Breakfast at Tiffany's

1961 - Dir.: Blake Edwards
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 27th December, 2009
"I was nothing like her, but I felt I could 'act' Holly. I knew the part would be a challenge, but I wanted it anyway. I always wonder if I risked enough on that one. I should have been a little more outrageous. But at the time, as a new mother, I was about as wild as I could be. If only I were a Method player, huh? But the fact is, I didn't really believe in The Method. I believed in good casting. And I'm still not sure about Holly and me..."

-Audrey Hepburn

Romantic comedy is a difficult genre to perfect and it has rarely been done as well as it is here. Hepburn and Peppard create the kind of screen chemistry that comes along all too rarely. Despite the sordid implications of the relationships portrayed, the humour and the Oscar-winning refrains of Henry Mancini's score maintain the feel-good factor. The result is a charming fable of love in big, bad New York. The magic owes a lot to the poise and waif-like beauty of the bewitching Hepburn. Her Givenchy-clad entrance, sashaying down a deserted street before gazing into the Tiffany's window display, is a moment of pure wonder. All this and one of the best cats ever to grace the screen!

• Holly is so closely associated with Audrey Hepburn that it's hard to believe that the author Truman Capote insisted that he wanted Marilyn Monroe to play the part. He'd sold the film rights for $65,000 to Paramount and the studio hired George Axelrod, author of The Seven Year Itch, to adapt the book for Monroe. She wanted Holly badly, but her acting coach Paula Strasberg turned down the part on the basis of its immorality.
• “Breakfast at Tiffany's” is almost, but not quite, ruined by Mickey Rooney's hideously stereotyped performance as Hepburn's Japanese neighbor, buck teeth and all. Intended to provide broad comedy at the time, the scenes provoke intense discomfort today and the movie has been banned in many cities with large Chinese populations in the USA
• Audrey Hepburn was Belgian but grew up in Nazi occupied Arnhem where she was known as Edda van Heemstra. She went to London in 1948 to study ballet. She made her screen debut in “Nederlands in 7 Lessen” playing an airline stewardess.
  
  

Notorious

1946 - Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 28th November, 2009

In the hands of many another director, “Notorious” would have been merely a film noir - a cruel story of a courageous, patriotic young woman turned inside out by manipulative and unscrupulous men, one of whom uses her love for him to force her into extreme danger. But with Hitchcock it becomes something deeper: a glorious exercise in film style, where virtuoso camerawork combines with the characters to create a wonderful harmony of visuals and narrative. Even sixty three years after the film's initial release, the simplicity and subtlety of Hitchcock's direction will have you holding your breath in anticipation, at almost every turn.
Hitchcock made this film in 1946, when the war was over but the Cold War was just beginning. A few months later, he would have made the villains Communists, but as he and Ben Hecht worked on the script, Nazis were still uppermost in their minds. In 1946 the United States Government was still very sensitive about the atomic bomb, and J Edgar Hoover, then head of the FBI was violently opposed to the making of “Notorious”. Only after long discussions between David O Selznick, Hitchcock and Hoover did it go ahead, on the understanding that there was no mention in the script of the FBI or nuclear weapons.

• Notorious contains what was billed as “The longest screen kiss in the history of the movies”. It lasts an impressive 3 minutes but is a bit of a phoney. The actors break off every now and then to satisfy the Hayes Code (the American censor) which insisted that kisses should only last 3 seconds.
  
• Claude Rains was somewhat challenged in the height department. He had to stand on a box for scenes with Cary Grant who was a full 7 inches taller.
  
• Hitchcock makes his usual on screen appearance - no prizes for spotting him - look for the portly gent in theparty scene.
  

A Prairie Home Companion

2006 - Dir: Robert Altman
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 13th November, 2009

