How Does It Begin, Clarice?

Porcelain Minnie Castavet and Rosemary Woodhouse

I find it rather hard to believe that Rosemary's Baby has never appeared on any Top Ten list I've ever done. Or has it? If not, it certainly should have been on just about every one of them (maybe not musicals, though I don't think I've done a Top Ten of those, yet). 

Think what you will about Roman Polanski, he's never been shy about delving into the darker sides of life. Based on Ira Levin's novel, the movie was a sensation when it was released in 1968 and rightfully so. Perfectly cast with some of the best actors of the era (and possibly of all time) and both wittily and creepily directed, Rosemary's Baby taps into so many Psycho-Religious-Paranoid-Horrifying things all at once, that it takes multiple viewings to fully appreciate it's brilliance, even 43 years after it was first released. Ruth Gordon rightfully won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as Minnie Castavet, the push,y elderly Satanist with a heart of coal. Mia Farrow got an infamous haircut and divorced Sinatra while making the movie.  And there are some amazing appearances from classic character actors Ralph Bellamy, Maurice Evans, Charles Grodin and Elisha Cook, Jr; as well as uncredited walk-ons/voice-overs from William Castle and Tony Curtis. 

A very amusing, anonymous Facebook friend (once known as Magnolia Thunderpussy but now going by Hilda Swandumper after the geniuses at Facebook realized Maggie T wasn't a real name) posted the photo above to a mutual friend's timeline. And I immediately coveted...

I reposted it, saying that anyone who bought me the Minnie Castavet doll would get me as a slave for one week a year for 10 years or 50 Saturdays, not to exceed two in a row. And I mean it. Yes, I have lots of 'stupid' things. I have both Mulder and Scully action figures; a Locutus action figure; a Frank-N-Furter action figure; a Norman Bates action figure; a remote controlled zombie; a zombie teddy bear and other assorted toys. But I would gladly give up a third of my collection to own a doll modeled after Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castavet. Of course, the two dolls are undoubtedly a set, though I hope the obviously inferior Mia Farrow as Rosemary doll doesn't decrease the value...

The true movie lunatics out there know exactly what I mean.

Genius.

More, anon.
Prospero

Happy Birthday, Hitch

Today is the 112th Birthday of probably the greatest movie director of all time, Alfred Hitchcock. By all accounts a bully on the set, Hitchcock's methods probably wouldn't be tolerated today. Still, say what you will about the man, he got the results he wanted and they usually paid off.

Ask me to name 10 of the greatest horror movies of all time, and 2 of them will be his. Ask me to name 10 of the greatest thrillers of all time, and 5 will be his.

I won't go on and on about his style and his camera work or even his obsession with beautiful blondes. There are enough books written about him and his films to fill an entire library. What I will go on about is the enduring quality of his movies. 31 years after his death, we still revere and talk about his movies (not to mention watch them over and over again). And while we may say a movie is "Speilbergian" or "Lynchian" or even "Felliniesque," he is probably the first director to have an adjective named for him. You know when a film is described as "Hitchcockian," you are in for a treat.

And there was also his TV series, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." At a time when the major studios feared television would kill the industry, Hitchcock embraced it. His weekly forays into the macabre are just as good as his films and his corny appearances at the beginning and end of each episode are iconic, if only for the fabulous silhouette into which he walked each week. So, to honor his memory (and my love of his works), here are a few of my favorite Hitchcock moments:

Who else would kill his star in the first 20 minutes of the picture?



Damn, Rod Taylor was hot!



Perhaps Bernard Herrman's best score of all time...



So creepy...



Jimmy Stewart... No!



Farley Granger... No!



Perry Mason... No!

If you younger readers are unfamiliar with the master's works, line up his films in your Netflix queue ASAP. You're missing out on true geniius.

Happy Birthday, Hitch. And thanks for so many great movie and TV memories.

More, anon.
Prospero