Forgotten Retro Film Gem - The Rocketeer

A couple weeks back I re-aquainted myself with the 1991 Joe Johnston directed film The Rocketeer.  I think that it is a film that deserves its due; not only as a fun family friendly action adventure movie, but also as a great demonstration of the magic of art direction.

The Rocketeer takes place in 1938 Hollywood, where the glamour of Hollywood clubs, studios, and estates is juxtaposed against gritty depression era airfields.  The titular hero, test pilot Cliff (played by the sadly forgotten Bill Campbell) discovers an experimental jet pack one day after a police chase destroys the plane that he and his partner Peevy have put their entire savings into.  After briefly testing the pack a near disaster forces Cliff to don the pack.  His escapades lead the media to dub him the Rocketeer and alert mobsters to the existence of this deadly weapon.  Throw in Cliffs plucky damsel in distress girlfriend Jenny, played by Jennifer Connelly, and a dapper Hollywood heartthrob with sinister motives and you've got a fun little adventure film.

The movie is a treat, but it's the art direction that is unbelievable.  From the fantastic period costumes, especially those featured in the South Seas Club sequence,  to the antique planes, to the phenomenal set design.  I especially have to mention the South Seas Club once again, from the women in the water tanks dressed as mermaids, to the giant clam shell that opens to reveal a sexy torch singer, to the sea shell shaped podiums that the band sit behind it ranks very high on my list of favourite film sets.  Just to whet your appetite, here's a scene featuring the club...

Classic Romantic Comedies Vol. 2: Swing Time

Today’s entry finds us looking at a film made just a year later than It Happened One Night, the subject of our first entry.  As I mentioned previously, musicals were very popular during the depression, and no team was more famous and celebrated for their dancing than Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers who made ten films together.  Of those films we are going to discuss my personal favorite, 1936's Swing Time, directed by George Stevens. 

Swing Time finds Astaire playing a professional hoofer, and ridiculously lucky gambler (appropriately named Lucky), who through a pants related incident arrives for his wedding to a high society bride unforgivably late.  In a plea for another chance he convinces his father-in-law to be that he can raise a fortune of $25,000, making Lucky worthy of a second chance with the old man's daughter (a pretty bizarre plot contrivance, but what can you do?).  With his faithful sidekick Pop in tow, he hops a train to New York to make his fortune.  Within minutes of arriving in the big city they run into Penny Carrol, played by the effervescent Ginger Rogers and immediately antagonizes her.  They follow her to the dance school she works at and promptly get Penny and her Aunt Mabel, the receptionist at the dance school, fired.  What follows is one of the most charming dance sequences you could find as Lucky shows Penny's (get it Lucky Penny?) boss everything she has "taught" him.  Dance school owner immediately hires her back and has the couple audition at the Silver Sandal nightclub. 

Penny's dislike for Lucky soon melts away into love, but the pesky specter of the fiancé he left back at home and a bandleader with eyes for Penny stand against the couple’s unification.  As you would expect everything turns out all right in the end.  The story wouldn't particularly win any awards, but the gorgeous music, winning cast, and fabulous dance sequences make this movie a charming watch.  While the comedy could be considered corny, I find it well meaning and incredibly enduring in its simplicity.  

There is one thing that I should warn anyone watching this film for the first time.  Fred Astaire does a musical number known as Bojangles of Harlem, where he unfortunately dresses as the legendary Bill "Bojangles" Robinson complete with black face. Though it is clear that the number is meant as a tribute to the great tap dancer, for those who offend easily it might be best to skip the scene.  To me it is an unfortunate time capsule of certain attitudes of the era, but you have to appreciate Astaire’s skill as a dancer and the amazing art design surrounding the number.

It is interesting to note that while the dance sequences appear seamless, Astaire and Rogers spent over 350 hours rehearsing for them.  The final Never Gonna Dance sequence took 47 takes to achieve one take that met with Astaire’s unbelievably high standards.  By the end of the grueling day, Ginger Roger’s feet bled.  If you’ve ever been curious about the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, this is a great introduction into their filmography.  It’s an easy watch that could charm the pants off the most cynical beast.  

Retro Commercial #1: Bobbi Hair Product

Here's a fun specimen of a 1950s commercial.  If you knew how to make a pin curl you could use "Bobbi" to make your own version of a homemade perm.  I can't imagine what this stuff would have really done to your hair, but if the actress' hair is any indication, not that much.  All the effort of putting pin-curls in one's hair just to get one flip on either side of the head hardly seems worth it.    You have to love the corny lounge singer at the end singing about home hair permanents, though.  Classic stuff!

New Today! Our Forties Fashion Extravaganza on the Main Site

We've just put up a new page in our vintage fashion history section on our main site.  Be the first to learn all about how World War II affected women's fashion: http://www.photobombshell.com/forties.html

Mickey Rooney is in Edmonton...or at least in the Edmonton Area - Today Only!

There's a strange bit of synchronicity happening here on the blog this week.  Two days after I post about Ava Gardner, I find out that her first husband, Mickey Rooney, is making an appearance this afternoon at Sherwood Park's Festival Place.  If you've ever wanted to see Andy Hardy in the flesh be there at 2:00pm to see his One Man One Wife show.  If I wasn't working today I'd be there with bells on.

For more info on the man and the show visit his website : www.mickeyrooney.com.

