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| Mr Danny Kaye, during his act at the London Palladium, 12 Nov 1948 |
i mean, if you take the first color movie ever made, gone with the wind, which in my opinion should be classified in a category of its own, it's always gonna be a movie you can watch and in the end say; now that's a grand movie. a gem in and of itself. nothing bothers you, not the cast, not the cinematography, not the music, nothing at all. even the length. to tell such a story in those few hours is a miracle on its own.
nowadays i see movies like mission impossible 137th part already but with slightly different cast, bigger budgets and of course more explosions and gunfire without which naturally the movie cannot be made. and when they've run out of ideas, they make a movie telling a story before the 1st part of the trilogy saga began. what a load of nonsense.
there are exceptions but very rare ones. nowadays there's hardly a movie that you see and then walking out of the theatre think to yourself; that was really worth while. i'm glad i saw it. i'm richer for another experience.
i don't even need to use big words. i can just say there are less dimensions nowadays that there were before. now you have the cast, some story and a big budget (excluding independent films which in my opinion still have the integrity of genuine movie making). back then they had glamour, great story tellers, great cast, a great team that worked day and night to make the big sets come alive, with no CGI and stuff like that and most importantly they were constantly adding more and more dimensions to the movies with their great simphony numbers, actors and actresses that would blow you in another dimension, so that after you see the movie you feel sort of bitter-suite and bitterly admit to yourself -- those were the days, those were the times and i wish they would have never ended.
1987 was a dark year. in a sense that it took away most beloved entertainers of that time; danny kaye, fred astaire. too early they went and with them they took the glamour, bliss, exuberance and tender voices of the era that luckily we can relive in some small way at least, now at home, infront of our home entertainment centers.
but i for one feel that i've been totally misplaced. born in the wrong decade alltogether.
what would i do if i had a million bucks? i would build a time machine, go back in time to the year 1947 and do all the things i've been longing to do ever since i laid my eyes for the first time on Wonder man.
5 comments:
You wrote: ". . . with them they took the glamour, bliss, exuberance and tender voices of the era that luckily we can relive in some small way at least, now at home, infront of our home entertainment centers."
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the glamor part, but definitely the "tender voices" is something I can identify with. It seems to me that movies of a simpler time seemed more frequently focused on striking a chord with the viewer's heart--in ways that depended more upon human interpretation and performance than awe-inspiring technological manipulations.
Yes, how wonderful to be able to have so much access today to these works and performances of an earlier time!
". . . a movie that you see and then walking out of the theatre think to yourself; that was really worth while. i'm glad i saw it. i'm richer for another experience."
Oh, I wanted to add that I really like this point you make. Yes, we prefer our media experiences to be something that we take with us to enrich our own real lives--not simply temporary moments of escapism.
"I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the glamor part" - i love the golden era of hollywood. but by this i meant that danny's work means a lot more to me and has helped me thru many tough stuff so i tend to regard danny as an icon for glamour and the richness of those days and the happy times that were going on in those days. that's why i added this personal note.
Oh, I think I understand better now. I have always equated "Hollywood glamour" as something associated with something outwardly superficial and artificially glitzy. (Think Zsa-Zsa Gabor.) I see now that it can refer to something more inward, and though it connotes illusion, the illusion doesn't necessarily have to be a sad delusion. More like a happy fairy-tale that lends hope?
precisely that. i always believed that people are fundamentally good and that over the years when/if something corrupts them it's all a matter of circumstances they live in and their inability to withstand them. i also believe that nothing "just happens" but that we have a basic control over ourselves and that sometimes it's better to listen than to say something you regret later. and all of this beliefs, or values, are supported in the masterpieces that have come out of this golden era. and they are withstanding even the tooth of time. and that's also something i will always find very impressive and beautiful.
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