Monday 15 March 2010

I Ask the Audience: Somebody Name That Film For Me




This has been bugging me over a couple of centuries..  In the early 1950s I was taken to the Odeon by a nanny who I suspect should have sat me in front of Pinocchio but no doubt came to the correct conclusion that if she gave me enough ice cream I would keep quiet and watch the film of her choice. I think it starred Judy Garland but  I could be wrong and then it will be impossible to identify I suppose.



 I may have taken my afternoon nap through most of it because I have just the one image  in my memory and that is the closing scene which involved a handsome man in a white towelling robe.




  He walked off the terrace down a couple of steps and dropped it on the sand.



Then he waded slowly into a sunset sea



never to return was the impression I had at the time.  Or maybe he was just having a pre-prandial dip but somehow it felt more dramatic than that.  Was nanny sobbing? I can't rightly remember.

I shall be very embarrassed if I have imagined all this and terribly grateful if anybody knows what I am talking about.   If you did see a film something like this,  forgive me if my visual aids have put you off it for ever.  

8 comments:

  1. I've never seen Judy Garland in anything but the The Wizard of Oz, but that sounds like the end of A Star is Born. At least the time period is right for a terry cloth robe, and for you to have seen it as a kid.

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  2. Yes -this is a movie I just watched with Judy Garland and featured interiors on my blog -a star is born! Great film!

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  3. Well I never. Shows what an old film buff I turned out to be..

    AD, I am very surprised that at five I didn't spot the Barcelona chair that you mentioned in your post on the film. Clearly I did sleep through nearly all 3 hours of it. Fancy taking a small child to see that.

    You've all put me out of my misery. Thanks chaps!

    *But don't let the answer put anybody else off letting me know they know.*

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  4. Yes, as others have said before me, A Star Is Born (1954 version).
    Odd choice on Nanny's part, wouldn't you say?
    Anyhow that was James Mason wandering off into the dark dangerous
    waters. Superb actor. He lifted that film to a higher level, as though he knew precisely how the character felt about fame, and how unreliable it
    is.

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  5. Ah, thank you Mr. Worthington. James Mason- I sensed even then he was gorgeous. I am so glad to know who it was. I must watch it again and find out why he entered the sea.

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  6. Oh I wanted to be the first to tell you it was A STAR IS BORN and receive a gold star. But alas, I shall just have to be the last... (came to you via your comments on the Blows, whom I know/knew) - great blog

    Jamie

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  7. Jamie, you get a gold star for visiting me and your kind comment! Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

 
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