Millie LOOOOVES This

A tribute someone made to the awesome and British television actress, Judy Carne. It just makes me happy.

Michael Caine's Glasses.

I thought it would be a good idea to have a post of Michael Caine with his glasses, because, well, because -- I DON'T EVEN NEED A REASON.

So here's to Michael Caine wearing awesome glasses and being cooler than everyone else!

{Source for this photo and several others in this post}

{Note: the entire reason for this post was NOT so that I could post this photo, which I do not at all find very weirdly fascinating.}

"I'm the original bourgeois nightmare - a Cockney with intelligence and a million dollars."

{with Natalie Wood}

Only Michael Caine can do cool impersonations of.... Michael Caine: 

-Millie 

Batman: The Movie. This IS Mind-Smushing Entertainment - you sad, deprived souls!

When I write  about the "sad, deprived souls," I am NOT talking about my awesome blog followers. No, I am referring to the people who continually give Batman: The Movie (1966) bad reviews and talk about its idiocy and lack of plot.....on and on and on....

Clearly, these people (and there are so many of them) have trouble identifying satire. Because Batman is brilliant, Wowzie Kazam, stupendously amazingly cool satire.

There is no possible way a film that includes exploding sharks, emergency Bat-copter landings at foam mattress conventions, the entire Security Council at the pseudo-U.N. getting disintegrated, and heroic "almost-human" porpoises -- COULD NOT BE COMPLETELY GENIUS.

Which also brings me to another point: Stop telling me that "a little camp goes a long way!" (This phrase is in many even-basically-sympathetic reviews.) I have NO idea what you're talking about. ;-D



Or maybe I just understand this movie because it is dedicated to me?

"Lovers of the ridiculous and the bizarre"? That's definitely not me.

And speaking of this opening title, HOW DO PEOPLE STILL NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE WATCHING AFTER READING THAT?!

There is an IMDb review where someone questions whether, maybe, the film was actually just supposed to be funny.

No, it was definitely Christopher Nolan's inspiration for The Dark Knight, genius.

Is anyone else amused by the fact that I am writing an idiotic, non-nonsensical post at 1 AM just to ridicule people who think that Batman: The Movie is idiotic and makes no sense? OH, WE'RE THE COOL PEOPLE HERE AT CLASSICFOREVER. ;-D

Anyway, those sad, deprived souls who simply cannot comprehend the awe-inspiring power of Batman -- it is for them that I shall write and publish my magnum opus on Mind-Smushing Entertainment.* I've already got two people who are planning on reading it: me and also Marya PROMISED she would read it. haha

So yeah. It's gonna be great, guys. 

I think I'm just gonna go now. ;-D

-Millie

*The Definitive Guide to Mind-Smushing Entertainment still has not found its publisher yet. It also needs to be written. But it WILL happen! It will. ;-D

Deanna Durbin: from the beginning

Deanna Durbin has long been one of my favorite actresses -- LONG, as in basically always.

She never made a bad film, is a wonderful person off-screen, and was almost FRIGHTENINGLY popular in the '30s and '40s -- yet she is strangely underrated and under appreciated today.

Plus, she was not just a gorgeous actress, but also a trained opera singer. I MEAN WHAT?!

{Many of you are possibly wondering at this point why you are not already crazily-devoted fans of Deanna Durbin.}

I have seen all but one of Deanna's films (most for the first time before the age of 10). However, some of the films I have not seen for many years (blasted library getting rid of its entire VHS collection!).

For me, this series will be a re-watching of an actress I have loved for longer than I can remember. Her movies were a huge part of my childhood. Her films are inextricable from actual, tangible memories.

It should be fun. Some of the movies are completely imprinted on my brain forever, others I have only a faint recollection.

Hopefully, I'll be able to show just a little bit WHY Deanna Durbin is so completely Wowzie Kazam awesome!

I'm excited.

-Millie

Photo of the Day!

This is a still from Better A Widow (1968). The other day I discovered that the third star of this film is Gabriele Ferzetti. Kate and I's search for the film has been updated from absolutely necessary to LIFE-OR-DEATH URGENT. We need to see this glorious Peter McEnery film. We will do anything, steal anything, kill anybody -- to get our hands on it.

So yeah. Let one of us know if you've got a copy lying around.

THANKS! ;-D

-Millie

Peter Falk.

September 16, 1927 - June 23, 2011

I don't even know what to say right now. Peter Falk is not only one of my favorite actors ever, but also one of my favorite PEOPLE ever.

Peter Falk was always brilliant. In movies, he could play Jack Lemmon's evil, dim-witted assistant Max (The Great Race); he could play a brutal thug (Murder Inc.); he could play a singing Guy Gisborne (Robin and the 7 Hoods); he could play a convincing psychiatrist (Pressure Point); he was widely regarded for his art-house films with John Cassavetes. These are just a few of his many awesome film performances.

with Natalie Wood

Of course, Peter Falk also owned television. He could do anything in any medium. He could go from playing a Fidel Castro-type on The Twilight Zone to spoofing himself on a Dean Martin Roasts. He was literally mesmerizing in any role.

