* glasses to create an Other * glasses used to add age I had the pleasure of seeing a print of this film on the big screen at the Colonial Theater with my father. The way this film was shot was brilliant, and at the time was never done before. Often you are looking at characters on television screens and mirrors, also "amateur" hand held camera techniques are used to keep a faster pace of the movie. I don't expect everyone to look at the same details on composition as me, but this film is very funny as well. It has often been compared to the Marx Brothers movies, and since the director hang out with The Beatles before shooting, he got a good feel for everyone's character. Some of the lines in the movie are things The Beatles have said, and their tailor was in the film as well.
But enough of that talk,
There are Glasses in this film. If you have not seen it, it's not what you think. John Lennon did not start wearing glasses till later. There is one particular character that wears glasses throughout. Paul's Grandfather. John McCartney, Paul's (fictitious) Grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell) is traveling along with Paul and his band to get a change of scenery. However he is a "king mixer" as Paul puts it and gets in all kinds of trouble.
Glasses are used as a tool here, they are to age the actor. This grandfather character is from another generation, and another country. He is Irish, he life was not as easy as his grandkid's he faced discrimination. Enough so that makes him kinda kooky around authority. He convinced Ringo to have some adventure, to enjoy himself which leads to him getting arrested, Which is pretty bad due to they have be on tv soon.Take a look at one of my favorite scenes after he gets arrested for causing a disruption in front of the television studio:
go about 5 Minutes in to see his reaction to the police
Ringo doesn't understand, due to being a different generation and living in England. Also these particular policemen are rather polite.
There is another Character who wears glasses through out the film, the TV director's assistant. The director Simon is rather over dramatic, a worry wart, Adrian(Julian Holloway) his assistant does what he is told. He pretty much fallows Simon around writing down anything he says. I can't find the scene on youtube, He takes a drumstick and plays around on Ringo's drum kit. Which gets Ringo a little upset. The only respect Adrian has is for the director.
Alfred Hitchcock seriously had a thing for glasses. Not just for his films either; he insisted that his secretary Carol Stevens wore them. A studio optician designed four or five pairs for her to wear. If she came to set without them Hitch would be furious. He also enjoyed ordering her to remove them.
He used glasses frequently in his films as we discussed before, which is why I write about his films so much on here. Most directors don't even think about glasses, especially not in the same way as Hitchcock.
Author Donald Spoto in his book Spellbound by Beauty says:
For Hitchcock, the removal of eyeglasses disclosed a partially
concealed beauty, but the gesture also rendered the wearer vulnerable
and somewhat isolated, removed from the situation, The glasses, in other
words became Hitchcock's modern version of the Venetian mask-a kind of
prop that both concealed and revealed.
This film Strangers on a Train glasses are used in a similar way as Vertigo, they separate the person from the action. They know what is going on, but is not consumed by it like the other characters. However this film is different from the Vertigo theme, glasses became essential to the plot and the removal makes the character more vulnerable than in previous films.
The movie begins with, you guessed it two strangers on a train.
A tennis star, Guy Haines(FarleyGranger) and Dandy boy Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker), who ultimately is more than just a run of the mill dandy. ( I do love all his suits and shoes, a tie with a lobster printed on it!) They discuss their lives, get to know you stuff. Bruno suggests that they each commit a murder for the other. Bruno has a controlling father, and as Bruno points out to Guy; Guy had a wife who causes trouble.
Guy who was frustrated with his wife Miriam's (Laura Elliott), he began dating Anne Morton (Ruth Roman), who is a daughter of a senator. Bruno read about this affair in the paper. Guy left the train, feeling that Bruno is a little nutty but can't be serious about murder. Guy hardly knows this man, and why would he kill his wife? He may convince her to get a divorce.
He goes to his wife's workplace to convince her to grant him a divorce.
At first, maybe she is a victim of his affair. She dressed plain, wears glasses and works in a place full of books and files. Maybe she is home alone when he is with his glamour girl girlfriend. Then he mentioned she is pregnant by another man. She takes him into a room where they can talk in private.
Wow, all I can say is wow what a femme fatale.
She been cheating on him for a much longer time than he has on her.
And She is not planning to stop any time soon either.
Also she wants all his money.
Geez Louise!
