...Really enjoyed this one - I am a bit of a 'history buff', so got into the story line pretty easy... this one is not an 'overly romantic' tale, but does have a few 'sweet' moments. Ginger portrays Dolly Madison, who is married to James Madison (Burgess Meredith).
As for the 'Gingerology Quotient' (sounds scientific, no?), she has some very stunning scenes here; I have seen a lot of the 'still' pix from this movie, and knew it should have ample Gingery Goodness in it...(somehow, that just sounds a bit...unusual...but right nevertheless!) The 'period' costumes she wears are generally very stylish and elegant (sorry, I am not a fashion critic...) (and, sorry about all these parentheses...) - there are a few in particular that caught my eye... the outfit when she is riding the horse...cool hat, even with a lot of frilly stuff out of the top of it... and I think this one is actually green - from a pix I saw of it...very fetching - Green is my fav color, so Ginger on Green just...rocks, y'all.... but the best outfit was when she was at the White House party - sparkly white number with the long gloves...yow... and her hair style is pretty cool for this one, too. I think this outfit is the one on the movie 'poster', and the main publicity photos for the movie...just devastating.
Anyway, on to Ginger's role - I think she does quite well in the role, as a 'proper' colonial lady... nothing 'extreme' about the role, but really liked her mannerisms and 'prim and proper' mode, but in a 'warm' manner. You know, it is believed that Ginger is a direct decendent of George Washington... so she should have some 'colonial blood' in her... she has a big 'speech' scene which is pretty inspiring...but I won't give anything away for those who have yet to see it...
I know this sounds kinda 'bad', but, in one scene, when Aaron Burr (David Niven) was talking to her in the park or whatever, lying on the ground, he said something, and she laughed (not a 'HaHa', mind you, but a 'normal' laugh...), and at the end of her laugh, she SNORTED! (in a good, cool way)! I ran it back a few times to be sure... I cracked up...I just never thought of Ginger 'snort-laughing', and it struck me as very cute, especially in this 'proper' role...
Anyway - overall, I really enjoyed this one - plenty of Ginger 'face time', but the overall story was interesting, and did not really drag at all. I don't really have a rating system like Beth - but I will just say this would be in the top third of VKM movies I have seen... Really!
P.S. - when doing these reviews, I will try to not have any 'spoiler' stuff - sorry if that has happened in the past... most of y'all have already seen all her movies, but there may be some who have not... so, hopefully I can describe without any revelations.
JW
2014 Alternate Oscars
1 day ago
Wow, thanks for the analysis! You're really great at writing these types of things...none of that felt like an ordinary plot synopsis or anything, you know? It was all interesting and amusing. :)
ReplyDeleteI think I've gotten this one from ioffer (but will have to check)...anyway, I've never seen it, but that laugh description makes me want to watch it right now.
Thanks again for sharing.
Thanks for the kind words, Juliette... and, thanks for 'reminding' me about ioffer - I have heard of it, but never really thought to look there for movies... I ordered 'Lady in the Dark' this morning...Yes!
ReplyDeleteIt is kinda scary, but I have just basically gone berzerk ordering Ginger movies...I think 8 or 9 the last few weeks... I have already taken an 'advance' on this year's Christmas! Of course, I DO need one of those new 'wall-to-wall' flat screen TV's (still have the 'old school' cathode tubes in my house...) ...would like one so big that I get plum dizzy whenever Ginger enters a scene! (well, I pretty much do that, anyway...) :-)
My next movie review will be 'First Traveling Saleslady', which I have yet to watch...my Mom says she remembers going to see that at its original theatrical run...said it was 'cute'...she is somewhat the critic, so that bodes well... She is a big Ginger fan, too... she got started with Ginger and Fred, but slowly getting into 'solo Ginger'... we yak about her a lot.
Ooh, swell! Sounds great...have you seen Lady in the Dark yet? I really like that one.
ReplyDeleteI ordered a ton from ioffer when I first "discovered" Ginger, but I think the last one I bought was "Don't Bet On Love" in June or something...hm, I'll have to do something about that. ;)
Oh wow, Ginger in bigscreen? That'd be amazing.
Neat! I look forward to your review. It's lovely to share interests with loved ones...that's so cool that your mother saw it in theatres!
Heheh nice that you've got your mum to chat Ginger with! My mother just rlls her eyes the second I get out "Gin-"! I liked your summary. I actually havent yet watched this movie, and it made me more positive about it! I also just ordered a load of DVDS! I just thought I'd let yu know that you should be able to use the Gorm site whenever you want. YOu'll need to downlaod a bitorrent client (I recommend uTorrent for simplicity) just google it. Then if you lookin The gorm forum thweres a tutorial section that'll give you all you need to get going. I fyou've any questions, drop me a message/email and I'll happily help :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Beth - I will probably get on the 'gorm' site soon and get the proper stuff downloaded... there are quite a few on there I would like...and hopefully will be able to 'contribute' a few as well! ...I have been very busy with 'eBay' and 'iOffer'! I have SIX movies en route as we speak! let's see if I can remember them all - Dreamboat, Primrose Path, Don't Bet on Love, Forever Female, Tales of Manhattan... AAAANNNDDD, Lady in the Dark!
ReplyDeleteKeep working on your mom! My mom has really started to get into movies again...she is 70 - so she remembers stuff from the 40's and 50's when it was NEW, and the 30's movies were still 'fresh' re-runs in theatres. Plus, she is an avid reader of biographies - in fact, she is reading Jimmy Stewart's bio now, and there is a bit of stuff about Ginger in it - nothing too revealing or anything, tho...pretty much what is in her book.
Now if I can only get my wife into 'Gingerology'... she likes some VKM movies, but overall she is not that big of a movie person... well, the main one she likes is 'Gone with the Wind'...guess it's kinda hard to argue that... I think she is coming around a bit with VKM, tho...
Juliette - I have seen LITD, but just from 'YouTube' - which is ok, but the pix quality and sound is just not great... so I'm glad a DVD is coming - not sure of it's condition, but hopefully good. As for the movie itself, it is great - 'wall-to-wall' Ginger - and 'Jenny' is now my favorite Ginger 'moment', I really believe...
Excellent-- glad to hear it...I'm sure the condition will be just dandy. Probably from TCM or something, right?
ReplyDeleteOoh, that Jenny moment is grand, isn't it? :)
...actually, the LITD is most likely a 'burned' DVD, from somewhere...the 'copy' from YouTube is from AMC (back when AMC was cool), and it shows fair in the 'regular size' screen, but if you 'enlarge' the screen size, it goes all fuzzy.
ReplyDeleteWhen the 'Jenny' scene appears, it is so different than what was happening in the movie, it just kinda is a 'radical' gear shifter - although, it IS a dream...and, ultimately, about Liza not 'making up her mind!' But really, I could just watch that over and over, it's so cool.
So far, the stuff from eBay/iOffer has been pretty good... I did get a copy of 'Sitting Pretty' which is 'older', there are spots where the faces 'fade out', or whatever...but not too many Ginger scenes are that way, so it's acceptable.
Oh, when AMC was cool...the good old days. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the DVDs have been higher quality. Same here-- don't think I've ever had a complaint with 'em.
Just recently saw Magnificent Doll too and enjoyed it - a very different side of Ginger and she looked AMAZING - especially the dinner party scene.
ReplyDeleteI caught the snort too - she kind of does it again in Tom,Dick and Harry when they are in the plane and Janie throws the money out the window. So cute!