Before we review tonight's movie, I thought it might be fun to take a look back at the films we've seen this year and single a few out for special mention. I'm only gonna list the titles, and if available the dates on which they were watched. That way, you can read the corresponding blog if you so desire, which will save me the work of re-evaluating them. So without further ado, here are ten films I thought were especially good from our viewing schedule in 2019. They are listed in order by date. 1) "Tarzan the Ape Man" (2/2/19). 2) "A Story From Chikamatsu" (2/18/19). 3) "Le Trou" (4/11/19). 4) "Tarantula" (6/25/19). 5) "Miracle At Morgan's Creek" (7/27/19). 6) "Sunrise" (7/27/19), which may have been the best film we saw all year. 7) "The Secret Garden" (8/23/19). 8) "Overlord" (9/29/19). 9) "I Was A Male War Bride" (11/28/19). 10) "Marie Antoinette" (12/3/19).
Now, those titles are just from a quick scan of my ongoing movie list, which I keep in a notebook. We have watched around 290 films this year (holy smokes!), so I may have missed a few that should've been included. But these ten are deserving for sure, so check 'em out. Tomorrow we'll do books and concerts.
Tonight I watched a pre-code movie called "The Half Naked Truth"(1932), which starred Lupe Velez and Lee Tracy. I'd heard of Velez but this was my first exposure to her. She was one of the first female stars to hail from Mexico, and she became a sensation in early Hollywood because of her outsized personality and good looks. "The Half Naked Truth" is an apt title, because Velez is half-dressed for most of the film in dancer's clothing. Her nickname was "The Mexican Spitfire" and her onscreen energy backs that up. She is alternately a laugh riot and quite beguiling.
Lee Tracy, who we have seen in several pre-coders, specialised in rat-a-tat-tat ultra fast dialogue. Even Rosalind Russell would've had trouble keeping up with him. He plays a carnival barker working in back country West Virginia. He's trying to sell tickets to the hicks, so he's promoting Velez as an exotic Turkish Princess who does Veil Dances. But then the county Sheriff shows up and exposes the act as a fraud. The carnival is forced to shut down, but Tracy is undeterred. He takes Velez to New York, where he claims to know a theatrical producer (played by Frank Morgan, the Wizard Of Oz). Lee Tracy talks so fast that he confuses Morgan into signing Velez to a contract. Soon she is a big star on Broadway, but in the process she outgrows Tracy and becomes attached to Morgan. Tracy takes an "I'll show you"! attitude and begins promoting his own act, taking a hotel maid (Shirley Chambers) and turning her into the leader of a new age Nudist Colony. Tracy figures nudism will outdraw Morgan's old fashioned act with Velez, and at first he is correct. "Gladys", as Chambers is dubbed, is given a ticker-tape parade through Manhattan, and seems set for the big time.
But love rears it's head. Tracy's heart is really still with Velez. When he realises that her relationship with Morgan is strictly business, he goes in search of her to make up, but learns she's left town. It seems that she was heartbroken to see Tracy promoting "Gladys", and has gone back to the carnival in West Virginia. You can guess how things will turn out. :):)
"The Half-Naked Truth" is strictly for fun, and it succeeds on that score. It runs 77 minutes but feels more like 63 due to the fast paced dialogue. Lupe Velez is a new discovery for us. She's a firecracker and is a blast to watch, haha, because you can see she's enjoying the exaggerated persona she's created for the screen: that of the Excitable Latina with a Hot Temper and an "Ay, Chihuahua"! sense of humor. She's clearly in on the joke, and she's a riot. Unfortunately - and I didn't know this until after the movie - like so many Hollywood Stars she had a short and tragic life. Velez died of a drug overdose in 1944 at the age of 36, a suicide over a failed relationship. She had previously been married to Johnny Weissmuller (aka Tarzan) and Gary Cooper. I am an instant fan after seeing her in tonight's film, so I have ordered two more of her movies from the Libe, and will look others after that.
Lee Tracy is great as her co-star, the scheming promoter who could sell ice to an Eskimo, and Shirley Chambers is cute in her role as "Gladys", the hotel maid who becomes Lady Godiva. Her IMDB bio lists Chambers as "Hollywood's First Dumb Blonde", which is quite a tribute I suppose, lol, but she's a natural comedienne and I'm sure we'll see more of her as well.
I loved "The Half-Naked Truth". Again, it's a pre-code quickie made just for laughs, but you'll enjoy it and fall for Lupe Velez in the process. Two Big Thumbs Up is the verdict. ////
Well, well.....here we are at the End of the Decade. My Goodness how time flies. But it goes slow at the same time, something we've talked about on occasion. At any rate, I'll wish you a Happy New Year now, as the next blog won't be published until after Midnight at the earliest, and most likely tomorrow afternoon. We'll do some more Year In Review (and maybe some Decade In Review, too), and we'll throw in our nightly movie review for good measure. Here's to the New Year; let's look forward to some truly great things happening in 2020 (and I can think of one right off the top of my head, haha).
So that's all for the moment, and..........here it comes........wait for it!.........
I'll see ya next year!
With more love than ever before. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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