Well, dear readers, sometimes there is a motion picture that is so perfect, so brilliant, and so timeless that each time you watch it it’s like discovering it all over again for the first time. There are, for me, only a handful of these films, films that no matter how many times I watch them, are always thrilling, always fresh, always, well, perfect. This is, of course, all subjective – what I find perfection five others might find dross. Again, for me, it is rare for a director to have multiple films in this category. However, Roman Polanski has two – Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown, two films I never tire of watching and revisit at least once (if not more) a year. They are both, to me, absolute perfection and moviemaking as art – they are both suffused with genius from stem to stern – every aspect, direction, writing, performance, sets, costumes, music – perfection. But I come to talk of Rosemary’s Baby, not Chinatown. I had a hankering to see it again so I dusted off the DVD and have been watching it over the last few days. What a movie. Start with the screenplay by Polanski. Ira Levin told me that the reason it is entirely faithful to the novel in every detail, from décor to dialogue, is because Polanski, whose first adaptation it was, thought he couldn’t make changes to the source material. Were it that more writers thought that. It is, for me, the best book to film adaptation ever done. I feel the novel is one of the greatest 20th century works of fiction ever.
Ira was a master at coming up with unique spins on plots. His first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, contains what is still one of the greatest pulling the rug out from under the reader twists ever. Levin’s genius was in seeing what was happening in the world and being able to translate it into a brilliant novel. He saw that June of 1966 would be a 666 year and he ran with it and created a brilliant novel of subtle horror. He took note of the Disney animatronics done in the late 1960s and The Stepford Wives was born. He took note of cloning, and The Boys From Brazil was born. One of my highest moments was meeting Mr. Levin, who was keen to get his Broadway musical Drat! The Cat! recorded. I arrived at our meeting with my first edition of Rosemary’s Baby and told him that he’d have to write me a really nice inscription before I would even discuss the recording. He did, and I did the album. We became very friendly and I was one of the first people he told about the sequel to Rosemary’s that he was writing and I was one of the first he sent it to to read. But my highest moment with Mr. Levin was having the chutzpah to send him Benjamin Kritzer and asking him to blurb it only if he liked it. He did like it and he blurbed it. What an amazing thing that was.
Ira loved anagrams and puzzles and he has a corker of an anagram in Son Of Rosemary, one he doesn’t solve for the readers. I lucked out and figured it out and called him and told him so. He hung up on me. Then he called right back and pitched a name at me and said “figure that one out.” I did – it was the real name of Ayn Rand, if I recall. Then I really irked him when I told him that a movie referenced in Son Of Rosemary had given away the ultimate twist of the book – but only because I’m one of the five people who knew the film, and I couldn’t figure out why he’d prominently use such a film in the book – unless it was because of that film’s final twist. I always promised him we’d do a concert reading or production of Drat and sadly it never happened and not for want of tryin – everyone from Encores to Reprise to the Musical Theatre Guild. I lost mostly all respect for those organizations when they couldn’t see the worth of doing Drat. When a tiny company in New York, a really low-rent Encores done with a piano and unknown actors, decided to do Drat, I attended with Ira, and he was like a little kid watching it. It was so sweet. I’d sent him the second Kritzer book, but he, like me, doesn’t read fiction when he’s writing it, so I respected that. He never did get to another book. And the last time I saw him he asked me to send him the two Kritzer books he hadn’t read and Writer’s Block, which I know he would have liked – it was really my Ira Levin book. Sadly, before I sent him the stuff, he passed away. He was a wonderful man and I’m happy to have known him the little that I did.
Back to the film – it’s just magical in a way that movies never are anymore. The unease that Polanski’s direction causes is nothing short of amazing – just camera placement and slightly off-kilter framing (not crazy, just the camera slightly not where you’d think it would be), the lead character that you love and care about, thanks to Mia Farrow’s great performance. The selfish husband played perfectly by John Cassavetes (they are so lucky they didn’t get their first choices – Robert Redford and Jack Nicholson for Guy, and Tuesday Weld for Rosemary). And two of the greatest supporting performances in the history of movies – Ruth Gordon and Sydney Blackmer as the Castevets. There is no one working today who could better these performances. Gordon’s is the showier role, but Blackmer also deserved an Oscar – he’s just fantastic. As are Maurice Evans, Charles Grodin, Ralph Bellamy, and Elisha Cook, Jr. The camera work of William Fraker is also perfection – it’s the best-LOOKING horror film every made, thanks to his work and the work of art director Richard Sylbert. And then there’s the score by Krystof Komeda (here billed as Christopher) – there has never been a score to a horror movie like Mr. Komeda’s – it is completely unique and is as much a part of the film’s success as its other elements. Great editing, costumes – all of it. Everyone at the top of their game. If on the off chance you’ve somehow never seen Rosemary’s Baby, a) shame on you, and b) order it today, watch it tomorrow, and pray for Rosemary’s Baby. The DVD transfer is nice, but where this film would really shine is a brand new transfer on Blu and Ray.
My goodness, I did go on about Rosemary’s Baby, didn’t I? I did have a fairly nice day yesterday – one thing was bugging me a little, so I wrote an e-mail about it and we hashed it out quickly and I’m fine now. I had a very nice night’s beauty sleep, did the four-mile jog, had a chopped salad with mostly vinegar for dressing, and some rye toast for lunch, picked up one package, did some work on the LACC show, including a first pass at the show order, which I actually think will end up sticking. Then I headed over to LACC for rehearsal.
These first two rehearsals were mostly for running music – that part makes me weary, but it’s necessary. We do have a wonderful group of players, I must say. I ended up blocking six numbers, so that was really nice – there’s a lot to go, given that each act is fifteen songs. But a lot of it is point and click – stand there and sing, maybe a cross or two, and that’s it. Only a handful of numbers have any real kind of staging. We worked for about five hours and that was that. I then came back to the San Fernando Valley, was hungry, so I stopped at Gelson’s and got a couple of small things to snack on.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must try and get another good night’s beauty sleep so I can be fresh as a daisy for tonight’s rehearsal, where there is a lot to do, including more staging.
Today, I shall arise, do the four-mile jog, eat something light but amusing, work on the LACC script, hopefully pick up some packages, do some errands and whatnot, and then have a rehearsal.
Tomorrow will be the same, then Friday my editor and I convene at the editing room to finalize the last three episodes of season one. Our “views” of episode one keep growing – we’re up over two thousand now, which isn’t so bad for two days. It will be nice to lock the new episodes, and then I’ll really buckle down Winsocki and write the next six for season two – happily, I have the ideas and have even written some songs for the first two.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the four-mile jog, eat, hopefully pick up a package or three, do errands and whatnot, and have a rehearsal. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall pray for Rosemary’s Baby.