Coming Soon: Fall Movies

While we are still in the last remnants of summer, the fall movie season is upon us, hopefully rescuing us from reality tv and into the theater. (Can the Housewives of Poughkeepsie be far behind?)

In the upcoming weeks and months I plan to post on cuisine in the cinema with Julie & Julia (and shamelessly plug a cover article!) along with the designs for It's Complicated, the new Nancy Meyers romantic comedy with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. As you recall, Meyers directed design rich films such as Somethings Gotta Give and The Holiday. I am interviewing Nancy and her design team next week and my article appears in the December issue of Traditional Home -- the Santa Barbara sets are beautiful and will not disappoint!

I will also cover the design duo of John Myhre and Gordon Sim on the highly anticipated Nine. Along with director Rob Marshall, they brought us the electric sets of Chicago and you will feel as if you are watching La Dolce Vita, 2009. The actress laden film (Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Dame Judith Densch, Marion Cotillard and Fergie!) will be out Thanksgiving. And yes, Daniel Day Lewis plays the starring role.

Nine and its all star cast

I will also report on Coco Before Chanel in September and the historical period designs for Amelia (as in Earhart with Richard Gere and Hilary Swank) and Sherlock Holmes with Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr.

Audrey Tatou as Coco Chanel

in the film Coco Before Chanel

Hilary Swank as the ill fated Amelia Earhart in Amelia

Photo Credits: Warner Brothers, Sony Classics, Weinstein Company, Fox Searchlight

Movie Art: Collecting Vintage Posters

While commercialism is often front and center in the design of a movie poster, the designs can also be works of art. Since the beginning of film, posters (also known as "one sheets") have been a primary marketing tool used to publicize a film and fill the seats. Vintage posters (along with stills and lobby cards) have become hot collector's items over the years and have been known to fetch anywhere from $500 to $20,000 or more at auction.

At a Christie's auction in London last November, a rare one of three Casablanca posters created for the American ad campaign drew $109,000 while Attack of the 50 ft. Woman sold for $23,900 and the Bond films such as From Russia with Love went for around $22,600. As with any collection, buy what you love and the older and more vintage, the better.

Whether classic or contemporary, the following have made many top lists for both design and popularity as a collectible:

With its iconic image of the little black dress and cigarette holder, the poster for Breakfast at Tiffany's is just as stylish today as it was in l961.

All About Eve (1950) depicts the film's wit and sardonic humor with this design...

Faye Dunaway's iconic image for the Chinatown (1974) poster became a classic...


as did the haunting face of Mia Farrow in Roman Polanski's 1968 horror Rosemary's Baby.

The design for The Graduate (1967) is one of the most instantly recognizable images in film....

while the simplicity and color of the design for Sullivan's Travels (1941) makes this a sought after poster.

Through film posters we can see traces of the styles of the times...

Orson Welles' The Lady From Shanghai was classic forties...


as was A Hard Day's Night in the sixties, Mahogany in the seventies and Moonstruck in the late eighties...

Experts recommend learning everything there is to know about the market and selecting a niche (for example, a genre such as film noir, etc.) and concentrating on that. Foreign posters tend to demand more (a German poster of Breakfast at Tiffany's went for $17,500). While vintage is certainly a hot area, consider how popular a recent release will be in the years to come. Posters can be found at auctions, ebay, and websites such as filmposters.com and emovieposter.com auctions.

Two of the best books on the subject is the Art of the Modern Movie Poster (Judith Salavetz, Chronicle, 2008) and A Century of Movie Posters: From Silent to Art House (Emily King, Barron's, 2003) Both are available on Amazon.

The Movie as Muse

Hollywood offers an untapped wealth of inspiration and it's no doubt the design world takes notice. I recently presented several interior designers with the question "What film(s) have influenced your designs?" and received a variety of insightful -- and witty -- answers that reflect something I have always known -- we all want to live in a movie set.

Known for her timeless classic designs, interior designer and President of Mark Hampton Inc. Alexa Hampton fittingly selected period films such as Gosford Park (2001) and Brideshead Revisited (2008).

