Scarlett O'Hara's Best Looks

by Cláudio Alves

Since 1939, Gone with the Wind has been re-released countless times in American theaters. This year, it's enjoying another of those on April 7th, 8th, and 10th to celebrate the picture's 85th anniversary. While defined by gross politics and a nostalgic view of the Confederacy that was already cause for contestation by some in the 1930s, it endures as a symbol of Old Hollywood craftsmanship at its peak. Indeed, it's difficult to think of a production that better exemplifies the sheer ambition of the studio system, its grandeur, and stunning spectacle. Technical ingenuity abounds, as does an eye for powerful imagery. It's so beautiful that some of its shots endure as cultural artifacts, even when divorced from their origin.

Today, I want to celebrate one aspect of its splendor near and dear to my heart – the costumes by Walter Plunkett. Specifically, I've given Scarlett O'Hara the same treatment Bella Baxter got, and ranked her ten best looks…

Click to read more ...

How Had I Never Seen..."The Wild One" (1953)?

by Cláudio Alves

Today marks the Marlon Brando centennial, and what better way to celebrate than to explore the actor's filmography? In my case, I decided to plunge into one of those iconic pictures that, for some reason, had never crossed my path till today. It's 1953's The Wild One, the prototypical biker film from which many more sprung forth, a crystallization of midcentury rebellion as understood by Hollywood's paramount moralist, Stanley Kramer. He produced it as one of his social issue flicks, taking inspiration from a Harper's Magazine story that was, in itself, based on a series of events that took place in Hollister, California, 1947. Brando plays Johnny Strabler, leader of the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club…

Click to read more ...

Wyler, Kazan, Ashby, Scorsese – Who's Next?

by Cláudio Alves

Barbra Streisand in FUNNY GIRL was the last performance William Wyler directed to an Oscar win.

As stated in the Scorsese at the Oscars write-up, the Killers of the Flower Moon auteur is one of only four directors to have helmed Academy Award-winning performances in all acting categories. The others are William Wyler, Elia Kazan, and Hal Ashby, with the former having the record to end all records. Across 32 years, Wyler directed fourteen victorious turns, including multiple champions in the four races. Such a feat won't likely be equaled, but that doesn't mean the quartet is bound to stay put forever. Some directors are on the cusp of joining the ranks of Wyler, Kazan, Ashby, and Scorsese…

Click to read more ...

A Marilyn Monroe Top Ten

by Cláudio Alves

In June, we don't just celebrate Pride. For those in the know, it's also the time to honor the immortal memory of Marilyn Monroe, born in the dying breaths of spring, June 1926. As a birthday present to her fans, the Criterion Channel organized a sampling of the actress' best films, making a delicious collection everyone should check out. Inspired by that list, here's my own selection of Marilyn's peak, her ten most excellent performances in a career, a life, cut tragically short. After all, one mustn't confuse the iconographic impact with a lack of substance beyond the surface. Too many have done that already. 

Marilyn Monroe was a tremendous thespian, so seamless that people, in her time and our own, still assume character and interpreter were one and the same. In any case, let's forego defensiveness for joyful exultation. Without further ado, here's the Marilyn Monroe top ten, in chronological order, unranked…

Click to read more ...

Ophüls' "Letter from an Unknown Woman" is 75!

by Cláudio Alves

Born Maximillian Oppenheimer in 1902's Germany, Max Ophüls chose the pseudonym to avoid embarrassing his father as he pursued an acting career in theater. He'd change paths along the way, finding purpose in directing actors rather than reveling among them. Moreover, the paternal humiliation was never to be beyond the scandalous nature of theater since the man who would one day make tracking shots his calling card was a virtuoso. As the roaring twenties gave in to a new decade, Ophüls' ability would help him transition from the stage to the screen, where he began as a dialogue director at UFA.

But of course, being Jewish under the Nazi regime was deadly, so the director fled from Germany to France, stopping by Switzerland and Italy...

Click to read more ...