Monochrome stories
But if you take her out
Remember she can break your heart in two
But she'll put it back, glue it together, make it look brand new
You see she's a very extraordinary sort of girl
So yesterday I watched Hitchcock's Secret Agent, and...
Well you know John Gielgud, right? When he wasn't doing Shakespeare, he portrayed these lovely elderly no-nonsense, snarky characters, like Hobson in Arthur and stealing the show as Charles' father in Brideshead Revisited?
This is John Gielgud:
I feel a bit conflicted about this.
Maybe you think it's a bit odd of me to be weirded out by this, when I spend the rest of the week oohing and aahing at Hollywood actors that, at best, are old enough to be my grandfather. You know, if they didn't die forty years ago. When I started this blog years ago I was completely enamoured with young Paul McCartney, you know.
I'm perfectly able to distinct the young, handsome persons from their present counterparts (I have no desire to snog the present Paul McCartney for instance), unless, like with Gielgud here, I'm first introduced to their newer works.
Watching this Hitchcock movie, with Gielgud as the titular secret agent, every time my eyes glanced slightly downwards the sirens started howling in my head "That's JOHN GIELGUD's arse you're checking out you know!" (but seriously, either all English actors of a certain age in the 30s had spectactular behinds, or there was something glorious going on in the trouser fashion department that we seriously need to bring back as soon as possible). And I mean, those cheekbones!
So yes, I'm as puzzled as you are.
But as for the overall movie, I wanted to watch it because of Peter Lorre (who portrays this great dandy slag and is great fun - and not the villain for once. Unsympathetic as hell, but not the villain). But generally I'm pretty certain it's the weakest I've seen so far of Hitchcock's movies. I mean, even the silent movie The Lodger was many times as suspenseful as this one.
I quite liked the dialogue though. And not even the plot bits, just how everybody flirted and teased and were so utterly charming all the time.
Also watched City Lights for the the first time. Maybe I'd gotten too high expectations after hearing about it all these years, but I thought it was a bit unsatisfying. "The best ending in movie history"? In the end I thought the flower girl showed herself to be undeserving of the Tramp's sacrifice, and that just bothered me.
Remember she can break your heart in two
But she'll put it back, glue it together, make it look brand new
You see she's a very extraordinary sort of girl
So yesterday I watched Hitchcock's Secret Agent, and...
Well you know John Gielgud, right? When he wasn't doing Shakespeare, he portrayed these lovely elderly no-nonsense, snarky characters, like Hobson in Arthur and stealing the show as Charles' father in Brideshead Revisited?
This is John Gielgud:
I feel a bit conflicted about this.
Maybe you think it's a bit odd of me to be weirded out by this, when I spend the rest of the week oohing and aahing at Hollywood actors that, at best, are old enough to be my grandfather. You know, if they didn't die forty years ago. When I started this blog years ago I was completely enamoured with young Paul McCartney, you know.
I'm perfectly able to distinct the young, handsome persons from their present counterparts (I have no desire to snog the present Paul McCartney for instance), unless, like with Gielgud here, I'm first introduced to their newer works.
Watching this Hitchcock movie, with Gielgud as the titular secret agent, every time my eyes glanced slightly downwards the sirens started howling in my head "That's JOHN GIELGUD's arse you're checking out you know!" (but seriously, either all English actors of a certain age in the 30s had spectactular behinds, or there was something glorious going on in the trouser fashion department that we seriously need to bring back as soon as possible). And I mean, those cheekbones!
So yes, I'm as puzzled as you are.
But as for the overall movie, I wanted to watch it because of Peter Lorre (who portrays this great dandy slag and is great fun - and not the villain for once. Unsympathetic as hell, but not the villain). But generally I'm pretty certain it's the weakest I've seen so far of Hitchcock's movies. I mean, even the silent movie The Lodger was many times as suspenseful as this one.
I quite liked the dialogue though. And not even the plot bits, just how everybody flirted and teased and were so utterly charming all the time.
Also watched City Lights for the the first time. Maybe I'd gotten too high expectations after hearing about it all these years, but I thought it was a bit unsatisfying. "The best ending in movie history"? In the end I thought the flower girl showed herself to be undeserving of the Tramp's sacrifice, and that just bothered me.