B E B E R E

Was a little out of sorts yesterday. This was due in part to the weather, I think. Also, I did overindulge a bit the night before.

I think the TV goes on in my house maybe once every couple weeks if there's something good on PBS, and even then, it's for no more than a couple hours. Saturday night, though, was the movie motherlode, and I ended up watching all three in succession.

The first was The Apartment - possibly my favorite Billy Wilder film (if I had to choose. Don't force me to, though). The last time I saw this was in France years ago at a Billy Wilder festival. They called it La Garconniere, or the Bachelor Pad (maybe a more apt title). What struck me was how much I'd misremembered and mixed up with another favorite, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The second was another Wilder film I'd never heard of: One-Two-Three, starring James Cagney as a Coca-Cola company man in Germany. This one had us howling, it was so hysterical (kind of iffy when it's late and there are sleeping babies in the house). The humor and aesthetic were very Dr. Strangelove meets His Girl Friday in a stage play, if that makes any sense. Would love to see this one again.

The last was a sweet little film about some Russians whose submarine runs aground offshore from a small New England town. Pablo mentioned that Alan Arkin had a pretty good Russian accent (much better than John Cleese's in A Fish Called Wanda, anyway). I found it surprising that, what with all the stars involved (Eva Marie Saint, Carl Reiner, Brian Keith, to name a few) and all the academy award nominations that this garnered that this film isn't shown more often. Is the aesthetic too dated? Are the politics outmoded? Don't know (shrugs). Also could've sworn that the credits were a Saul Bass creation, but I guess not.



What a cute little promotion! Wonder how much was improvised.

Rarely if ever is there this much good stuff on the TV, even on PBS.