Today in our “Black and White Friday” I wanted to reminisce about the great master Dalí and the exhibition I was able to enjoy this summer in Madrid.
This small photograph, in respect of its art and not format, was one of the pieces that most grabbed my attention. It depicts a hanging moment, with an analog camera, and in which nothing is left to chance…
Considered to be one of the Twentieth Century’s photographic icons, this image is inspired by the “Leda Atómica” (Atomic Leda) by Dalí, a masterpiece that appears in the right hand side of the photograph. The photograph is a creation by Philippe Halsman and Salvador Dalí himself.
To capture something like this in one single shot, without the help of Photoshop or retouching programs, would have been far from simple. He needed the help of eight people and immense synchronization.
Whilst three people threw the cats into the air, another threw the water, at the same time the artist jumped and a fifth person quickly pulled away the flooring beneath the furniture so that the pieces would be suspended in the air for a moment. And not only all this… at that moment Halsam’s wife, Yvonne, held the chair up in the air, which we can see to the left.
I read that there were 30 intents and more than five hours of work, of which, sincerely, does not seem too much for the amount of coordination that this image involves.
This image was a revolutionary work in its time; it appeared on the cover of Life magazine on a double page spread and was a resounding success. It has been reproduced and imitated an infinite number of times.
I was lucky enough not only to see part of this series of the Dalí exhibition in Madrid, but also to enjoy the expert explanations from two professional photographers that attended the show with me, Beatriz García Couriel and Martín Tirado, to whom I wish to thank here for their enthusiastic and professional explanations.
One of the most zesty, sparkling and brilliant satires of America’s high society ever to be filmed. Although for my taste it was perhaps a little exaggerated and with over-the-top acting.
An attractive tramp is contracted to work as a butler by a wealthy family, in their luxurious mansion on the Fifth Avenue in New York.
The film is scattered with masterful gags worthy of the best and most classical American theatre. A “screwball” that would be loved by Groucho Marx.
We find ourselves before an entertaining comedy, in which the characters brush closely to being bizarre, reflecting the superficial and mundane life of the most wealthy families of the Great Depression period in America with extreme intensity.
Lively, delicious, intelligent and elegant. It is an absolute jewel of classic cinema. The incredible glamour of the costumes and room’s decorations, together with the absurd situations through which its people live and the nonsense that follows, makes one of the most well-remembered comedies of black and white cinema.
Awards:
Six Oscar nominations (of which the film did not win any):
-Best actor (William Powell)
-Best actress (Carole Lombard)
-Best supporting actor (Misha Auer -the protected-)
-Best supporting actress (Alice Brady)
-Best director (Gregory La Cava)
-Best adapted script
National Film Preservation Award in 1999.
Curious Facts:
William Powell was substituted in the scene in which he carried Carole Lombard on his shoulders.
Premiere magazine voted it to be “one of the best 50 films in the history of cinema” in 2006.
Although the two main actors were divorced, Powell declared that Carole Lombard was the only woman who could play the role of Irene.
The film was based on the book “1101 Park Avenue”, by Eric Hatch.
Jane Wyman (Angela Channing from “Falcon Crest”) makes an appearance in the film, although she is not in the credits.
In 2002 the film was remastered and colored.
Carole Lombard had the habit of saying curse words in the dialogues, resulting in many scenes having to be repeated.
It was William Powell that suggested for Lombard to play the role of Irene, as he said that she had many things in common with the character.
The “Waldorf-Ritz” Hotel does not exist. It is an amalgamation of two hotels in New York, The Waldorf-Astoria and The Ritz-Carlton.
Due to an error with the original copyrights, the film was of public domain, meaning that anyone could make a copy and sell it.
Slip-Ups:
Godfrey’s bedroom door, which opens to the kitchen, opens in both directions.
When the police arrive to resolve the necklace case, three officials appear. Upon leaving, we apparently only see two.