She needs her glasses. She does not ever remove them, yet she uses them to her advantage. Who would suspect her looking at her appearance doing anybody wrong?
I think Hitch had a thing for bad girls as well.
Guy calls his girlfriend, he is very up set and said things he really didn't mean.
Bruno, without Guy knowing, took the train conversation seriously and decided to do his part.
Miriam is out at the fair with her boyfriends, she sees sharply dressed Bruno. At first she is a little flirty with him, and then well, . . . she is dead.
She is not involved with her husband's life. Miriam does what she wants, which means she is unaware of the crazy dandy Guy met on a train. Miriam thought Bruno was fallowing her because he liked her. She thought wrong. Does she deserve to die? No she does not. During the attack her glasses fall off her face. Her most and only Vulnerable moment. Bruno found Guy that night to tell him what happened to Miriam. Bruno had Miriam's glasses to prove it. The situation is too unreal for Guy to do anything about it.
Then Bruno visits Guy during a tennis match, just to remind Guy has to do his end of the bargain.
In comes Anne Morton's (girlfriend) sister Barbara ( Patti Hitchcock, yes the director's daughter, Ilove Patti). Bruno sees Barbara and is reminded of Miriam, due to that they both wear glasses. Their frames are similar, they both have same hair color and about the same height. The two women are not meant to be identical, the glasses are a reminder.
Bruno can turn on the charm, as you can see. Due to the girlfriend and Barbara not knowing about the train conversation, Bruno gets himself invited to their high society shindig.
At the Shindig Bruno charms some old ladies, and when Barbra enters the room, he becomes haunted again an accidently chokes a little old lady. Anne figures out what is going on and makes Guy tell her everything. "What did Miriam look like?" she asked him, he describes, Anne get flustered "she wore glasses?! she looked like Barbara"
Guy, in deep trouble now; gets two cops to fallow him everywhere. Barbara is very flirty with the one cop.
This is perhaps the most realistic portrayal of glasses I have seen. Neither Miriam, nor Barbra are a nerdy stereotype. They don't sit at home with their books and a multitude of cats and make us feel sorry for them because they don't have a boyfriend. Both are very capable of getting a man's attention. And yes there are some guys who go crazy for a girl who wears glasses (Hitch included), just the media like to tell us otherwise. However neither character is the love interest to the leading man.
This does remind me how some people can also get distracted when the see glasses. Barbara reminding Bruno of Miriam, due to her glasses. There are people that when they see a person wearing glasses, that is all they see- glasses.
I noticed when I show up somewhere with a couple of my female friends who also wear glasses, people would ask if we are all sisters. I used to be mistaken to a former friend of mine all the time, mostly because we both wore glasses. This would annoy me to no end. I just had vintage Dior cat-eye frames that I got my prescription fitted into($$$$) and she had standard rectangle frames.
Also, she was a good foot and half taller then me. I had to look up to see her face, I could never really tell what her hair looked like other than that she'd bleached it. This girl wore really tiny shiny dresses and all my retro dresses and suites covered the majority of my body.
We didn't look alike at all! Yet people would call me by her name.
When guys notice we were actually two people with two completely different names; they would constantly ask me about her. Her glasses and impossibly short dresses got all the dudes. She attracted kinda like Miriam, and I didn't want to be bothered. Especially not by some drunk dude asking if my 'sister' is 'easy'.
My point is some people are oblivious to detail. When there are glasses, all they see are glasses. Bruno could think Miriam and Barbara look alike due to similar glasses, and ignoring the rest, or he could just be somewhat conflicted by what he did and the image Miriam's glasses on the night haunts his mind.
Wow I had a busy Halloween week, sorry for not writing till now. I was fortunate in being able to see a 35 mm print of 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi thanks to the Philadelphia Film Society.
If you are not familiar with the story of Dracula; This version starts with Renfield(Dwight Frye) traveling to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula. Renfield works in real estate and travels to Transylvania for business reasons. He is to have Count Dracula sign some papers to own a home in England. The castle Dracula lives in Transylvania and the castle his moves to in England look very similar. Renfield falls under the Count's spell and for return of eternal life, aides the Count on his trip to England. Oh by the way, in case you did not know Count Dracula is a vampire.
