The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe - Review

The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe is a made-for-TV drama based on the book of the same name by J. Randy Taraborrelli. The biopic is set as a conversation between Marilyn and her analyst in which Marilyn recounts her story from her turbulent childhood years, her rise to fame and the inner turmoil she faced and demons she dealt with including her struggle with mental illness and her troubled relationship with her mentally ill mother and finally the conspiracy surrounding her death.

Marilyn is played by Kelli Garner. Fans of Pan Am will recognise her as Kate. Kelli portrayed Marilyn's wide eyed fun side incredibly well however she didn't quite capture Marilyn's whispery voice as well as Michelle Williams did in My Weekend with Marilyn. Her performance though excellent was somewhat overshadowed by Susan Sarandon's as Gladys, Marilyn's disturbed mother. I also have to mention the fantastic makeup job that has been done to make Kelli look incredibly like Marilyn.
 
There has been a number of biopics made about Marilyn over the years but The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe covers the parts of Marilyn's life that she did not want made public. However with such an icon Marilyn's story is well known and this drama does not really cover any new ground that we haven't seen in other biopics of the star.

Being only a 2 part made for TV bio-pic only certain parts of Marilyn's story could be covered and the biopic does not really go into Marilyn's marriages in any depth nor does it cover some of her biggest films like some like it hot. It also fails to mention Marilyn's relationship with Frank Sinatra.
There is also a number of inaccuracies that occur in the biopic (you can read more about those here)

I also found the final scene with Marilyn on the beach with her mother a little contrived and 'fluffy'. Having said that this show is well worth a watch as long as you don't really expect too much of it.

At the Movies - Lucy (2003)

After seeing Everybody Loves Lucy a few weeks back I was inspired to find out more about the charismatic redhead so when this movie popped up on YouTube I just had to watch.

Lucy (2003) tells the story of Lucille Balls rise to fame and her tumultuous relationship with husband Desi Arnaz. The movie starts with Lucille as a young girl in the midst of her first romance with a local bootlegger. In order to put an end to the relationship Lucille's mother save the money to send her to drama school in New York. However drama school does not go as Lucille planned and after the principle returns her tuition telling her she does not have what it takes Lucille returns to her family home.

The family suffer a setback and are left peniless when a local neighbourhood kid is paralysed while target shooting with Lucille's grandfather and her brother. Lucy does not give up and spends the 1930's working as a cigerette girl and model. Lucille soon manages to get herself a contract and ends up in a string of B movies. 

Lucy meets and befriends Caroll Lombard and Lucy and Desi meet whilst working on a film together. They eventually marry but while Lucy's career continues to soar Desi's film contract gets cancelled and when he gets sick of being recognized as Lucille Ball's husband he turns to womanizing, drinking and gambling. 

After recovering from Lombard's death in 1943, she moves to Metro Goldwyn Mayer and becomes a red-head for her new picture DuBarry Was a Lady, with fellow comedian Red Skelton (Mark Clare). All is not well on the home-front, however, what with Desi away in the service and persistent rumors of his infidelity. The death of her grandfather, Fred Hunt, and a devastating miscarriage only makes matters worse.

After being released from MGM, silent movie legend Buster Keaton (Ian Mune) takes Lucy under his wing, convinced of her talent as a clown. Her comedic skills further gestate on her new radio program, My Favorite Husband. Lucy not only becomes more convinced of her comedic abilities, but of her desire to work with Desi to keep them together.

Gathering the radio team together, the idea for I Love Lucy is formed and pitched to CBS. Although skeptical of the public's readiness to buy Arnaz as Ball's husband, the couple set out to prove them wrong by performing musical and comedy routines on the road, and the network gives way, convinced the show will flop.

It proves a huge success, however, and remains a favorite for the next six years, overcoming a communist scare and even incorporating Lucille's real-life second pregnancy into the show, forever changing the shape of television.

By 1958, their company, Desilu had bought the former RKO studio where Lucille had once worked, and continued to expand as a television empire. Lucy and Desi's relationship problems increase, however, with Desi's worsening alcoholism and Lucille's fierce commitment to her craft making her more and more difficult to work with.

