ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[Ellemeno]

Here's what's interesting about this film - it's about a Hungarian (like me) doctor named Semmelweis (1818-1865) who was the one who first (!) hypothesized that it might reduce infection in new mothers if doctors washed their hands before delivering babies.  It blows my mind that this principle wasn't obvious since babies first started being born.  The other interesting thing is that it was the 6th film directed by Fred Zinnemann, who went on to make a total of 44 films, including:

Julia (1977)
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
The Nun's Story (1959)
The Old Man and the Sea (1958) (uncredited)
Oklahoma! (1955)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
The Member of the Wedding (1952)
High Noon (1952)


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The other movie I considered going with was a film directed by Orson Welles called "Too Much Johnson."  But I was only going to pick that movie so I could say, "Some people would say there is no such thing as..."



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BTW, Leslie, I LOVED Nancy Drew.  I think I read them all (though there are now many more, I think, that have come out since I was that age).  Her "titian" hair and her "coupe." 

[oilgun]

[southendmd]

[MaineWriter]

==comment==

There were a surprising number of W movies to choose from: Wages of Sin (about the dangers of white slavers and prostitution), Wee Wee Monsieur (the Three Stooges join the French Foreign Legion) or Woman Against Woman (the angry ex-wife is out to destroy her husband's new marriage). But I decided to go with a Silly Symphony cartoon from Walt Disney.

Here's a little history on the Silly Symphonies:

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most interesting of series in the field of animation. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants and animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization and photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO and FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.

Here is Walt himself introducing the cartoon. The cartoon itself is not available.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPxBXzf9W0M[/youtube]

[Fran]

[memento]

[Ellemeno]

From IMDb:

Great Movie...even if you don't speak Polish!  This movie is a nice little musical comedy for those that like the good old Golden years of Hollywood....in Poland! A great story about a girl in boarding school and her father that has a recipe for soap, but can only remember the recipe when it is sung to a certain tune. (Hence the title of the movie). I don't speak Polish that much, but I really enjoyed what I understood of the film. The opening song with the scene of the girls in the rowboats is very catchy!  If you manage to get your hands on a copy and you don't speak Polish, you can still get the "jist" of what is going on in the film. Highly Enjoyable!

[MaineWriter]

As we move back into the mists of movie history....

Round 1937!

[MaineWriter]

==comment==

This movie won the Oscar for best director.

[southendmd]

This film marked the end of Sophie Tucker's career and the beginning of Judy Garland's, who sang to a photo of Clark Gable "You Made Me Love You" (3:09):

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uidUH4I3zsg[/youtube]