Gosford Park

Brideshead Revisited

Charlotte Moss chose the 1958 musical Auntie Mame with Rosalind Russell (which also features some memorable costumes and witty banter with her bff Verna Charles)...

Charlotte also selected the 1956 classic Giant with Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson (who portray the Texas cattle family known as the Benedicts) and loved how the rooms--much like the characters -- changed over time. The film was shot on location in the tiny town of Marfa, Texas and the massive painting which hung in the Benedict's home can now be seen in San Antonio's Menger Hotel if you are ever in the area.

Nora Marra of Nora C. Marra Inc. in Chicago was inspired by the dressing table and bed linens of Manderlay in Rebecca (1940).....

Rebecca's Bedroom sketch (note the wonderfully patterned ceiling)

And finished set...

as well as the film Philadelphia Story (1940) with its "glorious interiors and french doors that open to terraces in every room." She also chose the sets from The Thin Man series "with its endless fabulous cocktail shakers and serving carts." The photo below with the Hollywood - codes - appropriate twin beds is from After the Thin Man (1936) and the fabric is very reminiscent of an eighties Alan Campbell design.

After the Thin Man and its wonderful use of symmetry

Philadelphia Story with James Stewart and Katherine Hepburn

and the chintz filled interiors and greek key border lined fireplace

Author, interior and home furnishings designer Celerie Kemble also chose Philadelphia Story as well as HBO's recent Grey Gardens with its wonderful replication of the famed Grey Gardens of East Hampton.

Grey Gardens House is an exact copy of the original

on Lily Pond Lane

The living room in better days

Ironically Philadelphia designer and Chelsea House antiques owner Shannon Eldredge did not choose Philadelphia Story, selecting a film I have not seen -- The Grass is Greener (1958) with Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons and Robert Mitchum.

Interior designer extraordinaire Jonathan Adler picked one of my favorites Pillow Talk (1959). He notes, "Doris Day plays an interior designer and her apartment couldn't be more chic. I particularly love her color scheme -- it's mostly grey and white but with pops of jewel tones. I often think about that palette when I design."

Pillow Talk and its Manhattan interiors

Rock Hudson and his gadget-laden bachelor pad

Adler also mentioned a film I had not thought of before -- the 1971 comedy A New Leaf with Elaine May and Walter Mathau. He loves the "deluxe suburban interiors" and "wants to live on Mathau's estate with its oriental rugs, chesterfield sofas and priceless antiquities mixed with Pop Art and mod lighting."

He also referenced another of my all-time favorite campy films -- X, Y and Zee (1972) with Michael Caine, Elizabeth Taylor and Susannah York (and not to be confused with another Taylor classic, The VIP's with Richard Burton). The film was shot in London, very swinging sixties and in Adler's words a "go-go Baronial Style that's uniquely English." Unfortunately, all I could find was this photo of La Liz and a glimpse of her decadent roman bar....it's so sixties.

Photo Credits: Margaret Herrick Library, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, BBC Films, HBO Films, USA Films, Warner Brothers and MGM.

Valentino: The Last Emporer

Whoever came up with the phrase "The Emperor has no clothes" certainly did not know Valentino.

Fashion designer Valentino Garavani (a.k.a. Valentino) is known for his legendary styles, combining the best of Paris couture with Italian fabrics and workmanship. He began his career in l959, launched a collection in 1962 which led to one of the largest haute couture and ready to wear empires in the world.

The feature length documentary Valentino: The Last Emperor has been out for some time and is making its way throughout the country. Rich in beauty, steeped in couture and ladened with pugs, the film offers a portrait of the man who has dressed everyone from Jackie Onassis to Gwyneth Paltrow. The style of the film has been compared to one of my favorite Italian flicks, La Dolce Vita (1960) and offers a glimpse into both his personal and business life and everything in between. Vanity Fair writer Matt Tyrnauer is the film's director.

For those of us who have not seen the film, producer Frederic Tcheng was very nice to share with me these images. Eventually Valentino will be out on DVD and will be a "must have" for any collection. Check the website for schedules and don't let this one get away....Bruno you can see any day.

