The Apartment

Posted on 16 July, 2014 by María López Linares

Year: 1960.

Director: Billy Wilder.

Stars:

Jack Lemmon (C. C. Baxter).

Shirley MacLaine (Fran Kubelik).

Fred MacMurray (Jeff D. Sheldrake).

Ray Walston (Joe Dobisch).

Awards:

It won 5 Oscars for Best Director, Best Picture, Best Writing, Best Art Direction and Best Film Editing.

It also was nominated to Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Cinematography and Best Sound.

The movie got many other awards you can check in the IMDB profile page.

Curiosities:

Before The Artist (2011) this was the last Black and White movie to win an Oscar.

This is funny… Baxter is a poor accountant with no much money but curiously there are two Tiffany lamps on his appartment…

Shirley MacLaine knew about the script drop by drop since Wilder didn’t want her to know how the story was developing.

Whe the script was written Wilder had already thought of Jack Lemmon for the main character.

Rumors say that Billy Wilder put antifreeze on top of Jack Lemmon during the scene where he has to fall asleep under the rain in Central Park.

The producer wanted to have Groucho Marx for the role of Dreyfuss, but Wilder refused to do so.

The magazine Premiere voted the movie as one of the best 50 comedies of all times.

Here’s one more master piece from Wilder. His success was overwhelming by the time. In this case, a fool who was the accountant in a powerful Company gets help from his boss who allows him to go to his appartment for trysts.

However, the appearance of Shirley MacLaine in the scene changes all plans. Jack Lemmon, who used to do roles of “poor but honest men” does a brilliant performance turning over the typical lonely man role, that man who lives in a society where materialism and economic power are over people feelings.

But love finally is what turns the grey man into the bravest among the brave men.

Wilder plays once again with human emotions, laughing out loud and making us laugh out loud.

One more comedy you shouldn’t miss…

Trailer:

Images: Wikipedia y Blogdecine.com

Designing Woman

Posted on 9 July, 2014 by María López Linares

Designing Woman

Year: 1957.

Director: Vincente Minelli.

Stars:

Gregory Peck (Mike Hagen).

Lauren Bacall (Marilla Brown Hagen).

Dolores Gray (Lori Shannon).

Sam Leven (Ned Hammerstein).

Tom Helmore (Zachary Wilde).

Awards:

George Wells won 1 Oscar to Best Writing. He also was nominated to the WGA Award for the Best Written American Comedy.

3rd Place Laurel Awards for Lauren Bacall as the Top Female Comedy Performance. The movie was also nominated to the Golden Laurel as the Top Comedy.

Curiosities:

The Director initially thought of James Stewart and Grace Kelly for the protagonist couple, but when Kelly got engaged with Rainiero of Monaco, Stewart rejected the role. Years later, he regretted about it.

Helen Rose, the custom designer was who had the idea of making this movie.

It was the last film for Dolores Gray, who preferred to focus on musicals, theatres and tv rather than cinema.

Lauren Bacall wrote in her memories: “It was one of the happiest experiences in my whole career”.

Gregory Peck askes Minelli to have Lauren Bacall as his partner at the movie, and he happilly agreed.

Helen Rose did the custom design formed by 132 dresses. That means an average of over 1 dress per minute in a film of 118 minutes.

Gregory Peck was inspired by Cary Grant’s faces to performance the role of a journalist.

A smart and elegant custom designer gets married with a gullibel sport journalist who has to fight against both his past and a gang of Mafia members who want to beat him.

While Lauren Bacall, in a role that seams to be perfect for her, is surrounded by a good taste and extravagant people, Gregory Peck gets into that glamorous environment with rude fellows.

The social collision is there again, this time it’s served with a very smart touch of comedy. Situations are perfectly directed by Minelli who made a film that even nowadays has the same strength that it had back in the time.

The supporting actors do a great performance too, specially Maxi (a silly boxer) and Lori Shannon’s roles. The last one manages truly well the silliness that her former couple made.

If you are a great lover of those 50’s you just can’t miss this constant display of dream dresses. The movie, with more that 100 suits designed by Helen Rose, became one of the smartest and most glamorous MGM’s films.

Trailer Oficial:

http://youtu.be/T9er1hL6fpA

Images:

Canaltcm

Moviemovie

Leolo-eloy.blogspot.com.es

Claqueta.es

Toni Catany

Posted on 1 July, 2014 by María López Linares

June ended and I’d like to close this month with this very special post.

