#doesn'tcount: White Christmas

General: "Who let Potato out of her box?!"
Susan: "POTATOGRAM!"

#16: Holiday

Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant
Dir: George Cukor (1938)

This is one of those movies that puts me in mind of similar ones that are better. I love watching Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant together in anything, though, and in my mind this movie is just a wonderful warm-up for The Philadelphia Story - which is obviously the best movie in the entire world.

Holiday was actually a lot of fun in its own right. I loved the way the Seton family was its own enormous entity (I found many of the Setons referred to their family unit in similar language my siblings and I use for our own), and I especially loved all the dysfunction flying around between the siblings. The whole package obviously originated on the stage, but that gave it a nice contained sort of feel. I especially liked the neat handling of Julia's character - the plot held out admirably until the last minute, and then turned her into a horrible bitch. I like things being made easy for me like that.

Good: We'll start with Ned! I always felt like he was about to say something horrific. His character had a real edge that I really liked, and he played well with Linda. Cary Grant turned quite a few tricks in this movie, of course, which I found plenty exciting, and his adorable little face and adorably messy hair were positively at their peak. Linda was obviously wonderful since any time Katharine Hepburn plays a snarky, repressed and lovelorn sophisticate I get a kick out of it. Gee whiz I just love her.

Best: The Potters! God bless them! I haven't seen Edward Horton outside of a buffoonish role before, but in this film I felt like he had all of the cleverest lines and one of the most likable characters I've ever watched. They were just so damn cute! I want to meet them!

Bad: Linda's emotional outbursts (especially her vindictive farewell speech to her father and Julia) were just a tad too intense and a tad too lengthy for my comfort. When I see Katharine Hepburn pissed, I want to see a trembling chin and a whirlwind of chilling insults - not expansive declarations about love and support and commitment to peanuts.

Summary: Fun! Not where I'll go first to see this duo perform, but definitely worth the watching.

Stars: 3.75 of 5, rounded awkwardly due to the fact that every scene with Linda and the Potters rates an automatic 5 out of 5 but I just can't commit to a 4

#15: Two for the Road

Starring: Albert Finney, Audrey Hepburn
Dir: Stanley Donen (1967)

Such a cute scene!!

I felt pretty nicely neutral about this movie after I finished it. It was nowhere near getting New Favorite status, but it was plenty charming.
Bad: Albert Finney's Humphrey Bogart impersonations. A lot of the emphasis on sex that might have been fresh at the time seemed too heavy-handed at certain points in the movie. Mainly the middle third, I think, where I felt like there wasn't a single scene in which exactly where the rocks in Mark and Joanna's marriage were wasn't being defined... which is mainly a problem because to me Audrey Hepburn is too ladylike to have a sex life. At all. The end.
Good: I liked the chance to see Audrey Hepburn in a different kind of role than those I was already familiar with. She was equally impressive as both young and old Joanna - I really loved how she managed to appear totally believable at both ends of the spectrum. The young Joanna is so naive and bubbly and cute, while the older one is jaded, spoiled, and resentful, but the way Audrey plays it there is still plenty of continuity.
Albert Finney was a little less dynamic - his main thing was surprising me (generic viewer person) with how much he actually loved his wife, even after he'd said something heartless, and just when it seemed like he was about to leave for good.

Much has been made of Audrey's outfits in this movie, too, but blah blah blah I think she's adorable no matter what she wears and that is pretty much that.

Summary: The cheery appeal of a couple romping through Europe was this movie's main draw for me at first, but as it progressed I just loved watching Audrey Hepburn do a million different things. Princess Ann she is not.

Stars: 3 of 5

#14: That Funny Feeling

Starring: Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin

Dir: Richard Thorpe (1965)

Bad: Not much! This movie doesn't pretend to be anything it's not, so how can it miss?

Good: It's just as charming and adorable as it can possibly be! Seeing Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee together is always fun - you can sometimes catch little gestures and moments that appear unscripted between them. I also loved Donald O'Connor in this, because he will always be hilarious to me... even if he is a dork... because I am a dork! (And I find other dorks appealing.)

Summary: To compare it to the last fluffy, innuendo-filled '60s comedy I watched, I'd say this wasn't as good. The laughs weren't as consistent, and the plot was just as implausible, only less entertaining to watch as it unfolded. But I still liked it, though -- I'm going to keep plugging away at the Sandra/Bobby subgenre for a while and see what else turns up. I have faith!

Stars: 3 of 5

#13: Pagan Love Song

Starring: Esther Williams, Howard Keel

Dir: Robert Alton (1950)

Booooooo the Esther Williams vehicle! She was MGM's top star at one point perhaps, but it's no mystery why her movies didn't stand the test of time like others'. Too much time spent trying to make her water ballets moderately plausible plot-wise (thank god for the "dream sequence" cop-out) and not enough time writing decent songs for the AMAZINGLY TALENTED AND WONDERFUL Howard Keel to sing!!

