murder mystery. If this had gone to series, I can see him overshadowing the theoretical leading man in a similar way to Jonathan Harris as Dr. Smith overshadowing the Robinsons.

The pilot was great fun. It had mythological creatures like invulnerable horses and a terrifyingly unique sea monster, that was some of the earliest work by the now legendary Carlo Rambaldi (creator of E.T. and the Alien) that is light years ahead of the shag carpet dragons musclemen pretend to wrestle in movies like this. Not to mention a mystery, and Hercules facing intrigue that, as a trustworthy and direct man of action, he is incapable of dealing with (a trait of nearly every single interesting Hercules movie).

#sword and sandal #peplum #hercules #italian cinema

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justforbooks · 5 years

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Franco Zeffirelli dies at 96

Franco Zeffirelli, the Italian director and designer who reigned in theater, film and opera as the unrivaled master of grandeur, orchestrating the youthful 1968 movie version of “Romeo and Juliet” and transporting operagoers to Parisian rooftops and the pyramids of Egypt in productions widely regarded as classics, died June 15 at his home in Rome. He was 96.

A son, Luciano, confirmed the death to the Associated Press but did not cite a cause.

Mr. Zeffirelli — a self-proclaimed “flag-bearer of the crusade against boredom, bad taste and stupidity in the theater” — was a defining presence in the arts since the 1950s. In his view, less was not more. “More is fine,” a collaborator recalled Mr. Zeffirelli saying, and as a set designer, he delivered more gilt, more brocade and more grandiosity than many theater patrons expected to find on a single stage.

“A spectacle,” Mr. Zeffirelli once told the New York Times, “is a good investment.”

From his earliest days, he seemed to belong to the opera. Born in Italy to a married woman and her lover, he received neither parent’s surname. His mother dubbed him “Zeffiretti,” an Italian word that means “little breezes” and that arises in Mozart’s opera “Idomeneo,” in the aria “Zeffiretti lusinghieri.” An official mistakenly recorded the name as “Zeffirelli.”

Mr. Zeffirelli grew up mainly in Florence, amid the city’s Renaissance riches, and trained as an artist before being pulled into theater and then film by an early and influential mentor, Luchino Visconti. Mr. Zeffirelli matured into a sought-after director in his own right, staging works in Milan, London and New York City, where he became a mainstay of the Metropolitan Opera.

His first major work as a film director was “The Taming of the Shrew” (1967), a screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. But Mr. Zeffirelli was best known for the Shakespearean adaptation released the next year — “Romeo and Juliet,” starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey in the title roles.

He reportedly reviewed the work of hundreds of young actors before selecting his two stars, both of whom were still in their teens. With a lush soundtrack by Nino Rota, and with its equally lush visuals, the film won the Academy Award for best cinematography and was a runaway box office success. Film critic Roger Ebert declared it “the most exciting film of Shakespeare ever made.”

It “is the first production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ I am familiar with in which the romance is taken seriously,” Ebert wrote. “Always before, we have had actors in their 20s or 30s or even older, reciting Shakespeare’s speeches to each other as if it were the words that mattered. They do not, as anyone who has proposed marriage will agree.”

In the opera, an art form already known for its opulence, big voices and bigger personalities, Mr. Zeffirelli permitted himself to be deterred by neither physical nor financial constraints. “Opera audiences demand the spectacular,” he told the Times.

Mr. Zeffirelli had notable artistic relationships with two of the most celebrated sopranos of the 20th century, Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland. But certain Zeffirelli sets seemed to excite the opera world even more than the performers who sang upon them.

One such example was his production of Puccini’s “La Boheme,” an extravaganza set in 19th-century Paris and famous for its exuberant street scene and magical snowfall. After its 1981 premiere at the Met, it was said that the audience lavished on Mr. Zeffirelli a grander ovation than the one reserved for conductor James Levine and the singers who played the opera’s bohemian lovers.

“For the first time,” Mr. Zeffirelli told the Times, “audiences will have a sense of the immensity of Paris, and the smallness of this little group’s place — the actual space of a garret. The acting is now intimate and conversational, which is exactly what Puccini wanted. Since the garret is raised, every whisper and gesture will come across clearly in the theater.”

His production of Verdi’s “Aida,” performed at Milan’s La Scala in 1963 with soprano Leontyne Price and tenor Carlo Bergonzi, featured 600 singers and dancers (including scantily clad belly dancers), 10 horses, towering idols, palm trees and sphinxes littering the expanse of the stage. “I have tried to give the public the best that Cecil B. DeMille could offer,” Mr. Zeffirelli told Time magazine, referring to the Hollywood director’s biblical epics, “but in good taste.”

It was sometimes said that Mr. Zeffirelli was beloved by everyone except music reviewers, some of whom disparaged his style as excessive to the point of taking attention away from the music. Writing in the Times, Bernard Holland panned Mr. Zeffirelli’s set for Puccini’s “Turandot,” set in China, as “acres of white paint and gold leaf topped by the gaudiest of pagodas” and quipped that “if the gods eat dim sum, they certainly do it in a place like this.”

In time, the Metropolitan Opera replaced some of Mr. Zeffirelli’s productions, although the modernistic newcomers — notably Luc Bondy’s dreary “Tosca” in 2009 — did not always prove as popular.

“It’s like somebody decides that the Sistine Chapel is out of fashion,” Mr. Zeffirelli told the Times. “They go there and make something a la Warhol. . . . You don’t like it? O.K., fine, but let’s have it for future generations.”

As for those who had criticized his direction of “Romeo and Juliet” for similar reasons, he retorted, “In all honesty, I don’t believe that millions of young people throughout the world wept over my film ... just because the costumes were splendid.”

Mr. Zeffirelli was born in Florence on Feb. 12, 1923. His father, Ottorino Corsi, was a Florentine businessman, and his mother, Alaide Garosi, was a fashion designer. Her husband was a lawyer, and he died before Mr. Zeffirelli was born.

His mother continued a fraught relationship with Corsi, once attempting to stab him with a hat pin. “The opera? My destiny?” Mr. Zeffirelli observed in a 1986 autobiography, “Zeffirelli.” “I think there is a case to be made.”

After the death of his mother when he was 6, he became the charge of an aunt. He recalled his upbringing in the 1930s in the semi-autobiographical film “Tea With Mussolini” (1999), which he directed and which starred Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright as English expatriates in Florence who take in a parentless child during the era of fascist rule.

Mr. Zeffirelli attended art school before studying architecture at the University of Florence. His studies were put on hold during World War II, when he fought alongside antifascist partisans. His interests shifted more toward film, particularly after he saw Laurence Olivier star in the 1944 Technicolor film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” which Olivier also directed.

“The lights went down and that glorious film began,” Mr. Zeffirelli recalled in his memoir. “I knew then what I was going to do. Architecture was not for me; it had to be the stage.”

He met Visconti while working in Florence as a stagehand. Visconti, with whom he lived for a period, gave him his push into professional work, hiring him to work as a designer for an Italian stage production of Tennessee Williams’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1949.

Mr. Zeffirelli soon began designing and directing at La Scala and later the Met. He designed, directed and adapted from Shakespeare the libretto for the production of Samuel Barber’s “Antony and Cleopatra” that opened the Met’s new opera house at Lincoln Center in 1966.

Mr. Zeffirelli said he found it invigorating to shift from one art form to another. His theatrical productions starred top-flight actors including Albert Finney and Anna Magnani. On television, he directed “Jesus of Nazareth,” an acclaimed 1977 miniseries with a reported price tag of $18 million and a cast that included Robert Powell as Jesus, Hussey as the Virgin Mary, Olivier as Nicodemus, Anne Bancroft as Mary Magdalene and James Earl Jones as Balthazar.

Mr. Zeffirelli received a best director Oscar nomination for “Romeo and Juliet.” (He lost to Carol Reed for the musical “Oliver!”) He also garnered a nomination for best art direction for his 1982 film adaptation of Verdi’s opera “La Traviata,” starring Teresa Stratas and Plácido Domingo, one of several such operatic film adaptations he made.

His other notable films included “Hamlet” (1990) starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close. Less acclaimed was “Endless Love” (1981), starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt in a tragic story of teen romance, which Mr. Zeffirelli admitted was “wretched.”

Politically, Mr. Zeffirelli positioned himself on the right, serving as a senator in the political party Forza Italia. “I have found it an irritating irony that those who espouse populist political views often want art to be ‘difficult,’ ” he wrote in his memoir. “Yet I, who favor the Right in our democracy, believe passionately in a broad culture made accessible to as many as possible.”

He described himself as homosexual, preferring not to use the word “gay.” In 2000, he adopted two adult sons, Pippo and Luciano, both former lovers, according to the newspaper the Australian. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

Looking back on his life and career, Mr. Zeffirelli once told The Washington Post that he was struck by “how much is risked to become something” — “to make something of his life,” he continued, speaking of himself in the third person. To show that “he’s not a bastard.”

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #IN MEMORIAM #Franco Zeffirelli

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rwby-analysis · 7 years

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Colossalcon RWBY Panel Summary

Vic Mignogna (Qrow Branwen) and Elizabeth Maxwell (Winter Schnee) talked about a couple of things regarding RWBY. Some of them were really, really interesting. Also they both but especially Vic talked very fondly of Qrow, RWBY, CRWBY and RTX and were very lovely to everyone on the panel which was really nice to watch. Vic sang happy birthday to a fan in his Qrow voice which was really sweet.

Someone asked about Qrow’s thoughts on Raven. He said that Qrow has very strong feelings regarding his sister which he will keep to himself because of spoilers, but there is interesting stuff to come that will tickle that itch.

He said that it’s interesting that so many people speculate that Ruby is actually Qrow’s daughter. And that it’s interesting. And then asked for the next question.

Vic told the story of how he got hired as Qrow. Lindsay and Michael talked to Vic in a Hotel lobby and showed him pictures and videos from RWBY. He really liked it and later got an email asking him if he wanted to be in it and he said yes. They sent him imagines of Qrow and he sent them options of voices, they picked one and he recorded his lines for volume 3 and 4 at home in LA without directors or other actors and without input. He sent them three versions of every line and they picked the one they seemed would fit. Only recently he started to meet the other voice actors and everyone else involved in RWBY, an experience he spoke very fondly of.

Vic loves uncle Qrow a lot.

Elizabeth got involved because a lot of the people behind RWBY are fans of Attack on Titan, also she lives in Austin, so they invited her for a studio tour, but back then she didn’t even know anything about Rooster Teeth and RWBY. She agreed to come and met a lot of CRWBY guys and at the end they asked her to audition for Winter. Before auditioning she usually checks out at least one of two episodes of the show to get into it, so at that time she was in NYC with a friend and started with the red trailer and after 30 seconds they decided to rearrange their schedules to watch the show and ended up bingewatching the first two volumes together. Afterwards she felt so much pressure while recording her audition because she really, really wanted to be on the show.

Elizabeth was also picked as Winter because they felt like her and Kara Eberle (voice of Weiss Schnee) had a similar cadence to their voices, they talk very similarly.

