Summer Under the Stars: Rita Hayworth

Movie Dearest continues our daily previews of Turner Classic Movies' month long "Summer Under the Stars" celebration:

Now Playing Star Profile for Rita Hayworth - Stardates: Born October 17, 1918, Brooklyn, New York; died 1987. Star Sign: Libra. Star Qualities: Flowing red hair, delicious smile, spectacular dancing skills. Star definition: "Delightful to work with. One of the top feminine stars." -- Fred Astaire. Galaxy of Characters: Sheila Winthrop in You'll Never Get Rich, Gilda Mundson Farrell in Gilda, Terpischore/Kitty Pendleton in Down to Earth, Chris Emery in Affair in Trinidad.

As we have already discussed the "celluloid closet" aspects of the male characters in Gilda, we are going to take a look at the film's leading lady, specifically two defining moments that make Gilda Hayworth's most enduring role.

The first is, appropriately, her first appearance in the movie. She literally pops up from the bottom of the screen, her luxurious mane falling back perfectly in to place, her gorgeous face literally glowing. "Me?" she asks, as if answering everyone's silent query, "Have I just laid eyes on the most beautiful creature in the world?" And how.

Next up is Hayworth's show-stopping performance of "Put the Blame on Mame", quite possibly the sexiest musical number ever committed to film ... even with only the removal of her gloves. Although the image of Gilda slinking through the song is all Hayworth, the vocals were supplied by Anita Ellis, who would go on to similar duties in Hayworth's future films Down to Earth, The Loves of Carmen (both also airing tomorrow) and The Lady from Shanghai.

Gilda airs tomorrow on TCM at 9:45 PM EST.

Summer Under the Stars: Kim Novak

Movie Dearest continues our daily previews of Turner Classic Movies' month long "Summer Under the Stars" celebration:

Now Playing Star Profile for Kim Novak - Stardates: Born February 13, 1933, Chicago, Illinois. Star Sign: Aquarius. Star Qualities: Exquisite face and voluptuous body, air of dreamy vulnerability. Star definition: "She has the quality of Monroe and Dietrich and that is remarkable because she is a studio created star." -- Billy Wilder. Galaxy of Characters: Marjorie Oelrichs Duchin in The Eddy Duchin Story, Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton in Vertigo, Betty Preisser in Middle of the Night, Polly the Pistol in Kiss Me, Stupid.

Meeting at her cheap hotel room, the transformation of Novak's Judy Barton into Madeleine Elster is almost complete. James Stewart's Scottie Ferguson has convinced her to wear similar clothes and even dye her hair platinum blonde; all she has to do is pin it up to complete the illusion. She at first protests, but relents when she sees the pained yearning in his eyes, and steps into the restroom to finish the job. Scottie waits for a seeming eternity, the green light of the hotel's tacky marquee bleeding into the room, symbolizing his selfish, unquenchable thirst for the dead woman he can no longer have. The door finally opens, and out steps, not Judy, but Madeleine, bathed in the emerald glow, a spectre from his past, now standing passionately before him.

Only the master, Alfred Hitchcock, could pull off a scene so audacious, so intrinsically sexual, as this one from his masterpiece, Vertigo.

Vertigo airs tomorrow on TCM at 11:15 PM EST.

Summer Under the Stars: Charlie Chaplin

Movie Dearest continues our daily previews of Turner Classic Movies' month long "Summer Under the Stars" celebration:

Now Playing Star Profile for Charlie Chaplin - Stardates: Born April 16, 1889, Walworth, England; died 1977. Star Sign: Aries. Star Qualities: Limitless talent as comic, mime, actor, director, composer, musician. The baggy pants and toothbrush mustache, the comedy and pathos, the ability to steal an audience's heart. Star definition: "For me (his) are the most beautiful films in the world ... Chaplin means more to me then the idea of God." -- François Truffaut. Galaxy of Characters: A Tramp in The Kid, The Lone Prospector in The Gold Rush, Adenoid Hynkel/Jewish Barber in The Great Dictator, Calvero in Limelight.

In The Gold Rush, Chaplin's resourceful tramp character, trapped in a cabin out in the middle of the Yukon, resorts to dining on his own leather boot for a desperate Thanksgiving dinner. He may have had trouble finding gold in them thar hills, but in this scene he finds it ... of the comedic sort.

Legend has it that Chaplin took three days and 63 takes to shoot this memorable movie moment to get the timing down perfectly. The boot was fashioned from licorice; Chaplin was later rushed to the hospital suffering insulin shock.

The Gold Rush airs tomorrow on TCM at 1:45 PM EST.

