The French list .....

Continuing our Lists theme, 25 essential French flicks we love, from the Fifties to the Seventies, again two maximum from each director ... (AND, Those French Tough Guys). 

• LA RONDE (1950) / MADAME DE … (1953) - Ophuls. Classic French cinema avec Danielle Darrieux & Co. 
• M RIPOIS (KNAVE OF HEARTS) 1954 / PLEIN SOLEIL (1959) – Rene Clement: Gerard Philipe and Alain Delon both at peak perfection in Clement's perfect films. Maurice Ronet is also terrific in SOLEIL as a very unpleasant Dickie Greenleaf ,,,,
• AND GOD CREATED WOMAN / HEAVEN FELL THAT NIGHT – as was Bardot in 1956 and 1958 in these Vadim scorchers! She WAS the female James Dean.
• LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD (1958) / LE FEU FOLLET (1963) – Malle - Malle's electrifying films still dazzle now, as does Maurice Ronet and Moreau ...
• LOLA (1961) / BAY OF ANGELS (1963) – Demy - 2 gleaming monochrome classics, as good as Demy's musicals, Anouk and Moreau at their best (Of course we love Demy's 2 pastel musicals and his 2 enchanting fairy tales as well, Demy label).
• AMELIE, OU TE TEMPS D’AIMER – Michel Drach, 1961 - not seen since at the Academy in Oxford Street London in 1964 when I was 18. Jean Sorel and a Victorian romance at moody Mont St Michel (my favourite place in France). 
• UN HOMME ET UNE FEMME - Lelouch. We just love Anouk and Trintignant and that lush score and visuals. Perfectly 1966
• LA FEMME INFIDELE / INNOCENTS WITH DIRTY HANDS (1975) – Chabrol's valentines to Stephane and Romy ... (just two from my 14 disk Chabrol set)
• UNDER THE SAND / TIME TO LEAVE – Ozon. A brace of Ozon classics. TIME TO LEAVE is harrowing, Rampling is perfect UNDER THE SAND (as was Deneuve in POTICHE).
• 400 BLOWS / HISTORY OF ADELE H. – Truffaut. Isabelle Adjani mesmerises as Adele H in 1975. and the first Antoine Doinel from 1959 is New Wave personified. 
  
• LES DRAGUEURS  - Mocky. More perfect 1959 French new wave as we take in Paris by night with Anouk and Belinda Lee.
• CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 – Agnes Varda, 1962. 
• LES VALSEUSES - Blier's shocker from 1974 still packs a punch as tearaways young Depardieu and Dewaere go on the rampage, in those flaired jeans. 
• THE BEST WAY TO WALK – Miller. Claude Miller's delicious 1976 drama
• THE WILD REEDS (LES ROSEAUX SAUVAGES)  – Techine. Andre Techine's gay classic from 1994, Gael Morel shines. 
• INDOCHINE – Wargnier - A Deneuve epic from 1992, almost a French GWTW.
  
• CESAR & ROSALIE – Sautet. Romy and Montand are perfect leads. One of Schneider's 6 with Claude Sautet, each is perfect. 
• PLAYTIME -Tati. TRAFIC is fabulous too as Monsieur Hulot goes travelling, 

12 FRENCH TOUGH GUYS:

• RIFIFI – Hossein in Dassin's 1955 masterclass
• MELODIE EN SOUS SOL – Verneuil's 1963 caper with Gabin & hot shot young Delon as they rob a Cannes casino, the playoff is perfect, 
• LE SAMOURAI – Melville's masterpiece from 1967
• LE HOMME D’ RIO – De Broca. Belmondo dazzles in Rio in 1964 with Dorleac. 
• BORSALINO – Deray. Delon and Belmondo ramp up the glamour in 1970
• THE WICKED GO TO HELL - Hossein's slick 1955 thriller with his wife Marina Vlady, and Henri Vidal.
• TOI LE VENIN -  Slick Hossein thriller from 1958, "Night is not for sleep" indeed! 
  