My photographic proyect in El Objetivo Mágico (The Magic Lens), where we have to replicate a different master of photography every month, has had Tony Catany as a protagonist. And he is my favourite artist. I chose him for this work, and the time came when I had to start digging deeply in his work art in order to try to reproduce it.

So the month for this hard job had finally arrived. Tony Catany changed the way I felt the dead nature art together with the way I used to take pictures. I don’t think there is any other master that left such a mark on me…

He was a Mallorquin (from Mallorca Island in Spain) who lived in Barcelona from 1960. As a good self-taught, he only did a short correspondence course when he was very young. He published his first photo reports in 1668 and from 1978 onwards he started being recognized all over the world. His knowledge of how to apply lights and shadows is excellent and the elegance he treats colour with is just exquisite.

His work is plenty of sensibility, armony and also melancoly. I found out about him a few months ago in a course I was doing at Encandilarte, and I fell in love with his art straight away. I liked it so much that I started looking up in the Internet all his photographies, trying to purchase one of them. I ended up with three of them over my hands thanks to Blanca de Berlin, an art gallery director in Madrid, who happened to be selling some of the Catany’s photos.

The core of his work is the still life, naked human bodies and gorgeous landscapes.

Toni Catany showed his work for the first time in 1972. Then over 200 more came after. In 2001 he won the National Photography Award by the Ministry of Culture and the National Award of the Fine Art (Catalunya). He was considered within the 100 best photographers in the world by Life Magazine.

Tony tested with the oldest developing techniques all over his career. Finally he jumped into the digital photography “because that let him treat the color in the way he was looking for” (according to his own words). He used a half professional camera for many years, exactly the Sony 828.

His art is captivating, moving and will please you for sure, due to his sensibility and elegance.

I right now am declaring myself an inconditional fan of his whole work and his way of seing beauty. I’ll never forget one of his quotes, that I from now onwards will do mine:

“To me photography is a way of showing my feelings, my mood and my emotions. I don’t photograph for others, but for myself, just for the pleasure of taking photos. I fon top of that, people like my work, the satisfaction is then amplified”.

Toni Catany

I’ve enjoyed this proyect very much. And this is the result of several sessions of Dead Nature trying to emulate the work of a great visionary.

I hope you enjoy that much with my work as well!

The Prince and the Showgirl

Posted on 25 June, 2014 by María López Linares

Year: 1957.

Director: Laurence Olivier.

Stars:

Marilyn Monroe (Elsie).

Laurence Olivier (the Prince).

Sybil Thorndike (The Queen).

Richard Wattis (Northbrook).

Awards:

Nominated for 5 BAFTA Film Awards: Best British Actor, Best British Film, Best British Screenplay, Best Film, Best Foreign Actress.

David di Donatello Awards to Marilyn Monroe for her performance. She also was nominated to the Golden Laurel Award for her Top Female Comedy Performance.

Sybil Thorndike won the National Board of Review as the Best Supporting Actress.

Curiosities:

Due to her constant weigh changes, the Custome team had to have several different sizes for her dresses ready.

Laurence Olivier had already performanced the role before in theatres with his wife Vivien Leigh.

Marylin got 75% out of the total profits of the movie.

It’s said Laurence Olivier was so imppressed with Marilyn’s behaviour during the shot of the film that he didn’t direct any other movie until 1970.

This was the last movie Marilyn did our of the States.

The film was pretended to be a musical, but Arthur Miller (Marilyn’s husband) convinced her not to do it.

Vivien Leigh was called in to do the main character. She was too old though.

Once again the fight between high and lower class lets us enjoy an amazing script, where an unbreakable Prince falls in love with a showgirl.

Marilyn, who already felt the excess of her life over herself, does a splendid performance. She is the light in every scene she appears. Laurence Olivier had to deal for first time in his life with an actress he liked a lot, and almost got crazy due to her irresponsability. She used to be late at work, didn’t want to follow his instructions and never ever repeated the same sentence.

Probably because of that the movie is fluid, fresh and audience never perceives all those directing difficulties.

Laurence Olivier said years later: “You couldn’t do anything with that kind of light, it was just imposible… Maybe I was too busy directing back then, so much that I didn’t realize of the huge potential I had by my side; there are moments where she is just wonderful. I think Marilyn was unique”. And I agree. To me this movie and Some Like It Hot are the two best Marilyn’s performances.

If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t miss the chance of enjoying one of the funniest and most casual movies in the classic cinema!

http://youtu.be/n6lRJKWoVeA

Images:

Paramountchannel.es

Grabandoentresdosuno.blogspot.com.es

Wikipedia

Alucine.es

Yonomeaburro.blogspot.com.es

The Garden of the Angel

Posted on 13 June, 2014 by María López Linares

Thinking of coming to Madrid soon? Then, you should come over and see the space I’m recommending today. You’ll know why in a few seconds.