– Actors: Katharine Hepburn (Jo), Joan Bennet (Amy), Paul Lukas (Professor Bhaer), Jean Parker (Beth), Frances Dee (Meg), Douglas Montgomery (Laurie).
A film about the adventures, projects, desires, aspirations and affairs of four sisters and their mother, who all fight to keep positive despite their poverty and absence of their father, who is fighting on the front with the Union Army.
The vain but rather selfish Amy; the shy and sensitive Beth; the jealous Meg and the valiant, shameless and daring Jo; together with their mother, and their fierce and wealthy aunt March, the four sisters form a model family.
George Cukor masterfully adapts the work of novelist Louisa May Alcott. In my opinion, it is the best adaptation of all that have been made up till now. It is a film that speaks to us of love, generosity, coexistence, respect, suffering…. however, overall it tells us a tale of family, childhood and the importance of values such as honesty, generosity and tolerance. Values that, if you learn about and receive them from a young age, the acts of giving and sharing will come to you more naturally, and make you happier when you finally reach adulthood. Values that are being lost with increasing frequency nowadays.
It is a charming story in which the superb interpretation of a very young Katharine Hepburn can be put in the spotlight. Only to see her in this role already makes the whole film worthwhile. She is the motivational soul of the story and, I would even dare to say, she represents her own personality. She is tightly attached to her role as Jo. As her beloved Professor Bhaer would say: “A free spirit”. A fighting, fun, dreaming, and above all, brave woman, capable of breaking the strict rules of the American Society at the time.
George Cukor manages to create a film of great visual beauty with an impeccable setting. The photography is by Henry Gerrard and it was to be one of his last works before his death.
Little Women is a film that reaches our most sensitive side. It will make you laugh, and if you are as emotional as me, it will also make you cry.
Awards:
The film received an Oscar for the best adapted script (1934). It was also nominated for best director and best film (1934).
It was awarded for being one of the best ten films of 1933 (National Board of Review).
Photoplay Awards of 1933: Medal of honour for David O. Selznick, Merian C. Cooper and Kenneth MacGowan for the production. The Photoplay Awards was one of the awards given by the Photoplay magazine. They only had an award for best film of the year and it was voted by its readers. The medal was made from Gold and it was designed and made by Tiffanys. It had an enormous influence on the decisions of the Oscar Awards, until 1934 when interest began to decrease. In 1939 it disappeared from the scene.
Venice Film Festival: Gold medal for best actress in 1934 awarded to Katherine Hepburn.
Nominated for the Mussolini Cup for best director: George Cukor.
Curious Facts:
Joan Bennett was pregnant when she started filming the movie. The costume designer had to redo all her costumes as Cukor, the director, was unaware of this.
Katharine Hepburn wrote in her autobiography that: “This picture was heaven to do – George Cukor perfect. He really caught the atmosphere”.
Katharine Hepburn asked that the costume designer Walter Plunkett copy a dress that her maternal grandmother had worn in a tintype that she kept.
Although he does not appear in the credits, David O. Selznick produced the film and was the main reason for the project to be carried out to the end. It cost him a lot of effort, seeing as in that period in Hollywood it was thought that a film about women without a Civil War atmosphere would be unsuccessful. Thanks to that, Selznick launched what would later become his greatest work: Gone with the Wind.
This version of Little Women was the third adaptation of the novel after two silent versions in 1917 and 1918. Two more would follow it, one in 1949 and another in 1994.
March’s house interior copies the author of the novel’s, Louisa May Alcott, real house in Massachusetts.
Slip-ups:
Jo takes off her hood twice when she enters to have tea.
The most famous quote?: When Jo exclaims “Christopher Columbus!” several times throughout the film.
Maureen O’Sullivan (Kitty) Yes, its Tarzan’s Jane.
May Robson (Countess Vronsky)
Basil Rathbone (Karenin)
Photography: William H. Daniels
Anna Karenina is an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel. This is the most applauded of all the versions that have been made of his work, and it is the one in which we meet with Greta Garbo, sublime in her role as adulteress.
