Tempero do Amor (1963) / The Thrill of It All (1963)

 

No começo do filme, uma mulher em êxtase faz todas as pessoas dentro de um elevador rirem histericamente. Ela tem motivos para rir: depois de vinte anos tentando, ela finalmente engravidou! Esta mulher é a senhora Fraleigh (Arlene Francis), e ela não teria engravidado sem a ajuda de seu obstetra, Gerald Boyer (James Garner). Para comemorar, a senhora Fraleigh convida o doutor e a esposa Beverly (Doris Day) para jantar.

In the beginning of the film, an ecstatic woman makes everybody in an elevator laugh histerically. She has reasons to laugh: after twenty years trying, she finally got pregnant! This woman is Mrs Fraleigh (Arlene Francis), and she couldn’t have become pregnant without the help of her obstetrician, Gerald Boyer (James Garner). To celebrate, Mrs Fraleigh invites the doctor and his wife Beverly (Doris Day) over for dinner.

No jantar os Boyers conhecem o sogro da senhora Fraleigh, Tom (Reginald Owen), um homem de negócios. Beverly conta que ela está usando o produto que ele vende, o sabão Happy. Tom convida Beverly a fazer uma propaganda do sabão. A experiência é um desastre, mas os consumidores amam Beverly, que é então convidada para ser garota-propaganda do sabão.

At the dinner party the Boyers meet Mrs Fraleigh’s father-in-law, Tom (Reginald Owen), a businessman. Beverly tells she’s using the product he sells, Happy Soap. Tom invites Beverly to appear in an advertisement for the soap. The experience is a disaster, but consumers love Beverly, who is then invited to be the spokeswoman for Happy Soap.

Estamos na época da televisão ao vivo. As atrações, como peças, eram encenadas ao vivo em frente às câmeras e transmitidas para todos os aparelhos de TV. E assim eram também feitos os comerciais: ao vivo, sem segunda chance. Há uma piada no filme, sobre as histórias das peças para TV serem todas iguais, de modo que até uma criança poderia apontar a semelhança entre os programas. A TV e o cinema tinham, ainda naquele tempo, uma rivalidade, e, ao contrário do que é mostrado no filme, a minoria das casas tinha TV a cores.

This was the time of live television. The plays were acted out live in front of the cameras and broadcasted to all the TV sets. So were the commercials made: live, without a second chance. There is a joke in the movie, about the plots of these TV plays being always the same, so similar that even a child could tell the similarities. TV and the movies had, at the time still, a rivalry, and, contrary to what is shown in the film, most houses didn’t have color TVs.

Numa cena Beverly lê numa revista que, em alguns casos, tarefas domésticas não são suficiente para uma mulher se sentir realizada, não sendo elas gratificantes o bastante. Ela usa isso para convencer o marido, que não quer que ela tenha uma carreira paralela, que está tudo bem se ela trabalhar com propaganda. Ela pode ter hobbies como ir a reuniões na escola e fazer seu próprio ketchup, mas ela quer mais.

In a scene Beverly reads from a magazine that, in some cases, household chores are not enough for a woman to fill fulfilled, they’re simply not gratifying enough. She uses this to convince her husband, who doesn’t want her to have a parallel career, that it’s OK if she works in advertisement. She may have hobbies such as PTA meetings and making her own ketchup, but she wants more.

O horário de trabalho do doutor Gerald é confuso porque bebês nem sempre nascem na data calculada. Ele frequentemente tem de sair de casa no meio da noite para ajudar num parto, algo que hoje não é tão comum por causa das desastrosas cesáreas agendadas, que são boas para os médicos, mas péssimas para os bebês e as mães. Com Beverly fazendo os comerciais à noite, Gerald e ela mal se veem dentro de casa.

Dr Gerald’s work schedule is hectic because babies aren’t always born on their due dates. He often has to leave house in the middle of the night to deliver a baby, something that is not so common anymore because the unfortunate advent of the scheduled C-sections, that are good for doctors, but awful for babies and mothers. With Beverly doing the commercials at night, Gerald and her often don’t meet in their house.

Gerald se enfurece não somente porque não encontra Beverly em casa. Ele fica bravo quando ela é reconhecida num restaurante e ele é ignorado. Ele até mesmo diz que o fato de que ela está ganhando seu próprio dinheiro “sufoca seus direitos de homem”. E então ele luta com a única arma que ele acha que Beverly vai entender: o ciúme.