And, if we're speaking of Peter Falk being mesmerizing, I simply must mention his most famous and most brilliant performance of all: Lt. Columbo.

Columbo is one of the greatest characters of all-time from ANY medium. He is impossible to NOT love. He's always borrowing pencils from people (always claiming that he just "misplaced" his). He never throws away a cigar until there is LITERALLY nothing left to it. He loves his trench coat with an undying devotion. He's always walking away from a suspect, only to turn around and say the phrase that strikes fear in the hearts of murderers, "Oh, there's just one more thing." Of course, even though everyone thinks he's an idiot, Columbo is always smarter than everyone else.

He's perfect.

No one else could have played him but Peter Falk. The man and the character were made for each other.



In my family, Columbo adoration is taught from a very young age. There are certain things you simply must like (Alfred Hitchcock, Peter Paul and Mary, Emergency!) -- and Columbo is one of them. I grew up on Peter Falk's brilliance and I find him even MORE brilliant now. I once watched Pocketful of Miracles (O_O) JUST for him. I will watch anything he is in, because I know he'll be awesome. I have NEVER seen Peter Falk NOT being awesome.

Early in his career, Peter Falk mostly played support in movies (he had back-to-back Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor in '60 and '61). Of course, that didn't last for too long -- because he kept stealing everything from everyone (EVEN FROM JACK LEMMON BEING DELICIOUSLY CRAZY AS PROFESSOR FATE!).

The poor actors he worked with. They never thought that this crazy, short guy with a fake right eye was going to easily take-over their movies.

Here is an episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour that Peter Falk starred in. It's nothing particularly famous or special, but it is brilliant. Peter plays a charismatic traveling revivalist preacher guy...who ruthlessly kills people. It's all cool. I'm posting this random little episode because it is Peter Falk being awesome and crazy and fascinating. Classic Falk.

Also: only Peter Falk could get away with saying lines like, "We're gonna cry when we peel onions and laugh when we drink wine." What?!

I was actually planning on writing a post this week about the Falk-Gazzara-Cassavetes friendship, because it is one of my favorite things ever. Now, separately, each of these three men were a little odd. But together -- they were absolutely crazy. I always feel very sorry for Dick Cavett when the three of them showed up on his show in 1970 (basically completely drunk or something). Before he welcomes them he says, "They're all in the wings now -- taking the theater apart." I'm pretty sure they actually were. Poor, Mr. Cavett. Peter made random jokes, John just stared, and Ben -- was off somewhere...

They were basically a Rat Pack for art-house intelligentsia.

with Gena Rowlands

This post makes no sense at all and I still don't know what to write. It's just that Peter Falk is one of my favorite people ever. He was a brilliant actor, hilarious, cool, slightly crazy -- and utterly awesome. He will be greatly missed.

-Millie

You should have never allowed yourself to be lulled into a false sense of security, Kate.

MWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAA!

A couple of weeks ago, Kate horrifically tweeted me a creepy gif of Jimmy Stewart...BUT SHE LABELED IT WITH DANA ANDREWS (or another favorite-- I can't remember exactly). I vowed revenge. I slowly lulled her into a false sense of security. I regularly sent her Tumblr links, but of people she actually liked. She finally confessed to me that she no longer dreaded the links. I KNEW IT WAS TIME TO MAKE MY MOVE.

It was time for something BIG!

I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - Tyrone Power from The Millie on Vimeo.

So, yeah. Apparently, something big ended up being a five o'clock psycho video (it's been a long time...hasn't it?!).

This video was created from the perspective of Tyrone Power -- who just WON'T give up on Kate!

I decided to use "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" as sung by the Supremes and the Temptations, because -- why not?! It was perfectly creepy for my needs! 

(Note: alternate music track ideas were "Girl, I'm Out to Get You" by Boyce & Hart and "And I Love You So" by Don McLean)

(Also note: I may have started the whole falsely tagging a photo thing a few months ago when I sent Kate a photo of Randolph Scott and labeled it as Oskar Werner. I'm not sure if that was the catalyst though. ;-D)

(Also, also note: I am never myself at 5am.)

Anyway, that is that (sadly, I only used what I had lying around on DVD...so there is no Mark of Zorro, A Yank in the RAF, Witness For the Prosecution, or myriads of other famous Ty roles).

At this point, Kate is just being unnecessarily stubborn. No one could seriously not like Ty for this long. It goes against the very laws of the universe. BECAUSE OF HER DISLIKE FOR TYRONE POWER, STARS DISAPPEAR AND COMETS EXPLODE!

Okay, I really should go to bed now.

-Millie

P.S. I waited an hour for the video to upload to YouTube, and at the last second the upload "failed" for no reason. ARRGGHHH, KATE! ;-D

I just had to spend another hour waiting for it to upload onto Vimeo. It is now 6:30 am. I will do practically anything to save Kate from the dark, dreary path she is headed down.