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24 August 2009

Monday Murder Series


I've been in a mystery type mood lately-- blame it on Dame Agatha. Anyway, I thought I'd give a new series a go. The Monday Murder Series. Nothing criminal, mind you, just good old fashioned murder... mysteries. ;)

If nothing else, this'll be an excuse for me to watch some of my favorite movies (and, of course, prattle on about them here). Good, huh?

To start off the series, I chose one of my favorite Ginger Rogers films-- Star of Midnight. Judging by the number of Ginger devotees out there, this one is by no means obscure or unpopular. (Can I get a "wise choice, Juliette"? ;)


Ginger and William Powell with their Star of Midnight director.

Directed by Stephen Roberts, it stars Ginger acting alongside my love William Powell. Most people tend to criticize this one as being a Thin Man rip-off (and I s'pose it is), but I adore it. Possibly more than The Thin Man.*

Because the only thing more tedious than reading a dry plot synopsis is writing a dry plot synopsis, I'll skip it-- for my sake as much as yours. The plot's rather silly anyway, but thatd doesn't make it any less enjoyable.

Some girl performer (the, uh, star of "Midnight") has disappeared and one lad's convinced she was his lover Alice, and another guy gets shot in William Powell's apartment and Eric Blore says "yessir" a lot and Ginger wears a ton of gowns. Yeah, that's it. Ish. There's a complicated climax followed by what the filmmakers would have you believe to be a laughably simple resolution.

However, in the midst of all this silliness and complexity, there is room for great performances and great banter. Makes me wish Ginger and Bill had partnered up quite a bit more, but I suppose that would be too much goodness for the universe to allow.

Anyway, if you've not already done so-- check out Star of Midnight. You'll like it, I promise. :)



*The juries still out on that one.

11 comments:

becca said...

Star of Midnight is one of my favorites, too (I just realized that after reading your post). I'd never really thought about it before, but, now that you mention it, the plot is pretty simple. But who cares? It has a lot of great Ginger moments. I think my favorite part is when she arrives at the bar with that ridiculous hat and veil!

Mykal Banta said...

Juliette: I have not seen this one despite being a William Powell fan. I guess I will now! You make it sound very interesting, despite not revealing a hint of plot! No spoilers here, that's for sure ;) Good Post.-- Mykal

AbbyNormal said...

I definitely love both stars, but have yet to see this one. I will have to put it on the list.

VKMfanHuey said...

All hail the mighty wise one, Juliette!!! :-)

...I watched this movie not long ago - it was rather late at night, after a pretty long day - honestly, the plot lost me about 15 minutes in, so I basically resorted to focusing on Ginger (big shock there, eh?) - she has some very nice moments in it - I will watch again when I am a bit more 'with it'...

There was one scene - probably the same one AC was talking about when she was at the bar - she was going on about some 'clue' she found or something - and William Powell just snuck off and left her yapping away...just struck me as funny - but it might have just been one of those "really should have gone to bed 3 hours ago but decided to watch this movie, which has this certain scene which probably was not meant to be all that funny, but for some reason is REALLY hilarious because I am sleep deprived and I can't stop laughing about that scene which probably won't be nearly as funny watching it the next day" moments...
...Sorry. Anyway, this is a neat movie - Ginger plays a pretty cute and funny 'sidekick' to Powell. Recommended for all, especially to The Thin Man and/or VKM fans!

Juliette. said...

Amanda Cooper-- Ooh, love that bit! She's hilarious.

Mykal-- Hah! You saw through this mess of words and noticed not an ounce of plot. Lovely. :)

Abby-- Definitely check it out, and enjoy!

JWalker-- You flaterer, you. ;)

Hahaha, that's terrific. I laughed at the scene too, but yeah, I do think you'd enjoy it while fully awake as well.

Christopher said...

random bit of Ginger sillyness..you may have seen it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YSVWrsI8Rg

Artman2112 said...

i absolutely can NOT remember if i've seen this or not, lol! i'm with you, William Powell is awesome! what style and class he had, but also just a damn good actor, always convincing. Thin Man rip-offs are fine if they're done well, like the ex-mrs bradford with Powell, Jean Arthur and Eric Blore. much fun! now to see if i can jog my failing memory about this film!

Matthew Coniam said...

Wise choice, Juliette.

Juliette. said...

Christopher-- Thanks-- will most definitely check it out.

Paul-- Yeah, The Ex-Mrs. Bradford's grand as well...airing on Sunday, I believe. :)

Matthew-- Why thanks!

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