Just Watched: Tales of Manhattan (1942)
'Tales of Manhattan' is a series of 'short stories' centered around a
'cursed' topcoat... seems that everytime someone gets ahold of this
coat, it ultimately is bad news for its owner...who then tosses it, only
to land in the hands of the next unfortunate soul, and thus, begin a
new 'tale'...
Now, being BRUTALLY honest, I only watched the first two 'tales'...because Ginger is in 'Tale #2', and once it is over, well... (Don't laugh...I have read some of y'all's stuff about 'fast forwarding' thru 'non-Ginger' scenes...why waste precious time? :-] ). And, Rita Hayworth is in 'Tale #1', which definitely serves as a nice 'opening act'...she looks very much the way she did in 'Gilda'...so no problems there...
Anyway, on to VKM! She is fixing to get married (challenge: try to name a VKM movie where she isn't about to get married / divorced / remarried...etc...maybe some of the 'late 40's and newer, but... Just saying...) -and the fellow she is marrying (Cesar Romero) gets into a 'jam', due primarily to the topcoat... well, it is up to his 'Best Man' - played by Henry Fonda, to get him out of hot water with Ginger. It's really not an overly 'involved' tale, but it is pretty cute, although you can obviously see where it is going... and VKM with Henry Fonda work well together, if somewhat briefly.
As for Ginger - MAN! Talk about an 'Uber-flip' for the hair (brunette)...I guess that is what that style is called - basically the typical 40's 'war-time' curl hairdo (I always think of the Andrews Sisters for some reason... you know.... "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy?" "of Company 'B' ?" No? ...I bet Juliette knows that... if she ever comes down from the mountain... :-] ) ...ANYWAY, just looking at it, it is maybe, just maybe, a bit...much... BUT, and maybe I am a bit 'biased' (NO! really?), but, on Ginger, it really just... ROCKS! TOTALLY! I can't describe it, but it is just very fetching on her - to me, it restored some 'confidence' to my pick for brunette VKM on Beth's poll.... Cool, Cool, Cool. ok. ...Oh, Did I mention her hair was Cool? ok. She is wearing a nice gray suit, nothing flamboyant, but sharp and nicely tailored, as usual... probably one of the few Ginger movies where she only has one outfit!
As for her 'character' in this one, obviously there isn't enough time to 'fully' develop a charcter, so she basically plays 'straight Ginger', with no accent or overt 'quirkyness'... and the roles where she generally has her 'normal' personality really are my favorites - like she may well have been in 'real life'...
Also, some KILLER close-ups of VKM.... almost defies description! Just intensely beautiful...
So, sounds like this one is well in the 'upper crust' of the catalouge, no? Well, sure... but it is kind of hard to put a 'partial VKM' movie towards the top, even though the 25 or so minutes Ginger is in it, would, IMHO, stack up well to any other 25-minute scene she has ever done...therefore, it's in the top third... I guess I need to actually get a REAL ranking going, eh?
Hope this helps out... and please feel free to comment! JW
Now, being BRUTALLY honest, I only watched the first two 'tales'...because Ginger is in 'Tale #2', and once it is over, well... (Don't laugh...I have read some of y'all's stuff about 'fast forwarding' thru 'non-Ginger' scenes...why waste precious time? :-] ). And, Rita Hayworth is in 'Tale #1', which definitely serves as a nice 'opening act'...she looks very much the way she did in 'Gilda'...so no problems there...
Anyway, on to VKM! She is fixing to get married (challenge: try to name a VKM movie where she isn't about to get married / divorced / remarried...etc...maybe some of the 'late 40's and newer, but... Just saying...) -and the fellow she is marrying (Cesar Romero) gets into a 'jam', due primarily to the topcoat... well, it is up to his 'Best Man' - played by Henry Fonda, to get him out of hot water with Ginger. It's really not an overly 'involved' tale, but it is pretty cute, although you can obviously see where it is going... and VKM with Henry Fonda work well together, if somewhat briefly.