I’m talking about a florist that offers much more than flowers. An elegant and quite corner within the old Madrid, in the downtown with a history behind that deserves to be told by the owners themselves.

I discovered this lovely place when I was walking around the Barrio de las Letras, during a nice Sunday morning. I’d never seen it before, or at least, I had never paid attention.

Its history has a very long tail… It’s a three centuries history actually! That long ago this little spot was the cemetery of the San Sebastian Church. The graveyard kept existing the same way until the last years of the 19th century. It was 1889 when the Martin family (owner of the site) decided to rent it to the church to make a garden center. From then onwards its walls made on glass could tell us a lot about loads of adventures and misterious stories.

It was mentioned by Benito Pérez Galdós (Spanish writer from the 20s) in his novel “Misericordia” and the place still keeps the intimacy of the old cemetery along with the essence of its great past. The business never closed its doors, not once. It was open even during the Civil War in Spain.

Nowadays is a dream place, a lovely garden where besides purchase beautiful flowersm you can enjoy arquitectura and the peace that comes out its walls. Imagine being surrounded by calm, serenity, green color and the most amazing style, in the heart of one of the most fabulous neighborhoods in town.

El jardín del Angel (The Garden of The Angel)

C/ Huertas 2

Madrid 28012

www.jardindelangel.es

Giant

Posted on 11 June, 2014 by María López Linares

Year: 1956.

Director: George Stevens.

Stars:

Rock Hudson (Jordan Benedict).

Elizabeth Taylor (Leslie Benedict).

James Dean (Jett Rink).

Carroll Baker (Luz Benedict).

Dennis Hopper (Jordan Benedict III).

Awards:

Oscar to the Best Director.

Nominated to Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (James Dean), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Rock Hudson), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Mercedes McCambridge), Best Writing, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing and Best Music.

The movie also won many other nominations and awards you can find here: IMDB

Curiosities:

One night by mid of the shot Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson met for drinks. The following morning at 5 am they had to performance a love scene. Fortunately they didn’t have to talk much, because they both were totally drunk! During the shot a few people from the team felt very emotional because the couple was doing a perfect and emotive performance.

After James Dean’s death, Nick Adams had to get a double for the rest of the scenes left.

Carroll Baker, whose role was as Elizabeth Taylor’s daughter, was in fact older than she was. Dennis Hopper, her son, was only 4 years younger.

Ironically, James Dean made an ad about driving safety. He recommended the viewers “Drive carefully because the life you save could be my own”. Two weeks after that advertisement, he died in a car accident.

Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn were two of the options for the main female character. Rock Hudson chose Elizabeth Taylor though. The candidates for the actor in leading role were William Holden, John Wayne, Forrest Tucker and Sterling Hayden. Clarck Gable was not an option due to his age.

Alan Ladd could have been done Jett Rink’s role. His wife didn’t allow him to do it though. Robert Mitchum and Montgomery Clift were also other possibilities.

Jett Rink’s character was inspired in Glenn McCarthy’s real life, a Texan oil magnate.

The huge painting in the “rancho Benedict” is nowadays in the Hotel Menger in San Antonio, Texas.

James Dean was living his role so much that always wore Jett Rink’s clothes.

The movie was one full year in edition.

Although the first Budget was 2 million dollars, the film ended up costing up to 5. However, the movie was the biggest Warner’s success in cinemas that far.

It was the beginning of the era of big blockbusters. Cinema industry was millionaire and at last after the post-war crisis, there was money to cover all.

Jack Warner decided to produce this epic movie about power, money and the social change, everything because of the discovering of oil in Texas. From the red-neck farmer, who spent the day looking after farm animals, to the much more powerful magnates (equally red-neck guys, though)

The couple in the main role will specially grab your attention. Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor are an unusual pair with a great magnetic attraction over the screen. It’s not weird. They were very good Friends and perfectly knew each other.

This was the last movie for James Dean. He finished his leyend thanks to a role where the insolence and arrogance were his principal feature.

Unfortunately, this huge movie was adapted years later to a small-budget tv series that stole the magnificence of the initial Giant.

This is with no doubt one of the Hollywood blockbuster you cannot miss.