By 1960, it was obvious they could not go on, and prepared to end their show along with their marriage. The film concludes after the taping has ended, with Lucy and Desi walking out of the studio, hand in hand, no longer a couple but still friends, bonded for life by what they had accomplished.

Although this movie has a lot of bad reviews I absolutely adored it. The film has a perfect balance of comedy and drama topped of with a heart wrenching and bittersweet ending. I thought Rachel York perfectly embodied Lucy and got her mannerisms and sense of comic timing down pat and Danny Pino made a fab Desi. True fans of Lucille Ball will pick up on the inaccuracies on the movie such as some recreations of episodes of I Love Lucy that did not occur and events not in the correct chronological order but the movie is highly entertaining and is a must for Lucy fans.

At the Movies - Magic in the Moonlight

Last week the Hubby and I signed up to Quickflix and the first movie we got was Magic in the Moonlight. I had seen the trailer for the movie and wanted to see it at the cinema but we were too busy when it was released it and seemed to only have a very limited run.

Magic in the Moonlight is a romantic comedy set in the 1920's. Colin Firth plays Stanley aka world renowned illusionist Wei Ling Soo. After his show an old school friend and fellow illusionist Howard Burkan. Howard enlists Stanley to debunk a charlatan mystic named Sophie (played by Emma Stone) who is defrauding a rich family out of money. Stanley is a logical thinker and has debunked mystics in the past.

Stanley goes to the French Rivera to meet Sophie and her pushy mother and the family they are conning.  However the more time Stanley spends with Sophie the more he comes to believe that she is the genuine article. Her optimistic attitude rubs of on him and he finds himself falling in love with her.

I loved this movies quirky upbeat feeling. Colin Firth and Emma Stone both put in a fabulous performance and their characters seem to bounce of each other. However I found the story-line a little uninspiring in places and the film is reminiscent of Woody Allen's previous movie Midnight in Paris. Magic in the Moonlight is rather a stylish movie but lacks substance somewhat. However it is a fun lighthearted movie that makes for easy viewing.

At the Movies: Bettie Page Reveals All

A few years back I heard rumors around the internet that a documentary about Bettie Page was going to be released.  Recently I actually managed to get my hands on a copy so I thought I would review it for you all.

Bettie Page Reveals All is a fabulous documentary narrated by the lady herself which tells her life story from humble beginnings in an impoverished family, Bettie's entry into the world of pinup modelling, her rise to become the world's best and most well known pinup model, her disappearance from the public eye and her reemergence as a cult icon.

Bettie is fantastically honest and candid through the whole documentary and clears up the mystery of what happened to her when she disappeared from the public eye as well as dispelling other rumors surround her. Bettie's razor sharp wit and star quality shines through to make this documentary hugely entertaining.

Bettie Page reveals all also contains interviews with celebrities that still inspired by Bettie today and shows that over 50 years after her epitome of her career as the worlds best know pinup model her cult status has not waned.

Any fan of the fabulous women will love this film!

At the Movies: About Time

A few weeks back the Hubby and I went to see About Time. I was expecting a trite little rom-com that would be entertaining but a complete no brainer but About Time was so much more than that.

About Time is a British Romantic Comdey starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy and written and directed by Richard Curtis.

At the age of 21 Tim (Domhall Gleesons) father (Billy Nighy) reveals to him that all the men in their family share a surprising talent - they can travel through time. Tim's Father explains that they can only travel backwards within their own lifetime. Tim decides to use this ability to find love but his first conquest a friend of his sisters who stays with them over summer rejects him no matter how he changes time and Tim realises that even with the ability to time travel you can't force someone to love you.

After the summer Tim moves to London to pursue his law career. There he meets Mary but an unfortunate time traveling incident means that Tim erases his and Mary's first meeting and so he ensures they meet again and the movie follows everything that happens after.

About Time is a beautifully crafted movie with an endearing story that gives the message to live each day to its fullest. Bill Nighy was fantastic (as always) and although the movie was 2 hours long it did not drag one little bit.

About Time is in cinemas now! 

