Silver Screen Sunday {Summer Holiday}

Well, it's been another long break between Silver Screen Sunday posts - I had this scheduled for whilst I was away but, even though I'm still here, I figured I may as well still use it!.

Summer Holiday is just one of a number of movies made in the '50s and '60s starring singer Cliff Richard, though his film career was by no means more prolific (or of any greater quality) than that of Elvis Presley. Despite a ridiculous plot and some elements that I frown at, Summer Holiday is a fun, colourful film with lots of great early '60s fashions. It also serves as a showcase for Cliff Richard's songs, backed by The Shadows (who make numerous cameos throughout the film.)

Don, played by Cliff Richard, is a mechanic who, along with three friends, also mechanics (played by Melvyn Hayes, Teddy Green and Jeremy Bulloch) do up a London double decker bus with the intention of taking it on holiday tours with paying passengers. The test trip doesn't go quite as they planned, though...

They all but kidnap Una Stubbs (playing Sandy) and company - I say all but as the women eventually decide to go with the men but this is after being manhandled out of their not-at-all-road-worthy vehicle as the four men try to coerce the girls onto their bus. That sounds a lot more sinister than it is presented in the film but it did strike me as I was re-watching it just a few weeks ago, now. The three women all have gorgeous outfits throughout the film (which somehow fit into their small suitcases - hmmmm.)

They change their destination to Athens so the women (a singing trio) can make a gig on time and have other adventures/mishaps along the way...

As I said, The Shadows make numerous appearances in the film, once of which was during the club scene when the travellers are in France, I believe. Oh and there are plenty of slightly odd dance sequences, too! (I couldn't find a video for the club bit but maybe I didn't look hard enough.)

I love Una Stubbs' hair in this movie - makes me want to chop my long locks off! I also love Melvyn Hayes' (as Cyril) wardrobe. I think these two probably have my favourite fashion throughout the whole film.

Can you see the hand and footprint print on Cyril's shirt? So cute. 

I'm also fond of the amount of stripes present in the costumes! Oh, and all the very amusing facial expressions. 

They discover a stowaway played by Lauri Peters who is the famous Barbara Winters, disguised as a young boy to escape the demands of her career (well, mainly her mother).

Look at Cyril in the top picture! And the print on Sandy/Una Stubbs' dress, too. This is the part where Cliff Richard starts singing about how every girl is a beautiful girl when you're a Stranger in Town - all the women around him start turning into young, beautiful scantily clad ones as he walks by. Hmmm.

Of course there is romance...how convenient that everyone is paired off so nicely! Oh, but Don insists he wants to be a Bachelor Boy and have A Swinging Affair (then changes his mind later on).

Then there is some waltzing (really waltzing?) and the women, as you can see, have these beautiful dresses. I can't pick a favourite - the colours, styles and fabric are all so gorgeous.

Another great shirt/hat from Cyril!

When they finally arrive in Athens (after many mishaps orchestrated by Barbara's scheming mother including arrests amongst other things) they get arrested...again! This time for kidnapping Barbara and she is whisked away before she can explain it all to either Don and the gang or the police, etc.

Barbara's mother locks her in her room (wearing this beautifully simple blue dress) but Don gets her out and (spoiler alert, ha) it all works out in the end!

I tend to view movies like this more as a showcase for the singer's music and some great clothes. Plus it is fun to watch and the supporting cast is actually very good (some of whom appear in other Cliff Richard films, as well.) And I'm a huge fan of Cliff's music - he has such a beautiful singing voice. Any other fans (either of the movies or just Cliff)? I do wish there'd been more of The Shadows as I've got a bit of a crush on a young Hank Marvin...

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Silver Screen Sunday {Mad Monster Party?}

As you have probably guessed by now, Silver Screen Sunday has become a 'whenever I feel like it' feature for the time being. When my recent, er, obsession with Monster High dolls made me start thinking about other monster things that I love, I remembered I wanted to do a post on Mad Monster Party and never got around to it. So here it is!

For those of you who haven't seen it, Mad Monster Party is a 1967 Rankin/Bass animated feature; the basic plot is that Dr Frankenstein (voiced by Boris Karloff) is ready to give up the monster business and calls a convention of monsters, including Dracula, The Mummy, The Werewolf, et al, to elect his successor. 

