Summer Rerun
Summer being known for reruns, let’s look at one of my favorite posts from the past. In it, I combined my love of old movies and textiles, and made up the kinds of movies I would love to watch, and theater posters to advertise them. Sadly, in the two years since I posted it, it has had only 9 views. So let’s try it again and see if it can become a beloved family classic this time around…
One of the things that gets me through the blazing heat of August is Turner Classic Movies and their Summer Under the Stars. I love to sit in a cool room with some needlework and watch movies all day. But I can’t help thinking – What if I had been around to make movies during the Golden Age of Hollywood? What would they have looked like? (Cue camera dissolve and harp music…)
The Widow Wore White (1947)
A string of wealthy men die mysteriously within days of their weddings – the only clues are lace-edged handkerchiefs clasped to their lips. A new husband, Peter Lorre, rushes into Sam Spade’s office after discovering the pattern, to accuse his wife, Lana Turner, and beg for protection. Turner swears she is innocent. Can Humphrey Bogart unravel the clues and capture the real killer?
Former husbands seen in flashbacks — Sydney Greenstreet, Charles Coburn, and Edward Everett Horton.
Captain Dyefast (1937)
Synopsis: Errol Flynn is unjustly condemned to hard labor in the jungles of Verde Azul, to harvest the Lazuli-wood trees. He leads a band of men (including Alan Hale, Herbert Mundin, and Eugene Pallette) to freedom aboard a captured ship. They rename her the Mordant, and sail the Seven Seas, seizing cargoes of precious dyestuffs and re-distributing them to poor dyers around the world.
To Catch A Couturier (1956)
Synopsis: State Department staffer Cary Grant must ferret out which European fashion designer is passing top secret information to the Communists. A mousy typist, Grace Kelly, is assigned to assist him. After a quick make-over, she poses as his beautiful society girlfriend. As they cross Europe to spy in all the leading fashion houses, Kelly quickly realizes that the signal code is based on the way the models arrange their brooches, earrings, and bracelets, but holds off revealing her discovery until her wardrobe is complete! Will they realize they are meant for each other?
Designers played by Danny Kaye, Eve Arden, and Nancy Walker – with cameos by Audrey Hepburn and Christian Dior!
Space Warp (1957)
Synopsis: Aliens come to earth and cause fear and disorder in society by merely altering the colors of everything from flowers to kittens to food. This B-movie has achieved a cult following for its use of early op art effects and disorienting colors. While the plot is supposedly about alien invaders, like many other movies of its time it was a commentary on the public’s disquieting ability to “see red” where it did not actually exist. Cameos by Bela Lugosi and Michael Caine.
(harp music signals return to reality) Well, those are some of the movies I wish I could watch! I could go on and on – I haven’t even gotten to Esther Williams, Red Skelton, or Busby Berkeley yet!
Sources: all movie star photos are in the public domain and are from Wikimedia Commons. The background photos and textiles (including the oddly colored prints from the 50s and 60s, seen in Space Warp) are my own. I’ve had Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 for about ten years, but I learned a lot more about it while creating these posters!
Okay, I now return you to your regularly scheduled blogs.
I laughed! I cried! I gasped with surprise! My favorite movie, of course, was To Catch a Couturier. LOVE ME some CARY GRANT! 😉
Thank you! I may have to add your inspiring quotes to my next movie poster! 🙂
My sister and I were talking about Arsenic and Old Lace (and there’s a textile title for you) and that’s what reminded me of this post. I love Cary Grant too.
The good ship Mordant! Ha, ha. And one of my favorite character actors, Alan Hale. I do hope Errol appears a lot in tights.
Oh of course! And some brocade doublets. I better put in some fair maidens to capture on the high seas so we can have lots of beautiful gowns too, with the emphasis on lace, heavy texture, and blackwork embroidery, since this is “movie”, sadly, was made in the black and white era. Since its subject matter is precious dyestuffs, maybe we can have a remake in Glorious Technicolor in the 50s, starring Guy Williams.
Oh. My. This is absolutely brilliant! I’m so glad you re-posted (I actually wish more bloggers would do this with their evergreen favorites)! You are just so good with the quirky details!
Thank you. I think it comes from not watching any movies from past 1960. 🙂 Except BBC costume dramas of course.
Glad I inspired you. Well me and “what is THAT smell, Bette”. Great rerun.
Oh, how exceedingly clever! (I just finished Pride and Prejudice in audio book form. It sticks with you for awhile.)
Thank you! I love Jane Austen, but I can’t come up with an exceedingly clever quote with which to thank you!
Wouldn’t she be amazed to know that 200 years after she wrote, a sheep rancher from California and a tree farmer from Texas knew her work!
Somehow I didn’t credit aliens with such nice prints! Jane
You may have seen the old Far Side animated special, that showed how to trap aliens by singing “Deep in the Heart of Texas” – they clap the wrong rhythm, and there’s your proof. I think that wildly inaccurate colors in an otherwise nice fabric print may be another sign of alien invasion. 🙂