At the Movies: Down With Love

From the very first time that I saw Doris Day and Rock Hudson share screen time I have adored the duo's movies. My favourite being Pillow Talk so when I saw 'Down with Love', a romantic comedy that pays homage to the early 1960's sex comedies I knew I would adore it!

Renee Zellweger plays Doris Day Barbara Novak an author from Maine who has just arrived in Manhattan to promote her book 'Down With Love' a self help book to free women from love, teach them to enjoy sex without commitment, and to replace the need for a man with things such as chocolate. Following her rules would, she believes, help to give women a boost in the workplace and in the world in general.

Ewan McGregor plays Catcher Block a 'mans man, ladies man and man around town' who is a successful writer at Know Magazine.

In order to publicize her book Barbara's agent attempts to set up an interview between Barbara and Catcher but Catcher cancels on multiple occasions as he is entertaining various young ladies each time fobbing Barbara off with a different excuse. When Barbara overhears to flight attendants say they both went on dates with Catcher the day before Barbara vows never to talk to her again.

Barbara's book becomes a worldwide sensation after Judy Garland sings a song about it on the Ed Sullivan show. Catcher seeing the sensation that the book has become tries to arrange an interview with Barbara but she refuses and when she appears on TV talking about a chapter in her book entitled 'the worst kind of man' and names Catcher Block as just this type of man Catcher loses his cool and vows to expose her.

Catcher organises a chance meeting at a launderette and introduces himself as Zip Martin, an astronaut who has no idea who Barbara is. Cue a cute montage of their 29 dates in 23 days. So will Catcher/Zip expose Barbara as a woman looking for love or does Barbara have a secret of her own?

Down with Love is a fun frivolous romantic comedy that has all the kitsch and cuteness of the original movies of the genre with some tongue in cheek innuendo that tips its hat to movies such as Pillow Talk and Sex and the Single Girl. I adored everything about this movie from the cast to the sets and definitely the costumes. I will leave you with some of the best outfits from the movie:

At the Movies: Turbo

On Sunday the Hubby, my Niece, my Great-Niece and I attended the preview showing of Turbo in 3D hosted by Nuffnang and Smooth FM.

We were greeted inside by Turbo himself  then headed to our screen where we were offered complimentary popcorn and waters and a fab bag full of goodies.

As for the movie itself well Turbo is a heartfelt story about the power of self belief. Turbo is a common garden snail with the dream of becoming a racer. After a freak accident he finds himself turbo-charged and is picked up Tito another dreamer who wants to make his (and his brothers) Taco business a success. Tito runs a snails racing league. So together with the other racers and their snails Turbo and Tito follow their dream to enter (and win) the Indy 500.

Turbo is a fabulous feel good movie with a beautiful message which reminds us that (in the words of Gagne's father) No dream is too big and no dreamer too small!

Turbo is out in cinemas Thursday 19th September 

Thanks to Nuffnang and Smooth FM for hosting this event! x

At the Movies - Now You See Me

Last week the hubby and I went to see Now You See Me. Now You See Me is about a group of illusionists who during one performance rob a bank and reward their audience with the money.  The four magicians each answer a mysterious summons to an obscure address with secrets inside.

A year later, they are the Four Horseman, big time stage illusionists who climax their sold out Las Vegas show with a bank apparently robbed for real. This puts agents Dylan Rhodes of the FBI and Alma Vargas of Interpol on the case to find out how they did it. However, this mystery proves difficult to solve even with the insights of the professional illusion exposer, Thaddeus Bradley. What follows is a bizarre investigation where nothing is what it seems with illusions, dark secrets and hidden agendas galore as all involved are reminded of a great truth in this puzzle: the closer you look, the less you see.

Now You See Me has received mixed reviews from critics but the Hubby and I absolutely loved it. Not only does the movie have a stellar cast but it keeps you guessing until the very end. Granted some plot points were not really resolved but this just leaves space for the sequel which has already been confirmed by Lionsgate.

Now You See Me is in cinemas now!  

