Classic Movie Impression: The Bishop’s Wife

December 21, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 5 Comments

This weekend I watched The Bishop’s Wife (1947), which I have watched before but couldn’t remember the end of, so I watched it again.

The movie stars Cary Grant as an angel named Dudley who comes to earth to help Bishop Henry Brougham, (David Niven). Henry is so wrapped up in securing funding for a cathedral he begins to neglect his wife and daughter.

Dudley arrives at the Bishop’s house after the Bishop prays for God to help him with funding for the cathedral. Dudley tells him right up front that he’s an angel and he’s there to help him but introduces himself to others as Henry’s new assistant. He pretty much forces himself into Henry’s life and ends up charming the pants off all the women he meets and creating miracles for men, women, and children alike. At least one man, Henry’s retired professor friend (Monty Woolley), is very suspicious of him.

Henry isn’t really sure if he believes that Dudley is an angel, especially when the guy starts taking Henry’s wife, Julia, (Loretta Young) out on the town, having dinner with her, taking her skating, and buying her hats.

Still, Henry isn’t about to get distracted from his goal of building the cathedral and he ignores Dudley’s efforts to open his eyes to how much Julia needs him, plowing forward with fundraising instead.

L-R: Actors Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young sit in the back of a car in a still from the film, ‘The Bishop’s Wife,’ directed by Henry Koster, 1947. (Photo by RKO Pictures/Courtesy of Getty Images)

I think Cary is supposed to be charming in this movie but instead I find him a bit devious. Maybe the goal of the movie is to leave the viewer trying to figure out if he is sweet or evil.

The site, The Viewer’s Commentary, had a similar feeling about Cary’s role and explains it better than I can.

“But, while I’m not certain “perfect” is necessarily the right word for Dudley as a character, I’m still not entirely convinced that the movie wasn’t actually trying to play him up as being in his right to step in on Henry’s marriage, either. This is based on the film’s affectionate depiction of his chemistry with Julia, the amount of sympathy the film has for her, and the apparent distaste it has for the stiff Henry beyond his admirable loyalty and good intentions.”

“That ice skating thing I mentioned before wasn’t some kind of non sequitur,” the post continues. “There’s a painfully long scene in which Dudley and Julia and their cab driver have a whimsical impromptu ice skating session where he romances her in front of everyone by secretly granting her expert skill while Henry toils away elsewhere, callously inattentive to Julia’s wifely needs. It would be one thing if it was intended to teach Henry a lesson about what could potentially happen, but it actually kinda left me with a gross feeling, given how wonderful it’s all supposed to be while knowing about Dudley’s infatuation – not to mention his manipulation of the situation and nonchalant demeanor when confronted about it.”

This is the scene in question:

At one point even Henry begins to wonder if Dudley is from heaven or hell and if he truly is trying to steal his wife from him.

It’s what I was wondering too and by the end of the movie . . . well if you’ve never seen it you will have to watch it and let me know what you think.

The movie is based on a book by Robert Nathan whose other fantasy romance, Portrait of Jennie, would later overtake The Bishop’s Wife on a literary level and later became a 1948 David Selznick movie.

According to an article on TCM.com, producer Samuel Goldwyn decided to take on this movie right after winning an Oscar for The Best Year of Our Lives in 1946.

Cary was originally set to play the Bishop, but as he read the script he began to suggest edits and finally decided he didn’t have the right part. He should be playing Dudley.

Later on, though, after the final casting decisions were made, Grant wanted to switch back.

Then there was the fact that Goldwyn didn’t like the set.

Niven wrote in his future autobiography, “The day before shooting was to start, Goldwyn decided that the interiors of the Bishop’s house were not ecclesiastical enough and ordered several sets to be torn down, redesigned and rebuilt. For three weeks, while this was going on, production was halted, then, two days after the cameras finally had a chance to turn, Goldwyn decided that Seiter’s hand was a little too heavy on the tiller: he was removed, paid his full salary and after a week, Goldwyn hired Henry Koster to start again from scratch – with another two weeks of rehearsal. All this must have cost Goldwyn several hundred thousand dollars….”

Niven was already struggling through the production because his wife tragically died during filming. Her fatal head injury occurred during a party game of “sardines” at Tyrone Power’s house. Her name was Primmie and she fell down a flight of cellar stairs after thinking she was running into a closet.

Problems further continued to plague the film when Cary and Loretta Young couldn’t get along part of the time.

Despite all of the hardships, the movie was well-received and remains a favorite Christmas film of many classic movie buffs today.

It was nominated for five Oscars but did not win any.

I’m not sure I found this movie as heartwarming as some of the Christmas movies I’ve watched, probably because I found it so difficult to read Cary in this one and was quite suspicious of him. I did, however, still enjoy the movie overall.