Gerald gets bitter not only because he and Beverly don’t see each other often at home. He becomes angry when she’s recognized in a restaurant and he’s ignored. He even says that the fact that she’s earning her own money “suffocates his rights as a man”. Then he starts fighting with the only weapon he thinks Beverly cares about: jealousy.

Foi arriscado explorar a condição da senhora Fraleigh no film, pois o Código Hays proibia que o cinema tratasse de gravidez e parto, mas esta proibição já estava mais relaxada em 1963. Não era somente proibido: era pouco elegante mostrar uma mulher grávida, por isso elas escondiam a barriga em roupas bastante largas.

It was tricky to explore Mrs Fraleigh’s condition in this film, as the Hays Code prohibited to talk about pregnancy and childbirth on film, but it was already weaker in the early 1960s. It wasn’t only prohibited: it wasn’t fashionable to show that a woman was pregnant, so she hid her bump in oversized clothes.

Como Olivia, empregada dos Boyer, temos ZaSu Pitts. Seu papel é mais uma participação de luxo, pois Olivia tem duas ou três cenas antes de ir embora no meio do filme. Pitts faleceu seis semanas antes da estreia de “Tempero do Amor”. O IMDb lista 223 créditos para a atriz tanto no cinema quanto na televisão, começando em 1917. Como ela costumava roubar as cenas, em muitas ocasiões suas cenas eram cortadas, o que levou o diretor Alfred E. Green a declarar que o rosto dela “esteve em mais chãos de salas de edição do que qualquer outra atriz”.

As the Boyers’ maid Olivia we have ZaSu Pitts. Her role is more like a deluxe cameo, as Olivia has two or three scenes before going away in the middle of the film. Pitts died six weeks before “The Thrill of It All” was released. IMDb gives her 223 credits on both film and TV, starting in 1917. Because she was a great scene-stealer, in many occasions her scenes ended up being cut, which led director Alfred E. Green to say that her face “has been in more cutting-room floors than any other actress”.

Indicado a sete Oscars, o diretor Norman Jewison começou sua carreira na televisão em 1952. “Tempero do Amor” foi apenas seu segundo longa-metragem. Jewison foi duramente criticado pelo crítico de cinema britânico Richard Whitehall, que odiou o filme e disse que Jewison tinha de ser um “gênio pervertido” para transformar uma ideia engraçada em um filme tão sem graça. Nós discordamos.

Seven-time Academy Award nominee, director Norman Jewison had started his career in 1952 on television. “The Thrill of It All” was only his second feature. Jewison was heavily criticized by the British film critic Richard Whitehall, who hated the movie and said that Jewison had to be “a perverted genius” to transform a funny idea into this unfunny movie. We disagree.

A moral do filme ainda é antiquada: “não há nada mais recompensador na vida do que ter um bebê”. É impossível não sorrir com Doris Day, mesmo como a atrapalhada dona de casa que virou uma estrela, mas o charme da conclusão só é parcialmente agradável. Não podemos esperar modernidade de um filme feito há mais de 60 anos, mas este aponta que os tempos e as coisas estavam mudando em 1963.

The moral of the movie is still old-fashioned: “there is nothing more fulfilling in life than having a baby”. It’s impossible not to smile with Doris Day, even as the clumsy housewife-turned-star, but the charm in the conclusion is only partially pleasant. We cannot expect modernity from a film that is over 60 years old, but this one points that times and things were changing in 1963.

This is my contribution to the Norman Jewison blogathon, hosted by Rebecca at Taking Up Room.

Book review: Alfred Hitchcock’s Moviemaking Master Class, by Tony Lee Moral

 

“He pioneered and revolutionized the way all kinds of stories were told on screen.” Who could be that we’re talking about? None other than the Master of Suspense - and, as described in the book, suspense is the stretching out of anticipation -: Alfred Hitchcock. Because every story - even the love stories - could use a bit of suspense, Hitchcock’s influences can be seen in all of cinema and even in other arts. I once searched and found out that there were more than 2,600 books written about Hitchcock, according to the Goodreads database. Another one comes to the batch: Tony Lee Moral’s “Alfred Hitchcock’s Moviemaking Master Class”. Is it a good addition or an unnecessary new book? Let us see.

Through examples from Hitchcock’s oeuvre, the book teaches things such as pitching a story to a producer, choosing the theme of the film, writing the screenplay, exploring your background scenario and props to the maximum, storyboarding key scenes, working with actors (who are not cattle), exercising camera logic, the importance of editing and how to advertise your film.