When casting Elizabeth for Winter they were looking for a more mature and womanly sound as she is older than Winter. Being familiar with her previous work they knew she could comfortably voice Winter with a lower voice. They wanted a level of authority and maybe arrogance for her. Elizabeth also wanted to get a sense of pedigree and her background of being raised in a nobility-like environment play into Winter’s voice. She described Winter as the ballet-opera version of Motoko.

Vic asked her if she has already recorded volume 5 and she just said that she can’t say anything about that. (My bets she will be in that volume and he knows that.)

Vic said that Chibi is a lot of fun. He recorded Chibi before actually watching Chibi though and watched it for the first time when he showed it on a panel.

Someone asked if Vic would ever do a cover of Qrow’s song (Bad Luck Charm). He said he would if he wasn’t so much worse of a singer than Jeff Williams and said that Jeff is amazing. Elizabeth said Vic is a great singer though and everyone asked him to sing it, so he started to sing Let it go. He said he loves the song and would love to do it and might do it if someone sends him tones.

Elizabeth said that Monty wrote very far into the show and planned many, many volumes ahead, so there is much to come that is based on Monty’s vision.

RWBY is the first time Americans have dubbed a show first and the Japanese followed up. That gives them more freedom because they don’t have to sound like the original Japanese voice actors, now they have to do it the other way around in Japan. It seems to be a really big thing for the voice actors and is only possible because of the fans and their support. Vic said he has heard companies talk about wanting to do that for years but none ever did.

Someone asked what aspect of working on RWBY they are most proud of. Vic said in his Qrow voice that Elizabeth is most proud of her secret love for Qrow. Elizabeth said that she is most grateful for to work with RT because it’s like working with your friends and she gained what feels like an actual little sister with Kara, they became very close and hang out a lot, also she coached Kara a bit with doing her effort sounds. But the fan reactions also make her very proud because RWBY resonates so much with so many people. Vic said that he loves playing characters who aren’t immediately recognised as being him, he loves playing a character that has a different tone, but also the way he is written. He said that after Fullmetal Alchemist he felt like he may never be a part of anything that special again, because it’s so hard to follow up on something that good and special and he feels blessed to be involved with RWBY and that it feels very special to him.

Vic said that voicing a character is not about making your voice sound different than the other characters you have played before but playing this one character authentically.

Elizabeth said that like Winter she’s very close with her family, she always loves them but doesn’t always like them. She shares that strong sense of loyalty but not always getting along with Winter. But unlike Winter she has never called anyone a boob. Also she loves bunk beds.

Vic has never recorded Qrow while actually being drunk. Actually Vic said that unlike Qrow he has never been drunk a day in his life. But he always makes drinking jokes when talking about Qrow and doesn’t even know what that is like. What he does share with Qrow is that he is absolutely awesome with a scythe. (Well no, he never held one in his life.)

#rwby #qrow branwen #raven branwen #winter schnee #rwby5 #colossalcon #colossalcon east #colossalcon 2017 #rwby panel #panel #summary #Vic Mignogna #elizabeth maxwell #lindsay jones #michael jones #rwby volume 5 #volume 5 #rooster teeth #Daddy Qrow

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coll2mitts · 4 years

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#86 Carmen Jones (1954)

A sex crazed factory worker corrupts a dumbass American soldier, and when she tries to exert bodily autonomy after their relationship ends, he strangles her to death. Cute.

Carmen Jones is a modern day retelling of the classic Bizet opera, Carmen. Set in America during WW2, Carmen works at a parachute factory, and although she has a reputation for getting around, she has her eyes set on Corporal Joe. The only complication is he currently has a sweetheart, Cindy Lou, and she’s sitting right next to him while Carmen puts the moves on.

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The majority of the songs in this movie are from Bizet’s original opera, but with new English lyrics. I’m all for translating something in a different medium, but Rogers and Hammerstein made the bizarre decision to require actual opera singers to perform these songs, instead of updating the style of delivery to something you don’t need years upon years of training to execute.

I probably don’t have to tell you that the majority of the actors in this movie were dubbed when they sang, including their main actress, Dorothy Dandridge, whose parts were sang by Marilynn Horne.

Again, I ask, why cast leads of your movie that you’re going to have to dub over? This also leads to some racists fucking bullshit, where the black actors are dubbed over with white singers trying to “sound black”. And by “sounding black”, apparently that means speaking in improper grammar and replacing any word that starts with T with a D. It’s fucking awkward.

The songs are written in this dialect, however, so it wasn’t even a creative choice from Marilynn Horne. It was written into the show, which again, fucking oof. Dorothy Dandridge doesn’t even speak that way when reciting the dialogue, but the minute she has to sing, we’re treated with a barrage of dats, deres, and dens.

Carmen Jones did provide a platform for a lot of black actors and actresses to be featured in a major motion picture, but there were so many things the filmmakers could have done to prevent white voices from dubbing black actors. Hire someone qualified to sing the role, or change the skill needed to play the role. With the amount of talent that exists in the world, if you can’t find someone who can both sing and act, you’re not doing your job as a casting director.

(Yes, I know, I know, the lord knows I’m going to have so much to answer to when we get to My Fair Lady, I’m preparing myself.)

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Opera singers are nothing *but* charisma, because there’s a good possibility they’re singing in a language that their audience does not understand. They need to exude the emotion from their voice, and from their movements. If you want the cast of your movie to sing opera for whatever misguided reason, cast fucking opera singers.

I have mentioned before I have a very, very, very, bad and basic understanding of French, so listening to this opera, I can only pick out bits and pieces of what the hell anybody is singing. Thankfully, the way Elina Garanca delivers the song, I can surmise everything I need to know.

Olga James is proof that you can cast someone charismatic and charming who can also fucking sing opera. After Joe blows off Carmen, he asks Cindy Lou to marry him while telling her she reminds him of his mother. I can’t think of anything less romantic, but Cindy Lou falls for it hard. They sing a beautiful duet and she agrees to marry him that day so they can “honeymoon” before he leaves for flight school in the morning.

Seconds after Joe proposes to Cindy Lou, he’s called to duty to drive Carmen to a neighboring city’s prison because she started a fight with her co-worker. While Joe is initially pissed off by this, Carmen is through the roof.

Otto Preminger, the director of this film, didn’t believe Dorothy Dandridge could act “sexy” enough to play this role, so she dressed up like Carmen, headed into his office, auditioned again and got the part. In the original opera, Carmen is sensual, and she comes on strong, but the way Dorothy tries to eat this man alive in the first few scenes of this movie is just bizarre and alarming.

Carmen tries to convince Joe to let her go in exchange with sleeping with her. When he doesn’t succumb to her advances, she jumps out of the jeep and onto a very slow moving train. She’s running in heels, and he’s a corporal, so he catches her pretty easily. After tying her up and shoving her back in the jeep, he decides to shave some time off the journey by taking a backwoods road, uttering a sentence that is literally every Jeep owner’s motto:

In a shocker to end all shockers, he gets the Jeep stuck in a ditch. Carmen offers to lead him to her hometown, cook him a meal, and when the next train comes, they can head to Masonville together. They end up back at Carmen’s place and talk about their futures - Joe plans to marry Cindy Lou and go to flight school, and Carmen plans on having a bunch of casual sex that she enjoys. I know I should be watching Carmen’s excellent skills of seduction, but I’m just focused on the fact that Harry Belafonte had to probably eat a dozen peaches to film this scene.

So, they sleep together, as if that wasn’t going to happen. Carmen escapes, and Joe is arrested for letting her get away. She sends him mail, and he continues to pine for a lady he slept with once and subsequently put him in jail, instead of Cindy Lou, who is amazing and supportive in every way.

While Joe is serving out his sentence, Carmen mopes at her favorite watering hole, waiting around for his return. We finally meet some of her friends, like Frankie, who sings about how excited the beat of the drum makes her, IN A SONG THAT DOESN’T HAVE A DRUM IN IT, WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING HERE.

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Like, I get pizzicato is cool and everything, but this song does not justify the fire choreography going on behind Pearl Bailey. Seriously, props to these dancers, they are doing everything in their power to try and make this song make fucking sense.

I don’t know why this makes me irrationally angry, but it does. They could have easily added a drum part to this. It is the worst translation of the opera to musical format, and a waste of Pearl’s talent. I can’t.

Later in the night, the big hot-shot boxer Husky Miller stops by to revel in his latest victory. Everyone except Carmen seems impressed, since she’s still thinking about Joe’s dick, and has probably seen that Animaniacs cartoon enough to be as bored with this as I am. Husky seems enthralled with her, however, and asks his manager to try and convince her to join them in Chicago. They rope in Carmen’s friends, and even though they all sing a very convincing song about how exciting it is to board a train, Carmen sticks by her man and blows them off.

Speaking of her man, he is released from jail, and instead of indulging Carmen with the love fest she expected, informs her that he will be leaving for flight school the next day. Carmen realizes Joe doesn’t appreciate her jail-induced celibacy, and decides he’s no longer worth her time. She tries to leave with Joe’s commanding officer, since he seems to knows a good woman when he sees one. Joe throws a fit, and a punch, at a Sargent, which would land him 4 years in jail if he’s caught.

After coming to the realization he’s the dumbest person alive, Joe decides to flee the city with Carmen and head to Chicago. Carmen and him spend a week holed up and boning because Joe can’t go anywhere at risk of him being arrested. Carmen, bored and out of money, decides to hit up Husky Miller and see what that wealthy dude is up to. Frankie’s outfit only confirms Carmen made a terrible choice in a man.

After pawning some tacky jewelry and buying a new dress and some food, Joe gives Carmen shit about paying for things, because he can’t possibly understand how she could earn money without selling herself. He asks her to stay in the apartment with him forever, because he lovesssss heeeerrrrrrrr, and that means she has to listen to what he says. She, rightfully, tells him to get all the way off her fucking back and leaves to grab a sugar daddy.

She has a lot of fun with her new benefactors, clearly. Being in Husky’s pocket has a lot of advantages, and Carmen is enjoying all of them. That is, until Cindy Lou comes knocking, looking for her ex-man, because for some goddamn unspeakable reason she still wants him back.

Joe shows up to harass Carmen, because he’s a NICE GUY, and Cindy Lou tries to convince him Carmen does not, in fact, have a magic pussy, and he should go home with her instead. He, like the dumbass who gave up his future as a pilot to be with this flighty woman, decides running from the army and stalking Carmen is the way to go. Cindy Lou is heartbroken, even though she deserves so. much. fucking. better. than. this. mediocre. man.

I really wish I could insert a video of Olga James singing this song, because she knocks it out of the park. The range in the emotions on her face, from despair, defiance, anger, love, and pleading... it’s so beautiful. The fact this woman didn’t become a bigger star is just a crime.

After the drama is dealt with, Husky Miller takes his glamtourage to one of his fights and punches this shit out of his opponent, winning the match.

Joe, of course, follows them there, because he doesn’t have a goddamn brain in his head. After Husky’s victory, he drags Carmen into a broom closet and begs her to run away with him. Sure, he’s AWOL, and yeah, if he’s arrested he’d be sent to prison for four years, but he loves her, and that should be enough to incentivize her to live in his poorly built cage.

That is a face of a woman who is fed up with some bullshit.

