CMBA profiles one member every month. This month's interview is with Samantha Ellis who blogs at Musings of a Classic Film Addict. Sammatha attends as many film classes as he can and hopes ond day have a degree.
What sparked your interest in classic film and was there anyone film that you remember being the one to change it all?
I guess you
could say that my interest really started in the third grade. My music teacher
showed us the “Make ‘Em Laugh” scene from Singin’ in the Rain and I had
that “Aha!” moment like, “Wait, these movies were actually good?” I also
watched Brigadoon and West Side Story in that class, both of
which are still near and dear to my heart, but I ultimately shelved that interest
until my middle and high school years, which were spent growing up in Palm
Springs, CA with my grandmother. She was never particularly a classic movie
fan, but she loves teaching the history of the town. It was where nearly all of
the classic movie stars lived and mingled, so it was hard for her not to
capture my interest when we would pass by a hotel and she’d say, “Oh, Ginger
Rogers got married there”, when we’d drive down streets named after stars, or
when we’d pass by Bob Hope’s gorgeous home, situated high on the top of a
mountain. It was like a castle, and all the stars she would tell me about were
kings and queens. Around that same time, I had a lot of health issues as well,
which led to me staying home from school often. She didn’t allow me to use the
internet on these days, but she would let me watch movies, so I started going
through her classic movie VHS tapes and consuming the films of all the stars
that she had told me about. The rest is history, and she still thinks I’m weird
for enjoying movies that are older than she is, even though she’s largely
responsible for it!
I understand you want to
become a film historian, that’s great. Do you want to focus on a particular
genre, decade, etc. or take a more overall approach?
I feel like my genre has
chosen itself, really. My main area of interest lies with Hollywood stars from
the 1930s through the 1960s, whether that’s an interest in their personal or
professional lives. I always find myself fascinated by what a star wore or ate
or accomplished, so naturally that’s what I gravitate towards: opening each of
their worlds for myself and for others to see and step into. I still consider
that a very broad area, especially when my own feelings about a star’s work
factor into my reviews of their movies, so I guess you could say that’s taking
an overall approach.
Is there a particular film
genre that you favor?
When I’m asked this
question, I usually use the blanket term of “Romance”, but it’s much deeper
than that. I love movies with an unlikely romantic pairing that still manages
to convince me why the two leads can and should make things work. For example,
take my favorite film of all time, Jewel Robbery with William Powell and
Kay Francis. These are two people from completely different worlds. The thief
starts out by literally trying to rob this woman, who becomes interested in him
just because she’s bored with her life. In an hour in eight minutes, their
chemistry on top of the film’s expertly written dialogue perfectly convinces us
that these two belong together. The same goes with the Astaire and Rogers
movies. In most of them, Ginger’s character loathes Fred’s at first. While some
of her distaste in these movies is due to harmless coincidences, Fred literally
costs Ginger her job in Follow the Fleet, right in the middle of the
Depression. It should be tragic, but somehow it’s not, and it’s still so
satisfying when they work out their differences and find their way to each
other by the end of the picture. To me, that’s nothing short of movie magic.
Would you tell what some of your
favorite films are and a few films considered classic that you absolutely hate?
Asking me to choose my
favorites is next to impossible, but I’ll give it a shot! Aside from the films
I’ve already mentioned, I couldn’t begin a list of favorite films without
including my favorite film from my favorite actor, Tyrone Power: Love is
News. I’m also incredibly fond of Cover Girl, My Man Godfrey,
High Society, Come Live with Me, and Rebecca, to name a
few. It takes a lot for me to absolutely hate anything. In fact, I can’t really
recall any movies that I absolutely hate off the top of my head. I don’t enjoy
making generalizations based on a star, but I just cannot stand Bette Davis or
her films, so I avoid them like the plague on my blog and beyond (shameful, I
know!). As far as specific films go, I really disliked Sunset Blvd. at
first, which is saying a lot because Billy Wilder is probably my favorite
director. The whole relationship between Joe and Norma came off as incredibly
awkward to me, not to mention strange. I gave it another try at this year’s TCM
Classic Film Festival, and since that initial weirdness had faded, I enjoyed it
a lot more.
What do you hope your
followers visiting your blog leave with, and what do you find most rewarding
about blogging?
My real hope is that someone
who leaves my blog feels compelled to learn about a film or a star that I’ve
discussed. There are so many people and blogs who allowed me to discover some
of the movies and performers who are closest to my heart today, so if I end up
doing the same for someone else, I consider my work done. There are so many aspects
of blogging that I find rewarding, but being able to reflect on my work and my
own classic movie journey is something that I’ll always be grateful for. I find
it astounding when I look back and realize how much work my writing needed or
when I find a review of a new-to-me movie that’s since become one that I
treasure. More than that, it’s so incredible when I attend classic movie events
and get recognized for my work, especially by people I also admire in return. When
someone tells me that they’ve tried one of the recipes I’ve made or watched a
film because of my review, that’s the best feeling in the world.
What movies would you
recommend to someone who “hates” classic films?
My philosophy is that
there’s a classic film out there for everyone. If you think you hate classic
movies, but you like Michael Bay flicks with tons of explosions and action,
check out something like Captain Blood or The Longest Day. If you
have a kid who thinks black-and-white movies are the worst, have them try
something like The General or the color version of The Little
Princess. If you think binging on Law & Order is better than
watching something made over fifty years ago, movies like Witness for the
Prosecution, 12 Angry Men, and Anatomy of a Murder will be
your cup of tea. If we’re speaking in a more general sense, I would say that if
you don’t enjoy (or at least appreciate) Singin’ in the Rain or The
Apartment, classic movies might not be for you.
There are hundreds, if not
thousands, of film blogs these days. What makes your blog unique?
I feel like I dive deeper
than some other blogs might, really bringing out a magnifying glass and
examining what makes a particular film or star so great both in their own time
and today, adding cultural context whenever I can. When I review a movie, I’ll
tell my readers what it’s about (usually without spoilers), share some
interesting trivia, and share my thoughts and feelings about it, all in one
post. I also choose the subjects of my posts very carefully, making sure that
my review topic is a movie or a person who I feel doesn’t get enough buzz from
the rest of the classic film community. I’ll stand on my soapbox for stars like
Tyrone Power, Luise Rainer, and Mary Carlisle any day of the week, because I
know that few other blogs will do the same and because I know that their
stories need to be shared with the world in order to preserve their legacies. I
admit that I also have my specific decades that I focus on and try my best not
to deviate from, unlike other film blogs who I follow for classic film content
who soon become distracted by the next big thing and throw in modern movies and
people into the mix. I simply write about topics that I would want to read
about, and that’s classic movies and stars 100% of the time.
Do you have
interest in other pop culture arts?
Honestly, my
interest in classic film basically overtakes my interest in anything else, but
I do my best to keep up with current pop culture. I listen to the latest Top 40
music, and my sister and I have an ongoing competition to see who learns about
the latest entertainment headlines first. I also have a recent fascination with
death and true crime, which I’ve found a way to tie in with classic film in a
number of ways. For one thing, I always make a point to visit a different
cemetery whenever I’m in LA, and I’ve been working to mark the graves of
classic movie stars for over a year, which I honestly consider my proudest achievement
as a classic film fan and an aspiring film historian. Nothing preserves the
memory of a person in the entertainment industry than having a plaque that
immortalizes that person’s life. It gives fans a place to visit and appreciate
that person rather than just a patch of grass that people would pass by without
thinking.
