Librari[d]an

The prom has never preoccupied me. Many people have strong feelings about their’s, which is usually rooted in le teen angst. The only proms I concern myself with are of the horror variety. Yes, a re-imagining of a 1980 horror classic is being released today. It will be wretched, so I’m going to take a look back at the original Prom Night.

First, we have to get beyond this:

Clocking in at well under four minutes, the notorious disco dance sequence featuring scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis has made Prom Night the whipping boy of early ’80s slasher films. (This is compounded by having Leslie Nielsen in the film, and this clip, as JLC’s father.) Yes, it is filled with every cliché, every odious dance move imaginable. However, a dud dance sequence didn’t stop Carrie from garnering some acclaim.

So now that you’ve seen the shamefaced underbelly of Prom Night, are you wondering why you should watch it? Is it going to be as painful as attending (or not attending) your own prom?

The answer is, as far as slasher genre films go, Prom Night is much better than the average fair. The narrative is well-crafted, despite now being seen as straight horror formula. Characters, and the psychology that underpins their actions, are consistent and believable, if not exactly compelling. (And not hyper-Freudian, for a change.) The acting in general is not bad, with occasional bursts of proficiency. My father lauds the ending as Jamie Lee Curtis’ best performance ever. (I don’t recommend watching this video if you’re really interested in watching PN.) Although that isn’t saying much, I think most people will find the climax to be rather surprising and challenging. If you look back on the film and ruminate on the themes of family, justice, and guilt, I think you’ll find Prom Night a worthy addition to your horror arsenal.

P.S. The best Prom Night DVD is only $7 at Amazon. Nice.

:: Bibliography ::

• Simpson, Peter, Paul Lynch, Leslie Nielsen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Stevens, Eddie Benton, Antoinette Bower, et al. 2007. Prom night. [United States]: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.

The blog shape + colour has an interesting post about Björk’s new video for her song “Wanderlust”, which I alluded to the other day in my vegan bruschetta recipe. It’s CGI and animatronics to a large extent, but don’t worry–if you thought Eiko Ishioka’s video for Björk’s song “Cocoon” was a misfire [I don't.] you may like this one regardless. The video was created by the crazies over at Encyclopedia Pictura. You may remember them as the people who made that bizarre video for Grizzly Bear’s “Knife”. (Need I make a joke about buying a big prosthetic forehead and wearing it on one’s real head?)

Too lazy for link clicking? Here is the music video and behind the scenes shoot:

At about 4:10 in this video (the 1954 Disney short entitled “Tick or Treat”) you can find the song that I was whistling on the way to work today. Oblivious, I was traipsing along Bigelow and thinking about whether I would ever actually stop in Zarra’s to get a drink. To my surprise and delight, a middle aged guy walking behind me began singing along:

“Every post is a gho-o-ost, if you’ve got a witch’s brew! And if you want your gate to circulate - hoho! - We can do that too! Trick or treat. Trick or treat. Trick or treat. Trick or treat. Trick or treat for Halloween.” He then laughed uproariously. We talked about classic, holiday-themed cartoons until I had to turn right on Parkman. Heh. =)

:: Bibliography ::

Trick or Treat. Dir: Jack Hannah. Animators: Volus Jones, Bill Justice, George Kriesl, Don Lusk, Dan MacManus. Music: Paul Smith. Performers: uncredited. Walt Disney Productions. 1952.

Others have tried - and failed - to recreate Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo: In 1976 Brian de Palma created the interesting, if poorly executed, Obsession–a thinly veiled Vertigo knock-off. Sixteen years later, Paul Verhoeven would emulate the film’s visuals to a surprising degree in Basic Instinct. (A visual comparison of Basic Instinct and Vertigo can be found here.) Attempts to recreate key scenes from the film have occurred as recently as 2005. Now, it’s time to add another to the list; Vanity Fair’s March 2008 issue will feature a photographic homage to Hitchcock’s films, including Renée Zellweger as Judy / Madeleine in the final tower scene from Vertigo! (Roy)

I never would have expected Vanity Fair to pick Renée Zellweger to fill Kim Novak’s shoes. Although I admit that she’s a talented actress, Zellweger has never been in a role that required the vulnerability, complexity, and emotional scope that Novak had to bring to her character. And of all the scenes to choose! You’d think they’d pick an easy “grey suit” episode, but instead they chose the climactic dénouement in the tower. It is perhaps the movie’s most emotionally charged scene. However, as you can see in the video of the shoot (also below), Zellweger has pretty much nailed it.

Zellweger’s performance at the shoot - described by Vanity Fair itself as “especially notable” - was both intense and impressive. (Windolf) This praise is pretty amazing, considering that there were five other Oscar winners and a huge amount of A-listers being photographed for Hitchcock’s other films. (Check out the article, cited below, for the full list and scans.) As you can see in the photo and video, everything in terms of the mise en scène was perfect: the coiffure, cosmetics, dress, earrings, tower interior… even Carlotta’s pendant.

At the shoot, Zellweger “was watching the scene over and over while getting her hair and makeup done, and when she came on set she started breathing really hard, almost hyperventilating. [...] She just absolutely exploded on the set and truly became that character like I’ve never seen before. We were in awe.” (Windolf) This method acting may explain why Zellweger’s performance lacked the subtle artistry that Novak brought to Judy’s character in both this and other scenes. (And in all fairness, it was just a photo shoot.) In addition to amplifying the emotions for a traditional camera, Zellweger herself may have been having an emotional reaction to Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak’s performances.