Trailer:

http://youtu.be/efNVpovcZv0

IMAGES:

historiaycine.com

inalonelyplaceencounterswithfilm.wordpress.com

bubblemylicorice.blogspot.com.es

fanpop.com

doctormacro.com

With “I” for “Inca”

Posted on 9 June, 2014 by María López Linares

Inca: Ancient’s inca jewelry, from the pre-Columbian era.

Indian tribes used to make this sort of jewelry with different techniques, depending of the region. The most common material they used was gold or tumbaga (name given by Spaniards to a non specific alloy of gold and copper)

They loved making pendant necklaces, accessories for the nose, ears, masks and so on.

Most of the pieces left are in the Gold Museum of Bogota. The pieces were found in archaeological excavations. Sadly, a huge amount of them were melted by the Spaniards conquerors and taken to Spain as a gift to the Royal Family.

Inca Jewelry comes from some regions in Bolivia, Ecuador and the north of Chile. Historians think it lasted from 1200 until the Spanish conquest by Francisco de Pizarro and the fall of Cuzco in 1533.

When the Inca emperor Atahualpa went in 1532 to Cajamarca to converse with Pizarro, was put in jail. Then Pizarro didn’t have enough and hid a huge amount of gold gathered by the Incas to rescue their emperor. That gold also was melted and sent to Spain in ingots.

Fortunately, a few pieces eluded the catastrophe.

This jewelry was manufactured only to be given away to gods and the emperor.

Have a look at the images to know better this pre-Columbian art.

Rebel Without a Cause

Posted on 4 June, 2014 by María López Linares

Rebel Without a Cause

Year: 1955.

Director: Nicholas Ray.

Stars:

James Dean (Jim Stark).

Natalie Wood (Judy).

Sal Mineo (John “Plato” Crawford).

Jim Backus (Frank Stark).

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Sal Mineo), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Natalie Wood) and Best Writing.

Curiosities:

Wearing a t-shirt was not very usual back then. However since James Dean wore one in this movie, sales shot up.

The three main actors died in tragic ways. James Dean suffered a car accident, Sal Mineo was stabbed to death and Natalie Wood drowned. In addition, Edwad Platt who had a smaller role in the film, committed suicide in 1973.

The knives appearing in a fight scene are real. Actors wore doublets under their clothes.

James Dean was able to act in this movie because Elizabeth Taylor was pregnant and Giant was delayed.

Unfortunately, James Dean died before the movie was released.

Nicholas Ray dealt with real street gangs before the movie was shot.

Paul Newman was the first option for Jim Stark’s role. Marlon Brando even made a role casting.

Although his role was as a teenager, James Dean already was 24.

The candelabrum that Jim, Judy and Plato takes in a scene, was made with light bulbs and cables hidden in Sal Mineo’s jacket.

The plot lasts exactly one day.

The role of Sal Mineo was pretended to clearly be homosexual. The name of Plato was inspired on Platon, Greek philosopher who happened to be homosexual.

Nicholas Ray seems to appear en the final scene. It’s the one walking to the tower. It’s said he used to appear in all his movies, although it’s just a rumor so far.

The real first scene of the movie was cut off due to its violence: it was a scene with a gang assaulting a father and you could see how a toy dropped from his hands. Instead, the Director decided to shot James Dean with a toy in his hand.

At first Natalie Wood seemed to be too naive for this movie.

The beginning of the film was shot in black and white.

With no doubt, something was changing in cinema those days. After so many romantic movies with a happy end and also those where the hero fights and beats the “bad guys”, something different was needed. No one had gone so far with a movie.

Nicholas Ray realized there was a niche still untouched. Young people needed to be heard in a movie. They were shaking the society up and they deserved to be listened to.

There were no more happy ends. Love, sex, drugs, music and above all the extreme competition among young people had to be reflected in the big screen.

There were parents who were shocked after watching this film since the didn’t know what their sons and daughters used to do out in the streets. Society was about to be changed. Rock and roll was in its roots. The explosion of libety happened a little after.

This is a movie to see in order to understand the changes that happened during the 20th Century.

Images:

Cicus.us.es

agenda.granadaimedia.com

elrincondeloseruditos.blogspot.com.es

masterhalconcine.blogspot.com.es

Imágenes detrás de la cámara en:

enfilme.com

Japanese Art

Posted on 3 June, 2014 by María López Linares

The Eurpean interest for the Japanese art started in mid 19th Century. It happened thanks to the opening of the commerce with Orient with London and Paris. The first goods to be exported were picture cards that reproduced Japanese etchings. Artists, painters, arquitects and designers started adding to their works a few bites of the Japanese series.

