What is it about gigantic romantic epics that's so endlessly appealing? Is it their size, their bigger than life status? Is it the impossibly juicy drama to them? Maybe just a little bit of both - in a way, they represent in themselves everything Hollywood has always stood for: melodrama, immensity, romance and beautiful people tangled in passionate love triangles [or quartets?] that usually turn out tragically. Because, in all honesty, what's the point if they don't end tragically?
It's almost like a natural high to hear the loud and melodramatic movie theme (by Max Steiner, perhaps?) and seeing the very sign of a big budget:
What we'll see now are gorgeous lies, and we're gullibly (and willingly!) believing in them...
And so Vivien Leigh misses every chance with Clark Gable to an infatuation with Leslie Howard; Julie Christie loses Omar Shariff to a cold and unsympathetic revolution; and James Dean remains miserable in his millions as, despite of it all, Elizabeth Taylor chooses Rock Hudson over him...
I'll have to deal with the fact that, for better or for worse, they just don't make 'em as they used to...
1 comment:
No, they don't make em like they used to, but that's what make them classic. Seriously, I can appreciate my favourite oldies all the more because I know that the magic under which they were made, can never be bested or duplicated. And subsequently, this is the same reasoning behind my appreciation for modern cinema. While most of the time losing the innocent movie magic of the yesteryear, it makes up with some innovative use of technological advances. All in all, I lurve my movies!
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