I will admit that this is the only Rankin/Bass stop-motion film or special that I've seen but I have a feeling airing them on TV isn't as big a thing here in Australia as in the United States? Regardless, this movie is fab and appeals to me on many levels - I love monsters, I love kitsch and I love stop-motion animation. (Just a note: I think the ratio is slightly off on these screenshots but I didn't realise until after I'd saved them all.)

One of my absolute favourite things about this film is the character Francesca - I mean, she's got great style, amazing hair and is pretty darn sassy!

One of the sleekest flips I've ever seen

And check out the facial expressions - the animation in this is seriously impressive. Sure, the motion may be a little stilted at times but I think it adds to the charm. Plus all of the figures are so well crafted and have very individual personalities. 

I think this is one of my favourite onscreen Draculas, though I seem to say that about most Draculas. Hmmm. Check out the tune Our Time to Shine on YouTube.

Her green chiffon dress looks amazing with her bright red hair.

This is my favourite of Francesca's outfits....The pink ribbon tied around her pith helmet really does take the cake!

But it's not just Francesca's style that I like - I've always been attracted to the casual merchant sailor look as you can see on the fella on the right. (The more I look at him, the more he's starting to resemble Mike Nesmith! I think it's just the beanie...his jaw is more square than Mike's.)

And The Monster's Mate, second from right, (voiced by Phyllis Diller) has an interesting go-go granny chic look. I dig it! And you can see more screenshots from the film over here at Flickr.

The theme song sung by Ethel Ennis over clips from the film - I wanted to put this song by 'Little Tibia and the Fibias' but embedding was disabled! The theme is great, too, but in a different way - it's not the kind of song I was expecting for a film about monsters but it's quite lovely.

So, who else loves this film or monster films in general? What are some of your favourite monster films?

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Silver Screen Sunday {Phantom Lady}

I seem to start most of these posts off with 'well, it's been a long time since I've done one of these...' but, of course, it's always true. The main reason that I don't do them very often anymore is because they are so time consuming but I shan't dwell on that - instead, on to the film! Phantom Lady is a 1944 film noir directed by Robert Siodmak, which stars Franchot Tone, Ella Raines and Alan Curtis and was based on a Cornell Woolrich novel. 

The basic premise of the film is that an engineer, Scott Henderson, played by Alan Curtis, is accused of murdering his wife despite having what he thought would be a solid alibi. Unfortunately, everyone who saw him on his night out whilst his wife was being killed has conveniently forgot him; the only witness they can't track down is a mystery woman with a distinctive hat whom Scott asked to the theatre with him on a whim (he was stood up by his wife, for good reason obviously - she was dead!) He's found guilty for her murder so his assistant, Carol "Kansas" Richman, played by Ella Raines begins her own investigation to clear Scott's name, not least because she's been in love with him for a long time. Her investigation leads her from one person to another, often with fatal results for the witnesses she's tracking down - but I won't say anymore than that! It's one of the 'wrongly accused' plots that I love so much and I like these films even better when a woman takes on the role of the detective and will stop at nothing to get to the truth.

(Click through on any of the photos to see bigger versions at Flickr.)

The only thing Scott can remember about the woman who could clear his name is the fabulously outlandish hat that she wore.

Carol's secretary has a seriously cute outfit - I love how the straps of the suspender skirt narrow as they get to the waistband. 

Aurora Miranda plays a singer - Scott and the mystery woman had seen her show on the night of his wife's murder - who is questioned as she had been wearing the same hat as the 'phantom lady'. However, she won't admit that this happened because she insists all of her hats are unique. Just like this one! Isn't it amazing? I love the glittery dots on her top, as well.

But it is Carol (or, as Scott has nicknamed her, Kansas) whose wardrobe most impressed me. Starting with this ensemble - I can't tell if it's a skirt and blouse or a dress but I'm in love with the stripes and the silhouette of the outfit.

I love her clear raincoat - it's one of the nicest plastic raincoats I've seen.

A simple, yet beautiful gown, with a lovely appliquéd design.

Look at the details on this gorgeous suit - the contrast stitching! And you can just see how the waistband comes to a point in the middle. I love the cropped jacket, too.

I think this was my favourite outfit, though. I believe she's meant to look slightly on the 'cheap' side (hence the costume jewellery, darker stockings, etc.) and I think the relative tackiness (compared to the sleekness of her other outfits) is what attracted me to it.

