Mental Health Movie Day

Tommy Rall is at the Far Left

This past weekend I decided that I needed a mental health movie day.... a day where I could just relax, curl up in a blanket and allow myself a little mental recuperation. I watched a couple of old favorites and a couple new ones that I hadn't had the time to watch yet... First up was Seven Brides for Seven Brothers... I first watched this movie in high school in my Geography class.... Yup, that's right... Geography. The teacher was a hilariously hick football coach whom pretended to be male-chauvinist. (If you ever met his wife... you would know it was a complete and total act) The football boys groaned when he put on the movie, "Really coach? A musical!" Coach just replied "This will teach you the right way to get a woman." It made me laugh... Not sure what his point was... You get a woman by throwing a blanket over the girl's head and kidnapping her away to your cabin in the woods? Anyway... it always endeared that particular Coach to me. My favorite of the 7 brothers has always been hot-head Frankincense (played by actor Tommy Rall). I can be a bit touchy about my name too... totally feel his pain... I like Tommy in Kiss Me Kate too. I have only one problem with 7B47B.... and her name is Dorkis.... she annoys me to no end... and her name is Dorkis... I rest my case.

Next I watched Get Hep to Love with Gloria Jean, Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan. I love Jean and O'Connor's little B Musicals. They are sweet and the two of them are pretty adorable together. Get Hep to Love is about an overworked child music prodigy who runs away from her over-bearing, money hungry aunt to a small town. She is taken in by a super nice couple and starts attending the local high school. O'Connor is as charming as ever and Jean quickly falls for him, too bad he has his eyes for the popular girl in school, a snooty "cuddle bunny". Ryan plays Jean's friend and that's about it, which is too bad... Ryan is great with her witty wisecracks and has great timing. I think her talent was really over looked in a lot of these Paramount films. Jean gets O'Connor in the end and gets to stay with the nice couple in the small town. Ever since I saw Mr. Big, I have been trying to track down more of these musicals... I recently got this one and another called It Comes Up Love (with Jean and O'Connor) I like it too... but it doesn't have feisty Ryan in it and I missed her. She really peps up the films she's in.

Finally I watched one that has just been gathering dust on my shelf.. Can-Can. Its a musical with Shirley MacLaine, Frank Sinatra and Louis Jourdan. I was a little skeptical about this film, but for no real good reason. A Cole Porter score, Sinatra and its in technicolor... why the hesitation? I am glad I finally took the time to watch it. Nobody sings Cole Porter quite like Sinatra. Porter's songs always mean so much more when there is a visual to go with them. It's All Right With Me was probably my favorite. The movie doesn't get much love on IMDB. I didn't think it was bad, I mean, it isn't the best I have ever seen, but by no means was it a failure.

I must admit, I didn't root for Sinatra's character, I thought Jourdan was just the sweetest guy. I felt bad for him when he just couldn't seem to win MacLaine over. Crazy girl. Charming, romantic, handsome, rich French guy wants to marry her and she goes for the louse. Jourdan was great in this. Almost makes me want to re watch Gigi (not one of my favorites, but maybe its time I gave it another chance..hmmm) I did a little reading and found out that Jourdan worked for the underground French Resistance during WWII. I thought that was just totally awesome, I want to see if I can track down some of his foreign films. Over all... I didn't think Can-Can was that bad.

Operation Mental Recuperation was a success and I think it needs to start being a regular break each month...   Dr.'s orders!

Oh! And the next time you watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers... take a moment to look at the hills and trees... it will be your Geography lesson for the day!