Perhaps it is the fault of the Christmas season. Or perhaps it is due to other distractions.
But, somehow, it completely slipped below my personal radar that last Tuesday was the 35th anniversary of the theatrical release of one of my favorite movie comedies, "Young Frankenstein."
Well, better late than never, I suppose.
Actually, if you're tired of the Christmas movies and specials, an evening of "Young Frankenstein" ...
... with Eye–gor and Frohderick Fronkensteen might be just the antidote.
Truthfully, the movie was a loving parody of the movie version of Mary Shelley's horror classic, filmed in black and white like the famous 1931 film starring Boris Karloff and featuring spoofs of famous scenes with Mel Brooks' distinctive sense of humor. The original "Frankenstein" wasn't the only source of material. Brooks and co–writer Gene Wilder also borrowed from sequels "Bride of Frankenstein," "Son of Frankenstein" and "Ghost of Frankenstein," as well as "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man."
It's one of the few comedies I have ever seen that is still as funny today as it was the first time I saw it.
Some of the extraordinarily talented cast members — Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn— are deceased now. Others — Wilder, Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Gene Hackman — are in their 60s, 70s or 80s.
But there may be no other film that gives you this kind of opportunity to enjoy them in their prime.
I must confess, one of my favorite pieces of dialogue is ...
Inga: Werewolf! Dr. Frankenstein: Where wolf? Igor: There. Dr. Frankenstein: What? Igor: There, wolf. There, castle. Dr. Frankenstein: Why are you talking that way? Igor: I thought you wanted to. Dr. Frankenstein: No, I don't want to. Igor: [shrugs] Suit yourself. I'm easy.
But today, I feel moved to write about "It's a Wonderful Life" — because tomorrow is the 63rd anniversary of its theatrical release.
I don't know if it is Frank Capra's best–known, best–loved or just plain best movie. In Capra's life — which even a casual observer would have to concede was pretty wonderful — he directed many movies that are considered classics today. Several were recognized at the time, and three, including "It's a Wonderful Life," are on the American Film Institute's list of the Top 100 movies of all time.
I think it is safe to say, though, that it would be hard for anyone to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and not feel moved or inspired.
The story is about something that many people have contemplated at some point. George Bailey (memorably played by James Stewart), who has repeatedly sacrificed his dreams and goals for the benefit of others, is at his lowest point on Christmas Eve and is thinking about ending his life. He believes everyone would have been better off if he had never been born.
Unknown to him, though, all those people whose lives have been affected by his presence are begging God to intervene on his behalf, and an angel named Clarence is sent to earth to convince George that he has made a real difference in the lives of his friends and family and his hometown.
In the end, George is persuaded that it is true, which has always kind of reminded me of a line from another classic motion picture, "The Wizard of Oz." Near the end of that movie, the wizard is talking to the Tin Woodman, who has been looking for a heart. The wizard tells his lovelorn friend that one's heart "is not judged by how much you love — but by how much you are loved by others."
And George realizes that, with the exception of his nemesis, Henry Potter, he is, indeed, loved by many — and that he is, in the words of his brother, "the richest man in town."
Christmas never comes at a time when life is great for everyone on the planet. Even in the best, most prosperous times, there are always people who have no job, no home, only the clothes they are wearing to protect them from the elements, only the food scraps they find in garbage bins to satisfy their gnawing hunger.
And these aren't the best of times.
In what remains of this Christmas season, if you've been blessed enough to have things that others can only dream of, I urge you to share some of your bounty with the less fortunate.
And, if you haven't seen "It's a Wonderful Life" this holiday season, you can see it this Thursday at 7 p.m. (Central) on your NBC station.
Eleven years ago — on Dec. 12, 1998 — Saturday Night Live aired its ninth (and funniest) presentation of "Delicious Dish," a parody of public radio programs.
On that night, the "hosts" — Margaret–Jo McCullen (played by Ana Gasteyer) and Teri Rialto (played by Molly Shannon) — interviewed a baker named Pete Schweddy (played by guest host Alec Baldwin), who extolled the virtues of his holiday balls.
And that opened the door for all sorts of sexual double entendres, which prompted some people to denounce SNL for not showing the proper reverence for the Christmas season.
Well, it was hardly the first — or last — time that SNL has had risqué or objectionable content. Most of the time, it's been shrugged off by longtime viewers as a "guilty pleasure."
Be that as it may, if one believes in God (and that Jesus was his son), it follows — logically — that God gave people a sense of humor — and that laughter was God's gift to humanity as well.