At the Movies: Goddess

I have been wanting to see Goddess ever since I first saw a trailer for it about a year ago. I received free tickets to see the movie from Nuffnang but by the time I got around to using them there were no more showings in our area so when Goddess came out to rent on DVD I snapped up a copy.

Goddess is a fabulously campy musical movie with a fantastic cast. The Goddess of the title is Elspeth Dickens (Laura Michelle Kelly) a mum of young twins whose husband James (Rowan Keating) is working at sea tracking whales in the Southern Ocean. In order to stay in touch James gives Elspeth a web cam but when she can't reach him Elspeth sets up a website singing her 'sink songs'. Elspeth becomes an internet sensation and attracts the attention of Cassandra Wolfe (Magda Szubanski) a Sydney advertising executive who needs a new face for the launch of the Goddess Laptop. Elspeth must chose between her chance at stardom and her family left behind back in Tasmania.

The film is the second feature by Mark Lamprell, and it is based on a one-woman show titled Sink Songs by South African cabaret performer Joanna Weinberg, who co-wrote the screenplay with Lamprell.

Goddess is a fantastic feel good movie that is incredibly campy and corny at times (especially the ending) and would make a great movie or a girls night in!

At the Movies: Capote

Capote is a biopic of novelist Truman Capote based on Gerald Clarke's biography Capote. The movie  following the events during the writing of Capote's non-fiction book In Cold Blood. While reading The New York Times, Truman Capote is riveted by the story of the Clutter family murders and travels to Kansas with author and friend Harper Lee to interview those involved with the family.During his research for his book Capote develops a close relationship with Perry Smith, one of the killers.

I have to admit I haven't read any of Capote's works other than the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and know little about the man other than what I have read in the book Fifth Avenue, 5a.m but even without much background it is clear that this film is a masterpiece  The cinematography is absolutely stunning and although the subject is somber the tension is broken with comedic moments.  Philip Seymour Hoffman is incredible (as always) in the role of Capote and the friendship between him and Nelle Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) is beautifully acted and feels completely genuine.

The movie is available on DVD and you can see the trailer here:

At the Movies: W.E.

After wanting to see it for a while I finally got around to sitting down and watching W.E. I didn't know what to expect as I had heard many mixed reviews but the movie was actually I lot better than I imagined. I am not a Madonna fan in the least but I think she did an excellent job directing this movie. The photography was stunning, the storyline gripping and the score absolutely enchanting.

The story follows the affair between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and a contemporary romance between a married woman Wally (named after Wallis Simpson as her mother and Grandmother were both fans) and a Russian security guard, Evgeni.

In 1998, an auction of the estate of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor causes great excitement. For Wally Winthrop, it has much more meaning. Wally becomes obsessed by their historic love story. As she learns more about the sacrifices involved, Wally gains her own courage to find happiness.

I have to say while I adored the historic love story I found the contemporary part of the story a little extraneous. It seemed to make the flow of the film quite stilted and the story would not have suffered if the contemporary section was removed. I felt having a modern storyline that correlates with Wallis and Edwards is a bit of an insult to the audience and doing so made the modern storyline predictatble as we knew that Wally would end up with her 'prince'. I also found Abbie Cornish' acting quite wooden at times. Personally I would preferred to see Charlize Theron in the role.

Having said that Andrea Riseborough made an excellent Wallis Simpson and James D'Arcy was a very cadish Edward.

And of course I cannot end this review without share pics of  the fabulous costumes (which got Arianne Phillips an Oscar nomination for Best Achievement in Costume Design)

At the Movies: The Great Gatsby (2013)

On Monday night the hubby and I had the pleasure of attending a gala screening of the Great Gatsby in 3D at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter. You can read more about the night here but now I will come to the crux of the night and review the film itself:

I absolutely adored The Great Gatsby. After waiting over a year for the movie to come out I had high expectations but the film blew any expectations I had out of the water. It was so much better than anything I could possibly have conceived.  Baz Luhrman created a visual spectacular so stunning that I dare not blink lest I miss a single millisecond.  Purists and historians may nit pick about the historic accuracy of the film but the movie capture the essence of the Jazz Age with all its excess

The movie was told from the point of view of Nick Carraway who was convalescing at a sanatorium after the events of the book and was writing the story down after advice from his doctor to do so. These writings become the book of The Great Gatsby thus melding together the character of Nick and Fitzgerald himself which is a nice touch considering Fitzgerald based the character on himself.

