The last day of the festival started with a big surprise. I went to the four-hour-plus screening of the 1963 version of “Cleopatra” with reluctance because I’d always heard what a monstrosity it was, taking years to produce and coming very close to bankrupting Twentieth Century Fox. I decided I’d just leave if it got too ridiculous and I suspected I’d never make it past the intermission. But guess what? I never budged from my seat. Between the insanely long film and the panel discussion with actor Martin Landau and TCM host Ben Mankiewicz (whose uncle Joseph L. Mankiewicz wrote and directed the picture), I was in the Egyptian Theatre from 9 am until just after 2.
I loved the film. It’s too bad that the endless problems that plagued the production (including La Grande Scandale when married co-stars Liz Taylor and Richard Burton started a steamy affair) have so overshadowed the merits of the film itself. Ben told us that when his uncle, the genius behind such films as “All About Eve” and “A Letter to Three Wives,” was asked to take over the direction of the bloated production, his first response was, “Direct it? I wouldn’t even go see it!”
I expected great chemistry between Taylor and Burton, who played Mark Antony, but I was surprised at how hot the scenes were between Liz and Rex Harrison, who owned the first half of the film as Julius Caesar. Harrison was fantastic and the only actor in “Cleopatra” to get an Oscar nomination. After seeing this film, I can’t believe Liz didn’t get nominated, she’s superb in the role, from her first appearance 40 minutes in when she falls out of a rolled-up carpet to her dramatic death scene after she allows herself to be bitten by a poisonous asp.
I would have given Liz one Oscar for her fine performance and two more for the other stars of the film—her heaving breasts. Good Lord, forgive me, but I’ve never seen body parts given such extraordinary star treatment. I don’t know what miracles of engineering costume designer Irene Sharaff managed with the help of cleverly designed gowns and a roll of gaffer’s tape, but Liz’s ample bosom got more screen time than Harrison and Burton combined, barely sheathed in over 65 costume changes, including one gown reportedly made out of 24-carat gold fabric. Mankiewicz and Landau explained that because the production of the film droned on and on over the course of three years, some scenes used moments that were shot six months apart. An actor could walk into a room in a take from March and walk out of the same room in a shot from September. This caused endless continuity problems since Liz’s weight kept fluctuating along with her tan. She might start one scene in the palace at Alexandria pale and thin and end it brown and plump. She suffered one of her many life-threatening illnesses during the making of the film, including one episode in which they were forced to perform an emergency tracheotomy on the actress. The scar from this procedure is clearly visible in many of the scenes.
The original first cut of “Cleopatra” was over six hours long but the studios demanded that it be radically shortened. As a result, according to Landau, most of his best scenes were excised from the film including one in which he, as Mark Antony’s trusted general, cries when he hears that Antony has been killed. “Generals don’t cry,” was studio chief Darryl Zannuck’s absurd justification for the cut. Most of Mankiewicz’s brilliant lines and character development got sliced out of the film, and I only hope one day they are able to piece together a new director’s cut. But even with the massive edits, it still works. We were truly fortunate to see a gorgeous 70-mm TODD-AO print that was breathtaking. This is a film that must be seen in a big theatre and I’m so grateful I got the chance. Elizabeth Taylor insisted that the film be shot in the widescreen TODD-AO process because as Mike Todd’s widow, she received a cut of the licensing fees. Adding that to her unprecedented high salary, Taylor received over seven million dollars (in 1963!) for her part in the film, an astronomical figure considering the original budget for the entire production was reportedly only two million dollars.
The next event, the appearance of 100-year-old Luise Rainer, on hand to introduce the 1937 film “The Good Earth,” for which she won her second consecutive Best Actress Oscar, was for me and many others the highlight of the festival. It didn’t start out well. We waited in line for quite a long time and when we were finally let in we were told that her appearance was going to be videotaped for a special on TCM. They kept us waiting longer as they set up for a real TV show taping and recorded us fake applauding, cheering, laughing, looking transfixed, and giving a standing ovation—all before Ms. Rainer came out. When she finally did appear, she announced with some agitation that she had broken her hearing aid that morning and couldn’t hear a thing. She seemed close to tears. Robert Osborne tried screaming questions into her ear but she kept saying “What?” Finally, someone in the audience held up some paper and a pen and suggested that Osborne write questions for the elderly actress. Duh! It worked like a charm. Rainer, 100 years old and deaf as a stone, was one of the most powerful speakers I’ve ever heard. She spoke eloquently of her experience in Hollywood including her decision to leave at the height of her game, and how she went about inhabiting the emotions of a character rather than acting the role.
