reeling

Turner Classic Movies, better known in the colloquial as TCM is both a virtue and a vice. For me at least. August they are running a series called Summer Under the Stars where each day of the month is devoted to one iconic film star. All day. Every day. Thirty-one days. That's a lot of films that I either love, rarely get to see, or have never seen before. Great news for my film loving sensibilities, plague-like news for my OSU application.

First there was the day of Harold Lloyd, silent film genius who I knew absolutely nothing about until last week. He was brilliant! The films were fantastic! And they were on average only about an hour long. Do you realize how many movies that is? Then there was the day of Judy Garland films, beginning with her early career working with Mickey Rooney in the "Andy" movies. Those I can typically avoid fairly well. But then, ,then the demonic forces of TCM unleashed films like Summer Stock and In the Good Old Summertime. Both of those are on my all-time favorites list as the diva-like Judy pairs up with the likes of Gene Kelly (be still my dancer loving heart!) and Van Johnson (seriously underestimated film legend, in my approximation). Here's the thing: I didn't get to watch the former of the two, and for good reason.

I was out watching another film. It's a disease I have, really. Me and my partners in crime rustled up some free tickets to the film Adam, an absolutley fantastic piece! It's about a young man with Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, who struggles to find himself, work with Asperger's, and to find his place in the world. I'd watch it again in a heartbeat and listen to the soundtrack even sooner.

TCM really did a number on me yesterday though. One solid day of Cary Grant. This wouldn't have been as bad were it not for the fact that I watched An Affair to Remember before the Cary Grant-a-thon even began. So it was that late yesterday, I curled up at home after a day at the beach to watch Mr. Grant in Notorious and Houseboat. The latter of these films I have seen several times before. It is a light-hearted romance in which he stars with Sophia Loren. Good grief! That woman is a knockout!

The former of the two films, however, was new to me. Notorious is a Hitchcock film from 1946 in which Grant plays against Ingrid Bergman. Without even seeing the film, these three names should give a sense that it is fantastic. In reality though, this film is even better than you could imagine. Cary Grant, the total dreamboat that he is, has been inconized for his roles as a suave, debonnaire, witty man. He's absolutely brilliant at it. In Notorious, however, he is none of those things. Devastatingly handsome, to be sure. But his character is cold, distant, and brooding. I fell in love with him all over again feeling like I'd found a whole new side to him. The swooning that took place during that film was utterly absurd.

Luckily Cary Grant day came fairly early in the month giving me ample time to try to avoid TCM until Frank Sinatra day in the latter portion of August. That way I can focus on my appli-oh! Fun movie I've never seen before! Gotta go!