Carmen tells Joe, again, that she’s with Husky and has no interest in leaving her cushy setup to hock more jewelry and never leave a shitty apartment. Joe tells Carmen he’ll kill her instead, and she dares him to, either because she wants to die, or she underestimates how much men love to possess people that once smiled nicely at them.

Then he strangles her, concluding this cautionary tale of domestic violence.

Nothing good ever came from a man who thought he owned a woman. Except this fire violin piece.

Prepare yourselves for a spooky double feature. We have a few... unusual films coming up next.

#unwarranted opinion #100 best musical movies of all time rotten tomatoes

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shirtlesssammy · 7 years

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The French Mistake: 6x15 Recap

Then:

Balthazar!

Now:

On a dark and stormy night, our hunter heroes are all out of hunter’s helper, so Bobby’s on a booze run. Suddenly, Balthazar flaps in, and talking really quickly about the Godfather while gathering some supplies, he informs the boys that Raphael has consolidated his base and is on the move. Cas is deep underground, so Raphael put out a hit on everyone that’s helped him --including the Winchesters (wouldn’t the list just be the Winchesters?) He draws a sigil on the window, reveals a very nasty torso wound, and hands Sam a very important key (who then keeps it in his UNZIPPED coat pocket --did he learn nothing in Bad Day at Black Rock?). Virgil, one of Raphael’s minions appears hell bent on attacking the brothers, but Balthazar casts his spell and angel-crashes them through Bobby’s bay window.

CUT!

We’re through the looking glass, people. Dean and Sam appear to be on a television set. The brothers stress about whether they should be killing anybody while the production crew stress about a botched take. Director Brian Doyle Murray Robert Singer agrees to go with a freeze frame to save production time. “Fine. Whatever. Season six. Moving on.” The brothers television stars are whisked away to their own respective hell.

Sam surmises that the world Balthazar zapped them to is the set of a television show based on their lives. “Why would anybody want to watch our lives?” Dean ponders incredulously. Sam answers with a “Well, I mean, according to that interviewer, not very many people do.” Heehee. We might be few, but we are mighty. Dean is also incredulous that Sam is now Polish. (12 years later, he’s still hung up on that bit of news.)

The boys exit the studio, and like a homing pigeon, Dean finds the Impala. Well, one Impala, getting mud thrown on it, unlike the other Impalas that are in various states of distress. Dean’s not dealing with this new world too well.

Dean decided to pray to Cas.

And once again, his angel arrives with little cajoling.

After Castiel explains this new world they’re living in, Dean goes off on Balthazar’s idea of a good time, and Sam wonders about all this “TV crap.” Cas checks his notes and wonders if they changed the script without his knowledge. Dean grabs the script and realizes that they’re not talking with Cas. His name is “Misha.” “Misha?” It’s a great thing that these guys all have crazy names --it just wouldn’t be as funny. As the brothers walk away, Misha laughs and can’t believe how they punked him this time! He’s totally going to tweet about it.

Sam and Dean find Fake Dean’s trailer, and head inside for a respite. It appears that Fake Dean has an aquarium AND a helicopter in his trailer. This whole scene is meta madness! I want to talk about everything I see --and everything I don’t see! I’m woefully unqualified to even be looking at the episode, I think. Here’s some fun thoughts from others.

Sam gets to researching their new lives. It looks like Jensen is from Texas (Dean approves), and was on a soap opera (Dean does not approve). What I really want to know is, is that clip from Days real? They didn’t dub something else over her words to make it sound more absurd, did they? It’s clearly young Jensen talking in the clip, but ... “If I didn't have cancer, and I wasn't married, and I had plenty of money... Would you – would you want to run away with me?” I miss watching soaps some days.

Anyway, Dean ”I have a photographic memory and I’m resourceful as heck” Winchester remembers Balthazar’s spell and so they decide to gather the ingredients to get themselves back to their universe. Unfortunately, all the ingredients they find on set are props.

They need to get back to the real world, so they head to the Impala and start driving, but don’t get far since it’s just a broken down prop.

The guys eventually get a ride from their bodyguard Clint Cliff. Dean tells him that he’s going to tag along with J-Jared so they can work on their acting. For the show.

They make it to Jared’s modest abode, where Sam realizes that he’s the star of the show. Dean calls bullshit. Dean finds a tanning bed in the living room (?!?) and Sam wonders if he’s Dracula. “George Hamilton Dracula.”

The Warhol-esque pictures of Jared and Genevieve just slay me. This whole house is so ostentatious, and vainglorious. Just as Dean notices the camel alpaca in Jared’s backyard, Ruby shows up to throw side-eye at Dean’s confusion. She kisses Sam in greeting and asks how his day went. Dean quickly puts it together that Sam “married Fake Ruby.”

The alpaca getting a photo on the mantel = hearts. Genevieve wonders why Jensen is even there --he’s never even been to their house. Gen needs to leave to go to her the International Otter Adoption charity dinner, which leaves Sam and Dean plenty of free time to locate the ingredients for the spell to get back home. They’re able to gather the ingredients quickly because Jared Padalecki is loaded. “Money, man, there is nothing like it.” #truth.

Later, as Sam wanders the monstrosity of his home, Gen comes home. Sam asks her about all the apocalyptic events in the past year. She tells him that she remembers them on the show, and that he’s been Sam Winchester too long. Then she takes his hand and leads him upstairs (to where they went to sleep and were 100% platonic strangers, because I can’t think the worst of dear Sam.)

The next morning the brothers pick up packages that haven’t cleared customs and are completely un-illegal, and head to set nice and early.

Back at the set they settle into “Bobby’s cabin” to open the package and do the spell. They’re rudely interrupted by a herd of people heading into work. Robert Singer is pleased to see their dedication to the craft by arriving early. Dean swaggers over and tries to use his Jensen star power to get the set cleared for an hour so they can do the spell “actor stuff”.

Ha ha, no.

“You do your ‘actor stuff’ and we’ll do our ‘camera stuff’,” Singer tells him, firmly putting him in his place. Elsewhere on set, Sam sits in Jared’s chair with Misha perched behind them. Misha wants to know what’s in the box.

“Part of dead person,” Sam says. Dean wanders up and tells Sam that it looks like they’re gonna have to do some acting. What comes to pass is one of the golden moments of the show that never fails to cheer me up when I see it.

Dean’s intent on acting his face off, even lowering his voice so he can be like Misha/Cas. Meanwhile, Sam really, really doesn’t know what to do with his hands. He’s never seemed overly tall on this show but the way he flails in the background makes him stand out like one of those inflatable car sales lot guys. Flop. Flail.

Misha just...endures.

The production staff is agog and suggests the editors get creative to try to splice together a usable scene.

The dude abides and Meta!Misha tweets. “IMHO, J&J had a late one last night. ROTFLMAO”

Singer calls Sera Gamble for help. There’s something wrong with Jared and Jensen. (And Misha’s celebrity tweet indicates illegal drugs.) While this call goes on, Dean and Sam paint the sigil on the window and ready the spell. They jump through the window, landing right next to Singer and his assistant after the spell fails to activate. “Drugs,” Singer spits in disgust.

Back in Jensen’s trailer, they try to figure out what went wrong. Sam wonders if it doesn’t work because there’s no magic or monsters in this world. “No hell, no heaven, no God?” Dean asks. Seems like it, yep.

That may be the case, but back on set a window outside of a hotel room begins to glow. Virgil breaks through on the hunt for the key.

Dean and Sam decide to head back to America and try to figure out another way to get home. They’re on their way out of the studio when Virgil finds them. He tries to brain melt Dean with his hand but his mojo’s missing. Dean and Sam go to town on Virgil - at last on equal footing, they start beating him to the ground. When the crew sees this they fly into action to restrain their rogue actors and Virgil gets away after slipping the key from Sam’s pocket. (ZIPPERED pocket, Sam!)

Singer calls Sera again. “It appears that Jared and Jensen were seen beating an extra to death.” Well, that’s the final straw so she relents and decides to fly in to talk to them. But...Singer’s against that plan. It seems that she’s too new and J&J don’t actually know who she is. (This is funny, and so obviously done so they can shoot up Kripke later. But still. Ouch, Supernatural. Ouch. This is such a BRO centered episode, even for Supernatural. This is the only part of the episode that I wish had been written differently.) Anyway, Kripke created the show and probably has the clout to talk Jared and Jensen off of their crazy drug-induced spiral. Kripke’s off in a cabin somewhere working on a script after he sold “Octo-cobra” so somebody’s gotta find him first.

As the production crew begins Operation Kripke, Misha heads home after a long, weird day on set. “Good night, little fella,” he tells an assistant and then gets into his car to drive off. God, Meta!Misha is just the best. Before he drives, he decides to take just a moment to tweet. “Ever get that feeling someone’s in the backseat? Frowny face.” Virgil pops up and holds a knife to his throat.

On set, Singer meets Dean and Sam in “Bobby’s cabin.” He tells them he hopes they see him as...almost an uncle to them now. “Uncle Bob.” Jensen goggles at this and then scoffs at naming a character after someone who works on the production. Yeah, well…

“You can't come to work on poppers and smuggle kidneys in from Mexico and make up your own lines as you go! You cannot make up your own lines!” Bob Singer has HAD IT. (Boris is reminded of the time in “Slumber Party” where Jared and Jensen switched the lines: “You're gonna read the books?” and “Yes, Dean. I like to read books -- you know, the ones without pictures.” I can’t find where I read that now, but blerg. Dean reads, Jensen.)

“Screw our careers, Bob,” Sam says and storms off.

Yeah! Dean delivers a delightful diatribe about brotherhood that should really be spoken over swelling orchestral music (but isn’t). Bob takes it all in, realizing that right now, Jensen actually thinks he’s Dean. “We've all had our psychotic breaks, right? I can work with this,” Bob says. Except, Dean/Jensen quits.

Outside a dark alley, Virgil pulls Meta!Misha from his car. He asks him how they manage to live in such a dark, unmagical world before slamming Misha up against the wall. Meta!Misha begs for his life as Virgil holds up the knife and slices his throat to try to use blood magic to make a call.

(Extreme side note: I adore the philosophical underpinnings of this episode. Virgil asking how people can “live in this grubby, shabby desert? Nothing greater than yourselves.” Well, this kind of talk is my JAM. I’m just gonna wrap these questions of bleak existential despair around me like a warm blanket and purr.)

Dean and Sam arrive back at Jared’s house, only to be greeted by Gen who tells them that Misha has been killed. “Where?” they respond, ever the hunters.

At the crime scene, the boys walk into the alley. There’s a man being interviewed by a detective. “The scary man killed the attractive crying man, and then he started to pray. And the strange part – After a while, I swear I heard this voice answering.” It turns out that Virgil did make contact with Raphael, who’s gonna activate another bespelled window to bring Virgil and the key back to the regular Supernatural universe. (Is blood magic > Enochian magic?)

Dean and Sam get ready to stop Virgil. After all, here he’s just a man. What could go wrong? Meanwhile, Virgil loads up on weapons and ammunition. While Virgil is probably cutting a bloody swath over to the studio, Dean and Sam have a BM moment in “Bobby’s cabin.” Dean wonders if Sam wishes he could stay in this world - where there’s no Supernatural. No horrible blood magic or demon curses… But Sam thinks that the Winchesters wouldn’t mean the same thing in any other world but their own. He’s gonna walk back into their dark, magic-filled world with open arms.