The legendary designer with his models

His beloved Pugs travel everywhere

The opulent use of the color red (known as rosso Valentino) is a signature in a Valentino design

The film culminates with a retrospective/ extravaganza celebrating his 45th year in fashion at the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome. Marking the end of an era, the ceremony was certainly fitting for an Emperor.


Photo credits: Frederic Tcheung/Acolyte Films

Four Legged Stars

While there is no discounting the cinema's power to make a star, we often forget our four legged friends have enjoyed their time on the big screen as well. From Lassie and Flicka to Babe, Beethoven and Benji, we have laughed, cried and given the spike in spotted dog adoptions after 101 Dalmations, we have been influenced as well.

Here are a few of the famous and infamous feline, canine, equine and dare I say swines to grace the silver screen:

Lassie Come Home (1943) Pardon the pun but the beloved baby boomer television show was on the tail of the hit book and films. This particular version starred a young Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy McDowell and a canine actor named Pal as Lassie.

My Friend Flicka (1943) and Flicka (2006). The original starred yet again Roddy McDowell and quite the tearjerker. Watch at your own risk.

Old Yeller (1957) Yet another four hanky tearjerker film with fifties/sixties television icons Fess Parker and Chuck Connors.

The Cat From Outer Space (1978) Another animal film starring Roddy McDowell (!!!) with only a script that Hollywood could dream up.

Asta in the Thin Man series: Wire haired terrier made famous (think pre-Frasier) in the Thin Man detective series with Myrna Loy and William Powell. Shown below is The Shadow of the Thin Man (1941).

That Darn Cat (1965 and remake 1997) Hayley Mills in the original and Christina Ricci in the remake (somehow McDowell must have slept through the casting call) star in this Disney romp about bank robbers and a "mischievous cat." Isn't that a redundant term?

Any cat in a James Bond movie -- A white cat is always seen being stroked in the lap of a villian (seen below is SPECTRE's chief Blofeld) as he plots Bond's demise. The cat never has a name and looks pretty miserable.

Cat in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) The infamous scene where Audrey Hepburn dumps him out of the taxi and into the night's rain would draw all sorts of ASPCA complaints today. Thankfully she came to her senses.

101 Dalmations (1996) Was there ever a better contrast to Cruella de Vil? The childhood book comes to life on the screen not once (1961) but three times (also 2003 when they go to London), sparking in an interest in not only dalmation puppies but anything with a black and white design. Glenn Close as Cruella practically steals the show.

Benji (1974-2004) The poodle, schnauzer and cocker spaniel mix became a television and film sensation, no doubt spawning millions of namesakes across the country. The story lines were pretty similar to Lassie as he was always helping someone overcome something.

For the Love of Benji (1977)

Beethoven (1992-2008) The slobbering St. Bernard named after famed composer Ludwig Beethoven was the focus of six films. Can't blame Hollywood for cashing in on a good concept.

Babe (1998) is the l995 Australian film about a cute little pig with an identity crisis who wants to become a sheep dog. I defy you to order bacon again after seeing this film.

Legally Blonde One and Two (2003): Her pomeranian Bruiser (played by Mooney) was as much a fashion accessory as well as beloved pet.

and last but not least, Marly and Me (2008): I am sure it was a cute movie but no way was I sitting through a movie where the animal has to be put to sleep. Thankfully for the producers book lovers and audiences felt differently and the story was a huge hit.

Owen Wilson, Jennifer Anniston and one of 22 Marley the dogs

used in the film

Dogs and horses (National Velvet, International Velvet, Phar Lap, Seabiscuit and the list goes on and on) seem to fare better in Hollywood than cats who are almost always cast as ominous (The Black Cat), fearful and hissing or even X-rated (remember Felix the Cat?) Perhaps it's a conspiracy or their personalities...ever try to get a cat to pose?

Many thanks to friend and designer Nora Marra for this week's blog suggestion and sorry I never got Binky an agent as I could have been a great stage door mom.

Photo Credits: Fox 2000, Paramount Pictures, MGM, ABC, Walt Disney Pictures and 20th Century Fox, Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design (Harper Collins).