The sub-sections of the chapters are short and straight to the point. Nothing is discussed in a deeper focus, and this isn’t a problem. Once the point has been made about the section’s title, it’s time to move on. This makes reading easy and in a nice flow. However, to Hitchcock’s experts, there is very little that they haven’t heard about. In the end of each chapter, something different appears: exercises and tips about movies to watch and books to read to further the ideas presented in the chapter.

Writing the screenplay is given a whole chapter. A job divided in the outline, the treatment and the screenplay, this is explored in deep focus, which is no surprise considering that writing the screenplay was Hitchcock’s favorite part of making a movie. He closely followed the writing of the screenplays for his movies, but, preferring to focus on telling a story visually, he left the dialogues for his screenwriters.

There is also a whole chapter devoted to how Hitchcock cut and assembled his films. The author explains how the director portrayed a character’s reaction through cutting - using the Kuleshov effect - and how he created fear and depicted violence also through cutting - by choosing to show several close-ups instead of the violent act: this is what happens in the shower murder scene in “Psycho” (1960). We then learn about how Hitch used jump cuts, match cuts and cross-cuts to establish ideas and develop the plots of his films.

We can find the definition and exemplification of terms such as the famous McGuffin and the “ice box syndrome”, that is, the holes left in the plot that become debates once the viewers leave the movie theater and hit home. One very interesting term I learned - and something Hitchcock used in many movies - is the double chase: when the hero is persecuted at the same time by the police and the villains. Another learning opportunity came with the discussion of the Vertigo Shot and how it was achieved, zooming in on camera and having the camera dollying back simultaneously.

We have the comparison between leading men Cary Grant and James Stewart. Grant was the debonair seductive man Hitchcock wanted to be, while Stewart was the boy-next-door type. The author said Stewart was the man Hitchcock actually was, but I just partially agree with this affirmation.

There is, of course, valuable advice and many great catchphrases, such as: “When characters are unbelievable, you never get real suspense, only surprise.”; “Surprise takes 10 seconds; anticipation can take an hour.”; “A successful movie juxtaposes tension and relaxation, and relieves horror with humor.”; “He was a purist and believed that film is a succession of images on the screen; this in turn creates ideas, which in turn creates emotion, which only seldom leads to dialogue.”

There are quotes from other directors about how Hitchcock influenced them, and plenty of examples of Hitchcockian non-Hitchcock movies. We can also find quotes from stars who worked with Hitch, such as Eva Marie Saint and Kim Novak, as well as quotes from people who were part of the crew in some Hitchcock movies.

There are also plenty of inspiring quotes from Hitchcock himself, such as: “A film cannot be compared to a play or a novel. It is closer to a short story, which, as a rule, sustains one idea that culminates when the action has reached the highest point of the dramatic curve.”; “Mystery is an intellectual process, as in [solving] a ‘whodunit’…but suspense is essentially an emotional process. With suspense it’s necessary to involve emotion.”; “I think a director should understand the psychology of audiences,”; “People don’t often always express their inner thoughts to one another; a conversation might be quite trivial, but often the eyes reveal what a person thinks or feels.”; “For me, suspense doesn’t have any value unless it’s balanced by humor,”; “A woman of elegance, on the other hand, will never cease to surprise you.”; “ The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture”; “ Sex on the screen should be suspenseful, I feel. If sex is too blatant or obvious, there’s no suspense.”; “You can’t direct intelligent men, the things that should come to them naturally, such as hesitancies.”

Alma Reville, Hitchcock’s wife and constant collaborator who helped shape many screenplays, is only briefly cited as the one who saw that Janet Leigh blinked after her character Marion was murdered in “Psycho”. Another mistake in the book is saying that the French term for “pre-production” is “mise-en-scène” - it simply isn’t. Some sentences are poorly written and there are some typos that a more accurate revision would have erased, as well as factual errors - Anny Ondra wasn’t on the cast list for “The Lodger” (1927).

The Master of Suspense - who was also the master of branding - is as relevant as ever, no matter that he died over forty years ago. As the book says, there is always something new and exciting to find out when rewatching Hitchcock’s films. We, creatives, can also learn something new by rewatching his movies. Tony Lee Moral, an expert in Hitch, offered us valuable advice in this tight and thought-provoking book.