• UNE MANCHE ET LA BELLE (KISS FOR A KILLER) - Super Verneuil 1957 thriller with Vidal and Mylene Demongeot and Isa Miranda. 
• CHAIR DE POULE – Duvivier's jet black thriller from 1963 with Sorel and Hossein (right)
• LE CIRCLE ROUGE / ARMY OF SHADOWS – Melville's downbeat wartime epic with Signoret, Ventura & Co. 

More on all these at labels, particularly PLEIN SOLEIL, MR RIPLEY etc. 

20 Italian classics .....

Its my delayed Lists week - we start with some Italian favourites, then French, British, Costume films, American dramas and 20 Trash favourites ..... let's do one a day. (I am limiting myself to 2 maximum from each director).

• BICYCLE THIEVES / GARDEN OF THE FINZI CONTINI (1970) – De Sica
• TOO BAD SHE’S BAD – Blasetti, 1954 (the first pairing of Sophia and Marcello, with Vittorio having fun too)
• I VITELLONI (1953) / AMARCORD 1974) – Fellini - two Fellini classics (it may be heresy but I never liked LA DOLCE VITA or EIGHT AND A HALF that much ...)
• JOURNEY TO ITALY – Rossellini. A key Italian movie from 1953 that paved the way for the likes of Antonioni and the others .... Bergman and Sanders were hardly ever better.
  
• PANE, AMORE, E …. (SCANDAL IN SORRENTO) – Risi, 1955 Delicious Italian frolic with Sophia and Vittorio having fun in Sorrento. 
• LA NOTTE BRAVA (1959) / FROM A ROMAN BALCONY  (1960) –Bolognini - Doomed glamorous youth (Terzieff, Brialy, Sorel, Milian) in Bolognini's key works .... (perhaps MUBI will put them on for Martin .... just sayin'.)

LA NOTTE BRAVA

• L’AVVENTURA / L’ECLISSE – Antonioni & Vitti  (its all at the labels...)
• IL MARE (THE SEA) – Patrone Griffi (never seen this since 1964, when I was 18, and it was at the old Academy in Oxford Street, London). Rare indeed ....
• THE LEOPARD / SANDRA – Visconti (Luchino's opulence and that great black and white melodrama from 1965, with Cardinale and Sorel at their sumptuous beautiful peaks). 
  
• THE CONFORMIST (1970) – Bertolucci (it still amazes now). 
• OEDIPE RE / TEOREMA – Pasolini. His late 60s classics with Silvana Mangano mesmerising as ever. 
• THE LONG NIGHT OF ’43 – Vancini (this 1960 rare classic has Ferzetti and Belinda Lee in a terrific dramatic role - she is the equal of Loren or Mangano here). 
• SEVEN BEAUTIES – Wertmuller - this 1975 stunner still packs a powerful punch, particularly those scenes with Giancarlo Giannini and Shirley Stoler in the concentration camp ...)
• PADRE PADRONE - Taviani  Brothers. 1970s arthouse favourite - I liked it so much I returned with friends so they could share it too. More on these at labels.

Scorsese's documentary MY VOYAGE TO ITALY, as per my post in 2011, is essential and covers these key films and directors in detail with lots of clips, the movies he grew up watching.

Marilyn's birthday

She would have been 91 today.   This little magazine from 1958 (I would have been 12) was really my first exposure to the Monroe myth - how vividly I remember that red swimsuit cover, and couldn't wait to get to see HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE and all the other MMs then .... 

Lots more MM at labels ...

RIP, continued ....

Roy Barraclough (1935-2017), aged 81. Sad indeed to read of the passing of another British television legend, Roy Barraclough, from the golden age of CORONATION STREET when his devious Alec Gilroy presided over the Rovers Return pub
 with his wife Bet Lynch. Roy and Julie Goodyear were a priceless double act. Roy was also a panto dame, had a long career on stage and television, and was also equally memorable with the late Les Dawson as that gossiping double act Ada and Cissie. Glory days indeed (unlike now with those dismal characters and storylines).

