R-r-r-aving about things with "R" .. - attending a meme without a name..

Via DKoren and her fabulous blog SIDEWALK CROSSINGS I found this meme.. (Her post is linked - so you can read about her favourite things beginning with the letter "M".. - I also think this is part of the rules - though it isn't actually said there..) 

Here are the rules:

"How to Play: Comment to this entry and I'll give you a letter. List ten things that you love that begin with that letter and then post that list on your journal."

Now this sounds like fun - doesn't it?

The letter I got was "R" - hence the title of this post.. Though it's no part of the rules I am trying to name ten "things" I love beginning with "r" which are related to films..

~ picture source: muppet.wikia.com ~

So - let's see - here they are in a random order just the first ten "things" with "r" that I can think of:

• R like Raft, George - I am more than just fond of this gentleman.. He is one of my altime favourites..

• R like RAVEN, THE (1963) - well.. of course I LOVE that one!! It has Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Hazel Court and Boris Karloff!! I am looking forward for THE RAVEN (2012) - a film about Edgar Allan Poe (Love him!!) which will be here released in cinema this year in September - I guess everywhere else it's by now almost forgotten.. 
  
  
  Of course I love the poem of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe:

  - and that corvids are some of my favourite animals you know by now anyway..

• R like Roscoe Karns - I love that guy! An appearance of him in a movie can brighten my day..

• R like Renfield - this is one of my favourite fictitious characters ever - performed by my beloved Dwight Frye in the 1931 adaptation of my favourite novel DRACULA of course. His laughter and his whole interpretation of this part was just magnificent!

• R like Romy Schneider  - another one of my favourites..

• R like Russian composers.. I love a good score - also very much when it's got some classic music.. (Tchaikovsky was always one of my favourites..)

• R like Robinson, Edward G. - another one I simply adore..

• R like Ricky Ricardo - I ♥ LUCY - I really do.. And I adore Ricky.. Like him I have troubles with my "slight accent" - though my isn't as cute as his is.. I guess I sound like a Nazi spy from the old movies trying to sound like a cockney flower girl..

• R like "Rosebud" ... think what you want of Orson Welles and CITIZEN KANE (1941) - for me that was a stroke of genius..  - and it had Agnes Robertson Moorehead.. 

• R like Ryn, Nicholas van - one of my favourite Vincent Price film characters. It's from the amazing DRAGONWYCK (1946).. I love that maniac..

Not bad - hm?

If you like to get a letter please leave a comment and ask for one - you can of course also comment without getting a letter..

Hope you enjoyed this..

Have a lovely day - and thank you very much for listening!

And thanks to DKoren for letting me join the fun!

Irene

Swinging with a star - with Danny Kaye, Nat King Cole and Harry Belafonte (twice)

Welcome to a new issue of Swinging with a Star!

The song of today is dealing with looks for this is this (and next) month's theme on this blog. To be specific: It deals with a guy declaring that he is ugly - and his sons making fun of him.

 Frankly: I was looking for the Robert Mitchum version of this song I am featuring here today.. Well, I didn't find it. But what I found is quite great too.

I like the fact that the guys singing this song appear to be extraordinary good-looking.. 

Have the great Harry Belafonte singing it twice.. with just wonderful partners! Love all my guests to day!!  - and yes: I listen to Mr. Belafonte and Mr. Cole quite a lot..

First we have Harry Belafonte with Nat King Cole:

and then with the wonderful Danny Kaye:

And I also like that all three men in these videos appear to have a real good time. 

And shaking your hips to Calypso music can't be wrong (unless your doctor says so..)

I hope you'll have a great weekend!

(Just by the way:

 you still can vote on the poll.. Thanks to the five persons who did yet!)

Thank you for listening - and swinging!

Yours very well and truly

Irene

"A jester unemployed is nobody's fool"

Written, produced and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama came a movie into the film theaters which was the most expensive at that time ($4 Mio.) and did not at all paid out at the box offices ($2.2 Mio). Though it should become a favourite on TV: THE COURT JESTER (1956).

