19 JUNE 1997
I dreamed I was having an affair with George Sanders in Rebecca. He called me up, asked me to spend the weekend at Manderley. I said, “Can you pick me up? It might be hard since I have to share a car with my parents.” He said, “We’ll see. I’ll call you later.” I was trying to set the wake-up function on my stereo so that when the alarm went off in the morning it would play “Jump Into The Fire.” I never succeeded.
Giant [1956]
1. Mercedes McCambridge: “Yer gonna meet some folks! Yer gonna meet some folks!”
2. Extreme long shot: she’s riding the bucking horse, trying to get it under her control. Cut to close up: her spur digs into the horse’s side. It’s a shock cut. Made me gasp.
3. They enter the diner and “The Yellow Rose of Texas” comes on the jukebox. Come on! Could we be a bit more heavy-handed?
Demon Seed [1977]
1. The sizzling fragments of egg on the floor, smoking. The gas jets burning high. Julie Christie draped over the kitchen table, her sweaty nightgown clinging to her.
2. Proteus: “Nothing is the answer to the question.”
3. The little girl hits her across the face. Hard.
Morituri [1965]
1. Brando: Is my music bothering you?
Trevor Howard: No.
Brando: Would you like to hear the second movement?
Howard: No.
2. A fairly astonishing shot where the camera starts out high above the ship then swoops down to follow Hans Christian Blech running the length of the deck. Another where the camera, high in the air, follows Yul Brynner walking up and down the outside of the ship as he talks. For 1965: wow. Were these done with a crane? With a helicopter?
3. Closeup of Esther: a lost look on her face morphs into a smile. Enigmatic. A fake smile? A deluded smile? An insane smile? A peaceful smile?
Another solid, suspenseful, entertaining Brando movie that’s been curiously overlooked.
The Damned [1969]
1. A lecture hall is filled with students. At the podium a professor reads off a list of names, including Helen Keller, George Bernard Shaw, Marcel Proust. Cut to an outside courtyard where a massive book burning is in progress.
2. Nighttime. A young soldier, almost naked but still partially dressed in drag from a drunken comedy routine earlier in the evening, sits passed out on an empty terrace. Mountains in the background. Another boy steps onto the terrace, shirtless, wearing a large necklace. Traces of mascara on his eyelashes. He looks out at the vista silently and then slowly turns around, a worried look on his face.
3. Martin turns on the radio in order to distract himself. Every station is broadcasting speeches. He turns the knob back and forth uintil he finally finds some music.
Too much information perhaps, but this morning I threw up for the first time since I was about 12. I’m perfectly OK now. My body just did not like the combo of too much butter and too much jam on my toast. Either that or I’m pregnant.
“Chance favors the unprepared.”
–Louis Pasteur
Diamonds Are Forever [1971]
1. Jill St. John (yelling to a little boy): “Blow up your pants!”
2. Bambi has Bond in a thigh-hold head-lock; Thumper creeps up and kickboxes him in the chest. He smashes into some kind of postmodern sculpture that resembles a collection of tubes for heating ducts.
3. Blofeld wears tan socks which match his outfit perfectly.
