Favourite Movie Stars

I know I have mentioned my love of classic movies so many times and I'm always going on about Marlene Dietrich. However I finally got round to watching Mr & Mrs Smith the other day and I just had to tell you how great it was!

Carole Lombard is fantastic it always makes me sad to think she died so young. The movies she did make though are funny and sentimental and I always feel like I know her really well when I read about her personality and see the roles she played.

Mr & Mrs Smith is an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Im no good at reviews so briefly Mr Smith (Robert Montgomery)finds out that he and his wife (Lombard) are not legally married. Instead of telling her right away he leaves it a day.
However his wife finds out and is waiting for him to A. tell her the mishap and B. propose to her again.

When he doesn't immediately propose she decides not to take him back and starts dating his best friend and business partner. I won't spoil it just incase you want to watch the film yourself but hilarity ensues with them playing games and teasing each other and there is a winter cabin retreat as well :)

My favourite Lombard film is still 'No Man of Her Own' maybe its becuase it stars Clark Gable who is quite dishy but its probably becuase they became a real life couple years later.

Clark and Carole were truly in love and then she tragically died in a plane crash. It is written that although Gable remarried 2 times afterwards he was never the same after Caroles death and he stayed in their marital home the rest of his life.

I'm a sucker for a love story.

Valentines Day soon! <3 ;)
Emily x

Christmas

Hope you all had a great christmas!
I had a lovely day with my boyfriend and his family.


This is us 'kids' on christmas eve being merry.


Here is a few of the lovely things I was bought:

D&G L'Imperatrice is such a beautiful perfume you have to smell it next time your in a perfume shop.

I really cannot wait to get stuck into my craft books I think my new years resolution will be to pick one book and complete every craft in it...

I also cannot wait to watch Mr and Mrs Smith as you may know Carole Lombard is one of my all time favourite actresses and when I saw this in HMV I was cheeky and asked Ben to buy it for me!

Ben bought me the dvd and also the Lion King boxset! I havent actually seen the second and third movies but it will be interesting. He also suprised me by saying he is buying me a joint birthday (24th Jan) and christmas present but he needed to know my size first...

The ring I posted about! Ben saw the pictures and decided to get it for me! So as soon as it arrives I will have pictures to show! :D

Hey I have some new followers/ comments.

I still cannot reply or follow other blogs...seriously getting annoying now! so sorry again I'm not being rude!

I went to see the final Harry Potter film today with the bf. I loved it! no shock there though.


we rocked up in out 'his n hers' vans. cute huh?

Vintage Finds!

So I found my camera charger (fairly soon after I started looking properly).

I promised a post about my vintage finds from the Blind Lemon Vintage fair:



Ive wanted a pair of sheer black gloves for ages but normally the vintage ones are super tiny and I havent found any to fit! I was lucky this time and saw these pair for a wonderful £3.50! I was sure Id got inspiration for them from Bette Davis in the film in All about Eve (1950) but now I'm not so sure where I saw them. Its a cracking film by the way if you get chance to see it! Bette is wonderful at her role as the diva Margo. I also loved the supporting role played by Celeste Holme as Margos kind and levelheaded friend Karen, she was beautiful! Marilyn Monroe has a bit part also.



This next one was also a bit of luck. There were a lot of vintage leather suitcases on sale this time but on in particular caught my eye. It had my initials painted on it! I couldnt let that pass me by! It is in fairly good condition just a couple of bashes to the corners which you would expect on a old used case. I want to know who it belonged to now! £25 it cost me.

I also got a cute knitted short sleeve jumper top very 1940s in style but I doubt its that old. Its currently hanging out to dry so I will get a photo of it for you soon.

byeee

Catching up with movie stars

Ive been ill the past few days so have been curled up in bed.

Today I watched Gentlmen Prefer Blondes.

I really enjoyed the film, the storyline was fun and I liked the songs, especially Bye Bye Baby.

Finally got to see Marilyn in the costumes I saw on the Marilyn dolls a few years ago.

(diamonds are a girls best friend scene)

(Opening scene, Little Rock number)
If you havent seen this musical, its set on a transatlantic crossing to Paris. Jane Russell and Marilyn are 2 best friends, Marilyn wants to marry her millionaire boyfriend but his father dissapproves fearing her a money grabber. There are a few mix ups thanks to the niavety and flirtatious nature of Monroes character but her friend is always there to help. Love, laughter and songs and a nice shopping montage in paris :)

Madeline Caroll

First of the Hitchcock blondes in 39 Steps.

I love this story and I love Madeline Caroll, she was incredibly beautiful.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lUmG0_CzPWQ&feature=related

I watched silent movie 'It' (1927) today starring Clara Bow, Antonio Moreno and William Austin

Bow plays a savvy shop girl who falls in love with her new boss and uses her charm to try and win his heart.

Elinor Glyn the author the genius behind the story wrote:

It: "self-confidence and indifference as to whether you are pleasing of not"

'It' used to describe sex appeal brought about the term 'It girl' of which Clara Bow was made the first. It's easy to see why Clara was Chosen just look at this adorable still form the film


Here is another film still


I loved all the clothes, even her shopgirl uniform! I like her headscarf when she is on the boat, her cloche hat with grapes and her t-bar shoes.

