Went and saw Casablanca last night with some friends as it was showing at the historic Alabama Theatre. I've never seen the movie before...

I've never seen a movie at the Alabama. I ought to go sometime.

 

You should go sometime, it's pretty fun. We went last night and there were maybe 200ish people there (I'm not a very good judge of crowd numbers, though), but I'm wondering if Friday night might be a more popular night to go. At something like that, I would rather there be a lot of people. I got kind of dressed up and wore a bow tie and navy blazer, but most people were there in shorts or jeans (to my chagrin). Perhaps this would be better when there is cooler weather as people might be more prone to dress up. But you should check out their website. Apparently they've had classic movies playing all summer; this week it's Gone with the Wind which I think I might like to go see. But over all, a pretty fun experience.

 

Ooooh, I see they're showing . I may try to go to that. Looks like a good date night with the missus.

If you're ever in Lexington, try the (aptly named and also historic) .

 

Casablanca is one of the greats. Great clothes, great acting, etc AND not one single waisted camera shot.

You can watch that movie over and over again.

I have a favorite "cocktail party question":

If you had to watch the same movie every day for the rest of your life, what movie would it be?

My answer: La Dolce Vita or maybe American Graffiti!

 

The film shows nonchalant elegance (though contrived in the film by experts) to a wonder to behold.

 

Vents n pleats were victims of material shortages caused by the war effort. Ya'll welcome!

 

Unvented, wide lapel, double breasted suits were very popular in that era. Mattdeckard, who posts here, recently bought a new-old stock suit from the 40s which fits this description.

My DB dinner jacket also does, but one would expect it to be unvented.

 

I have a few. The lapels do tend to be much larger on anything I have seen produced today in double breasted.

It's unvented

 

Notice the pacing of classics such as Casablanca -- especially at the beginning. A minute and a half tops for the credits and another three or four for setting the hook.

As opposed to today's films: Fred Snodgrass Presents:...

...

...

A Fred Snodgrass Production...

...
...
...

Of a Fred Snodgrass Film...

[scene: A wet street at night. A black car is driven at high speed. It skids to a stop.}

Fred Snodgrass...

[Man gets out of car, starts assembling gun that has more parts than the space shuttle. Clack! Shoont! Thunk!]

...Penelope Heffenreffer

[Man approaches another man, points gun.]

Man: Eat this, mamma-tamma!

[Man shoots second man seven hundred times, then takes shirt off for no apparent reason and gets back in car, drives off. Behind him, entire scene explodes.]

...
...

in "Lethal Basic Diehard"

and so on.

 

If you watch the character of Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid), you'll discover the answer to the dreaded problem of hat hair... he never puts on his hat until the very last scene in the film!

 

Le Samourai (1967)

I got this from NetFlix recently - one of those films I never got around too.

Alain Delon looks as if he stepped straight out of Brooks Bros. (After a pitstop at Rick's, maybe.)

All the French cops have a great narrow lapel look too.

Watching clothes in movies is very distracting.

 

As to the vent question...

I have read that Hollywood used to design the jackets ventless in order to not distract (or perhaps to not attract attention to the backside) the viewer. For example, I do not believe that Cary Grant's suit in N by NW has vents, although it is otherwise rather conservative.

 

...Watching clothes in movies is very distracting...

Episodes of the Avengers are also good. Forget Steed, the "villains" and other characters can often be seen wearing narrow-lapelled, natural-shoulder, 3-button suits with peg legs, and bum-freezer jackets. And other stuff too. Nice time machine, for viewers who are willing to watch the background characters rather than the stars.

 

Trip and Alan,

They were running Indiana Jones at the Alabama last year as well as Jaws. Seeing those in there was quite fun. Keep watching for some of the great 'guys' movies coming down the pipe there.

J.

 

Since Bogart is my favorite actor of all time, I thought I'd drop a note in. In many of his films, his suit jackets are ventless. And by many, I mean more than 10. His films are one of the reasons I began to really notice clothes--especially suits.

Off screen, he favored Lacoste polos and boat shoes (read that in two of his biographys).

Trip--sounds like the Alabama Theater shows an old film series much like the Tennessee Theater does here in Knoxville. Saw Rear Window, Grapes of Wrath and Treasure of the Sierra Madre there this summer.