May 20
Vittorio de Sica’s Marriage Italian Style has a lot going for it. For starters, Sophia Loren. Not only is the Italian actress dazzling on a completely superficial level, she manages a range of performance here that’s well worth checking out. Marcello Mastroianni is her opponent and her love interest. The two collaborate beautifully and have done so several times in de Sica’s films.
I’m kind of convinced that the 60s weren’t good for movies. More often than not, I can trace a bad, bad “old” film to the decade of free love. The 50s weren’t much better, but that’s off the thread a little. The 60s had this whole obnoxious, abrasive thing going, at least with many comedies. Sure, the 60s brought out Dr. Strangelove, Psycho, Lawrence of Arabia, and a bunch of others, but most of the American comedies from the decade left a lot to be desired.
Mary Poppins is one of those Disney films that just knocks it out of the park. Filled with unabashed joy and sing-songy goodness, this 1964 classic is the perfect movie to watch on a rainy day when you need a pick-me-up. It is jubilant without being hokey, walking the line between cheesy and fun with care. It packs great performances in with memorable songs and some groundbreaking effects to complete a package that Disney would never be able to duplicate.
Mary Poppins is based on the book series of the same name by P.L. Travers. Disney got the Sherman Brothers, who have written more film musical song scores than any other songwriting team in history, to come up with the music and songs for the mixture of animation and live action that would form the picture. It was a risky proposition, a project Walt Disney had wanted to take on for over 20 years.
Nov 20
Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is one of the greatest satires of all time. This black comedy was based on Peter George’s Cold War novel “Red Alert” and was turned into a screenplay by Terry Southern, who also wrote the screenplays for Easy Rider, Casino Royale (which also starred Peter Sellers), The Cincinnati Kid, and Barbarella. Southern was dispatched to work on Dr. Strangelove in part because of Sellers, who had recommended him to Kubrick for the job. Kubrick’s original idea for the film, which was a straight-ahead thriller, was eventually reworked by Southern into a satire.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb came as the result of Kubrick becoming more and more fascinated and frightened at the prospect of nuclear war and an Armageddon style scenario. With the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis and other nuclear-related issues during the Cold War serving as a framework, Kubrick researched for quite some time while settling on the film. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a heavy satire of the doctrine of mutual destruction, meaning “if you’re going to destroy me, I’ll also destroy you.” This doctrine is played out in the existence of the so-called “Doomsday Device” as presented by Dr. Strangelove.
