Hey kids. Yours truly is going to be gone the next few days (until Monday night, to be exact), and since I seem to be traveling to the mountains of North Carolina where one is supposed to relax and get back to nature, I have no idea whether there will be any internet access. (I’m trying to deal … it’s hard.) But in my continued quest to make TCM the most watched cable network, I thought it was my duty to inform you that this Friday night the world’s best movie channel will air one of the world’s all-time best movies.
Actually, they happen to be showing The Wizard of Oz too — the theme of the night is shoes, believe it or not — but never mind that. You’ve seen Dorothy and Toto dozens of times. Far more important is at 11 PM Eastern (8 Pacific), TCM will show Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger‘s stunningly brilliant and beautiful 1948 adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Red Shoes. Simply put, this film is absolutely one of the best movies ever made, and should easily fit into almost anyone’s top 10. Pairing the film with The Wizard of Oz, as I’m sure it must have been before, is pure genius. The title shoes in this film and what happens to the heroine who wears them is a very different experience from Dorothy and her Ruby slippers. The Red Shoes is in some ways a Star Is Born tale; in this case, a young ballerina has to decide between being faithful to her the impresario who is helping her become a star and the young composer with whom she has fallen in love. The film’s climax during which the ballerina dances the ballet of “The Red Shoes” is one of the most mesmerizing and beautiful sequences committed to celluloid. There are only a handful of films I can think that I would recommend more highly than The Red Shoes. If you’ve never seen it, watch it or record it on TCM on Friday. If you don’t get TCM, rent it. Netflix has it, and as befits such a brilliant film, the DVD is a terrific Criterion release.
This is actually an interesting month on TCM, especially starting Monday 7/5 when they will broadcast a week called Sudden Endings”: the films of “stars who died before their time.” Creatively (or morbidly) enough, each night features stars who died a certain way. For example, the whole thing kicks off on 7/5 at 8 PM with Giant, the last film starring James Dean. That evening features stars who died in “Tragic Crashes,” like the great Carole Lombard. One Tuesday 7/6, the films feature actors who died due to “Unusual Circumstances,” including Marilyn Monroe’s last, The Misfits. And on Thursday, as part of night one of “Natural Causes,” they’re showing one of Steve McQueen’s best performances in The Cincinatti Kid.
Anyway, that’s it for me until next week probably. If I have the opportunity, I will be posting my reactions to Spider-Man 2 — probably the best super-hero/action film I’ve ever seen; and what I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for, my review of The Brown Bunny. Yes, folks, I caught a screening of Vincent Gallo’s latest on Tuesday night, in what is apparently the final theatrical release form. (It will be coming to theaters in NY and LA at the end of August.) And in case you were worried, the blow job is still in the film, so you will all have the chance to laugh at Chloë Sevigny while you suppress the vomit induced by seeing Gallo’s penis … at full staff.
See … you have something to look forward to! If I’m not back here before then, Happy 4th! And if you can’t figure out a way to celebrate this great country’s independence day, go take in a movie. This one would be especially appropriate.
Out of Focus 