Posts Tagged ‘video’

I’ve been attending the Deanna Durbin film series at the historic Heights Theater. I had never heard of her before, but she was extremely famous in the late 30s and early 40s, and apparently saved Universal Studios from bankruptcy. She quit show business in the late 40s and retired to France where she still lives.

I find her just delightful!

Below is a clip from 1941’s It Started with Eve. The premise: a man’s dying father (played by Charles Laughton) wants to meet his new fiancée, but she is unavailable, so he substitutes a hat-check girl (played by Deanna Durbin). When the father unexpectedly recovers, mayhem ensues with the son trying to juggle his fiancee and the hat-check girl without his father finding about the ruse. Meanwhile the hat-check girl is trying to stay in their lives long enough to meet a family friend who is a famous musician.

Gotye’s Somebody that I Used to Know is very popular right now.

Because of that, it has spawned many covers. I’m really impressed by the acoustic version by Walk Off the Earth in which all five band members simultaneously play a single guitar:

This version is so popular that it, in turn, has inspired many parodies. The best is this one by The Key of Awesome. I think it might even be my favorite of the three. Love the Tito Puente line!

My sister and I went to see the 1943 technicolor extravaganza The Gang’s All Here. Billed (by the local theater) as a “gay hairdresser’s acid trip” the film did not disappoint. The disembodied heads at the end, though, were a bit much.

The highlight was, of course, Carmen Miranda. They just don’t make big musical numbers in which showgirls dance with oversized fruit anymore. More’s the pity.

From Science Friday.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!