Beco Sem Saída (1937) / Dead End (1937)

 Como toda cidade grande, Nova York é uma cidade de contrastes. Os ricos e os pobres coexistem, muitas vezes num mesmo bairro. É num destes bairros que se passa a ação do filme “Beco Sem Saída”. E, graças a uma brilhante direção de arte, realmente sentimos que estamos neste local de contrastes junto com os personagens.

 

Like any big city, New York is a city of contrasts. The rich and the poor coexist, sometimes in the same neighborhood. It’s in one of those neighborhoods that the film “Dead End” is set. And, thanks to its brilliant art direction, we really feel we’re in this place of contrasts with the characters.

Da sua janela num cortiço, Drina (Sylvia Sidney) pode ver a casa onde vive Kay Burton (Wendy Barrie). Kay está saindo com o amigo de infância de Drina Dave (Joel McCrea), um arquiteto à procura de trabalho. Contaminado pelos valores de Kay, Dave quer demolir o cortiço e construir casas decentes para gente decente. Drina, que gosta de Dave, fica de coração partido com o plano dele.  

 

From her window at a tenement, Drina (Sylvia Sidney) can see the house where Kay Burton (Wendy Barrie) lives. Kay is seeing Drina’s childhood friend Dave (Joel McCrea), an architect seeking a job. Contamined by Kay’s values, Dave wants to put the tenement on the ground and build decent houses for decent people. Drina, who likes Dave, is heartbroken by his plan.

Andando pelo cortiço temos dois homens e um deles diz que seu nome é Johnson (Humphrey Bogart). Ele na verdade cresceu naquele bairro e foi mandado para o reformatório quando adolescente – afinal, ele já matou oito homens! Ele está procurando uma antiga namorada, Francey (Claire Trevor), mas o reencontro não será como ele esperava.

 

Hanging around the tenement there are two guys and one of them says his name is Johnson (Humphrey Bogart). He actually grew up there but was sent to reform school as a teenager – after all, he already killed eight men! He is looking for an old girlfriend, Francey (Claire Trevor), a meeting that won’t happen as he expected.

Mais do que Drina e Dave, o filme é sobre uma gangue de garotos que vivem no cortiço, cujo líder é o irmão mais novo de Drina, Tommy (Billy Halop). Ela diz que os meninos não prestam, e o diz com convicção. Tommy se mete em problemas quando a gangue incomoda e agride o menino rico Philip (Charles Peck), que é sobrinho de um juiz.

 

More than Drina and Dave, the movie is about a gang of boys who live in the tenement, whose leader is Drina’s younger brother Tommy (Billy Halop). She says the boys are no good, and she means it. Tommy gets in trouble when the gang picks on and beats the rich boy Philip (Charles Peck), who is the nephew of a judge.

Os meninos da gangue são interpretados por um grupo de jovens atores que ficaram conhecidos como “the Dead End Kids”. Eles vieram de um dos mais violentos bairros de Nova York e apareceram na peça de teatro “Beco Sem Saída”, depois neste filme, e depois novamente nos cinemas em “Anjos de Cara Suja” (1938) – curiosamente, mais um filme com Humphrey Bogart num papel secundário e vilanesco. Samuel Goldwyn teve a ideia de trazer os meninos do teatro para o estúdio, mas se arrependeu quando eles começaram a aprontar no local. O sexteto original fez três filmes e se separou para cada um se concentrar em carreira solo.

 

The boys from the gang are played by a group of young performers who became known as “the Dead End Kids”. They came from the toughest New York neighborhood and appeared on the stage production of “Dead End”, then this film, then again on screen with “Angels with Dirty Faces” (1938) – curiously, another film with Humphrey Bogart in a secondary and heavy role. Samuel Goldwyn had the idea to bring the boys from the theater to the studio, but regretted as they ran mischievously through the place. The original sextet made three films together and split to have solo careers.

Humphrey Bogart é apenas o terceiro nome nos créditos, mas tem bastante tempo na tela. Seu diálogo com sua amarga mãe, que ele não via há dez anos, é emocionante. Ele teve no ano anterior muito sucesso com “A Floresta Petrificada” e ia ganhando reconhecimento como o grande ator que era. Ele não foi, entretanto, a primeira escolha para o papel que interpretou em “Beco Sem Saída”: o produtor Samuel Goldwyn queria James Cagney para o papel, e Bogart só foi escolhido depois que George Raft recusou o papel.

