Penny Serenade

I know, I know, I am terrible at updates on Cary Grant. Please don't hate me!!!

So the next Cary Grant post is on the extreme tear jerker, "Penny Serenade." It is on Netflix streaming,and on Youtube, so after you are done reading this, you need to go watch it immediately, ok? Okay.

 Cary Grant and Irene Dunne play a young married couple. They are living in Japan when a earthquake destroys there home and causes Irene to have a miscarriage. It is revealed that she will never be able to bear children afterward. So, the couple decide to adopt a two-year old little boy. The baby turns out to be a much younger baby girl, and the first night she is with her new parents, it is quite obvious that they have no clue how to raise a child. Every time she makes a sound during the night they rush to her bedside,which, by the way, is an actual bed, that they have surrounded with pillows and chairs to ensure that the newborn (basically, the child hasnt reached toddlerhood yet, so it must be only a couple months old at the time of the adoption) doesn't fall off the bed.

The baby grows into an adorable toddler, but the couples newspaper business is not doing as well as they would hope, and the child is almost taken away from them. But Cary makes an emotional plea to the court to let them keep her, and afterward it is decided that they shall keep her. (Gosh, if Cary was like that as a father in real life, his daughter was mighty lucky haha).

She then gets to be about ten or so, and all of a sudden, she dies!!! Needless to say, the couple is traumatized, and their marriage falls apart...

Until the adoption agency tells them they have a little boy for them that matches their original request....a boy about  two years old to be exact... thankfully, this saves them and their marriage...

Holy Cow, talk about emotionally charged. You definitely have to see this. It is INCREDIBLE!!!!!! Make sure you have some kleenexes with you when you watch it though...

God Bless 'til I get back from Beeton-ton!!!

What you've all been waiting for....

Ok, so like I promised, I am providing you with my next post about Cary Grant....*insert sigh*

So, the Cary Grant movie this week is "An Affair to Remember." Talk about a movie that makes me CRY!!!! One of the greatest movies of all time, just sayin...

So Nickie Ferrante(Grant) is a famous playboy back in the day. He is engaged to the wealthy Lois Clark. Nickie isn't wealthy, and hasn't worked a day in his life, but the movie gives the impression that his family did come from wealth. Anyhow, while on a cruise near Europe, he meets the gorgeous Terry Mckay (Deborah Kerr). She is a singer and is engaged to Ken Bradley. While on the cruise, Nickie tries to woo Terry, but she is reluctant, as she knows his reputation. So when the cruise ship stops along the French Riviera, Nickie brings Terry to see his grandmother Janou, a wonderful, amazing old woman who instantly takes a liking to Terry, and they got along very well. Terry admires Janou's shawl, and it is made clear that Janou will not be alive much longer, when Janou says that someday soon, she will give it to her. Janou plays the piano, Terry sings, and then it is time for Janou and Nickie to leave. Nicki and Terry realize their love for each other before they reach New York City again, and plan to meet at the Empire State building in six months to get married, so they have enough time to make some money for their new life together. Nickie takes up painting again and Terry begins to sing as well. Six months later they are both rushing to the Empire State Building. On her way there, Terry gets hit by an automobile and can't make it to the building to meet Nickie. Meanwhile, Nickie is waiting at the top of the building for hours before he finally decides to go home. He is crushed.

It is revealed that Terry is paralyzed. She does not want to tell Nickie because she knows he will want to pay for her to get well, but she knows he doesn't have money, and she doesn't want her former fiance to help because if Nicki found out, he wouldn't be happy. So she doesn't let Ken help her, and she doesn't get ahold of Nicki to tell him what happened. Instead, she gets a job at a local church/ school, teaching children to sing. But when Ken brings Terry to a ballet, Nicki sees her there, but doesn't know that she is paralyzed. He thinks she has ditched him. 

