May 17, 2008

Bitten in the ass by the Protestant Work Ethic

So I took a couple of days off this week, hence the silence. Ironically--is it irony? I've been making fun of the old Alanis Morissette song for so long that I don't know my irony from my coincidence these days. GEEZ that video is annoying. Anyhow, ironically, I woke up Thursday morning with a great headache, sore throat, cough, fever, etc. That's what happens to lazy people! I have learned my lesson and will only goof off AT WORK from now on. I can only hope Martin Luther and John Calvin approve.

In other news, I'm watching a film called Man Hunt right now that really isn't too bad. I find WWII movies that were made before the end of the war to be particularly interesting for some reason ... what would have happened to these films had things gone the other way?

I've also decided that I'm a big fan of George Sanders. I haven't seen his Falcon films, but he's great as the villain in this one. See also The Picture of Dorian Gray ... he was born to play Lord Henry. While you're at it, as if anybody actually takes my recommendations seriously, you should check out The Lodger, Rebecca, and Foreign Correspondent (which is one of my two or three favorite Hitchcock films ... Rebecca, by the way, is not, What can I say? I'm a rebel through and through). And of course All About Eve.

I think All About Eve was my introduction to classic films ... Peggy made me watch it in an attempt to raise me from my lowbrow ways, and she was successful insofar as old movies go. Alas, when it came to opera, I was a little slower on the uptake ... but at least I can sit through one without laughing. Usually.

1 comment:

Michael said...

My very favorite WWII movies are the ones made before and during the war, perhaps because they really aren't WWII films, but spy or resistance stories which do, as you sort of note, seem to play out in a parallel world. MAN HUNT is good, NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH is better, and FIRST YANK INTO TOKYO, in which an American gets plastic surgery in order to (in the words of the long forgotten band the Vapors) turn Japanese, is just freakin' weird--and it stars Tom Neal of DETOUR.

And George Sanders rules! He makes almost any movie watchable.