After a few years, due to the Universal Exhibition in London in 1862, the great audience was able to contemplate and touch for the first time Japanese art works. It’s not difficult to imagine what those women from the London middle-class felt when they saw these wonderful pieces…

However European women fashion didn’t add this trend until the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. From that momento onwards Japan started exporting on a massive scale Japanese series created exclusively for the European market.

She loved wearing those shinning silk kimonos and following thed Japanese painting art, that is wear those kimonos inside home as an attire.

They loved those fabrics so much that even gave them the form of the Western world dresses.

Hand fans also were frenzy. They were created exclusively for Europe and they turned into one of the most valued art works for collectors from the 19th Century. Same happened with other accessories like slippers and bags.

Also the main kimono stores in Tokyo showed a huge interest on the Western market. They started increase their businesses trying to adapt their Japanese piece to the European taste.

The most famous European designers of the time were also influenced by the Japanese art. They started adding Japanese motives to their designs.

After a few decades, Japanese style was just forgotten until in the 80’s (20th Century) some designers like Kenzo, Miyake, Kawakubo or Yamamoto, knew how to recover its glory and bring it back to Paris the same way that happened 100 years before in the Universal Exhibition in 1867…

Karin Wachtendorff has a degree on History of Art and is specialized on History of the Suit and Cataloguing of Historic Fabrics. Thank you very much for your interesting contribution to our blog!

Karin Blog : Hstoriadelamodaylostejidos.blogspot.com.es

Isabel Muñoz

Posted on 27 May, 2014 by María López Linares

Trying to reproduce Isabel Muñoz’s art work has been the most worrying challenge I’ve faced since I decided to start back in January a 12-months work with my colleagues from El Objetivo Magico, copying one master work per month.

Isabel Muñoz was the master photographer to imitate this month, chosen by my colleague Sara Lagunas. And I can tell you it’s been very challenging to me to reproducing the work of one of the biggest talents in Spain.

Let me give you a few bites about her biography, not much though, since you can find a lot about her on the Internet. Her awards, travels and artwork could well fit the plot of a movie. Her series of the Cuban traditional dance, her Cambodian, Turkish or Kenian works or the amazing set of photographs about the children at the Beijing circus school are just a few breathtaking samples that amaze me.

The momento I sat down in front of her artwork I felt nervousness. I lost in thought every time I listen to her. It’s not only the light, how she treated the leather or her way of dealing with black and white what grab my attention. It’s her courage when capturing what she feels. That’s what makes me feel so small…

And now I’m supposed to take my Nikon camera with my inexperienced hands and to try to emulate one of these magnificent and full of passion pieces… That moment I wonder if I am embarrasing myself trying to copy her.

So I started studying her work, her editions, the way she treated the light and also I had to look for models for the session of pictures.

The momento I saw the series “Oriental” I thought on my friend Malen: She’s being dancing since I can remember… And that’s too long! Malen is a pharmacist but she spends every available second in the day to practice. Her passion for dancing and her extreme dedication are admirable. She can dance tango, tap dancing, the belly dance and any other saloon dance. However she’s not a professional, although her couple at dancing indeed is and actually dances for a group called “Sweet Twins STW”.

I was totally convinced I couldn’t find a better model to my purpose. Like all the biggest discoverings in life, this series of photographs came from a garaje… I hope you like them.

I’ve had a professional relationship with Mapy, my second model, since many years ago. She is our Creative Director, the head who actually turns to reality all my ideas on and off-line. Nowadays she also is a friend after so many years of work.

I loved chatting with her about her tattoos, how she managed to hide at home to keep them out of her parents sight and how she spent a Summer wearing a jacket until she succumbed to the sun and had to put it off.

Mapy is an illustrator, creative and graphic designer. Her body reflects her sensibility and art. You can read on her skin what she feel about painting, the masters she admires and follow. That’s why I thought of her when I saw the Isabel Muñoz’s series about gangs. Her tattoos grabbed my attention long time ago and I felt respect for the fact that she had her passion on her own body. To me that is so brave and beautiful at once…

This series came out from an evening at home.

I’d like to emphasise I feel the deepest respect for this amazing professional who is Isabel Muñoz. I’m only an amateur pretending to learn something by copying the biggest photographers in history.

Here’s her official website, in case you want to check her whole work.

http://www.isabelmunoz.es/

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Tag Archives: vintage

The Apartment

Designing Woman

Toni Catany

The Prince and the Showgirl

The Garden of the Angel

Giant

With “I” for “Inca”

Rebel Without a Cause

Japanese Art

Isabel Muñoz