Outside the studio, Kripke rolls up and meets up with Singer and assistants. They commiserate/celebrate over Misha’s untimely demise...and the fact that this has propelled them into front page entertainment news. SUCH a tragedy. They spot Virgil approaching. Oh, great! It’s the extra who was getting whaled on. Kripke waves him over to smooth things over and, western shootout style, Virgil lifts his gun and pumps Kripke full of holes.

Virgil proceeds to take out a large chunk of the Supernatural cast. Except for some…

Sam and Dean take on Virgil, beating his ass into the floor. They grab the key and get sucked back through the window.

Raphael approaches the Winchesters in a new meat suit. Raphael, in a woman’s body, grabs their balls and squeezes - at least that’s what I always like to imagine. Give him the key!!!

Then Balthazar swans in smugly. The key is useless, it turns out! It opens an empty locker at a bus station. But that key, plus the Winchesters, were a truly terrific distraction. Because while Raphael and Virgil were looking the other way, Cas got the weapons instead. Cas appears and warns Raphael away. Lightning flashes and we get wing shadows of DOOM.

Bonus: Reaction shot:

Raphael flaps away. “Now that you have your sword,” Balthazar tells Cas, “try not to die by it.” He flaps out, leaving Cas alone in the parking lot with the Winchesters. Cas flaps them both to Bobby’s cabin. He tells them that using them as decoys was Balthazar’s plan. However, he regrets nothing. If he loses against Raphael then the entire world gets swallowed up by the apocalypse again. Cas apologizes and he’ll explain when he can. Boom. Cas OUT.

Alone with Dean again, Sam approaches Bobby’s cabin wall slowly and slaps it a few times, just to ascertain that it’s real.

Dean: Yeah, real, moldy, termite-eaten home sweet home. Chock full of crap that want to skin you. Oh, and, uh, we're broke again. Sam: Yeah. But, hey...At least we're talking.

No Heaven, No Hell, No Quotes:

I’m a painted whore.

I feel like this whole place is bad touching me.

That’s fake me. This must be fake mine.

Wow, I must be the star of this thing.

Well alpacas are the greenest animal.

If there's a key...then there has to be a lock. And when we find the lock, we can get the weapons, and then we can have the weapons. And the lock. We'll still have the lock, I imagine, because we've opened it, and, of course, the initial key.

If I hear one more conversation about hockey I’m gonna puke.

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spn recap #spn rewatch #spn 6x15 #the french mistake #spn picspam #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #cas #raphael #balthazar #meta!misha #supernatural season 6 #he was my ben edlund thing

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painted-starlight · 7 years

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I saw Leap! Here’s a mini Review (Warning: Spoilers!)

It was a cute movie! I liked it.

Still, I wonder if the Americanized English dubs added lines were a detriment to the pacing of the movie. I mean, there were some points in there where I was like, “they added that for American audiences didn’t they?” lol.

Some line changes though, I really liked. Like Victor’s last line was more about Felicie achieving her dreams, while in the Original English dub (called Ballerina) we get some nonsense about her being his girlfriend.

The voice acting was decent, but the standouts I think were Maddie Zielger. She was actually really good! I don’t get why people think her voice acting was terrible. Out of all the cast, she sounds the most like the age of her character and delivers some really strong lines.

I had to get used to Elle Fannings voice though, but in the end it was ok. Nat Wolff was definitely more subdued in his performance than Dan Dehaan’s (I haven’t seen the original english dub, I’m going by the small clips available on Youtube.) Which ironically made it a bit stronger in my opinion. His voice acting didn’t overtake Felicie’s performance.

The downsides that were the most notable:

-Once again, we get an all white cast, even the background characters. There are so many anachronisms in this movie it’s not even funny, but would it kill them to add a few people of color who would definitely be there in that time period? Paris in the nineteenth century was incredibly diverse. Show it!

-One of the voice actors, the man who played the Opera singer was very ear grating. I think they should’ve gotten a different actor for that part.

-I feel like the liberties taken with ballet (which a lot of ballet dancers objected to regarding this film) were a bit too much. There were beautiful sequences, but Felicie should not be doing pointe while not wearing the proper shoes. I think it would be better if this took place over a few years instead of between a week to a month. I fear that this overly ambitious move to make her immediately good at ballet is going to set up kids for failure.

It’s one thing to have a believe in yourself message, but ballet takes YEARS of practice and like any craft it takes discipline.

- The main villainous goes from being cold and refined to violent without any transition.

The things I loved:

- Odette! I wish we got more backstory on her. Carly Rae Jepson does a pretty good performance for her, even though I think her voice is a bit too high pitched.

- Like I said, some of the dance sequences are beautiful and the character animation is very expressive. The final dance sequence just before the credits is great!

-I loved the original music for the French trailer. I don’t think the pop songs are too distracting either.

#Leap!#ballerina #review #animation #ballerina 2017

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lifeafterten · 5 years

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RtN 08: Bhulbule Bhulbule it’s Rocky E’rywhere

Shut the hell up-- That title made you fucking giggle, I know it. Don’t worry I wont tell anyone you fell for one of my dad jokes.

We had to be up early. No skin off my nose-- I was already up. (Shocker, I know.) Another night of me painting mental pictures behind my eyelids as I waited for the sun to come up. Super fun. {heavy on the sarcasm}

I went down for breakfast--- the staff was ready for me. They picked up on my crackhead hours from yesterday, I wasn’t gonna catch them sleepin’ (literally and figuratively) again.

We were a bit on a time crunch-- Hannah and Maxine were to meet us so we can split the jeep cost amongst ourselves, so we needed to have our shit together, again, literally and figuratively.

There was some contemplation on what I should take and what I shouldn’t. I definitely needed my medical supplies (I was basically carrying a mini pharmaceutical on my back) because of my leg, so my pack was already filling up quick. I made some rough cuts-- not everyone can make varsity. Hopefully I was able to cover all my bases. Then again, it’s not like I’ve done this before so what the fuck did I know? Next to nothing. I hoped to Christ my rationale and my common sense was enough. The things we decided to leave behind would be stored at the Hotel.

Soon enough, we were loading our packs and getting ready to skedaddle. Off to Besisahar... God help us.

For the second time on this trip, I longed for a damned seat belt. I seemed to have welded my feet to the car floor and was gripping the edge of the seat. I was squeezing so fucking hard my fingers began to tingle while anticipating hard turns and rough stops.

I was not wrong in my prediction.

The driving is insane here. First off, the roads were not roads they were dirt trails that vehicles decided to drive on for what seems like funzies; shits n’ giggles; lapses in fucking sanity-- Holy cannoli-- Breathe Ashley, breathe...

That’s the fucked up thing about anxiety: it messes with you. Bad. I can look at something and think about a million and one things that can go wrong, like that (please insert finger snap here, thanks).

Our driver was not the friendliest of the friendlies if you can catch my meaning. And he was young. Real young. If the furry caterpillar he was trying to grow on his face was any indication-- yeah, he was definitely in his early twenties if not twelve.

The drive itself had me on edge, since we were so perilously close to the edge about 80% of the time. My nerves were just about threadbare at this point and we haven’t even gotten started yet. But it wasn’t just driving cliff side; it was the near misses, and the constant honking (holy fuck was this kid liberal with that shit-- handing out honks like it was fucking Tic-Tacs) as our driver over took buses, jeeps, and motorbikes alike. He was a very aggressive driver, which I was sorta thankful for. The trip to Besisahar was an estimated seven to eight hour drive. He was able to cut it down to six. But I was almost certain the ride alone had shaved off a few years off my life.

We stopped for bathroom and snack breaks along the way, but I was too tired mentally to muster up the strength to get out of the car. So I stayed in there, slumped at the backseat, reveling at the stillness of it before we went off-roading again. Yes, I considered it off-roading. During those times of rest, Adrian slid into the backseat with me. We talked about nonsense, but I had an inkling he was checking in on me. Well not really and inkling-- the dude literally asked if I was good.

I’ll admit there were moments where I allotted a small head to shoulder touch (meaning, my forehead to his shoulder), only to convey that I was fine. Sometimes I do these things. My actions these days are more honest than my mouth is. I don’t lie about a lot of things, but somehow when it comes to my personal shit and physicality status... lying about it came almost as naturally as breathing. My body status because I was tired of the hovering, and my feelings because I’ve been doing it for so long I don’t know how to stop sometimes. I’m working on it, okay? Half way there I was almost certain that our driver was trying to kill us. I was being dramatic, of course, but I swear to Christ the next time that little shit picks up his phone to talk to someone while he’s playing the Nepali version of Chicken with the other cars; while driving cliff side; while honking like a madman-- I swear I was gonna slap the puberty outta this mother fucker. GET OFF THE FUCKING PHONE! I would have screamed if my heart wasn’t in lodged my throat; choking me into silence. My palms were sweating. The relief was palatable once we reached Besisahar.

Since our driver was part Nepali part fucking Speed Racer, we arrived earlier than we anticipated. So the plan to walk to the next location came into motion. “You guys just wanna walk straight to Bhulbule?” Bhulbule was about a two and a half walk from Besisahar, and since we’ve been cramped in a jeep for the better part of our morning... I was not opposed. I had a lot of nervous energy pent up, so some walking might do me some good.

The roads were dusty, but I liked that I was surrounded by green. I thought the rice fields were actually rather pretty. It could be the Filipino in me, but I don’t think my family grew rice-- I think it was pineapples?

I think this mini trek to was a pretty important learning session about the personalities of our group, which had expanded plus two.

Hannah had a very bubbly personality. Lani had dubbed her Hermoine, probably in regard to her accent and the unruly curls that donned her crown. She was short in stature, but her personality was definitely larger than life. She was an opera singer by occupation (amazing), and when she and Zach would break out into impromptu songs it was the sweetest thing. Apparently the girl had a penchant for nicknames for she went from Hermoine, to Hannah-Darling, to finally Hannahpurna. The last one tickled my fancy-- mostly because I’m a sucker for puns or any play on words, really. Hannah was a firecracker with the tendency to “wee” every fifteen steps (total exaggeration, but she did need a few stops, and it was cute). She was very hydrated. How to describe Hannah... She had these curls the color of light brown sugar, and big doe eyes that darted everywhere like she wanted to take everything; experience everything at the same time; all at once. She had a wonderful lilt to her voice that sounded almost musical-- whether it be because of her accent or her occupation-- either way it was pleasant, and made it even more hilarious when she would say some off the wall shit.

Maxine-- I had dubbed her Maxie, because... I’ve always wanted to call a someone that-- was from the Netherlands. I can’t say I know much about the Dutch, but Adrian tells me that they’re the nicest people. Next to Canadians, I imagine. From what I learned from Lani-- Maxine was involved in research for exoskeletons for paraplegics, and I am awed by... everything? Can I be awed by everything? Fuck, I guess I am. Max was quiet, but sure of herself--- The best kind of quiet confidence. I felt she had good energy. She was tall and blonde.. and apparently gets sunburned easily. I liked her high cheekbones and the strong, sharp angles of her jawline. At first she seems a bit severe, but when she smiles her eyes crinkle at the corners that’s when you really see her shine, and Max smiles a lot. Shit. We’re getting a bunch of bright people now. I’m getting nervous. Just kidding. ... Kinda-- ANYWAY!