A few pieces of trivia about the movie for you:

I recognized the young actor who played the young George Bailey from It’s A Wonderful Life — Bobby Anderson —— in a snowball throwing scene in this film. I looked up his name and found out that Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in It’s a Wonderful Life also played The Bishop and his wife’s daughter, Debby.

According to IMBd (I did not double check these to clarify they are true):

“At about 1:20, Henry and Julia are ready to make some Parish calls. Henry says to Julia, “We go first to the Trubshawes.” This is an example of David Niven’s attempt to mention the name of his friend (Michael Trubshawe) in every movie he made.”

“Over Cary Grant’s protests, a skating double wearing a mask with Grant’s features was used in the long shots of the complex skating routine. A skating double was also used for Loretta Young on all long shots.”

Market research showed that moviegoers avoided the film because they thought it was religious. So, Samuel Goldwyn decided to re-title it Cary and the Bishop’s Wife for some US markets, while adding a black text box with the question “Have you heard about CARY AND THE BISHOP’S WIFE?” on posters in markets where the film kept the original title. By adding Cary Grant’s first name to the title the film’s business increased by as much as 25 per cent.

“In Britain the film was selected for that year’s Royal Command Film Performance screening. Princess Margaret and her sister, the future Queen Elizabeth, both attended the screening of “The Bishop’s Wife” on November 25, 1947, at the Odeon Theatre in Leicester Square. According to David Niven, “The audience loved every second of it, and the Queen and Princess Margaret told me afterwards and at great length how much they had enjoyed it.”

Have you ever seen The Bishop’s Wife? What did you think of it?

*This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Christmas Link Up for 2024. If you have a Christmas/holiday post you would like to share you can find the link HERE or at the top of the page here on my blog.

Comfy, Cozy Cinema: The Grand Budapest Hotel

November 14, 2024November 14, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 6 Comments

Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I have been watching movies from September through November for our Comfy, Cozy Cinema.

For this week Erin suggested Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), which I had never seen and wasn’t sure I wanted to until I watched the trailer and thought it looked like a fun ride. It was a fun ride but it was also so much more. It was mildly offensive to me in some places and heart wrenchingly endearing in others. Overall, it had me laughing and then a few minutes later I would feel a peculiar sadness because I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to feel sad or impressed with how Anderson can twist social commentary up into a neat, comical, satirical package that sends the mind spiraling off onto paths it did not originally plan to take when it pushed play.

The best way to explain this movie is bizarrely ridiculous, quirky, strange and fun while also being oddly delightful. It is not, however, “clean” in parts so if you don’t like movies with some nudity, crude references, or swear words, this is not the movie for you. It is not usually the movie for me either since I don’t watch a ton of rated R movies, but I do, on occasion, watch some rated R movies – so I am not a total puritan over here.

The movie is a story within a story. It is also full of so many famous actors it’s a bit overwhelming. Instead of saying who all is in this movie, one could really say, “who isn’t in this movie?”

Among the actors in the movie are Ralph Fiennes, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Tony Revolori, Tilda Swinton, Jason Swartzman, Owen Wilson, William Defoe, F. Murray Abraham, Saoirse Ronan, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray, and …many, many more

We begin with and author, portrayed by Tom Wilkinson as an adult, talking about his time at a hotel called The Grand Budapest Hotel and then we switch to a younger version of himself portrayed by Jude Law. Law is leaning on the front desk of The Grand Budapest Hotel, which has seen better days. There is an older gentleman in the lobby of the hotel and Law’s character learns that he is the owner of the hotel.

Eventually the two end up talking and we find out how the owner – a man named Zero Moustafa – came to own the hotel. So, we are being told a story by Law’s future self, who is being told a story by Zero’s future self. Zero as an older man is portrayed by F. Murray Abraham.

Zero tells of how he became a lobby boy under the tutelage of Monsieur Gustave H. (Fiennes), the hotel’s concierge, an eccentric man who liked to sleep with many of his guests.

One of those guests was a very wealthy Octogenarian (Swinton ) who ends up passing away. After she passes away, Gustave tells Zero (the younger zero is played by Tony Revolori) he must come with him to see the woman in her casket and say farewell to her. While at the mansion, Gustave finds out a will reading is going on and he has been bequeathed a very expensive painting called Boy With Apple.

The wealthy woman’s son (Adrien Brody) doesn’t want Gustave to have the painting and tells Gustave and Zero to leave the room. They do and Gustave takes Zero to see the painting. They are alone in the room so Zero suggests they steal the painting. They do and take off back to the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Unfortunately, the police arrive the next day – not to retrieve the painting but instead to charge Gustave with the murder of the wealthy woman.

All sorts of craziness ensue after the arrest (as if things haven’t already been crazy) and the friendship between Zero and Gustave deepens as zero works to help Gustave clear his name.

