The Best Christmas Movie You Haven't Seen

Good News: One of my favorite Christmas movies—a little gem called Holiday Affair—is finally out on DVD! It's not one of the most popular Christmas movies, but I think it should be. I happened to catch it one day a few years ago on TCM, and having never heard of it, I was surprised at how fabulous it turned out be. I definitely recommend making it a regular party of your Christmas movie line-up.

Janet Leigh stars as a young widowed mother who's working as a comparison shopper during the Christmas season. After a salesman, played by Robert Mitchum, finds her out and doesn't turn her in to the authorities, he gets fired and she feels guilty so she tries to be nice. Then he buys her kid a train set and things get quickly out of hand. Robert Mitchum develops a bit of a crush and finds ways to see Janet Leigh and her kid. To complicate matters, Janet Leigh is engaged to this very dorky but dependable fellow, Karl. (Or Karrrllll if you're her mother-in-law.) To be honest, Karl might be the best part of the movie. He's a total nerd, but kind of great.

The strange thing about this movie is it brings together two people who I primarily know from horror films. The only other Janet Leigh movie I've ever seen is Psycho, (and Bye Bye Birdie, but that's in color so it doesn't count.) so it was a little weird to see her in a light romantic holiday movie where she doesn't get murdered.

Then there's Robert Mitchum. Cape Fear, anyone? He does creep me out just a little in this film, partly because he's borderline stalking poor Janet Leigh and her son. He's just one creepy man.

But the horror film images associated with these two don't hinder Holiday Affair. In fact, they may make it even more amazing.

Jimmy, Stop Being Crazy!

I watched Vertigo on Monday. I've seen it many times and every time I wonder why I continue to watch it. But every time I have a chance to see it, I want to. I think I keep watching it because the story is so dang complicated that I forget exactly what happens and I feel I need to see it again in order to remember what the heck it's about. After seeing it many times, I think I finally have it down.

It starts Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. In it Jimmy is, in a word, crazy. He starts going crazy at the beginning and gets progressively crazier, partly on account of Kim Novak and partly on account of him being him.

I'm not going to divulge many details of the story. It's complicated and has a number of twists. But the gist is Jimmy Stewart follows Kim Novak around. There are some good Hitchcock-style disturbing moments, and an incredibly strange dream sequence that makes the movie truly worth watching. Also, Jimmy has a friend, Midge, who's in love with him and is rather desperate. But with a name like Midge, you can't blame her for being desperate. (I apologize if you're name is Midge. I'm sure you're not desperate.) She may also contribute to Jimmy's craziness.

The first ... two hours of the movie are pretty slow. They involve a lot of long driving shots. Driving through San Fransisco. Driving by the ocean. Driving through the country. You name it, they drive there. There are also many long shots of Jimmy observing Kim Novak in a slightly creepy way. Observing Kim at the museum. Observing Kim in the cemetery. Observing Kim in the garden. Lots of observing. Finally, towards the end, things pick up, questions are answered, and everyone's happy. Or disturbed.

Incidentally, if you've seen this movie, I highly recommend watching it with someone who hasn't seen it and trying to convince them that various people in the movie are going to kill Jimmy Stewart. It works surprisingly well depending on who your victim is. I really had my roommate going on Monday.

Wizard of Oz Halloween

After the whole McDonald's/Wicked Witch of the East debacle, and inspired by a pair of black and white striped tights at Goodwill, I decided to be the Wicked Witch of the East for Halloween this year. But I knew I had to do it right: with a house on top of me.

My wonderful boyfriend (who may or may not think I'm totally nuts) offered to make me a house to wear. After carefully considering my request that it not be a box, and that it allow me to move around freely (I'm not high maintenance) this is the amazing costume we ended up with:


Yeah, that's me, dead. My shoes are in fact red, even though they don't look it.

We also made my boyfriend an awesome Wizard costume, consisting mostly of green duct tape:

The Best Vincent Price Movies

Ok, ok these probably aren't the best Vincent Price movies. After looking through the Vincent Price filmography on imdb.com, I've come to realize that there are approximately 100 movies of his I haven't seen. Somehow I've missed out on some amazing sounding movies, such as "Confessions of an Opium Eater," "More Dead Than Alive," and "Bloodbath at the House of Death."

So this list isn't exactly comprehensive. But they are my favorites, so that's something.

Before I reveal my amazing list, I have to confess: I love Vincent Price! Especially around this time of year. Yes, he's over the top and yes, his movies are generally kind of lame, but have you heard him talk? Amazing.

Anyway, on to the list ...

Dragonwyck
A nice country girl moves into a big creepy mansion with some creepy relatives and basically everything you would expect to happen in a big creepy mansion with creepy relatives happens.

The Tomb of Ligeia
I'm pretty sure this is the first Vincent Price movie I ever saw. It's one of many he made based on Edgar Allen Poe stories. They all have the same weird 60's feel, and star fairly ugly people. Except Vincent, of course. Anyway, in this one, he's obsessed with his dead wife and believes she may be haunting his new hot wife. Craziness ensues.

