The Results Are In!

The "Favorite Classic Christmas Movie" poll closed last night, and the results are as follows.


It's A Wonderful Life (1946) won with 57% of the votes. Hooray for George Bailey! I had a feeling this movie was going to win. I mean, who doesn't love it?


The runner-up was the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol.


3rd place - White Christmas (1954).



Christmas In Connecticut (1945) and Holiday Inn (1942) both recieved 0 votes. However, they are still very enjoyable movies that are great to watch around this time of year, especially.

Thanks for voting! I just saw Holiday Inn and White Christmas on the big screen last night, and I'm planning on posting about that soon. In the meantime, why not take a look at my other blog, The Fabulous '40s? It's just getting started, and I probably won't post as much as on this blog, but I hope it will be fun.

So, Ginger Couldn't Take The Last Piece

Hey everybody! Earlier today I watched Vivacious Lady (1938) starring Ginger Rogers and James Stewart, and it reminded me of how much I love that film. My two favorite stars co-starring in the same movie--what could be better? Nothing. At least, nothing that I can think of right now. This movie is full of very funny moments. Almost every scene makes me laugh. Especially the cat fight scene between Ginger and Frances Mercer who plays the proper girl Jimmy's father wants him to marry (DEFINITELY the best part of the movie!) , and the scene where Jimmy is teaching his botany class while drunk. Oh, and the boat scene! If I have time this weekend, I’ll try and write a full length movie review, but if not, that’s my two-cents on one of the funniest classic comedies. I leave you with Ginger having it out with Frances Mercer. Ha ha ha.

Get Yourself In The Spirit

The Christmas spirit, thst is!

Well. maybe not as extreme as Deanna Durbin dressing like a Christmas tree.

Jean shows off her newly decorated tree...

While Anita waits under the mistletoe!

Ginger is surrounded by Santas! She must have been a very good girl this year.

Donna Reed is an old pro at decorating Christmas trees.

Jimmy and Margaret exchange gifts.

While Barbara and Dennis gor for a sleigh ride.

It looks like Gene Tierney is playing Santa! Be careful Gene, don't fall and drop the presents. Those sidewalks can be icy.

Frankie and Nancy know the holidays are all about family.

After finishing the decorations, Jean Harlow and Bill Powell, hosted a Christmas party.

Pack Up Your Troubles

Last night, I watched You Can't Take It With You for the first time in months. It's a charming movie about a stenographer (Jean Arthur) who is the only normal one in her zany family. She falls in love with her boss (James Stewart) who is the vice-president of the powerful company owned by his greedy father (Edward Arnold).

Stewart's parents are appalled that he wants to marry a stenographer but to humor him, agree to dine with her family. This is doomed from the start, as they are a collection of free spirits with little visible means of support presided over by Arthur's wise grandfather (Lionel Barrymore). It also turns out that buying their house is key to tycoon Arnold's latest mega-project.

I thoroughly enjoyed You Can't Take It With You. It's a very feel-good movie and the message it sends is uplifting; not worrying about troubles or what other people think. Just like in any Capra film, the underdog triumphs which is always a delight to see. One of the many themes in the film is greed and corruption, but Arnold nevertheless demonstrates nuance and sensitivity as a man who, despite many flaws and faults, is redeemed by his love for his son.

Another thing I just picked up on while watching it again is its similarities with It's A Wonderful Life, the famous Holiday classic that was another Capra/Stewart collaboration and was made 8 years later. For instance, people collecting money to help characters out of a jam towards the end of the movie. Just like in the ending of It's A Wonderful Life. Also in both films, when a collection is taken up to settle a financial obligation, the original collector realizes his futility and adds his own contribution. Those are just some things I noticed that stood out to me. I'm sure there were more, as Capra liked to incorporate similar ideas into each of his movies.




There are many grand scenes between Stewart and Arthur, whom I feel have great on-screen chemistry.



This film won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1938 and also earned Frank Capra his third Best Director Oscar. You Can't Take It With You is a marvelous movie that can't be missed!

My Favorite Pictures Of Stars

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of some of my favorite classic stars. Ready? Here we go!
(click on the photos to make them bigger).

1.
I absolutely love this photo. Carole looks stunning, and the setting is sooo Art Deco-- Marvelous!

2.
Seriously? Can you get anymore gorgeous than that? This is possibly my absolute favorite Jean picture.

3.
How can you not love any picture with Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor? Especially this one.

4.
*sigh* My favorite actor, who is also the most handsome man ever, incase you didn't know. This is one of my favorite Jimmy photos.

5.
Don't even get me started on my favorite Ginger Rogers pictures, because we'd be here all day. But this one is one of my favorites. I love her hat especially, and her purse and gloves, too.

6.
Fred and Ginger make me happy. And this picture is one of my very favorites. They look so elegant.

7.
Myrna! Gotta love her, and gotta love this picture.

8.
I love this picture of Hank Fonda. The look on his face is priceless!

9.
Jimmy and Margaret look so cute in this picture!!! (Especially Jimmy *wink*) The Shop Around The Corner (1940) is one of my absolute favorite films.

10.
I can't forget Frankie! The best singer ever, in my opinion.

How It All Started

I think it's only fitting that my first real post be about how I became interested in classic film.

It all started with It's A Wonderful Life. I had seen that movie countless times as a child and always loved it. Of course I had seen other classic films, such as The Wizard Of Oz and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but It's A Wonderful Life is the first film I can think of that really made an impact on me. Then a few years later I saw Rear Window (1954), which got me interested in Jimmy Stewart even more. I then started watching more of his movies, reading books, saving images on my computer, and that was really my introduction into the world of Classic Hollywood. Jimmy introduced me to such wonderful performers as Grace Kelly and Cary Grant and phenomenal directors such as Frank Capra and Alfred Hitchcock. But it wasn't until I saw Swing Time a few months later that my love and admiration for Ginger Rogers began. In my search for Jimmy Stewart films, I had wanted to see Vivacious Lady (1938), the only film he made with Ginger, for a very long time. Realizing that it was rare and hard to find, I sort of gave up and decided to wait until TCM showed it. But one day I turned on the TV and Swing Time was just coming on. I read the description and realized it was a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers picture. I had heard about their wonderful dancing and how they revolutionized musicals in the 1930s and remembered Ginger as being Jimmy's co-star in the movie I desperately wanted to see. So I watched Swing Time, and within the first few minutes I was a Fred Astaire fan. Then Ginger appeared and the "Pick Yourself Up" dance began. Ginger instantly became my favorite actress. I have never identified with anyone onscreen like I feel that I identify with Ginger. The next week I went to the library and got her autobiography. The more I read about her, the more I liked her. And since then I have started collecting Ginger's films and even memorabilia items.





So, there you have it! Maybe I should add that I've always been a history buff? That was probably a contributing factor as well. :)