It hurts! Make it stop!

On the double disc of Double Indemnity is the 1973 remake of the movie. Oh God it hurt! It was so bad! I will just say a few quick things about the movie. The actors pretty much sounded like they were reciting lines with no acting. There wasn't that seduction between Phyllis and Walter. In fact their romance was just accepted. There was no questioning of what was to happen. There was no tension or suspense. Just a constant rolling of the next scene. COMPLETELY LAME! I do not recommend this one, unless you are a masocist.

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity is not my first Film Noir, but it is the first one I paid attention too -- that is the second time around. The first time I was a bit knackered and fell off about 20 mins in. Oops! I planned on watching it while I cleaned my living room, but found myself sitting and taking it all in, listening to every word, watching every shadow, never getting up to start cleaning.

I am not much of a Barbara Stanwyck fan and really only know Fred MacMurray from My Three Sons repeats on Nick at Nite. I do have to say that I am a bigger fan of Stanwyck in this movie than MacMurray. Not that he did a bad job or anything. Maybe I am just more attracted to the Black Widow character that Stanwyck played so well.

Some of my favourite scenes in the movie is when she first appeared on the staircase looking down at MacMurray. Modern movies reveal a lot more skin than just a towel wrapped body, but when I first saw her appear (the first time before I fell asleep) I believe I had the very same reaction that MacMurray's character, Neffs had to seeing her. It was incredibly sexy. Nothing was shown, yet the idea of being "caught" in your towel was a little intoxicating. I do think that the character Stanwyck was portraying knew exactly what she was doing even before she knew who was at the door. Even if she did look caught off guard or embaressed... she knew what she was doing. One doesn't unknowingly go to find out who is at the door if they are half nekked, unless they want a reaction -- and that is exactly what she got.


I also enjoyed how she successfully flirted with MacMurray all while acting in complete disgust at his advances. The speed limit dialog between the two was quick and genius. It was a skilled and clever interaction between the two that didn't rely on shock or insults to be intense.

My favourite part of the movie however was the look in Stanwyck's eyes while she stared straight forward in the car satisfied. I don't want to give away any part of the movie for those who haven't seen it, so I won't say much more than that. I will say that I wish I could have that look in my eyes, not for the same reason though. I just want to be that ridiculously satisfied.

To me I found the plot line to be quite interesting. It seemed more like a two part climax than a beginning, climax, end. It reminded me a bit of Law and Order and how each episode is done in two parts, the law or investigation of the crime and the order or trial of the crime. Double Indemnity successfully pulled off this 2 parter and left me thinking, "Yay! More!" instead of, "Ugh, more?"

The ending was especially perfect for me. While you get a sense of what happens and pretty much everyone says what happens, it is left open enough to where the ending could be a bit different. What really happened to Walter Neffs?

I don't have much more to say about this movie other than I really enjoyed it. I am not much of a Film Noir buff to be able to go into hard detail about the film and story so I won't even fake like I know.

I will like to say that after watching this movie... the term Femme Fatale is being thrown around quite loosely to these modern pinups who do a "film noir" style shoot. Putting a gun in their hand doesn't qualify them to be a femme fatale. I don't for one min believe that these girls are anything more than Pollyanna. They don't have that look in their eyes -- a deadly look. They need a bit more acting in their pictures and less looking pretty.

Precode Kiss

I am watching Platinum Blonde for the first time while typing this. I just watched a wonderfully sexy kissing scene in the movie. There are many reasons why I enjoy this kiss. The waterfall slightly conceals and distorts the silhouettes of Jean and her leading man as they embrace, but clearly shows them in a lip lock. The kiss isn't the hard lip puckered kiss we are far to familiar with with classic films, but at the same time isn't sloppy and violent with head turns and tongue twirls. Perhaps the sexiest part of the scene is before the kiss, when Jean holds his head close to her in her braless bosom. The whole moment seemed genuine and natural. I could feel myself in the same moment.

Watch the scene here... brought to you by Youtube. The specific part of the scene I refer to starts at just after 1 min into the duration.
Behind the Waterfall

Oh my... the whole couch scene just now. So familiar...
The code ruined movies...

Hair Chronicles

Inspired by the late 30's and beautiful All American Girls like the Lane Sisters and Carole Landis.

A moment in vanity.

Met up with Perry before work last week and got a few shots for fun. It was my first time working with him so I pretty much felt like a goon. This was a very very very informal shoot with him. I actually can't wait til we do real stuff...

All photos 2009 La Fine Photography

I know my pretties.

I know I have been rather lame on the updates here. I promise they are coming. :-D I just don't have internet access at home for the time being so I have to try to get computer access whenever I can and sometimes that doesn't give me much time for updating.

I also wanted to thank those of you who have left sweet comments. I am glad you enjoy reading my blog here, even if it isn't the most informative or exciting at times.

Right now I have a bunch of new fabric I just finished washing in the dryer. This upcoming week should provide me with some time to make a few new dresses from vintage patterns. My gal, Jenny loaned me a fantastic 30's pattern which I am now dying to make, but don't have the fabric for it yet, so I will have to settle on playing catch up with both the patterns and fabric I already have.

My guy and I hit a local rockabilly show the other day and I tried to play pinup, but I failed at it miserably. In fact the best photo was me just chatting with the bloke whose car I was sitting in. Other than that... hahaha not much success in the pinup department for me. Of course the real pinups were there as well and looked fantastic. (photos courtesy of La Fine Photography)





I am including 2 photos of how my hair looked before the show... that is before the motorcycle ride there and 100 degree heat pulled it down. :(



So there will be more updates... the house and the clothes and hopefully more fun photos!