Be My Guest - Clara (Part 3)

Here we go with the final questions for my guest this month, Clara. I was glad she accepted my invite to come over to my blog and I hope everyone enjoyed having her here. On to the questions. And be sure to stop by Clara's wonderful blog at: Via Margutta 51

Monty: What is your favorite classic movie series?
Clara: "The thin man" by far.
Monty: That would be mine as well..as is several of my guests who have come on here.
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Monty: What is your favorite movie genre?
Clara: "Romance" I guess :)
 Monty: Ahhhh...sweet love.
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Monty: What classic stars would you have love to met in person?
Clara: Besides all the people I named in the first question, I'd love to meet David Niven, Lucille Ball and William Powell. 
Monty: Good choices Clara

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 Monty: And finally, what is your favorite movie character? the one you can identify with the most?
Clara: Difficult question. I can barely identify with them, most of them are too damn cool, even if their circumstances are rough. I guess that's why I don't tend to identify with the characters I like, I tend to wish I was more like them. Examples: I'd like to have Hildy Johnson's personality, Nora Charles' humor, Mary Kate Danaher's will, "Ellie" Andrews fun sexiness, Regi Allen's commitment with her work, "I remember Mama"'s Mama ability to face problems, Melanie Wilkes' kindness, etc. 

So that's it. Thanks again for having me, Monty!
Monty: Great answer Clara and once again thanks for doing this. See ya in blogland.

And everyone please come back in January when my guest will be none other than Emily of The Silver Screen Affair.

Be My Guest - Clara (Part 2)

We're back for the next set of questions for my friend Clara. Here we go:

Monty: What is your favorite classic movie decade: the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's or 60's?

Clara: The thirties. Of course I have favorite films from other decades, but most of the films I like were made in this decade. It's an awesome time, because it starts like leaving behind most of the problems with silent films (I just like a few of them), experimenting, fixing issues like creepy make-up and lighting, etc. and it ends with an awesome year were a lot of memorable classics were made.

Monty: The 30's are my favorite decade as well Clara.

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Monty: Name a few of your favorite modern stars.

Clara: In no particular order: Tom Hanks AND Meg Ryan (those count as one), Emily Blunt, Brad Pitt, Hugh Jackman, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Colin Firth, Cate Blanchett, Jodie Foster, Steve Carrell (loved him in "Dan in Real Life"), Gerard Butler, Marion Cotillard....I guess people like Sean Connery, Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins count as "classic" actors.


Monty: Ahhh, the Jackman. And Hanks, Ryan, Winslet, Blanchett, Cotillard, Foster and Streep are some of my favorites too.



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Monty: Name a few of your favorite modern films.

Clara: Random: "Kill Bill", "13 going on 30", "Scoop", "Dan in real life", "La Mome", "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day", "The Holiday", "Fried Green Tomatoes", "You've got mail", "The painted veil", "Grey Gardens" (both the doc and the movie), "A league of their own", "Legends of the fall", "Meet Joe Black", "Something's Gotta Five"....


Kids: "Wild hearts can't be broken", most of Disney/Pixar films ("Finding Nemo", "Tangled", etc), everything Studio Ghibli releases (I have to highlight one of the less known, "Only Yesterday"), etc.

Monty: The Holiday and A League of Their Own are two of my personal favorites.


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Monty: What are some of your favorite movie quotes?

Strother Martin from Cool Hand Luke

Clara: I'm really bad a remembering things in general, but here are some quotes I remember:

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn


Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!


Waiter, will you serve the nuts? I mean, will you serve the guests the nuts?


The murderer is right in this room. Sitting at this table. You may serve the fish.


What we've got here is failure to communicate.


Damn, I know there a million quotes I've loved, but I can't remember. I shared some more in this post (link = http://via-51.blogspot.com/2010/08/day-17-favorite-line-from-film.html), they were too long to copy in here.


Monty: Some great quotes you pulled from the top of your head there Clara. We will soon return with part 3 of Clara's guest interview.

Be My Guest - Clara (Part 1)

A new month means a new guest. And here from Via Margutta 51 is Clara. So let's jump right in, shall we?

Monty: Name at least 10 of your favorite classic stars. Can be as many as you want, but at least 10.

Clara: Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Hara, Burt Lancaster, Barbara Stanwyck, Vivien Leigh, Hayley Mills, Paul Newman, Carole Lombard, Robert Mitchum, Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich...I have a lot of favorites really :)

Monty: Great choices Clara. I believe you are my first guest to count Hayley Mills as one of your favorites. Cool!
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Monty: Name at least 10 of your favorite classic movies. Once again can be as many as you want, but at least 10.