It is also made known that Nicki has begun to sell his paintings, but there is one painting he does not want to sell. It is a painting of the now deceased Janou, and Terry. On christmas day, he finds Terry's apartment and brings her Janou's shawl. Terry is quite upset at Janou's passing, but she does not stand up from the couch obviously, and Nicki tries to make her feel guilty about not coming to the Empire state building, but Terry dodges the subject. Finally, Nicki mentions the painting he did not want to sell, but his agent sold to a woman in a wheelchair. Just as the words escape his mouth, Nicki realizes what happened and who the woman in the wheelchair was. He keeps talking but goes over to a door and opens it. There, in the next room, hanging on the wall is the painting. He rushes over to Terry and apologizes. and Terry tells him not to cry. "If you can paint, I can walk; anything can happen, don't you think?"

Sniff. I need a good romantic cry. I think I will go watch it...

God Bless 'til I get back from Beeton-ton!!!

Just like me...

Of course when I say I am gonna write weekly on Cary Grant it doesn't happen -_-
Ok, well, my next post will be on Grant....

This post is going to be about a young singer who is about my age, and who sings like he is 25-30 years old. He is awesome......
His name is Damian McGinty.

And he used to sing with the awesome choral group, "Celtic Thunder." He took a break from the group a little while back to  do a stint on the Glee Project and later on the actual Glee show. Damian, I think, would like the world to know his inspirations and be inspired by them as well. his inspirations? Michael Buble, Dean Martin, and FRANK SINATRA....
                                  

                             

Ok, Damian may be my newest favorite young singer of all time...seriously. I thought I was the only 20 year old who liked those people. I guess I was wrong...
Oh by the way, Damian is Irish... has a pretty intense accent too, let me tell you. But then again, I have a thing for accents... and dimples...and freckles... but thats beside the point....Damian has a GOLDEN VOICE.... just listen to this....

Ok, by now, I hope you get what I mean when I say this young Irish Charmer has "got what it takes." (I sincerely hope you get the reference to the Buble song that I just made :P) I wish him the best of luck :)

God bless 'til I get back from Beeton-ton!!!

Adam And That Rib Of His...

The iconic pair, the witty duo...Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. These two were just... WOW... It is like they belonged to each other from the moment they were born. They just fit together. I don't know how else to explain the chemistry between this actor and actress....

If you don't know what the title is referring to, it is looking back on the amazing film that these two made together, called "Adam's Rib." Of course, that wasn't the only movie the two made together. they made nine all together, I believe. Adams' Rib was made in 1949 and is the story of two lawyers, married to one another. As I can't simply try to explain this movie, I will simply show you the article that wikipedia has on the movie...

Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) follows her husband (Tom Ewell) with a gun one day and sees that he is having an affair with another woman (Jean Hagen). In her rage, she fires at the couple multiple times. One of the bullets hits her husband in the shoulder.

The following morning, married lawyers, Adam and Amanda Bonner (Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) read about the incident in the newspaper. The two argue over the case; Amanda sympathizes with the girl, particularly noting the double standard that exists for men and women regarding adultery, while Adam thinks she is guilty of attempted murder. When Adam arrives at work, he finds that he has been assigned the case (on the side of the prosecution). When Amanda hears this, she seeks out Doris and, to Adam's dismay, becomes her defense lawyer.

Amanda bases her case on the belief that women and men are equal, and that Doris had been forced into the situation through her husband's poor treatment. Adam feels she is showing a disregard for the law as there should never be an excuse for such behavior. Tension increasingly builds at home as the couple battle each other in court. The situation comes to a head when Amanda humiliates Adam during the trial, having her female witness pick him up, and Adam later storms out of their house. When the verdict for the trial comes in, Amanda's plea to the jury to "judge this case as you would if the sexes were reversed" proves successful, and Doris is found not guilty.

That night, Adam sees Amanda and their neighbor Kip (David Wayne), who has shown a clear interest in Amanda, together through the window. He breaks into the apartment, pointing a gun at the pair. Amanda is horrified, and says to Adam "You've no right to do this, nobody does!", which satisfies Adam as he feels he has proven his point about the injustice of Amanda's line of defense. He then puts the gun in his mouth, to which Amanda and Kip scream, but Adam merely bites down on it—the gun was made of liquorice. Amanda is furious with this prank, and a three-way fight ensues.

