Hollywood's Shining Moments

[Symphony]

I'm not too sure about the Disney company any more,    
but these are several of Hollywood's shining moments, to me:

Mary Poppins(1965)--A commentary on how our ambitions(Mr. Banks is an upwardly mobile banker) blind us to the needs or jewels of the moment(he has wife and chillun he's sorely neglecting..), besides the beautiful music.

In pops Mary Poppins, turning the whole world upside down(Poppins a definite Christ figure, working her miracles, having tea parties on the ceiling and messing up the disbelieving Pharisees...)  Burt, a good natured John the Baptist, sings a perfect appeal, "You have to work, work, work, at the grindstone...", to Banks, in the living room, with all the chimney sweeps running about...  

Banks gets fired for mistakenly causing a run on the bank where he works, but he breaks free of society's fears, singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite...!"  He's very happy.  The family's happy, because they have their Daddy back now.  The only one sad now is Mary Poppins, 'cause her work now completed, she has to leave, and go on to others, like the Banks were.  

A very spiritual, adult film.  Entertaining, from the first opening scene on.  One of Disney's shining moments(along with 1940's Pinocchio).  

 

Disney seemed in some ways a very spiritual person--his middle inital was  E(Elias)(his dad was an intinerant minister).

They say that during storyboarding for Pinocchio, the animation/art crew was held transfixed as Walt acted out the whole feature for them,on a sound stage, as to how he wanted things to go, from beginning to end, playing each of the parts--the puppet, the Blue Fairy, Jimminy Cricket, the kitty, Honest John, Gepedo, the sinister Coachman, the terrifying gypsy Stromboli, and that they never saw anything like it, Walt up there acting out the whole movie by himself, each character with its own voice.

[sincereheart]

For me, it's "Pollyanna"! She always sees the bright side of everything - a 'game' her father taught her. And she teaches the whole town so much by living the fruit of the spirit!
But the best part is when the pastor actually gets it!  

[Symphony]

Wow, thanks, sincereheart.  Actually, that's one of my favorites too.

I love Mrs. Snow, with her pills, and the funeral director, in measuring her for her casket.  

"Would you like the brass handles?"    "Or, will that be the silver?"  

And the gigantic pieces of cake they serve at the bazaar.

And her aunt, who "owns" the town(and the church).  

[sincereheart]

Yeah, the aunt.....   Reagan's ex, wasn't it? But I liked her doctor friend! And the scary old man who wasn't scary after all? I like him! With the prisms.....

Course now I have to go and re-watch Mary Poppins. I never saw the connections there. Should be neat to watch it with that perspective. I saw it through a mom's eyes- most of the folks were just too grouchy about kids.   Mary Poppins had them mind and they had fun!  

[Symphony]

Yes, Jane Wyman, Pres. Reagan's ex.    

Hmm, I don't remember the Doctor friend.  

I do like the minister(Karl Malden):

 "Ohhh, you may think you have today.  You may think you have tomorrow.   Ohhh, but yes, DEATH COMES UNEXPECTEDLY!!" (everyone wakes up.. )

Yes, I think the scary old man is the part the kids remember.
 

Mary Poppins had them mind and they had fun!  Yes, that's such a model, I think.  

[sincereheart]

Hmm, I don't remember the Doctor friend.

*GASP*
He used to be her beaux. He was the one who was talking to Pollyanna when she was hiding in the fake shrub when the town met at the aunt's house. He was the one who mentioned that with her hair down she looked less severe and so she took it down when she was at her mirror. He was the love of her life! Have you no sense of romance, man?

*reeling in flabbergastedness*  

[Symphony]

Oops.  Vewee BEEG mistake.  you're right, sincereheart.  a major xter in the story.  

Played by Richard Egan.  He had a nice part.  Likable feller..

You're right.  He'd been gone five years; came back to see Wyman.  She was just as cranky as ever.  

Thanks, sincereheart.  Good point.  

[sincereheart]

And I'll finally get to watch 'Sgt. York' this weekend! (it's all your fault, Symphony!  )

 

[Symphony]

And I'll finally get to watch 'Sgt. York' this weekend! (it's all your fault, Symphony!  )

 

Hmm, wow, that's funny.  We talked about that over a year ago, I think, didn't we?  Psalm119 here mentioned it.  I'd said I felt it was basically a studio propaganda piece for the upcoming war effort, since it was made in '40?  But Cooper is good in it; and it is a true story.  Walter Brennan as a young man?    I always rememberfed him as old.

