DISQUS

I am offering up a "volunteer to host"... :)

This does sound good... have to see about getting the videos...

I'd add one story about including Dr. Doolittle - the song "Talk To The Animals" was nominated for an Oscar. The 1967 Oscars, held in 1968, were scheduled to go on April 8... when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated 4 days before the ceremony. The schedule was thrown into chaos, as many people said it should be postponed or canceled.

Ultimately, the show was moved 2 days; one reason was that Sammy Davis, Jr., scheduled to perform "Talk To The Animals" said he would cancel his appearance. He said "I find it morally incongruous to perform Talk To The Animals while the man who could make life better for my children lies in state."

Sammy's memorable performance, at the postponed show, was considered a highlight. And it won the Oscar for Best Song.

I saw this over at your blog, and I realized I should see the other two (and doesn't The Unsinkable Molly Brown fit in here somewhere? I actually kind of liked that, too). I saw the Cameron version twice the first week (don't ask), and so it has a special place of loathing in my heart; I knew it was bad... and I still had to see it again (no, really... don't ask).

That said, I think Cameron was at his best in the big stuff: the real time sinking (realizing the time lapse on lower deck sets as waters rose), the little asides (the musicians, especially, were effectively moving) noticed in passing, the dramatic pullback shot when the flare shot up into the sky... and there was nothing around them, for miles. That's when I knew they were doomed.

All that, wrapped in surely the worst script imaginable, with the least period relevant dialogue, a preposterous romance, and especially atrocious acting (and I include Kate Winslet, who was vastly superior to the material, but simply knuckled under), except for Kathy Bates, who I suspect can actually do no wrong. Oh and that dreadful score, and that caterwauling Dion woman.

It's okay; now that the moment has passed (I take my cold comforts in knowing that while it swept the Oscars, no actor was honored), and it's a cable and TV staple, I can watch the pieces that work and ignore the ones that don't. Must check out the others, though. Maybe that will help.

Steve, I agree very much about Pollack as an actor; one reason I cited Tootsie was because of his fairly integral role in the proceedings as Michael Dorsey's agent... though I didn't specifically come out and say it. Pollack, as you note, is often the good thing (as an actor) in otherwise so-so films, and he deserves credit for that as well. It would be nice, as a retrospective, to have someone examine Pollack's acting work in itself, separate from his directing, to se what can be seen (something I will now toy with writing... but wouldn't a "Sydney Pollack:Actor" series at Film Forum in New York or something be impressive? Hmmm....).

I tend to agree, sadly, with those who don't find a lot to love: I've tried to appreciate Der Bingle's singing style... but it's just not my taste - he's my emblem of crooner style, and I prefer the more ring-a-ding-ding of the Rat Pack and the harder edge Billy May brought to arranging. And Cole, who I think is rarely appreciated fully for the genius he is (the stuff he's best known for doesn't begin to tell the whole story), is by far the more natural singer.

But where I do tend to find more sympathy is in Bing as an actor - I am surprised, as I explore his contributions to the Golden Age (outside of his work with Hope) to see how versatile he was and how naturally at ease in front of the camera; acting, I think, is where he's underrated (I think it has a lot to do with the fact that his singing is best when he's a character telling a story, too). You wouldn't necessarily expect Bing to "get" the material in The Country Girl, for instance; yet it's a masterful performance. I'd love to see more films... the recordings... not so much.

I find this stuff fascinating; I remember learning about the Code as a teenager, in the context of Dinner At Eight where I first found out about the "one foot on the floor rule". As time has gone by, I've learned more - the challenge to actresses like Harlow, whose sexy, vampy performances were the main campaign of the censors (the story I love is of Harlow posing the famous Hurrell photo where her gown dips precariously into her cleavage; she'd showed the dress to the censor, hiking it up above her decollete; when she lay down, she took a deep breath... and down it went).

Of course, the Code era, for me, was summed up best in The Celluloid Closet; Vito Russo's thorough examination of qwhat the Code meant (and didn't mean for gay characters and gay themes really captures so much of what the restrictions did and didn't do, and what, really, they could never do, which was completely thwart communication between creative artists and a public starved for interesting ideas.

I don't know about "auteur" theory; I tend to think censorship, like anything stifling, pushes creative people to be more creative. One foot on the floor? Well, okay, we'll play up double entendres. Bad endings for bad people? Okay, we can subvert that logic by making bad endings... not so bad. Or good ones... not so good.

But I agree that what draws me back to the "classics" is the effects of money, vertical integration and studio control; censorship was an ugly stain, a conspicuous failure, and a stifling element on Hollywood... not an improvement. And I'm not sure the Breen era fascinates me quite so much as Will Hays... and the period before censorship. Though I know I need to know the rest... it's what came before, the stuff that led to the Code, and to the Breen office, that to me, is most compelling. Thanks for the review... and the think.

I've always liked Wolcott, now even more so (and this, after all he's done for me), when he says "I'm starting to sound like David Denby... and not in a good way." Hilarious! I always watch for creeping Denby-ism in my film crit. Though I agree with all of it, I wonder if it's all fair; White's reviewing the audience as much as the Stones, and I think it's a little easy - I mean, Boomer Disdain is almost a given in us younger folk these days, and I know I can make the case by heart. White hits the notes, but it all feels a little familiar. I think Wolcott's more on to it - it's the self satisfied, mutual handjob nature of the celebrity co-worship (between Scorceses/Clinton/Stones... all you need is Bono to make it complete; or maybe Michael Stipe) and the dated quality of the Stones' worldview that makes this exercise so... tired. But then, I've never completely understood the cult of Mick; I thought the whole white Brit guy who likes black r&b was a bit cliche all along. But it's music, of course, and I make a lousy music critic. :)