 

Humphrey Bogart is only third billed, but he receives a decent amount of screen time. His conversation with his bittered mother, who he hadn’t seen in ten years, is poignant. He had a big hit in the previous year’s “The Petrified Forest” and was gaining recognition as the great actor he was. He wasn’t, however, the first choice for the role he played in “Dead End”: producer Samuel Goldwyn wanted James Cagney cast instead, and Bogart was only chosen when George Raft declined the role.

Embora sua década de maior sucesso tenha sido a de 1950, William Wyler trabalhava como diretor desde 1925. Nascido em 1902 no que era então o Império Alemão, Wyler era primo de Carl Laemmle, chefe dos Estúdios Universal, que o contratou para trabalhar no cinema em 1921, primeiro movendo objetos de cena, depois como assistente de edição. Quando fez “Beco Sem Saída” Wyler já havia recebido sua primeira indicação ao Oscar de Melhor Diretor, por “Fogo de Outono” (1936).

 

Although he would see more success in the 1950s, William Wyler’s first credit as a director is from a 1925 short. Born in 1902 in what was back then the German Empire, Wyler was the cousin of Carl Laemmle, head of the Universal Studios, who hired him to work in film in 1921, first moving props around, then as first assistant editor. When he made “Dead End” Wyler had already been nominated for his first Best Director Oscar, for “Dodsworth” (1936).

O roteiro foi escrito por Lillian Hellman, baseado na popular peça. A própria Lillian era uma exitosa dramaturga, com sucessos na Broadway como “The Children’s Hour”, “The Little Foxes” e “Watch on the Rhine”, que foram todos adaptados mais tarde para o cinema. Ela foi indicada a dois Oscars e entrou para a lista negra nos anos 1950 quando se recusou a responder às perguntas do Comitê de Atividades Anti-Americanas.

 

The screenplay was written by Lillian Hellman, based on a popular play. Lillian herself was a successful playwright, with Broadway hits such as “The Children’s Hour”, “The Little Foxes” and “Watch on the Rhine”, all of which were adapted to the screen later. She was nominated for two Oscars and was blacklisted in the 1950s when she refused to answer the questions of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

A brilhante direção de fotografia ficou a cargo de Gregg Toland, que é mais conhecido por seu trabalho revolucionário em “Cidadão Kane” (1941). Pela atmosfera criada pela câmera de Toland, “Beco Sem Saída” pode até mesmo ser considerado um proto-noir ou um filme tardio no sub-gênero de filmes de gângster que era tão comum no início dos anos 1930. William Wyler e Gregg Toland fizeram seis filmes juntos e poderiam ter colaborado mais se Gregg não tivesse morrido prematuramente em 1948.

 

The great cinematography is by Gregg Toland, who is better known for his revolutionary job in “Citizen Kane” (1941). By the mood created by Toland’s camera, “Dead End” could even be labeled as a proto-noir or a late entry in the gangster movie genre that was so common in the early 1930s. William Wyler and Gregg Toland worked in six films together and could have collaborated more if it wasn’t for Toland’s premature death in 1948.

“Beco Sem Saída” foi indicado a quatro Oscars: Melhor Filme, Direção de Fotografia, Direção de Arte e Atriz Coadjuvante para Claire Trevor, que tem apenas uma cena de cinco minutos e cuja doença não pôde ser mencionada por causa, vocês sabem, do Código Hays. As performances de todo o elenco são ótimas, mas o filme é realmente uma festa para os olhos, pois reconstrói em um estúdio em Hollywood o microcosmo de um de tantos bairros em Nova York.

 

“Dead End” was nominated for four Oscars: Best Picture, Cinematography, Art Direction and Supporting Actress for Claire Trevor, who has only five minutes of screen time and whose disease couldn’t be said out loud because, you know, of the Hays Code. The performances of the whole cast are great, but the film is actually a feast for the eyes, as it reconstructs in a Hollywood studio the microcosmos of one of so many New York neighborhoods.

Rouxinol da Broadway (1951) / Lullaby of Broadway (1951)

 Quando, logo depois de vermos os créditos na tela tendo ao fundo a clássica melodia “Lullaby of Broadway”, somos introduzidos a uma Doris Day sapateando usando um smoking, sabemos quer vem coisa boa por aí. Afinal, trata-se de um filme de Doris Day como tantos outros da estrela: uma lufada de ar fresco e (quase) sem problemas por 90 minutos.