He also doesn't drink wine. Vampires can not cross water, well not like we people do. Count Dracula has to be emended in dirt from his homeland during the journey. His new buddy Renfield,(who is now crazy and has a crazylaugh) is with Dracula on the boat to make sure no one disturbs The Master. In England Renfield is put into an mental institution. Dracula starts on having some victims. The first lady Lucy, (yes Lady in this he only preys on rich women in fabulous gowns) sad to say she does not make it. Her friend Mina (Helen Chandler) falls under Dracula's spell too. The rich folk don't know what to do. Are they sick? Why are they having strange dreams?
In comes Dr. Van Helsing,(Edward Van Sloan)who is considered the best doctor around. He is older and wears glasses with heavy lenses. Van Helsing was sent from Germany to figure out what disease these ladies have. Yet it is not a disease they have, they are victims of a vampire. Vampire myths belong to other parts of Europe,
they are superstitions,
folk tales;
Old World.
A new, industrialized, modern country such as England do not believe in such things.
Van Helsing even though he studied medicine, believes that there are vampires. He ultimately proves Dracula is a vampire and saves the day. Mina's father eventually trusts Van Helsing, and Van Helsing becomes the hero of this story. Van Helsing, wears glasses through out the film. He portrayed as intelligent, sure of himself, not akward or nerdy at all. At times he removes his glasses when talking to someone seriously face to face. These glasses look heavy, his removal of them when he talking close to someone is understandable. He does not fit in with these English blue bloods, it takes much convincing to make them believe Dracula is a vampire.
What I like most about Dracula (other than vampires, bats and Bela) is the old world versus the new world. Count Dracula who is from the old world, with his accent his flashy cape and he embodies folktales because he is one, a vampire. The rich English folk are of the new world, they don't believe in "silly" things, John Harker (David Manners)who is Mina's fiancée refuses to think a Dracula is out to get her, even when all the evidence is staring right at him. Dr. Van Helsing is of both worlds. He too comes from a modern country, yet he is not so removed from the old world. He see that there may be some truth to the old ways, and he uses that to his advantage. He out smarts Dracula and defeats the vampire.
* Glasses used to show the character is outside the situation
As discussed in pervious posts, Alfred Hitchcock loves glasses. He loved the notion of love "beautifying" a woman, which he used in the movies Suspicion and Spellbound, but also he like how glasses visually makes the character removed from the drama that is going on. As if the character is more of a spectator. Vertigo is more along the theme of the latter. Unlike Suspicion and Spellbound, Vertigo has a lead character that wears glasses throughout the movie. Yes a female character that wears glasses THROUGH THE ENTIRE MOVIE. no taking them off because she is in love, she wears them every time you see her.
Midge played by Barbara Bel Geddes is an old friend of the lead Scottie played by Jimmy Stewart. The premise ; Scottie who is a recently retired policeman, is struggling with is new found fear of heights. An accident on the job gave him this anxiety. An old acquaintance Gavin Elster called up Scottie to do some private detective work. Scottie retired and unemployed took the job of fallowing Gavin's wife Madeleine (played by Kim Novak). Madeleine is not being fallowed because she may be having an affair. She is being fallowed because as her husband says, acting weird. Supposedly Madeleine will go into a trance, become depressed, and perhaps may hurt herself. Scottie as the detective work goes on, gets enthralled with Madeleine and all the spookiness that goes along with her. Midge becomes increasingly more concerned for Scottie, and tries to find out what he has been up to. She tries to find out to be there for him, but is ultimately on the outside of the drama. She watching all this affect Scottie, due to him being so enthralled Midge only knows part of his story. Thus she is helpless from preventing any wrong doings because she is not there. However she is there to help during the aftermath.
I love this film, I must of watched it a hundred times. I don't want to reveal to much of the story if you have not seen it; because there are a couple twists. I first saw this movie in TCM with my father. My Father introduced me to some great cinema. I may of been too young to watch the psychological suspense of Hitchcock but I loved this movie the first time I saw it. Mostly because of Barbara Bel Geddes character Midge.
Midge is introduced drawing, she works as a fashion illustrator. She works, she draws for a living, I draw!, also she has blonde hair and glasses I have blonde hair and glasses!. She wore dresses, painted too and she was fun.
