The Double Life of Hollywood

Quite a few observations over the past weeks, due to a productive trip to Los Angeles with my daughter, who is moving there to begin a creative career in the film production world.  Since I created my own highly concentrated film history self-education, I often react to places, events as if they are existing in a parallel film world.  My paternal grandfather also considered working on and behind the screen and took the family to Hollywood in 1924.  Peter Turner wrote of lunching with Joseph Schenck, with whom he shared a European/Galician background and he had modest prospects of opening a profitable orange juice stand to create revenues. However, my practical grandmother had bought round trip train tickets and they prematurely gave up on his dream to work as an actor or film editor.

We went to see Ralph Fienne's Coriolanus in a new ultra modern movie theatre in Westwood with leather sofas instead of seats.  Attendees were supposed to feel as if they were in their own living rooms but I'll pass on that experience for future movie watching. 

I heard a lot of recommendations for the foreign language (Farsi) film A Separation but went to see it upon my return to my hometown.  I'll endorse its theme of "women should be controlling the world instead of men" but can't say that it resonated much more with me.

This year’s crop of other award nominated films are mild mannered, pretty unoriginal movies and don’t have myself invested in the winning outcomes.  Many of them are well produced, but share an old fashioned tone, like Judge Judy’s lace collar sticking out of her robes.  War Horse, The Help, The Artist, Hugo, the Descendents offer nothing especially original.  War Horse’s cinematography and music score borrow heavily from Gone With the Wind.  It’s fine to include some familiarity but these lack any essential surprises in plot or presentation.

The Artist, favorite of most critics and predictors to win Best Picture, revisits the transition from silent to sound pictures.  It heavily steals from or creates an homage to Singing in the Rain, A Star is Born, Garson Kanin’s Hollywood, Bugsy, and irreverently reuses Bernard Hermann’s Vertigo score for its most climactic scenes.  I’m not a fan of action special effect flicks, but my overall reaction was disappointment. Hollywood makes a terrific background, but I’m more impressed with a fresh approach like Altman’s The Player. 

We went to CBS Studios at the Fairfax Market and were able to be in the participating audience at the Real Live Bill Maher show.   Great experience for us liberals who are devoted fans of Bill.  After driving my daughter to job interviews at other studios like Paramount, Universal, I suggested that we take the behind the scenes tour at Sony Culver City.  This is the facility that was used for the Columbia, MGM and Selznick movies Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Rebecca, Lost Horizon and It Happened One Night.   My reverence for the golden era of filmmaking was underlined when I recalled Garson Kanin’s story about the career of Ronald Colman. Colman, a British WWI wounded veteran had a successful stage career and then moved to Hollywood to star in silent films. Samuel Goldwyn lacked confidence in Coleman’s ability to carry a movie that would require his sound dialogue.  Goldwyn was proved wrong as Coleman's handsome appearance aged beautifully, but his voice proved to be his most valuable asset in movies such as Lost Horizon, Tale of Two Cities, Random Harvest.   His Oscar winning portrayal for The Double Life, playing a murderous actor who literally becomes Othello, was earned in his middle age.