 

When, right after seeing the credits roll by the tune of the classic “Lullaby of Broadway”, we are introduced to a tap-dancing Doris Day wearing a tuxedo, we know we’re in for a treat. It’s, after all, another Doris Day movie like so many others from the star: a breath of fresh air and (almost) no problems for 90 minutes.

Doris Day é Melinda Howard, que é vista pela primeira vez cantando e dançando num espetáculo para a caridade num navio em alto mar. Ela está indo para Nova York visitar a mãe, Jessica (Gladys George), que é uma estrela da Broadway. Mas Jessica Howard não está vivendo dias de glória: ela bebe demais e pode ser encontrada cantando em clubes de quinta categoria. Para esconder esta realidade de Melinda, a ela é dito que a mãe está em turnê e lhe apresentam o Sr Hubbell, o proprietário da casa cujo endereço a mãe deu a ela.

 

Doris Day is Melinda Howard, who is first seen singing and dancing in a show for charity in a ship mid-sea. She is going to New York to visit her mother, Jessica (Gladys George), who is a Broadway star. But Jessica Howard isn’t living her most glorious days: she drinks too much and can be found singing at crappy clubs. To hide this reality from Melinda, she is told that her mother is on tour and introduced to Mr Hubbell, the owner of the house that matches the address her mother gave her.

A casa do Sr Hubbell (S.Z. Sakall) respire cultura. Seus criados foram estrelas do vaudeville. Ele patrocina shows da Broadway e dá festas para as estrelas. E é numa dessas festas que Melinda reencontra Tom Farnham (Gene Nelson), com quem ela tinha conversado no navio. Eles logo se dão bem e no momento seguinte são contratados para aparecerem juntos num show.

 

Mr Hubbell’s (S.Z. Sakall) house breathes culture. His servants were once vaudeville artists. He sponsors Broadway shows and throws parties for its stars. And it’s in one of those parties that Melinda meets again Tom Farnham (Gene Nelson), with whom she had spoken in the ship. They soon hit it off and the next thing we know they are appearing together in a show.

Gene Nelson não é o primeiro, segundo ou terceiro nome em que pensamos quando falamos de protagonistas de musicais. Nelson quis se tornar um cantor e dançarino porque via Fred Astaire - que é mencionado no filme quando uma garotinha pede um autógrafo para Tom e diz que ela o considera o melhor dançarino do mundo. Nelson havia acabado de ganhar o Globo de Ouro de Novato Mais Promissor quando foi escalado para “Rouxinol da Broadway”, num movimento da Warner Bros para testar protagonistas que pudessem substituir o pouco cooperativo Gordon MacRae. Em 1957 Gene Nelson se envolveu num acidente com um cavalo que acabou com sua carreira como protagonista, mas ele conseguiu uma segunda carreira como diretor de cinema e TV.

 

Gene Nelson isn’t the first, second or third leading man we think about when we talk about musicals. Nelson was inspired to become a song-and-dance man by watching Fred Astaire - who is mentioned in the film when a little girl asks Tom for an autograph saying she thinks he’s the greatest dancer in the world. Nelson had just received the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer when he was cast in “Lullaby of Broadway”, in a Warner Bros move to test leading men who could replace uncooperative Gordon MacRae. In 1957 Gene Nelson was involved in a horse accident that ended his career as a leading man, but he started a new page as a director on film and TV.

O ator coadjuvante S.Z. Sakall tem uma chance de brilhar em “Rouxinol da Broadway”. Este foi o quarto filme que ele fez com Doris Day, que sempre se lembrou dele com carinho. Nascido em Budapeste, Hungria, ele começou a atuar na década de 1910 e trabalhou na Alemanha até a chegada dos nazistas ao poder. Ele voltou para a Hungria, onde seguiu trabalhando, mas migrou em 1940 quando o país se juntou ao Eixo fascista. Contratado da Warner Bros, apareceu em dezenas de filmes, mas seu mais famoso provavelmente é “Casablanca” (1942), num papel que ele quase recusou quando lhe foi oferecido.

 

Character actor S.Z. Sakall has a chance to shine in “Lullaby of Broadway”. This was the fourth film he made with Doris Day, who always remembered him fondly. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he started acting in the 1910s and worked in Germany until the Nazis took the power. He went back to Hungary, where he kept working, but left in 1940 when the country joined the fascist Axis. Under contract with Warner Bros, he appeared in dozens of films, but his most famous might be “Casablanca” (1942), in a role that he almost refused when he was offered.