In one scene Scottie asked her if she knew a historian, for some research. Midge knew someone, (she must know lots of intellectual people", I thought "oh she is so cool") and Scottie invited her to meet this historian together by saying "get your hat" Midge replies "I don't need a hat".
Oh my excitement first seeing Midge on the screen.
I identified with her, and wanted to be like her whenever I became a grown up. Sadly I became a grown up in the 21st century and no one needs a fashion illustrator anymore.
My father and I always felt for her character. She really cares for Scottie, but Scottie fell in love with Madeleine (Kim Novak). Even though she may be no Kim Novak, we (my father and I) agreed Midge was way better person. In a conversation between Scottie and Midge, the viewer learns that Midge was once engaged to Scottie. We also know from that same conversation Midge called it off. It is unknown why she called it off.
Perhaps she wasn't ready and wanted to establish her career first.
Or maybe she wanted a heads over heels romance and Scottie wasn't all that romantic.
Or maybe Scottie was eyeing Kim Novak types throughout college.
We Don't Know.
As Scottie becomes more involved with this private detective job, and with Madeleine. Midge senses something going on, that he may be getting into trouble. Midge is losing him, and he may be in danger.
An attempt to grab Scottie's attention again:
She knows something is up, she did fallowed him a little bit earlier.
Is she jealous? Did she develop romantic feelings for him again?
Perhaps her work life takes most of her time that she doesn't meet new people much.
Maybe she thought Scottie will always be around.
This scene is clear that she wants to feel attractive. 'What does she have I aint got?" of course she may be trying to be subtle with a note, the painting is not so subtle, and comes across as too forward. Yet anything always comes too forward when I girl shows she likes a guy. The only acceptable behavior is to stand around and wait for them to talk to you first. Midge is not the waiting around type.
Midge is with Scottie till the very end. She may not have romantic feelings toward him anymore but it's clear she really cares about him. Just like how she catches Scottie falling off the step ladder in the beginning of the movie; she helps him at the very end when he is hospitalized by giving his doctor some insight. She wants him well again. She may of been 'interfering' before, but only because they were once close, and then he drifted away. Her intuition was telling her that he may be in trouble.
However she may be more caring, loving and truthful than Madeleine, she was not the one Scottie fell in love with. My father and I would get upset whenever a great female character like Midge is not the one the leading man falls for. Why go for personality when Kim Novak (or any other Sexy actress) around? This movie taught me that some people rather go after a person who looks ideal, than a person who is real. Those people may be nice, they may be a good friend but if they cant see the awesomeness that a person like Midge is than they are just not worth it. They are chasing illusions. Most likely will get hurt or bored when they find out that pretty face-killer body combo has no personality.
*glasses are absolutely pointless My fiancée and I are very excited to see this movie. It has everybody in it; Stallone, Snipes, Arnold. Lundgren, Jet Li.Antonio Banderas, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, and Transporter guy from the other two movies.
The movie was going great lots of explosions, fighting, Snipes. Then Stallone's character thought he had to get a new team, Lame. I didn't came here to watch new people. whatevs. Kelsey Grammer helped Stallone find new recruits. Most were guys. Then this happened:
I was hopeful, a Girl that kicks butt, a Girl that kicks butt whist wearing glasses
I was excited
I gave my hopes up.
Through the rest of the film she never wears them again.Never wore them again. No mention of contacts. No Stallone saying "hey where is your glasses?" Nothing. Like she never had them in the first place. Was she wearing them for an added extra surprise for her introduction? if so it was not necessary because she is already wearing a little dress and high heels. I'd be surprise if I see a girl fight in high heels. Or a female bouncer wearing a dress and heels. Most Bouncers I have seen male or female, wear a black t-shirt and jeans. Glasses were not needed for the surprise element, even more so if they are not actually part of the character. At the end of the movie where the whole team was just hanging out I was hoping she would wear her glasses again. I can understand wearing contacts instead of glasses for a big mission. She did not.
Good thing about this is that my fiancee see my point about how glasses are portrayed in movies. That glasses are often only in the introduction and later never seen again.
Stallone and Kurt Russell together in the same movie. This movie is so action packed it's absurd.
Seriously absurd, it's hard for me to describe the plot, I had to look up the premise on Wikipedia.