What do you think about those gigantic pieces of cake in Pollyanna, at the bazaar?  Mmmmm.  Three layers, and each layer 2" thick, at least.

And the corn on the cob.

Mmmmmm.

[sincereheart]

But I think you've mentioned it since then...

I was curious about it and happened to see it at the library so now I can watch it.

Since I'm not a big fan of cake, those slabs look like a heart attack waiting to happen (or at the very least; a stomach ache)! But they were HUGE! I wonder if they really did used to sell pieces that big?   Nowadays, they'd charge an arm and a leg for a piece that size!

But that corn did look good!  

I liked the Agnes Moorehead character... She amuses me!

[Symphony]

So that's who played Mrs. Snow.  Yes.  She's funny.  And she comes around in the end--as does most everyone(sniff, sniff,  ).

I like the bald guy(use to play Agent Smart's boss, on Get Smart).  At the meeting there, he's the one who says his wife will get'm if he says anything against Polly Harrington.  


I wonder if they really did used to sell pieces that big?


Hmm.  Maybe.  I'm guessing artistic license--exageration(sp) for theatrical purpose, and b/c it's going on film.  An ordinary cake slice would look puny, on Pollyanna's plate, on camera?  I doubt that'd ever be in real life; who could ever eat that much?  (well, some Americans these days... ).

[sincereheart]

So that's who played Mrs. Snow.  Yes.  She's funny.  And she comes around in the end--as does most everyone(sniff, sniff,  ).
I like the bald guy(use to play Agent Smart's boss, on Get Smart).  At the meeting there, he's the one who says his wife will get'm if he says anything against Polly Harrington.  

Oh, now I remember the bald guy. I had to think a minute... That's right, he was scared of his wife. Too funny!

Mrs. Snow spent her whole life planning for her death. Polly taught her to live while she's alive. Always gets me! And she taught the preacher to quit being a wimp! And the old grouchy man - I forget his name - who played with the prisms... I like him, too! Especially where he adopts the orphan. Ah, they really don't make movies like that anymore...  

And I really liked 'Sgt. York'...   Propoganda or not...

[Symphony]

Yes, Sgt. York is certainly interesting.  Quite a lot about the bible in there.  Very interesting picture.  I'm at the part where his commanders are sending him home on furlough, and York asks to borrow the major's book.

[sincereheart]

Oh! I love that part! He has to do some serious thinking and praying...

Where are you now?

[Symphony]

Yes, agonizing over service to God vs. service to Country.  Then the epiphany of rendering unto Caesar.  From that scene to where they're wining and dining him in NY, after the trenches and his heroism.  That's all I could take tonight.

Quite a lot in just that 35 minutes.  His reactions to all of it or, at least the way Cooper portrays York's reactions, gallant and humble at the same time.

It would be nice to be so offhanded and unassuming, all the time, in real life.

Very inspiring.  As it's portrayed there, all it did was make me real mad about what wimps we've become re: the homosexual thing--overwhelming us and we're hardly firing a shot.  Towns and villages across America ought to be raising a hue and cry to Bill Clinton's don't ask/don't tell, and that was ten years ago.  And we're all just rolling over and playing pussy cat.  Meow.   Then you see something like York(Cooper) there, and it just makes you boiling mad.  You realize very few today would tolerate a movie such as this, because you're not suppose to mention God(a public high school in St. Louis suspended a student for closing an announcement on the school's radio station with "God Bless"...) and it makes you even madder.  It makes you boiling mad.  And unless you have a PhD., they won't let you say anything.  Then, if you do have a PhD., they sue you.

It's definitely an inspirational picture.   And a lot of thought put into it.

I guess b/c it mentions God and the Bible, frequently, it definitely would not be allowed in a public high school, I guess--even tho it's a Hollywood product, and it involves very directly what young men ( and women   ) are facing on their horizon.

What wholesale dorks we have become.  Just first class dorks.
JUst a bunch of American dorks.  As immoral now as the Canaanites and Goliath, whom God sent David to destroy.