The film is a tragedy in which Anna Arkadyevna Karenina, wife of the high official of Saint Petersburg Alexei Alexandrovitch Karenin, falls in disgrace as she dares to break the strict rules of the period by falling in love with Count Vronksy, an Imperial Guard Officer.
Anna decides to break the routine and monotony of a loveless marriage and soon finds herself having to choose between her son, who she adores, and her dashing young lover. She ends up in absolute social marginalization as her husband repudiates her and refuses to grant her a divorce, most importantly so as not to tarnish his impeccable background. Anna becomes the talk of town for all ofMoscow’s society.
This is a story of love, infidelity, jealousy and, above all, hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of a society that keeps its women tied down in marriages of convenience, simply because of what people may say.
Anna ends up alone, abandoned and wrapped up in one of the most miserable situations at finding herself treated so unjustly. It is this desperation that finally leads her to lose the lover for who she had abandoned everything.
In this film, I have met with a magnificent, exceedingly beautiful, elegant and seductive Garbo, particularly superb in her role as resigned wife, charming sister and sister-in-law, inconsolable mother and passionate lover. I think she elaborates all the roles wonderfully and makes us thoroughly understand what the women of that period felt, isolated in a social marginalization that prevented them from living their feelings freely.
There are two scenes that have inspired me: Anna’s arrival at theMoscowtrain station, discovering her serene beauty as she gets off the train shrouded in smoke, and the scene in which she abandons the marital house, after bidding farewell to her son forever whilst enduring her husband’s curses. This scene is, without a doubt, my favourite.
The film reaches and captures our very soul. Anna has to pay too high a price for loving a man that is not her husband, consequently inspiring in us true feelings of warmth and tenderness.
Awards:
One of the ten best films of 1935 according to the National Board of Review.
An award for Greta Garbo as best actress by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards (1935). Founded that same year, it is considered to be one of the most important precursors of the later Film Academy Awards (Oscars). It also gives awards to people and/or organizations that they consider to have made significant contributions to cinematographic art. This includes film critics, restaurateurs, historians and other organizations.
The Venice Festival of 1935: Nominated best foreign film.
Award for best director to Clarence Brown (Mussolini Cup).
Curious Facts:
Warned that the co-star Frederic March was famous for seducing the actresses with which he worked, Greta Garbo wore garlic beneath her clothes and supposedly also had garlic breath in order to frighten him away.
Slip-ups:
During the drinking game, the officer opposite Vronksy disappears.
When Anna arrives at Dolly’s room they hold hands with each other; in the next shot they have changed hands.
The way on which Vronksy holds his hat changes whilst he talks to Anna in the garden.
In the horse race, when Vronksy falls off his horse he is seen to be wearing a dark jacket, however, before and after the incident he wears a light coloured jacket.
I leave you here with the film’s original trailer.
– Actors: Greta Garbo (Madame Grusinskaya), John Barrymore (The Baron), Joan Crawford (Flaemmchen), Wallace Beery (Preysing), Lionen Barrymore (Kringelein),Photography: William Daniels.
This film depicts life inBerlin’s most expensive hotel, and the coming and going of its guests and employees. It’s an adaptation of the novel “Menschen im Hotel” written by the playwright Vicky Baumm. The writer based the story on real events that occurred in a hotel where she worked between a shorthand writer and an industrial magnate. She used her own experiences as a chambermaid in two renowned hotels inBerlinto write her novel.
“The people come and go. Nothing ever happens” this is one of the quotes from the film that best describes it. A baron, an old war wounded doctor, a humble worker on the point of death, an aggressive industrialist, a very beautiful Russian ballerina, a rather liberal secretary and other endless characters are mixed together to create and tell various tales. The clients register at the hotel, share their lives and then leave.
Their lives merge in a way that reminds us of many current films and series. At first, when we start watching it, it seems that we find ourselves before one of those comedies that depicts an optimistic and light-hearted way of life. However, we immediately realize that what is before us is actually a drama. It is a film that speaks to us of honesty, generosity, friendship, ambition, pride, respect, and falling in and out of love.
