10:24am Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Rebecca
My husband said to me the other day that all the way to work he had a line from Goldfinger repeating in his head: ‘But what will the club secretary say?’ ‘Oh nothing Mr. Bond, I own the club.’ He said if he could live in one film that would be it. Does everyone think like this?
I’d find it hard to choose. But it probably would have to be a classic. And something in Technicolor. I’d have orange rouge and glowing lipstick, my teeth would be brilliant white and my hair would have a glorious sheen to it.
What’s the appeal? Well, again I think it’s the fantasy and escape. It’s the next logical step to watching a film you like, imagining being in it. Maybe not even as the main character, just a walk-on part. But it’s the notion of being in that story-line, in that atmosphere with those people.
”The more I think about the concept the more ideas begin to form. Ryan’s Daughter is on my top ten list but I wouldn’t fancy living in it”
It’s not that I’d want to change the plot or outcome, that’s what’s so perfect. It all ends well anyway. Lovers unite, baddies get a slap, parents are forgiven, children are loved, the poor find wealth and the rich find morality.
It’s also to do with having the right thing to say and being a hero most the time: winning, defeating the baddie, learning your lesson and people not being bitter or vengeful.
So Roman Holiday is full of pleasant people, except the security men who want to take the princess back. On the Town is another one.
Part of it, I know, is the dressing up. Anything with shoulder pads and clunky platform shoes would do. I think Joan Crawford is probably queen of shoulder pads. Mildred Pierce would be acceptable (except that her daughter killed that chap).
The more I think about the concept the more ideas begin to form. Ryan’s Daughter is on my top ten list but I wouldn’t fancy living in it. There’s also North by Northwest (I wouldn’t mind a film with a long train journey) but then again there’s James Mason and his lot. So it’s not just to do with a good film.
And then what about books? A favourite book wouldn’t necessarily make a nice place to inhabit once turned into a film. So although The Horse Whisperer was hauntingly good, the film, well, it was a bit of an insult wasn’t it?
As for books which haven’t been touched by film-makers, maybe. But I think that merits a separate blog. And for me the criteria would be the same. But then I don’t read many colourful, happy-ending type books. In fact the last one I read which is still occupying a lot of space in my head is Birdsong. Yes, exactly.
So, living in a film has to have certain elements for me. These being: glamour, good characters, some action and well, a happy ending.
Apart from the gorgeous gowns and hairstyles of the glamorous 40’s and 50’s films, there are the adventure ones. I can only think of a couple where the woman has a dangerous and exciting job to carry out: The Getaway and ‘Where Eagles Dare They would do. Oh there’s also The Scarlett Pimpernel where the glamorous actress eventually joins her chap in the adventure. (That’s good, it combines both.)
So most the time I’d be a man. Braveheart or of course James Bond; there’s Sean Connery’s Robin and Marion too and getting more modern, (for me) Mission Impossible.
Then again there are those black and white films. The Lady Vanishes and the Thirty-Nine Steps. Maybe not. Nothing with baddies in it. No guns. No knives. No really dangerous people.
“I’d have to be allowed to live and repent. I’d need a forgiving world/plot”
Of course being the baddie is another thing altogether. That I could cope with (except that in films they are killed off as a rule).
So I’d be all right as The Godfather or Bonnie from Bonnie and Clyde and of course Rosa Klebb. I’d need some action and something to do, a mission, a challenge. But I’d have to be allowed to live and repent. I’d need a forgiving world/plot.
This is probably the result of too quiet a life and not getting out enough. Still, thoughts like this can entertain me for hours while I carry out more mundane chores. Cheap thrills indeed. And what’s wrong with that?
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