Holocaust Films

I recently saw this special edition magazine on Anne Frank at the neighborhood grocery store in Mendocino a week ago and had to buy it to read.

Departures

Michael and I just watched an outstanding movie about a young man who regretfully moves back to his hometown after a failed career as a cellist in Tokyo and stumbles upon a career as a nōkanshi, a traditional Japanese ritual mortician.   A beautiful film.

Gran Hotel

Here's a series Michael and I got hooked on, Gran Hotel.  If you like foreign movies and are okay reading subtitles, it's on Netflix. 

A Few Excellent Foreign Movies.

Scene from Remembrance.

Some very good movies that Michael and I recently watched.  

Remembrance.

Scene from Mother of Mine.

Mother of Mine.

The Hunt.

The little girl in this movie, The Hunt, did an outstanding job.  She's adorable.

 Interview with Thomas Vinterberg on how they rewrote the character for Mads Mikkelsen.  By the way, I totally love Mads Mikkelsen.  He's a fabulous actor, up there with the best and he also stars in the two films below, A Royal Affair and After the Wedding.

A Royal Affair.

Scene from A Royal Affair.

After the Wedding.

Some Excellent Movies to Watch

A Royal Affair

After the Wedding

The first two are true treasures. 

Catherine Cookson's The Secret

Actually, there are quite a few Catherine Cookson's novels that were made into movies and you can find them on Netflix.  They are among my favorite movies.  I wanted to post The Dwelling Place but couldn't find a clip to link to so I posted The Secret shown above.  Like I said, they are all very, very good.

Loving the Bad Man

The last movie is quite different from the rest in that it's a Christian movie.  Loving the Bad Man is about a young woman whom is raped and becomes pregnant.  She decides to keep the baby and goes against her parents wishes who want her to have an abortion.  She makes a conscience decision to forgive the man that raped her and it was very moving.  A very good message about the power of forgiveness.  Stephen Baldwin has a role in this one, see his interview here;

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPVsAd1-j48

Some of our Favorites

Island at War

Michael and I love to watch BBC mini series and shows such as Downton Abbey and Mr. Selfridge.
Such excellent script writing, acting and photography.  Island at War is about the German Occupation of the Channel Islands which is just off the coast of France and centers around three families.  

Land Girls

Catherine Cookson, The Dwelling Place

Actually, we love every single Catherine Cookson movie.  See the list here:  Catherine Cookson.
You can find them on Netflix.  They are all wonderful movies and we've seen them all and will watch them again.

Another favorite, which is so very good:

2005 Bleak House

The Giant Mechanical Man

We watched this little indie film last night which is a quirky romantic comedy.  It's a quiet and slow paced movie about two lonely people struggling to find their way in the world and whom somehow manage to find each other.

Janice is down on her luck.  She loses her job as a temp worker and ends up having to move in with her overbearing and supposedly successful younger sister, Jill, and her husband.  Jill continues to exasperatingly belittle Janice and this contributes to Janice's feelings of insecurity and worthlessness.

Tim is a bit of an aimless street mime performer and has his own set of problems to deal with, namely, his girlfriend that no longer wants to hang around and support his 'career' as a street performer that wears stilts and silver face paint and metallic garb.

Enter a self absorbed, self help guru author that tries to impress Janice with his so called wisdom and wit but unbeknownst to him, ends up boring her instead.  Thank goodness she sees right through him.

We enjoyed the movie.  

Tom Brown's Schooldays

I got this two disc set from Netflix, Tom Brown's Schooldays 1971.  Disc One arrived in the mail first and we watched it right away and fell in love with the character of Tom Brown that when the second disc came in we were so excited that we could finally finish watching it, two days of impatiently waiting to see the rest of it were over.

Anthony Murphy played Tom Brown and what a fantastic job he did, Tom Brown is a sweet and lovable and kind and brave child.  All the characteristics any mother would be proud of.  All the acting in this series was superb, especially the villains.  They made you hate them!

After researching Anthony Murphy to see what other things he's acted in or what he's currently up to, I found out that he's quite an accomplished artist.  What a treasure!  Anthony creates portraits and landscapes and still life, works that are Impressionistic and  full of life and color.  VeryVan Gogh, Cezanne and Gauguin like.

Isn't his work amazing?  I'm in love with his paintings, they are wonderful.

Molly Abroad by Anthony Murphy

 Just look at this sky!  Fascinating.

Boule Players at Dusk, Pezens by Anthony Murphy

The Mayor of Castorbridge

 

 The opening scene above.

Donald Farfrae and Lucetta.

