Editor’s Note: Every Friday is dedicated to video blogging on www.BiscayneWriters.com.
ORLANDO – There’s really not much to do in suburbia except watch old films with Dad, the original storyteller in my family. This week, we watched The Many Loves of Carmen (1948).
“She’s always hungry, that girl,” says an old battle axe to Carmen and her new lover, the soldier. “Someday she’ll eat the wrong thing and then she’ll howl about the pain as if she’s never been warned at all.”
To which the sassy Carmen, played by the beautiful Rita Hayworth: “Because they’ve lost their own appetites, they hate to see anybody else enjoy eating.”
Oh, Carmen, you’re a woman after a Virtual Gypsy’s heart.
We also watched Goldfinger, the 1964 James Bond classic starring Sean Connery. And if you know how I watch films by now (from the female gaze), then you know I was all about Jill Masterson and Miss Pussy Galore and her Flying Circus. Her lines are so memorable:
“Oh, I never carry weapons after business hours…I’m completely defenseless!”
Last time I visited, we watched Gaslight…it freaked me out and I had to run to my room in tears because I know what it feels like to be manipulated by love. Perhaps we all do, and boy am I sure glad that I got my head straight! Whew! Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar for her stellar performance, and just look at Angela Lansbury! So young!
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) …I think one of the remarkable things about this film is how fear media was alive and kicking back then, just like it is now. It’s an intelligent commentary about American ignorance and our obsession with weapons of mass destruction, handled in such a way that is classy, unlike the remake with Keanu Reeves, which focuses on the “Save the Planet” marketing slogan that has even hit suburban dollar stores in Orlando – BUY LOTS OF JUNK AND THEN STASH IT IN THIS ECO BAG THAT SAYS “ONE WORLD, ONE PERSON, ONE HOPE.” Ugh. Ugh. Gimme a break! But I have to say my most favorite part is the silver robot alien space suit and his cheesy laser beam. Watch it! It’s so great, I promise you will laugh.
Hollywood just doesn’t make films like these anymore.