I am not going to tell you the film’s plot, as it is one that is complicated to tell and better to see. The staging is impressive: the hotel lobby, the staircases, the corridors and the rooms. All of the decorations are extraordinary. The scenes in which Greta Garbo crosses the hotel lobby like an authentic diva, followed by a group of bellboys loaded with flowers, are exquisite.
The stories are cross-linked, a formula that was greatly used after and that has been given the name of “Grand Hotel formula”.
My personal favourites are Joan Crawford and Lionel Barrymore. In her role as secretary, Joan Crawford is splendid, elegant, mischievous and coquettish. Lionel Barrymore plays the role of a tender, honest and reliable old man. For me, Greta Garbo is too distant and cold, although extremely beautiful and very elegant, she does not manage to captivate the spectator.
Awards:
The film received an Oscar for Best Film in 1932 and again in 2007 by the National FilmPreservation (I previously explained what this award is here).
Curiosities and Anecdotes:
The film includes endless anecdotes, curiosities and legendary parts, such as the fight between Garbo and Crawford, not sure whether real or produced at the time to promote the film before its release. This type of thing continues to be done and also to give good results at ticket selling time. The question remains to why the two divas never appear together, some say that it was so that one did not take the spotlight away from the other.
It is the only film with an Oscar for Best Film that did not manage to receive any other nominations.
Wallace Beery turned down the role offered to him at first, only to later accept it on the condition that he would be the only actor with a German accent.
Greta Garbo requested that the set be decorated with red lights, so as to give the rehearsals a more romantic atmosphere.
Greta Garbo’s line “I want to be alone” is at number 30 of the 100 best American Film quotations according to the AFI (American Film Institute), and it was used by Groucho Marx in “A Night at the Opera”. Also HerculesPoirot in “Murder on the Orient Express” said that: “Some of us, in the words of the divine Greta Garbo, want to be alone”.
In the scenes of the hotel foyer where there were so many people moving about, it was ordered of all the actors and extras that they wear socks over their shoes so as not to make so much noise. Two hundred pairs of woollen socks were used everyday.
The tickets to the premiere cost $1.50, an enormous amount for cinema entry at the time.
Gaffes:
In the change of shots in one of the scenes with Garbo on the telephone, the telephone appears in the opposite hand.
Sweat marks are visible on Garbo’s dress in one of the most passionate scenes in the film.
The steering wheels of all the cars are on the right. InGermanythey drove (and still drive) on the right, in which case the steering wheels should all be on the left.
The wall shakes when a drunken Mr. Kringeley knocks on the door of his room.
I leave you a trailer for the film that was made later on as, according to the imbd.com, the original has been lost.
The film’s trailer (according to imbd.com, the 1932 original is lost):
A classic film that takes second place on our list of iconic films.
Images:
Wikipedia, 24 veces por segundo blog, Tcm.com y los ojos de cain scoom.com.
Icon Tuesday. Tuesday’s big blue eyes… Tuesday of Paul Newman.
Seductive, with a glint in his blue eyes hard to win in all Hollywood and a sincere smile. One of the greatest… He knew how to become ald with class and intelligence.
He wins to become our icon of the season.
We will return in September with a big surprise for Tuesdays!
I had been waiting for this moment for nearly four years, and honestly, it was completely worth it. On Friday 10th May at 10am I had a very special appointment. I attended a guided visit round the Palace of Liria.
When I made my reservation half way through the year 2009 I never imagined that the waiting list would be so long. In March I received an email from the Patron of the House of Alba announcing the date of my visit, after so long a wait (nearly four years) I had nearly forgotten making the reservation.
I should admit that I was rather nervous throughout last week; the week leading up to my visit, anxious for the arrival of this moment and all that I would find and see on this so highly desired trip.
At 10am sharp the palace’s garden gates were opened and our guide, assigned by the patron, was waiting to receive us. He was in charge of explaining everything to us and answering all of our questions.