Peter Sallis (1921-2017), aged 96. Another veteran of British theatre, film and television. In a long career he clocked up over 150 credits, from all those early films roles and television series like THE PALLISERS, THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, FIRST OF THE SUMMER WINE, the WALLACE & GROMIT cartoons, LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE. He also did a lot of theatre appearing with all the great names of his era. 

RIP, continued ...

Sir Roger Moore (1927-2017), aged 89. Lots of people's favourite James Bond, Roger parlayed his astonishing good looks into a long career, aided by his debonair charm and those famous raised eyebrows. Like Sean Connery he too was a male model posing in all those cardigans and sweaters, before Hollywood came calling in the mid-Fifties, where he was soon co-starring with Elizabeth Taylor in THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS, Eleanor Parker in INTERRUPTED MELODY, Lana Turner in DIANE, a splendid MGM costumer, as was THE KING'S THIEF with David Niven, another of those debonair actors of whom Moore seemed the latest incarnation. Soon he was IVANHOE (I think I would have liked seeing that series) and in THE ALASKANS and MAVERICK

and hilariously out west in the rather homoerotic comedy western GOLD OF THE SEVEN SAINTS with Clint Walker (below) in 1961, where he sports a funny cod Oirish accent. One also fondly remembers THE MIRACLE, camp heaven with Carroll Baker, and THE SINS OF RACHEL CADE with Angie Dickinson. Then of course he was THE SAINT, which is still a treat to see those early 60s episodes now. And there was that famous marriage to Dorothy Squires ...

Bond of course was his greatest role and he played it eight times, I did not see them all, but liked THE SPY WHO LOVED ME most and VIEW TO A KILL where Roger and Grace Jones were an odd team.  He sauntered through other adventures (GOLD, ESCAPE TO ATHENA and more) before retiring from acting and becoming an UNICEF Ambassador, like his good friend Audrey Hepburn. (We will have to overlook BOAT TRIP and another dreadful one with Michael Caine which I imagine not many saw). It was also a pleasure to see him sending himself up in a VICTORIA WOOD TV SPECIAL. The tribures and obituaries are of course fulsome for this charming, funny, self deprecating stalwart of the movie scene, ever since I was a kid. 

Dina Merrill (1923-2017), aged 93. Socialite, heiress, philanthropist and actress, Dina probably had her best role as the neglected wife in 1960's BUTTERFIELD 8, and also scored in DESK SET, OPERATION PETTICOAT, and was quite effective in THE SUNDOWNERS, THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER, THE YOUNG SAVAGES, A WEDDING, THE PLAYER. She also did a lot of television. She had been launched as 'a new Grace Kelly' ....

A week of lists: 30+ albums to love

"The Sunday Times" had another of their fascinating lists yesterday: 100 albums to love,. I suppose I could run to 100, but here’s the top of my list ….