Then we have Lani. Her optimism was infectious and you can just feel her excitement just to be here. And I’m glad we’re here-- glad I was able to see it with her; be here with her. I’ve never quite described Lani have I? Hm... She’s probably one of the most beautiful people I know. Her physical beauty is as effortless as the inner. She doesn’t need to try, she just is. She’s tall, she’s almost graceful in her movements until she remembers she has limbs and almost trips or hits something. (Why we’re actually friends.) She has her own demons to contend with, but she’s not like me and lets it fuck with her-- thanks to her optimism. It’s like she has a full reservoir of the shit. She drives me up the wall with it sometimes-- because I’m just allergic to things not fucked up apparently, but I’m glad I have her in my life. Perhaps when my bitterness dwindles as I fumble along this path of self-whatever-the-fuck maybe, just maybe, that optimism can rub off on me. Now onto the brightest of the bright-- dare I crown him the King of Sunshine, Zach. I have nicknamed him Zackerooie, because he’s just so damned adorable. Swear to Christ I have never met a more positive human being in my entire life-- and I was fucking surrounded by them back home. I appreciate the eye contact he gives when you’re in conversation with him. All smiles and bright blues just aimed at you. It’s neigh impossible to not adore him. He’s just a genuine person-- a rarity. Back home, genuineness appears to not only a be fallacy but an actual needle in a damned haystack. It’s like when someone calls themselves humble nine times out of ten they are anything but. When someone has to compliment themselves, that’s usually a huge red flag.

And alas there was Adrian. Adrian likes to pick on short people-- I’m not short by any means (pretty average for my ethnicity and gender-- thank you), just shorter than he is.

I will concede that we certainly have our similarities (insert your “no shit, Ashley” here). Which makes sense on why I found him to be so infuriating. We bickered. A bit. A lot. Fuck you, fine-- we bickered most of the time. It wasn’t too bad. I only half joked / threatened him with bodily harm. Then he’d say some stupid shit like I was too small to do dick, which made me actually want to punch him in the daddy bags. Repeatedly. In rapid succession. Just to make sure such assholery will not dare procreate. But during my observations I found that he is a lot more... thoughtful than I had initially pegged him to be. And let me tell you, my initial thoughts of him were not very flattering-- he kept picking on me, okay! It’s 2018 goddammit, no bullies allowed! In any case, we can safely say that Adrian is blunt; that Adrian is opinionated, but I found that his actions didn’t often match what his mouth was saying. There was a lot of “who cares” or “I don’t care” or “that’s someone else’s problem” or my personal favorite “whatever”. These things weren’t easy to spot, but when you’re trailing in the back of the group or existing in corners... You tend to catch on to how people really are relatively quickly.

But I started to note these things and the more I learned, the easier he was to understand. But then again he has probably the longest eyelashes I have ever seen-- which switches me back from understanding the guy to being annoyed by him.

I finally crossed my first bridge. I was anticipating/dreading, actually. Had a thing about heights, even though technically I’ve never really put myself in a situation where I would have to deal with heights. So does that mean I was scared if the idea of heights? Interesting thought. Well we were about to test that theory considering now I was looking at it dead in the face.

“You good?” Adrian asked me.. again. “Fine. Just panicking internally.” I found myself admitting honestly. Wow, that made my mouth feel weird. I don’t know what made me say it, but It felt strangely freeing, but considering I was still panicking I didn’t dwell too long. I’ll fuck with that shit later.

My ears were full of the water flowing under the bridge. I concentrated on putting one boot in front of the other, just look straight ahead. Don’t look down, if I stepped in shit (seemed to be... everywhere) I would dutifully scrape it off on a brick, or a rock, or an Adrian if he continued to piss me off. Or a Lani that kept smirking at my plight. Plotting which person to rub my just-in-case shitty boot on helped me across. I don’t know what kind of person that makes me, but it fucking works.

Zach was the captain of our merry band of misfits. He had the book. He had the map. He controls the futu-- Okay, sorry, that’s too much I know. But we basically followed his lead. He was great at getting the skinny from the locals (he has one of those faces). But we appeared to be following the Book (context: he purchased a trekking guide through the Himalayas from Lonely Planet. So when I say “The Book”, I mean the guide book-- not the bible, I didn’t finish Sunday school-- don’t know how to read it). The Book suggested we stay at two places: - Thorung-la Guest House - Heaven Guest House

It was getting late, so we went to the closest one:

Taking a shower was... Interesting. I couldn’t get my leg wet (as was my only requirement from my wound care doctor for her to give me the green light to fly), so I was basically doing some weird lean in butt fuck cold water (until I figured out how to use the heater) while keeping my leg elevated and away from the spout. Which is why my right leg is great at balancing. It felt nice to wash off the dirt. Took me a while to dress. My body and my leg.

I don’t think I packed enough warm underclothes. Just a few thermals and a rain jacket. I still had my down, but hardly think I can trek with that shit on. During the day it’s relatively warm, night is what kicks me in the vajeen.

In any case I walked down to beer and Dal Bhat.

I had brought a notebook down to write in (it was Lani’s diary and while she took pictures I wrote) and sat down. Everyone was already finishing up their plates-- considering the size of the plates-- considering the size of the plates, they were either hungry, or the food was bomb, or I was slow af getting dressed. I would guess the latter.I was already cold as shit. During dinner I was shivering and clenching my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering. Although the teeth clenching could have been me biting my tongue whenever Adrian would remind me, for what seemed like the billionth time, it would only get colder. Or how he couldn’t believe I was already feeling that cold. Dude. I’m an island girl. The lowest the temp goes is 70 and that’s only if there’s a storm a’brewin’. So you bet your sweet ass this bitch was cold! Although I could not complain about the dude too much... He did try his best to keep my Island Popsicle ass warm throughout dinner by rubbing my arms. Maybe he’s not a bastard... still an asshole. A warm asshole.It was about seven or eight when everyone started turning in. I was reluctant because one, it was early, and two, I don’t sleep. Adrian was commenting that he couldn’t sleep too early because he’d wake up in the middle of the night. So it felt normal to agree when he asked me if I wanted to stay downstairs longer. One: it was early. Two: At this point I had buried myself under his arm and merged myself into his side like some weird warmth parasite. God that man was so warm. So we stayed up talking shit--bickering--whatever. I saw my first firefly (one of many firsts on this trip). I know what you’re thinking-- it wasn’t fucking romantical. Gag yourself. In fact I felt rather silly for admitting I haven’t seen something as apparently common. We don’t have those bugs on the island. Adrian kept his teasing to a minimum-- thank Christ-- and we eventually made our move back up stairs. Zach and Adrian’s room was across the hall from Lani and I’s.

I mumbled a quick goodnight to Adrian as I turned (left) into the... empty room. The room was empty. Where the hell was Lani?

I’ve read multiple books about a “sinking feeling” in your stomach when you mentally ask a question you already knew the answer to, but you hoped that maybe this bitch was in the fucking bathroom or something and, in fact, did not stay in the room across the hall leaving a now pretty sleepy Adrian bedless. I quickly pitter-pattered my way to the other room (right). My eyes had already adjusted to the dark enough to make out an Adrian standing in at the door way. He looked like he didn’t know what to do. Fuck if I knew what the fuck to do.

I had a belly full of Dhal Bhat and I had my fill of Adiran Warmth to last me... Just a couple more minutes if I didn’t get under warm covers soon.

“Lani?” I whispered at the dark lump I thought could be her. I don’t know what kind of Zombie/sleep cracked out Lani this was, but she moved fast. Like the zombies in World War Z fast, like I Am Legend Zombie fast. “Are you okay? I’m sleepy. I’m gonna go back to sleep. It’ll be okay. Mm, love you. Night.” She had said this over my, “What? Uh. Okay. Are you-- aaand you’re laying back down. Okay.” I stood there staring at the Lani-Lump. Incredulous; unsure; mostly confused.

This. Fucking. Cunt.

Deep breaths Ashley. This isn’t a huge deal. Except that I haven’t allowed anyone to sleep in the fucking same room with me for over a year-- besides my hospital stay.

That didn’t count.

I had drugs. I, at the moment however, did not have drugs. To his credit Adrian did ask if I was okay with us rooming together. ... Fuck it. Whatever. It was fine.

It was cold as shit outside; it was dark; I now (apparently) had an extra bed... He may as well use it, right? I mean, he wasn’t a complete stranger-- he actually seemed pretty cool when he wasn’t busting my balls.

I told myself I was fine with it. Actually, I told myself to stop being a little bitch. He wasn’t going to bite me. And if he did I’d have a reason to beat that ass. The possibility of violence made me strangely okay with it.

So we went to bed. It did not take me long to realize that usually bodies warm the sheets before it stays warm throughout the night. So whatever Adrian Warmth I had left dissipated once I slid under the sheets. Fuck. You. I knew I was going to be miserable the whole night. I rubbed my feet together in hopes the friction would help. No help. My feet were cold.

“You cold?” I heard the question from the bed across mine. Adrian. Didn’t trust my mouth to speak so I made a negative mouth sound of “nuh-uh.” Have you ever heard a silence that was deeper than silence...? Like someone was quietly judging your idioticy from across the room? Well, he as nice enough to not verbally call me out on my bullshit. Both he and I knew damn well I was cold as fuck-- but my stupid mouth still lied about it. Pride? Probably.

I saw his blanket open up, motions of his hand to hurry up and get in. I hesitated. Of course I did. I hesitate about everything. Fucking Pride... Stupid. But I couldn’t resist-- my bed wasn’t doing me any fucking favors-- so I did what Lani... and Kristin... and Jessie were always fucking telling me to do.

Go with it. (I had way too many free spirited friends..)

And fuck you, once Adrian dropped the blanket around me and I was immediately surrounded by that delicious, precious warmth, I swear that man could have asked me to kick a puppy and I would have done it gratefully. Okay maybe not-- but I would have heavily considered it. How the fucker got his bedding that comfortably warm in such a short amount of time I will never know. Or I didn’t ask. Fuck it man, I was just happy that I was warm. That’s his super power.

I don’t remember falling asleep, but it was the first sleep I’ve had since we landed in Nepal. I knew needed that sleep. So I’ll say this: Thank you, Adrian... You fucking asshole. What? Gotta keep it balanced. TBC...

#Road to Nepal Part 8 #Blog #Life After Ten #Travel #Nepal #Bhulbule #annapurna circuit

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justanothercinemaniac · 7 years

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Epic Movie (Re)Watch #151 - The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

Spoilers below.

