So much has been written about Judy Garland, and it is unfortunate many seem to focus on her failures rather than her success. When people talk about Judy Garland being famous, too many stories portray her as "the girl from THE WIZARD OF OZ who became an addict and died of an overdose". There is much more to this wonderful performer beyond her rich singing pipes and drug addiction than people give her credit for. Appearing in 41 films (34 of which were between 1930 and 1950), Garland had a strenuous acting career, the whole time running on little sleep due to her parallel career as a recording artist, involving cutting records, regularly performing on radio programs, and going across the country on concert tours.
There was a certain *spark* in Judy Garland that few performers today can hold a torch to. Here's why:
1) Acting ability
At a time when many actors simply followed a direction as told, there were many moments in Judy's career where Garland has these very "natural" method acting moments that sometimes get overlooked. Take for example this moment in THE WIZARD OF OZ while Garland sings Over the Rainbow. The dog playing Toto raises his little paw, probably unscripted, and instead of freezing like a deer in headlights, Garland simply keeps going with the song, grabbing Toto's paw and squeezing it.
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Another great moment is in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS. While their father plays the piano and the family eats their cake and ice cream, Margaret O'Brien grabs at Garland's cake. Notice how Garland very naturally moves her sister's hand, cuts off a bite of cake, feeds it to her, and then cuts off a bite for herself. Another great underplayed moment by this great actress.
via GIPHY
2) Storytelling
Whether it was discussing Marlene Dietrich's record of applause, losing an Academy Award win while in the hospital, or performing with a professional vomiter in her vaudeville days, no one could tell a story like Judy Garland. She refers to many nouns with the adjective phrase 'great, big', as in: "It was a great, big record" or "Three great, big men" or "We were in a great, big car". Her stories started coming about during her concert years while her band would change up the music, as heard on her live records from Carnegie Hall or the Cocoanut Grove, but can also be seen in her appearances on talk shows such as Johnny Carson and Jack Paar as well as her television series.
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3) Her Laugh
Judy had an infectious laugh, booming loud and high that is hardly heard in her films. The studio never allowed her characters to display the hearty laugh she possessed, and today it is usually only through outtakes and self appearances on talk shows and her own television show that one really gets to hear it. A classic audio outtake of her in "A Star is Born" is popular among fans, in which she lets loose during the recording of "Swanee".
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4) A Child Is Waiting
Judy Garland challenged her abilities as an actor taking on this 1960's film directed be John Cassavetes about a school for developmental disabled children, at a time when education of such children was still limited. Cassavetes was known for encouraging actors to underplay their parts, even improvise, and Garland is thrown into a group of highly ranked dramatic actors, such as Gena Rowlands and Burt Lancaster, and manages to hold her own in a role that is very subdued, when she could have done it much more dramatically. On top of this, many of the children in the film were portrayed by child actors diagnosed with disabilities such as Down syndrome and autism, and Garland blends in so well that at times one feels as though he or she is watching a documentary about the school and forgets it is Garland in a performance. Her end scene as she coaxes a frightened child out of a car into the school is most memorable.
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5) Get Happy
An iconic image of Garland-- her in this beautiful man's suit where the overcoat is hemmed to be a skirt and she wears pantyhose instead of pants. A costume that was designed for Garland in Easter Parade for a number called "Mister Monotony" which was cut for its risque material, MGM's costume department attempted to reuse it for this number in what would be Garland's last film for the studio. A sexy look from an actress that was once known for her 'girl next door' image, this music number from Summer Stock will live on as a classic moment in cinema history.
via GIPHY
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Saturday, March 4, 2017
The PORKY'S Problem -- NSFW
So here's a question: how can the simple altering of a film's aspect ratio change its rating from an "R" to what should be classified as an "X" (or an "NC-17" today)? Such is the case with the 1981 cinema classic PORKY'S.
But before discussing this coming of age gem, it is imperative the reader gets a quick "Widescreen 101" lesson. Making a film widescreen can be done many ways but here are the most common three.
The most common piece of 35mm film is a square format. Anamorphic widescreen is squeezing a wider image onto a piece of square film using a magic camera lens, like this:
and then stretching it back out onto the screen using a projection lens that un-distorts it, as seen below with this Sound of Music example:
This was the original engineering of Cinemascope and today is most common with films shot in the wider 2.39:1 aspect ratio.
Another way of doing this is to shoot the film onto a square image with hard mattes inside of the lens. This way, when the film is shot, it comes onto the film in its widescreen ratio with black at the top and bottom of the image.
When it is projected onto the screen, the projectionist focuses the image to make sure the black at the top and bottom of the image does not come onto the screen and the image appears widescreen, as seen here:
Then comes the story of open matte filming and our film PORKY'S. Open matte filming is shooting a film in a square aspect ratio and knowing as a cinematographer that the top and bottom portion of the frame is going to be cut off by the projectionist when it hits the screen as only what can fit onto the widescreen is going to make it onto the screen of the theater. For example, by looking at the CBS/FOX laserdisc, here is what the camera captured of this frame of the film in the opening sequence of PORKY'S:
\
The red lines on the following image signify where the film gate would have cut off information above and below the projection screen:
And from the DVD screenshot below, you can see what that final image would have looked like on the projection screen:
''
Open matte filming was common in the days of film, and has its pros when it came to home video release. Because most VHS (and a number of laserdisc) releases in the United States were fullscreen to fit the square shape of TVs at the time, this meant if a studio shot a film open matte, as was the case with films like PORKY'S the film did not have to be cropped from its widescreen ratio (commonly referred to as "pan and scan") for home video release. However, the cons were if there was unnecessary artifacts that appeared in the frame, such as a boom mike, they would appear in the open matte home video release.
