At first, my list, my ballot, was composed of a number of, shall I say, for lack of a better term, artsy-fartsy selections. The Wife would call them show off picks. And I will list them as an Honorable Mention category down below. But I thought better of it. I decided my list should be emblematic of those types of films that mean the most to me on a v personal level, as opposed to films that may stand out as better films but do not resonate with me as much. Sure, Le Règle du jeu is probably a better film than the seedy, cynical Double Indemnity, but, when push comes to shove, as much as I admire, adore, and respect The Rules of the Game, it just does not mean as much to me as the moment when Missy is sitting in the front seat of her car as Fred MacMurray is murdering her husband. I guess it is just me, right?
And what my personal ballot reveals (minus the Bunuel films, or Melville picks, etc, ... ) is something that I have known about myself all my life! Something v important about me and my relationship with art in general, but movie art, in particular: That I love the written word; that I love smart, snappy dialogue; that I am much more comfortable around something like His Girl Friday than I ever would be with something like The Tree of Life. The incredibly profane and rude script of In the Loop is a much better friend to me than say, the screenplay for The Seventh Seal. Not to say that I do not appreciate visual beauty on the silver screen (I love The Red Shoes, for instance, and Peter Greenaway's work, and Wes Anderson's meticulously framed paintings and inserts) or bravura tracking shots or cunning camera tricks and angles (Welles and Hitchcock come to mind here) but what stays with me the longest after all the English Technicolor has faded, and the bells and whistles are forgotten, is the script and the actors' performances. So, in retrospect, I have come to notice that my list is chock full of stellar, marvelous script writing, and I have a number of comedies, as well. And even the "dramas" on my list all have many many v funny moments in them.
The scene that plays above is also supremely crucial to my personal aesthetic, and I am grateful that Mankiewicz got this sentiment in to his splendid film about "the theatre" The moment I am speaking of is not at the beginning of this clip but the end. It is Bill Sampson's tour de force monologue to Eve Harrington re What the Theatre Really Is. This has been my philosophy on art for decades; that the walls between popular culture and art culture must be obliterated. Art is art, plain and simple: Mozart and The Beatles, Evil Dead 2 and Citizen Kane, Warhol and Van Gogh, Sin City graphic novels and Ulysses, it is all art to "somebody, somewhere".
Top Eight quotes, moments from All About Eve
1. "You're too short for that gesture."
2. "The cynicism you refer to, I acquired the day I discovered I was different from little boys!"
3. "That's all television is, my dear, nothing but auditions."
4. The stunning Ms Marilyn Monroe's entrance at the party. (I like her better in black and white, I think.)
5. The aforementioned Bill Sampson speech (see above)
6. "Many of your guests have been wondering when they may be permitted to view the body. Where has it been laid out?"
7. The whole Margo Channing/furious playwright exchange, speaking of stars and authors, and Beaumont and Fletcher.
and of course,
8. "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night."
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Honorable Mention, show off-y, artsy fartsy division: The Rules of the Games, Bob le Flambeur, L'Age D'Or, L'Atalante, Belle de Jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Army of Shadows.
Mwah,
love you all, ...
Ardent
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