As for Ginger - MAN! Talk about an 'Uber-flip' for the hair (brunette)...I guess that is what that style is called - basically the typical 40's 'war-time' curl hairdo (I always think of the Andrews Sisters for some reason... you know.... "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy?" "of Company 'B' ?" No? ...I bet Juliette knows that... if she ever comes down from the mountain... :-] ) ...ANYWAY, just looking at it, it is maybe, just maybe, a bit...much... BUT, and maybe I am a bit 'biased' (NO! really?), but, on Ginger, it really just... ROCKS! TOTALLY! I can't describe it, but it is just very fetching on her - to me, it restored some 'confidence' to my pick for brunette VKM on Beth's poll.... Cool, Cool, Cool. ok. ...Oh, Did I mention her hair was Cool? ok. She is wearing a nice gray suit, nothing flamboyant, but sharp and nicely tailored, as usual... probably one of the few Ginger movies where she only has one outfit!
As for her 'character' in this one, obviously there isn't enough time to 'fully' develop a charcter, so she basically plays 'straight Ginger', with no accent or overt 'quirkyness'... and the roles where she generally has her 'normal' personality really are my favorites - like she may well have been in 'real life'...
Also, some KILLER close-ups of VKM.... almost defies description! Just intensely beautiful...
So, sounds like this one is well in the 'upper crust' of the catalouge, no? Well, sure... but it is kind of hard to put a 'partial VKM' movie towards the top, even though the 25 or so minutes Ginger is in it, would, IMHO, stack up well to any other 25-minute scene she has ever done...therefore, it's in the top third... I guess I need to actually get a REAL ranking going, eh?
Hope this helps out... and please feel free to comment! JW
5 comments:
...thanks for the kind words, AC! I have always enjoyed, but now really growing even MORE fond of the 'Ginger era' tunes (30's-40's) - in general, I am a pretty big fan of a LOT of music - admittedly, 70's stuff (disco grudingly included), since I 'grew up in that decade - well, I was just a kid, but that was when I started listening to the radio (A.M. was where everything was back then, if you can believe it!)...I had a true 'Mickey Mouse' transistor radio - one 'ear' was the tuner, the other 'ear' the volume...wish I had it now, could well be worth something!!!
But, I think it is cool to delve back into 'eras' of music and 'discover' stuff - honestly, what started me on the 'GingerQuest' was buying the Ginger/Fred box set last Christmas (my little girl is a dancer, and I thought she would like watching them...which she really does! Of course, I hopefully don't need to explain MY ulterior motive for the purchase :-) ), and I really never thought of how many 'standards' were in those movies... and it is sad how many 'kids' (i.e., people under 30...oof) aren't aware of all of the great music from past eras.- Don't be ashamed about the 70's music - I like it, too. It's pretty fun! Big band jazz is my favorite genre, though. I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the Astaire/Rogers movies (I bought the box set this spring) to find that quite a few of my favorite songs were included (if written for a play) or originated (if written for the movie) in those musicals. For instance, "The Way You Look Tonight" has always been a favorite of mine. So you can imagine my pleasure when Fred Astaire sat down at the piano and started to sing. : ) I had planned on doing a post about favorite songs that I've "rediscovered" in old movies. Thanks, JW! I would have forgotten about that plan if you hadn't brought up those standards. I'll have to take that idea off the back burner now and work on putting it together!
- Sounds great! I need to 'beef up' my collection of tunes from the Big Band era... may start with a 'box set' of various artists, if there is a decent one around. I do have a few LP's (yes, the large black vinyl discs you put on a turntable) of B-B stuff, like Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller... classic stuff.
Ginger actually has two..well 3 if you count the robe/sheet at the beginning of the scene.
1) Sheet
2) Pretty lacy dressing gown
3) Suit
Great blog you have here!