So watch the skit again. Enjoy it. Don't feel guilty about laughing.
In two weeks, the new year will be upon us. The arrival of a new year is an occasion to indulge in some established, well–known traditions, like drinking champagne, getting a kiss for luck and singing "Auld Lang Syne."
Some traditions are not as obvious but are, nevertheless, significant.
For example, if you're like me, you love the original Twilight Zone TV series — the one that had Rod Serling and some great writers and some great performers.
And, if you love the Twilight Zone, perhaps you've gotten in the habit of watching the annual New Year's and Fourth of July Twilight Zone marathons on SciFi — excuse me, that is Syfy now.
Well, I have some news. If you watched the marathon last summer, you know that the first half of the marathon was devoted to episodes from the series' second incarnation — in the mid–1980s. Some Twilight Zone purists never really took to the revival. I don't know why. Maybe it was because it was in color or because Serling wasn't part of the project. Neither of those things could be changed. Television had long since converted to color programming by the time the revival came on the air, and Serling had been deceased for a decade.
Personally, I enjoyed the revival series, and I enjoyed seeing some of those episodes again last summer. I have seldom had the opportunity to see them since the first time they were shown.
Well, I've been looking at the schedule for the New Year's marathon at the Syfy website, and, unfortunately, it does not appear that the episodes from the second series will be part of it.
As I say, some Twilight Zone fans will see that as a good thing, and I guess it is hard to argue the point. It means there will be two consecutive days and nights, Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, of Rod Serling's original Twilight Zone, which is probably appropriate, since 2009 marked half a century since the debut of the Twilight Zone.
Anyway, I want to alert you to some of the best episodes and when you can see them.
I like to refer to TV.com on these things. Visitors can rate every episode of every TV series on that site, and last year I did a rundown of the series' top 10 — and when viewers could see them. Let's see if the top 10 episodes have changed and when each will be shown this year. (By the way, all times are Central because that is the time zone where I live.)
OK. I'll spare you some suspense. The order changed (based on visitors' ratings during the year), but nine of the Top 10 are the same as they were a year ago.
The most popular episode is unchanged. "The Eye of the Beholder" from 1960 will be shown at 8:30 p.m. on New Year's Day. It stars Donna Douglas, who later played Elly Mae Clampett.
Number 2, also from 1960, "A Stop at Willoughby," moves up from #3. It can be seen at 5:30 p.m. on New Year's Day.
The third–rated episode, "The Midnight Sun," aired in 1961 and was rated second last year. It will be shown at 10:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
"The After Hours" from 1960 made a rather dramatic jump, from sixth to fourth. I've never been terribly wild about it so it's hard for me to understand, but I guess it's a matter of taste. Judge for yourself at 9:30 p.m. on New Year's Day.
The fifth–rated episode, 1962's "To Serve Man," is unchanged from last year. It will be shown at 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
"It's a Good Life," from 1961, moves up from #8. It is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on New Year's Day.
"Number Twelve Looks Just Like You," from 1964, tumbled from #4, which was fine with me. It airs at midnight on New Year's Eve.
"The Masks," also from 1964, moved up from #9. Check it out at 8 p.m. on New Year's Day.
"Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" from 1961 moves up from 10th last year. It will be shown at 10 p.m. on New Year's Day.
The newcomer to the top 10, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" from 1963, replaces 1961's "Five Characters in Search of an Exit," which was rated seventh last year but fell all the way out of the top 10. It's on at 5 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
Actually, these episodes are always on the Syfy marathon. What I look for are the episodes one seldom sees. And there are always a few.
One of the things you seldom see are the one–hour episodes, which were originally aired exclusively in the fourth season (1962–63). There were only 18 of them, and they have a somewhat different tone from the others.
As I understand it, the Twilight Zone had been replaced in the fall 1962 lineup by an hour–long sitcom, which didn't last. Twilight Zone was brought back as a mid–season replacement in the sitcom's time slot, but that meant producing hour–long episodes instead of half–hour episodes. Apparently, few of those who worked on the series were wild about the change.
You can catch one of my favorites, "Valley of the Shadow," at 7 a.m. on New Year's Eve. In this episode, a reporter is trapped in a small town where people can do all kinds of fantastic things.