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: Blu-ray

1) The attempt to bring Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic stage adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera to the screen started all the way back in 1989. Back then, it was going to star Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman (who originated the roles of The Phantom and Christine, respectively). The project was ready to begin filming in 1990 with a November 1991 release date, but then Lloyd Webber divorced Brightman (they had been married) and production was stalled. In the interim, John Travolta, Heath Ledger, Matthew McConaughey, Meat Loaf, and Antonio Banderas were considered for the role of the titular character (with Bandera specifically training his voice for the role for years, only getting a chance to sing it during a Royal Albert Hall celebration of Andrew Lloyd Webber). At one point it was going to star Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, but Jackman was busy with Van Helsing and Hathaway had The Princess Diaries 2 to film. Charlotte Church and Kate Winslet were also considered for the role of Christine before Emmy Rossum was cast. Through that time, Joel Schumacher had always been Lloyd Webber’s choice of director because of his work on The Lost Boys. In fact, the screenplay used was written by the pair all the way back in 1989. That means between writing of the screenplay and release, fifteen years went by. Now that I’m done with that fun fact...

2) I think this film improves on the Broadway shows prologue. The use of black and white is a nice touch, as is the decision to age up Patrick Wilson’s Raoul instead of having an elderly actor play the part. It is the first inkling of how the adaptation is able to use the differences between filmmaking and the stage to its advantage.

3) I first saw the stage production of this in August of 2009, then the film a few months afterward. It took me an embarrassingly long time (think years) to figure out that the broken chandelier was lot 666.

4) This adaptation REVELS in the freedoms you have in film versus what you have on stage, mainly through it’s use of three-dimensional space. On stage you have to present all the action in a single location and then orchestrate a scene change. But we get to see how the opera house is as much a character in the film as its titular Phantom of Christine. The film also utilizes the ability to shift POV between characters quite well, as again on stage your POV is stuck with whoever is in front of you. Here we can cut between characters in between scenes and get a fuller view of the picture. All this - as well as its well done use of special effects - gives the film a grander film. It is easy often times for a stage-to-film adaptation to feel stunted, but the team behind Phantom sure as hell knows how to avoid those problems. It’s one of the best parts of the adaptation.

5) Patrick Wilson as Raoul.

So at the risk of offending Phantom purists (something I maybe should have put as a disclaimer on this post), I have always found Raoul to be remarkably bland. No matter how good the performance is, I just have never found him an enticing character. He’s literally just there to be the healthy alternative to The Phantom’s love for Christine. I actually think Wilson does quite well as Raoul, making him the most interesting I’ve ever seen. He is able to make Raoul a bit more aggressive, a bit more strong headed, especially when going after The Phantom. But that’s about it. I think Wilson does admirable and he’s always been a favorite of mine, but I just find Raoul so damn boring.

6) Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry.

Otherwise known as, “The only French character based on a French story in a musical which takes place in French who has a French accent.” Richardson is a talented character actress, as I noted in my Sleepy Hollow recap. She is able to make Giry compelling, interesting, mysterious. You understand that she’s hiding things, but her suspicion never makes her dislikable. To the contrary, the way Richardson plays the part makes Giry all the more fascinating. In my opinion, Giry is as mysterious as The Phantom in this film because of Richardson’s performance.

7) Okay, Firmin (one of the theater owners) making eyes at Christine is weird. Depending on the translation of the novel you read, she’s fifteen. And yes the actress was eighteen at the time of playing her, but still. Creepy. Also when Madame Giry says she’s an orphan this seems to encourage Firmin’s advances and I gag a little.

8) A little wink to another work of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s

Former Theater Owner [on how to deal with Carlotta]: “Grovel. Grovel, grovel.”

(One of the songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was “Grovel Grovel”.)

9) Minnie Driver as Carlotta.

I love Minnie Driver and she is absolutely perfect as Carlotta in this film. She is able to play the conceited diva MARVELOUSLY well (claiming to channel an old neighbor she had in Venice for the part). She totally loses herself in the part. This isn’t Skylar from Good Will Hunting, this isn’t Debi from Gross Pointe Blank, this is someone who is totally new. Driver is phenomenal in the part, although she didn’t do her own signing. She is a singer (contributing her vocals to the end credits song “Learn to Be Lonely”) but not an opera singer, so she had to be dubbed in. Nonetheless, she is an incredible addition to the film.

10) Emmy Rossum as Christine Daaé.

The protagonist of the film (more-so than The Phantom even), this was one of (if not THE) biggest roles the 18 year old had at the time. Rossum is great in the part, abel to capture Christine’s vulnerability without making her weak. Her honesty without making her naive. Christine is a character defined by her massive heart. She has incredible passion for music, a deep connection with her long dead father, incredible sympathy with The Phantom, and a wonderful friendship-turned-romance with Raoul. But she never come across as a damsel or as a fool. I think Rossum’s performance is a big part of that. You’re rooting for Christine and you love that she makes you do so.

11) Christine’s first number is her big performance of “Think of Me” for the opera house. During the neighbor the filmmakers gave her this angelic glow which I find...really distracting. Like it’s weird to me. I get they’re trying to emphasis her purity, but she looks a bit like a ghost.

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

12) I do like the chemistry Rossum and Wilson have as Christine and Raoul. It’s not hot sweats pure passion chemistry, but it is a trust and honesty they have with each other. They’re old friends and that comes through in their performances. You get that they’re the right fit for each other.

13) Gerard Butler as the titular Phantom of the Opera.

The casting of Butler has been a controversial one following the release of the film. He’s not a classically trained singer and at times it shows. When it does show it can be distracting, but that’s not to discredit his performance as a whole. For the most part his singing is top notch, I would say 95% of the time. It is just you can be a little thrown off when there’s that 5% that isn’t what you were expecting.

I personally do not find Butler to be bad in the part. Quite the contrary, I think he’s pretty great. In my recap of The Bounty Hunter I noted he didn’t have the right kind of charisma to play the romantic comedy angle. This is not true here. To start, Butler fills out The Phantom’s physicality very well. Just the look he has in the mask and the cloak is a powerful visual. More than that though, he is able to portray all facets of the Phantom with expertise and grace. His passion, madness, obsession, instability, sorrow, and later heartache all are done with the appearance of ease by the Scottish performer. There are times when he breaks your heart, there are times when you hate him, but you are never bored by him. He always holds your attention and I think that is key in playing such an iconic character. And again, Butler is just great in the role.

14) Nowhere is Andrew Lloyd Weber’s skills as a composer better showcased in this film than the double billing of “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Music of the Night.”

To start with, the titular song is able to be creepy, macabre, invasive, chilling, fascinating, and eerie all at the same time. It perfectly represents just the horror and mystery The Phantom carries with him. Then turn around right into “The Music of the Night”...

This is the song which particularly gives us an amazing glimpse of who The Phantom is as a character. Nowhere in the film is he quite as voluntarily vulnerable as he is right now. His hearts is on his SLEEVES as he sings to Christine of his world, of who he is as a character. Through the seamless transition from the chills of “Phantom of the Opera” into a piece of music which is moving, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and just as fascinating, “Music of the Night” is quite possibly the best song in this whole film.

Having said that, it is a song which requires acting to match it. And Butler is at his best during this number. That previously mentioned vulnerability is on full display through Butler’s performance. You can understand his compassion for Christine, not only through his voice but also through his physicality. He plays the heart of the scene incredibly well. Rossum is great here too, showing off her fascination and wonder of The Phantom and his own through no words or song, just movement and expression. They both do a great job of elevating the number as it should be.

15) When listening to “Music of the Night” I believe that The Phantom’s obsession is not exclusively about finding a romantic love with Christine, but more about finding someone to be with him in the night. He is devastatingly lonely and wants a companion with him in the darkness. Who is a more devoted companion than a spouse?

16) The scene where Christine unmasks The Phantom only for him to fly off the handles makes something perfectly clear: the mask is as much for him as it is for everyone else. The Phantom deals with INCREDIBLE amounts of self loathing and metal health issues. He is afraid of being the monster people call him, he is afraid of letting them define him. The mask is an attempt to define himself. As I will explain later, it doesn’t work as well as he would hope.

17) Notes/Primadonna.

The double billing of the song begins as a nice peek into the relationship with theater owners Firmin and Andrew and their friendship (romance?). It also begins to illustrate just how deep the conflict between The Phantom and the egotism of the Opera/rules of the world in light run. You begin to see the hinges coming off of The Phantom as he tries ordering around everyone, setting up the drastic lengths he will go to later on.

The “Primadonna” half of the number serves as a fine montage. Showing just how the owners convince Carlotta to participate in the show and what lengths they are willing to go to to keep her. And it continue the film’s use of movement through a three dimensional space to convey sense of scope and plot, something which cannot be done to such an effect on stage. It’s a nice number but - again, at risk of offending Phantom purists - could it have been cut? It works fine on the stage but this film is two-hours-and-twenty-three minutes long. Would it not have been as effective to cut it for the screen and just had a standard scene of dialogue and score to convince Carlotta to stick around? I know it is blasphemy to consider cutting any number from one of the most iconic Broadway musicals of all time, but I can’t help but wonder if the film would have been better off without it.

18) It was during “Primadonna” when I realized something:

Carlotta’s goal is the same as Lina Lamont’s from Singin’ in the Rain.

They are both incredibly popular actresses with annoying voices looking to destroy the careers of an up and coming actress to ensure their own future success.

Now that you can’t unsee that...

19) The duality of Christine’s compassion/sympathy for The Phantom mixed with her fear of him later one creates a nice conflict for her. Something which is interesting to watch and should parallel the audience’s own feelings.

20) “All I Ask of You”

The number serves mostly as a nice moment of trust and honesty between Christine and Raoul. It is here where one would start shipping them, so to say. Yet while in most productions of the stage play you learn that The Phantom was there the entire time AFTER the song is done, you see his reaction to hearing Christine’s and Raoul’s love DURING the song. His constant presence is heartbreaking, an emotion Butler plays so well. It’s not just that Christine is choosing Raoul over him, she’s choosing the light. She’s choosing day instead of night, cementing the Phantom’s loneliness. Making it all the more heartbreaking for him. This was his once chance to not die alone and he just lost it. And it breaks your heart.

21) “Masquerade”

This is my favorite number in the film. Largely because it is one of the few light moments in the production, but more than that it ties into The Phantom’s own personal struggles in a way you don’t first understand upon listening. The “heroes” of the day (in a kind of elitist way) are practically gloating at The Phantom’s disappearance in a way which is mocking to his pain. They wear masks for fun, he wears a mask because he has to. Because he has been beaten and torn down because of his face. The lyrics take on a much sadder meaning with the reprise later in the film.

22) How fitting is it that The Phantom shows up to the masquerade dressed as The Mask of The Red Death?

“The Mask of The Red Death” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe where wealthy noblemen attempt to hide from a plaque known as the Red Death by hiding in an abbey. There, they host a masquerade ball when a figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. His presence marks the deaths of every guest by the hands of the same disease they were so desperately trying to avoid. Basically a bunch of elitists try to hide from those beneath them and in their arrogance sign their own death warrants. I like that.

23) Briefly Raoul pursues The Phantom into a secret compartment under the opera house and finds a room full of mirrors, unable to determine which is the reflection and which is the man. This is not an element of the stage play, but an instead of the original novel. The Phantom would lock victims up in this room to drive them mad. I like the nod.

24) I first saw this stage production while it was traveling in 2009, then again when my alma mater put it on just a year after I graduated high school. I don’t remember Madame Giry going so in depth about The Phantom’s origins so much on stage, but I’m sure as hell glad the film has it.