Todos os números musicais são inseridos no context de algum tipo de apresentação, teatro, como ensaio ou outra coisa. As canções são bonitas e algumas delas podem até ser descritas como “memoráveis”. O disco de Doris Day com músicas deste filme ficou em primeiro lugar na lista da Billboard.

 

All the musical numbers are in the context of some kind of presentation, theatrical, as a rehearsal or other. The songs are sweet and some of them could even be described as “memorable”. Doris Day’s LP with songs from this movie was placed number one on the Billboard chart.

O título no Brasil para o filme é “Rouxinol da Broadway”. Um rouxinol é um pássaro cantor cujo canto pode ser ouvido tanto à noite - daí o nome em inglês, “nightingale” - quanto de dia. Rouxinóis são associados com a arte, a poesia em particular, por causa de seu canto criativo e espontâneo. Há apenas um problema: Doris Day não poderia ser um rouxinol porque apenas os machos da espécie cantam!

 

The Brazilian title for this film is “Broadway Nightingale”. A nightingale is a singing bird whose song can be heard both at night - which gives it the name in English - and day. Nightingales have been associated with the arts, poetry in particular, because of how creative and spontaneous their singing is. There is only one problem: Doris Day couldn’t be a nightingale because only male nightingales sing!

Doris Day fez, apenas em 1951, quarto filmes. Bem-sucedido e lucrativo, “Rouxinol da Broadway” mostra os talentos dela como cantora e dançarina e nos diverte como só Doris Day sabia fazer.

 

Doris Day appeared in four movies in 1951 alone. Succesfull and profitable, “Lullaby of Broadway” showcases her singing and dancing talents and entertains us like only Doris Day could do.

 

This is my contribution to the Seventh Broadway Bound Blogathon, hosted by Rebecca at Taking Up Room.

O Ponteiro da Saudade (1945) / The Clock (1945)

 

Ela tinha 23 anos e estava apaixonada quando chegou a oportunidade de mostrar que ela era mais que uma carinha bonita com uma voz maravilhosa. Estamos falando de Judy Garland e seu filme romântico “O Ponteiro da Saudade” (1945).

 

She was twenty-three and in love when the opportunity arrived to show that she was more than a pretty face with a marvelous voice. We are talking about Judy Garland and her 1945 romantic movie “The Clock”.

Joe Allen (Robert Walker) é um soldado que tem dois dias de licença para explorer Nova York. Ele sequer havia deixado a estação de trem Pennsylvania Station quando Alice (Judy Garland) tropeça nele e quebra o salto do sapato. Você sabe, o jeito mais fofo de conhecer alguém. Ele a ajuda a consertar o sapato, e os dois passeiam juntos naquela tarde de domingo, indo ao Zoológico do Central Park e ao Metropolitan Museum of Art. Eles combinam de se encontrar novamente naquela noite.

 

Joe Allen (Robert Walker) is a soldier during his two-day leave in New York. He hasn’t left the Pennsylvania Station when Alice (Judy Garland) stumbles upon him and breaks the heel in her shoe. You know, it’s just the cutest of all meet-cutes. He helps her repair the shoe, and the two hang out that Sunday afternoon, going to the Central Park Zoo and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They agree to meet again that night.

A colega de quarto de Alice, Helen (Ruth Brady), não se mostra animada quando ouve que Alice conheceu um soldado e vai sair com ele. Helen quase convence Alice a nunca mais ver Joe, mas o coração da garota fala mais alto e eles partem juntos em uma aventura.

 

Alice’s flatmate Helen (Ruth Brady) is less than thrilled when she hears that Alice met a soldier and is going out with him. Helen almost convinces Alice to never see Joe again, but the girl’s heart speaks louder and they go on an adventure together.

Se a premissa deste filme soa familiar, é porque você é fã de cinema clássico. Ela de fato tem coisas em comum com o filme musical de 1949 “Um Dia em Nova York”, que tem três marinheiros numa licença de dois dias explorando e se apaixonando em Nova York. O musical original “On the Town” estreou na Broadway em 1944.

 

If the premise of this movie sounds familiar, it’s because you’re a classic film fan. It indeed shares similarities with the 1949 musical movie “On the Town”, that has three sailors on a two-day leave enjoying life and love in New York. The original musical “On the Town” opened on Broadway in 1944.