Then, if you happen to be up at 6 a.m. on New Year's Day, you can catch another one that I always recommend, "He's Alive," which stars a young Dennis Hopper as a neo–Nazi leader being advised by a shadowy figure — who turns out to be Hitler himself. Planning to sleep in on New Year's Day? Use your TiVo or a DVR and record it. Even after nearly 50 years, it is a timely story.
Then, at 7 a.m. on New Year's Day, you can watch "Death Ship," which is probably more dated. Three men on board a spacecraft land on a planet where they find the wreckage of a ship that looks a lot like theirs. Two of the men believe it is their ship and they are now dead.
I also look for half–hour episodes that I rarely see.
One that doesn't seem to be shown often is "Deaths–Head Revisited" from 1961. A former Nazi captain returns to the concentration camp he ran during the war — only he encounters the ghosts of the prisoners he victimized.
You can see it at noon on New Year's Day.
Another seldom seen episode, 1960's "The Last Flight," will be shown at 10 a.m. on New Year's Eve. It's about a World War I pilot who flies through a cloud and finds himself at a modern air base.
You might not recognize the English actor who plays the pilot. His name is Kenneth Haigh, and I think most of his work has been done on English productions. However, he did have a relatively small role in the Beatles' first motion picture, "A Hard Day's Night."
I guess I'm sort of partial to episodes about flight, and one of my favorites, which also seems to be shown fairly infrequently, is "The Odyssey of Flight 33" from 1961.
In the episode, an airliner is making what seems to be a routine trip from London to New York, but along the way it takes a trip back in time ... way back in time. In the attached clip, you will see a couple of brief segments using a dinosaur model from Jack Harris' 1961 film "Dinosaurus." Using that footage cost the producers of the show $2,500, making it the most expensive sequence aired in the original series.
If you happen to be up at 1 a.m. (again, that's Central time) on New Year's morning, you can catch 1961's "The Grave," an old West tale about a hired gun (played by Lee Marvin) who comes to a town looking for an outlaw who has already been killed in an ambush. As he was dying, the outlaw vowed to reach up from his grave and grab Marvin if he ever came near his resting place.
Of course, he does.
Immediately after that episode, you can see another episode from 1961, "Two," about two people — a man and a woman — from opposing armies, the only survivors of an apocalyptic war. Played by Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery, the two adhere, at first, to the mutual suspicions of their former governments, but they realize, as the show goes on, that they have no reason to fight anymore.
I always assumed that, because Bronson spoke in English and Montgomery spoke in what sounded (to my ear, at least) like Russian, it was an allegory for the U.S.–Soviet Union Cold War clash that raged at the time. Thus, it may seem quite dated now, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and nearly 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
But it's still worth watching, especially since it is rarely seen on TV anymore.
This is the trailer from the 1961 re–issue of "Gone With the Wind."
Some folks will tell you that "Gone With the Wind" is the greatest American film ever made.
Whether it is or not, it is certainly highly regarded.
It didn't finish in the top slot in the American Film Institute's Top 100 movies of all time list — but it did end up in the Top 10.
And most movie buffs agree that "Citizen Kane,""Casablanca" and "The Godfather" were better.
But "GWTW" — as some movie fans like to call it — has been a classic virtually since it premièred at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta 70 years ago today.
It set a record for Academy Awards — winning 10 — that stood for two decades until "Ben–Hur" came along. That was quite an achievement, considering that 1939 is still regarded as Hollywood's greatest year by many movie aficionados. It told a story about a critical period in American history that may well have been romanticized, but even today, the movie is recalled by students of film as one of the most enduring symbols of the golden age of Hollywood.
The film caused quite a commotion on Dec. 15, 1939, when it premiered in Atlanta. The actual premiere came at the end of three days of festivities that former President Jimmy Carter, who was a Georgia teenager at the time, called "the biggest event to happen in the South in my lifetime."
Ironically, the Jim Crow laws on the books at the time kept the black members of the cast from attending the premiere. Clark Gable was going to boycott the premiere in protest, but Hattie McDaniel, who won Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Mammy, persuaded him to attend.
Well, "Gone With the Wind" always did seem to write its own rules.
Can anyone deny its lasting influence on American culture, especially when one thinks of such lines as:
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
"After all, tomorrow is another day!" and
"As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."
So much of "Gone With the Wind" has become familiar over the years that it naturally lent itself to parody — the best of which, undeniably, was the one Carol Burnett and her colleagues did in the 1970s.
Imitation, they say, is the most sincere form of flattery. And I'm sure the cast would have been flattered, but most were dead by the time that parody aired. The film's last survivng principal cast member was Olivia de Havilland — and I don't know if she ever saw it.