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Once again, the movie does an excellent job of utilizing point of view to add elements. Seeing just how terribly The Phantom was treated is devastating. As a child he was beaten, mocked, and treated like an animal for years. Referred to only as “The Devil Child” by his captors he only free himself by killing a man and then being forced to hide in the Opera House ever since he was a boy. No wonder the man went mad. No wonder he hides his face. He’s terrified of being exactly what people said he was, and because of the way he was treated that cruelty he’s afraid of is linked directly to his deformity. By hiding his face, he hides the monster. Or so he thinks.

25) I love this line, because it shows just how much we don’t know about The Phantom.

Giry: “He’s an architect and designer. He’s composure and magician. He’s a genius, mousier.”

If I’m not mistake, in the original novel The Phantom DESIGNED the opera house (as well as a palace for a Persian king). He is portrayed as being the greatest artistic mind of the century and the most mad. All in service of more depth to his character.

26) Again this is probably blasphemy to Phantom purists, but I always tune out during “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”. Rossum is great in the song, conveying the sorrow she feels over missing her father, but come on. Do we need a three to five minute number just to understand, “I really miss my dad, I wish he was here with me?”

I must admit the song is a beautiful piece of heartache and sorrow, while also giving us our best peek into Christine’s relationship with her late father, but it just slows down the pacing too much for me personally.

27) Similarly, the action of the following sword fight between The Phantom and Raoul is another thing that on its own I really like. The decision to add a bit more action to the film as well as giving Raoul more to do is something I appreciate. But it just slows down the pacing too much for me, personally.

28)

Christine [after they plan to use Christine as bait to lure out The Phantom]: “Raoul I’m frightened. Don’t make me do this.”

Can I just say I would like Raoul so much more as a character if he said, “Alright, I won’t make you do this. We can run for it. Just you and me.” I would love that, I would love if Christine came to the decision herself as, “No, even if I’m afraid I have to do this.” She sort of does that in the film as is but I would have liked both Raoul and that decision more if Raoul weren’t pressuring her to do it.

29) So the opera is performing The Phantom’s play Don Juan and the actor playing the titular Don steps off stage and The Phantom steps back on in costume as the don.

And I’m just thinking: really? No one immediately notices that the actor’s height, weight, and voice has changed? No one stands up and shouts, “Hey, that’s The Phantom!” and they just shoot him before he gets to close to Christine? They just roll with it? Do they people in the audience actually believe this is the tubby guy from before? Am I overthinking this?

30) Naming a song “The Point of Return” makes it pretty clear what is happening in the musical at this point, but beyond that the composition of the number does an excellent job of conveying its title. You feel the weight in the music more so than the lyrics, and that’s where the power is.

31) So The Phantom is ugly. He wears his mask to hide a hideous deformity that the world has totally shunned him for. It is this deformity which have caused him to be beaten repeatedly, tortured, and called the Devil’s Child as a kid. And then Christine goes to remove his mask and we FINALLY see the blood curling horror which is The Phantom’s face...

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF] please let me know.)

I do enjoy this film more than some others do, but come on. This is supposed to be one of the most hideously disfigured characters in all of fiction. He’s not even supposed to be human!

Anyway...

33) The decision to put the chandelier crash at the end of the film instead of the end of the first act I think is a smart change. When you’re doing a Broadway show you need a solid ending to act one, in film you usually want to hide the structure as well as you can. There’s no three acts (or at least there’s not supposed to be), there’s just one story. So it makes sense to have the chandelier at the end.

34) The film’s entire climax is incredibly key to The Phantom as a character, and Butler is absolutely stellar in the scene.

THIS is his madness as its greatest. His desperation and his pain has become total to him. There is nothing else. It is here that it becomes clear that the ugliness of his face has entered his soul. He has come the monster he was said to be as a child not because of any physical deformity but because of the mind crippling loneliness that deformity has brought him. He just doesn’t want to be alone anymore, and it is that decision that drives him to madness. And it is the first sign of companionship which brings him back to some form of reason.

Christine: “God give me courage to show you you are not alone.”

That is all The Phantom ever needed. Something real, something which showed him that he could be loved despite his face. He doesn’t lose Christine because of his scars. He loses her because of his actions. And the kiss shows him that. And he lets them go before listening to the music box singing the lyrics to Masquerade.

Phantom: “Masquerade...paper faces on display. Masquerade, hide your face so the world will never find you.”

35) Okay, ever since seeing the original stage production, this image of Meg finding the Phantom’s mask while dressed the way she is makes me want them to go on swashbuckling international adventures.

I really enjoy this adaptation. I think it conveys the stage musical in an effective and equally macabre way, that it uses the change in format to it’s advantage, and that it is acted remarkably well (even the controversial casting of Gerard Butler I think is pretty great). I just really enjoy this film and the heart it carries with it. If you’re a fan of musicals, horror, Andrew Lloyd Webber, any of the actors involved, or Andrew Lloyd Webber, I recommend giving it a view.

#The Phantom of the Opera #Gerard Butler #Emmy Rossum #Patrick Wilson #Andrew Lloyd Webber #Minnie Driver #Miranda Richardson #Joel Schumacher #Epic Movie (Re)Watch #Movie #Film #GIF #Singin' in the Rain #Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

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newyorktheater · 4 years

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Before he started collaborating with Richard Rodgers on some of the most beloved musicals in Broadway history, Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) had helped create some three dozen Broadway productions over a quarter of a century, most often writing both the lyrics and the libretto. Of course, he began with an in: His uncle Arthur Hammerstein produced the musical, “Furs and Frills,” for which the young Hammerstein, at age 22 in 1917, wrote his first Broadway lyrics — for a song composed by Silvio Hein entitled “Make Yourselves at Home.” Arthur wasn’t his only relative in the business. His father William Hammerstein was a theater manager; his grandfather, Oscar Hammerstein I, an impresario who helped create the theater district we know today. But if family connections helped to make Oscar Hammerstein II feel at home on Broadway from the get-go, he soon transformed the place.

“Hammerstein, first with Kern then with Rodgers, revolutionized musical theater,” his protege Stephen Sondheim wrote in the introduction to the reissue of Hammerstein’s collection of his favorite lyrics. He accomplished this, Sondheim says, “by combining the traditions of musical comedy with operetta while nudging story, character and lyrics towards the kind of naturalism that had overtaken the nonmusical stage since World War I.”

Still, there is some satisfactions in sifting through his individual songs — he reportedly wrote more the lyrics for more than a thousand of them — and realizing how many vocal artists and musicians of many stripes and many generations have interpreted them — and so so still, 60 years after his death.

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The New Moon, 1928

With composer Sigmund Romberg. Hammerstein worked on four Romberg shows.

From this one comes “Lover, Come Back To Me,” sung by Barbra Streisand, accompanied, conveniently, by a scroll of Hammerstein’s lyrics.

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Show Boat, 1927

Music by Jerome Kern, with whom Hammerstein collaborated on some half dozen musicals.

Paul Robeson sings “Ol Man River” in the 1936 movie of the musical. Hammerstein’s original lyrics were problematic in the way he referred to African-Americans. In the movie version, it’s been changed to “darkies,” which to modern ears isn’t much better than the original epithet.

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I’ll quote here just the first few verses:

Dere’s an old man called the Mississippi, Dat’s the old man dat I’d like to be, What does he care if the world’s got troubles, What does he care if da land ain’t free?

Old Man River, Dat Old Man River, He mus’ know somepin’, But don’t say nothin’ He just keeps rollin’ He keeps on rollin’ along.

He don’t plant taters, He don’t plant cotton, And dem dat plant ’em, Is soon forgotten, But old man river, He jus’ keeps rollin’ along.

You an’ me, We sweat an’ strain, Body all achin’, An’ wracked with pain, Tote dat barge, Lift dat bale, Get a little drunk, And ya lands in jail.

I gets weary, An’ sick of tryin’, I’m tired of livin’, And scared of dyin’, But old man river, He jus’ keeps rollin’ along.

After 1938, Robeson changed the lyrics to the son in his concerts, not just omitting the denigrating references but cleaning up the dialect and changing the character of the singer from resigned to empowered. Instead of ” Git a little drunk, / An’ you land in jail…”, Robeson sang ” You show a little grit / And you lands in jail..” He changed “I gits weary / An’ sick of tryin’; / I’m tired of livin’ / An scared of dyin’,” to “But I keeps laughin’/ Instead of cryin’ / I must keep fightin’; / Until I’m dyin'”

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Billie Holiday sings Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man in 1937, with Teddy Wilson on the piano.

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Fish got to swim and birds got to fly I’ve got to love one man till I die Can’t help lovin’ that man of mine

Tell me he’s lazy tell me he’s slow Tell me I’m crazy maybe I know Can’t help lovin’ that man of mine

When he goes away That’s a rainy day And when he comes back that day is fine The sun will shine

He can come home as late as can be Home without him ain’t no home to me Can’t help lovin’t dat man of mine

Sweet Adeline, 1929

Music by Jerome Kern

Helen Morgan sang “Why Was I Born” in the original production Here’s Irene Dunne singing it five years later

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Why was I born? Why am I livin’? What do I get? What am I givin’? Why do I want a thing I daren’t hope for? What can I hope for? I wish I knew. Why do I try to draw you near me? Why do I cry? You never hear me I’m a poor fool, but what can I do? Why was I born to love you?

Music in the Air, 1933

Music by Jerome Kern

Ten years later, Frank Sinatra sang “The Song Is You” which has been covered by singers as diverse as Mario Lanza and Mary Wilson

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I hear music when I look at you, A beautiful theme of every Dream I ever knew. Down deep in my heart I hear it play. I feel it start, then melt away. I hear music when I touch your hand, A beautiful melody from some enchanted land. Down deep in my heart, I hear it say, Is this the day? I alone have heard this lovely strain, I alone have heard this glad refrain: Must it be forever inside of me, Why can’t I let it go, Why can’t I let you know, Why can’t I let you know the song My heart would sing? That beautiful rhapsody Of love and youth and spring, The music is sweet, The words are true The song is you.

Very Warm for May, 1939

Music by Jerome Kern

Ella Fitzgerald sings “All The Things You Are” (accompanied by lyrics!)

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Carmen Jones, 1943

Music by Georges Bizet. Hammerstein basically supplied a new setting and new lyrics to the opera Carmen

Dorothy Dandridge sings ‘Dat’s Love’ (set to the song “Habanera) in

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Oklahoma, 1943

Hammerstein’s first collaboration with Richard Rodgers, and the musical still most credited with creating the modern Broadway musical.

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Barbara Cook sings Many a New Day

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Kristin Chenoweth sings “I Can’t Say No”

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Bette Midler sings Oklahoma!

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State Fair, 1945 film

This is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical written directly for film. It was brought to a Broadway stage in 1996.

Jeanne Crain sings “It Might As Well Be Spring” from the movie.(Actually her singing voice was dubbed by Louanne Hogan.) Song begins at around 2:00

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I prefer Rosemary Clooney with Harry James on horn

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I’m as restless as a willow in a windstorm I’m as jumpy as a puppet on a string I’d say that I had Spring fever But I know it isn’t Spring

I am starry-eyed and vaguely discontented Like a nightingale without a song to sing Oh, why should I have Spring fever When it isn’t even Spring?

