Cought an excellent movie on tonight, one I haven’t seen in quite awhile as point of fact: Auntie Mame with Rosalind Russell as Mame.
The film starts out in the 1920s with a man writing his will, that when he passes on. His sons future would be well taken care by his banker. But his son would end up in the care of his sister, something that he wouldn’t even wish on a dog! But of course keeping himself in good shape, he figures that there will be no need to worry for while. He dies at an ironic time during PT, making the papers with the shocker ^_^. Which send his young son Patrick and servant Norah Muldoon off to live with his living realitive.
Patrick’s “Auntie Mame” mistakes him and Norah for the new dishwasher when they walk in on a party. Setting the entire film in motion as they adjust to life together. The character of Auntie Mame is without a doubt, one of the best. She is arguably a first class screw up, party animal, and a lune but a very good person. Nuts as a mad hair but a good person lol. They have a near non stop stream of parties or as Norah puts it when groaning with the decorator. They’ve had 13 parties in two weeks, would have been 14 but the bootlegger couldn’t come that day, hahaha.
When the stock market crashes as the great depression looms, Mame and all of her friends are totally wiped out. Her best girl friend Vera (who is usually passed out drunk at Mames place) hooks her up with a two bit part in one of her plays. Mame is almost literally there with bells on and ruins the show when she gets her bracelet stuck on Vera’s dress. Although it is probably a great way to get fired on the first night, she actually cracked up the audience and livened up a really dull drama. In search of a new job, she ends up as a switchboard operator on a PBX and bungles it horribly.
While working as a sales girl at Macy’s, Mame walking around with the worlds most horrendous sales book in history (practically trailing behind her). She meets a fine southren gentlemen, whose out buying 24 pairs of roller skates for an orphanage. After Mame gets fired, he chases after the manager to explain things; she shouts a reminder to get the skates, and “get them at Gimbles!”. Fast forward a bit and “Beau” has brought her home to the plantation to meet his family. Where an jealous ol’filly suckers Mame into riding in a fox hunt, side saddle atop of a killer horse. The plantation sequence is bloody hilarious, even more so perhaps if your an American. Every one but Beau is expecting Mame to die in the process, even young Patrick who offers to trip her, “You’ll only break a leg Auntie Mame”. Not only those that zany woman manage to survive the fox hunt, while riding side saddle!!! She passes the hounds, she passes the fox! And ends up flying off the monstrous horse and into the bushes, holding a steering wheel as the only thing keeping her from flying back to blue belly hell >_>.
Beau purposes and she excepts but little Patrick just has one question, who the flib did she stay on that horse!? It seems that just like in the play, she got “stuck but at the other end” looool. Mame and Beau take a honey moon around the world, where Beau is always trying to get to the highest places to snap a picture of his bride, until he ends up falling off the Matterhorn in the alps. Mame eventually returns home to friends and family, only to find out that the growing Patrick is getting married. And even worse, to the most stuck up snob on two legs. Patrick manages to convince her to write her memoirs and play it “sane” long enough to pass in front of his snobbish fiancée. Before the wedding, Mame invites everyone to her place for an intimate family dinner…. Masterfully planned as only “Auntie Mame” could “accidentally” arrange ^_^.
She redecorates the place to beat the bands and what a perfect idea it is. She drives Patrick’s in-laws to be and fiancée crazy, invites every “riff raft” friend who helped raise him over. And totally sets off utter chaos — if anyone can get through this part of the movie without laughing at it, they must be a part Vulcan. Mame succeeds in destroying the evil engagement, driving the matchmaking banker insane, and making Patrick realize hat a doomed course he was set to, rather then actually living his life. Several years later, Mame is entertaining the son of Patrick and her (now former) secretary, and scheming a way to show the youngster India!
At first glance it might be a boring idea for a movie but in actual watching. Auntie Mame is a great movie, funny, entertaining, and the best rendition that I’ve seen. It’s been made into a movie at least 3 times, who knows how many times on stage as well. But the first film outing is the best IMHO, and most funny 🙂
Yes! Live! Life’s a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!
Coming on at 0100Q is a movie that my family has enjoyed for ages, The Trouble with Angels. A really long time actually, my parents first saw it on a date in the ’60s. It was a drive in double feature of Cinderella and The Trouble with Angels, and the entire family has enjoyed the movie since lol.
It follows two girls at a Catholic boarding school run by a group of nuns. The two of them get in enough hilarious trouble, that the poor Mother Superior is lucky enough to survive the movie! From bubble bath in the nuns tea, the smoking affair, making a plaster mask of another students face, and oh… what pranks those two brats play! It’s like watching a little demon and her stooge at work lol. It’s also the film that introduced my family to the expression,
“I’ve got the most scathingly brilliant idea”
Which usually occurs before they get into more trouble ^_^. You’ve got to admire the nuns, for not beating the ever loving crap out of them for all of the torment they are subjected too…