There is a lot of humor in this movie but also a dark undercurrent of commentary about the state of the world throughout the years in relation to wars, greed, and power.

I don’t know how to explain a Wes Anderson film if you haven’t seen one, but it is essentially like watching people act with little emotion yet still conveying emotions that make you think.

I’ve only seen drama movies with Ralph Fiennes so seeing him in a more comedic role was different for me, but, like Erin, I can’t imagine anyone else pulling this role off. I mean, maybe if I thought hard enough about it I could, but at this point, I couldn’t.

The script for this film was written by Anderson and Hugo Guinness, and, according to Wikipedia (reliable source? I’m not sure.), “Anderson customarily employs a troupe of longtime collaborators—Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, and Jason Schwartzman have worked on one or more of his projects. Norton and Murray immediately signed when sent the script.”

For some, this movie might not seem like a comfy or cozy movie and I get that. It’s more quirky than cozy. Like Erin mentioned to be yesterday (when she showed me part of her post), though, the part of the movie that is cozy is the friendship between Gustave and Zero. Zero is sort of yanked into Gustave’s world and become his friend without even knowing what it is going on, but it is still a friendship. Zero looks up to Gustave both as an employer and a person.

I think the theme of the movie can be somewhat explained with one of the popular quotes: You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity.” As well as the extension of that, “There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity… He was one of them. What more is there to say?”

Have you ever seen this one? What did you think of it?

To read Erin’s impressions of it visit her blog.

Also, we will be watching Chocolat, or next movie, together via a watch party at 7 p.m. on Sunday, November 17 and YOU are invited. We will be pressing play together on the movie and chatting in our Discord server, which you can join here: https://discord.gg/TpWNxJ4Z

I really hope you will join us! If not, it will just be Erin and I chatting with each other and that’s not all bad either. Haha!

Sunday Bookends: Books with errors, the last of warm days, old movies, and a movie watch party

October 27, 2024October 29, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 16 Comments

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

The beginning of this week the weather was beautiful which led my dad to decide to take my kids for a hike along the old railroad tracks near his house two days in a row. I stayed back at my parents and helped my mom with cleaning the house.

The kids enjoyed walking the path where the train tracks used to be and my dad told them the history of where the station was and where the trains traveled. He also talked to Little Miss about where the old French mill used to be along the creek.

Zooma The Wonder Dog also loved the trip. She and Little Miss splashed in the creek and looked for fish, but didn’t see any.

The kids took some photos:

Two days later our little town was placed under a water boil advisory when there was a water main break. This made cooking and washing dishes a challenge, but we managed – not without complaint from me. The advisory was lifted on Friday, thankfully.

Last week I wrote a bit about our family’s cats over the years and barely scratched the surface of all the cats we’ve had over the years. I’ve decided I’m going to sit down one day this week and write about all the cats I can remember us having. Cats have such interesting personalities and each one seems to be different.

I also hope to write a blog post in the next month or so about the letters we have between my great-grea-grandfather and his brothers and mother that were written during the Civil War. They are very interesting.

What I/we’ve been Reading

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood and The Anne of Green Gables Devotional by Rachel Dodge

Murder Handcrafted by Isabella Alan, which I have been sharing the wrong title of for a couple of weeks. So this one was good but also annoying. First, I didn’t know it was the last book in the series until I read some reviews. Second, there were some super weird typo and consistency issues that really threw me out of the story. I was surprised to see this because the book was published by Random House Publishing.

I really shouldn’t have been surprised because I’ve seen some errors like this before in Amanda Flowers’ books and Isabella Alan and Amand Flowers are the same person. There are so many books out by Amanda that I feel like they are trying to push them out way too fast and therefore letting quality slide.

Now, as someone who is independently published and has a lot of errors in her book as well, I’m not trying to act superior. I’m just surprised because so many readers are so negative about independently published books because of their supposed lack of quality but I am seeing that lack across the board in publishing right now.

In some ways I think the production of books needs to slow down and focus on quality over quantity. There are just too many rushed books out there.

All of this said I did enjoy the story of the book. I was, however, really annoyed to find out this was the last book in the series and she did not wrap up the love story between the main character very well (I mean they were still together so I guess that’s good at least) and left the storylines of other characters hanging. I still enjoy the stories and her writing, though, so this doesn’t mean I won’t read further books by her. Just not for a while.

I need to take a break from mysteries for a bit so I am going to try either Miracle in a Season by Sarah Loudin Thomas or Finding Lady Enderly by Joanna Davidson Politano

I haven’t read either of these authors before.

I decided to put The Cat Who Brought Down the House by Lilian Jackson Braun aside for now since I learned it was one of the later books in the series. I read one or two of those and they weren’t as good, and I think it might have been because Lilian was quite old by then and others may have been writing them or she was, and they just weren’t as good.

