Classic Potty Mouths

If you like watching classic film stars swear, I've found the show for you.

I was perusing the Roku channel to see what gems I could find and it did not disappoint. I happened across Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored and thought, how "uncensored" could these old-timers be? The answer is, they liked to swear.

But seriously, this was super fun to watch. It's not too often we get to see Gary Cooper, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and plenty of others breaking character and just being themselves.

It's definitely worth a watch and is free on the Roku Channel or the IMDb TV app.

I'm Baaaaaack

Ok, well the last time I posted anything here was in 2014. Honestly, I kind of forgot about this until Google told me I had some unclaimed ad money from this blog. Fabulous!

My posts before this were sporadic, but I'm determined to keep up with it this time. My love for old things hasn't changed!

So, what's been taking up my time the last 8 years? Mostly taking care of children. There are three of them. My oldest, Eliza, is 10. Did I name her after My Fair Lady. YES. Also, when we were dating my husband randomly told me he'd always liked the name Eliza and that's how I knew we were going to get married.

My son, Harrison, is 8. Is he named after Rex Harrison? YES. Is he named after Harrison Ford. YES. George Harrison? YES. Also, it's a family name. It's just the name that keeps on giving!

My second daughter, Amelia, is 5. She's not named after anything, we just thought it was cute.

What else has changed? I no longer have TCM and we stream everything. My old movie supply generally comes from the library. I mostly watch my kids watch Disney movies. Some of them are good. I have not done a great job of showing them classic films, but they do have an enduring love for Bye Bye Birdie and Elvis videos on Youtube. We've watched a handful of Judy Garland movies, most of which they are not super impressed with, but I will win them over yet!

Now that all the children are in school all day, I'm hoping I have time to write more. Perhaps this blog will start chronicling our adventures watching old movies as a family, or reacquainting myself with them on my own. Either way, I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

The Best Non-Christmas Christmas Movies

(Look, I won't go on with a new post without acknowledging the fact that it's been two years since I last posted. I doubt anybody's even looking at this blog anymore. I had two kids and things got busy. But I still love this blog so I'm going to try to post again. For real!)

My husband and I have a pretty intense ongoing debate about what defines a Christmas movie. Let's just say that my definition is a little more liberal than his. With that in mind, here is my list of the best Christmas movies that may or may not actually be Christmas movies. You should still watch them every Christmas. And any other time during the year. Because maybe they're not Christmas movies. But maybe they are.

1. Meet Me In St. Louis. Listen people, this movie has an extremely famous Christmas song in it. You can't get a classic Christmas song from a non Christmas movie. That just doesn't make sense.

2. In the Good Old Summertime. Alright, I admit that with the word 'Summertime" in the title, this one could be confused for a regular movie, but just like in Meet Me in St. Louis, the climax of the movie happens at Christmas. There's snow and bells and merriment. There's also a less-famous, way lamer Christmas song sung by Judy. But it's a Christmas song nonetheless.

3. An Affair to Remember. Remember when (spoiler alert!) Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr totally get together at the end of the movie? Yeah, that's during Christmas. In fact, I'm watching it right now because ... it's a Christmas movie!

4. The Sound of Music. Hey wait, this one is not a Christmas movie at all. Except somehow everyone decided that it was. I don't agree, but I don't mind this misconception because it means that it's on TV every Christmas. Nobody can complain about that!

Honorable mention because it's not an old movie: You've Got Mail. There's a Christmas song in it. I think by now we know that according to my rules, that makes it a Christmas movie.

So there you go. I know I'm missing some. What did I forgot? And make sure you watch these movies before Christmas!

Move Over, Darling ... In Real Life

I love watching my old movies with my husband. He never complains and he often offers a new perspective on movies I've seen dozens of times. Sometimes he has deep insights that I've never thought about before. Other times (maybe most of the time) his observations are along the lines of, "This story line is getting really ridiculous."

Such was the case the other night when we watched Move Over, Darling, the Doris Day/James Garner classic. The husband may be right. The story line gets somewhat out of control towards the middle and it's not helped by Doris Day and her sometimes ... enthusiastic ... acting. But it's called entertainment, man. Someday I will show him My Favorite Wife. Somehow that one feels a little less ridiculous even with the same story. Also, Cary Grant. Can't go wrong.