Revisiting Vertigo is something of an obsession for fans of the film. (Unfortunately, this Vertigo fanatic will not be close enough to visit San Fransisco when he goes to Anaheim, California this summer for the annual ALA conference.) Watch a YouTube video of the locations featured in the film here. Check out a stunning visual comparison of scenes from the film and contemporary photographs at Vertigo… Then and Now.

Special thanks to Joel Gunz, Hitchcock Geek for bringing Vanity Fair’s photo shoot to my attention and Deeda Blair for scanning and posting the article.

:: Bibliography ::

Roy, Norman J., photographer. “The 2008 Hollywood Portfolio.” Vanity Fair (March 2008): 370-71. Accessed 8 February 2008. http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/20148385.html.

Windolf, Jim. It’s the Hitch in Hitchcock. March 2008. CondéNet. Accessed 6 February 2008. http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/03/behindthescenes200803.

Shut up! No, really. Shut up. In all likelihood you haven’t even seen Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964), let alone viewed it recently with a critical eye. I was like you once. I thought the film was a joke, the beginning of Hitchcock’s cinematic decline. I have come to realize, over time, that this is far from the truth; Marnie was Hitchcock’s last truly great film.

Marnie falls easy prey to critics for an obvious reason: Like Hitchcock’s Spellbound, the emphasis on psychoanalysis dates the film. (For a bizarre look at the not-so-hidden sexual imagery/dialog embedded in the film, check out this video. I think the creep who made it has to be a total freak, a “sex maniac” if you will.) Marnie lacks the clout that a dream sequence created by Salvador Dalí and star power (Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck) provide. Don’t get me wrong, Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren are stars… However they’ve both developed an air of camp.

So what makes Marnie so good, despite the flaws? (It certainly isn’t the sloppy stunt work with the horse!) And let’s not rely on silly auteur prattle about motifs in Hitchcock’s canon of work. (She’s blonde? Amazing. She adopts a variety of identities? You don’t say!) But let’s begin with that blonde. The blonde with the pinched features and shrill voice. The perfectly imperfect Hitchcock blonde, Tippi Hedren. Hedren became the Galatea to Hitchcock’s Pygmalion because she was a natural in front of the camera. Now, the title role in Marnie isn’t exactly an easy part to play: Sexually frigid. Kleptomaniac safe-cracker. Compulsive and convincing liar. Phobic of the color red and thunder/lightning. (No wonder why the French title is Pas de printemps pour Marnie, “No Spring for Marnie”. This woman’s got problems!) Yet somehow Hedren is able to pull it off. Just look at the film’s infamous rape scene, in which Hedren is equal parts desperate, defenseless child and resistant woman (resistant in terms of her passivity, her utter disconnect from the physical violation she suffers). And what about the scene at the racetrack, where Hedren has to convey the schism between her false persona (socially adept businesswoman) and true one (nervous, saturnine anomic). Of course, there are many scenes in which Hedren simply can’t hold her character together. (”The colors! Stop the colors!”) But who could?

The second redeeming quality of the film is Bernard Herrmann’s lavish, misunderstood score. (Listen to the Prelude in this theatrical trailer for the film. Also, note Hitchock’s hilarious one-liners: “She does seem a rather excitable type” reduced me to tears!) It is mostly considered a melodramatic, Romantic mess of a composition. This may or may not be true. What his music does reflect, however, is an externalization of the emotional, child-like tumult Hedren’s character experiences thrroughout the film. Of course, I would be remiss in not crediting the director, Hitch, for making a contribution or two. Remember the scene in which Marnie robs an employer after hours? The audience is on tenterhooks as she cracks and empties the safe, removes her shoes, and soberly attempts her escape without being noticed by a cleaning woman–only to drop one of her high-heels! This suspenseful sequence alone is worth forgiving Hitchcock the sillier fare in the final reel.

I plan on posting more about the formal achievments of Marnie in the future. Keep an eye peeled.

L’amour de l’étymologie is a feature exploring the etymology of English words. Today’s entry is carom, also sometimes spelled carrom. Visit this link to hear the folks at Merriam-Webster pronounce it. Lord knows why the OED only uses the international phonetic alphabet. Some people are auditory learners. (…or lazy types like me who haven’t bothered to learn the IPA.)

The first recorded use of the word was by Charles Jones in 1775 in the book Hoyle’s Games improved. An abbreviation of carambole, a noun meaning the red ball used in a game of billiards, it has since developed a distinct meaning. Carom can act as a noun, and refers to a shot in billiards when the cue ball hits two balls in succession. (Need to visualize? Check out this video of Semih Sayginer showing off his caroming skills/knowledge of trajectory angles.)

Carom also has a more generalized meaning when used as an intransitive verb. To carom is to “strike or glance and rebound”. So, flat stones can carom across the surface of a pond when thrown properly. It can also be employed figuratively: Bernard Wolfe wrote in Limbo ‘90 that a “phrase caromed through his mind.” Carom is used figuratively chiefly in the good old US of A.

:: Bibliography ::

“Carom.” Oxford English Dictionary. 2007. 21 Dec. 2007 <http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/findword?query_type=word&queryword=carom&find.x=0&find.y=0&find=Find+word>.