How Classic Films Influence my Life

Theresa over at CineMaven’s Essays from the Couch is hosting the highly anticipated Free For All Blogathon where the participants have the occasion to write about…anything! Anything related to films of course. I’ve always wanted to write a piece on what it is to be a classic film addict. How it has an impact on my everyday life. And this blogging event seemed to be the perfect occasion! This should be a fun post, so I hope you’ll be entertained and be able to relate to some of the content!

It seems to me, that being a classic film fan, is a full-time job. A lot of how I organise my life depends on it. For example, the birthdays are crucial. I always hope I won’t be working on November 12 or on August 29, because I don’t want my Grace Kelly day or Ingrid Bergman day to be spoiled! Some people think it’s weird to celebrate a movie star birthday (especially those who are dead), but shouldn’t we honour the ones we love? And those birthday celebrations are always a lot of fun and a good excuse to watch a ton of films! But not just that! No, I start the tradition to cook Katharine Hepburn’s brownies on May 12 (except when I was traveling like it was the case last May and will also be the case next May). Or, I have to eat ice cream in honour of Ingrid Bergman on her birthday. You know, all sort of things like that. Ooooh and now there’s Bill Holden centenary coming up soon! Exciting!

Producer David O. Selznick promoted Ingrid as Hollywood’s natural girl. Her real name, features, hair and teeth. The Swedish milkmaid.

11593174 – brownies

Loving classic films is also a synonym of “meeting new people”. For example, before I joined those classic movie groups on Facebook I use to tell myself that I’ll only have people I know in real life as Facebook friends, but once I’ve accepted one that I didn’t know, well then it just started a chain reaction and got pretty much out of hands! No regrets of course (except a few weirdos)! I even had the chance to meet some of them in real life and it has always been a pleasant experience. Anyway, it’s always nice to meet people, even if it’s just on the internet, with whom you share common interests. I have real-life friends of course, but they aren’t as passionate about classic films as I am. Luckily, I made some of them watch classics and the positive reactions were generally more present than the negative ones. So, that’s a relief and a sign that I can, after all, enjoy classics with pretty much anybody from my close entourage, as long as this person is curious enough!

James Stewart and Henry Fonda, best friends

To love classic films is also to be inspired by its movie stars! As I’ve once stated in this article, the elegance of Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly inspires me for the way I dress (with the material I have, which is not Edith Head or Givenchy gowns, unfortunately). Bette Davis inspires confidence. So, when I need it, I sort of pretend I’m Bette Davis and superior to everybody. Some Arthur Kennedy’s characters inspire patience. I also have the tendency to be very by-the-book, which is not necessarily a good thing, but, in another way, I’m very independent. Katharine Hepburn’s quote “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun” inspires me to let it go a little and it tells myself that there’s nothing wrong with a bit of rebellion once in a while! And if we mention the animal stars, well, I always told myself that, if I had a cat one day, I’ll call him Baby and if I had a dog, I’ll call him George, just like in Bringing Up Baby! Ok, I’ll stick to a cat, because I don’t think I could afford and train a leopard!

ARTHUR KENNEDY, CA. 1950

These are just a few examples, of course, but I could probably go on if I’ll dig a bit more in my mind.

To love classic films, but like very OLD classics, it’s also to have a favourite 19th-century movie. Yes, yes! Mine is The Waterer Watered by the Lumière Brothers. Well, my sense of humour is obviously quite attracted by what’s considered to be the first comedy of cinema history! And at the time, people didn’t need to take hours to introduce a gag! I remember a teacher showing it to us in class and I burst into laughs as if it was the funniest thing ever. Ok, it’s not, but I think it’s precisely the spontaneity of this very short comedy that makes me laugh. Anyway, it’s probably the kind of thing that would make me laugh if I’ll witness it in real life.

As a classic film lover, I also ruin myself, buying way too many DVDs and I don’t know where to put them anymore. But no regrets as it’s nice to have a big movie collection! I always ruin myself with plane tickets because movies make me travel! In San Francisco, I saw The Maltese Falcon + Hitchcock movie locations: Family Plot, The Birds, but, must of all, Vertigo! In Vienna I saw The Third Man movie locations, in Los Angeles I saw Blade Runner, Pretty Woman, Sunset Boulevard, and maybe more movie locations, plus Paramount studios! In Seville, I saw The Plaza de España and the Alfonso XIII hotel where scenes from Lawrence of Arabia where shot. And, next may, I’m going to England and, as I love British cinema, I hope I’ll see many British movie locations and places where movie stars lived! So, watching classic films is just an extraordinary tool to enrich your culture!

Hotel Alfonso XIII in Seville

Plaza de España

Being a classic films lover also makes me a weird and somehow misunderstood person. *dramatic music*  I mean, apart from celebrating dead peoples’ birthday. Indeed, if I say to someone I don’t have time for some thing,  this can be a synonym of “I have a blogathon to finish”. Hey! I take these seriously you know, and blogging has only brought me goods, so I don’t see why I should neglect it. I pratically only go to the movies to see classic film. So, moral of the story, I haven’t seen any of the Oscar nominated movies…oupsy! But knowing myself, I will probably see some of them, but after the Oscar ceremony. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t snub modern movies! I just don’t have the tendency to watch them when they have just been released. Except if it’s a movie I was waiting for a long time, such as Toy Story 4 which release date is ALWAYS postponed. Grrr! I work in a movie theatre and I can go see movies for free, but they don’t show American movie. So, obviously, the modern movies I saw in theatre are generally French-Canadian, or French from France movies.

To continue with the weird stuff, I once tried to do this Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Years technique to sperate the egg white from the yolk. You know, with a strainer. Conclusion: it doesn’t work. But it’s funny to pretend you’re Katharine Hepburn for a minute. And talking about cooking, I recently did some popovers just because Amy March in Little Women loves them so much. Yeah, just for that. It was good.

And to list a few brief last things:

As a classic film addict I

• Have way too many film soundtrack on my iPod
• Get annoyed by people who say “I don’t like black and white movies” Blablabla…
• Wonder if I’ll see all the films I want to see in a lifetime…
• Am in love with many already dead movie stars. That’s the tragedy of classic film addicts.

And I probably forgot something, but to love classic films is an endless passion!

And if you want to read how I discover classic films, just click here!

A big thanks to Theresa for hosting this fun blogathon!

You can read the other entries here.

See you!