ToCatchAThief Tagged Articles at Cinematical
What Happened to the Far Flung Locations of Film?
Filed under: Classics », Fan Rant »
This is one of those posts that will see me called out as wrong, or state something painfully obvious, but you can't blame a girl for trying.
I've mentioned before that I've been watching a lot of film noir. Naturally, those kinds of Netflix searches lead one to watching a lot of fedora-filled films, and revisiting anything of Alfred Hitchcock's that happens to be online. Watching everything from Gilda to The Man Who Knew Too Much in a very short period of time has led me to jump to a silly conclusion --film locations used to be a lot more exotic. The films of the 1930s, '40s, 50s, and even 60s are set in all kinds of fabulous locations: Brazil, Buenos Aires, Shang-Hai, Istanbul, Cannes, Casablanca. Characters travel languidly and carelessly to all four corners of the Earth without thinking too much of it, which is pretty remarkable in a time when few people left their hometown, let alone their country.
Most of these "locations" are never seen, of course. (A huge exception is always Hitchcock, who plunks everyone right there on the streets of Istanbul or Rio de Janeiro) I don't think there's anything remotely Argentinian about Gilda (the South American casino looks like it reused the walls of Tara), but it oozes exoticism all the same. You never see the Shang-Hai of The Lady From Shang-Hai, but the fact that the blonde beauty speaks fluent Chinese just adds that extra bit of mystery. Plus that film sees them sailing all over the place via the Panama Canal, as if that's something everyone with a yacht does every summer. But even if the exotic locales are nothing more than a name drop or a bunch of stock footage, it makes the film far more sensual than if it's simply set in San Fransisco or Miami.
I've mentioned before that I've been watching a lot of film noir. Naturally, those kinds of Netflix searches lead one to watching a lot of fedora-filled films, and revisiting anything of Alfred Hitchcock's that happens to be online. Watching everything from Gilda to The Man Who Knew Too Much in a very short period of time has led me to jump to a silly conclusion --film locations used to be a lot more exotic. The films of the 1930s, '40s, 50s, and even 60s are set in all kinds of fabulous locations: Brazil, Buenos Aires, Shang-Hai, Istanbul, Cannes, Casablanca. Characters travel languidly and carelessly to all four corners of the Earth without thinking too much of it, which is pretty remarkable in a time when few people left their hometown, let alone their country.
Most of these "locations" are never seen, of course. (A huge exception is always Hitchcock, who plunks everyone right there on the streets of Istanbul or Rio de Janeiro) I don't think there's anything remotely Argentinian about Gilda (the South American casino looks like it reused the walls of Tara), but it oozes exoticism all the same. You never see the Shang-Hai of The Lady From Shang-Hai, but the fact that the blonde beauty speaks fluent Chinese just adds that extra bit of mystery. Plus that film sees them sailing all over the place via the Panama Canal, as if that's something everyone with a yacht does every summer. But even if the exotic locales are nothing more than a name drop or a bunch of stock footage, it makes the film far more sensual than if it's simply set in San Fransisco or Miami.
Classic Movies Get The Teaser Poster Treatment
Filed under: Classics », Fandom », Exhibition », Politics »
The world of movie marketing certainly has changed over the years, and some of the greatest films to ever come out of Hollywood never got the chance to have high powered marketing teams behind them creating multi-million dollar campaigns. But when it comes to poster art, classic artists like Saul Bass or Bob Peak have yet to be matched. Now, thanks to Turner Classic Movies, we've got a perfect blend of the old and the new in their set of teaser posters for their Summer Under the Stars programming line-up (you can download the full schedule on the TCM site) and the results are in a word: fan-freaking-tastic.
There are 12 posters in total, and they include some breathtaking new images for movies like To Catch a Thief, The Big Heat, The Magnificent Seven, and Dr. Strangelove. TCM has provided a heck of a programming month for fans of classic movies, and if you have never seen some of these films, now is your chance. Since I'm a bit of geek when it comes to these things, I immediately began fantasizing about buying a reproduction to hang in my living room -- but I'm not that lucky, because it looks like these posters aren't for sale and, instead, I will just have to make do with downloading the desktop wallpapers.
TCM's Summer Under the Stars will start in August with the films of Henry Fonda, and will run for the entire month. Check out some of our favorite classic movie teaser posters below, and see if you can guess the film.
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