One of the most heart wrenching movies I've ever seen.  The last scene of the movie, which is superbly acted by all the characters, is what did me in.  I bawled my eyes out at the end.  You can get it on Netflix.

Jane Austen's Persuasion

I do love a good romantic movie, especially Jane Austen.

Sins of the Father

Imagine being the daughter of a mass murderer.  Meet Monika Hertwig, daughter of Amon Goeth, the man in charge of the Nazi concentration camp in Płaszów which was featured in the film Schindler's List.

In the documentary we learn that Monika was a child when she had first begun to learn of the horrors of what her father, Amon, had done.   

Inheritance is about Monika's struggle to come to grips with these horrors and the meeting that took place in 2004 between Monika and Helen, the Jewish woman from the concentration camp that had Amon choose to live in his house and become his maid.   

Monika in front of the house built for Amon during WWII.

It is heart wrenching to see the burden of guilt she carries for the evils perpetrated by this one man, her father, Amon.   I cried terribly for her anguish. 

Amon Goeth, Monika's father

Amon in Schindler's List portrayed by Ralph Fiennes

Helen Jonas

Helen says the sexual attraction Amon has for her in the film, Schindler's List, is fictional and did not exist.  Helen was tortured and beaten and lived in fear for her life.

If I lived in Europe during those times and had knowledge of or witnessed these horrifying atrocities and did nothing to stop or help the suffering ones and stood silently by, I'd be just as guilty as the perpetrators.  I wouldn't be able to live with myself and I think that I would commit suicide just like Monika's mother did.  Although we'll never know if that is the reason why she did it, after all, she had Amon's picture on the wall above her bed where she died.  Makes me wonder, did she miss the monster?  

I love history and truly enjoy watching movie's about The Civil War and WWII especially.  I never tire of them, even documentaries are fascinating to me.  I know many people do not want to see or remember the horrors of what the Nazi's did to humankind and find it hard to stomach.  It does make me sick and I do cry and my heart is broken but I also know that we must never forget and must teach it to our children and grandchildren.  They need to know what really happened to the innocent and it shouldn't be glossed over or romanticized.    

I'm not morbidly obsessed with this subject but next up in my Netflix Queue is a movie Meryl Streep and James Woods starred in titled, Holocaust, a t.v. miniseries made in 1978. 

North By Northwest - The Auction

North By Northwest Cropduster scene with music

No Horse Tonight

Well, we ended up not going to the show after all.  We stayed home and watched The Torn Curtain with Paul Newman, another Hitchcock flick.  Now we're watching The Outlaw Josie Wales with Clint Eastwood.

It was a good idea but we'll have to save War Horse for another time.  Happy 2012!

Going to the movies

Going to see the movie War Horse tonight. 

Happy New Year!

Classic Movie

Watching this version of Pride and Prejudice tonight and having some popcorn with grated Parmesan cheese.  Yummy!  Can you tell that I love the very beautiful and classy Greer Garson?  Love her!!

What a Love Story!

We watched another classic flick the other night.  What a treat!  Starring Greer Garson as Paula and Ronald Colman as Charles Rainier.

Paula meets wounded amnesiac patient, Charles.

Charles is a wounded World War I soldier that has no memory of his past.  He meets beautiful music hall star, Paula, and they fall madly in love.

Gorgeous Greer Garson 1904-1996

She's oh so beautiful and classy!

Charles goes in search of a job in a nearby city, gets hit by a car and loses all memory of his time spent with Paula.

Dashing Ronald Colman 1891-1958

Due to the accident he regains the memory of his previous life, goes home to be with his wealthy relatives and proceeds to manage the family fortune without any memory of his three years spent with Paula.  In his pocket is a key...and opens which door, he knows not.

Their lovely little cottage in the country; the three years he lost memory of.

Here's the twist: Paula learns of his misfortune and secures a job as secretary to be ever near him even though it's torturous not tell him she's his wife.

Patient Paula.

A very lovely movie.

Gold digger or true love?

The Heiress

1949 The Heiress

Starring Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift and Ralph Richardson in The Heiress.  One of my all time favorite films, Olivia de Havilland in her best performance ever, hands down.  It's the middle of the 19th century and Catherine Sloper (de Havilland) lives with her emotionally detached father, Dr. Sloper, (Richardson) in Washington Square, an upper class neighborhood of New York.

Dr. Sloper has never gotten over the death of his spouse and is constantly comparing his sweet daughter to the wife whom he idolizes.  His wife was beautiful, Catherine is homely.  She was talented, Catherine's only talent is her embroidery.  The wife was outgoing, witty and delightful company, Catherine is extremely shy and tongue tied in social affairs.  It's obvious to the viewer that no matter what the daughter does she'll never live up to her father's unrealistic expectations.