Clara: In alphabetical order: All about Eve, Ben - Hur, Blonde Venus, Breakfast at Tifanny's, Charade, Gone with the wind, His Girl Friday, Holiday, I remember mama, In name only, Les demoiselles de Rochefort, Most of the films directed by Hitchcok, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Ninotchka, Roman Holiday, The night of the hunter, The night of the iguana, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, The Thin Man, The Sound of Music, To have and have not, Witness for the Prosecution...ETC.


Monty: All About Eve is my favorite Bette movie!

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Monty:  Describe your first classic movie experience. Like where did you watch it..with who, what film was it, etc...

Clara: Mmmm...Probably some classic with my family like "Gone with the wind" or "The Sound of Music" or "Bambi"...I can't remember, but I do remember the first time I saw an old movie and completely fell in love with the classics. It was a few years ago, at university. A teacher made us watch "Vertigo" in class. I remember being completely absorbed by the story and just wanting to watch more movies from Hitch...which I did very soon. Then the other milestone was when I decided to watch an old movie by myself, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and realizing that these old stars could be UTTERLY cool and worth watching.


Monty: Awesome Clara! I remember my English teacher made us watch Rebecca in class and we thought we were going to hate it but it was a great movie.

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Monty: Describe your perfect way to watch a movie.

 

Clara: It depends on the mood I'm in. Sometimes I enjoy watching movies with my family using the video projector; others I need to watch them at night, in my room, with my little brother or by myself. I can focus just in the film that way. I don't like watching old movies with people my age, they don't completely get them.


Monty: Ok, I had to throw in a fun pic...I will be back soon with part 2 of my interview with Clara. And please stop by to check out her wonderful blog if you haven't already. Here's the link:
Via Margutta 51

My guest post on Via Margutta 51

I just did a guest post for my friend Clara over on her wonderful blog, Via Margutta 51. She started this series called If I Had To Keep 4, which is very cool. You get to list and describe what four things you would keep in your movie memorabilia collection. Here is the link to her blog: Via Margutta 51

Audrey Hepburn and Clara are gracious in their defeat with this wonderful post...

Me and my friend Clara from Via Margutta 51 had this friendly bet on the recent match between Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. She chose Audrey and I took Grace. Whoever lost the match would have to write a post on the other's blog about why they love the actress they chose. Well Grace won out by 2 votes and Clara has graciously written a lovely post about her girl Audrey. It is dated from last year but it is still a wonderful post. Enjoy:

She would be 81 today. "So young?", said my brother. I know what he meant.



The ubiquitous icon, the wonderful actress, the shiny presence, the kindest woman, left us too early.


I've said that Hitch introduced me to classic movies. That's correct. But it was Audrey who showed me that the performers that happened to breath, dream, love and radiate splendor before I was born were worthy to watch. No, more than that: they deserved to be watched.


And there she was. She was Holly Golightly. She was there all dressed up eating her croissant in front of Tiffany's. She was there looking for her shoe and asking "how do I look?". She was there smiling, dancing, hiding her feelings. She was there suffering. She was there, sitting by the window, singing one of the most beautiful songs ever composed, ever written, with her own voice and her absent gaze. She was there drunk. She was there crying, in love, but not sure of anything. And it rained.


And then came "Sabrina", Billy Wilder, William Holden, Bogie, Paris, "Roman Holiday", Gregory Peck, William Wyler, Dalton Trumbo, Rome, "Love in the afternoon", Gary Cooper, Fascination, "Funny face", Stanley Donen, Fred Astaire, Givenchy, the Gershwin brothers, "War and peace", Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, "The Nun's story", Fred Zinemmann, "The Unforgiven", Burt Lancaster, "My Fair Lady", George Cukor, Rex Harrison, "Charade", Cary Grant, "Two for the road", Albert Finney...Audrey presented me so many talented people, such beautiful music and places, so many unforgettable movies.


She educated me and made me a classic film lover.


She lived, she smiled, she looked around with her big eyes. No one, ever, ever, said something negative about her. She was kind and easy to work with. She remembered the terrible war, she remembered poor little Anna Frank. She loved chocolates and cigarettes. She was generous and respected the private life of others and her own. She wanted to love; she was deceived. She loved flowers. She traveled and tried to give some comfort to the innocent, the weak; she was ill. She died. She left us too early.



But she's remembered.  And be sure to check out Clara's amazing blog. Here is the link below:

http://via-51.blogspot.com/