The Husband is reading Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.

Little Miss is reading Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone. At night we are sometimes reading The Four Story Mistake. During the school days we are reading Johnny Tremaine.

The Boy is listening to an audiobook – Tales From The Gas Station Part Four.

What We watched/are Watching

Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown. This was my first time watching this one and I found it very interesting. It sent me down a rabbit hole of reading the real story of John Brown and Queen Victoria.

For Comfy, Cozy Cinema with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs, I watched Dial M for Murder. If you want to join in on our movie marathon posts for the rest of October and November you can follow the list here:

You don’t have to blog about them if you watch them but if you do write a blog post about your impression about the movies, we will be adding a link up at the end of our posts.

On Nov. 14 we will be watching Chocolat as a group watch. We will be pushing play together at the same time and then chatting about the movie in our Discord group (The Dames), which you can join for free now here: https://discord.com/invite/J7qQ36Uf

On my own I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (original with Danny Kaye) this weekend and really enjoyed it. I loved the music and Danny Kaye’s performance overall. I watched an episode of the first season of Only Murders In The Building as well last week. I am really enjoying it and it’s hard not to binge watch it but I’m trying to wait for my husband to be home to watch it with me.

What I’m Writing

I am getting much closer to the end of the third Gladwynn book.

I released the description this past week, if you are curious:

https://lisarhoweler.substack.com/p/gladwynn-returns-in-2025-book-recommendations

This week on the blog I shared:

Photos from Last Week

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Comfy, Cozy Cinema: Kiki’s Delivery Service and a Comfy, Cozy Giveaway

October 3, 2024October 3, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 5 Comments

Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are watching Comfy, Cozy movies this September and October and this week we watched Kiki’s Delivery Service, a Studio Ghibli animated movie.

We are also announcing a very fun and exciting giveaway for a comfy, cozy gift basket which you can enter to win at the giveaway link at the bottom of this post!

Kiki’s Delivery Service was released in 1989 in Japan by Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animator and filmmaker, and was based on a book called Witches Express Delivery Service.

The movie was animated by Studio Ghibli (which Miyazaki was a founder of) for Tokuma Shoten, Yamato Transport, and the Nippon Television Network.

According to information online, “The English dub was produced by Streamline Pictures for Japan Airlines international flights in 1989. Walt Disney Pictures produced an English dub in 1997, which became the first film under a deal between Tokuma and Disney to be released in English. It was released to home media in 1998.”

This was a very sweet movie with little action but a lot of heart.

First the background – Kiki is a witch and the tradition is that witches leave home at the age of 13 and travel away from their family for a year to learn what their skill in life is.

Kiki’s mother insists she take her old, reliable broomstick so Kiki flies off into the night with her all black cat JiJi and finds a small town to settle in. She ends up living with a baker and starts a delivery service – delivering packages with the use of her broom.

The bakery is owned by Osono and her husband, Fukuo, who are expecting a child.

Kiki also meets a friend – a boy named Tombo who wants to be her friend more than she wants to be his for most of the movie. Tombo likes to invent things – especially things with the potential to fly. At one point he invites Kiki to his aviation club but Kiki gets wrapped up in deliveries and gets caught in a rainstorm. This causes her to become very sick but Osono nurses her back to health and then pretends to have a delivery sent to Tombo so Kiki can see him and apologize.

During her first delivery, Kiki loses the toy she’s supposed to deliver and then she and her cat – who talks by the way – work to find a way to get it back to the child it belongs to.

Much of the movie is like this – just little stories or adventures that aren’t very exciting in some ways, but are calming and sweet.

It isn’t until more than halfway through the movie that more conflict arises because Kiki seems to be losing her powers, which she first notices when she can no longer understand JiJi.

Studio Ghibli is the design studio for many Japanese animated movies. Later many of these movies are dubbed into English and sometimes feature well-known American actors. In the one I watched (which was the Disney dubbed one from 1997) Kiki was voiced by Kiersten Dunst and the cat was voiced by Phil Hartman.

Kiki’s Delivery Service focuses on themes of independence and finding your place in this world.

It was the first Studio Ghibli film to find commercial success soon after being released – earning $31 million.

I wasn’t as swept up in this one as in previous Studio Ghibli films but as it continued it grew on me. It was a very quiet film and some of the Studio Ghibli films have a little more action so I wasn’t ready for it to be so toned down. Once I got into the story, though, I enjoyed it. The scenery and art, as in all Studio Ghibli films, was really beautiful.

I was rooting for Kiki – especially once she lost her powers and seemed confused about her next step.

While the makers of the movie and critics said the movie focuses on themes of maturity and independence, I also saw a strong theme of friendship, family, and trust.

Have you ever seen this one? What did you think?