Movie Music: Charm You With a Smile

There was a lot of talk leading up to the theatrical release of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street about whether or not the non-singing stars would be able to handle the complex Stephen Sondheim score. However, after all is said and done, it was neither the Oscar nominated Johnny Depp nor Helena Bonham Carter (both of whom, for the most part, pull off the complicated songs admirably, if not impressively) that end up stopping the show with their vocal talents. No, the one that did was young screen newcomer Ed Sanders as street urchin Toby.

Most stage productions cast this role older (for example, Neil Patrick Harris played him just a few years back), but on film he is a pre-teen of the Oliver Twist sort, and Sanders delivers one of my favorite Sondheim show tunes, "Not While I'm Around", with a sweet tenor tinged with melancholy that stands out in stark contrast to the bleak, bloody goings on throughout the rest of this gothically stylized adaptation (what else would one expect from Tim Burton?).

So in the end, it was not so much the actors who had never done a movie musical before that stood out as it was the one who had never done a movie before period.

Click here to buy the Sweeney Todd soundtrackand DVDfrom Amazon.com.

Movie Moments: Into the Wild

WARNING: This article may contain possible spoilers for the movie Into the Wild. Proceed accordingly.

Academy Award nominee Hal Holbrook doesn't appear in Sean Penn's Into the Wild until well into the final act, but his performance will resonate as clearly as the rest of this emotionally wrenching true life drama will well after it is over.

Holbrook plays Ron Franz, a lonely retired man whose path crosses Emile Hirsch's reckless adventurer Chris McCandless. An unlikely but strong friendship develops between the two; however, Ron is still not able to convince Chris to abandon his dangerous trek to Alaska.

The scene in question takes place in Ron's car as he drops Chris off on the side of the highway on his first steps towards his destiny. In this confined space, Ron lays his soul bare in a last ditch effort to stop Chris from making what ends up being a fatal mistake. When his offer is turned down, the look on his face is heartbreakingly honest and real, a lone tear streaming down his weathered features.

Click here to buy Into the Wildon DVD from Amazon.com.

Movie Moments: Carrie

WARNING: This article reveals plot points from the movie Carrie. Proceed accordingly.

Brian De Palma's classic film adaptation of the Stephen King bestseller Carrie is filled with many memorable movie moments, from the blood-soaked shower scene at the beginning to the even more blood-soaked prom at the end. Yet De Palma's coup de grâce is the shocking, dreamlike coda, a scene that was not in the original book.

Amy Irving's Sue Snell, the only survivor of the carnage at Bates High, is seen serenely approaching the remains of the White house. A cross-like "For Sale" sign juts out of the dark, freshly plowed soil, with the angry epitaph "Carrie White burns in HELL!" scrawled upon it. Sue kneels down to place a bouquet of flowers, when suddenly an arm thrusts out of the ground and grabs hers, pulling her down towards the makeshift grave. Instantly, Sue snaps out of her nightmare, screaming, to find herself in the fragile comfort of her own bedroom. It was all a dream ... or was it?

Dozens of films since have tried to imitate this ultimate "gotcha" moment, turning it into a horror movie cliché. But none of these pretenders to the throne has been able to replicate the visceral jolt when it was done for the first time.

As part of Monday Nights with Oscar, a new print of Carrie will be screened at the Academy Theater in Manhattan October 15. De Palma will be on hand for a post-screening discussion.

Click here to purchase Carrieon DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com and Oscars.org.

Movie Moments: The Guns of Navarone

WARNING: This article reveals plot points from the movie The Guns of Navarone. Proceed accordingly.

In the midst of World War II, Gregory Peck has led his ragtag team of misfit soldiers up the side of a seaside cliff and across German-occupied Greece to this point.

Now, just moments from reaching their goal (to sabotage the titular cannons), it is discovered that they have a traitor in their midst: the mute resistance fighter Anna (Gia Scala). They have three choices: leave her behind, take her with them (either of which would jeopardize their mission if she escaped) or kill her. The answer is brutally obvious, but the one who ultimately pulls the trigger is shocking.

Click here to purchase The Guns of Navaroneon DVD from Amazon.com.
Link via Imdb.com.

Movie Moments: Notorious

In Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, Ingrid Bergman - in cahoots (and in love) with Cary Grant - is spying on her shady businessman husband Claude Raines. She must sneak his key to a suspiciously locked door away from him and pass it on to Grant during a party thrown at their house.

Grant, watching Bergman from a landing above, sees the key hidden in her hand. Hitchcock and cinematographer Ted Tetzlaff accomplished this cinematically with a camera dolly that swoops down from Grant's point-of-view all the way down to a close-up of the key clutched in Bergman's hand below.

Years later, Bergman presented the "UNICA key" (so called due to the lock manufacturer) to Hitchcock at his AFI Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony.

Click here to purchase Notoriouson DVD from Amazon.com.
Link via Imdb.com.

Movie Moments: An Introduction

You know it when it happens, when a movie grabs you in the gut and doesn't let go. These are those movie moments you just can't forget.