TV Bites: Bride of Frankenstein

THE SNACK:
Elsa Lanchester's Deviled Pork Chops


Happy Halloween from Paris!! And it's part two of the Frankenstein double bill!!

You could say I'm on vacation, but you could also say I'm doing deep research for my December class (see above). I went to the cafe where Amelie worked and the little fruit/vegetable stand down the block from "her" house. Oh yeah, I'm eating a lot, and tomorrow taking a class on making croissants.

But let's get to it.... My favorite quote I discovered while researching this post is from Carl Laemmle Jr., studio production chief of Universal Pictures at the time. Announcing their new line up of horror films in 1933, he said they would have "a decidedly novel and shocking appeal.... We have found that the theater-going public like the unreal, the weird, and the uncanny, and we are preparing to cater to this great audience with colorful, imaginative stories." I like that. Go Junior! Where's a studio head like that today?

TV Bites: To Have and Have Not

THE SNACK:
Blaff de Poisson (Martinican Lime-Poached Fish)



Well, this is part one of a Humphrey Bogart double bill, though next week I'll be posting the Singin' in the Rain class notes in between.

I know I've been kind of quiet about upcoming posts, but I wound up going pretty deep into researching this film: (a) as I mention below, there were many versions of stories (as there were many versions of the screenplay); and (b) there's just a lot of story to tell here. Legends about Hollywood legends.

I've also been busy figuring out films I want to do for the next few classes I'll be teaching, and the next few posts for the blog and the Criterion Collection site.

And all that is related to the big project. I'm starting to put together a proposal for the Chef du Cinema book. The book will have a different format, much shorter bits of info (only the pearls) and, of course, a recipe. More on this in the months to come.

Anyways, let's get to it.

TV Bites: The Lady Eve

THE SNACK:
Roast Beef with Ale Jus



A shorter version of this post was originally published on the Criterion Collection website.

I'm a little surprised that I'm back to writing about Preston Sturges so quickly. But it's in the Criterion Collection, and the Museum of Modern Art had an afternoon screening of it while I was up in the New York City last month, and so here we are. Not that I'm complaining, but I haven't even written up one Welles, Kubrick, or even a Scorsese film yet, just saying. But interesting to note, that the only other directors so far to have two films here are Wim Wenders, and Billy Wilder - with Wilder being another writer at Paramount who suffered through having his scripts hacked, I mean directed, by Mitchell Leisen and decided he needed to direct himself.

TV Bites: Holiday

THE SNACK:
Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies



This is one where I found the recipe first and then chose the movie. There are just so many great Kate Hepburn movies, but the trio of comedies she made with Cary Grant: Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, and The Philadelphia Story, are my favorites. So which to pick? It wasn’t hard. Both Baby & Philadelphia Story I think are more popular, while Holiday is the often overlooked as neglected middle-child. But what I really love about this film, besides Grant & Hepburn, the script, the acrobatics (both physical and verbal - check out this analysis of Grant's backflip), is because from the first time I saw it I’ve wished I could be friends with Edward Everett Horton & Binnie Barnes’ characters. I would love to spend a night playing gin rummy in their flat, to say nothing of going on a transatlantic journey to France with them. It’s that simple....