Buy a Flower Off a Poor Girl

Another edition of May Flowers is blooming...

abstew here with a look at a film that's so enamored with flowers that beautiful blossoms show up on screen even before the title of the film:

But, the flowers aren't merely decorative... although they are loverly. They line the streets of Covent Garden where the rich come to take in the refined, artistic pleasures of the Opera. And the poor, including our film's heroine, Eliza Doolittle (played by Audrey Hepburn), try to make a decent day's wages by selling the flowers to the visiting elite. The whole series of events that changes Eliza's fate all happens because she tries to sell her violets to one Colonel Pickering (Stanley Holloway). Little does she know that her conversation with the gentleman is being phonetically transcribed by a linguist professor named Henry Higgins (or as Eliza would say, 'Enry 'Iggins and played by Rex Harrison in his Oscar winning performance). Higgins, wondering "Why Can't the English Learn to Speak?", makes the case that it is Eliza's Cockney accent that keeps her in the gutter selling flowers. If he taught her how to speak properly he could pass her off as a Duchess at a ball. The next day she takes him up on the offer, wanting to get a job in a flower shop if he can teach her to speak more "genteel".

And thus begins the transformation of this Eliza:

To this Eliza: 

Instead of selling rain-soaked, trodden bunches of violets, she is now bedecked in rosettes made of pink chiffon and surrounded by lilies in a hot house. What a difference some voice lessons can make!

Unfortunately, Audrey's own voice (singing voice, that is) was more flower seller than Duchess. Though she was cast thinking she would do Eliza's singing herself, producer Jack Warner was secretly having Marni Nixon record Eliza's songs. (Nixon was, of course, the singing voice to the stars. She also did Deborah Kerr's in The King and I and Natalie Wood's in West Side Story. Too bad they didn't ask her to step in for Helena Bonham Carter...). The film went on to receive 12 Oscar nominations (and 8 wins, including Best Picture), but no nomination for Audrey.

Who did win Best Actress that year? Oh, just a British actress making her film debut. She just happened to be the original Eliza Doolittle from Broadway. She took the part in Mary Poppins after Jack Warner determined she wasn't a big enough star for his film. For Julie Andrews, I'm sure success never smelled so sweet.

Curio: Recycling Celluloid

Alexa here.  The arrival of The Master, possibly the last film shot in large format film, has many lamenting the turnover of most theaters from celluloid to digital. Next year 20th Century Fox isn't even distributing film prints of its movies, and the other studios will likely follow soon. Digital is cheaper and easier, but the magical grain and glow of film are certainly unique.  The projectionists are being cast aside along with the reels (see The Last Projectionist for a great trip through that lost craft).  

And what of all those soon-to-be useless reels? Fox's Latin American division announced that they would be sending all that celluloid away to be manufactured into polyester fabric.  Rather than create more flammable clothes, here are some crafters and artists putting all that leftover film to more creative ends.

Collapsible bookshelves using recycled film by VU35.Portraits of Audrey and Marilyn using recycled 8mm film by Erika Iris Simmons. 

Click for more creations, and for how to get your hands on some film stock yourself...

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5 Days Until The Supercalifragilistic Big Night

Has this film year overstayed its welcome? Let's take a flashback then, way back to April 1965 when Sidney Poitier read out Julie Andrews as the winner of Best Actress. Julie was her typically gracious self repeating her ambiguously directed gratitude (she only really thanked Walt Disney) so much in her short speech she had to stop herself. "...but then I've already said that!"

Sidney Poitier escorts Best Actress Julie Andrews off the stage

I don't think we've ever talked about this particular win (strange that) at The Film Experience but it's quite atypical. "Mary Poppins" isn't a particularly baity role, however iconic. She's also "practically perfect in every way" which leaves virtually no room for a character arc.  Can you think of a Best Actress win that's correlative?

Julie's speech was much cheekier at the Globes. Do you know who she thanked in her speech? The answer is after the jump.

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I Link You Just the Way You Are

Just a heads up. I was pleased that people passed this around twitter after I posted it but DO NOT READ The New Yorker review of A Separation before seeing the film. I recently named the movie Best of the Year but one of the greatest things about it, that I was careful not to spoil in my review or any of my subsequent writeups or awards postings is how it keeps defying expectations and throwing more and more complications your way. That New Yorker review, which is meant to be an enticement to see it and is otherwise beautifully written, will significantly damage your viewing pleasure as it gives away several twists and nearly the entire plot. You're welcome. And for shame Anthony Lane! Why do that to readers and potential ticket buyers? 