Read Erin’s impressions of the movie here: https://crackercrumblife.com/2024/10/03/comfy-cozy-cinema-kikis-delivery-service/

Coming up next week will be the 1945 version of Blithe Spirit.

Feel free to link up your own impressions of the movies at our link-ups. The links close at the end of the week but feel free to leave your blog post on future link-ups, even if it is for another movie.

Also, Erin and I are announcing our Comfy, Cozy Gift Basket Giveaway today.

I’m just going to copy what Erin wrote to share here because I am lazy *wink*: “We have some fun little goodies to be sent off to one winner, with more surprises to be added as well! We want to celebrate the season and this is just one way we would like to do that this year.

You can enter anytime between today and October 15th, and the winner will be announced on our blogs on Thursday, October 17th. Please enter via Rafflecopter and it is only open to those 18 or older living in the US.” You can enter here: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/3614a4fa2/?

Comfy, Cozy Cinema: What We Did On Our Holiday

September 5, 2024September 11, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 5 Comments

Last year Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I watched comfy cozy movies during the fall and we are doing it again this year.

This week we watched What We Did On Our Holiday (2014).

I wasn’t sure what to expect of this one but chose it based on the trailer I saw of it. I thought it would be cozy and fun. I should have read the descriptions better since it is called a “black-comedy.” Oops.

So, it wasn’t exactly what I had hoped it would be, but it was a pretty okay movie, with humor mixed in with …. well…. some disturbing elements. Not like deep, deep dark disturbing – just a bit depressing disturbing. Yet also uplifting. It is hard to explain unless you see the movie. I’m handling this post with care because while I want to share one of the biggest plot twists in the movie, I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen it.

So let’s keep it simple for now – David Tennant (Doug) and Rosamund Pike’s (Abi) character are getting a divorce but they are also going to visit Doug’s family and don’t want them to know about the divorce. Doug and Abi live in England. Doug’s family is Scottish (David is actually Scottish too so he got to use his normal accent this time). They instruct their young children to keep it on the down-low that Mum and Dad are living in separate houses and have lawyers.

Well, we, of course, know that this is going to go off the rails pretty fast with these precocious, bright children the couple has.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, Doug’s brother, Gavin (Ben Miller), is planning a huge party for their father. He’s inviting all kinds of bigwigs and other family members that no one but him wants there. His wife is inching toward menopause or is just stressed from dealing with him, and is having a hard time controlling her emotions so she’s crying in the kitchen some nights.

Their son seems to be a bit awkward but also might be autistic and he wants to play the music he loves on his violin but his father wants him to study classical music for college.

Oh and Gavin is rich. Very rich. Because he is a financial something or other which sounded like he’s a conman to me.

The kids in this film are – as the British might say – brilliant. They are hilarious and bright and quick witted. Great actors for being so young.

There are two girls and a boy. The youngest (between 4 and 5) reminds me of a mix of my daughter and one of my nieces – mouthy and sharp in the best way.

The oldest daughter (about 10) records all her thoughts in a little journal to try to organize them and deal with the chaos happening around her.

The boy (around 7) lives in fantasy worlds in a way, but he’s also a kid so it’s okay for him to do that.

According to an article I read, the kids were essentially let loose and the adults worked around the things they would said. You can read more about how the kids and the cast grew a bond to make the movie seem more natural here: https://weminoredinfilm.com/2015/10/13/film-review-what-we-did-on-our-holiday-aka-british-kids-say-the-darndest-things/

There is a lot of serious subject matter in this movie but the humor that is woven throughout helps to alleviate that some.

I have to admit there were times I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at the scenes in this movie. I think there was a healthy mix of both, to the point the kids had to check if I was okay.

It isn’t much of a spoiler to say that Grandpa (Billy Connelly) is sick and one reason Doug and Abi don’t want anyone to know they are getting a divorce is that they don’t want to upset Gordie/Grandpa.

There is a huge plot twist in the middle of this one that had me gasping, saying, “oh no. No way,” crying, and then laughing.

I wouldn’t say this is a movie I will watch over and over again because it was tough in a lot of ways – especially since I have parents who are older and dealing with health issues themselves. I would probably watch it again with a family member (not alone like this time) while holding on to my Teddy bear and a box of tissues, though.

When I say a box of tissues, don’t jump to the conclusion that this movie doesn’t offer some hope. It does and that hope is for all of us with dysfunctional families who are trying to figure out what being a “normal” family is.

The kids really make this film – overshadowing Tennant and Pike for me. In fact, they overshadowed all the “big name” actors in the film. I found the adult actors’ performances to be pretty blah in many ways.

This movie sat with me a few days after I watched it and I found myself thinking about some of the scenes and tearing up again.

I definitely felt this film had to have been filmed in Scotland and a quick look online showed that it was actually filmed in – Detroit?!

Ha! Just kidding. It was filmed in Glasgow and the Scottish Highlands in 2013.