“What a lovely film this is, so gentle and whimsical, so simple and profound. It is nothing less than an elegy, a memorial to memories of times gone by, to dreams that died but left the dreamers dreaming, to appreciating what you've had instead of insisting on more.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
This movie is the product of the meeting of two great minds. It’s written by Garrison Keillor (of Lake Wobegon fame) and directed by Robert Altman (who made MASH, The Long Goodbye, Nashville, Gosford Park and over a hundred more films). The dry, wry, laid back wit of Mr Keillor is ideal material for Mr Altman who worked with multiple cameras in a free flowing, semi-improvised style. The dialogue is spoken in a natural way and is presented, uncut, un-tampered with and at its natural pace. Mr Altman lived for the movies and gave each project his all. He said he kept track of time not by the years but by the film he was making. Given an Honorary Oscar in March 2006, he astonished his audience by revealing he had been living 10 or 11 years with a heart transplant. He didn't mention that he also had leukaemia. He died just after this film, his last, had its first showings . At the time of his death, he had two films in pre-production.
If this film bears Altman’s directorial stamp, it owes its inspiration and its title to the imagination of Garrison Keillor. Since 1974 Mr Keillor has been presenting a weekly radio show on Minnesota Public Radio called...”A Prairie Home Companion”. It was his creation - all the characters in this film regularly appear (played by Mr Keillor and a small cast of regulars). One of the show's best known features is News from Lake Wobegon, a weekly story-telling monologue, claiming to be a report from Mr Keillor's fictitious hometown of Lake Wobegon, "the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve ... where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."
The show is "sponsored" by the fictitious product "Powdermilk Biscuits", whose slogan is "Made from whole wheat raised in the rich bottomlands of the Lake Wobegon river valley by Norwegian bachelor farmers; so you know they're not only good for you, but pure ... mostly",

• The film was shot largely on-site at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, the home of the actual A Prairie Home Companion radio show.
• Altman reputedly directed most of the film from a wheelchair. Despite being over 80 he embraced new technology and shot his last film in High Definition video.
• All the musical numbers were recorded “live” in front of an audience - no miming to playback or editing. The audience voted for the best take.

The Wizard of Oz

1939 - Dir: Victor Fleming
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 31st October, 2009 (Family matinee)

First of all - rest assured that this film IS in colour. It starts out in black and white but after a few minutes all will be revealed. It’s just a little cinema magic trick - and there are plenty more to come!
For those of us who have grown up knowing this film it seems impossible that it’s seventy years old this year. There’s only one member of the FeckenOdeon’s Committee who was alive when the film was made... and even he would have been too young to be taken to see it. We’ve all enjoyed it on the telly but very few of us have experienced it on the big screen - the way children originally saw it in 1939.
The world in 1939 was a very different place. War was about to be declared and people had just endured a recession that made our recent financial crisis look tiny in comparison. The plight of Dorothy at the beginning of the film would have been familiar to many in the audience. The little girl is lonely, living with poor relatives (we are never told what happened to her parents). Her little dog is all she has and now someone is trying to take it away from her.. but then she and we are transported into a magic land. We all escape from our daily woes and worries for a while. What an experience it must have been to leave the drabness, gloom and poverty, settle into a warm seat and immerse yourself in the colourful fantasy of Oz. It was an exquisite and extravagent fantasy - the very best that Hollywood could afford - and it was based one of America’s favourite books. Small wonder that the nation and the world loved Oz. All this wouldn't be half as impressive if The Wizard hadn’t gone on to work his magic on successive generations.
The film became a Christmas institution on television and has been reprinted and reshown the world over - a resilient 70 year old with a big future!
· Colour films were rare in 1939 and Technicolor was an experimental process. Technicians found that the yellow brick road came out green in early parts of the filming and had to be repainted to make it look yellow.
· The Munchkins are portrayed by the Singer Midgets, named not for their musical abilities, but rather for Leo Singer, their manager. The troupe came from Europe, and a number of the Munchkins took advantage of the trip to remain in America and escape the Nazis.
· Toto’s real name was Terry. Judy Garland wanted to keep her at the end of filming but her owners refused and she went on to star in another six movies.
· It was originally intended to use a real lion to play the Cowardly Lion - for some reason the plan was abandoned and the lion was dropped - a fate also suffered by the original candidate for the part of Dorothy - Shirley Temple.

Slumdog Millionaire

2008 - Dir: Danny Boyle
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 31st October, 2009

There are scenes in this film which may shock you. There are things that may make you want to cover your eyes. There are acts, the very thought of which may make you want to flee into the fresh Feckenham air. Please don’t. You are watching the truth. This is India. Warts and all... and it’s like that NOW.
That such a gritty portrayal of poverty, cruelty and avarice should have been made by a major Hollywood studio is strange enough. That it should be a rip-roaring success with modern filmgoers accustomed to a diet of glitzy blockbusters is almost as much a paradox as India itself. Like the country, Slumdog displays as much of the glamour and beauty of India as it does the squalor and violence. You may say that this isn’t the most morally pure of films - the "happy ending" involves forgetting the quagmire you came from and living at the top of the heap at the expense of those at the bottom.... India is like that and who are we, given that our collonising forebears carry some responsibility for the current state of India, to judge?