As soon as you pass through the doors of the palace’s main entrance you are stunned by the reception hall, the staircase, the ceilings, the sculptures and the paintings…all of these so majestic. I did not really know where to look along the route taking us to the first floor where a series of rooms awaited us, each one with a very special name.
In the first room was the original and splendid armor of the Count Duke of Olivera (related to the House of Alba). It was the same one he wore when he had his portrait painted by Velazquez. It is impressive to see it shining and gleaming so much in a corner of the room.
In another corner hangs Maria Estuardo’s facsimile of her death sentence, signed by Isabel I of England. Curiously the House of Alba would find part of its family again, centuries later in 1892 through the Duke of Berwick Carlos Miguel Fitz James Stuart and Silva, as the Fourteenth Duke of Alba.
From here we pass to the “Italian Room”. Here I am able to once again admire the Fray Angelico that I had previously seen in the House of Alba exhibition in the Cibeles Palace, however, seeing it now in its original place was something very exciting. Together with it was a drawing of one of Leonardo’s disciples that not only had a notable impact on me but also delighted the rest of the visitors. Next to this masterpiece was one of the current Duchess’s favorite paintings: a small Perugino.
From here to the “Goya Room” where we were awaited by a masterly self-portrait by Mengs, a sovereign collection of Maria de Pilar Teresa Cayetana of Silva and Alvarez of Toledo, Thirteenth Duchess of Alba, completed by Goya. I had already had the opportunity to enjoy these pieces in the Cibeles Palace exhibition; however, I felt the same emotions as if it were the first time. As a curiosity, in this room appeared the Emperor Napoleon III’s office desk. During the Spanish Civil War it had passed into the hands of Serrano Suñer. Our guide told us that it had cost a lot of effort to bring it back to the House of Alba. Also in this room, which in that period was a bed chamber, the Empress Maria Eugenia of Montijo, sister of the Duchess of Alba (of that time), had died in 1922. She had donated furniture and paintings to the House of Alba and amongst these items was the aforementioned desk of her husband Napoleon III.
After we moved on to the “Flamenco Room”, in which a majestic porcelain lamp by Meissen received us, acquired relatively recently by the current Duchess, it illuminated masterpieces by Rubens, Rembrandt and other famous flamenco painters. An impressive mirror hanging over the chimney also caught my attention.
We continued the visit with a walk through the hall and I did not know where to focus my gaze: chairs, tables, mirrors, clocks (all on time), hundreds of figures made from porcelain and other materials on top of the furniture… Everything was overwhelmingly beautiful. It was like taking a walk through Spain’s history dating back from the fourteenth century to the time of the House of Alba.
Our guide tells us that a clockmaker comes every week in order to wind up all the clocks in the palace and check that they are all keeping in perfect time. He also told us how one employee in the house knows exactly where each item of the house’s collection is placed. This struck me as something remarkable given the unimaginable quantity of objects. The collection of porcelains, miniatures, frames, lamps, wall lights, tapestries and carpets is astounding. I really was left speechless.
We pass through to the “Battle Room” or the “Grand Duke’s room”. Our guide informs us that this is his favorite. It is a somber, masculine room decorated in burgundy tones with an impressive gold ceiling brought from the Peñarada de Bracamonte. This room is a visit back to the beginning of the Grand Duchy. We can also admire a curious Hispanic-Flamenco panel with a figure of the Grand Duke of Alba, the third Duke of Alba, painted by Tiziano, a portrait of the Second Duke of Alba and amongst all of these a Rubens hung in the spotlight. This Rubens is a masterly piece of the Second Duke of Alba, which was at that very moment being prepared to be handed over for an exhibition in Paris. On the walls hung a fantastic collection of three tapestries from Brussels representing the battle of Jemmingen woven with silk and gold thread, the weight of gold in each estimated at about 5kg.
After that the “Spanish Room”, in which a portrait of the Infanta Margarita, one of the famous Meninas, painted by Velazquez is shown off along with a Christ by Greco, a Zurbaran, a Murillo and a Ribera. Now you can imagine how I felt upon finding myself before such marvels, I did not know where to focus my attention.