The Fall of the House of Usher
Another Edgar Allen Poe inspired film, featuring Vincent with some very white hair. According to imdb.com, one of it's taglines is "Edgar Allan Poe's overwhelming tale of EVIL & TORMENT." Not sure how you can pass that up.

Edward Scissorhands
Ok, I realize that Vincent doesn't technically star in it, but it's still a great movie! And he plays the old, sad, slightly creepy man living in an attic quite well.

The Pit and the Pendulum
Another Poe one. If you're into medieval torture methods and burying people alive, this one's for you.

House on Haunted Hill
A good ole' black and white horror film. There are actually some pretty scary moments, I think, mixed in with some cheezy special effects. It's pretty much the whole package.

House of Wax
He's sure in a lot of movies with the word "House" in the title. Anyway, this movie is a good time. Vincent is pretty creepy in it and there are some genuinely scary parts. Also huge vats of wax, if you're into that sort of thing.

Honorable Mention: (This didn't make the list because it's not actually a movie and Vincent Price is not actually in it) Sunday, Cruddy Sunday, an excellent Simpsons episode where Marge and Lisa use the "Vincent Price's Egg Magic" craft kit, and he answers their customer service questions when they have problems with it. He also pops up at the end driving a bus.

Meanwhile, if you're in the mood for some Vincent Price this Halloween, TCM will be showing a number of his films on the 30th and 31st, starting with The Tingler.

Yes, I Killed Paul Newman

I foolishly decided to show The Sting for Old Movie Night this weekend. Big mistake! Knowing my history of killing people by movie watching, I actually had the thought a couple weeks ago that this may kill Paul, but I was hoping this time would be different since I was making plans in advance to watch it. The last three times it happened, I had watched the movie on a whim and the death came the next day. But this was scheduled! It was different! But really I only killed him sooner.

So I'm sorry, world, for taking the wonderful Paul Newman. Meanwhile, I loved The Sting! It went over well at Old Movie Night and I served a number of Newman's Own products. It was a lovely tribute evening.

I really need to watch The Sting again because 1. I know there are a lot of things I missed ... it's pretty complicated, and 2. It's awesome. Paul Newman is so smooth and cool and funny and rather dreamy. Where has he been all my life?? A friend of mine also gave me Butch Cassidy to watch and I'm looking forward to that. I sure hope Robert Redford is in good health.

The Women

TCM showed The Women the other night, I'm guessing because the remake just came out which looks to be basically terrible. However, I found the original 1939 version to be fabulous!

I was thinking about renting it last week after all the talk about the remake, but lucky me, TCM was one step ahead of me. I do love them.

Anyway, the film follows a group of incredibly spoiled housewives who are friends only in that they see each other regularly. I'm not sure you can call many of their interactions friendly, per se; they're generally pretty cruel to each other. Nevertheless, they continue to have lunch parties and observe all the usual proprieties while mostly complaining to each other about their husbands. These are the ties that bind.

The opening credits involve each woman being compared to an animal. It's a little odd to say the least. I couldn't figure out the exact meaning of some of them, but I just know I wouldn't want to be the one compared to a cow.

As the film progresses we begin to learn more about each character, though it mostly revolves around Mary, played by Norma Shearer, a housewife living in her own little fairy tale world, totally oblivious to the fact that her husband is cheating on her with a perfume saleswoman, (Joan Crawford). Mary was generally much too happy and she often pranced around instead of walking like a normal person. Perhaps her husband was super annoyed by this as well. However, when she's finally crushed after hearing the news about her cheating husband, she stops prancing, thank heavens.


The best character in the film is the gossip-happy, basically insane Sylvia played by Rosalind Russell. She's just amazing and hilarious and has a very special taste in clothes. Along with her sidekick, Edith Potter (the cow in the opening credits), she easily spreads the news about Mary's husband and craziness ensues. This part was perfect for Rosiland Russell as she can talk about a mile a minute and her juicy gossip seems to fly out of her mouth before she can stop it.

The rest of the characters range from the cynical old maid to the perky young newlywed. They pretty much cover all the bases.

In some ways it reminded me of a very old fashioned Sex in the City or the like. Talking about men, some drama, some fights, and so on. It's nowhere near real life, but many of the issues they deal with can touch close to home. I think it's safe to say just about every woman can relate to at least one of the characters, unrealistic as they may be.

So I highly recommend it. It's funny in parts and serious in parts, but overall pretty entertaining. But see the remake at your own risk!

Wizard of Oz at McDonald's

Good news, McDonald's is bringing back their Wizard of Oz Madame Alexander Dolls starting September 12th! The line up looks much better than last year's. I was so displeased with their decision to include the Wicked Witch of the East last year that I wrote a very strange letter of complaint. It was all a joke really, but apparently I was right ... at least about the flying monkey thing!