The film is glossily made, yet cost a fraction of the usual Hollywood budget. It features no known stars, yet grossed over $360 million and won no less than 8 Academy Awards... more paradoxes!
Mercedes-Benz asked that its logos be removed in scenes taking place in the slums. The company did not want to be associated with the poverty-stricken area, fearing that that might taint its image. Similarly, the "Thums Up" branding had to be removed from drinks bottles on the request of the manufacturers who did not want to be associated with the poverty depicted in the film.
The pile of "unpleasantness" that the young Jamal jumps into (don’t try this at home!) was made from a combination of peanut butter and chocolate.
The song "Darshan Do Ghanshyam" which is used by the "selecters" to select and train child beggars was composed and sung by Surdas, a legendary medieval Indian singer who was blind. The significance and poignancy of this will be clearer once you have seen the film.
Lead actor Dev Patel is also a British martial arts champion and hold a 1st Dan Black Belt and several international awards.
Warner Brothers got cold feet in the late stages of production and came close to sending the film straight to DVD (and certain oblivion).

Greenfingers

2000 - Dir.: Joel Hershman
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 26th September, 2009

Now here’s a curious thing - a thoroughly British comedy... made by Americans! Having noticed the success of films like "The Full Monty" the MGM studio bosses grabbed a script based on a true story and hoped to make a fast buck on the back of a wave of British success. "Greenfingers" trades almost entirely on the laughable notion of hardened criminals delicately pruning their roses. But here's the rub - big muscular guys pruning roses is funny - and charming. Add a jolly performance from one of the UK’s toughest Dames, an unlikely love story and some pretty pictures of flowers and you have a recipe for commercial success... but then Americans never did understand the vagaries of the British. The film generated only a modest cashflow at the box office despite the effortlessly warm performances, especially from Clive Owen and David Kelly, two of the sweetest and unlikeliest jailbirds you could ever hope to meet doing time. This perhaps isn’t the greatest movie ever made but its American funded Britishness makes its gentle pace and whimsical humour not only cosily comfortable but positively heartwarming. Not every film has to be a blockbuster!

Red Dust

1932 - Dir.: Victor Fleming

Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 26th September, 2009

The most compelling reason for seeing this film is its cast - a set of MGM's most prized possessions: including Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Gene Raymond and Mary Astor. In their first major onscreen pairing, Harlow and Gable prove just how much fun lust can be. This red-blooded romance brings our stars together in the remote and steamy jungles of Africa, which allows them to be as wild and wanton as they wish.
"Red Dust" is a hot-blooded example of a lot of things that would soon be banned by the censors until the 1960s. Jean Harlow is a slut, Mary Astor an adulteress, Clark Gable a two-timing cad. No one suffers for the sins of the flesh, and nothing happens that is the least bit subtle or ambiguous. You are invited to create your own carnal images with each suggestive fade-out (go on - we dare you!).
The original play, by William Collison, closed after only eight performances on Broadway, but after this film the story was reused in 1939 as "Congo Maisie", and again in 1953 when it appeared as "Mogambo". Sadly Jean Harlow wasn’t so long lived. She died in 1937 - apparently poisoned by the platinum used to dye her hair.

Passport to Pimlico

1949 - Dir.: Henry Cornelius
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on April 30th, 2005

It's time to relax into comforting black and white for a cosy tale set in post war England.., or is it England? The idea for the plot came from a news item spotted by writer Tibby Clarke which stated that during the war, in order that a rule be observed whereby members of the Dutch royal succession must be born on Netherlands soil, a room in Ottawa, where the family was in exile from the German occupation, officially became Dutch territory. So if that could happen in Ottowa why not.. Pimlico!
The cast reads like a Who's Who of British character actors - Stanley Holloway and Dame Margaret Rutherford lead the troops but sharp eyes (and memories) will spot Sir Michael Hordern, Sidney Taffler, Charles Hawtrey, Hermoine Baddeley, Sam Kydd and Sir Winston Churchill (it's true!) amongst many others. John Slater, later to be a Z Cars stalwart and a resident of Stratford-upon-Avon, plays one of his biggest big screen roles. It's a classic Ealing Studios product with classic British humour poking gentle fun at our own Britishness. There are those who regard the film as political satire but most just sit back and enjoy a glimpse through a window on a world and way of life many of us can't even remember.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