A Bombshell for the Ages: Ava Gardner

Few women made the kind of impression that Ava Gardner did on the world.  Born on Christmas Eve on 1922, Ava Lavinia Gardner rose to fame in 1946 with a career-making role as femme fatale Kitty Collins in Robert Siodmak’s noir classic The Killers.  From that moment on the skies were the limit for Ava, and with her extraordinary good looks and often overlooked talent she became one of the great Hollywood stars of the late forties and fifties.

Ava was discovered in 1941 when a picture of her displayed in the window of her brother-in-law’s photography studio led to her being signed to a seven-year contract with MGM.  Once in Hollywood the studio went to work grooming Ms. Gardner to be a star.  During this time she also caught the attention of Mickey Rooney, whom she married soon after her arrival.  A year later they divorced, and she became involved for a brief time with Howard Hughes and later married bandleader Artie Shaw.  While on contract to MGM in the early stages of her career she was cast in bit parts, and spent a great deal of time posing for cheesecake pin-up photos for the studio.  Although, Ava’s photos never found the popularity of the iconic Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth pictures, her stunning beauty made them something special. 

Once her career took off after The Killers, and her marriage to Artie Shaw ended, Ava had many affairs with some of her famous leading men.  However it was her legendary affair and marriage to Frank Sinatra that immortalized Ava Gardner in the annals of great Hollywood beauties.  Theirs was a relationship of great intensity, made up of passionate love and volatile fighting.  Ultimately their marriage ended in 1957 after their long history of violent blow-ups had taken their final toll.  It is said that Ava was the great love of Sinatra’s life and he carried a torch for her up until his death.  The same has been said for Ava, who never remarried.

After her break-up with Sinatra, Ava left Hollywood for Spain where she befriended Ernest Hemmingway, became an avid fan of bullfighting (and bullfighters), took to drinking and dancing all night with bands of Gypsies, and became known for a wide range of bad behavior.  By the early sixties she was appearing in fewer pictures, and once Spain had lost its appeal she moved to London where she lived until her death in 1990. 

Some of Ava’s most famous films include Showboat, Snows of Kilimanjaro, Night of the Iguana, and Mogambo, for which she earned her only Oscar nomination.  Those who knew her loved her for her warmth, quick wit and salty language.   She was truly a bombshell for the ages. 

The Alberta Film Society is currently holding an eight film retrospective for famed director John Ford.  His 1952 film, Mogombo, staring Ava Gardner will be featured on October 18, 2010.  For more information visit their site at http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/events/movies/movies.cfm.

Retro Ad #1: B.V.D Slim Trim Swim Trunks

Hey All!  On the unofficial final day of summer I thought that I would find a retro ad with the summer spirit....

Behold B.V.D Slim Trim Swim Suits, control-top swim trunks for the well dressed beach bum of 1941.  According to this add, not only do these trunks offer "figure-form control," but they also help "support your muscles, giving greater energy, new pep and vim."  You also have to like the three tiers of figure-type design the use the whole military theme - something very topical in 1941.

It's kind of hilarious to think of men, especially the stereotypical, stoic men of the forties being that concerned with their figure, but I guess it goes to show that vanity affects both genders throughout history.  I also find it funny that the copywriters managed to use the word vim, not once, but twice. I think vim will be the next word that I rescue from obscurity.

Classic Romantic Comedies Vol. 1: It Happened One Night

Film critics have been mourning the death of the romantic comedy for almost twenty years.  While I do think that this is a slight exaggeration, I do believe that an inordinate amount of attention and money is invested in the bland, poorly written, sitcom-like Romcoms of the modern era.   There are few things I love more than classic cinema, and in an attempt to highlight some of the great classic romantic comedies of yesteryear, I have decided to write a continuing series about some of the best.  So, without further adieu…

It is unheard of for a modern comedy to win a major Oscar- flashback to 1935, when a comedy swept all of the main categories, including best screenplay, actor, actress, director, and best picture.  This feat was accomplished by today’s inaugural entry, It Happened One Night, directed by Frank Capra and starring Clack Gable and Claudette Colbert. 

Before I give a plot synopsis, I feel that it is only fair to give the uninitiated a frame of reference for depression era comedies.  Because, the world was in the throes of the Great Depression, films became a favored distraction from the bleak realities of depression life.  Comedies and musicals were two genres that really took off, because of they offered pleasant, uncomplicated escapist fantasies that helped people forget their troubles.  Most of the best comedies of the thirties almost always featured eccentric rich people and invited audiences to laugh at how ridiculous their opulent lifestyles were.  More often than not, the protagonist was a down-to-earth every-man who is forced to act off of the crazy rich people.  What these films tried to say was, sure look at how much the rich are, but their wealth causes more trouble than good.  This theme will become quite clear as this series continues.

It Happened One Night, features Claudette Colbert as a rich heiress who jumps off of her father’s yacht one day and goes on the run to meet her fiancé in New York.  The whereabouts of the wayward heiress become national news.  When she jumps a cross-country bus to New York she becomes entangled with an ace-reporter (played by Clack Gable) who agrees to help her get to her fiancé if he gets the exclusive story of her journey.  The rest of the film is devoted to the misadventures of the pair as they make their way to Colbert’s fiancée, with her father in hot pursuit.  As you would expect, romance blossoms between the heiress and the reporter. 

There are a couple of sequences in It Happened One Night, that have become classics, including the oft imitated, Walls of Jericho sequence and the hitchhiking sequence where Colbert puts the arrogant Gable in his place.  Though the comedy is simple and seems somewhat quaint in the modern era, the sophistication of the writing and the chemistry between the stars makes this a treasure.  If you’re tired of the same old idiotic modern Romcom, give it a shot.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised.