Ninth Reel: Thank God for TCM!
"Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk, in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? ... What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What put the 'ape' in 'apricot'? What have they got that I ain't got?"
"Courage!"
"You can say that again! ... Huh?"
- Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Tin Man, The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
Yes, I know, I repeated my movie.
For that matter, the sphinx isn't the seventh wonder. Nor is the Hottentot line politically correct anymore. Nor is Victor Fleming the only director that worked on that monster of a film. Nor does "monster" in this case mean it's a beastly film - it just was a beast to produce.
Seriously! They went through SIX DIRECTORS! SIX! Most of which only worked on it for about a week, in which ideas were DRAMATICALLY changed, and then somebody else came along and did it all over again. One of the directors, George Cukor, left to go direct Gone with the Wind, and then Victor Fleming (the only director CREDITED) ends up leaving before the last week of shooting to go REPLACE him for directing Gone with the Wind. Not to mention that two of the main actors switched roles, one of those same actors almost DIED from allergies to his makeup and had to be "quietly" replaced, Judy Garland was all dolled up with a blonde wig before somebody smartened up and told her to just "be herself", the DOG got injured during shooting, Margaret Hamilton got severely burned during one of her scenes and refused to do anymore fire-related scenes afterwards, only to have her STUNT DOUBLE get injured in the next scene instead, and everyone had to endure working in a 100-degree (fahrenheit) studio due to the demands of Technicolor. If that's not a beast to produce, I don't know WHAT is!
Well now that I have that off my chest, why am I talking so much about The Wizard of Oz? I'll tell you why:
Because POGO LIVES.
Have I mentioned him in past entries? Well if you haven't read them or whatnot, Pogo takes films, samples them, adds some of his own touches, and turns them into beautiful, amazingly-composed music. Most of his stuff is so good, I usually love whatever he does even if I don't like what he sampled XP But the fans already know that he posted a video contest for his Wizard of Oz pogomix, and as a video editor I immediately took up the challenge and spent an entire two weeks working on the thing completely ignoring everything else (besides Classic ToonDisney... but I'll get to that later). Made it before the deadline just in time, as usual.
And he's already set up a Top 5 to vote. Am I in it? No. But this contest WAS waaaay more competitive than any other I've joined (in which I usually came out as an honourable mention or the top 3), so I'm not too surprised, and regardless I feel very proud of my result and have already received plenty more praise for it than for anything else I have done in just one day, which is a huuuuge boost of confidence for me! Now if only I can finish all the vids on my desktop...
So now that you all know where I've been since my last entry, let's talk business.
I kinda miss theatres playing cartoons before the feature. I know I never really lived to experience it, and that certain studios (read: Pixar and Disney) have been trying to resurrect the tradition, but I mean where the practice was an everyday thing. Back in those days animation was taken seriously, and cartoons were made solely for adult entertainment without having to include sex jokes or graphic violence (just cartoony violence), or drugs or whatever is considered "mature" nowadays, and just were all in good, occasionally even educational, emotionally-moving fun. ... And sometimes it was also for propaganda, but needless to say, animation was a much bigger woof back then compared to now. Even with this resurrection business the cartoons are being played in front of Pixar and Disney films, which are unfortunately (due to something TVTropes calls the "Animation Ghetto") widely assumed to be solely for the younger population. It depresses me, because these cartoons are genuinely good and ingenious and well-planned out usually, and don't get near as much the respect as they used to just because of the label they come with (especially if they're Disney - not like they need our sympathy, but come on, guys, appreciate good work when you see it!).
Why I bring this up is that Classic ToonDisney - pretty much a resurrection of the recently-deceased ToonDisney (solely for nostalgic reasons, but hush up) - has introduced me to some of the really awesome cartoons Disney used to dish out in the 30's and 40's... they're freaking brilliant. I hope no one thinks I'm just saying this out of bias... but the things they come up with for these premises, the personas, the animation, the discussions they arouse, it's all quite amazing, and anything I could potentially say about them would not give them enough justice.
Furthermore, I was lucky enough to catch some TCM today while hanging out at Ry's house where her Rogers Cable was doing a weekend preview of the channel. Due to a certain day most North Americans celebrate (I don't, but why should that stop the majority?), most films were, in some way or another, related to Father's Day. The first one I caught was Life Begins for Andy Hardy; apparently Andy Hardy is actually a series of films, after researching him, but they just played the one. I didn't catch the entirety of any of these films, but what I did see of this film was that Andy Hardy was in New York City looking for a job and was juggling between two different women, one of which was a businesswoman while the other was someone who I thought was maybe a Judy Garland ripoff but was actually Judy Garland herself (go figure XD), and I couldn't even tell till I looked it up later that Mickey Rooney played the title role. Damn I need to watch films more often. And I'm aware that the film seems to have nothing to do with Father's Day, shut up, that's coming.
Much later in the day they were playing a short called So You're Going to Be a Father... told you! What I saw of it was... weird, needless to say. He gave his wife a whole bunch of rhubarb in which her response was, "Joe, I'm trying to sleep," and his reaction was to start chewing on one of the sticks... okay then. He ends up in the psychotic ward while his wife is in labour, and when we see the 16-year-old kid later, he... okay, the kid's obviously played by a guy, but he's dressed up as a girl. ... Is it supposed to be a joke on the fact that Joe thought he was getting a son? Is his son a dragqueen? I'm a little confused. IMDb doesn't give me an answer.
Then we have 3 Godfathers... a JOHN FORD western starring John Wayne (naturally) in which he, a slightly-less-stereotypical-for-the-time-period Mexican, and a younger cowboy all go to rob a bank in a village called Welcome (when we first saw the sign "Welcome/Arizona", we thought they maybe left out a "to"), and then have to flee from the posse and... I guess this happened while I was helping Ry with baking... they came across a woman while they were out in a desert, who gives birth to a boy, makes all three cowboys (you know, the three seemingly-nice-guy CRIMINALS on the run) the godfathers, and then dies. HiLARITY ensues as you see John Wayne and the other two cowboys sitting around trying to figure out how to take care of a baby in their special awkward way. Sounds cheesy enough to be a Christmas in Connecticut, but it's way more amusing without seeming really phony. I didn't catch much after that besides the younger cowboy's death APOLOGIES FOR THE HORRIBLE CLIFF-HANGING SPOILER.
The one after was ALSO a John Ford/John Wayne film focused on the navy this time called The Wings of Eagles. Maureen O'Hara is in it. According to the credits her wardrobe was the most important costuming in the entire film, regardless of all the naval and army and police uniforms. It was really hard to follow sometimes (mostly 'cause I kept on missing parts), but I'll tell you a few things: this film has two punchout sequences, both of which include cake in the face and running from the police. It also has a guy trying to climb into a plane only to fall into the water instead, said plane interrupting a huge tea party, and a bunch of people running into a room and accidentally falling into a swimming pool. DEFINITELY worth a watch solely for those things. It also had John Wayne saying "I'm gonna move that toe" to the point in which it eventually became a song (sort of), and I got it stuck in my head for a good half-hour.
The End.
I then came home to find my dad watching Blazing Saddles, and immediately saying to me that it was far better than any other John Wayne movie I could've been seeing. Of course Blazing Saddles is awesome (though I have yet to see it), butum, thanks for even wanting to acknowledge what I watched, dad >.>
Go TCM. My filmographic experience would be much much larger if I could get it on my TV. It has inspired me to finally post my To Watch List and start library surfing!
"Courage!"
"You can say that again! ... Huh?"
- Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Tin Man, The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
Yes, I know, I repeated my movie.
For that matter, the sphinx isn't the seventh wonder. Nor is the Hottentot line politically correct anymore. Nor is Victor Fleming the only director that worked on that monster of a film. Nor does "monster" in this case mean it's a beastly film - it just was a beast to produce.
Seriously! They went through SIX DIRECTORS! SIX! Most of which only worked on it for about a week, in which ideas were DRAMATICALLY changed, and then somebody else came along and did it all over again. One of the directors, George Cukor, left to go direct Gone with the Wind, and then Victor Fleming (the only director CREDITED) ends up leaving before the last week of shooting to go REPLACE him for directing Gone with the Wind. Not to mention that two of the main actors switched roles, one of those same actors almost DIED from allergies to his makeup and had to be "quietly" replaced, Judy Garland was all dolled up with a blonde wig before somebody smartened up and told her to just "be herself", the DOG got injured during shooting, Margaret Hamilton got severely burned during one of her scenes and refused to do anymore fire-related scenes afterwards, only to have her STUNT DOUBLE get injured in the next scene instead, and everyone had to endure working in a 100-degree (fahrenheit) studio due to the demands of Technicolor. If that's not a beast to produce, I don't know WHAT is!
Well now that I have that off my chest, why am I talking so much about The Wizard of Oz? I'll tell you why:
Because POGO LIVES.
Have I mentioned him in past entries? Well if you haven't read them or whatnot, Pogo takes films, samples them, adds some of his own touches, and turns them into beautiful, amazingly-composed music. Most of his stuff is so good, I usually love whatever he does even if I don't like what he sampled XP But the fans already know that he posted a video contest for his Wizard of Oz pogomix, and as a video editor I immediately took up the challenge and spent an entire two weeks working on the thing completely ignoring everything else (besides Classic ToonDisney... but I'll get to that later). Made it before the deadline just in time, as usual.
And he's already set up a Top 5 to vote. Am I in it? No. But this contest WAS waaaay more competitive than any other I've joined (in which I usually came out as an honourable mention or the top 3), so I'm not too surprised, and regardless I feel very proud of my result and have already received plenty more praise for it than for anything else I have done in just one day, which is a huuuuge boost of confidence for me! Now if only I can finish all the vids on my desktop...
So now that you all know where I've been since my last entry, let's talk business.
