Jeremy Arnold wrote:Sue Sue, you're 2-for-4 on the 3-time-Essentials guesses! Sunset Blvd. and Some Like it Hot have been shown three times over the years. The others that are in the book are Swing Time, White Heat, On the Waterfront, To Kill a Mockingbird and Rocky.
Yay! Thanks, Jeremy. I resisted the urge to "google."
Jeremy Arnold wrote:Regarding This is Spinal Tap, I can tell you that Robert Osborne is THE reason that film made it into the book! Again, nothing against the film at all, I love it and most people do, but early on when Robert chimed in with his take on the book concept, that was one of two titles he said he really wanted to be in there. The other was All About Eve. I was happy to oblige. And of course, Spinal Tap is incredibly influential so it really deserves its spot.
I'm glad the film was included, and I'm also happy that
All About Eve is getting the Fathom Events' treatment. Thelma Ritter's character in the film more firmly set her archetype as the middle class woman wielding words of wisdom, and she was always grateful to Joseph Mankiewicz for that "walk across the screen."
Jeremy Arnold wrote:As for the poster reproductions, it actually was not a matter of space OR rights! Those images were also from the Turner image database, and with some titles, there were no poster images available. So I decided I'd rather mix it up anyway, and sometimes have a poster and sometimes not, just to make the book look a little more interesting and alive, and not be the same for every entry. Sometimes the poster images available weren't that interesting anyway; sometimes there were so many great stills to choose from that I didn’t want to sacrifice a slot to a poster instead of a still; and sometimes I may have used a poster image for a few films in a row and wanted to break things up by not having one for the next film. So all these things just sort of came together to what felt right. In fact, I don't think I ever even had a discussion with my editor or TCM about where to use or not use poster images. I just made my choices and never heard anything about it. I think that TCM suggested having that montage of posters on an extra page in front though. What do you think - would you have preferred a poster for each title? If we ever do a sequel book, I will be glad to take reader input and suggestions.
I relish all of the rarely seen candids from the movie sets, so I'd always love more of those to be included. As for the posters, I enjoyed the flyleaf with a variety of the classic promotional images. Personally, some of the foreign movie posters of classic films often seem more artistic than the American ones. Maybe if rights issues aren't such a problem, you might consider including a few of the more exotic examples from Germany, France, or a few I've enjoyed from South America. So my choice would be more unusual or rarely seen candids from the film sets, and maybe a a smaller inset of the more popular, traditional poster, and larger insets of rarer, but more unusual images that classic film aficionados haven't been exposed to. I thoroughly enjoy the style and the graphics of your book. It's a pleasure to read and a pleasure to savor all the image.
Jeremy Arnold wrote:Moira, thanks for highlighting the Raymond Griffith tidbit in All Quiet on the Western Front. It’s a beautiful aspect of that film, and I personally love its backstory as well. It is so poignant. My strategy with small details like that was to use the ones that I personally found especially interesting as a movie fan because I figured other fans would, too; to use the ones that had real substance and were not merely fluff or random trivia; and to use the "What To Look For" section as a home for most of these things. "What To Look For" was not my idea to include -- it was suggested by my editor and TCM was eager to have it. I resisted it at first because I thought it WOULD make the book more one of trivia, and also because I generally don't like telling people "what to look for" because it risks giving too much away and preventing people from discovering the joys of a movie themselves. But I quickly realized I was all wrong and I could use this section in a more interesting way. I enjoyed the challenge of highlighting things "to look for" without ruining anything, and I endeavored to liven up the book by highlighting a wide range of things. For instance, with The Thin Man, I put in some backstory from the set pertaining to the actual shooting of two comic scenes: the stories are funny themselves and so they make sense to use, and I think they would add to our reactions to those scenes without detracting from the purity of the scenes themselves. With On the Waterfront, the famous story about the glove is good to know because it helps us appreciate the brilliant Method acting in that scene all the more, and the bit about Kazan's use of editing and sound for a confession scene was a chance for me to educate readers a little bit about some subtle visual storytelling techniques that might get them to think about film in new ways. With Rear Window, I liked the info about the costumes because it's an aspect most people would never notice, and that slow-motion kiss is so powerful I just knew it would be interesting to explain how it was achieved. And back to All Quiet on the Western Front: I didn’t have room to include that Griffith actually went on to a significant career as a producer for Fox for another decade. Some other factoids about that film: Fred Zinneman plays a soldier and ambulance driver, and a silent version was made for release in some foreign territories.
Ooh. Thanks for sharing that with us!
Jeremy Arnold wrote:As for surprises, I hadn't really researched Duck Soup before and did not know that the political stress of the film was all from Leo McCarey and not from the Marx Brothers. That surprised me. One thinks of the Marx Brothers themselves as "auteurs," and to realize that an outside force, even as brilliant as McCarey, shaped so much of that film's effect, was fascinating. I was also REALLY surprised that the father character in The Bicycle Thief was dubbed by a professional actor.
I hadn't realized the father's character had been dubbed until I read it in your book. So many fascinating facts you have uncovered with this volume, Jeremy. I hope another is in the works soon.
Jeremy Arnold wrote:Sue Sue, I also met Peggy Cummins that year and have a photo with her. It was such a thrill! I also really love her film Night of the Demon. In fact, it's my favorite horror movie.
I haven't ever seen
Night of the Demon, so I need to add that to my 'things to do' list.
Any chance you will be introducing more films at the festival this year? Hope to see you soon!
Jeremy Arnold wrote:And Lzcutter, my interest in classic movies came from my dad. He grew up in the 1930s and '40s and was always a huge movie fan, and from a very early age, starting in the 1970s, he brought me up on "old" movies. Casablanca and other Warner Bros. movies of that era were his favorites, and as I fell hard for these movies myself, which I saw on TV and 16mm and eventually VHS, I started to notice certain names -- Fritz Lang, Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Siodmak, Vincente Minnelli, etc. -- would keep appearing on the ones I liked the most. And I started learning. Later on I attended Wesleyan University where the film department is headed by the most brilliant person I know on the subject of classic cinema: Jeanine Basinger. She was the best teacher I ever had and remains a close friend, and I have helped her with research on several of her books, all of which I highly recommend.
How lucky to have been taught by Jeanine Basinger!
We are so privileged to have had time to visit with such an esteemed writer and historian, Jeremy. Thank you so much for stopping by to share your stories, comments, and discoveries, and especially the topics you that you weren't able to include in
The Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter. Do you have any final recommendations for aspiring film writers or biographers?
Jeremy Arnold's book can be purchased here:
Or on the TCM website here:
http://shop.tcm.com/jeremy-arnold-tcm-5 ... 0762459469