The couple is reluctantly reunited for a meeting with their accountant, where they talk about their relationship in the past tense. They soon become sad when talking about the farm they own, and realize how they love each other. They go to the farm, where Adam announces that he has been selected as the Republican nominee for County Court Judge. Amanda jokes about running for the role as the Democratic candidate.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam%27s_Rib

God Bless 'til I get back from Beeton-ton!!!!

Suave, Charming, Manly, Amazing Smile.... Sounds Like the Perfect Man, Doesn't It?

Well, that perfect man existed. And his name.... was Cary Grant. I adore Cary Grant, and so does my mom. Unfortunately....and fortunately, he made so many amazing, incredible, wonderful movies that I can't talk about just ONE in any certain blogpost. SO without further ado, I have decided to write about one Cary Grant movie each week, and I hope you will all begin to love him as much as my Mom and I do...

The first movie I'd like to talk about is the movie "Charade" Boy! Talk about Romance! Suspense! Treasure! Murder! CARY GRANT!!!! AUDREY HEPBURN!!!!! It's fascinating just by the sounds of it! I admit I hadn't watched it until this very evening, but believe me you, you better get on "hulu" this very minute and watch every single second of it! Almost two hours of Cary Grant! How in the world can you even resist watching it just to keep reading this blogpost! You must be immensely insane, dear friend...

Anyhow, Audrey Hepburn's husband gets murdered and a story surfaces that he stole 200,000 dollars from the U.S. government back during World War II with four other army buddies of his. One of those buddies has supposedly died and the other three want their money. And they all think Audrey has it. In comes the delectable Cary and claims that he is three different people at three different parts of the movie. But one thing is clear, he and audrey are falling in love. And the three army "buddies" get bumped off one by one. All of a sudden there are two thrilling chases, during which we find out that the one man Audrey does trust, a "Mr. Bartholemew" isn't really who he says, but the buddy who was supposedly dead! Crazy right!!!???? Anyhow, they find the source of the treasure and Audrey goes to return it, only to find out that the man she has to return the source to, happens to be none other than Cary Grant, who tells her his (finally!) real name and the two get engaged. Audrey remarks "I hope we have all boys so that we can name them all after you..." (Peter, Alex, Adam, and Brian).

All in all, it's a great film and you should definitely watch it sometime :)

God Bless 'til I get back from Beeton-ton!!!

Just Can't Get Me Enough!!!

While I don't have time to write a full fledged blog post today, I thought I might show you a video I made about a year ago for a class that I was in. It is a compilation of some of my favorite movies and actors/actresses.

I really do hope you enjoy it!

God Bless 'til I get back from Beeton-ton!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41mf8ENpVn4

The Reluctant Saint

The other night at COC, one of my friends gave a talk on the Saints, and the thought occurred to me "Why don't I write a blogpost about that one movie with Ricardo Montalban....uh....oh yeah- 'The Reluctant Saint.'" So I decided to write a blogpost about it haha.

Maximilian Schell stars as St. Joseph of Cupertino. The Italian man was rather slow witted and was forced to enter a monastery because his family didn't know what else he would be able to do with his life. Still, Joseph could not do well in his studies for the priesthood. But God had His own way, and Joseph became a priest. God began to work miracles through Joseph and he would levitate while celebrating the Mass or be enraptured by intense ecstasies. 

As I mentioned earlier,  Ricardo Montalban was also in this movie. He plays a priest who doubts the holiness of St. Joseph but then changes his mind after he sees some of the miracles performed by Joseph, rather like St. Thomas after the resurrection of Christ.

God bless 'til I get back from Beeton-ton!!

Lucille Ball.....maybe I should say Lucy Ricardo and then you'll know who it is ;)

I LOVE LUCY!!!!! No, really, I do.... I also love Ricky...and Ethel...and Fred....