• Marvin Gaye  - LETS GET IT ON (for "Distant Lover")
• Stevie Wonder – INNERVISIONS
• Aretha Franklin – LADY SOUL (for "Good To Me As I Am To You" with Eric Clapton)
• Dusty Springfield – DUSTY IN MEMPHIS
• Joni Mitchell – BLUE / COURT AND SPARK / WILD THINGS RUN FAST
• Carole King – TAPESTRY
• Joan Armatrading – BACK TO THE NIGHT
• Annie Lennox - DIVA (we wore it out)
• The Beatles – ABBEY ROAD
• The Rolling Stones – LET IT BLEED
• The Band – MUSIC FROM BIG PINK (this one takes me back to my hippie years in the late Sixties)
• Talking Heads – STOP MAKING SENSE
• Roxy Music – FLESH & BLOOD
• Nina Simone – NINA AT TOWN HALL
• Miles Davis - IN A SILENT WAY (I can get lost in this)
• Pet Shop Boys – ACTUALLY
• Billie Ray Martin – DEADLINE FOR MY MEMORIES ("Running Around Town")
• Fleetwood Mac – RUMOURS
• Supertramp – BREAKFAST IN AMERICA
• Pink Floyd – WISH YOU WERE HERE
• Massive Attack – BLUE LINES
• Frank Ocean – CHANNEL ORANGE
• Bob Dylan – BLOOD ON THE TRACKS
• Tim Buckley – GREETINGS FROM L.A.
• The Doors – STRANGE DAYS
• Grace Jones – NIGHTCLUBBING / LIVING MY LIFE
• Roberta Flack – FIRST TAKE
• Donny Hathaway – DONNY HATHAWAY (for that killer version of "A Song For You")
• Blondie – PARALLEL LINES
• Neil Young – HARVEST (for "Old Man")
• George Michael – OLDER (THE essential gay album)
• Paul Simon - STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS 
• Stevie Winwood - ARC OF A DIVER
• Elton John - TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION
• Tom Rush - THE CIRCLE GAME (so very 1968, with those early Joni & James Taylor songs)
• The Moody Blues - DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED (another dippy hippie daydream)
• Nat King Cole - NAT KING COLE SINGS/GEORGE SHEARING PLAYS
• Frank Sinatra - SONGS FOR SWINGING LOVERS
• Barbra Streisand – THE SECOND BARBRA STREISAND ALBUM

No room for my essential dance music: A Man Called Adam, Groove Armada, Global Underground, Murk, Danny Tenaglia, Space Ibiza etc. 

Bright shiny Sixties people

Fab pic of some groovy 60s people: theres Susannah York, Joe Orton, Tom Courtenay, Twiggy and more ..... must find out who the others are. 

The photo is by the Earl of Lichfield, and the others are Miranda Chiu, Michael Fish, Lucy Fleming and Peter S. Cook. Thanks, Colin. 

Compared to What ?

The first track on Roberta Flack's first album back in the early 70s. We liked Roberta a lot then, she was up there with Aretha Franklin and I saw them both twice, at the old Odeon Hammersmith in those years, Roberta's album has several other stunners well worth a listen now: "Angelitos Negros", "Trying Times", "Ballad of the Sad Young Men", "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" etc. 

The wild side ....

We like a good catfight and here is a doozy, from another of our Guilty Pleasures: the 1962 campfest that is WALK ON THE WILD SIDE, as Stanwyck's lesbian madam lets haughty Capucine have it, We love Barbara and Cap here at The Projector and they go to town with this. I will have to see the whole movie again soon for a good wallow. It is a certified Trash Classic and a Bad Movie We Love, up there with VALLEY OF THE DOLLS etc. More Bad Movies We Love soon .....

Here is what we said about it a few years ago:
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE – Harvey again in another lulu from 1962 and one of the best trash classics ever, as directed by Edward Dmytryk with that pounding Elmer Bernstein score and that great credit sequence with the prowling cat. (Jazzman Jimmy Smith also had a hit with this theme). Laurence Harvey, as expressionless as ever, hunts for his lost love Capucine in the bordellos of New Orleans in the 1930s, from the well-known novel by Nelson Algren. The movie is quite tame though but the cast are fascinating: young Jane Fonda as Kitty Twist, on the road with Harvey and later in the cat house owned by Barbara Stanwyck who wants haughty sculptress Capucine for herself. There is something fascinating about Capucine, I just like watching her. Anne Baxter has a supporting role here as Teresina, the Italian café owner, who would like Harvey to stay on with her. It all comes to a steaming climax at Stanwyck’s cathouse … one to savour then.

An old favourite: Dance of the Vampires or ....