I'm fairly certain the thing that sparked my interest in seeing this was a .gif that I saw on Tumblr of the shoes on the left. I'm completely in love with them. I also love her patent purse with the initial on it - I've been thinking of getting a similar purse and doing something like this for myself.

In any other film, this hat would probably be the standout but there are a multitude of over-the-top (in the best way) hats in this one. I do love the giant floppy flower, though.

One of my favourite things about this film was all of the close-ups allowing us to see details of costumes we don't normally see - like these mesh nylon stockings!

And check out the cameo ring!

It was very difficult choosing which screencaps to post here but there are about 40 or so more over at flickr in this set. I didn't want to go overboard in the post so hopefully I haven't! When I was doing the screencaps, though I was trying to get good shots of the outfits, I was also distracted by the gorgeous composition and camera angles in this film. It's a perfect example of the visual style that is most associated with film noir but I'm sure I could write an entire post on that.

So, has anyone else seen this film? If so, what did you think of it? Did you love it as much as I did?

Phantom Lady at IMDB | Phantom Lady at Wikipedia

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

Silver Screen Sunday {On the Town}

On the Town is a 1949 musical starring, amongst others, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Ann Miller & Betty Garret. The film centres on three sailors played by Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin, who are on shore leave in New York City for a day. Amongst many hijinks they each meet a girl they fall for, sing some songs, dance about and break a dinosaur.

There are many things that I love about On the Town: adorable scared-of-girls Frank Sinatra, fantastic songs, Ann Miller’s tap dancing (she never stops smiling!), sailors (swoon!), etc. But one of the things I love the most is its portrayal of the female characters…well, at least one of them, anyway.

Betty Garrett plays Hilde (Brunhilde Esterhazy), a female taxi driver who liked driving cabs so much during the war that she didn’t want to stop after. She’s sassy, smart and she knows want she wants: Chip (as played by Sinatra). She (quite literally at one point) chases after him and she’s not at all ashamed about it (and why should she be?) 

Actually, she has very similar intentions toward Sinatra in Take Me Out to the Ball Game, as well. If you compare her to, say, a stereotypical film noir femme fatale, I might be able to illustrate what I’m trying to say a little better. Many film noirs show the woman in control of her own sexuality as, basically, immoral* but Hilde is shown as a fun loving young woman who meets a man she likes and goes after him! I wish I could be a little more like Hilde, sometimes...

Ann Miller plays Claire, a young woman studying anthropology. Admittedly she is studying it to keep her mind off of men and she sings a song about how she prefers ‘primitive’ men to the ‘modern’ man…Hmm. Let’s not dwell on that shall we? Instead, look at Ann Miller’s amazing green dress. This is one of my (admittedly very many) dream dresses.

I do love when she lays this big ol' kiss on Jules Munshin!

You can have your own custom Ann Miller inspired dress made by TopRunway on eBay, too.

Now, it's clearly not some kind of amazing feminist portrayal of women but, hey, it’s a lot better than so many (but not all, of course) other films I’ve seen from that era – heck, it’s a lot better than many modern Hollywood films! Some may think I'm overthinking it but I really don't think I am...I don't tend to put much in the way of my thoughts/opinions on the content of the films in these posts but I think I'm going to start to, from now on.

Vera-Ellen plays Ivy Smith – in this sequence Gene Kelly, who has fallen in love with her picture, imagines what she (as Miss Turnstiles) might be like.

These costumes, also from the Miss Turnstiles sequence, are both cute and chic. It’s all the details in these that I like the most – the belts (like the wide one on the woman wearing the green skirt), the gloves & scarves but I think I’m most in love with the large satchel the woman in the green skirt has over her shoulder. I’m searching for something very similar myself, right now.

All of the extras have fantastic costumes, really. And they’re all so deliciously colourful.

I know Lucy Schmeeler isn’t meant to be an attractive character but I think everything about her look is adorable. Especially her hair.

And just look at these evening costumes – again, I love Anne Miller’s the best. The neckline, the sequins and the matching gloves! Oh my.

And that, my blog readers, is all. Oh, except you can take a look at more screencaps here on Flickr.

Love,

Andi B. Goode

x

*I am aware that this is a very simplistic explanation, as I don’t feel like going down the femme fatale road, right now. I’ve also not used a specific example, as a lot of my favourite film noirs don’t really have your stereotypical femme fatale character.