When I initially heard about the cast of the film I had some reservations but these turned out to be completely unfounded as every actor was perfectly cast. Leonardo DiCaprio whose acting prowess has only come to my attention in recent years made the quintessential Gatsby with exactly the right mix of Oxford educated gentleman, flawed and dishonest bootlegger and poor middle western boy hoping and dreaming for a better life and another chance at love.

Carey Mulligan was an actress that had escaped my attention up to this role. She played Daisy with a sardonic humour that hid the pain that her husband's infidelity caused her and made the character so likeable that, even knowing the story as well as I do, I was still genuinely shocked when Daisy chose Tom over Gatsby and didn't attend Gatsby's funeral. This made Nick's observation that "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made" all the more poignant.

Tobey Maguire was perfect for the role of Nick being boyish and wide eyed enough to pull the role off and Elizabeth Debicki made the perfect Jordan Baker, cat-like and elegant she was the epitome of a jazz age woman.

The movie was all the better for being in 3D. Baz Lurhman's dynamic style lends itself so well to 3D. Overall
the movie was truly magnificent. If The Great Gatsby is considered Fitzgerald's magnum opus then this movie may just be Lurhman's. I implore you to go and see it dear readers.

The Great Gatsby (1974)

It is very hard to write a review of the 1974 version of the Great Gatsby after seeing Baz Luhrman's Gatsby. Compared to Luhrman's masterpiece the inadequacies of the older version are laid bare. I will however try to review this movie in its own light

The 1974 version of Gatsby was released to mixed reviews and personally it left me feeling a little bit cold. The movie fails to put across all the wild excess of the Jazz Age and the characters are not very well represented by the cast chosen.

Robert Redford did and alright job as Jay Gatsby playing the part of the refined gentleman but when it came to Gatsby's passionate confrontational side it failed to come across. This can be seen most in the scene at the hotel when Gatsby reveals his and Daisy's affair 

Mia Farrow turned the quirky sardonic character of Daisy into a simpering fragile mess who was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Though striking enough to play the part, Farrow failed to represent the depth of Daisy's character and played the part in such a vapid and shallow way that it made me feel no affinity to her whatsoever.

Overall the movie failed to portray all the emotions and complexities of Fitzgerald's book.  

The Great Gatsby (2000)

The 2000 version of the Great Gatsby was a television film adaptation. It was made in collaboration by the A&E Cable Network in the United States, and Granada Productions in Great Britain. It was directed by Robert Markowitz from a teleplay by John J. McLaughlin. It starred Toby Stephens as Jay Gatsby with Mira Sorvino as Daisy Buchanan and Paul Rudd as Nick Carraway.

I have to say that this version of Gatsby left me feeling a little indifferent. Although it remains true to the lot of the book it failed to capture the essence of the 1920s. It feels a little low budget and fails to evoke the feelings that reading the book gives me. The flashbacks in the action were seamless enough and did not interrupt the action but they created a false sense of foreboding that made the viewing feel that the character of Gatsby would be almost sinister.

 Paul Rudd plays the wide eyed and boyish figure of Nick Carraway rather well but I feel he lacks any real depth as an actor.

I disliked Mira Sorvino as Daisy. I can't help comparing her to Mia Farrow's stunningly delicate yet vapid interpretation of the role in the 1974 movie and without meaning to sound catty I don't think Mira is striking enough to play Daisy. Mira's accent also seems to drop in and out, ranging from southern belle to english lady throughout the movie which is a little distracting and I can't help thinking of Romy and Michelle when I see her!

I quite liked Martin Donovan as Tom Buchanan.He seemed brutish enough for the role but I always imagined him as more of a hulking figure of a man. I didn't feel the same about Heather Goldenhersh as Myrtle Wilson she just didn't seem dynamic enough for the role and I couldn't see what would have tempted Tom away from Daisy.  