From here we pass through to the “Zuloaga Room” with the two portraits of the current Duchess’s parents and other works by the famous Valencian artist. In this room the other office desk can be found from Eugenia of Montijo’s legacy after her death, this one having belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte. They tell us that this one was found in Francisco Franco’s office in the Pardo, taken there after the Spanish Civil War. In a hearing given then, the fourteenth Duke of Alba, father of the current duchess, was believed to be the owner of the desk upon having the knowledge of a secret drawer that Franco didn’t even know existed, and that still held the Duke’s personal information held within it, enabling him to recover the desk.
We finish the walk through the rooms in the “Lover’s Room” with a pure, imperial French style decoration, Meissen and Sevres, porcelain and an impressive Louis XV furniture collection.
After we visited the dining room from which we could admire the beautiful French style garden, we finally came to the “Ballroom”. The walls of this room are taken over by two tapestries of Eugenia of Montijo and Napoleon III.
Here we finish our visit. Nearly one hour that I will never forget. Later I took advantage of the five minutes that they allowed us to take a couple of photographs of the garden, and of course, the front door knocker. Unfortunately, however, I accidentally deleted all the photographs from this day and consequently I am unable to leave you with a single testimony of my visit.
The visit id free and although you never know how long the waiting list will be, I can assure you that it is completely worth it.
Icon Tuesday. Tuesday’s fragility… Tuesday’s Rock Hudson
His seductive and powerful physique hid most of his life a sensitive frailty. A star with his own light in the firmament of the big stars, not only for his professional achievements but for his troubled personal life.
His superb role in “Giant”, next to Liz Taylor, earned his only nomination for an Oscar in Hollywood.
Personally i’ll keep his memorable comedies with Doris Day in my mind.
One hundred and twenty images presented as “Street Photographer”, however, they are only one tiny part of Vivian Maier´s (1926-2009) photographic legacy. We can see them displayed in Valladolid until July 8th. It is the first time that this anonymous portrait artist (nanny by profession) is being exhibited in Europe.
I discovered her thanks to Beatriz Garcia Couriel in one of her online photography courses. Vivian’s plain and simple work takes you straight to mid twentieth century Chicago and New York before you even realize it. I fell in love with her work from the first moment.
Vivian developed her reels in the bathroom of a house where she was working as a nanny, finally accumulating hundreds of them. The majority still haven´t even been revealed.
Vivian´s legacy was discovered six years ago by total coincidence when, after an auction in Chicago, nearly 100,000 negatives were found. John Maloof, the owner of the material auctioned in 2007, still hasn’t managed to bring all of her material to light. The auction took place two years before the photographer´s death and it was carried out in order to help her pay off her debts, and come out of the precarious financial situation in which she found herself.
They are street prints, people from everyday life in Chicago and New York: prostitutes, beggars, tramps, children… They are simply everyday scenes bursting with magnetism.
One of the photographer´s series that most caught my attention from the first moment were her self-portraits. They´re reflections in mirrors or glass in normal every day places taken during her Sunday strolls. They are a series of self-portraits in which you can see a serious Vivian with a reserved, shy and secretive look about her. This is the feeling that these particular photographs transmit to me. The exhibition´s commissioner, Anne Morin, has named it the “never-ending search” for herself, “perhaps because of the real exploration of who she was”.
Street Photographer, after passing through Valladolid, will travel through Belgium, France and Sweden, amongst other countries, for the next three years.
During the month of May I carried out my first amateur photographic project. . It consists of 31 black and white photographs of the “Barrio de Salamanca” in Madrid “31 Moments to Remember“. The last image of my project is a small tribute to this great artist.
My 13 reflections of my area.
You may have already guessed that I plan to go and visit the exhibition. I think that it is a unique occasion to enjoy this artist’s work and I probably won´t have another chance to see it in my lifetime.