According to Wikipedia, “The beach scenes were filmed at Gairloch. The family home of Gavin McLeod is in Drymen near Loch Lomond. The ostriches farmed by Gordie’s friend Doreen are actually located at Blair Drummond Safari Park.

Have you ever seen this one before? What did you think?

Read Erin’s impressions on her blog here.

Up next for our Comfy, Cozy Cinema is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

If you want to watch this one with us we will be posting our impressions next week.

Here is our full list for the entire Comfy, Cozy Cinema feature this year:

You can read Erin’s impression of the movie here: https://crackercrumblife.com/2024/09/05/comfy-cozy-cinema-what-we-did-on-our-holiday/

Link up here if you’ve written about the movie this week.

Movie review/recommendation: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

July 29, 2024July 28, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 3 Comments

I read When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr late last year and was swept up in the story, written for middle schoolers but with a message for all ages. The book was heartbreakingly beautiful.

Last week I watched a German movie based on it and it was as breathtakingly beautiful as the book.

So much of the movie was exactly how I pictured it in the book.

Before I continue, I want to mention that the movie is in German so if you don’t speak German you will have to read the subtitles.

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is a semi-autobiographical book based on the facts of Kerr’s life. The main character of the book is Anna Kemper and the story is told her from her point of view.

Her father, like Judith’s, was a newspaper columnist from Berlin who spoke out against Hitler right before Hitler won a majority to take over in Germany. Because he spoke out against Hitler, Arthur Kemper is on the Nazi’s hit list. A member of the police who is not a Nazi warns him that he needs to get out of Germany before Hitler is elected.

Anna’s father escapes to Switzerland and the family joins him even before they know the results of the election because they are warned by their father through their Uncle Julius to do so.

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is the story of the family’s life in Switzerland and then Paris, France. There are other books after this book that tell of their move to London, where they eventually settled. I believe Judith eventually moved to New York City.

The movie begins in Berlin in 1933 and then shifts to Switzerland. I was thrilled to find out that the movie was actually shot on location in Switzerland and then in various places in Germany.

The views when they moved to the country were absolutely beautiful and I didn’t see how they couldn’t have actually been shot in Switzerland.

The movie filmed scenes in
Berlin, Germany
Prague, Czech Republic
Bodensee, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Soglio, Switzerland
And Munich, Baveria, Germany’

All of the actors are outstanding in this, especially the little girl, Riva Krymalowski, who plays Anna. Her expressions and line delivery are subtly powerful.

The woman who played the mother – was also outstanding in my opinion.

This is a movie that could have been extremely dark, but because the book keeps a lighthearted tone (as light as you can when writing about Nazis chasing people down for their faith or political beliefs) the movie keeps a similar lighthearted tone mixed in with somber themes.

When the children move to Switzerland they have to learn a new language and new customs. They also deal with antisemitism, which becomes more apparent when non-religious Germans come for vacation at the hotel they are staying at but the Germans would not speak to them or let their children play with them because they are Jews who left Germany.

In the book, the children who usually play with Anna and her brother Max don’t play with Anna and Max while the other German children are there because the German children won’t play with them. This was cut out of the movie but in the book they all remain friends after the other German children leave and Anna’s Swedish friend apologizes for abandoning her.

I know everyone thinks Paris is beautiful but I was disappointed when the movie left the gorgeous scenery that Sweden provided. I’m not as thrilled with buildings – even ones in Paris.

What I did love is how free Anna’s mother and father felt in Paris and how they showed their love to each other — finally feeling like they weren’t being hunted down while there.

Like in the book, the children have to learn the languages of the countries they move to and Anna is better at this than her brother Max. She quickly learns and excels at French for example.

While she learns the languages, though, she still struggles with feeling like a refugee. Her father reminds her that Jews have always been refugees and they are no different. He encourages his children to always act respectfully and kind so that people who hear from the Nazis that Jews are awful, selfish people will not those lies aren’t true.

I found it interesting to read that Kerr held her German citizenship until 1941 and then was considered to be “stateless” or not a citizen of anywhere from 1941 to 1947. In 1947 until she died she was a citizen of Britain, where she eventually earned an OBE.

One thing that the movie brought home for me more than the book was the mother’s character, including how hard it was on her to leave Germany, as well as how strong she had to be for her family. I didn’t catch on to this as clearly when I read the book, but she was a musician who wrote operas so when she had to leave her piano behind in Berlin, it was like losing a part of herself.

In the movie there is a scene where they visit a rich family who left Berlin (and who they knew because Anna’s father once wrote a scathing review against the husband) and Anna’s mother is excited to see they have a piano. She has the chance to play it and it lifts her spirits immensely.

I felt like the movie developed her character even more.

