ON THIS DAY in 1822, chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur was born in France. His life was dramatized in the 1936 biographical film, THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR, starring Paul Muni.
Movies
ON THIS DAY in 1898, chemists Marie and Pierre Curie announced their discovery of radium. This event was depicted in the 1943 Mervyn LeRoy film, MADAME CURIE, with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.
In case you missed it, we featured 12 holiday movies that could be connected (however loosely) to that perennially catchy/annoying tune, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”:
The 12 Days of Christmas Movies:
- A Partridge in a Pear Tree: CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT
- Two Turtle Doves: HOLIDAY AFFAIR
- Three French Hens: JOYEUX NOEL
- Four Calling Birds: COMFORT AND JOY
- Five Golden Rings: WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
- Six Geese a-Laying: REMEMBER THE NIGHT
- Seven Swans a-Swimming: THE DECALOGUE (part 3)
- Eight Maids a-Milking: LITTLE WOMEN (1933 & 1994)
- Nine Ladies Dancing: WHITE CHRISTMAS
- Ten Lords a-Leaping: THE BISHOP’S WIFE
- Eleven Pipers Piping: IT HAPPENED ON FIFTH AVENUE
- Twelve Drummers Drumming: HOLIDAY INN
Happy Holidays!
ON THIS DAY in 1914, during World War I, German and British troops on the Western Front temporarily ceased fire as part of a Christmas truce. This event was dramatized in the 2005 French film, JOYEUX NOEL.
My friends laugh at me during the holidays when I dig out my DVD of a crackling fire and hit the play button. But then they do eventually admit that the video adds some wonderful ambience to my fireplace-less room — and they all end up looking great in the fire’s glow, eyes shining and skin warmed by that particular kind of light.
I think I’ve decided that the burning yule log is one of my favorite holiday “movies.”
Last week, the Northwest Film Society screened Charles Laughton’s very creepy THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955), billing this troubling and terrifying story featuring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, and Lillian Gish as “an underrated and oddly heart-warming Christmas movie that makes a singular case for persistence of love over wickedness.”
I wondered what other movies — traditional and otherwise — were on people’s holiday viewing lists, so I posed the question to the Home Projectionist “What Are You Watching?” group on Facebook. (To participate in the Home Projectionist Facebook group, go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/homeprojectionist/.)
A number of suggestions surfaced, from scary to heartwarming, movies like BLACK CHRISTMAS; FAMILY STONE; LADY IN THE LAKE; and one of my personal favorites, BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE with Jimmy Stewart falling head over heels under Kim Novak’s bewitching spell on Christmas Eve.
Home Projectionist contributor Lindsay discovered Rod Serling’s dark version of A Christmas Carol, the made-for-tv CAROL FOR ANOTHER CHRISTMAS, starring Sterling Hayden and Peter Sellers, during her quest to watch a variety of different versions of the classic Dickens tale this year. She made it through seven!
Home Projectionist blogger Dave identified a compelling and creative list of options inspired by the 12 Days of Christmas carol — for example, LITTLE WOMEN filed under the “Eight Maids A-Milking” verse — brilliant!
And I am officially adding the holiday yule log video to the list.
Celebrating the Winter’s Solstice (and what was not to be the end of the world) on December 21 with some friends, the crackling fire burned bright on my tv screen for hours and hours, in all of its artificial glory, next to the artificial tree. As one guest said, “But it really works, doesn’t it?”
There’s nothing like the light of a fire to enhance the sense of holiday spirit in a room. You can stream fireplace videos on Netflix, grab them from YouTube, or pick one up today at your local discount store. Once you start looking for them, they’re everywhere. I haven’t been disappointed by any that I’ve seen. (Warning: You may want to play your preferred fireplace video on a screen that’s close to the size of an actual fireplace. I almost called the fire department when I saw a neighbor’s towering inferno projected on their eight-foot screen.)
Enjoy basking in the glow … and have a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!
Gloria Bowman is a writer, storyteller, blogger, movie lover, freelance editor,
and author of the novel, Human Slices.
