1. I started my "studies" at Vizio University thinking I would watch movies from the 30s, 40s, 50s and try to at least get a feel for, if not an understanding of, the changes that occurred in movie making in about 1968-1975.
I've been at it for over two months now and haven't quite quit watching these older movies.
I find these movies absorbing, fascinating, and often complex and complicated.
Absorbing. Fascinating. Complex. Complicated. Unsettling. Disturbing. Gorgeous to look at.
These are some of the words that sprang to mind as I watched John M. Stahl's 1945 melodramatic Technicolor film noir psychological thriller, Leave Her to Heaven.
I realized as the movie developed that in one way it was going to be one of my favorite types of movie.
I'm fascinated and disturbed by movies that portray what appears, on the surface, to be a perfect world, a world of perfectly furnished homes in seemingly perfect settings (small town, suburban, or away from town) populated by successful characters who, at first glance, appear to be living the American Dream of security, leisure, and affluence.
But, in these movies, underneath this veneer of comfort and order, beneath the In Style magazine appearance of things, there's darkness.
Such is the case in Leave Her to Heaven, a story about rich socialites and one family member in particular gripped by possessiveness and jealousy.
I've watched Gene Tierney in two movies recently, Laura and Leave Her to Heaven.
She's brilliant, alive to every moment of her characters' stories, able in a flash to portray her characters' movement from one emotion to another, from pretend feeling to real feeling, from lightness to heaviness.
She plays the central character, Ellen, in Leave Her to Heaven and, knowing she didn't win an Academy Award for her performance, I wondered who did.
Oh, my God!
Of course! It was Joan Crawford did for her equally brilliant portrayal of the title character in Mildred Pierce.
Now I want to watch more movies from 1945.
What a year! The Lost Weekend. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Spellbound. National Velvet. The Picture of Dorian Gray.
One of these days, I might have a lost weekend myself, not at hangover plaza, like in the movie, but watching movies made in 1945!
2. Sue D. and her nurse friend Ruthie, Diane and her sister, Cindy, and Ed and Nancy were all going to the Elks tonight for burgers and Debbie and I joined them.
It was a blast. Not only were the burgers tasty, but we had great fun at our table yakkin' it up, telling stories, and having some good laughs.
3. Afterward, Debbie and I headed across the street to The Lounge and sat at a table with Ed and Nancy.
The good times continued.
What a difference a week of retirement makes!
Nancy looked rested and refreshed. Tonight was her first Friday night out for burgers and a drink at The Lounge in a long time. Friends approached her, told how good it was to see her out and having fun, and they were all absolutely right on.
After a drink, Ed and Nancy headed home. A little while before they left, Sue, Ruthie, Diane, and Cindy had come in and were sitting at another table and Debbie and I joined them.
It was awesome.
Over the course of the evening, at both the Elks and The Lounge, not only did Nancy have friends tell her how wonderful it was to see her out on Friday, several people we were with, upon hearing what Debbie is making possible for her students at Pinehurst, declared, "I wish I could have you as a teacher!"
No kidding!
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