I hope you had a nice Christmas Day, despite the lack of traditional celebrations this year. I went up to Aliso this afternoon for a hike, and it was heartening to exchange "Merry Christmas" greetings with others on the trail. The day was absolutely stunning, one of those 75 degree "blue sky and golden sunshine" Christmas days that we get about once or thrice a decade. Because of that, I was compelled to post the David Lynch Weather Report on Facebook. A semi-Summery day may not seem all that Christmassy to many folks, but here in the Valley it's kind of nice, because we never get snow anyway, and a blue sky is better than an overcast one, or a lot of howling wind.
When I left Aliso it was just getting dark, so I drove a few blocks over to Encino Avenue, to see the Granada Hills version of Candy Cane Lane. The folks up there go all out with their Christmas lights, and there's no traffic jam as with the Woodland Hills original. It felt good to keep some traditions going, even if all by myself. You may have been in the same boat.
This evening, I continued with "Little Dorrit", the Dickens mini-series I've been watching, which gets my highest recommendation. I also watched a movie : "I'll Be Seeing You"(1944), starring Joseph Cotten, Ginger Rogers and Shirley Temple. It qualifies as a Christmas Movie, being that it takes place over the holiday, and there are scenes of family Christmas and a New Year's Eve party. But it's a different kind of Christmas Classic because it deals with people who are emotionally fragile. Joe Cotten is a Purple Heart recipient whose battle experience has caused a nervous breakdown. Ginger is a young woman on a ten day holiday furlough from prison, where she was sent on a charge of manslaughter for killing a man who tried to rape her. Yeah, it's strong stuff, but the movie is directed by William Dieterle, another filmmaker who should be considered with the best of all time. He specialised in a light, almost mystical touch, working with heavy emotional subjects. One of his greatest films is "Portrait of Jenny", a ghostly tale of reincarnated love, but he has many more excellent pictures under his belt, and he's the perfect director to tackle this story of two wounded people who are destined to come together. Dieterle created Hollywood Magic at it's best.
In short, Joe and Ginger meet on a train. He's just out of an Army psych hospital, she's on her furlough. After getting to know each other, Joe cooks up an excuse to get off at her station. Soon, he meets her family and is invited for Christmas dinner. Little by little we learn about Joe's journey from the South Pacific to the psych ward. In town, and at holiday parties, the civilian folks want to treat him as a war hero, but it's all a cliche. They have no idea of the horrors of war. Joe mostly humors them, because to open up about his actual combat experience would be to tear open his mental wounds, and he won't do that.
But Ginger understands, because she's a victim of terrible violence herself. And, she was unjustly convicted of manslaughter, for defending herself against a rapist. This is not a movie about plot, but such as it is, it develops that we learn about Joe's history, but Ginger's is kept secret. She doesn't want him to know she's a prisoner on leave for the holidays, because now she's in love with him and fears she will lose him if he finds out.
Most of the scenes are small vignettes involving only a handful of characters, consisting of the members of Ginger's family. Shirley Temple has a substantial role as her 17 year old niece, who's as sure of herself and as naive as only a teenager can be. Shirley is soldier-crazy and at first fixes on Joseph Cotten, a little jealous of his attention to her aunt Ginger. But this angle is not pursued, because jealousy and conflict are not the point of the story. Healing is. And trust, love and vulnerability. Shirley will play a consequential role in the climax of the film, where she learns - as all teenagers do - what it means to be an adult, and that adults have real emotions, too, based on experience.
You could make a movie like this nowdays, and I'm sure they do, but it wouldn't have what William Dieterle and his actors bring to the table. You have to want to go back in time, for a dose of 1940s War Years sentimentality, to watch a movie like this, but if you do, you'll understand why Hollywood Magic was needed then, during the most horrible stretch in man's history. I always remind you (and sorry to do so but it's important) that the deadliest period in the history of mankind occurred only 80 years ago, or just a "couple of grandpas" ago, as I like to put it.
So that's why they poured on the sentimentality, and the magic, in the films of that era. We in our time cannot imagine the horror, and I suppose for many citizens here at home, even then, it was just news in a newspaper. But for millions of soldiers and their families, it was reality.
Hollywood put a gloss over it, but in general they got the feeling right in almost every movie from that era, and especially the ones with a Christmas theme, because of the promise of Peace on Earth. ///
Last night on Christmas Eve, I watched a more traditional holiday picture, the classic "White Christmas" starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen. That one I'm sure you know, it's one of the greatest musicals ever made, in addition to being a Christmas Classic, so I'll leave it at that, except to say that the musical set pieces are alone worth the price of admission.
That's all I know for the moment. To quote Tiny Tim, "God Bless Us, Everyone". Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. :):)
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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