Access her blog at www.gloriabowman.com; on Twitter @GloriaBow
You know that sometimes annoying song about the “Twelve Days”? We’re using it to highlight 12 Christmas movies that fit the lyrics of the song, more or less…
HOLIDAY INN (1942; Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire; directed by Mark Sandrich)
The 12 Days of Christmas Movies: A Partridge in a Pear Tree | Two Turtle Doves | Three French Hens | Four Calling Birds | Five Golden Rings | Six Geese a-Laying | Seven Swans a-Swimming | Eight Maids a-Milking | Nine Ladies Dancing | Ten Lords a-Leaping | Eleven Pipers Piping | Twelve Drummers Drumming
Dave is a graphic designer (www.dhdd.net) and movie lover, and the caretaker of “The 3 Benny Theater” (also known as his living room). The moniker was inspired by an extinct movie house–The 3 Penny Theater–and by his black Manx cat, Benny. Favorite films: North By Northwest, The Third Man and The Dekalog.
ON THIS DAY in 1971, LANSA Flight 508 exploded in midair over the Peruvian rainforest. Of the 93 aboard, only 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke survived after falling 10,000 feet while still strapped to her seat. In 2000, the incident was the subject of Werner Herzog’s TV documentary, WINGS OF HOPE.
You know that sometimes annoying song about the “Twelve Days”? We’re using it to highlight 12 Christmas movies that fit the lyrics of the song, more or less…
IT HAPPENED ON FIFTH AVENUE (1947; Victor Moore, Don DeFore, Gale Storm, Ann Harding; directed by Roy Del Ruth)
The 12 Days of Christmas Movies: A Partridge in a Pear Tree | Two Turtle Doves | Three French Hens | Four Calling Birds | Five Golden Rings | Six Geese a-Laying | Seven Swans a-Swimming | Eight Maids a-Milking | Nine Ladies Dancing | Ten Lords a-Leaping | Eleven Pipers Piping | Twelve Drummers Drumming
Dave is a graphic designer (www.dhdd.net) and movie lover, and the caretaker of “The 3 Benny Theater” (also known as his living room). The moniker was inspired by an extinct movie house–The 3 Penny Theater–and by his black Manx cat, Benny. Favorite films: North By Northwest, The Third Man and The Dekalog.
ON THIS DAY in 1972, 16 survivors of a chartered flight that crashed on October 13 are rescued in the Andes Mountains after 73 days, having survived by cannibalism. This event was depicted in the 1993 film, ALIVE-THE MIRACLE OF THE ANDES, with Ethan Hawke and John Malkovich.
You know that sometimes annoying song about the “Twelve Days”? We’re using it to highlight 12 Christmas movies that fit the lyrics of the song, more or less…
THE BISHOP’S WIFE (1947; Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven, Gladys Cooper; directed by Henry Koster)
The 12 Days of Christmas Movies: A Partridge in a Pear Tree | Two Turtle Doves | Three French Hens | Four Calling Birds | Five Golden Rings | Six Geese a-Laying | Seven Swans a-Swimming | Eight Maids a-Milking | Nine Ladies Dancing | Ten Lords a-Leaping | Eleven Pipers Piping | Twelve Drummers Drumming
Dave is a graphic designer (www.dhdd.net) and movie lover, and the caretaker of “The 3 Benny Theater” (also known as his living room). The moniker was inspired by an extinct movie house–The 3 Penny Theater–and by his black Manx cat, Benny. Favorite films: North By Northwest, The Third Man and The Dekalog.
ON THIS DAY in 1894, in France, the Dreyfus affair begins when Captain Alfred Dreyfus is convicted of treason. This event was dramatized in the 1899 Georges Méliès film, L’AFFAIRE DREYFUS.
Good evening. Some movie exit lines are unforgettable. “Louis, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.” Which, of course, is from… um… well, we all remember that movie. But how about the last lines from films created by our person of interest, Mr. Alfred Hitchcock?
(This, quiz number 30, will conclude our little series. We hope you have enjoyed testing your Alfred Hitchcock knowledge. As Scotty said to Madeleine: “Perhaps we’ll meet again.”)
Good luck, Mr. Thornhill, wherever you are…
Take the Quiz!(*The quiz title was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest: “Something wrong with your eyes?” “Yes”, says the sunglass-clad Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant), “They’re sensitive to questions”. After Roger narrowly avoids death by cropduster, Eve attempts to save him from further harm: “So please, good bye…”.)
