I don't know where to begin...
I own over 350 movies. I have seen well over 1000 films in my short life. I have laughed, loved, clapped, cheered, and cried to all of these movies. I have lost the number of times I have re-watched a movie, and frankly, I don't want to know what that number could be. I will tell you that in the 29 years, and 1000s of movies, I have lost count to the number of tears I have shed to the watching of films. I don't know how many times movies has stomped on my heart and broken it. However, I can say that with every movie that has torn my hear inside out, or made the tears run dry, it happens once in the first viewing and doesn't bring that same reaction ever again. No movie has ever made me cry with each and every viewing of a film... except..... for one.....
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle.
This is the love and life of Vernon and Irene Castle. They were a dancing team that became an over night sensation in Paris. They met when Vernon Castle (Astaire) was trying to win the heart of a fellow actor. When he planned to meet her on the beach he ended up meeting Irene (Rogers) instead. They soon fall in love and get married and try to become a great dancing team with the show Vernon was with. However, they don't want a dancing team. Some other producers from Paris meet them backstage and tell them that they want to hire them for their show. However, when they get to Paris they find that the show got set back several week and are not going to be paid during that time. When it's discovered that they were hired not a dancing team but for Vernon's slapstick comedy bit he had been doing on tour for several years. Disappointed they go back to their hotel and try to figure out what to do. That's when they meet a great manager by the name of Maggie Sutton. She gets them an audition at Café de Paris. When they take the audition they become the talk of the town. They quickly skyrocket to fame! They decide that they are going to take a break and move to the country. Not long after they find that England has gone to war. Vernon, being from England, is having a very hard time not serving his country. It's not long after, against the wishes of Irene, he signs up to be part of the Royal Flying Corps.
This is my second favorite movie that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers have done together. It's also the one that I have seen the least. This is the only movie in history that I cry to during each and ever viewing of the movie. It's not even just a few tears and it's done. It's a full on sobbing event. The first time that I watched the movie I balled my eyes out. I thought I was safe. Nope. The next several times I cried before the sad part at the end. Then I would cry like 10 minutes before the sad part. Then it was 20, then 30. I had to stop watching this movie cause I knew it was only going to get worse.
I was not prepared for this viewing at all. I didn't realize it was going to come on so fast. I just wasn't paying attention that it was going to happen. This movie is 93 minutes long. It took an hour to watch the first 20 minutes because I kept pausing it because I knew I wasn't ready. I kept trying to distract myself, or not think about the movie while it was playing. None of it worked. I finally had to tell myself to watch it and be done. I was good after that..... for 10 minutes......
At the 30 minute mark of the movie I was already crying. Just a little. At the hour mark I was balling. Then the last 30 minutes of the film was dread, mixed with grief, and a half used box of tissues. I was sobbing so hard that I was desperate to keep myself quiet. I was very worried that my neighbors were going to call the cops for a wellness check. If you have never had a movie emotionally destroy you you really wont' understand. No one ever should cry this hard at any movie. Yet, there I was emotionally destroyed sitting on the couch. The truly sick thing of this is.... I loved every second of it.
That's right I loved it! They story is so good and it's so well done, and the dancing is always amazing! Ginger Rogers does some of her best acting in this film. I know that I have a, somewhat, unhealthy relationship with my movies. I know that I single movie should not have this much power over me and my emotional state. Does any of this change these facts at all? No, not one single bit! I love the crying, and the sadness, and the emotion. I love that a movie, no matter how many times you watch it, is going to make you feel things that powerful. If that were to ever change I would be more heartbroken than that movie would have made me!
Will I ever be able to watch this movie without feeling like I am being torture? No, but I will always be mesmerized by the emotions that it will makes me feel.
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