Worth watching for: the scene where Clara cuts up her uniform, the jokes on the worded screens and Clara Bow herself!

Meet me in St Louis

Finally saw this film yesterday. I LOVE the Wizard of Oz (if you hadn't noticed) but I am not a very big Judy Garland fan, so I was keen to see Meet in St Louis as it is meant to be Judy Garland's other great role.

I enjoyed the film, I loved the songs. I had heard the 'Trolley song' before but never knew where it came from! 'Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas' is beautiful as well, I've always liked that song.
The quirky characters and close family relationship was fun to watch and was acted well. The 2 youngest sisters were hilarious, so mischeivious!
Judy Garland is pretty awesome too, her character (Esther) is silly in a girlish way about boys and marriage, but she is fun and clever and would do anything for her family.

The costumes, I thought for the most part they were hideous! But I am not a huge fan of Victorian fashion, and a lot of the colours they used were probably not accurate, just fun for a musical.
I thought the best costumes were for the Christmas ball scene.

I am sure you have all already seen it, but if not it is worth watching for the: cute storyline, great songs, Agnes and Tootie and the scene around the dinner table.

Bank Holiday

So this morining I got up early, ready to get a lot of things done, only to remember its a bank holiday so,
Job 1. go to the bank: impossible.
Job 2. get prints sorted for final printing: printers is closed, also impossible!
Job 3. Re-write artist statment and email to tutors: can still be done.

So tomorrow will be a busy day!

Instead of curling back up in bed I decided to make the most of this lovely Bank holiday, so I baked a cake. (before 10.30 in the morning!)

I call this the Jackson Pollock Traybake.

I just use a standard fairy cake recipe but put it in a baking dish instead of seperate cake cases.

I used melted milk chocolate for the topping and just flicked it at the cake! fun :P
If I had a fully stocked cupboard I normally use both milk and white chocolate to create a marble effect, you can also do this with the cake mixture, spliting it before adding to the tray and adding coco powder to one lot of cake mixture then swirling and layering the different coloured cake in the tin.


So after I have had another go at my artist statment, I am going to curl up with a good classic film.

I found this awesome channel on youtube, where someone lovely has been posting classic films.

http://www.youtube.com/user/classicscreengems


enjoy! :)
check it out!

Carole Lombard

I love Carole Lombard even more than Marlene Dietrich!




Unfortunatley they only do a few of her films on dvd. They need to release a boxset like they have with Dietrich, Doris Day, Marilyn and Audrey Hepburn.

If Jennifer Aniston can have one, Carole Lombard deserves one!

Imagine a bumper boxset of Gable and Lombard and all their films! it would be awesome!

Studio Ghibli

If you have been reading my blog for a while you might know I am trying to collect all the Disney Classics films on DVD. I LOVE Disney, I think its a mix of nostalgia and obviously the fact that all the films are great.

However I havent ever mentioned that I'm a big fan of the Studio Ghibli films, you will have heard of Spirited Away and most probably seen it.

I did 3 shifts at work last week so I have a bit of money, so I bought some more Ghibli films:

The Cat Returns
Nausicaa
Laputa Castle in the Sky
The great thing about my university is that they do film and animation courses so they have most Disney and Ghibli Dvds in there, so I can borrow them, watch them and then decide if I like them enough to buy :)

I already own Howls moving Castle (which insidently is based on the book written by Diana Wynne Jones)which I would really recommend, and Princess Mononoke.

I love the detail in the scenery of the Ghibli films, they really do transport you to a different place, most places are modelled on earth but a kind of utopian or sci-fi earth. If youve seen any of the films you will know what I mean (hopefully!) I think the easiest way to describe the films would be magical with a hint of japanese madness.

A funny heartwarming film would be My Neighbour Totoro, look out for the cat bus, its awesome!


I think Totoro is next on my list, after I buy Snow White.

Ponyo is the latest film by Studio Ghibli and has already been released in Japan and the USA. I can't wait for it to be released here later this year, it will be my first Ghibli cinema experience :D

The Lady Is Willing

So the other day I bought a Marlene Dietrich boxset, and ive finally got round to watching one of the films. I have never done a film review before so yeah, this will be very sketchy and i hope to improve with each review i write. I chose The lady is willing mainly because of the description on the back of the box. Marlene is fabulously funny as eccentric actress Elizabeth Madden who finds a baby and decides to keep it, she enters into a 'practical' marriage with a doctor so that she is legally allowed to adopt the baby. Fred McMurray makes a good leading man, he plays his character very well however i find his character itself lacking in some way he isnt a strong man until maybe the last scene he is often over shadowed by Lizas huge character. But there are lots of great characters in the film who all add a lot of humor (Granted a lot of the jokes come from Miss Madden's mad wardrobe). I liked the 'manager and accountant' characters played by Stanley Ridges and Arline Judge and the exasperation and adoration they show for Liza. I found the climax at the end is kind of unexpected but fitting :)
I really enjoyed the film and would recommend it to any Dietrich fan or general fan of good old fashioned hollywood movies. I cant wait to watch another form my boxset when i get the chance! The storyline is not dissimilar to Baby Boom the 1987 film starring Diane Keaton, however this 1940s gem is much better.
Ive included a movie poster and a screen shot from google here to give you a tatser.