Roman Polanski's 1967 spoof DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES or THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS is still an absolute delight - and should really be seen on a large screen as it's widescreen images are just marvellous - I particularly like that moment when Polanski (he plays Alfred the bumbling rather dim-witted assistant to Professor Abronsius himself) is fleeing from Count Von Krolock's son ("a sensitive youth" as his father, the leader of the vampires, says) and he - Polanski - runs all around the four sides of the castle cloisters to return to the point he started from where the vampire son [Iain Quarrier] is waiting for him .... delirious stuff.

This was Polanski still in English movie mode, after REPULSION and CUL-DE-SAC before heading to America and ROSEMARY'S BABY, so it was made with his usual collaborators, writer Gerard Brach and composer Krystof Komeda. Veteran actor Jack McGowran is the dotty professor hunting for vampires in Transylvania with his assistant Alfred. They stay at an inn where everyone is superstitious and afraid of vampires. Alfred gets to meet and fall for the inn-keeper's daughter Sarah (Sharon Tate, quite lovely here) who has also come to the attention of the mysterious Count whose eerie castle is outside the village. Sarah is addicted to taking baths and during one the Count enters and takes her away. Alfred and the Professor follow but not before the inn-keeper (who is Jewish, played by Alfie Bass) also falls victim to the vampire, as does his busty barmaid/mistress Fiona Lewis.

This is all spendidly realised with great sets for the inn and the castle. They find the resting places of the count and his son but it too late as the sun goes down ... Count Von Krolock materialises and has his own plans for the Professor and Alfred who can provide some intellectually stimulating company for them during those long winter nights as the centuries pass by. The son Herbert takes a shine to Alfred and there is that delicious scene as Alfred sitting on the bed as Herbert gets closer realises his is the only reflection in the mirror ... hence that chase around the castle. So we have a Jewish vampire and a gay vampire, both hilariously done, and Ferdy Mayne is a perfect arch vampire.

Sarah will be initiated into the vampires during the great ball held once a year and there is that great moment as ancient tombs open as the rather decrepit vampires emerge for their ball. The ball is a delight with everyone dancing but the large mirror only shows Alfred, Abronsius and Sarah .... they manage to get away as the vampires give chase in some very funny scenes and the ending is quite nice, while Komeda's score is just right.... It is all just a perfect delight from start to finish and one I can relish any time - a key Polanski movie too, before those later darker movies like his MACBETH and CHINATOWN or THE TENANT, or his recent THE GHOST (WRITER). Back in '69 or '70 when I was living around Chelsea I turned from Sloane Square into Kings Road and there was Polanski in front of me talking to someone - you could never mistake him for anyone else!

Marie Antoinette, 2006

MARIE ANTOINETTE Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film holds up well after a ten year gap in viewing. Is it marketed for a teen audience or does it depict Marie as an impressionable teen which today’s teens can relate to? The production is sumptuous as the teenage Marie leaves Austria to travel to France when still only 14 to marry Louis XVI and become queen at 19. We spend a lot of time with the teen Marie Antoinette (and Kirsten Dunst is perfect in the role) as she gets used to the lavish court and the rituals she has to abide by. It starts rather like Von Sternberg's 1934 THE SCARLETT EMPRESS with that other more knowing teenager heading off to become Catherine The Great ....

Later the birth of her children when in her 30s after she finally gets her husband to consummate the marriage is all glossed over rather quickly. The mob only appear once at the climax as she bows to the will of the people and we end with her and her family in a carriage, as the sun sets, on their way to their destiny.. The cast is quite good – nice to see Marianne Faithfull (if only briefly) as her mother Maria Theresa, and comedian Steve Coogan as the advisor, Rip Torn as the older king and Jason Schwartzmann as the diffident husband, plus Judy Davis, Rose Byrne and Tom Hardy. We also get to see a lot of the opulent and eccentric court at Versailles as Marie matures. Other characters like the Princess Lamballe and Count Fersen are rather glossed over.

The modern (well, 80s) music by the likes of Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow and The Cure has caused a lot of comment (there are 854 reviews on IMDB alone! - as one puts it: "Gidget goes to Versailles and when she gets there, she gets bored, gossips, reads Rousseau, and has beach-blanket pot parties and wild balls in Amadeus outfits".) but for me it suits the images – even the shot of the trainers among the shoes – as these are the bored teens of their time, as they indulge in clothes, shoes, cakes and champagne.