The scene between the Kemper family and the richer family also demonstrated to me the huge disparity that developed between classes among the Jewish people during that time. The Kempers lost everything when they fled and were living in poverty. This man was somehow able to keep all of his wealth when they left Germany and ended up living in a wealthy area of Paris with plenty of food and clothes and other items for their children.

In both the book and the movie, Anna talks about how she’s read books where famous people all have difficult trials to overcome before they become famous. She comments to her brother, “Maybe that means I will be famous one day.”

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is part of a three-book series of semi-autobiographical children’s books that Kerr wrote. She also wrote and illustrated 57 books in her lifetime – including The Mog series – and they have sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit was translated into 20 languages.

In London, where she lived until she died in 2019 at the age of 95, Kerr finally found the home she’d been craving since her family left Germany in 1933.

Sunday Bookends: Broken down cars, ruined afternoons, sunny days coming, and lots of cozy mysteries

April 28, 2024April 28, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 20 Comments

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

I wrote about what’s been occurring yesterday in my Saturday Afternoon Chat post, which I’ve now added a link up to for anyone who shares weekly updates.

Right before I hit post on that post, everything I wrote about having a relaxing Saturday afternoon was blown to smithereens when my husband called to tell me he was parked along the road because smoke and flames had been pouring from his right front tire while he was on his way to work 45 minutes away. He had gotten about 20 minutes away when he called me. He had to call 911 and I came back to edit that this will most likely not be an easy fix, sadly. It looks like a major injury to the truck my daughter has named Methuselah after an alligator character on a kid’s radio drama that we listen to.

My dad and I drove up so The Husband could take a car and continue on to work and then Dad and I waited for the tow truck. It was a cold, rainy, and windy day and I was glad that we didn’t have to wait long. Sadly, though, my relaxing afternoon was gone.

At least I was able to see a pretty view while I waited. The building below is where my son goes to school.

I was able to salvage some of the day by going home and watching a movie with The Boy. He groaned when I made him watch The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth, but he started to like it after a half hour or so. I mean, he played a game on his phone through most of it so he sort of paid attention. He did, however, tell me this movie choice was a reason why I never get to pick movies for movie nights.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I’ve been reading a lot of cozy mysteries and have a lot on my upcoming reading lists.

Currently:

Murder Always Barks Twice by Jennifer Hawkins

The Deeds of the Deceitful by Ellery Adams and Tina Radcliffe

Listening to Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne with The Boy

Reading The Secret Garden with Little Miss

Just Finished:

The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Mystery at Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene

Soon/Eventually to be read:

The Women of Wyntons by Donna Mumma

The Real James Herriott: A Memoir of My Father by Jim Wight

Apple Cider Slaying by Julie Anne Lindsey

Death At A Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly

What We watched/are Watching

Last week The Boy and I watched Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings.

He and his sister also watched the first Harry Potter movie and I watched a little with them.

Last night, as I mentioned, we watched The King’s Speech.

I also watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small this past week.

I found a new vlogger who I really enjoy and have enjoyed her book recommendations:

What I’m Writing

Cassie is with my editor and I’ve started on book three in the Gladwynn Grant Mystery series. The title is Gladwynn Grant Shook the Family Tree and I am excited to tell you all about it more in the future.

What I’m Listening to

I am listening to Around the World in 80 Days. Music wise I’ve been listening to Ellie Holcomb lately.

Photos from Last Week

I don’t have a ton of photos from last week but here are a few:

Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

February Favorites: movie impression of Amelie

February 15, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 6 Comments

Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I had planned to write about our favorite movies this month and then she took a blogging break and it was a break that I realized I needed to because I’ve been spreading myself way too thin lately.

Erin has mentioned the movie Amelie a few times in the last year or so as being one of her favorite movies so this past weekend I suggested that I watch it since she was already watching it with her hubby and that we write about it today.

She, of course, readily agreed.

Amelie, for those not familiar, is a French film – so yes, I had to read subtitles because I am not fluent in French. It is about a young waitress who was raised by introverted parents who thought she was sick as a child and kept her inside most of her life. It was released in 2001 and the full name of the movie in France is The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain. Audrey Tautuo plays Amelie. It is directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet.

When she grows up she is very imaginative and begins to work behind the scenes to improve the lives of others. In the process, she might even improve her own. She begins to help others to combat her own loneliness.

This is a very quirky film with quirky camera angles and quirky writing and acting. Quirky is not a bad term in my book, in case you are wondering. I am a fan of quirky.

What is quirky about the film?

The writing, the camera angles, as I mentioned above and in how the narrator talks in present tense for part of the movie and then Amelie breaks the third wall to talk to us about her life in just one scene and then it is back to the narrator. I love when movies break “the rules” so to speak and breaking the third wall is one of those ways. If you don’t know what breaking the third wall means, it is when a character looks directly at the camera and speaks to the audience.