“O Ponteiro da Saudade” é baseado numa história de Paul e Pauline Gallico. A dupla com um nome auspicioso vendeu a história antes da publicação para o produtor Arthur Freed, que sabia que Judy Garland estava à procura de um papel mais dramático, e mostrou à estrela a história. Ela gravou algumas cenas com o diretor Fred Zinnemann mas não ficou feliz com o resultado. Ela então pediu que Vincente Minnelli fosse o diretor, e durante as filmagens o romance entre os dois se aprofundou. Eles se casaram após o fim das filmagens.

 

“The Clock” is based on a story by Paul and Pauline Gallico. The duo with an auspicious name sold their unpublished story to producer Arthur Freed, who knew Judy Garland was looking for a more dramatic role to play, and showed her the story. She shot some scenes with director Fred Zinnemann but wasn’t happy with the results. She then asked for Vincente Minnelli to direct the movie, and throughout filming their romance blossomed. They got married after the film wrapped.

Roubando a cena exatamente na metade do filme como um bêbado inconveniente – numa cena gravada num impressionante take contínuo – temos Keenan Wynn. Um prolífico ator coadjuvante, Wynn nasceu em Nova York em 1916, filho de um ator de vaudeville, Ed Wynn. Como contratado da MGM nas décadas de 1940 e 1950 e depois como ator convidado na TV, ele apareceu em quase 300 produções.

 

Stealing the scene exactly halfway through the movie as an inconvenient drunk – in a scene recorded in an impressive countinuous shot – we have Keenan Wynn. A prolific character actor, Wynn was born in New York City in 1916, the son of a vaudeville actor, Ed Wynn. As a contract player on MGM in the 1940s and 1950s and later as a TV guest star, he appeared in almost 300 productions.

Ambos os protagonistas de “O Ponteiro da Saudade” tiveram vidas tragicamente curtas. Robert Walker tinha recebido a notícia, logo antes do começo das filmagens, de que sua esposa Jennifer Jones o estava deixando para se casar com o produtor David O. Selznick. Walker recorreu à bebida para esquecer sua dor e não era raro que Judy Garland o encontrasse bêbado à noite num bar próximo do estúdio. Ele morreria em 1951, aos 32 anos. Durante as filmagens de “O Ponteiro da Saudade”, Garland ficou mais viciada nas pílulas que o estúdio lhe dava para manter o peso. Ela morreria em 1969, aos 47 anos.

 

Both leads of “The Clock” had tragically short lives. Robert Walker had learned, just before the shooting of this film started, that his wife Jennifer Jones was leaving him to marry producer David O. Selznick. Walker drank to forget his sorrows and it wasn’t rare for Judy Garland to find him drunk at night in a bar near the studio. He would die in 1951, aged 32. During filming “The Clock”, Garland got more and more addicted to the prescription drugs she was given by the studio to keep her figure. She would die in 1969, aged 47.

Alguns detalhes no enredo não fariam sentido hoje, quando quase todo mundo tem um smartphone. O aparelho ajudaria Alice a avisar Joe que se atrasaria para o encontro debaixo do relógio no Hotel Astor, e todo o problema do casal separado no metrô seria resolvido com uma troca de mensagens de texto.

 

Some plot points wouldn’t make sense today, now that almost everybody has a smartphone. The device would help Alice tell Joe that she would be late for their encounter under the clock on the Astor Hotel, and the whole problem of the two separated in the subway could be solved with an exchange of text messages.

O título no Brasil para este filme é “O Ponteiro da Saudade”. “Saudade” é uma palavra que só existe em português. Quando Joe e Alice se separam, uma separação inevitável que o filme todo vinha anunciando, é isso que permanece: saudade. Para nós, que apreciamos uma hora e meia de um adorável romance, o que sobre é o desejo de que eles se verão novamente. Só nos resta esta esperança.

 

The title in Brazil for this film is “O Ponteiro da Saudade”. “Saudade” is a word that exists only in Portuguese and means something like longing and missing something or someone. When Joe and Alice part, an inevitable separation that the whole movie had been announcing, is this that remains: saudade. For us, who enjoyed an hour and a half of a lovely romance, what remains is the wish that they will be reunited. We can only hope.

 

This is my contribution to the Third Judy Garland blogathon, hostred by Crystal and Kristen at In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood and Hoofers and Honeys.