Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Classic Movies

I grew up watching RTM2. I remember that I could even know when they play reruns. Those days, we were fed by classic movies by Shirley Temple, Elizabeth Taylor and many more. Somehow, through this, I grew fond of those classic black-and-white movies and even musicals.

I also remember watching these 3 funny men (Curly, Moe and Larry) poking away at each other eyes and doing funny antics!! The three stooges . Not to forget another black-and-white comedy classic is Charlie Chaplin.

I was utterly delighted when my parents finally subscribed Astro (even though I wasn't living at home) but I could always come back and watch it! There was this channel called Turner Classic Movies which showed all these classic movies. Alas, not long after, the channel was removed. I was sooo sadd...

Nowadays, thankfully, I can find such movies being sold in the market (even though now it's more towards VCD). I'll wait for the DVD version sold at affordable prices later on. Here are some of my favourite movies, without any preference in their arrangement:

1. Breakfast in Tiffany's
Audrey Hepburn's most well-known role is that of Holly Golightly in this film. She plays a complicated, eccentric New York party girl who has her sights set on marrying a millionaire. George Peppard plays her neighbor, Paul "Fred" Varjak, a writer who is "taken care of" by a wealthy woman played by Patricia Neal. Based on the novel by Truman Capote, this film is brilliantly directed by Blake Edwards. Peppard's and Hepburn's characters are meant to be together, but it takes time for the insecure Holly to reach that conclusion.

The highlight of the movie is when she goes out, in the rain, looking for the kitten she threw out earlier. She looks so forlorn and sad. Not to mentioned the memorable song, Moon River, makes this movie one of the best so far! :)

2. Gone with The Wind
This film, based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, is a story told from the Southern point view during and after the Civil War. Directed by Victor Fleming, it stars Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes, and Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton. Scarlett, the spoiled, self-centered, rich girl is in love with Ashley, the upstanding, honorable young man. Ashley is engaged, then married to Melanie, a sweeter-than-humanly-possible young woman. Rhett is tough and arrogant, and he mistakenly thinks that he can win Scarlett's heart. He realizes too late that she will never truly love anyone but Ashley.

What stands out to me, is despite how spoiled Scarlett is, Rhett still loves her. She finally learns to be independent through all the hardship. When she realised her mistake of not loving Rhett, it's the momentous scene where Rhett says, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."