films aka dreamy

I spent a long July 4th weekend alone. It was great. I missed Matt but wanted some solo time since we had been on the go so much this spring and into the summer. Quiet time lead to dreamy time and i was influenced by the moodiness of some old films.

I watched The Third Man, 1949, one night and Niagara, 1953, another night -not because i'm a Joseph Cotten fan per se, it just worked out that way.

What great films, especially the one in Vienna - although the one in Canada held my interest. Niagara has a lot of style, in really bright, new Technicolor.

Yet the noir quality is there for both Niagara and The Third Man; dramatic shadows and tilted camera angles and a black & white sensibility. They even share tense and memorable "let's run scared up a stair case" scenes. In both, the stair case and surrounding architecture becomes a third character. But Niagara was simple in comparison to The Third Man, and was simply a showcase for Monroe. (per me, Robert Weston + other reviews.) I think her best moment, and the best turn of the film was in the morgue - she gets a bit of a shock, and it leaves the viewer wondering, for a minute or so, until they realize what happened.

over and out, A.