In a nutshell:

King Roderick (Cecil Parker) has unrightful took possession of the throne. But one member of the true royal family has survived: it is a little baby boy, who Hawkins (Danny Kaye) - a ex-carnival artist - takes care of. Hawkins belongs to a gang of rebels lead by The Black Fox (Edward Ashley), who wants to put back the real king on the throne. When Hawkins and Maid Jean (Glynis Johns) - who are in love with each other - are on their way to bring the baby king into safety they meet famous court jester Giacomo (John Carradine).

Hawkins takes Giacomo's place to dispossess the king - but what he did not know: Giacomo is also an infamous assassin who was engaged by the king's mean minister Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone) who fears to loose his power. And then there is King Roderick's daughter Princess Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury) who dreams of a romantic lover to abduct her from the court and she browbeats her lady's companion Griselda (Mildred Natwick), who is able to use magic to get her such a hero - and who do you think Griselda will choose?


Watch out for:

The fighting scene bewtween Ravenhurst and Hawkins - this scene also bears a little reminiscence of Basil Rathbone's famous final fighting scene with Tyrone Power, jr. in THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940) - the candles!!

You should always watch carefully when Basil Rathbone is fencing: He was one of the best sword fighters in Hollywood and he was still great though he was in his 60ies and they had to double him in one scene because Danny Kaye - at an age of 42 - was a bit too bursting with energy and not that professional which means he was a bit dangerous for his combatant..

Schmooze:

• Danny Kaye received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor - Comedy/Musical.
  
• Glynis Johns is best-known as Mrs. Banks in Disney's MARY POPPINS (1964).
  
• The high speed marching maneuvers ("yay verily yay") was done by an U.S. Civil War reenactment group.
  
• Mildred Natwick is maybe best-known as Miss Ivy Gravely in Alfred Hitchcock's THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955).
  
• When Hawkins/Giacomo is talking German he says: "What have you.." and than starts bubbling unintelligibly. In the German version at this point he "talks" Danish.
  
• John Carradine is the father of Chris, David (whose death body was found in a most ungraceful pose last year), Keith and Robert Carradine.
  
• The song "The maladjusted jester" was written by Sylvia Fine, who was Mrs. Danny Kaye. The other songs she wrote in cooperation with Sammy Cahn.
  
• For the German version Danny Kaye was dubbed - like he mostly was - by Georg Thomalla, who also dubbed Jack Lemmon in almost every German release of his films.
  
• Danny Kaye had to wear "leg falsies" so that his legs would look more thewy - which makes it much more funny that Hawkins (under the spell of Griselda) offers Gwendolyn amongst other things his "legs and calves".

My favourite character:

I love Griselda - she is awesome. I am a big fan of Mildred Nastwick. It's always great when she appears. And I also like Sir Griswold (Robert Middleton) very much. But I got to confess that I love the whole cast! They're marvellous!!

Scene to see:

The famous "the vessel with the pestle"-scene! Not my favourite one - but the one every one will recognize and Danny Kaye's daughter Dena later stated that when her father was in public people often came to him and recite the whole speech. Look for yourself:

Quotes corner:

"Who are we to say nay to miracles?"

This picture, which you could also take as Robin Hood parody - even Basil Rathbone does a version of Sir Guy of Gisbourne - is just fun to watch. There some of my favourite actors/actresses in this film: Glynis Johns, to whom I fell in love as a kid, when she appeared in MARY POPPINS (my first suffragette!), Basil Rathbone - elegant and malicious -, Danny Kaye, Angela Lansbury and Mildred Nastwick..

Though you can watch it with children of any age I find some scene quite sexy. Don't fear: nothing to corrupt any character. ;")

When I was a kid we often watched this film around christmas season, that way it became a holiday film for me without any direct connections to the season. Do you have some "traditional holiday films" like that?

"The real king is on the throne, Jean is my very own..."

The End? Wait and watch!

Yours (well and) truly,

Frl. Irene