Marvelous Movies - Anna Campbell

by Anna Campbell

As those of you who visit my website know, every month I do a column called My Favorite Things. It's pure self-indulgence, really, but it gives me a chance to write about stuff I like. Among an assortment of topics, I talk about places I've been and books and movies that are particular favorites.

The last two months (March and April), I've been talking about movies. March's topic was THE BIG EASY which is such a great romance and so much fun. And April's is THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS starring Daniel Day-Lewis and his flowing hair. An absolutely magnificent film and one I'd highly recommend if you haven't seen it.

You can see what I said about the film here. And also feast your eyes on some yummy pictures - love this one of him staring stalwartly into the distance! You'll also find links back to previous columns, including a list of my top 11 favorite films.

I thought it might be fun to think of my top three films - for today that is, as this list tends to change hourly if not daily! If you ask me tomorrow to name my top three, you'll get a different answer.

But today, the first of my favorites is LAWRENCE OF ARABIA which is where that spectacular still at the top of this blog comes from.

I was lucky enough to be living in a major city when the restored version of this masterpiece was released in the cinemas. I think I went to it about ten times. It became a bit of an obsession. But the chance to see that magnificent photography in 70mm as David Lean intended and to hear Maurice Jarre's haunting score in full surround sound was too precious to waste. I've always had a soft spot for Peter O'Toole and my crush was reawakened big time, seeing his wonderful performance over and over again. Mind you, Omar Sharif isn't exactly tough to look at in this film either.
My next film is a real girly classic. DIRTY DANCING! Nobody puts Baby in a corner! This was another film I went to see a couple of times in the cinema although it works much better on TV than LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. This is a wonderful coming of age story about two people who are so much more than they realize they are.

What works for me in this film is that for all its fantasy elements, it's very real. The relationships have that awkwardness that real relationships have. For example, I always cry when Baby/Frances finally confronts her father on the porch in the rain. They love each other so much which is why they manage to hurt each other so profoundly.


The last of my short list is an oldie but a goodie. THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR was made in 1947 and it's one of the most poignant, magical romances I know on film. Gene Tierney is luminous as young widow, Lucy Muir, who moves into a haunted house on the English coast. Rex Harrison was never so warm and human as he is here, playing the ghost of sea captain Daniel Gregg. Quite ironic, really. But he makes the most wonderful romantic hero in this film.

On my website, I make the comment about THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS that one of the most compelling things about the hero in that film is that he knows he's met his destiny the moment he lays eyes on the heroine. There's a similar dynamic in THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR and it works in spades! But of course, a ghost and a living woman can't have a happy ending in this life, which is where the heart-wrenching poignancy comes from.

If you haven't seen this film, get it. It's breathtakingly romantic and I bet you cry at the end. I always do!

So what are your three favorite films and why? I'd love to hear your lists!

Christina Dodd Does BEST MOVIE KISSES

There is a lot of on-screen sex. Bare rears pumping, shots of boobs and torsos, legs intertwined, blah, blah. My reactions range anywhere from, “Ick, gross,” to, “Wow, that’s sexy,” to, “Hahahahaha!” Because sex, while a lot of fun in the doing, has the potential to be highly comedic.

But for real heat, nothing works like a well-done on-screen kiss. And by well-done, I mean the kind of kiss that quivers on the edge of erotica without ever going any farther than four lips meeting for the exchange of souls.

Have you seen the newest PBS version of JANE EYRE with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens? Do you remember the scene after Jane saves Mr. Rochester from the fire in his bed? They stand in silhouette against the firelight. He wraps a blanket around her shoulders. And they don’t kiss … they look at each other.

Right there on the couch, I froze, unable to move, my coke halfway to my mouth, my eyes straining, while passion smolders between them. What makes it better is — she doesn’t know what is happening, she doesn’t know what to do — and he does. And he’s right there. He could seduce her. He wants to so badly, I could taste it. And he restrains himself.

If I had spilled my drink into my lap, steam would have risen.

Later, there was more, when he was trying to convince her to stay with him, but that one scene in silhouette is seared onto my eyeballs. Sexual tension is not about heaving bottoms. It’s about one man and one woman yearning for one thing and one thing only — each other.

So in no particular order, here’s my very incomplete list of the best movie kisses.

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA At the end when she’s trying to get away to go with Raoul and she plants a good one on the Phantom and only one thought runs through the mind of every woman watching. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? Gerard Butler? You’re leaving Gerard Butler for pretty boy RAOUL? Have you lost your feeble grasp on reality? So THE PHANTOM’S face is a little messed up! All cats are gray in the dark!

DON JUAN DE MARCO Early on, there is this scene with a woman in a restaurant. She’s obviously waiting for a man who doesn’t value her as he should, and Johnny Depp (dressed as Don Juan de Marco in a cape and a mask), sits down at her table. He kisses her fingers one by one while saying, “These women... have fingers, with the same sensitivities as their legs. The fingertips have the same feelings as their feet, and when you touch their knuckles, it is like passing your hands along their knees. And this, tender, fleshy part of the finger, is the same as brushing your hands along their thighs. And... finally...”

One word. Wowsa.


LAST OF THE MOHICANS DA! DA DA DAH DAH! DAH DAH DAH DAH! A hot kiss, a great theme, and a fabulous line delivered by an intense Daniel Day-Lewis.
“What are you looking at, sir?”
“I’m looking at you, miss.”

The kiss at the end of A&E’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE — okay, it’s barely even a real kiss, but the lead-up is six hours of Colin Firth brooding over Miss Elizabeth Bennett. Talk about a build-up of sexual tension that can only be released by … one … thing!

Oh man, let’s never forget that moment on the piano in PRETTY WOMAN.

And last but not least, in THE ILLUSIONIST, Edward Norton rejects Jessica Biel and at the same time, he’s kissing her because he can’t control himself. I watched that part of the DVD so many times I may have melted the plastic. For sure, I melted something.

What movie kisses have been so hot that you melted in your chair? What almost-kisses seared the scene onto your eyeballs? What do you think makes the difference between a kiss that makes you toss popcorn into the air and try to catch it in your mouth and one that makes you buy the DVD just so you can run it over and over and
over …?

Christina
http://www.christinadodd.com/