We do not see enough of the mature queen or her trial where she defended herself, but this obviously was not part of Coppola’s plan – she also scripted from the well-regarded Antonia Fraser biography. Fraser expressed pleasure with the end result but then what historian would not like a lavish film to be made from their historical tome?

So really it is all about Marie Antoinette as a sweet, utterly conventional and finally boring teenage girl acting out the fantasy of becoming a queen without realising the implications that follow … certainly a fascinating contrast to the equally opulent MGM film of 1938 with Norma Shearer's majestic performance. There will always be a market for doomed queens, whether Marie Antoinette, Mary Queen of Scots or Elizabeth (Sissi) of Austria - Marie's story though is hard to beat - and it looks marvellous of course, as good as anything in BARRY LYNDON (which set the benchmark for period films).

The ultimate Joni guide

Nice to find a specialist Joni Mitchell magazine when shopping at the local out of town major superstore, one of the UNCUT magazine specials on major music artists. 

This is a terrific on on our major favourite, Joni, to add to the collection. It cover all the albums - 20 plus - in detail, with lots of info and comment and fitting in Joni's remarkable career too, from the mid 60s onward, including all the rarities, the art, the dvds, etc, 

It just makes one want to go back and play them all again,   Lot of Joni of course at label, including (yes, Martin, once again), the time I met her in Kings Road, Chelsea in London in 1972, when we were both in our twenties, and walked along having a great conversation with her, 

Not the best Joni song, but we love this late 80s video with Joni dancing around the kitchen, doing the dishes and playing with her cat. 

We have now revised our list of Joni's top songs:- Here's 30+:

Tin Angel  (I love that line: "dark with darker moods is he …") /Be Cool / Man to Man / Chinese Café / Goodbye Pork Pie Hat / Let The Wind Carry Me / A Strange Boy / Barangrill / Car On A Hill / Down to You / The Same Situation / Just Like This Train / The Last Time I saw Richard / A Case of You / You Turn Me On I'm a Radio / Off Night Back Street / Talk To Me / Night Ride Home / Night in the City / Chelsea Morning / Urge For Going / The Circle Game / Both Sides Now / Michael From Mountains / Marcie / Songs to Ageing Children Come / Edith and the Kingpin / The Hissing of Summer Lawns / Good Friends / My Secret Place / Number One / Shiny Toys / God Must  be a Boogie Man.

Pour le weekend

Our French favourites: Deneuve, Dorleac, Adjani & Huppert, Aimee, Audran, Hardy, Laforet .... plenty on them at labels! 

Bus Riley's Back In Town

Let's dust off a "Guilty Pleasure" and have another look at the late Michael Parks (RIP label) debut in 1965 ... its deliriously entertaining and was a great suporting feature then. Here is what I wrote a few years ago:

We are in familiar territory as BUS RILEY'S BACK IN TOWN begins in 1965: a greyhound bus pulls in and a marine in white gets out and looks around his old town - its Bus Riley back after 3 years in the navy and trying to settle back into small town life and look for a suitable job.
It is familiar William Inge territory but this is William Inge-lite without all the heavy drama of PICNIC, ALL FALL DOWN, SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS, THE STRIPPER etc - Bus (Michael Parks) is a good-natured chap who does not think too deeply about things and is soon happy back with lovable mother (Jocelyn Brando), adoring younger sister (Kim Darby), sniping older sister (Mimsy Farmer) and local girl Janet Margolin who has to move in with them and who is so obviously the girl for Bus. There is also a very William Inge spinster teacher who gets the vapours at the sight of Bus in his underwear and comes down with a migraine at the thought of a man in the house, so she soon departs.
There is also that mortician acquaintance who can fix Bus up with a job - but, as he places his hand on Bus's knee and thigh, tells Bus how lonely he is and wants Bus to move in with him and his mother (Hitchcock's BIRDS expert and BILLY LIAR's grandmother) Ethel Griffies. Bus sighs wearily and instead settles for being a door to door salesman and is soon a hit with those lonely housewives (cue Alice Pearce as a rather dotty one). Then there is Laurel - Ann-Margret of course top-billed here and the posters are all about her, as Bus's old girlfriend who has married money while he was away and drives around town in her swish car looking for him. He resists her at first but she soon has him in her pool as her husband is away a lot and she wants Bus back big time.