Good: (Note: I've been flipping the bad/good order back and forth, but this deserves to end on "bad.") Obviously Howard Keel. I watched this movie with my grandmother, who also is in love with HK (and Dana Andrews, too -- it must be genetic!), so we suffered proudly through all 80 minutes in his name alone. This was my first time seeing Howard shirtless - kudos to this movie for including a scene with him in Dr. N0-esque short-shorts, biking and singing on a beach. What a stud!

Bad: The music was HORRIBLE. Also, they spent too much money on Esther's swimsuits and not enough on Howard's wardrobe - he spent 99% of the movie in the same stupid linen suit. Come on!! Also, the poor (attractive) man had to play a totally unattractive character... what a waste. The plot was fluffy and lame, half the Islanders were white boys with bronzer (remind anyone of West Side Story?), and Rita Moreno didn't even get to dance! Ugh.

Summary: I should be fair and say that Esther Williams' acting was not as bad as I'd expected. She was kind of endearing and pretty and all that, and she played her character well (an unaffected, easygoing island girl-type), but I just kept remembering how obnoxious she was in her autobiography. (So I only read like fifty pages, but still, she had a monster ego. Hard to ignore.) Plus I kind of felt like her biceps kept punching me in the eye with their hugeness...

Overall - an interesting, kitschy relic of moving Esther cheesecake. If only Howard had been given the same treatment.

Stars: 1.5 of 5

*my OCD self has to admit that I saw this before That Touch of Mink, but forgot to post both until today and did them in the wrong order... so chronologically this is actually #12. okay crazy self out.

#12: That Touch of Mink

Starring: Cary Grant, Doris Day

Dir: Delbert Mann (1962)

Hoorah! Kat told me when I checked out this movie that it was terrible and the stars had no chemistry and Cary Grant was too old, but she was WRONG! I loved it. It was that perfect blend of sexy and not sexy that only a movie starring Doris Day opposite a man can produce.

Good: Can we just say once and for all that Cary Grant's sex appeal does NOT have an expiration date?? Thank you! Ooh: I have a theory too that some of Cary Grant's lines/actions are ad-libbed in this movie, because there were a few scenes where he would say something bizarre and funny exactly before a fade out. I don't know... some of his comments just didn't seem scripted. Kat noticed it too (like when he throws a candy to Gig Young and teases him - "Why don't you take the wrapper off first. There, it's better that way, isn't it?"). I also loved all the little dirty jokes and innuendos (minus some of the painfully dated jabs at homosexuals) because they were adorable.

Cathy: "Oh, I love sunken baths! You'd always find me in it! -- ...I didn't mean it like that -"

Philip: "I know you didn't. But let's not rule out the possibility."

Bad: Okay, so they didn't have fantastic sexual chemistry. But they looked like they were having fun at least!

Summary: It was bubbly and energetic and full of virginal Doris and playboy Cary and all the wonderful things in life - even a sneaky joke about her marrying Rock Hudson! So what's not to LOVE??

Stars: 4 of 5

#11: Boomerang!

Starring: Dana Andrews

Dir: Elia Kazan (1947)

So I watched this a while ago and have been too lazy to post it on here, shame on me! I remember liking it... I think...

Good: I liked it! It had Dana Andrews in it...

No, to be fair, I just liked it. I liked watching him interact with his wife even though it was kind of laughable because everyone knows he's married to me. But, you know, they pay him to act, so - well done, Dana.

It was interesting to see him be all caught up in this moral dilemma because I'm more used to seeing him brooding about something. I guess this follows the Ox-Bow trend of making me slightly uncomfortable with him - I'm used to seeing him play characters with a bit of an edge, not Wholesome Through-and-Through types. As far as the film overall, though... I'm generally a fan of legal dramas so I enjoyed that aspect of it. Also, despite the fact that the internet has nothing on it, I am ONE HUNDRED PERCENT POSITIVE that Arthur Kennedy is Donald Sutherland's father. They look exactly the same. I will prove this one day if it takes everything I have.

Bad: Eh nothing.

Summary: So obviously it wasn't that memorable, which is kind of my bad because I'm forgetful and also partly due to the fact that the movie isn't very exciting. A lot happens and I guess it's dramatic, but it didn't really make an impression... at least on me.

(Minus Dana Andrews and everything he ever says or does. I mean, I do kind of notice that sort of thing automatically.)

Stars: 2.5 of 5, rounding up to 3 in all scenes including Dana