Back to Golden Days

In this first ever «Film Friday» I thought I would tell you about the film that introduced me to the wonders of both black and white cinema and James Stewart. Directed by George Cukor, The Philadelphia Story (1940) revolves around the high-society wedding of snobbish socialite Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) and pompous self-made man George Kittredge (John Howard). In return for suppressing a scandalous article about Tracy's estranged father, Seth (John Halliday), her ex-husband, C. K. Dexter Haven (Gary Grant), makes a deal with magazine editor Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell) to introduce a reporter, Macaulay «Mike» Connor (James Stewart), and a photographer, Liz Embrie (Ruth Hussey), into the Lord household for an exclusive story on the wedding. To protect the reputation of her family — which includes her oblivious mother Margaret (Mary Nash) and her precocious sister Dinah (Virginia Weidler) — Tracy reluctantly agrees to let them stay and cover the event.   John Howard, Cary Gr...

A couple of years ago I completely despised classic films. I thought they looked strange and black and white films in particular were incredibly hard to look at. But, this one day, I was looking for something on the Internet (for the life of me I cannot remember what it was) and I found myself on YouTube watching a clip from Singin' in the Rain (1952), that « Moses Supposes » bit. While I still thought it looked kind of weird, I have to say, I actually really liked it. I was genuinely impressed by Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor's dance skills and how they were able to move so frenetically and yet so precisely and in sync.    Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor doing the «Moses Supposes» routine.      I had heard of Gene Kelly before, but I had no idea who he actually was. So, out of sheer curiosity as to who this amazing dancer was, I decided to watch the film. And you know what? I absolutely loved it, and as for Gene Kelly, I fell completely in love with him. So ...