Its a pleasant time waster catching the mid-'60s in transition and a rather nice view of small town American life. Laurel gets her just deserts as Bus realises she would never have married him as he was not rich enough and once he is told what a great car mechanic he was by a satisfied client his destiny beckons. Nicely directed by Harvey Hart it is one of Michael Park's better outings; like Christopher Jones he was tagged with the 'new James Dean' label but the mannerisms are kept in check here - he went on to be the naked Adam in Huston's BIBLE in '66 and 67's THE HAPPENING with a young Faye Dunaway, who was obviously going places too...
Parks was later terrific and suitably scuzzy in Tarantino's KILL BILL epics. 

Back to 1957 with ....

When I was 11 in 1957, a favourite movie magazine - one of the American fan ones - was maybe called "Screen Stories", featuring stories and photos from the current movies. This particular issue featured RAINTREE COUNTY, THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL, TAMMY AND THE BACHELOR, LOVING YOU, FUNNY FACE and others -- I can still visualise it. This week two of these re-surfaced, the Marilyn and the Elizabeth saga. Of the two I think Marilyn came out the winner.

Both had been working hard throughout the early Fifties, Liz having four movies out in 1954, but once GIANT catapulted her into the  major league, she slowed down to one prestige film a year .... as did Marilyn, who had formed her own production company with Milton H Greene, after moving to New York and was seeking more important projects, than the fluff 20th Century Fox saw her in. Terence Rattigan's play, THE SLEEPING PRINCE, seemed the ideal choice, with Laurence Olivier directing and co-starring, and a good British cast, filmed in England in 1956. We have covered that in detail before here, particularly when the film MY WEEK WITH MARILYN came out. Looking at it again now it is utter delight.

It is a totally different Marilyn from her Fox movies, ace cameraman Jack Cardiff photographs her lovingly, she had never looked better and proves herself a delightful comedienne, holding her own with Olivier, whose sly portrayal is a joy too. Marilyn in that skintight white dress, with the white choker necklace, and the nice period detail. 
Good to see Richard Wattis in a good role for once, and Marilyn with Jean Kent, Maxine Audley, Gladys Henson, Vera Day and with that forgotten actor Jeremy Spenser as the young prince,  (All covered at labels). Of course the production was notoriously difficult with Marilyn's delays and insecurities, but none of it shows on the screen. Its a pleasure to sink into any time. 

RAINTREE COUNTY on the other hand is now a colossal bore and did Taylor no favours. Her damaged southern belle is no Scarlett O'Hara, and the film is a plod through the usual Civil War dramatics. 
Eva Marie Saint is wasted, but we get lots of the young Lee Marvin, Rod Taylor, Nigel Patrick. Montgomery Clift seems to stumble through it, We wonder which scenes were before and after his car accident. He and Taylor though did look great in Bob Willoughby's photos from the set, and seemed to be enjoying themselves, The film was never given the full dvd release initially, as though MGM did not want to bother with it. At least Liz had those Tennessee Williams roles lined up next: CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, while Marilyn went back to Billy Wilder and the immortal SOME LIKE IT HOT. Liz may have been the dramatic actress, but Marilyn could sing, do comedy and musicals, as well as dramatics, and seems to have endured better.

Monroe and Taylor would be in contention again five years later in 1962 when CLEOPATRA and MM's SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE where making the headlines ....