I kinda miss theatres playing cartoons before the feature. I know I never really lived to experience it, and that certain studios (read: Pixar and Disney) have been trying to resurrect the tradition, but I mean where the practice was an everyday thing. Back in those days animation was taken seriously, and cartoons were made solely for adult entertainment without having to include sex jokes or graphic violence (just cartoony violence), or drugs or whatever is considered "mature" nowadays, and just were all in good, occasionally even educational, emotionally-moving fun. ... And sometimes it was also for propaganda, but needless to say, animation was a much bigger woof back then compared to now. Even with this resurrection business the cartoons are being played in front of Pixar and Disney films, which are unfortunately (due to something TVTropes calls the "Animation Ghetto") widely assumed to be solely for the younger population. It depresses me, because these cartoons are genuinely good and ingenious and well-planned out usually, and don't get near as much the respect as they used to just because of the label they come with (especially if they're Disney - not like they need our sympathy, but come on, guys, appreciate good work when you see it!).
Why I bring this up is that Classic ToonDisney - pretty much a resurrection of the recently-deceased ToonDisney (solely for nostalgic reasons, but hush up) - has introduced me to some of the really awesome cartoons Disney used to dish out in the 30's and 40's... they're freaking brilliant. I hope no one thinks I'm just saying this out of bias... but the things they come up with for these premises, the personas, the animation, the discussions they arouse, it's all quite amazing, and anything I could potentially say about them would not give them enough justice.
Furthermore, I was lucky enough to catch some TCM today while hanging out at Ry's house where her Rogers Cable was doing a weekend preview of the channel. Due to a certain day most North Americans celebrate (I don't, but why should that stop the majority?), most films were, in some way or another, related to Father's Day. The first one I caught was Life Begins for Andy Hardy; apparently Andy Hardy is actually a series of films, after researching him, but they just played the one. I didn't catch the entirety of any of these films, but what I did see of this film was that Andy Hardy was in New York City looking for a job and was juggling between two different women, one of which was a businesswoman while the other was someone who I thought was maybe a Judy Garland ripoff but was actually Judy Garland herself (go figure XD), and I couldn't even tell till I looked it up later that Mickey Rooney played the title role. Damn I need to watch films more often. And I'm aware that the film seems to have nothing to do with Father's Day, shut up, that's coming.
Much later in the day they were playing a short called So You're Going to Be a Father... told you! What I saw of it was... weird, needless to say. He gave his wife a whole bunch of rhubarb in which her response was, "Joe, I'm trying to sleep," and his reaction was to start chewing on one of the sticks... okay then. He ends up in the psychotic ward while his wife is in labour, and when we see the 16-year-old kid later, he... okay, the kid's obviously played by a guy, but he's dressed up as a girl. ... Is it supposed to be a joke on the fact that Joe thought he was getting a son? Is his son a dragqueen? I'm a little confused. IMDb doesn't give me an answer.
Then we have 3 Godfathers... a JOHN FORD western starring John Wayne (naturally) in which he, a slightly-less-stereotypical-for-the-time-period Mexican, and a younger cowboy all go to rob a bank in a village called Welcome (when we first saw the sign "Welcome/Arizona", we thought they maybe left out a "to"), and then have to flee from the posse and... I guess this happened while I was helping Ry with baking... they came across a woman while they were out in a desert, who gives birth to a boy, makes all three cowboys (you know, the three seemingly-nice-guy CRIMINALS on the run) the godfathers, and then dies. HiLARITY ensues as you see John Wayne and the other two cowboys sitting around trying to figure out how to take care of a baby in their special awkward way. Sounds cheesy enough to be a Christmas in Connecticut, but it's way more amusing without seeming really phony. I didn't catch much after that besides the younger cowboy's death APOLOGIES FOR THE HORRIBLE CLIFF-HANGING SPOILER.
The one after was ALSO a John Ford/John Wayne film focused on the navy this time called The Wings of Eagles. Maureen O'Hara is in it. According to the credits her wardrobe was the most important costuming in the entire film, regardless of all the naval and army and police uniforms. It was really hard to follow sometimes (mostly 'cause I kept on missing parts), but I'll tell you a few things: this film has two punchout sequences, both of which include cake in the face and running from the police. It also has a guy trying to climb into a plane only to fall into the water instead, said plane interrupting a huge tea party, and a bunch of people running into a room and accidentally falling into a swimming pool. DEFINITELY worth a watch solely for those things. It also had John Wayne saying "I'm gonna move that toe" to the point in which it eventually became a song (sort of), and I got it stuck in my head for a good half-hour.
The End.
I then came home to find my dad watching Blazing Saddles, and immediately saying to me that it was far better than any other John Wayne movie I could've been seeing. Of course Blazing Saddles is awesome (though I have yet to see it), butum, thanks for even wanting to acknowledge what I watched, dad >.>
Go TCM. My filmographic experience would be much much larger if I could get it on my TV. It has inspired me to finally post my To Watch List and start library surfing!