It was mind-boggling to realize we were sitting there watching a contemporary of Irving Thalberg (who she loved), Louis B. Mayer (who she hated), and Greta Garbo (who she said was the most beautiful creature she’d ever seen). Despite her amazing abilities and the fact that she won two Oscars in a row, she simply could not play the Hollywood game and she dropped out of the movie scene after making only a handful of films. She spoke of her marriage to the brilliant playwright Clifford Odets (his first play, “Awake and Sing!” is probably my favorite piece of theater) and her second husband, the real love of her life, Robert Knittel, to whom she was married for 47 years, until his death in 1989. Her description of his relationship was the only time during the four days of the festival when I was moved to tears. Rainer kept coming back to the importance of real connections between people, how we are all alike in so many ways, how love for each other is the only thing that matters. What an incredible woman, still so vibrant at the age of 100. I loved her as Anna Held in “The Great Ziegfeld” (her first Oscar-winning role) and she was wonderful as the simple Chinese peasant girl in “The Good Earth.” She refused to wear the mask the studio concocted for her so she’d look more Chinese (“Are you mad?” she said to them when they tried to cover her face) and conveyed everything she needed to do to be believable in this role with sheer talent. When asked about co-star Paul Muni she said “Oh, I’m a naughty girl” and proceeded to honestly answer the question. She hated his acting technique, so different from her own, and the fact that he had his wife sat directly under the camera for every take so she could tell him what she thought of it and if he looked good. Oy. Thalberg’s original vision for the Pearl S. Buck story was to shoot it on location in China with an all-Chinese cast but Mayer wouldn’t go for it and in the end the film was shot on a farm in Chatsworth with a motley group of Caucasians playing the leads including Dorothy’s Uncle Henry (Charley Grapewin) as Paul Muni’s father.
Last up yesterday was the near-perfect film, “Some Like It Hot.” Rabble rouser Tony Curtis, now 84, was on hand to talk about the making of the film. He came to the screening wearing a Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club t-shirt (he appeared on the original album cover), a black velvet jacket, and a white cowboy hat. The former Bernie Schwartz wowed the crowd with his stories of working with Marilyn and how he and Jack Lemmon transformed themselves into women (they used to leave the studio in full drag to see if they could fool people). Billy Wilder’s script for “Some Like It Hot” was one of his best. The audience went crazy for the film last night (including Leah who had never seen it).
Curtis (who once took Marilyn on a date in his pale-green Buick convertible with "Dynaflow drive") was hitting on young women in the front row of the theatre and told several ribald stories, including the time when they were shooting the kissing scene on the yacht and Marilyn asked him if he had an erection. “No, honey,” he replied, “but I can get one for you if you like.” He described the costume fittings with famed designer Orry-Kelly. The designer measured Curtis and Lemmon first and then Marilyn walked into the session, wearing only panties and an barely-buttoned white blouse. Curtis nearly started hyperventilating as he remembered this image. When Orry-Kelly was measuring Monroe and got to her bottom, he cracked, “Tony Curtis has a better ass than you, Marilyn.” Monroe then opened up her shirt and said, “Maybe, but he doesn’t have these.” Curtis stood up again at the end of the film, moved by the enthusiastic response from the crowd. Jack Lemmon was great in everything he did but I think his performance as Daphne is one of the funniest ones ever recorded on film.
The past four days were pure heaven for movie lovers, I think everyone at the festival had a magical experience. I can’t wait to see the slate of films they choose for next year.
Thanks for the wonderful reporting, especially loved reading about Luise Rainer. I, too, hope they make this an annual event and that I'm able to attend in the future. By the way, I stayed at the host hotel, The Roosevelt, twice. The first time on my very first business trip to California in the 1970s when a magazine I worked for had an event there and the second time in October 2004, just for the heck of it, after it (and the surrounding neighborhood) had been cleaned up considerably. Both times, about thirty years apart, I had "ghostly" experiences. We dropped by the hotel again over New Years weekend 2006 to walk through the lobby and have a drink at the bar, but spotted no ghosts in that brief visit.