Dave is a graphic designer (www.dhdd.net) and movie lover, and the caretaker of “The 3 Benny Theater” (also known as his living room). The moniker was inspired by an extinct movie house–The 3 Penny Theater–and by his black Manx cat, Benny. Favorite films: North By Northwest, The Third Man and The Dekalog.
ON THIS DAY in 1879, Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House had its world premiere at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark. Ibsen’s play was adapted for the screen in 1973. A DOLL’S HOUSE starred Anthony Hopkins, Claire Bloom and Ralph Richardson
movies.wikia.com
We can’t escape the news. Tomorrow — December 21, 2012 — marks the end of the 5,125-year-old Mayan calendar. Is this a portent for the end of days or just another day like any other? NASA is issuing rebuttals: There are no planetary collisions on the radar.
But what if we were indeed headed toward a grand cosmic accident?
Lars Van Trier’s MELANCHOLIA (2011), starring Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg, was, well, melancholic. Riveting to watch, the film is full of memorable, dreamlike images, albeit self-absorbed (and pretentious?), a drama of depression and other end-of-the-world maladies. Spoiler alert: Everyone explodes.
But for my end of the world movie, I would pick SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD (2012) starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. Carell shines as the regular guy who, like everyone else, has learned that an asteroid will slam into Mother Earth and destroy the planet in 21 days.
As the world prepares to meet its doom in assorted and various ways, Carell keeps going to work selling insurance.
He is numb, dutiful, and regretful — trudging on because that’s what he’s done his whole life. His wife leaves him. His friends have parties featuring heroine (why not?) and indiscriminate sex (“The apocalypse levels the playing field,” his less-than-attractive friend tells him, quite pleased that the end of the world has increased his opportunities for casual interludes). People do things here that make perfect sense, including wearing improbable outfits. A woman in a crazy getup tells him, “It’s everything I never wore.” That sounds like something many women would do when one’s days are limited, including me.
But it’s not all fun and games. There are riots in the streets. People jump from buildings. Carell stares blankly at the television screen as the announcer counts down the days. There is no hope.
Carell, too, loses his hope and drinks a bottle of Windex. But he doesn’t die. Nothing happens at all. All those label warnings about life were meaningless. He has no choice but to get on with what’s left. He wants to find an old love, “the one that got away.”
He gets a dog and a traveling companion in Keira Knightley. A road trip ensues.
Knightley’s performance is flat and doesn’t add a lick of soul to the movie. (If only she could have conjured a performance like Liza’s in THE STERILE CUCKOO or Diane Keaton in ANNIE HALL.) But Carell is so good that you don’t even notice Knightley’s flawed performance. The best thing she does is carry a Herb Alpert record around with her.
And records are important to the story here. Vinyl gets pulled out of paper sleeves for pitch-perfect songs like “This Girl’s in Love With You,” “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore,” and “All I Need Is the Air That I Breathe.” Of course, we would all play our favorite records if an asteroid was heading our way.
SEEKING A FRIEND is the first for writer and director Lorene Scafaria. It looks like a made-for-tv movie and doesn’t always hit the mark with the plot, but there are also some absolutely brilliant moments filed under “hilarious” and “remarkably poignant” that kept me believing in and loving this film.
Like MELANCHOLIA, there is a big explosion at the end. But there is also salvation right before the white light.
After seeing this movie, I thought about some of of the records I would play at the end of the world. One of them would be Todd Rundgren’s “Love Is the Answer” — with lines like “Who knows why? Someday we all must die.” Check out his 1980 performance on the Mike Douglas Show.
In the end, yes, love is the answer. SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD makes that point very clear. 
Gloria Bowman is a writer, storyteller, blogger, movie lover, freelance editor,
and author of the novel, Human Slices.
Access her blog at www.gloriabowman.com; on Twitter @GloriaBow
ON THIS DAY in 1968, in Vallejo, California, the “Zodiac Killer” murdered the first two of his confirmed victims, Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday. This incident was dramatized in the 2007 film, ZODIAC, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey, Jr.
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