Friday, July 3, 2009

Aren't Black and White Movies Great?

Pop the popcorn and turn down the lights. It's movie time.

I'm a sucker for a love story and the best ones I've found are the old black and white movies of the '30's and '40's. The men were dashing and the women, though a bit conforming to the times, knew what they wanted from their men.

There's a certain appeal to those movies that draws me in. Is it the alpha male who looks good brandishing a gun and then sweeping the heroine off her feet? Is it in his kiss? Or is it that he comes across polished yet gruff? Maybe none and maybe all three...

I think my favorite heroines are the ones from the gangster movies, you know, the ones with Cagney and Robinson. Women like Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell who know how to get their men to do what they want and still manage to look alluring while doing it. I loved Harlow's character in Red Dust. She's supposed to be a woman of the evening, but when Clark Gable's within her grasp, she's not afraid to grab with her claws. Or how about Lauren Bacall when she's determined to win her way into Bogart's heart in To Have and Have Not?

But I think my favorites happen to be Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Only Angels Have Wings. Jean Arthur portrays women who can stand on their own with intelligence and grace. Women in movies these days don't have nearly enough grace...

I'll get off my soapbox now.

Which movies are your favorites?

(Oh, and my all time favorite movie happens to be Field of Dreams.)

3 comments:

makenwords said...

I love them too. I think it is the world's most PERFECT flirtation when Lauren Becall asks Bogie if he knows how to whistle. Damn!

Rebecca Draco-Savage-Giallongo said...

Wendy, if you go to my webpage and email me through it, I'll send you your pdf copy of any of my books because you commented on my TWRP blog:) I just want you to go through there, so I know it's you:)

Wendi Zwaduk and Megan Slayer said...

Okay, so this sounds goofy, but if you see the movie, it makes sense. In Her Cardboard Lover, I think it's hysterical when Robert Taylor comes out of the bathroom wearing Norma Shearer's silk pajamas while she and George Sanders look on. Taylor acts like it's nothing and Shearer freaks. Too funny.