Well, dear readers, one of the great joys in life is the joy of discovery. At my age, I’ve discovered a lot of stuff, have learned a lot of stuff, seen a lot of theater, seen a lot of motion picture – and yet, somehow some classics slip through the cracks, oh, yes somehow some classics slip through the cracks. Such is the case with last night’s motion picture viewing. Back in 1958, I saw a movie entitled Vertigo. I’m not sure I knew what a nun was back when I was ten, but the nun who rises up from the dark at the end of Vertigo made me very frightened of nuns. I use that as the excuse that one year later I didn’t go anywhere near a motion picture entitled The Nun’s Story. It wasn’t until The Sound of Music and The Trouble with Angels that I was okay with nuns, especially when they were Julie Andrews and Rosalind Russell. When the DVD of The Nun’s Story came out (I believe it was part of a Warner Bros. set of movies about faith and religion), I bought it. I watched the credits and about two minutes more but I could not get past the ugly brownish transfer of a movie I knew had to look tons better because it was photographed by one of the greats, Franz Planer. The only thing I really knew about the film was that I had/have a pristine first edition of the novel on which it is based, and in the 1960s I had a stereo copy of the soundtrack by Franz Waxman, that I did like quite a lot. This week, Warners released a Blu-ray of The Nun’s Story, a new transfer from the original camera negative and last night I had the joy of discovery of watching it. Is it the classic that everyone said it was back then (nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning – zero. It was, after all, the year of Ben-Hur and nothing could stop that rollercoaster. Miss Hepburn was nominated alongside Miss Hepburn for best actress – Audrey and Katharine. Simone Signoret won for Room at the Top. I liked her in that film, but I’m afraid Miss Hepburn (Audrey) should have taken the prize. The most astonishing Best Actress nomination that year was Doris Day for Pillow Talk. My two most-seen films of 1959 were North by Northwest and Li’l Abner, along with The Five Pennies. The Nun’s Story did play my favorite neighborhood theater, the Stadium in November, but they had a kiddie matinee on Saturday and I probably went to whatever that was.
The simple answer to my simple question of is it a classic is an absolute yes. It’s an episodic film of two-and-a-half-hours, roughly divided into three distinct sections, but it never lags and it always holds the attention. Audrey Hepburn is magnificent in it and it is a VERY complex role. The supporting players are all excellent, including Dean Jagger, Peter Finch, Edith Evans, Patricia Collinge (a favorite of mine for her brilliant performance in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt), and others. Fred Zinnemann directed – he was a wonderful director who knew how to tell a story with simple, effective camera placement and blocking. Planer’s photography is stunning, and a major player that was mentioned almost nowhere, even in current reviews, is the score by Franz Waxman. It’s one of his greatest because he knows when a scene needs music and when it doesn’t. I can’t think of another director of that era who would not have had the final scene scored with music right through to the end title card. But Zinnemann doesn’t – he lets it play in silence and it’s the perfect choice. The transfer rights all the wrongs of the DVD – great color throughout, nice detail, all of it. Highly recommended by the likes of me. Oh, and one other fascinating bit of tid: What are the odds that 1959 had TWO Otto Preminger movies – Porgy and Bess and Anatomy of a Murder and that the two movies opened a week apart? Amazing.
Yesterday was fun. I got eight hours of sleep despite being up for thirty minutes with a bad allergy attack. Once up, I answered e-mails, shaved, and then did a quick errand and came back home. At one-thirty, we began the Kritzerland rehearsal with Joan Ryan. She’s only doing one number but it’s an epic and will close the show. After her came Adrienne Stiefel – we ran her two solos and the a duet with Robert Yacko – two Bacharach songs that no one has ever heard before. Then Robert took a little break and Brittany Anderson ran her three numbers. She’s a newbie, recommended by Barry Pearl, and she’s really good. Then Robert ran his two solos and that was that. MIA were Jason Graae and Kerry O’Malley. Once rehearsal was done, I was starving so I ordered to chicken breasts from California Chicken Café with a side of chicken pasta salad. It arrived about twenty minutes later. I ate all of it at one sitting because I wanted to be done by six. Two breasts was overkill and I’m feeling not so great right now – there’s some aftertaste that just doesn’t sit well with me. Calorie-wise, I’m sure we got up to 1200.
Then I began my viewing. About ninety minutes in, I did a quick CVS run for more Claritin-D and Pepcid. I will never understand this particular store – they never have the large size of the twenty-four-hour Claritin-D – if they have it at all it’s the ten-tablet version. I don’t get why they just don’t order enough to satisfy customer demand. Literally, every other CVS always has full supplies of the larger size. I came right home and finished the movie and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up and it will be a ME day of total relaxaion, going over the commentary to do any finessing necessary, I’ll eat something reasonable and hopefully tasty, but mostly I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is our second Kritzerland rehearsal with everyone but Jason. So, that should be done by four-thirty and then I can relax. Monday is a rest my voice day, then Tuesday we have our stumble-through and Wednesday is sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, have a ME day, finesse the commentary, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite performances of Audrey Hepburn? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had the joy of discovery.