So this is a buddy cop movie along with an action movie. Stallone and Kurt Russell are you guessedit ;opposites. Russell wears t shirts cowboy boots, and jeans. Stallone wears nice suits and . . . Glasses!
the movie opens like this:
The one thing these two cops have in common is that they do anything to catch the bad guy, (including mass destruction) and they are so good at it the mob is afraid of them. The Mafia creates a plan to frame both of them in a murder. This is so the two are in jail, and the mob can do what they want again.
Stallone wears glasses through most of the beginning, but they are taken off. Basically are off his face through the more action packed parts and worn again when a scene requires more talking than grunting or yelling. So glasses are worn throughout the movie, just not consistently. Overall putting glasses on a "tough guy" is a good attempt to break the nerd stereotype. Way to go Stallone.
* glasses used to create an outcast * glasses to show inferior health/physical weakness
I go in two directions with my tastes in science fiction. One direction is totally cheesy,
with plot holes, robots, overacting and costumes made out of various shiny materials. The other is dystopian, where the government or the system becomes too controlling, and people want to break free.
Gattaca is of the later;
This movie takes place in the future where your DNA makes or breaks you. A class system is developed by what is in your genetic make up, what diseases run in your family determines how high you can climb the corporate ladder. If you genetics are perfect or near perfect you are 'Valid' and if you have disease ridden family history you are 'Invalid'. With this new kind of eugenics; poor eyesight is rare. So anyone wearing glasses would automatically be an outcast. I prolly wouldn't make it in this type of future.
The lead character Vincent Freeman, played by Ethan Hawke is what they call a "god child", which means he was born the natural way instead of the new way where parents put their DNA together for test tube baby. He was born with all the genetic baggage of both his parents, which means he does not have much of a future. His younger brother was born the test tube way, and was always stronger and better. Little Vincent is incredibly skinny, wears glasses and has a great passion for space travel.
Vincent's passion is so great it continues into adulthood, yet the only job he can have is to be a janitor. This character knows so much we want to see him succeed in pursuing his dreams. The only way he can pursue his dream is to take another identity, because in this world skills and knowledge mean nothing if you don't have the DNA to match. Mr. Adrian Monk provides Vincent with a plan, to take an identity of a stronger DNA person, and get a job in space travel. Vincent is to take the identity of a once Olympic swimmer, now crippled Jerome Morrow(JudeLaw) , by using his DNA and living in the same fancy pants apartment. Vincent goes through great lengths to obtain a new identity. He gets surgery on his legs to match Jerome's height, He starts wearing contacts. He also scrubs his dead skin off every morning to leave no trace oh himself anywhere.
This character starts dating a coworker Irene (Uma Thurman) who is born near perfect for a "god child" she still has a risk of heart disease. A murder happens in their office, and the police are looking for an Invalid, which put Vincent on edge afraid his cover will be blown. On his date with Irene there is a police check with an eye scan. Vincent takes his contacts out, (I guess contacts are alsoillegal because they hide invalids) before the scan. Later Irene want to look at the landscape on a bridge, to do so they both have to cross a high traffic road. Irene dashes off, Vincent now vision impaired without his contacts is hesitant to cross. He somehow managed, but he did struggle to cross the road. Irene notices this, and as the movie goes on she suspects he truly an 'Invalid'.
Even though some truth is found out about him, (doesn't help if your brother is a detective) he goes on the big space mission, his masquerade got him his dream. Maybe while he is there the police will find the real murderer and leave him alone.
Glasses are used to show genetic inferiority, thus making the character also an outcast. We know there are fairly healthy people who also wear glasses. Yet in a future where everyone has their DNA altered to be 'Valid' poor eyesight along with everything else is being weeded out. When Vincent starts wearing contacts, he is trying to fit in to society's rigid rules. For this future the only way he can get a better life is to not be himself. It make me think of all the people I have met who refused to wear their glasses, and yet also can't handle wearing contacts. They go around squinting, claiming their vision is "not that bad". If you are not wearing glasses because you want people to see your eyes, in reality no one can see your eyes because you are squinting all the time. I also think of the people married to their contacts, are they pretending?
Is it really so bad to wear glasses? why hide yourself?