1938 - Dir,: Michael Cutiz & William Keighley
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on April 30th, 2005
ONLY THE RAINBOW CAN DUPLICATE ITS BRILLIANCE!
To those who think of vintage movies in terms of flickery, scratched black and white this meticulously restored 1938 blockbuster will be a revelation. Technical standards were at an all time high and Warner Brothers' art department knew nothing of budgetary restraint - it's a riot of colour, action and spectacle. This may be a museum piece but who says you can't have fun in a museum!
In the most engaging performance of his career, Errol Flynn is jaunty, romantic, and larger than life, but also slyly funny as the Saxon knight who takes on the nasty Normans who have usurped the rule of England while King Richard has been out of town liberating the Holy Land from the "infidels." This is movie pageantry at its best, done in the grand manner of silent
spectacles, brimming over with the sort of primitive energy that drew people to the movies in the first place.
• Erich Korngold was invited by Warner Brothers to come from his native Austria to Hollywood to see the film with a view to scoring it. He initially turned down the chance as he felt that his musical style was ill-suited for adventure spectaculars. However, while in Hollywood, he learned that the Nazis were about to invade Austria and, feeling he had to secure a source of revenue in the United States. He accepted the assignment and scooped one of the film's 3 Oscars.
• 'heavily padded stunt players and actors were paid $150 per arrow for being shot by
professional archer Howard Hill, who also played the captain of the archers.
• The production used all 11 of the Technicolor cameras in existence in 1938 and they were all
returned to Technicolor at the end of each day's filming.
• Although shot on location in California, indigenous English plants were added and the grass was painted to give a greener, more English look.

Cabaret

1972 - Dir.: Bob Fosse

Shown at The FeckenOdeon on April 2nd, 2005

Much was made at the time of this film's release about the fact that it was the first musical to receive the dubious honour of an X certificate. It is perhaps predictable that the popular press should get in a lather about a few strong words and lewd(ish) moments while ignoring the real and gut wrenching feeling of outrage provoked by the vivid and stark portrayal of the rise of the greatest obscenity of the 20th Century. Those of us who saw "Cabaret" back in the free wheeling seventies were brought up sharp by the awful realisation that the rise of the Nazis was all but unstoppable and that ordinary people had no way of intervening. As our own political system lurched to the right and skinheads took to the streets, those of us with vivid imaginations drew worrying parallels.... Whatever our personal political feelings, no-one could fail to be shocked by "Cabaret" - but sex had absolutely nothing to do with it.
The film is based on Christopher Isherwood's autobiographical book of anecdotes from the era, `Goodbye to Berlin'. The Sally Bowles character appeared in those stories and then appeared in the play and movie 'I Am a Camera' before returning to the stage in this musical, and then making it into the movies a second time...
That such a tale set in such a time can also give great joy is a tribute to it's Director and it's superb and spirited cast. It can be said to have been a "once in a lifetime" film for almost all the main participants. Although Bob Fosse made a couple more films (including the autobiographical "All that Jazz") and worked extensively on the Broadway stage he never again hit such a high as "Cabaret". He died before he could transfer his stage hit "Chicago" to the big screen. Lisa Minelli, who really made us believe that she was the reincarnation of her mother (Judy Garland), failed to keep up the momentum and bounced from one indifferent project to the next mediocre one. Joel Grey (Master of Ceremonies) who is perhaps the kingpin of "Cabaret" was really too good at the part - he was reckoned to be "difficult to cast" by Hollywood's money men who obviously could only see him in white face and tails (that's him in the picture). He's still working on US television. Helmutt Griem worked only in his native language after "Cabaret" (he died last year) and Marisa Berenson also stayed firmly in Europe - though she's soon to be seen in a film called "Colour me Kubrick". The exception is of course Michael York who has so far appeared in 111 feature films and is still working - "Cabaret" is his 14th movie role.
"Tomorrow Belongs to Me" was written by John Kander and Fred Ebb in the style of a traditional German song, sung by the Nazi youth in the movie, to stir tip patriotism for the "fatherland". It has often been mistaken for a genuine "Nazi anthem" and has led to the songwriters being accused of anti-Semitism. This would be most surprising, as they are, in fact, Jewish. It is also the only song sung outside of the cabaret setting to survive the transition from stage to film.

Shooting Stars

1927 - Dir.: Anthony Asquith & A.E.Bramble
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 26th February, 2005
Live piano accompaniment by Peter Smith

Although late in the silent era (the all talking "Jazz Singer" was released in the same year), "Shooting Stars" is thought of as the movie that marked the coming of age of the British film industry. It's a fully fledged feature film with a strong story and excellent acting. It established Anthony Asquith as one of our most distinguished directors and it made the American studios realise that films could be made outside California. Despite its jolly start it's a real tearjerker - tissues available from the bar!
Brian Aherne, who plays Julian, was a local lad from Kings Norton. He survived the transition to the talkies and went to Hollywood in 1933, starred alongside such deities as Katherine Hepburn and married Joan Fontaine (briefly).
Little is known of the fate of co-star Annette Benson. She stayed in films until 1931 and, after the rather grim sounding "Deadlock" disappeared completely from the limelight.
The remarkably named Chili Bouchier (real name Dorothy Hill) worked continuously in films, on the stage and in television from 1927 until her death in 1999 at the age of 100. The name came from her theme song 'I Love My Chili Bom-Bom'. Billed as "Britain's IT Girl", she possessed a knack for self publicity and was seldom out of the public eye. In her later years she dined (and most definitely supped) out on her reputation as "The Last of The Silent Film Stars". Despite her fame (or perhaps notoriety) she died alone in her council flat off the Edgware Road