The movie features beautiful, vintage scenery throughout. The backgrounds are picturesque in an urban art style and the entire movie has a slight yellow tone like vintage film to give it a warm feeling. The main colors in the film (green, yellow, and red) are inspired by the paintings of the Brazilian artist Juarez Machado, according to IMDb.

Stories weave in and out of the main narrative of Amelie’s life, starting with her search to find the owner of a small box of mementos she finds in the wall in her bathroom and continuing when she works to return a book of photos from photo booths around the city so she can meet the man who collects the photos.

Each story is a life that Amelie touches and improves and each time she feels more alive and less isolated. Each character she interacts with is also strange and a bit eccentric, and the camera angles exaggerate these facts and the intricacies of Amelie’s imagination. She works to improve the lives of everyone around her, including her father who she encourages to travel the world by sending him photographs of his gnome in different locations around the world.

Eventually, helping others will inspire her to bring happiness to her own life.

There is only one person whose life she sort of messes with as revenge, but he deserves it. Trust me. And harassing him helps to improve the life of another person so it sort of evens out.

According to a couple of sources online, Jeunet said he originally wrote the role of Amélie for the English actress Emily Watson. Watson didn’t speak strong French, however, and then she started shooting Gosford Park instead. Jeunet then rewrote the screenplay for a French actress. The film was shot in Paris for the most part with some studio shots filmed in Germany.

Tautou was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actress for her role. She was 24 when the film was released.

Trivia on IMbD states that graffiti and trash had to be cleared from shots in Paris to keep the film’s fantastical feeling. This was sometimes a difficult task for staff.

Amelie has a 90 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a good thing if you don’t know. People love it, in other words. The movie was made into a musical on Broadway in 2015 and it was rereleased this year in theaters for Valentine’s Day. I have no idea if the musical was any good or not.

The movie is definitely fantastical – and a bit bizarre in places, to me, but not so bizarre that it’s creepy. More like whimsical bizarre. Not sure if that makes sense to some but it does in my brain.

One review I read of this on Rotten Tomatoes summed up some of my feelings about the movie: “I feel like it’s a beautiful love letter to the introverts out there with wonderfully magical imaginations who find it hard to connect to people in real life.”

This was a unique film that I don’t think I would have watched on my own, or discovered at all if it wasn’t for Erin’s suggestion. I will warn anyone offended by some sex and language, that this is a rated R movie. Neither is extreme but it still resulted in a R rating.

I know Erin will have a lot more to share about it in her post, which you can find here: https://crackercrumblife.com/2024/02/15/february-favorites-movie-thoughts-amelie/

Have you ever seen Amelie? What was your impression of it?

Remembering Blockbuster

February 13, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 11 Comments

The year was probably 1994 (I don’t know. I’m a bit old. I can’t remember.) when my brother took me to the Mecca of video rental stores – Blockbuster. It was actually amazing we had one near us since we grew up in a very tiny town in Pennsylvania. It was about half an hour from us, but not such a bad drive really. It was located in a strip mall that now has seen better days with most of the stores gone and the parking lot a pothole haven.

If I remember right, I wanted to find a romance and he was probably looking for an action movie or maybe a foreign film. He watched a few foreign films and made me watch them at times. They were pretty good but I wasn’t a fan of reading subtitles back then. I’m better with it now.

Back then we would never have imagined we’d one day be able to download or stream our movies right from our TV. I mean, we didn’t even have cable at our house because the cable company refused to come to us since we were “in the middle of nowhere.” We had four channels brought into our TV by an old-fashioned wire hanger-style antenna on the back porch that Dad had to shift sometimes to get a better signal.

Yes, I am that old. Okay, I’m really not, but we were that poor.

Walking into Blockbuster back then was a bit overwhelming for this sheltered country girl but I loved walking up the rows and looking at all the different movies.

I’m not definite about this but I think the first time I watched the Irish movie Into The West was from a Blockbuster rental. Did you ever see that movie? It’s about two Irish boys who travel with a horse across Ireland after their dad, who is grieving their mother, hits rock bottom and tells them they have to get rid of this horse they found. That’s a very short version of what the movie is about, of course, but it is very good.

I also think it might be where my brother rented The Princess Bride for us to watch for the first time.

The movies weren’t the only thing that was tempting at Blockbuster. They had candy, sodas, and stuffed animals. I’m sure I bought some candy but never the stuffed animals because my mom always said I had enough and my brother said I was too old for such things by then. Little did they know that even as an adult I was buying stuffed animals and still cuddle many of them to this day.

Blockbuster sold all its corporate-owned stores in 2014. It no longer grants franchises to anyone but at one time there were 50 privately-owned stores. As of today, there is only one official Blockbuster store left open in the United States and it is in Bend Oregon, and is a popular tourist attraction, selling more merchandise than video rentals.