Boy Culture Congratulations to actress Kristy McNichol, who is now out of the closet. That'll mean something to anyone over the age of like, um, 35 (?). Otherwise y'all might be like "who?". But she was a big deal in the late 70s/early 80s. Think "Family" or "Empty Nest" on television and summer camp classic Little Darlings (1980) wherein she was deflowered by Matt Dillon! 
Thompson on Hollywood Christopher Tellefsen on the rhythms of editing. He did such great work on Moneyball I think.
Hello Giggles has 100 Things You Should Know About Downton Abbey 
Deadline which films are popular in their home countries?
In Contention has the Central Ohio Critics film winners. But I can't deal with typing up ANOTHER list. No offense, Ohio!
Hey Deanie is not convinced by Bérénice Bejo in The Artist

NYT "Seeking the next red carpet knockout" interesting piece about young actresses trying to find the dress and what happens when they do. (Though it makes you appreciate actresses who never bother, too)
Rope of Silicon The biggest flops of 2011, budget to gross.
Flavorwire Audrey Hepburn's screen test for Roman Holiday. One of those first time's the charm Oscar smashes. Ah, I love that movie.
Electronic Cerebrectomy I love when people post super random extensive personal lists of their favorite things of a year. It's like a scrapbook of everything -- not just movies. I'd do that if I didn't have 100 other lists to make.
Serious Film 2011 Superlatives: Best use of profanity.
Google celebrates the centennial of Charles Samuel Addams best known as the creator of The Addams Family. 
City Arts Armond White releases his annually inane "better than" list. I shouldn't like. It's such obvious trolling link bait. But I can't help myself. I do find his distaste for Lars von Trier highly amusing since you'd think the provocations just for the sake of provocations (Jack & Jill > The Descendants et. all) would mark them as soulmates.

Ugh, I used to love blog-a-thons so much. And then there were too many of them and I gave up. But then every once in a while you find one that looks so fun and you didn't know about it and you just want to die a little inside. Have you seen the BlogalongaBond?

It's hosted by The Incredible Suit which I've been reading for a month (and love). But I didn't know about it. It's been going on for a year already! One Bond film a month counting down to the 50th anniversary of Bond with the release of SkyFall (2012)! They're up to Octopussy (1983) now which is the very first Bond film I ever saw so if I weren't a crazy OCD completist type person it would be a great time to join in but I already missed 12 movies and all the Connery ones. Boo! 

That said, how invested are you in James Bond movies, Bond Girls and the like? We might do something.

Q&A: Blondes & Brunettes, Silents & Sequels

Each week in the Q & A column I choose a couple handfuls of reader questions to answer. I don't intentionally choose with themes in mind but this week's column, in the requested vacuum of Streep-less questions -- she'd been hogging the column -- tilted straight toward blonde icons and beloved brunettes.

Aaron: If "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "Lost in Translation" had been released in different years, do you think Scarlett Johansson would be a two-time Academy Award nominee by now?

Fun question. I had to really ponder this. But my answer is no. Oscar fanatics love to debate "vote splitting" whenever someone has two meaty roles in the same category in a given year. The 2003 Oscar race was so weirdly splintered in Best Actress and the precursors just weren't showing herd mentality so right up until nomination morning it felt like virtually any combination of a shortlist that included frontrunners Theron and Keaton was possible. But Scarlett's Lost campaign had more problems than just The Girl With the Pearl Earring. Maybe Samantha Morton, in particular, would've been pushed aside for Scarlett had she only had one film. On the other hand, it was probably the combination of Scarlett's double-breakthrough that put her in the conversation to the degree that she was in it. But I don't believe that she'd have been a two time nominee regardless because the competition in 2004 felt so impenetrable; Moreno, Swank, Bening, Winslet and Staunton were always going to be the top five the following year. 

Scarlett on the Lost in Translation circuit: BAFTA, GLOBES, OSCAR

The most interesting thing about 2003 Best Actress, at least for Trivia Nerds, is how young it skewed historically. Even if you remove the novelty nomination for 13 year old Keisha Castle Hughes (Whale Rider) you might still have had a record breaking year since both Evan Rachel Wood (she was 16 during the Thirteen campaign) and Scarlett Johansson (who had just turned 20) could have also become Youngest Ever had they landed in the shortlist. Both were younger than Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bone even who is now the second youngest nominee ever in the category after Keisha. Don't you ♥ trivia!?

MrW: Do you intend to have seen one day all Oscar-winning performances (all four acting categories)? Are there any Oscar winning performances you're embarrassed to admit you haven't seen yet?

I would love to be able to someday claim this but I fear I'll die before that gargantuan task is completed. Naturally, I'm most worried about finishing the actress categories. The three movies I'm most embarrassed I haven't yet seen that sucked up plentiful acting attention / wins are My Left Foot, The Last Picture Show and, yes, The Godfather Part Two. I seriously have no idea why I keep putting the last one off. I even own it! 

Kent: Recently watched GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES for the first time. It was such a fun movie! Got me thinking about Marilyn Monroe and how the Academy shunned her so many times. She's so underrated as an actress. I loved her in BUS STOP and SOME LIKE IT HOT. Would you have rewarded her with nominations, even yet, a win?

True Story: I had this poster above of Marilyn Monroe from Bus Stop on my bedroom wall as a teenager -- yes the actressexuality started very early -- My mother saw it, shook her head  and sighed audibly. "Tell her to put some clothes on!" LOL. Different generations, you know.

Marilyn nominations, War of the Hepburns, and sequelitis after the jump.

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