4/21/24
Newsletter #587
The Crack of Dawn
Most great directors ended their careers with crappy movies. My man, William Wyler, who had been on the longest streak of hit movies in film history – from Hell’s Heroes (1929) to Funny Girl (1968) – managed to make his worst film last, The Liberation of L. B. Jones (1970). John Ford’s last film, 7 Women (1966), is just awful. Alfred Hitchcock’s last film was The Family Plot (1976) and it’s a disaster. Stanley Kubrick’s last film is Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and it's terrible. The great director who didn’t do this was John Huston. Huston’s last film, The Dead (1987), is a fine, beautifully crafted film, and as good of an adaption of James Joyce as will probably ever be made. Considering that John Huston was in an oxygen tent while directing, and died soon after the film’s completion, he was in just the right frame of mind to direct a film called The Dead.
The Dead is a beautifully written story in James Joyce’s collection Dubliners, but when I read it, I certainly didn’t feel like it cried out to be a movie. The entire story takes place at a Christmas party in Dublin in 1904 given by a large Catholic family’s two elderly spinster aunts. There’s no more to it than that, yet it’s great. I found the end of both the story and the film to be profoundly moving. In any case, during the Christmas party the subject turns to the fact that the two women had always been in the church choir, but the Catholic church had recently banned women from the choir. They were now using exclusively young boys instead. One of the aunts comments, “No good will come of it.” I daresay, none did.
Youth is attractive and it always has been. Old is ugly. Being old and ugly I can say this. However, in my long life I have observed, over time, society’s fascination and obsession with youth keeps getting younger and younger. Yes, Chuck Berry was singing Sweet Little Sixteen and The Beatles sang, “Well, she was just 17, if you know what I mean.” But back then our idea of a young beautiful girl was Ann-Margret. Or Peggy Lipton from Mod Squad, as a great example.
To my eyes, both of these girls are clearly women, and that’s part of what I find so appealing — they’re not children. Both of these pretty girls look like they know more than I do.
Anyway, I love this subject – pretty girls. So, I put “pretty girls” into Google and I got back several compilations of, “The 10 Prettiest Girls in the world.” They all look like they are 15 years old, with big, beautiful eyes. It seems to me the perception of “youthful sexuality” keeps going down, and you’ll excuse me, but the fashion of shaved pussy is the result. Shaved pussy is pre-pubescent pussy. Personally, I was impressed with landing strips.
What I’m saying is, all sexes of every kind find youth attractive – that’s just how it is – so it’s then a consensus of where does sexuality begin? I just put in “prettiest girls in the world” and got this right away. Is this child sexy?
She’s certainly a pretty, big eyed little Russian girl, but no, not to me. She’s got at least 6-8 years of growing up to do. She’s a little kid. She’s in Russia, she could get kicked in the face by a cow or something. But seriously, what would we talk about?
This is a game society likes to play with itself. Where’s the line? That was the subject of Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby (1978), 50 years ago, and I wasn’t interested then, and I’m not now. Brooke Shields is pretty, but she’s not sexy, and never was. Even when she was half naked in Blue Lagoon (1980).
There is a 1949 British Technicolor version of Blue Lagoon with young Jean Simmons, whom I thought was beautiful. Jean Simmons was 20 years old when she made the movie. This is what Jean Simmons looked like at about 20-21.
Yikes! Now that’s a 20-year-old. I’ve never seen this 1949 version, but I’ll search for it.
The sun is struggling, but it’s coming out. I will venture forth.
I've never tried to personally communicate with anyone this way. However, Emmanuelle, you've liked so many of my newsletters, and said such nice things, I couldn't help but be curious. But I know nothing about you, other than you are French (where in France?), in your 40s, you mentioned, and seem to have good taste.
Perhaps I'm pursuing a line of inquiry I shouldn't, in which case I apologize.