Three Little Girls in Blue (1946)

Who's in it?: Vera-Ellen (Wonder Man, The Kid from Brooklyn, White Christmas) and a bunch of other people.

What's it about?:Three sisters leave their New England farm to try to snag rich husbands in turn-of-the-century Atlantic City.

How is it?: Exploring the Danny Kaye filmography this year has led to my wanting to also explore Vera-Ellen's career. I've always been amazed at her dancing in White Christmas and was super pleased to see her feet put to great use in Kaye's Wonder Man and The Kid from Brooklyn. I want more.

Kaye isn't in Three Little Girls in Blue, so it's all on Vera-Ellen and the women who play her sisters: June Haver and Vivian Blaine. They're great. Haver is the oldest sister, June, who comes up with the idea to use some inheritance money to pretend to be wealthy socialites and attract rich men. Unfortunately, the inheritance isn't as large as the women hoped, so only June can afford the pretense. The other two have to play her employees. Liz (Blaine) pretends to be June's social secretary while Myra (Vera-Ellen) plays a maid.

I don't have a lot of patience for gold-digging as a plot, but the sisters are sweet and charming, as are their prospective beaux. George Montgomery and Frank Latimore play a couple of bachelors who compete over June, which is another plot I never care for, because it makes it seem like the woman has no choice in the matter and is simply a prize to be won. But Three Little Girls adds more layer to that story than most films do by revealing that June does have a preference between her suitors. She just can't make her preference known because she's not sure how serious either man is. If she picks one and he turns out to be just talk, then she risks losing the other. This is explicit in the movie, so rather than being annoyed at June for encouraging the competition, I'm empathetic with her dilemma (even though I'm not crazy about the gold-digging scheme to begin with).

Things are complicated when Liz starts to fall for one of the guys, but Myra refreshingly becomes attracted to a bellhop. So even in this super mercenary plot there's a strong reminder that love and money are two different things (a point the film makes in other ways, too).

Outside the romantic politics, the songs are mostly really good (with a dull exception or two) and I was excited to learn that Frank Sinatra's "You Make Me Feel So Young" originated here. Most importantly, Vera-Ellen gets a solo dance number. It's a creepy one during "You Make Me Feel So Young" where she's dressed in a little girl outfit (think Shirley Temple with her miniskirt, frilled panties, and giant bonnet), so there's that, but it's still Vera-Ellen dancing up a storm, so there's that.

Rating: Three out of five finagling farm girls.

Dragonfly Ripple | Avengers: Endgame (2019)

An epic movie deserves an epic episode. For only the second time in Dragonfly Ripple history, the entire Dragonfly Ripple and Jetpack Tiger crew assemble to talk over Avengers: Endgame. Did everyone enjoy it? What were the favorite moments? Who cried the most? The answers are here along with SPOILERS galore!

Mystery Movie Night | Some Like It Hot (1959), Tommy Boy (1995), and Tropic Thunder (2008)

Erik, Dave, David, and I muse about Marilyn, man-children, and method acting.

00:02:05 - Review of Some Like It Hot (1959)
00:19:16 - Review of Tommy Boy (1995)39:08
00:39:18 - Review of Tropic Thunder (2008)
01:04:09 - Guessing the Connection

Filthy Horrors | Purple! Monster! (or, The Titular Goblin)

Darla, Jess, and I completely lose our credibility when we play Trivial Pursuit: Horror Movie Edition. Play along and see if you can answer the questions before we can. (You can.)

Dragonfly Ripple | Captain Marvel (2019)

Finally caught up and ready for Endgame, David and I converse about Carol Danvers and cats as well as the other Captain Marvel.

Hellbent for Letterbox | Dodge City (1939)

Pax and I visit Michael Curtiz' Dodge City with Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Bruce Cabot. But before that we also talk briefly about a couple of '70s Robert Redford movies (The Sting and The Hot Rock) and Vincent D'Onofrio's new Billy the Kid movie, The Kid starring Dane DeHaan, Ethan Hawke, and Chris Pratt.

 

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

Who's in it?: Diego Luna (Open Range, Rogue One), Gael García Bernal (Coco, Mozart in the Jungle), and Maribel Verdú (Pan's Labyrinth).

What's it about?: Two teenage bros (Luna and García Bernal) take a road trip with a grown-up woman (Verdú) and learn something about themselves.

How is it?: It's fascinating to contrast Y Tu Mamá También with Alfonso Cuarón's previous film, Great Expectations. Expectations is all about sensuality through what you can't see, but only imagine. That's a lot of what the story is actually about and it's certainly the approach that Cuarón takes to presenting it.

Mamá, on the other hand, leaves nothing to the imagination. The story is about sex, specifically as thought about and experienced by its male protagonists. Cuarón appropriately presents it with as much subtlety as teenaged boys approach sex: none at all.

Taking nothing away from Cuarón's thoughtfulness about his material (I like how there's no easy, clean wrap up; this is a messy tale) and his amazing skill in presenting it (the road trip through Mexico is beautiful), Mamá isn't for me. I hated spending time with Luna and García Bernal's characters and though my heart went out to Verdú's, this really isn't her story.

Rating: Two out of five worried women.

Mystery Movie Night | Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939), All the President's Men (1976), and Spotlight (2015)

Evan, Erik, Dave, David, and I gab about girl gumshoes, the government, and the Globe.

00:02:00 - Review of Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939)
00:16:57 - Review of All the President's Men (1976)
00:31:52 - Review of Spotlight (2015)
00:44:48 - Guessing the Connection

Fourth Chair Army Invasion | Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)

With the new Shazam! movie fresh in theaters, Evan, Pax, and I go back to 1941 to talk about the Big Red Cheese's first movie appearance. It's a deep dive into the classic movie serial as well as discussions of comics, the '70s TV show, and expectations for the new film.

Poplitiko Interview

My buddy Alex Ness runs a thoughtful pop culture blog called Poplitiko. He's currently publishing a series of interviews with various creative people and asked me to participate. We talked about my development as a writer, my habits, and my thoughts about my earliest work. It was fun to reflect on all of those things.

It's also a quick read, so go check it out and take a look at what else Alex has going on over there.

Hellbent for Letterbox | The Train Robbers (1973)

Pax and I talk about John Wayne, Ann-Margret, Ricardo Montalban, and how twist endings can save a movie. On the subject of train robbers, I also briefly review One More Train to Rob (1971) starring George Peppard and Diana Muldaur. And Pax recounts his hunt for the details around a Western-themed childhood mystery.