Well, the now 93–year–old de Havilland was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar four times in her movie career, and she won the statuette twice.
But mark my words.
When she dies, the first line of her obituary will not say that she was a two–time Best Actress winner.
It will say she was "Melanie Hamilton" in "Gone With the Wind."
Ten years ago, I became a fan of The West Wing. I still admire the show, even though it has been off the air for more than three years.
From the series' debut in September 1999, it was clear to me that the writing and acting were head and shoulders above just about anything else on network TV. That impression was permanently reinforced 10 years ago Tuesday, when "In Excelsis Deo" aired.
It was the first program with a Christmas theme on The West Wing, and the story was deceptively simple, but it delivered a potent punch at the end. Toby, the communications director, was summoned to a park where a homeless man had died on an unusually cold night. The man was wearing a coat Toby had given to charity, and one of his business cards was found in the pocket.
Toby saw a Marine Corps tattoo on the man's arm and realized he served in the Korean War. He set out to find the man's next of kin (the only relative he could locate was a brother, also homeless) and arranged for a funeral and an honor guard, using the influence of the president's office.
When he found out, the president could only manage mild exasperation, confirming that "We're still in NATO, right?" and Toby went ahead with the funeral, accompanied by the man's brother and the president's secretary, Mrs. Landingham.
Earlier in the episode, Mrs. Landingham revealed that the holidays always brought her down because her twin sons had been killed in Vietnam on Christmas Eve 1970. And she lamented the fact that she hadn't been there for her sons when they were dying.
Anyway, try as she might to feign her disapproval, it was clear that she was glad Toby had done what he did. That's why she insisted on joining him. And so the two went to the funeral for a man they never met.
You can see the conclusion of the episode in the attached clip, and I sincerely hope you will take the time to watch it. It was a powerful episode, involving many stories at once, all of which had their unique connections to the Christmas season, but the story of the homeless man was clearly the centerpiece.
It seems that every series in the history of television has had at least one Christmas episode, and there were others in The West Wing's seven–year run, but "In Excelsis Deo" was a standout.
I guess if I was going to quibble over technicalities, I would point out that it appears that a 21–gun salute is fired in the homeless veteran's honor, but 21–gun salutes traditionally are reserved for presidents, former presidents and other heads of state.
That's a minor point, though, one that can be dismissed as poetic license. If you don't have the DVD of that first season, rent it and watch the episode. It is a reminder of what is truly important at this time of year.
Thanksgiving dinner is behind us now, and the countdown to Christmas is under way.
Which brings me to today's topic. It was 20 years ago today that "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" was released.
There are many movies and TV specials that are holiday favorites. For some people, it wouldn't be Christmas if they didn't watch "Rudolph the Red–Nosed Reindeer" or "A Charlie Brown Christmas" or "It's a Wonderful Life."
Traditionalists will tell you their favorite holiday movies are "Holiday Inn" or "Miracle on 34th Street" or "White Christmas." In recent years, it seems the trendy holiday movie has been "A Christmas Story," but you will find devotees to "Elf" and "The Santa Clause."
For my mother, "We're No Angels," featuring Humphrey Bogart and Peter Ustinov in the mid–1950s, was what put her in a holiday frame of mind. I guess that is a little ironic because another movie by that name (but with a completely different story line and starring Sean Penn and Robert De Niro) came out two weeks after "Christmas Vacation."
(Actually, as anyone who knew her would tell you, it took very little to put Mom in the holiday spirit.)
But, for me, my favorite holiday film has been "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" for the last two decades.
Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo returned as Clark and Ellen Griswold for the third installment in the "Vacation" series of films, but they were paired with their third different son and daughter (the children also were recast in the 1985 sequel, "European Vacation"). Randy Quaid reprised his role as Cousin Eddie from the original 1983 film, and so did Miriam Flynn as his wife Catherine.
No matter how many times I see it, the segment in which Clark tries to illuminate his house with Christmas lights always makes me laugh. It's an exaggeration, of course, but, like any good exaggeration, it is based in truth.
Well, exaggeration has always been the specialty of National Lampoon movies. And Chevy Chase's rant about his boss probably hasn't been much of an exaggeration for some folks.
But mixed in with the exaggeration is some real truth.
I can think of few scenes in any holiday movies that capture the feeling of safety and security that comes with Christmas — along with that wistful feeling of missing those who were integral parts of Christmases past and are no longer with us — quite as well as the attic scene from "Christmas Vacation."