Anyway, halfway through the movie my husband started wondering if there have been cases like this in real life, which prompted a quick Google search. We found that there is a legal precedent for this very situation called the Enoch Arden law, based off a poem with a similar, though much more tragic story. In addition, the movies are based off this poem as well and use the name Arden. It's all coming together!

Just when I was getting discouraged at the fact that I wasn't finding any actual stories with this theme, I ran across this amazing article from the Toronto Daily Star on November 19, 1945 profiling 11 cases of the Enoch Arden law and their outcomes after lots of men were presumed dead during World War 2. Read it, it's fantastic.

So I got much more than I bargained for after watching a silly Doris Day movie. I guess I need to keep showing my husband some classics. And pretty soon he won't even notice when a story line is getting really ridiculous.

I've Missed You

Well, it's a travesty that I haven't posted on this blog in about a year and a half! I'm ashamed. But I had a baby in September 2011 and things have just been ... busy.

Even more disturbing is that my viewing of old movies has decreased dramatically. And after two years of watching crappy new movies and every single episode of LOST on Netflix, it's time that I come back to the good stuff. None of those things are as satisfying as a good old, sex, violence, and language-less movie. I miss old movies. I miss this blog. So I'm going to try to start writing regularly again.

It'll be fun!

What Happens in Brigadoon Stays in Brigadoon ... Literally

Last night I watched Brigadoon for the first time, which is kind of surprising because it's been recommended, or at least mentioned to me, plenty of times over the years. I just never sat down to watch it. So thanks to Netflix, the time finally came.

Let me just say, it was not what I expected. I knew it was a musical and I knew it was set in Scotland, but that's about all I had to go on. Little did I know the insanity that would ensue!

I don't want to give away to much because Brigadoon, unlike most musicals, actually has some plot twists. Amazingly, I couldn't guess everything that was going to happen within the first ten minutes.

The film revolves around Gene Kelly and Van Johnson getting a little lost in the Scottish hillside. While wondering around, contemplating the meaning of life, they notice a little town down the road that, strangely, isn't on their map. At this point, I thought the movie could easily turn into a horror movie, and I still maintain that it would be a valid premise for a future remake.

Anyway, they head down to this little town hoping to be able to rest and find some food. They quickly notice that the locals are a little weird (still almost a potential horror movie), until Gene Kelly meets (and instantly falls in love with) Cyd Charisse. He proceeds to follow her around and sing and dance with her while Van Johnson stays in town and gets drunk.

From here, the movie turns into a strange mixture of every 50's musical, Kate & Leopold, and The Village.

The movie is very original, I'll give it that. Unfortunately, I can't say much else for it. I realize some people really love this movie, but it just didn't win me over. The songs were mostly forgettable and the dancing was just ok. Being a Lerner and Lowe musical I was expecting a little more.

However, the story was interesting, if not a little strange, and it mostly kept me guessing so it was certainly worth a viewing!

Most importantly, it made me desperately want to watch every other musical I own after a sad hiatus in musical-watching due to general busyness and not wanting to force my husband to watch them all with me. But now I've decided he can handle it.

It's All in the Family

No, this isn't a post about Sabrina. But it is a post about movie-loving genetics.

My grandmother likes to talk about her mother who, in her older years, would visit her local movie theater just about every day to see the latest films. This sounds like great fun, and it's often made me wonder if all my movie-loving runs in the family.

My grandmother also loves movies and is responsible for my My Fair Lady and Judy Garland obsessions. Little did she know what would come of our afternoons watching old movies together.

Genetics or not, this movie-loving provides a special bond with both these ladies--a bond strengthened further by the fact that my husband and I sometimes visit the very theater my great grandmother did more than 50 years ago. It's been completely renovated, but original elements still exist and it's exciting to share that same space with her.

Now I'm having a daughter of my own in just a few months and I hope she gets this movie-loving gene too. Naturally, we've been listening to plenty of Judy Garland to prepare her for the exciting world of musicals. And her nursery will be Mary Poppins themed. So I'm not sure she has a choice on this one.

Does a love of movies run in your family?