Monday, November 28, 2011

Shopping Scenes

In case you didn't get enough of Black Friday and shopping in the post-Thanksgiving weekend -- check out these selected films for more shopping fun! From Buzzsugar.com

Monday, November 14, 2011

My Fair Lady (1964)


Enjoy this beautifully played scene with Audrey Hepburn having a grand time. Cecil Beaton's costumes are magnificent. And, Rex Harrison does a happy dance.

Based on the musical, which was based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, the film was directed by George Cukor, music by Frederick Loewe, book and lyrics by by Alan Jay Lerner.

Marni Nixon provided the singing voice for Audrey Hepburn.

The film won 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Costume Design, Color. Rex Harrison took the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

A beautiful and witty adaptation -- one of the best film musicals.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Photoplay Covers

Gorgeous Photoplay covers from the 1920s.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Marty (1955)

One of the first feature-length films to be based on a television play, Ernest Borgnine stars as the title character in this bittersweet romantic tale. Marty is a sympathetic character, a single butcher living in the Bronx, confronting lonliness, peer pressure, and the desire to experience a loving relationship.

The character was a shift for Borgnine who played a ruthless character in From Here to Eternity (1953) a few years earlier. Borgnine enjoyed a strong career in film with leading and supporting roles. He became well-known with television audiences in the 1960s as Lt. Commander McHale in the comedy series McHale's Navy.

The film is based on the teleplay "Marty" written by Paddy Chayefsky, who also wrote the screenplay. The film was directed by Delbert Mann and starred Betsy Blair as Clara -- Marty's love interest. The film won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Writer -- in addition to be nominated in several other categories.

The television play, which aired in 1952 on Goodyear Television Playhouse, was also directed by Delbert Mann and starred Rod Steiger in the title role.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Ethel and Ernest -- who knew?


"It was a storybook celebrity marriage that captured a public’s imagination, and then suddenly it was over before they even had a chance to complete their wedding registry." -- from the New York Times

One of Hollywood's shortest marriages, Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine -- apparently the marriage fell apart during the honeymoon. In her autobiography entitled Merman (1978) - the chapter entitled "My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine" consists of one blank page.