Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and I must get at least some semblance of a beauty sleep, or as I like to think of it, sleeping beauty. So, without further delay, I shall write like the wind, and I think we all know how well the wind writes. One critic once said of the wind’s literary output, “Let’s just say gone with the wind and be done with it.” In any case, I am sitting here like so much fish, once again listening to John Williams’ lovely Pete ‘N’ Tillie soundtrack. As I mentioned in yesterday’s notes, I found the film on YouTube in its proper scope ratio. Actually, a few people have it, but only one is in decent quality. It’s really astonishing to me that it’s never come out on Blu-ray, given the popularity of its two stars and its two Oscar nominations – one for Geraldine Page for supporting actress (a rather baffling nomination, actually), and one for Julius G. Epstein (he wrote Casablanca, you know) for adapted screenplay (from a short novel by Peter De Vries, Witch’s Milk – De Vries had several movies made from his novels, including The Tunnel of Love). I’d only seen the main titles and the first two minutes of the film because the Universal Vault DVD began in scope and then went full frame after the titles, so I shut it off immediately. So, it was fun to finally see it and I must say I found it very enjoyable, and Miss Burnett is just lovely in it and should have been up for best actress that year but probably wasn’t because of her immense TV popularity, because that’s how it went back in those days. It’s beautifully photographed by John Alonzo (Chinatown) and the sparse score works wonderfully. The dialogue is of its time but there are some terrific exchanges in it. Walter Matthau is great, as always. It doesn’t overstay it’s welcome and it veers between comedy and pathos with surprising smoothness. There’s something comforting watching Universal movies of that era – they’re all of a piece, looks and sound-wise – and one does miss that kind of glossy look. After that, I actually watched another movie that I’ve never watched on home video for the same reason as Pete ‘N’ Tillie – Toys in the Attic. The DVD issue is full frame for a scope film – just awful. Happily, it was obviously shown somewhere in scope because it’s on the Tube of You – not the clearest-looking video you’ll see but great to see it in scope again. I haven’t seen it since I attended a sneak preview at the Picwood Theater (Preview Harvey was there that night) and I remember really liking it and was really shocked by a throat-slitting scene at the end – so shocked, apparently, that all these years I thought it happened to a different character. Go know. It’s from the play by Lillian Hellman and the cast is great – Dean Martin (at his best), Geraldine Page, Wendy Hiller, Yvette Mimieux, Frank Silvera, Gene Tierney (still gorgeous), and Larry Gates. Screenwriter dramatizes a few scenes that are only spoken about in the play, and it runs a brief ninety minutes, so I’m sure there were things cut from the play. It’s very well directed by George Roy Hill, who’d go on to do The World of Henry Orient and then hit the big time with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Geraldine Page is very good, but Wendy Hiller almost walks away with the film – she’s magical. I would love to have seen the play on Broadway – it’s three acts but must have been pretty short – only 109 pages. The Page role was played by Maureen Stapleton and Anne Revere played the Hiller role. And Jason Robards, Jr. played the Dean Martin role. The play was directed by Arthur Penn, who’d just had a tremendous success with The Miracle Worker. Best of all, the film has a score by George Duning, perhaps one of THE most underrated film composers of all time. I’m listening to it now. That was pretty much the evening.
Yesterday was certainly a day. I probably got six hours of sleep, answered e-mails, had one of several modern major miracles needed and hoping for another, I had Pad Thai for food and that was very good, I just wasn’t in the mood to do any writing, so I just relaxed and then the rest you know and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by eight and out the door by eight-thirty, then I’ll have some breakfast, then I’ll mosey on over to the theater to restage a duet that isn’t working quite the way I want it to. It shouldn’t really take more than thirty minutes and then I’ll come home and try to do some writing, at least a few pages, then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will be a ME day, and then next week is writing, hopefully getting a shipping notice that the books are on their way, and then it’s Thanksgiving, after which our show begins this week’s three performances. We’ll be having a brush-up in the afternoon, prior to the performance.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight and out the door by eight-thirty, I must breakfast, restage a number, come home, write, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films starring Dean Martin, and which are your favorite Geraldine Page performances? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have seen Pete ‘N’ Tillie and Toys in the Attic in their original scope ratio and very happy to have had a modern major miracle.