But I did like Francie Swift as Jordan Baker. She seemed the most indicative of the period and her demeanor seemed to fit the character well.

And last but certainly not least Toby Stephens as Gatsby. I dislkiked his interpretation of the character and found him more smarmy and gloating than the charming and complex character created by Fitzgerald.

The costumes and sets are not particularly reminiscent of the 20's. In fact the costumes seem a rather more inspired by the 1974 movie than the novel.

Overall this adaptation seems to miss the mark when it comes to converting Fitzgeralds classic american story to the big screen.

Great Gatsby Week: Later Adaptations

The most famous adaptation (to date) of The Great Gatsby is the 1972 version staring  Robert Redford in the title role of Jay Gatsby, Mia Farrow, Sam Waterston, Bruce Dern, Karen Black, Scott Wilson, and Lois Chiles with Howard Da Silva, Roberts Blossom, and Edward Herrmann.  It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick and distributed by Paramount. Truman Capote was the original screenwriter but he was replaced by Francis Ford Coppola. On his commentary track for the DVD release of The Godfather, Coppola makes reference to writing the Gatsby script at the time, though he comments: "Not that the director paid any attention to it. The script that I wrote did not get made."

The movie received mixed to negative reviews. It was praised for staying true to the novel by criticised for lacking any true emotion.


Cast 
Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby
Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan
Bruce Dern as Tom Buchanan
Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway
Karen Black as Myrtle Wilson
Scott Wilson as George Wilson
Lois Chiles as Jordan Baker
Edward Herrmann as Ewing Klipspringer
Howard Da Silva as Meyer Wolfsheim
Kathryn Leigh Scott as Catherine
Regina Baff as Miss Baedecker
Vincent Schiavelli as Thin Man
Roberts Blossom as Mr. Gatz
Beth Porter as Mrs. McKee
Patsy Kensit as Pammy Buchanan;

The most recent (up to Lurman's version) adaptation of The Great Gatsby was a 2000 TV movie. The film stars Toby Stephens, Mira Sorvino, Paul Rudd and Martin Donovan. It was made in collaboration by the A&E Cable Network in the United States, and Granada Productions in Great Britain. It was directed by Robert Markowitz from a teleplay by John J. McLaughlin.  


Cast 
Toby Stephens... Jay Gatsby
Mira Sorvino... Daisy Buchanan
Paul Rudd... Nick Carraway
Martin Donovan... Tom Buchanan
Francie Swift... Jordan Baker
Heather Goldenhersh... Myrtle Wilson
Matt Malloy... Klipspringer

Gatsby Week: The Great Gatsby (1949)

I recently unearthed a copy of The Great Gatsby 1949 on YouTube of all places so I started to watch the movie. Unfortunately I only got half an hour into viewing the movie when I was interrupted by something and by the time I went back to watch the rest the video had been removed from YouTube. I have been trying to find another copy ever since but this movie remains elusive due to the copyright.

I did consider omitting this movie from my reviews but then I though I could at least review the part of the movie that I did see. The 1949 version of Gatsby is definitely a movie of its time There is a strong film noir gangster style to it and it is revealed very early on in the movie that Gatsby is in fact Jay Gatz a bootlegger. The film does not follow the story arch in the book very strongly and instead opens with Daisy and Nick at Gatsby's grave. The story then travels back to Gatsby buying his mansion in East Egg (Gatsby's mansion was of course in West Egg in the book) and planning extravagant refurbishments.

The film is peppered with a lot of 1920's cliches such as flappers and the Charleston and there are also a lot of gangster cliches thrown in for good measure.  Alan Lludd makes a charming but thuggish Gatsby and is not really suave or refined enough for the role. Having said that I saw the 1974 Robert Redford version before I have even read the book so it is hard to imagine anyone else in the role.

I didn't feel that Macdonald Carey was right for the role of Nick Carraway. He seemed to old and worldly for Nick whom I always imagine to be young and wide eyed.

Unfortunately this was about the limit of the opinions I formed on the film as I only saw the first 30 minutes. If anyone knows where I can get a copy of the film I would love to know!

