Movie Musical Challenge: Calamity Jane

In Movie Musical Challenge, I'm watching 20 films I picked as great films or films I wanted to watch.  This post is about the 1953 Western romp "Calamity Jane", starring Doris Day and Howard Keel.

I love a fun Western, and since this also has music, Doris Day, and Howard Keel, I was already completely on board with this.  And it is so much fun.  Seeing Doris Day as this "masculine", abrasive, rootin', tootin' and shootin' character might have been a stretch for me (because I associate her with feminine grace and perfect diction), but I still loved her portrayal and enjoyed seeing her in such a different role.  And truly she does a great job bringing Calamity Jane (or Calam) to life because she really committed to the part.

The actual story had some surprises for me - the cross dressing, the challenges on gender roles (although the female gender role was pretty clearly conservative with the song "A Woman's Touch") but I think the general fact that there were some instances where gender roles were blurred made the story more interesting, and of course more farcical.  This film is a great farce, with lots of misunderstandings and improbable situations.  It's definitely a romp!

My favorite song and scene in the film was the song between Calamity and Wild Bill Hickcok - "I Can Do Without You" which had some heavy "Anything You Can Do" (from Annie Get Your Gun) rivalry vibes with an undercurrent of attraction between the two characters.  And Doris Day was ludicrously swung around by Howard Keel's character during the number.

For the high shenanigans and the upbeat, catchy music, this movie was a great film to watch, and 1000%  a better choice for this challenge than my previous Doris Day film - Jumbo!

The Harry Potter Studio Tour

I have returned from my sojourn to England!  Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my blogging break post, and for everyone who kept up with my trip photos on instagram. :)  I definitely had a blast!

 I did a few literary things on my trip (and managed to finish two books - yay!) so it will be fun to recap things and get back to blogging.   Obviously today's post is all about the Harry Potter Studio Tour which was pretty magical, I have to say.  And it was surprising to me, that for a weekday, there were a lot of people going to the tour.  I mean, I know Harry Potter is uber popular, and the tour is awesome, but for some reason, I was thinking there wouldn't be such a crowd of visitors.  Maybe because the tour has been around for awhile now.  But it was nice to see the enthusiasm, and the little kids dressed up like wizards. :)

So the beginning of the experience - where we are sat in a theatre watching a taped introduction by Daniel, Emma and Rupert about the studio sets - to having the screen move up and reveal the doors to the Great Hall, was very cool.  It reminded me of the Star Trek Experience that used to be in Las Vegas, where we were assembled into a small room, and the lights went dark, there was a rush of air, and when the lights came back on the walls around us had been raised, and we were on the bridge of the Enterprise!  Of course we had just materialized there. LOL

So the tour begins in the Great Hall, where they have some of the costumes and the long tables that you see in the films.  It is a great beginning of the tour, as you feel like you've just arrived at Hogwarts, and there is the sorting hat, ready to put you in your house (please Sorting Hat, can I be in Ravenclaw??)

Continue reading →

Blogging Break

I'm going on a little trip to ye olde England, in one day (!!), so I'm putting this blog on break.  I'll be back May 23rd, with reviews, and probably a long recap of my time in the U.K.  I'm planning on visiting the Harry Potter studio tour (finally!) and also celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte's birth, by visiting all the Jane Eyre places I know and love.  I can't wait! :)

Thank you for being a follower of my blog, and I will talk to everyone again soon!  I'll still be on twitter and instagram probably, so see you around there!

Suspense Sundays (197) Consequence

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Consequence"

Air date: February 21, 1946
Starring Jimmy Stewart

>>Episodes here<<

Philip Wolf is unhappily married to Gwen, and when his mistress, Jo, decides to leave him, Philip is devastated.  A curious thing happens though - there's a fire and someone's body is mistaken for Philip and so he decides not to say anything.  He runs away with Jo and gets married  ready to be happy.  Only Gwen finds him and for her pride, demands that he returns and claim he had amnesia or something.  Philip thinks of another way out.

Such a strange story for Philip, divorce must have been so hard back then.  This is a very tragic story too, which I didn't like at all.  I did guess the twist, and was just hoping it wouldn't happen that way.  But this is a great suspense story, and Jimmy Stewart is wonderfully understated and resigned in the role of Philip Wolf.