At this point, if you don't know what I am talking about, I might just go into a corner and cry like a baby...
                                                                                                                                                                                 
                                       

On the other hand, you might just know exactly who and what I am talking about, and in that case... GOOD FOR YOU!!! For example, I was talking to my good friend Madeleine this morning, and I told her I was going to blog on the iconic "I Love Lucy" Show from the 1950s. She immediately said ecstatically, "Oh! That show is awesome. I love that show!"

And once you see one episode of Lucy Ricardo, you can't get enough, you just have to watch all of them! Lucy is married to the Cuban bandleader, Ricky Ricardo. Lucy gets into all sorts of scrapes and trouble (like getting a little buzzed off of Vitameatavegamin)... which makes Ricky angry most of the time and he then spouts off words in Spanish. And then with Ricky's thick accent, Lucy can easily make fun of him. But the two are obviously in love, and they love their neighbors/ landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz. Fred usually stands by Ricky, unless he is right alongside the girls trying to get famous in Ricky's floor show at "The Tropicana." And Ethel never deserts her good friend, Lucy, even when Lucy gets them both into terrible scrapes.... like working at a chocolate factory.

Old or young, "I Love Lucy," is a show for everyone.

Fascinating fact: Lucy and Ricky were married in real life. Their names were Desi and Lucy Arnaz. Unfortunately, shortly after the show ended, the two were divorced....sad isn't it?

God Bless 'til I get back from Beeton-ton!!!

Ps) The mistake Ricky makes in this clip was actually a real mistake haha!

Calamity!!!!!!!

Doris Day plays the historic Calamity Jane. Howard Keel (who played Adam in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) stars as her love interest, Wild Bill Hickok.

Talk about love triangles!!!----or actually a love square. As soon as Katie Brown (Allyn McLerie), comes into town at first masquerading as the gorgeous show girl, Adelaid Adams, the whole town of Deadwood is in an uproar. Once her true identity is known, Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin (who "calam" originally is infatuated with) and Bill Hickok beat each other up trying to win Katie's affections. So Calam thinks she loves Danny, who loves Katie, who loves Danny back, while bill also believes he is in love with Katie....Confusing isn't it? HAHA

Calam catches Katie and Danny together and is outraged. She tells Katie to get out of town and is confronted by Bill. The two realize their love for each other.

The next day, Calam heads into town to tell Katie she and Bill are getting married and to ask for forgiveness. But Katie has already left town. Calam races after the stagecoach on her horse and finally catches up with her. All is cleared up and Calam and Bill are married and Katie and Danny are as well.

All in all, it's a great film and has some GREAT songs, like "Higher than a Hawk" and "Secret Love," sung by Keel and Day, respectively. It also has some great humor that you just can't miss!!!!

God Bless 'Till I get back from Beeton-ton!!!

Easter Parade

Ok, I haven't written in some time. I truly am sorry. But I will make this post worth your while. Haha

Fred Astaire. What else do I really need to say? Any movie that the King of Dance is in is automatically going to be a classic. This is just one of his many classics. Joining him as his lead female costar is Judy Garland. She does an impeccable job as Hannah Brown. Peter Lawford and Anne Miller also join Astaire and Garland.

Astaire plays a vaudevillian dancer whose partner, Miller, deserts him because she is infatuated with Johnny, played by Lawford. Johnny on the other hand wants nothing to do with her other than be a friend. He wants to see the two back together. But Astaire takes on a new partner, played by Garland. Garland and Astaire see Miller walking in the Easter Parade and Fred promises that in one year, everyone in the parade will be looking at Judy and not at Miller.

Judy's and Fred's characters fall in love over the one year time period and Astaire almost louses up their romance and their dancing team. But Johnny, who originally had a crush on Garland, helps to patch things up and the two are brought together again and go to the Easter Parade, where Astaire proposes to Garland.

I've got to say, it is like my family's tradition to watch this movie every Easter Sunday, along with "It's A Wonderful Life" on Christmas Eve.

Anyhow, I hope ya'll had a wonderful and blessed Easter!

God Bless 'til I get back from Beeton-ton!!!