I had a very pleasant weekend.
I slept in Saturday until approximately 10:25 a.m. That was WONderful. Since I had gone to bed at roughly 10:30 p.m. Friday, that was nearly 12 hours.
I can't much account for the rest of the day, but there were a couple of phone calls, including an advance Mother's Day call from my mom thanking me for her card, her gift and her corsage (white roses) and letting me know she would be at my cousin Debra's house Sunday afternoon for Mother's Day lunch.
I know I napped later, and then settled in with some TV, catching up on my DVR cache from Thursday night.
Yesterday was a whole different ball of wax (and how many here have ever seen a "ball of wax", different or otherwise???) I was up at the crack of something or other a.m. -- surely before 8. I cleaned myself up and went shopping, getting a cup of Peet's coffee and then standing in line awaiting the opening of Trader Joe's where I splurged on many wondrous things of the consumable variety.
Once home, I put a load of clothes into the washing machine and then settled in to watch the first of three -- Count 'Em THREE -- motion pictures on DVD. Motion pictures, I might add, that have been languishing in a pile of other unwatched motion pictures on DVD.
First up was "Deep in My Heart", the MGM musical bio of Sigmund Romberg. Jose Ferrer** gives a splendid performance and there are many wonderful numbers in the film, none more scintillating or sensuous than the Cyd Charisse-James Mitchell dance to "Serenade" from "The Desert Song." I don't know if Charisse was ever more amply displayed, or performed choregraphy as complex, as in this number. Helen Traubel is sheer delight as Romberg friend Anna Mueller. Her numbers are wonderful. Unlike most musicals of that era, this one had quite a bit of melancholy attached to it, including the death of Dorothy Donnelly, one of Romberg's book writers. Merle Oberon as Dorothy was magnificently beautiful at every turn, even on her death chaise. Traubel sang a gorgeous "Auf Wiedersehn" for her that can only be said to prime the tear ducts for the finale when Romberg, at a concert in Carnegie Hall, sings a "new" song dedicated "to/for/of" his wife: "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" is the song and it prompts bawling of an unseemly nature. (This song as sung by the MGM chorus and the chorus's performance of "Time For Parting" at the end of "It's Always Fair Weather" are among the most exquisite, melancholy finales of any musical film).
MGM wunderkind Roger Edens took sole producer credit on this film, one of the rare non-Arthur Freed "producer " credits for a product of the Freed Unit. Edens invested much hope into this film, and under Stanly Donen's able, but not wholly inspired, direction, it works pretty well. But, and this is a reserved "but", it lacks a necessary "pizazz" to make it wholly remarkable. It's beautiful and has a fantastic score.
While CinemaScope was a "new" process when this film was being made, MGM opted to film "Deep in My Heart in a 1.75:1 spherical 35 mm format (according to IMDb), but it suffers, IMO, from some of the same problems several MGM musicals done in CinemaScope suffered in those early years of widescreen mania: The film's sound stage settings are very painfully apparent.** Color schemes are also a bit odd, IMO, with various hues of reddish brown and a muddy ochre being used liberally throughout the art direction (mostly in the form of wall paint and furniture finishes) and making some of the scenes appear flat, rather than popping off the screen. It is, otherwise, a beautifil film, well-paced and one of my favorites, but one which I always seem to approach with reservation.
With the ducts cleared, as it were, I turned my attention to "The Broadway Melody of 1936", a film I had not seen and one I thoroughly enjoyed. What a treat to see a young Robert Taylor in a role John Payne or Tyrone Power would have done at Fox! Payne could sing, the other two not, but no matter. Eleanor Powell dazzles with her trademark smiles and various dancing poses in closeup. Ditto her wonderful tapping/toe point/backbends in performance, and don't foget those rapid turns she tossed off with abandon. Jack Benny was fun as a radio/newspaper gossip columnist, as was a recurring routine of a pissed-off Robert Taylor storming through a news room and sending papers flying as he raced by many desks, culminating in his socking Benny in the nose. Una Merkel was lots of fun, too, and so were Buddy and Vilma Ebsen. As my first exposure to Ebsen was the same as many folks' here (Jed Clampett in "The Beverly Hillbilles"), it's a wonderful thing to see this tall, rubber-bodied actor/dancer do his late-1930s schtick for the camera. In "...Melody of 1938", he interacts beautifully with Judy Garland, and I can certainly understand why MGM would cast him as the Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz", although his dancing style better suited the Scarecrow (the role he was originally cast for before switching with Ray Bolger). What a shame for him that he became deathly ill from inhaling the aluminum dust of the early makeup* (I believe that was while Mamoulian was the director). Fortunately, we got a splendid (ageless) Tin Man from Jack Haley.
In "The Broadway Melody of 1938", we again get Taylor and Powell and Ebsen, but in different roles and joined by George Murphy, Binnie Barnes, Sophie Tucker and Judy Garland. There's a little bit of everything tossed into this pot and the movie probably suffers a bit from too much excess. But we get the amazing "Dear Mr. Gable (You Made Me Love You)" number that Roger Edens arranged for Judy Garland. Tucker does "One of These Days". Binnie Barnes plays a regal ex-chorus girl bitch.
In both "...Melody of..." films, we get treated to a gent named Robert Wildhack. In the 1936 Melody, he portrays Hornblow, a man who has done a scientific study of snores. In the 1938 Melody, his character is called The Sneezer, and he is a man who has done a scientific study of sneezes. Whether this is your cup of tea or not, his observations of sneezes and snores is quite dead-on and amusing.
By the end of "...Melody of 1938", I was totally "melodied" out, but that was fine as it was time to start watching the finale of "Survivor."
*Corrected, as per der Brucer's post that follows.
** Corrected, as per comments from DR MattH.