Posted by: Pam G | April 26, 2010 at 04:06 PM
I don't know who had more fun ..... you or Charlie! Loved your comments about some of the "oldies" .... Midnight Cowboy - a classic; when Rizzo looks out of the window and sees the MONY sign and says, "geez, they're so dumb here they don't even know how to spell "money".
Drive safely in your Buick ... you've got precious cargo in the back.
Love,
Bubbe Marilyn
Posted by: Marilyn Molnar | April 26, 2010 at 04:12 PM
I find your blog fascinating. We grew up in the same part of Chicago. When i have time i plan to read more.
I can't find any information on you on this blog site. I'm just curious--what do you do for a living?
Posted by: Richard Jacobson | April 26, 2010 at 04:52 PM
Wonderful writing about the Film Festival. I hope they do have it every year! Did the crowd seem to be mostly local, or had lots of people flown in for it? I would if I could! Went to the Roosevelt in 2008 for a drink when I visited LA - it was gorgeous. I think Buick should let you keep the car...can't they think of more things you could attend and write about? Surely there are Arts Festivals, Food Festivals, movie openings....
Posted by: Judy Brodhead | April 26, 2010 at 07:29 PM
You are my hero, Danny Miller. You've done a fantastic job covering this event, and I knew you would because you are part of what keeps the vivid history of Hollywood alive for so many of us.
By the by, I also loved Cleopatra when I was a little girl, and I don't think it was only because of her heaving breasts.
The little man looks comfortable in his dad's new ride. More than that, he looks healthy and happy. He's my hero, too. :-)
Posted by: Jane | April 26, 2010 at 09:49 PM
Didn't Eddie Fisher leave Debbie Reynolds to rush to Liz's side when she had the tracheotomy. Clearly, he was out of his league there. But I did like his rendition of "Oh, My Papa".
Oh yes, my favorite little boy looks absolutely thrilled with the Buick. So does Charlie.
Posted by: Cynthia Reich | April 26, 2010 at 10:27 PM
What a joy to read these posts. They certainly picked the right man for the job!
Posted by: Shari | April 27, 2010 at 05:43 AM
Such a fun post Danny! I read once that Richard Burton disparagingly referred to Elizabeth Taylor as "Miss Tits" before he met her. Ah, little did he know...
Posted by: Wendy Oborne | April 27, 2010 at 06:37 AM
I am actually sad this film fest has come to an end - because I will miss your coverage! You are truly the historian extraordinaire...with passion thrown in for good measure.
I hope TCM has been paying attention to your blog. They could really benefit from a partnership with you, as we have.
It has been an absolute treat to work with you, Danny, and I will find every reason to do it again in the future!
Thanks for doing Buick proud. Much appreciated.
Posted by: Connie Burke | April 27, 2010 at 07:00 AM
I'd planned on making a lengthy comment about how fantastic your film festival adventure was but then I saw that RIDICULOUSLY CUTE Charlie photo and can only focus on that. Look at him! Happy, happy birthday!
Posted by: Sarah | April 27, 2010 at 07:02 AM
LOve this film festival ending. Good to see both Eli Wallach and read about Louise Rainer. Eli Wallach went to my high school in Brooklyn. Good to see both of them up and about. Then there is that lovely photo of Charlie finally in your Buick. I must remember to pick it out as my next rental car when I visit Florida this summer.
Posted by: Judy | April 27, 2010 at 08:07 AM
What a privilege to see Luise Rainer--I'm in awe...
and I love the pic of cute, cute little Charlie!
Posted by: sue g | April 27, 2010 at 09:41 AM
Really, does TCM know about you? Because, spit, spit, spit, one day Robert Osborne may need to retire, or at least take a day off, and I can't think of a better alternative host than you.
Posted by: DebbieW | April 27, 2010 at 11:02 AM
Dear Danny,
Buick couldn't have found a better spokesman for the film festival (and the car) than you. The cheapskates should have GIVEN the car to you. I have thoroughly enjoyed every bit of your account of the movie marathon, the stars, and the gossip. And, thanks for the happy ending: a great pic of our beautiful Charlie, being chauffeured around town, and smiling from ear to ear.
Posted by: Gordon | April 27, 2010 at 03:20 PM
What a fascinating account of the making of "Cleopatra"! Now I want to see it, if only to spot the problems with continuity.
Thanks for posting the sweet picture of Charlie. I miss him already! Happy birthday to my favorite one-year-old.
Posted by: Julie R. | April 27, 2010 at 07:52 PM