Don Giovanni

1979 - Dir.: Joseph Losey
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on January 30th, 2005

Veteran director Joseph Losey realised a lifelong ambition with this project - he'd been dissatisfied with the Hollywood projects that came his way in the 70s so the chance to direct Mozart's greatest opera was grabbed with enormous enthusiasm. Losey's film is rightly regarded to be one of the finest opera films ever made. It's rarely shown - this screening is the only one planned in the UK during 2005.
CAST in order of singing
Leporello Jose Van Dam
Donna Anna Edda Moser
Don Giovanni Ruggero Raimondi
The Comendatore John Macurdy
Don Otavio Kenneth Riegel
Donna Elvira Kiri Te Kanawa
Zerlina Teresa Berganza
Masetto Malcolm King
The Orchestra and Chorus of The Paris Opera
Conducted by Lorin Maazel
Sung in Italian with English Subtitles
Synopsis:
ACT 1: After one of Mozart's most powerful overtures, the action begins in a square outside the palace of the Commendatore, the aging local commander of forces. It is night, and Leporello is grumbling about his duties as servant to Don Giovanni, a dissolute nobleman. Soon the masked Don appears, pursued by Donna Anna, the Commendatore's daughter, whom he has tried to seduce. When the Commendatore himself answers Anna's cries, he is killed in a duel by Giovanni, who escapes. Anna now returns with her fiance, Don Ottavio. Finding her father dead, she makes Ottavio swear vengeance on the assassin.
At dawn, Giovanni unwittingly flirts with Donna Elvira, a woman he once raped. Realising his mistake he escapes while Leporello distracts Elvira by reciting his master's long catalog of conquests. Peasants arrive, celebrating the nuptials of their friends Zerlina and Masetto; when Giovanni joins in, he pursues the bride, angering the groom. Alone with Zerlina, the Don applies his charm, but Elvira interrupts and protectively whisks the girl away. Outside the palace, Zerlina begs Masetto to forgive her apparent infidelity, Masetto hides when the Don appears, emerging from the shadows as Giovanni comers Zerlina. Elvira, Anna and Ottavio arrive disguised in costume and masks and are invited to the feast by Leporello. During the festivities, Leporello entices Masetto into the dance as Giovanni draws Zerlina out of the room. When the girl's cries for help put him on the spot, Giovanni tries to blame Leporello. But no one is convinced; at the end of the Act Elvira, Anna and Ottavio unmask and confront Giovanni.
Act 2: Under Elvira's balcony, Leporello exchanges cloaks with Giovanni to woo the lady in his master's stead. Leporello leads Elvira off, leaving the Don free to serenade Elvira's maid. When Masetto passes with a band of armed peasants bent on punishing Giovanni, the disguised rake gives them false directions, then beats up Masetto. In a passageway, Elvira and Leporello are surprised by Anna, Ottavio, Zerlina and Masetto, who, mistaking s,trrvant for master, threaten Leporello. He reveals his identity and escapes. When Anna departs, Ottavio affirms his confidence in their love.
Leporello catches up with his master in a cemetery, where a voice warns Giovanni of his doom. This is the statue of the Commendatore, which the Don proposes Leporello invite to dinner. In her home, Anna, still in mourning puts off Ottavio's offer of marriage until her father is avenged. Leporello is serving Giovanni's dinner when Elvira rushes in, begging the Don, whom she still loves, to reform. But he waves her out contemptuously. At the door, her screams announce the arrival of the Gommendatore's statue. Giovanni boldly refuses warnings to repent, even in the face of death. Flames engulf his house, and the sinner is dragged to hell. The mood changes, and the survivors join in a sextet in which they plan their future and recite themoral: such is the fate of a wrongdoer.
AN APOLOGY: Mozart's genius has endured for hundreds of years. We only wish that film was as future proof! Unfortunately this, the only available print of "Don Giovanni", has not passed the test of time and has faded badly. The fires of Hell are not so much flaming red as flickering pink and everthing else is turning sepia. We do hope your enjoyment of the drama and, above all, the music is not completely spoiled by this sad deterioration.