Olivia de Havilland as Catherine

In love

To complicate matters, Catherine lives on a tidy inheritance left by her mother of $10,000 per year.  In the event her father passes away, she stands to inherit another $20,000 annually and the very opulent family home. 

According to the father, it's not likely that Catherine will ever marry because of her extreme shyness and lack of social skills.  Due to the lack of affection from the father, it's only natural that when handsome and smooth talking Morris Townsend (Clift) comes along and gives her the attention she so desperately craves, she falls fast and hard in love.

Dr. Sloper suspects that Morris is after Catherine for one thing only: her riches.  It doesn't help Catherine that her unintelligent and hopelessly romantic Aunt Lavinia (Mariam Hopkins) encourages her to pursue this relationship regardless of her father's voiced suspicion.

Montgomery Clift as Morris Townsend

With a little hard work Morris obtains a devoted promise of marriage from Catherine.  Morris inadvertently finds out Dr. Sloper plans to disinherit Catherine if she marries Morris against his wishes.  On the eve of their planned elopement, she eagerly waits for him to arrive to sweep her far, far away from her father whom she has come to believe has never truly loved her. Morris never appears.  Catherine is shattered and heartbroken.  A day or so later Catherine and her father get into an argument to which she challenges him to alter his will.  He refuses and in fact has informed his daughter that he is dying. 

Several years pass and Catherine is now a very wealthy woman.  Guess who comes knocking on her door?  You got it!  Morris has the nerve to confess his undying love for her and that he only deserted Catherine because he didn't want her to lose her inheritance.  He's conceitedly wrapped up in himself that he doesn't notice her coldness and how she backs away from his every touch.  She lets him believe she still loves him, sends him on his way believing she's going to pack her belongings for their wedlock and honeymoon. 

When he returns, she calmly has the door bolted leaving Morris desperately pounding it as he repeatedly cries her name.  She finishes the last embroidery stitches, gathers her lighted glass oil lamp and steadily ascends the stairs retiring for the night.

Bitterness and revenge

Olivia de Havilland gives an impeccable performance.  She begins her character as the insecure and shy Catherine (blank face, meek, fading into the background) which transforms into the madly in love Catherine (gleaming eyes, vibrant and facial expressions full of life) and finally into the jilted Catherine (hardened features, vindictive eyes, full of self assurance in her determined movements).

I highly recommend this movie even though I've told you so much already!  You won't regret it, in fact, I plan on watching this one again someday, for the brilliant acting skills alone. 

The Will to Survive

I have a liking for stories of survival in the midst of incredible odds and The Island on Bird Street is one that moved my soul.  Alex, his father and uncle, Boruch, live in German occupied Poland during World War II.  The German soldiers are emptying the ghetto and transporting people on trains to be taken away to concentration camps.  It's during one of these raids with all the commotion surrounding him that Alex finds himself separated from his father and alone in the ghetto fighting for his very existence.  He ends up in an abandoned, bombed up building on Bird Street that becomes his shelter and hiding place.

He encounters various characters in the ghetto that come and go, but throughout, his constant companion is Snow, his itty-bitty and intelligent pet mouse.  Alex must hunt for food all the while keeping himself hidden from the soldiers.  His main objective besides his will to survive is to be reunited with his missing father.

Jordan Kiziuk plays Alex in the movie and does a marvelous job.  Alex is a child that has seen and felt it all, hunger, devastation, hatred, greed, selfishness, murder and utter isolation in a time of one of the worst wars in human history.  I was drawn in immediately with his innocent and sad eyes, his beautiful smile, his infectious laugh and Alex melted and won my heart completely.  I loved this movie.  

The Island on Bird Street was written in 1985 byUri Orlev, an Israeli author.

The Tenth Man

Last night we watched an older Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, 'The Tenth Man' starring Anthony Hopkins and Kristin Scott Thomas.  The story is set in Occupied France during World War II, where one out of every ten prisoners is executed.  Anthony Hopkins is a rich lawyer who gets captured and is sent to prison.  The prisoners are told that three of them must die and it's up to them to decide who will be the chosen ones.  They decide to draw lots and of course, Anthony Hopkins is one.  He's devastated and offers to anyone who will take his place that he'll give them everything he owns, his mansion and all his wealth.  A young man accepts his offer and is executed.  I don't want to give away too much more but this is a wonderful story with a bittersweet ending.   

I highly recommend this story of cowardice and bravery, hatred and forgiveness and redemption.

Hopkins as Chavel