When I see Chevy Chase prowling around in the attic, looking for a place to stash Christmas presents, it reminds me of my mother. And when he watches the holiday films he discovers, I am transported back to the Christmases of my childhood, when my mother and my grandparents and our family's closest friends were still with us.
It may be hard to remember at times, but Christmas is about more than commercialism. It's about being with those we love — and remembering those who are gone.
Mixed with the laughter, "Christmas Vacation" does a splendid job of reminding us what's really important at this time of year.
I've been a Humphrey Bogart fan for a long time, and Turner Classic Movies will be showing one of his best tonight.
I guess, if you asked other Bogart fans of long–standing to name his best movie, they might say "Casablanca" or "The Maltese Falcon." Maybe they would mention the movie he won his Oscar for, "African Queen," or maybe they would select "The Caine Mutiny" or even "Sabrina." Maybe something else.
Those are all good films, but the very best Bogart movie, in my opinion, is "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," and TCM will show it at 8:45 p.m. (Central).
Bogart, by the way, is TCM's star of the month (Christmas will be his 110th birthday), and you can see his movies on Wednesdays in December. In fact, if you miss "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" tonight, you can catch it again in a couple of weeks. TCM plans to show it again on Dec. 16 at 11 p.m. (Central).
His career was built on a tough guy persona, and he didn't disappoint his audiences in his later films. His character certainly was central to this morality play about greed among gold prospectors. And, given today's economic meltdown that appears to have been brought on by excessive greed among lenders, it's a theme that is well worth visiting again.
Need some other reasons to watch? Well, you can see a young Robert Blake. It wasn't his first movie, but you can see what he looked like when he was about 14 or 15.
Here's another reason. Ever heard the line "We don't need no stinkin' badges?" Well, that line originated in this movie. Except it is frequently misquoted. The actual line was "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!"
Still need more? Well, it's a chance to see a movie that occupies a unique slot in filmmaking history. Only one family in motion picture history has had Oscar winners in three different generations. That family is the Huston family, and two of those three family members, Walter and his son John, won Oscars for this movie. Walter was recognized for best supporting actor, John was recognized for directing and writing an adapted screenplay.
(Incidentally, although the three never worked in a film together, they were connected professionally — the third member of the family to win an Oscar, John's daughter Anjelica, received Best Supporting Actress for her work in a film that was also directed by her father, "Prizzi's Honor.")
Whatever your reason for watching may be, just watch it. You will find the experience rewarding.
"In every first novel the hero is the author as Christ or Faust."
Oscar Wilde
Recently, an old school chum and I were chatting on Facebook. And we agreed that no graduating class at our high school ever had as many beautiful women as ours did.
He still lives in my hometown (which is much larger today than it was when I lived there) and he attended our most recent class reunion. Apparently, so did many of our still–beautiful classmates, prompting him to speculate that many of them had grotesque paintings of themselves in their attics — an allusion, in case you don't know it, to "The Picture of Dorian Gray."
Before long, you'll be up to your eyeballs in happy, cheery holiday movies. Everywhere you turn, you will be assaulted by the music of the season. There will be endless stories about angels and Christmas miracles. It will be — as it always is — enough to bring out one's inner Scrooge.
But before you're buried under Christmas cheer, I just want to alert you to tonight's showing of the 1945 film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic horror tale, "The Picture of Dorian Gray." It's going to be shown on Turner Classic Movies at 11 p.m. (Central), and I highly recommend it.
At this time of the year, I think of it as the anti–"It's a Wonderful Life." Not that there is anything wrong with "It's a Wonderful Life," but rest assured there is absolutely no resemblance between George Bailey and Dorian Gray.
(Although, it should be noted, Donna Reed is in both movies.)
The main character of the story is a young man (clearly, Dorian Gray) who believes physical perfection is the only objective in life. He commissions an artist to paint his portrait, and then he proceeds to commit virtually every sin known to man. With each decadent act, the man in the portrait shows a new physical flaw or evidence of aging, but Dorian retains his youthful looks, even as years pass and his friends and acquaintances all age around him.
To modern viewers, I'm sure that doesn't sound like much of a horror movie — more of a fantasy, probably. Maybe, although it does combine black–and–white photography with color photography, which was kind of unusual in those days. The color is used to draw one's attention to the changes in the face in the portrait, but the other camera tricks accomplish much the same thing.