Great Gatsby Week - Early Film Adaptations

The first film adaptation of The Great Gatsby was released in 1926. The film was directed by Herbert Brenon, produced by Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky at Famous Players-Lasky, and released by Paramount Pictures. The film itself has been lost and only a trailer for the movie remains.

The screenplay was written by Becky Gardiner and Elizabeth Meehan and was based Owen Davis' stage play treatment of The Great Gatsby. The play, directed by George Cukor, opened on Broadway at the Ambassador Theatre Feb. 2, 1926 and soon after, the film rights were purchased, with F. Scott Fitzgerald receiving US $45,000.
The film was entrusted to a contract Paramount director, Herbert Brenon who designed the film as lightweight, popular entertainment, playing up the party scenes at Gatsby's mansion and emphasizing their scandalous elements. The film had a running time of 80 minutes, or 7,296 feet.

Cast 
Warner Baxter - Jay Gatsby
Lois Wilson - Daisy Buchanan
Neil Hamilton - Nick Carraway
Georgia Hale - Myrtle Wilson
William Powell - George Wilson
Hale Hamilton - Tom Buchanan
George Nash - Charles Wolf
Carmelita Geraghty - Jordan Baker
Eric Blore - Lord Digby
Gunboat Smith - Bert
Claire Whitney - Catherine

Here is the trailer:

The second film adaptation of The Great Gatsby was made in 1946 and he film stars Alan Ladd, Betty Field, Macdonald Carey, Ruth Hussey, and Barry Sullivan and features Shelley Winters, Howard Da Silva and Elisha Cook, Jr. It was directed by Elliott Nugent, and produced by Richard Maibaum, from a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume and released by Paramount. Unfortunately copies of this film are also hard to come by due to copyright reasons but the full version has been posted on YouTube here.


Cast 
Alan Ladd as Jay Gatsby
Betty Field as Daisy Buchanan
Macdonald Carey as Nick Carraway
Ruth Hussey as Jordan Baker
Barry Sullivan as Tom Buchanan
Howard Da Silva as George Wilson
Shelley Winters as Myrtle Wilson

Emma aime at the Movies: Warm Bodies

Warning contains spoilers: 

Warm Bodies is an adapataion of Issac Marion's book of the same name. On the face of it Warm Bodies is an original take on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. A story that has been retold in many different ways over the years.

R is a zombie living in a dilapidated airport in one of the planes and suffering from some kind of existential crisis. How the zombie apocalypse happened is not explained as R can not remember life as a human, even forgetting his first name save his initial, R.

Julie is the daughter of the leader of a nearby human settlement. The two run into each other when R along with his 'friend' M and a group of zombies go out looking for food namely humans. Julie and her scouting party are out looking for supplies and they get attacked by the group of zombies. R attacks Julie's boyfriend, eating his brains and thus reliving his memories but saves Julie from attack and takes her back to the relative safety of his plane.

The couple form a friendship that causes R to begin to regain his humanity but this angers the 'Bonies', zombies that are so far gone that they turn into ferocious skeletons. R and Julie run away from the Bonies taking refuge from the rain in an abandoned town but when Julie discovers that R ate her boyfriend she disappears in the night and returns home to her father. R returns to the airport but is stopped by M who tells him the other zombies are also beginning to dream and feel again.

R goes to find Julie and sneaks into the human settlement and goes up to Julie's balcony in a scene taken directly from Shakespeare. Julie smuggles R inside and he tells her how the zombies are changing and regaining their humanity. Julie and her friend Nora give R a makeover so he fits in with the humans.

Julie and R go to tell her father the news about the zombies but he is in a crisis as a large group of bonies and zombies have been spotted heading towards the town. Julie tries to tell her father about the zombies being on their side and about R but he threatens to shoot R. Nora comes to their rescue holding a gun to Julies father's head and Julie and R run away but they run into a pack of bonies which R fights off. Meanwhile, the humans are running towards the fight when they see that the zombies are already attacking the bonies. M says hello to the humans so they decide to only attack the bonies.