And then there is the magical case that is PORKY'S. A 1981 raunchy teen sex comedy, now available on DVD from FOX Home Video, PORKY'S was filmed open matte in such a way that in several shots its projection in a movie theater would cut off the male genitalia from the film gate right at the pubic region, bordering it from being an R-rated and X-rated in a few instances. Today, a glimpse of man-meat in an R-rated film is not uncommon. Films like FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL have now freely displayed up to 10 seconds of penis on screen, and the MPAA will allow it depending on their mood that day. In 1981, though, the rules were a little stricter, and seeing more than a flash of male genitals on screen in a theater would mark the film with an X rating immediately. PORKY'S pushed the envelope by revealing more of what was considered acceptable for male nudity in an R-rated film, but followed the MPAA rule for many shots when it is shown in its intended aspect ratio, matting the top and bottom of the image. Compare these shots from, first, the FOX DVD and then the CBS/FOX laserdisc, keeping in mind that until the film was released on DVD, this is how people saw the film on home video:
Clearly, more has been revealed. While PORKY'S does contain some male nudity in the "Cherry Forever" scene, revealed both on the matted DVD and on the open matte VHS and laserdisc, pushing the boundaries of its time, if you really want to see more revealed, check out the out-of-print VHS and laserdiscs. As a side note, by looking at the nudity that's both on the matted and open matte home video releases, it appears that the character "Meat" was given a nickname he may not have deserved.....
But before discussing this coming of age gem, it is imperative the reader gets a quick "Widescreen 101" lesson. Making a film widescreen can be done many ways but here are the most common three.
The most common piece of 35mm film is a square format. Anamorphic widescreen is squeezing a wider image onto a piece of square film using a magic camera lens, like this:
and then stretching it back out onto the screen using a projection lens that un-distorts it, as seen below with this Sound of Music example:
This was the original engineering of Cinemascope and today is most common with films shot in the wider 2.39:1 aspect ratio.
Another way of doing this is to shoot the film onto a square image with hard mattes inside of the lens. This way, when the film is shot, it comes onto the film in its widescreen ratio with black at the top and bottom of the image.
When it is projected onto the screen, the projectionist focuses the image to make sure the black at the top and bottom of the image does not come onto the screen and the image appears widescreen, as seen here:
Then comes the story of open matte filming and our film PORKY'S. Open matte filming is shooting a film in a square aspect ratio and knowing as a cinematographer that the top and bottom portion of the frame is going to be cut off by the projectionist when it hits the screen as only what can fit onto the widescreen is going to make it onto the screen of the theater. For example, by looking at the CBS/FOX laserdisc, here is what the camera captured of this frame of the film in the opening sequence of PORKY'S:
\The red lines on the following image signify where the film gate would have cut off information above and below the projection screen:
And from the DVD screenshot below, you can see what that final image would have looked like on the projection screen:
''Open matte filming was common in the days of film, and has its pros when it came to home video release. Because most VHS (and a number of laserdisc) releases in the United States were fullscreen to fit the square shape of TVs at the time, this meant if a studio shot a film open matte, as was the case with films like PORKY'S the film did not have to be cropped from its widescreen ratio (commonly referred to as "pan and scan") for home video release. However, the cons were if there was unnecessary artifacts that appeared in the frame, such as a boom mike, they would appear in the open matte home video release.
And then there is the magical case that is PORKY'S. A 1981 raunchy teen sex comedy, now available on DVD from FOX Home Video, PORKY'S was filmed open matte in such a way that in several shots its projection in a movie theater would cut off the male genitalia from the film gate right at the pubic region, bordering it from being an R-rated and X-rated in a few instances. Today, a glimpse of man-meat in an R-rated film is not uncommon. Films like FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL have now freely displayed up to 10 seconds of penis on screen, and the MPAA will allow it depending on their mood that day. In 1981, though, the rules were a little stricter, and seeing more than a flash of male genitals on screen in a theater would mark the film with an X rating immediately. PORKY'S pushed the envelope by revealing more of what was considered acceptable for male nudity in an R-rated film, but followed the MPAA rule for many shots when it is shown in its intended aspect ratio, matting the top and bottom of the image. Compare these shots from, first, the FOX DVD and then the CBS/FOX laserdisc, keeping in mind that until the film was released on DVD, this is how people saw the film on home video:
Clearly, more has been revealed. While PORKY'S does contain some male nudity in the "Cherry Forever" scene, revealed both on the matted DVD and on the open matte VHS and laserdisc, pushing the boundaries of its time, if you really want to see more revealed, check out the out-of-print VHS and laserdiscs. As a side note, by looking at the nudity that's both on the matted and open matte home video releases, it appears that the character "Meat" was given a nickname he may not have deserved.....
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