I keep wishing I were somewhere else Walking down a strange new street Hearing words that I have never heard From a girl I’ve yet to meet

I’m as busy as a spider spinning daydreams I’m as giddy as a baby on a swing I haven’t seen a crocus or a rosebud or a robin on the wing But I feel so gay in a melancholy way That it might as well be Spring

It might as well be Spring

Carousel, 1945

Joshua Henry and Jessie Mueller perform ‘If I Loved You’

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Allegro, 1947

Part of a London production of the musical in 2016 at Southwark Playhouse, Katie Bernstein sings “The Gentleman is a Dope.”

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The gentleman is a dope, a man of many faults A clumsy Joe who wouldn’t know a Rumba from a Waltz The gentleman is a dope and not my cup of tea Why do I get in a dither? He doesn’t belong to me

The gentleman isn’t bright, he doesn’t know the score A cake will come, he’ll take a crumb and never ask for more The gentleman’s eyes are blue but little do they see Why am I beating my brains out? He doesn’t belong to me

He’s somebody else’s problem, she’s welcome to the guy She’ll never understand him half as well as I

The gentleman is a dope, he isn’t very smart He’s just a lug you’d like to hug and hold against you heart The gentleman is a dope doesn’t know how happy he could Look at me crying my eyes out, as if he belonged to me He’ll never belong to me

He’s somebody else’s problem, she’s welcome, welcome to the guy She’ll never understand him half as well, well as I

South Pacific, 1949

Mitzi Gaynor (actually) sings “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair”

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Bing Crosby sings Younger than Springtime

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You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught

In what amounts to a Public Service Announcement on Brotherhood Week, Oscar Hammerstein introduces the song, while Richard Rodgers plays the piano and while William Tabbert, who originated the role of the character Lt. Joseph Cable, sings

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Here’s Mandy Patinkin’s interpretation

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And Billy Porter

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You’ve got to be taught To hate and fear, You’ve got to be taught From year to year, It’s got to be drummed In your dear little ear You’ve got to be carefully taught. You’ve got to be taught to be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made, And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade, You’ve got to be carefully taught. You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late, Before you are six or seven or eight, To hate all the people your relatives hate, You’ve got to be carefully taught

Alex Newell sings “Wonderful Guy”

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The King and I, 1951

Kelli O’Hara sings “I Whistle A Happy Tune”

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Whenever I feel afraid I hold my head erect And whistle a happy tune So no one will suspect I’m afraid. While shivering in my shoes I strike a careless pose And whistle a happy tune And no one ever knows I’m afraid. The result of this deception Is very strange to tell For when I fool the people I fear I fool myself as well! And ev’ry single time The happiness in the tune Convinces me that I’m not afraid. Make believe you’re brave And the trick will take you far. You may be as brave As you make believe you are You may be as brave As you make believe you are LOUIS While shivering in my shoes I strike a careless pose And whistle a happy tune And no one ever knows, I’m afraid.

Jelani Alladin and Matt Doyle sing “We Kiss In A Shadow” in 2019 (a gorgeous version that’s part of the unfortunately named R&H Goes Pop series)

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Pipe Dream, 1955

Perry Como sings “All At Once You Start to Love Her”

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You start to light her cigarette And all at once you love her You’ve scarcely talked You’ve scarcely met But all at once you love her

You like her eyes, you tell her so She thinks you’re wise and clever You kiss goodnight and then you know You’ll kiss goodnight forever You wonder where your heart can go Then all at once you know (All at once you know)

You like her eyes (‘like her eyes) You tell her so (‘tell her so) She thinks you’re wise and clever (You’re wise an’ clever) You kiss goodnight and then you know You’ll kiss goodnight forever You wonder where your heart can go Then all at once you know

Flower Drum Song, 1958

Miyoshi Umeki sings the first song “A Hundred Million Miracles” in this long segment on the Ed Sullivan Show

This is followed by “You Are Beautiful”, “I Enjoy Being A Girl”, “Love Look Away”, and “Sunday”. sung by members of the cast Pat Suzuki, Ed Kenney, Juanita Hall, Arabella Hong, Larry Blyden, Patrick Adiarte.

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The Sound of Music, 1959

My Favorite Things

Julie Andrews sings it in the movie

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But it’s been embraced by singers the world over, especially jazz singers.

Sarah Vaughn

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Bobby McFerrin

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Tony Bennett

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Raindrops on roses And whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens Brown paper packages tied up with strings These are a few of my favorite things

Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels Doorbells and sleigh bells And schnitzel with noodles Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes Silver-white winters that melt into springs These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites When the bee stings When I’m feeling sad I simply remember my favorite things And then I don’t feel so bad

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens Brown paper packages tied up with strings These are a few of my favorite things

Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes Silver white winters that melt into springs These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites When the bee stings When I’m feeling sad I simply remember my favorite things And then I don’t feel so bad

The Sweetest Sight

In 1939, Oscar Hammerstein spotted an old couple on the beach, and was moved to write lyrics set to a melody Jerome Kern had written several years before. Here in 1981, Isaac Stern plays the violin violin and then Mary Martin sings “The Sweetest Sight I Have Seen” Starts at around 3:00

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I have seen a line of snow-white birds Drawn across an evening sky. I have seen divine, unspoken words Shining in a lover’s eye. I hae seen moonlight on a mountaintop, Silver and cool and still. I have heard church ells fairly echoing Over a distant hill. Close enough to beauty I have been. And, in all the whole wide land, Here’s the sweetest sight that I have seen — One old couple walking hand in hand.

O is for Oscar Hammerstein II. The Lyricist Who Revolutionized Broadway, even before Richard Rodgers. Before he started collaborating with Richard Rodgers on some of the most beloved musicals in Broadway history, Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) had helped create some three dozen Broadway productions over a quarter of a century, most often writing both the lyrics…

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imanidavis · 4 years

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Carmen Jones Screening Introduction

Guest Curator for Carmen Jones screened at Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art - January 17, 2020

“My main film interests lie within thinking about the way that African-Americans were represented in the classical Hollywood era, which is why I was especially drawn to the film Carmen Jones. The 1940s and 1950s was a turbulent time for growth in the representation of African Americans on-screen. After the migration of large numbers of African Americans from the rural South to urban areas across the U.S. between the 1910s and 1940s, mainstream Hollywood began to reflect the shifting racial landscape in its films. Likewise, WWII brought about a flood of films pertaining to the war, such as Samuel Fuller’s Steel Helmet and Home of the Brave, that further incorporated African-Americans in their casting. The film we are about to see, Carmen Jones, could be considered a tipping point in terms of the changes we see for black talent in film. A new burst of “all-black musical casts” at the time was lucrative, with films such as Stormy Weather, Porgy and Bess, and others becoming the new normal for how audiences saw black people onscreen. Carmen Jones is one of the films that was on the cutting edge.

Released in 1954, Carmen Jones came to the screen over ten years after the Broadway debut of the musical on which it was based. The stage musical, produced by Billy Rose, was an all-black adaptation of Bizet’s opera Carmen, with lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II. The film version, produced and directed by Otto Preminger, introduced a wide range of audiences to legendary entertainers such as Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Diahann Carroll, and of course Dorothy Dandridge.

An early supporter of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, Harry Belafonte had only appeared in one film before Carmen Jones, but had found some success as a singer and on Broadway. Ironically, his voice, along with those of Carroll and Dandridge, was dubbed in Carmen Jones. Later, Belafonte would offered the role of Porgy in Preminger's 1959 production of Porgy and Bess, where he would have once again starred opposite Dandridge, but he refused the role because he objected to its racial stereotyping. His frustration with these and other stereotypical roles led him to turn away from film and back to music in the 1960s.

Pearl Bailey, who also appeared in both Carmen Jones and Porgy, was also a successful singer and Broadway performer–notably, hers is one of the few vocal performances in the film that wasn’t dubbed. Diahann Carroll, recently passed in late 2019, made her film debut in Carmen Jones, and went on to become a black household name. Her role in the 1968 show Julia, the first series on American television to star a Black woman in a non-stereotypical role, was a milestone both in her career and TV as a whole.

Dorothy Dandridge, however, was a force unlike any other during this time. After a string of uncredited roles in Hollywood films early in her career, Dandridge found herself frustrated by the limited number of non-stereotypical roles available to Black actresses. It was not on the screen, but as a nightclub entertainer that she first created a sensation. After a 1951 performance at the Cafe Gala in Los Angeles led to a front-page cover story in the Los Angeles Mirror, Dandridge became an in-demand act, with rave reviews and sold-out engagements in New York and London.

In 1953, there was a search for the star of Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones–other contenders included Eartha Kitt and Diahann Carroll herself–and initially, Dandridge was actually passed over out of fear that her past roles in films like Bright Road made her more fit for “quieter” parts. One day, she walked into Otto Preminger’s office and proceeded boldly: a rising actress and cabaret singer confronted this powerful film mogul. Following this meeting and some more test screens, Otto gave her the part–one of the most substantial to ever be offered to an African-American woman at this time. Carmen Jones earned Dandridge a Best Actress nomination and catapulted her into international stardom and a shiny three-picture contract with Fox. Dorothy Dandrige nonetheless continued to reject roles that she did not see as a fit for her: after Carmen Jones, she appeared in only five more feature films before her death in 1965.

Carmen Jones, though very progressive for its time and helping to break down numerous barriers for african-american talent, still carries the weight of years of stereotypes and misrepresentation. James Baldwin, for one, was critical of the film. In an essay titled Carmen Jones: The Dark is Light Enough from Notes of a Native Son, he observed the distance between the film’s pandering depictions of African American life and reality, saying it “could easily have been dreamed up by someone determined to prove that Negroes are as ‘clean’ and as ‘modern’ as white people and, I suppose, in one way or another, that is exactly how they were dreamed up.” He was also not a fan of Dorothy Dandrige’s character, noting that the film’s “sterile and distressing eroticism” are why “Negroes are associated in the public mind with sex.”

James Baldwin was not alone in calling out the oversexualized use of black women’s bodies in media. In Yanick St. Jean and Joe R. Feagin’s Double Burden: Black Women and Everyday, the authors work through the ways in which black women are often misrepresented, mischaracterized, and misrecognized. “The negative depiction of black women as domineering matriarchs or exotic sexual objects was created, and still is perpetuated by white (usually white male) social scientists, and even by a few black male social scientists trained by the ... images of hyper-sexuality and overbearingness often merge to symbolize the black woman”. The authors’ words take on more weight when we consider that, from Billy Rose and Oscar Hammerstein to Otto Preminger, the authors of Carmen Jones were white men who constructed a very sexualized black woman lead.

As we view Carmen Jones today, think of it as a representation of the push and pull of the times. This period in time, as I noted before, was especially turbulent. It is certainly worth noting that 1954 was the year of the landmark Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education. Overall, though there are issues with representation through today’s lens, in 1954, this was a huge historic moment and kicking off point for a lot of black Hollywood icons’ careers. Representation of African-Americans in film is an issue that is still being worked out today. It is vital as we progress to look back on history, question, and learn from it. I hope you all enjoy the film”

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