It Happened One Night/Oscar Night

The Oscars will be on TV tonight. There have only been three films that have won in what is called the Big Five Academy Award categories.  The Big Five are: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay.  The three films are: "It Happened One Night" (1934), "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).  (I know people like that last one but it gave me the creeps, but hey, that's just me!)  I love you Anthony Hopkins, please don't be mad with me!

Recently, the movie, "It Happened One Night" was shown on one of our PBS channels.  Richard had never seen it, so we watched it together.  Clark Gable was really good in that movie, and I think he  deserved his Oscar.  Funny thing, in one of the scenes, he is munching on a carrot and is such a wisecracking kind of a fellow that it really put me in mind of Bugs Bunny.  I looked it up and was surprised to see that Tex Avery, who created the great cartoon character WAS influenced by Clark Gable in "It Happened One Night"!  Now, this might not be earth shaking news to anyone, but it tickled me that it made me think of Bugs...and I was right!( Click here  and scroll down to the catchphrases.)  Hey, other people can make great intellectual connections, but me, I can recognize Bugs Bunny when I see him!

  What's up, Doc?!

I have the hitchhiking scene in the YouTube clip above and the actress, Claudette Colbert, did not want to do this scene showing so much leg but when she saw the actress who was going to stand in for her, she decided to do the scene herself!  "That's not my leg!" is what she was reported to have said.
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For the Oscars tonight, I really like Eddie Redmayne.  I have not seen him in the movie, "The Theory of Everything" but just from the trailers, you can see that it is an extraordinary portrayal.  I really liked him in a mini series on TV called "Pillars of the Earth".  I thought he was very good too in the movie, "My Week With Marilyn".  Richard just reminded me that we also saw him in "Birdsong", a World War I drama.  He puts me in mind of another British actor that I have written about before....David Niven.  Charming and talented, and they both seem to be cut from the same cloth...witty and appreciative of all that comes their way.

David Niven won an Oscar for the movie, "Separate Tables" in 1959.  On his way to the podium, he tripped and fell on the steps.  When he accepted his award, he said the only reason that he had fallen was because he was loaded...and then, he paused and the audience roared with laughter, thinking he was drunk! He later said that he was going to say that he was loaded down with good luck charms but when he got such a laugh, he decided to leave it at that,
But hey, this is America and there is no time for the Brits to have their little pauses.   (David Niven always did tell the funniest stories and he was very quick witted...some of his stories were true but I am sure that he embellished a great many of them to get the most laughs!)  How do I know so much about David Niven?  I have read his books!  "The Moon Is A Balloon" and "Bring On The Empty Horses", are really funny books.  I wish that someone would make a movie about David Niven.  When this happens, and I can just see it happening...you can say you read it here first!

   I found a clip on YouTube for you. One year, David Niven was presenting at the Oscars and a streaker went passed him while he was on stage.  So quick and funny, not too many could think of such a perfect response. 

Some British humour for you and no, spell check. I meant to spell it that way for the Brits, if you don't mind!  This was in front of one of the hotels along the seafront in Eastbourne...it looks like it says FREE BEER!  But it doesn't, it says Free Wi-Fi and Great beer!  So Funny. Well, I thought so anyway, but then, I don't get out much.