I don't want to say too much more about the plot, but I think the cast deserves to be singled out. Not everyone. Hurd Hatfield, for example, leaves a lot to be desired in the role of Dorian Gray, in my opinion, but his mentor, played by George Sanders, is splendidly cast. So, too, is a young Angela Lansbury, who plays Dorian's love interest and received the second of her three Best Supporting Actress nominations for her work.
And Peter Lawford is young in this film, but that is deceiving. While in his early 20s when he appeared in this movie, Lawford already was a veteran of more than a dozen motion pictures.
As with any really good horror movie, though, the thing that really stands out in this movie is the camera work. And cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. won an Oscar (deservedly) for "The Picture of Dorian Gray."
For a student of motion pictures, though, I think "The Picture of Dorian Gray" should be intriguing because it shows how the definition of horror changes over the years. Camera work, as I say, is always an important element, but there have been distinct differences over the years. In the 1930s, horror movies featured the golden–age monsters, like "Frankenstein" and "Dracula." Then the emphasis shifted to eerie themes.
Sometimes, as I implied, there has been a supernatural twist, and "Dorian Gray" certainly suggests a Faustian bargain has been struck.
It has only been in recent decades that horror has come to be regarded as synonymous with blood and gore, which is certainly evil and horrifying (although I guess whether it is supernaturally inspired is a subject for a different kind of discussion).
So anyone who tunes in tonight expecting to see a slasher flick is in for a major disappointment.
But if you aren't expecting that, there are many rewards to derive from "The Picture of Dorian Gray."
And, as a seasonal benefit, while I probably would have urged that it be shown around Halloween, it may fortify you for all the sugary sweet movies that are in your path in the weeks ahead.
On Thanksgiving night, Turner Classic Movies will conclude its "Star of the Month" tribute to Grace Kelly with the last three movies she made and a 32–minute short film of her 1956 marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco.
It's always a treat to see Grace Kelly in a movie, but one of the movies scheduled to be shown on Thursday night clearly stands out above the other two. It is the last film she made for Alfred Hitchcock, "To Catch a Thief," and there are so many things to recommend about it that I hardly know where to begin.
I guess we could start with the sterling cast that Hitchcock assembled — Cary Grant, John Williams, Jessie Royce Landis (her name may not be familiar to many viewers, but her face probably is — she and Grant were reunited in Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" a few years later and she co–starred with Kelly again in TCM's third Grace Kelly film of the evening, "The Swan").
Another reason to watch the film is the gorgeous scenery. It was filmed on the French Riviera. In fact, there was a persistent rumor, after Kelly suffered a stroke in 1982 and died the next day from injuries she sustained when the car she was driving went out of control and crashed, that she had been driving on the same mountainside highway that she had driven so recklessly with Grant sitting next to her in "To Catch a Thief." Her son repeatedly denied that there was any truth to the rumor.
Unlike most Hitchcock movies, it isn't about a murder. It's about a jewel thief who is at large. Grant plays a retired jewel thief who is assumed to be guilty by just about everyone, although he insists he is innocent.
It was a groundbreaking film for Hitchcock, too. It was his first film in the widescreen process VistaVision.
Some people dismiss it as one of Hitchcock's lesser films. I have two things to say in response:
Most movie directors can only hope to match the quality of Hitchcock's "lesser" films.
The movie was made years before I was born so I have no idea what audience reactions were like in 1955. But with its cast, the cinematography and the snappy dialogue, "To Catch a Thief" must have been a real pleasure to watch, thoroughly entertaining and engrossing.
It still is.
TCM will show it at 7 p.m. (Central) on Thursday.
My birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving this year. And I can think of few gifts that I will enjoy more than an evening of Grace Kelly movies.
The short film of the wedding comes on at 1 a.m. (Central). I've never seen it, but, if you're expecting something lengthy and grand, like the 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana, prepare yourself. Grace and Rainier were married in a 40–minute civil ceremony in the Palace Throne Room. There was a church ceremony the next day.
Apparently, everything was televised in Europe. But it doesn't seem to have been as ornate as Charles and Diana's wedding. Anyway, as I say, I've never seen it. Judge for yourself.
I got my bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas, and I got my master's degree in journalism from the University of North Texas. Most of my adult life has been dedicated to writing and editing in one form or another. Most recently I have taught writing (news and developmental) as an adjunct journalism professor at Richland College, where I advise the student newspaper staff. Go, Thunderducks!
