TCM Film Festival

Day 2

Another day has come and gone with more adventures at the TCM Film Festival. Went to the lesser known (in some circles) Grauman's Egyptian theatre to start my day off with The More the Merrier, a wonderfully done romantic comedy that most people haven't heard of. After getting a bit of grub (a rare occasion in this fest), I moseyed on down to see Amazing Film Discoveries. There were several beautifully restored silent shorts the chief among them being an almost complete (one minute at the end of reel 1 is still missing but, is recreated with stills) lost Laurel & Hardy short, The Battle of the Century. This film is less known for being a "lost film" and more known for having the largest pie fight in cinema. It was amazing and hilarious. As evening descended, I made my way poolside at the Roosevelt Hotel to watch Lee Meriwether and Adam West introduce Batman: The Movie. Both of them enjoyed working on the movie and Adam West had many quotes that are even funnier taken out of context: "He was never in my dressing room." "I had no nipples." The last event of the night was going over to formerly Grauman's Chinese theatre and listen to Angela Lansbury introduce The Manchurian Candidate. She is one of the most versatile actresses that has ever graced the silver screen. With that, so ends day two of this adventure in classic film.

TCM Film Festival

Day 1

Yesterday was the opening day of the seventh annual TCM Film Festival. This year's theme is Moving Pictures: Films That Inspire. Such a broad theme allows for a braod range of films to be shown running the gauntlet from sports films (Brian's Song, Rocky, and Field of Dreams to name a few) to social commentary/justice (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, All the President's Men, and M*A*S*H for example). But, that doesn't mean that the Fest is all work and no play. Some of the films being shown are more fun. Batman: The Movie, Horse Feathers, and The More the Merrier help to enliven what might be an otherwise heavy theme.

My first film was Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. I had never seen it beofre and was unsure of what to expect. I knew what the film was about but had never had the opportunity to view the film. Sidney Poitier is amazing as a black doctor wishing to marry a white girl played by Katharine Houghton. Her parents are played by Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (in his last film role). The film overall is much funnier than expected. An interesting point is that Poitier and Houghton have only been together for ten days in the film. As they are going to be asking Houghton's parents for their blessing to get married, a reasonable assumption might be that Houghton is pregnant but, that's not the first question her parents ask. (At one point Houghton does tell Hepburn that they haven't slept together however, that is after she announces their plans to marry.)

The performances in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner are all stellar except for Houghton's. I'm not saying that she is a bad actress. Far from it. It's just that her character is flat. Her defining traits are that she is naive, doe-eyed, and head over heels in love with Poitier. I understand why her character is that way as it might not have been believable for the time and the film might not have done as well. That being said, I feel that having her character be so one-dimensional detracts just slightly from the film as a whole. I think that her being a more fleshed out character would have added something special to the film.

Overall rating: 3.5/5