Monkey Business

Monkey Business 
Released Date: November 7, 1952
Director: Howard Hawks
Actors: Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Coburn, Hugh Marlowe, Henri Letondal, and Robert Cornthwaite

     I would have to say, that even though Ginger Rogers is older in this movie, she only looks older. Meaning, that there is a scene where she has to act younger, and she does, without any problems. And so does Cary Grant. But Ms. Rogers also shows us an amazing part where she puts a half full water glass on her forehead and  she maneuvers herself to a sitting down position and then to a laying down one as well. It is very cool.

     Dr. Barnaby Fulton (Cary Grant) is a scientist and is trying to find a formula to make people younger. Which he is trying to make into a pill form for a chemical company. A monkey that is used to see if the experiment works, gets out of his cage and makes the concoction himself. And it works. Dr. Barnaby tries it on himself and becomes a teenager again. Miss Lois Laurel (Marilyn Monroe) is Dr. Fulton's secretary and gets to "take a ride" with Dr. Fulton while in a teenager frame of mind. Then Dr. Barnaby has his wife come in and try the potion herself. Mrs. Edwina Fulton (Ginger Rogers) becomes even younger because she takes double the dose. And gets a man that is in love with her, to feel that Edwina will divorce her husband which means Hank Entwhistle (Hugh Marlowe) a chance. Does that happen? Or will the couple stay together? Watch and see. This movie is very funny and will have you laughing all the way through. 

The Seven Year Itch

The Seven Year Itch
Released Date: June 3, 1955
Director: Billy Wilder
Actors: Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes, Sonny Tufts, Robert Strauss, and Oskar Homolka

     Marilyn Monroe, was a huge hit in the 50s and had already developed problems with her second husband. The great baseball star, Joe DiMaggio. The marriage had only lasted nine months, and the marriage ended during this movie. This maybe one of her most well known films, not because of the fact she ended a very famous marriage, but also because she was the main, hot lead actress in this movie. This movie also holds the most famous shot of the great Miss Monroe. The picture of her in a white dress, standing over a train grate, and her dress goes flailing, as she laughs. That scene, was to have been the main breakup reason for the DiMaggio's. But the shooting of this picture was a hard one for Marilyn, not only did she have a divorce, but she was often late for shootings, and was also going through depression as well. She often forgot her lines, and it is said that she cost the movie a lot of money.

     The movie starts off with a man, taking his lovely family to the train station for the summer. They seem like a very happy, well knit family. Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell), after dropping his wife and son off, went to work like any other day. He talks to himself throughout the movie, and also letting his imagination run wild. He was to have quit smoking and drinking. Which, being alone for the whole summer, is all he wants to do. His wife, although trusting her husband, calls promptly at 10:00 PM. Which he believes is horrible, since he likes to go to bed at a reasonable time on a work night. Meanwhile, a new girl enters the apartment complex, right above the Sherman's, again, just for the summer. The girl is Marilyn Monroe, and as anyone would know, is a rather tall glass of water. Which would be nice to have during the summer, right? With your wife away? When he realizes that he is suffering from a very normal disease, known as the seven year itch (which is what one receives when they have been married for seven years), he decides between his wife and son, or the new girl up stairs.

     One thing I have always loved about such stars as Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, Ginger Rogers, Grace Kelly, Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis, and Lauren Bacall, just to name a few. Is the well known fact that they are, well seemed to have been, a healthy weight. Women are made of curves and also a little meat on their bones. Well these actresses, and many more from that era, are exactly what I mean. They look like they can gobble up a Hamburger, and chase that down with a Milkshake, and then walk it off, by walking home. I know that sounds funny, but that is a huge reason why actresses are (in my opinion) more beautiful back then, then they are now. 

All About Eve

All about Eve
Released Date: January 15, 1951
Directed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Actors: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Thelma Ritter and Marilyn Monroe

My grandma's favorite actress, she always said, was Bette Davis. And so I decided that the next movie I would write about is the one movie that by far has the greatest acting I have ever seen--All About Eve. It was made perfectly.

I think all the actors in this are absolutely perfect and Bette Davis still stole the show. Bette Davis had such confidence, she makes the rest of the women in the world look like insecure freaks. But the fact is, she was confident because she probably knew how truly wonderful she was at acting. She didn't just read the script but she became the script. Her most memorable line in this movie, and one of the best lines ever, was "fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night."  The movie is worth watching just to hear her deliver it!

Another person I enjoy in this movie is Thelma Ritter. She was funny and very on key. Her and Bette Davis became great friends. Thelma Ritter was a big star back in the day. Although she was not the main character in anything she played, she acted in a lot of movies.

This was Marilyn Monroe's first big movie and because of her insecurities, legend has it that Bette Davis made her cry on the set one day. Bette Davis and Gary Merrill had enjoyed their roles so much and thought so much of the couple they played that they both decided that they would make a great couple in real life. It ended in divorce as Gary ended up being abusive and Bette Davis knew better than to stay.

The movie is about a woman who becomes completely infatuated with an actress. She wants to become her, she wants to be the same actress, have the same clothes, same friends, same boyfriend, same everything. She ends up meeting her favorite actress and completely takes over as her maid. Bette Davis plays Margo Channing, who is the star and is also the stalked. The stalker is Anne Baxter. Anne Baxter played the part so well that I truly thought she was evil. I used to call her Anne Back Stabber. I also refused to watch The Ten Commandments because she was in it and I did not like her.

Parts of it may ring painfully true to every actor today because so many in show business have a stalker. If I could, Jake Gyllenhaal would be stalked by muah. I'm just kitten, I know Jake Gyllenhaal is reading this and probably follows me. Right????

Well I hope you end up watching this movie and I hope you like it. It is not only a classic, but one for the ages.