R and Julie are running away from the bonies but they come to a high ledge. With the bonies hot on their heels they have no where to go so R jumps holding Julie so she is protected from the fall. The two survive the fall and kiss but Julies father has caught up with them and shoots R in the chest proclaiming the next shot will be in the head. Julie defends R pointing out that R is bleeding and corpses don't bleed. As Julies Father has been getting reports of zombies helping humans all day he rethinks his ideas and lets R live.

The humans and zombies kill all the bonies and peace is restored. The zombies slowly learn how to be alive again and the humans learn how to tolerate and teach them.  The last scene is R and Julie holding hands while they watch the city walls fall.

As I said the movie is on the surface a modern interpretation of Romeo and Juliet but if you take a second look the film is an analogy of how through modern technology we are becoming disconnected from each other.

The classic zombie movies like Dawn of the Dead often contain metaphors for humans vast consumerism but Warm Bodies message is slightly different. It points to our disconnection from the world around us and each other. It is this connectedness that is the very essence of our humanity.

Audrey Hepburn Week: Movies - Audrey's Comeback and Final Roles

Audrey attempted a comeback in 1976, co-starring with Sean Connery, in the period piece Robin and Marian, which was moderately successful.

In 1979, Hepburn took the lead role of Elizabeth Roffe in the international production of Bloodline, re-teaming with director Terence Young (Wait Until Dark). She shared top billing with co-stars Alan Arkin, Ben Gazzara, James Mason and Romy Schneider.

Audrey's last starring role in a cinematic film was with Ben Gazzara in the 1981 comedy They All Laughed, directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film was overshadowed by the murder of one of its stars, Bogdanovich's girlfriend, Dorothy Stratten; the film was released after Stratten's death but only in limited runs.

Audrey's last film role was a cameo appearance as an angel in Steven Spielberg's Always in 1988.

Audrey Hepburn Week: Movies - Continued Stardom

Three months after the birth of her son, Sean, in 1960, Hepburn began work on Blake Edwards' Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), a film very loosely based on the Truman Capote novella. This became Audrey's defining role. Her portrayal was nominated for the 1961 Academy Award for Best Actress and became an iconic character in American cinema.

Playing opposite Shirley MacLaine and James Garner, her next role in William Wyler's lesbian-themed drama The Children's Hour (1961) saw Hepburn and MacLaine play teachers whose lives become troubled after a student accuses them of being lesbians. The film was one of Hollywood's earliest treatments of the subject of lesbianism.

Her only film with Cary Grant came in the comic thriller Charade (1963). Hepburn, who plays Regina Lampert, finds herself pursued by several men who chase the fortune her murdered husband had stolen. The role earned her third and final competitive BAFTA Award and accrued another Golden Globe nomination

Paris When It Sizzles (1964) reteamed Hepburn with William Holden nearly ten years after Sabrina. The Parisian-set screwball comedy, called "marshmallow-weight hokum" was panned but critics were kind to Hepburn's creation of Gabrielle Simpson, the young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter (Holden) who aids his writer's block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots.

Hepburn next landed the role of cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. This caused controversy   because Julie Andrews, who had originated the role in the stage show, had not been offered the part because producer Jack Warner thought Hepburn or Elizabeth Taylor more "bankable" propositions. Initially refusing, Audrey asked Warner to give it to Andrews but, eventually, Hepburn was cast. Further friction was created when, although non-singer Hepburn had sung with "throaty charm" in Funny Face and had lengthy vocal preparation for the role in My Fair Lady,her vocals were dubbed by Marni Nixon.

Hepburn's next film was the heist comedy How to Steal a Million (1966) where she played Nicole, the daughter of a famous art collector whose collection consists entirely of forgeries.

In 1967, she starred in two films; the first being Two for the Road, a non-linear and innovative British dramedy that traces the course of a couple's troubled marriage.

The second, Wait Until Dark, is a suspense thriller in which Hepburn demonstrated her acting range by playing the part of a terrorised blind woman.

After this time and 15 years in film Audrey decided to take a break from acting to be a mother and spend time with her family.

The final post will cover Audrey's comeback and her final roles