MCW:Girls will be Boys

Hi Y'all! Can ya' believe it is Wednesday again? Thas' time fer another Movie Clip Wednesday theme--hosted by our British movie muse, Joanna Cake (Cakey Pie, in Cracker Speak).



This week the theme is Best Woman Pretending to Be a Man Movie.


Well, this could stump a body--I ain't seen that many movies wif' the switcheroo, an' Julie Andrews as Victor-Victoria is bound to be a blog jinx.

An then, ho ho! I knowed right away whar' to find the theme--in history! A woman burned for dressing as a man.

The Messenger stars Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway an' Milla Jovoich




This ain't mah favorite movie version of Joan of Arc--the director / writer, Luc Besson, takes a more than a bit of license wif' the historical record, an' makes Joan out to repulsive --in a nutcase sort of intensity--an' no doubt many thought her so. But it is by jes' such as these that "the wise are confounded." Joan's fate lay in the hands of politicians an weak churchmen who bowed an' scraped afore the politicians an' crowns-- if anybody wants a good account of Joan's history, Mark Twain's Joan of Arc is very fine. Oddly enough, the volumes of records preserved from her trials is still available to researchers.

Iffin' a movie version is quicker fer ya', the 1999 TV version with Leelee Sobieski is very fine for a good understandin' of the politics behind the battles.



Of course, the 1948 version wif' Ingrid Bergman is classic--jes that the costuming in 1948 might not be as "Woman plays Man " as this week's theme expects.

Movie Clip Wednesday: Garden Scene

I'se been sorta hot mostly miss in MCW this summer--so I'se off mah game some.

Iffin' y'all ain't yet played, Joanna Cake is keepin' the meme goin' in the absence of Boxer-Babe. Jes' check out what others has done an' join in--


Mercy, the first idea flitting across mah screen were that sppof in the movies now--Gnomeo and Juliet--garden gnomes that animate when their humans ain't lookin'...but I couldn't do it to ya'.
Hmmmnnn...what about an ole' timey Audrey Hepburn film, Green Mansions, might be new to most readers. But that story is in a jungle, not a proper garden. Edward Scissorhands? Well...not a favorite.


Next, what about that recent box office flub Garden of Eden? Uh, I'se not ole enough yet fer it. An' I ain't sure much of it really besed on Hemingway's work--more like a rip on Hemingway.


Still, the garden theme could be rather serence--or I chose a serene clip--
I simply went wif'a quiet reflective sort of movie where the garden scenes are restful with a hint of mystery. It is a period piece, great costumes, endearing theme. If you have not seen Enchanted April, rectify that lapse as soon as possible.

Movie Clip Wednesday: One Hit Wonders

The theme this week is a really good one--actors and actresses who make one memorable movie then....disappear.

It seems to Aunty that this heah category especially marks out chile' actors. Many of 'em is chosen for some quality that in a chile' is grand, but doan always translate as they grow up, or, they grow up an' is damaged in the process by the whole actin' milieu. Often it be real sad, but sometimes not--I heered that one of the kids in Encounters of the Third Kind went on to be veterinarian or somethin'.

Anyhoo, I done singled out Harvey Stephens, a British chile' actor, in honor of Joanna Cake (Cakey-Pie!) who is our hostess for Movie Clip Wednesday while Boxer continues her hostess hiatus.

Stephens starred in one of what remains one of the most frightenin' movies I'se ever seen. It's a David Selzer screenplay that won an Oscar fer the music. Wif Gregory Peck an' Lee Remmick as his daddy an' mama'. Harvey Stephens played the chile' Damian in THE OMEN. Even the trailer below unnerves me.



Stephens, 41 years ole' now, went on to work at the London Stock Exchange.

Movie is jes' plain creepy.