1950 was the first year when at age six I started going to the movies regularly to films that I picked that I wanted to see: Cinderella, Annie Get Your Gun, Treasure Island, and Cheaper By The Dozen. This was the era of the Saturday matinee when children were dropped off for several hours to view a double feature, movie short/documentary, newsreel, travelogue, and cartoon.
Also, this was the year with a lot of classics that I caught up with later to make favorites: All About Eve, Rashomon, Father of the Bride, Born Yesterday, and Harvey (who wouldn’t love a 6 foot invisible rabbit). Many of these were book to film and Broadway to Hollywood or at a later date went on to become remakes, plays and musicals. Many have quotable lines that you still hear today such as “Fasten Your Seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night”. Then there is my pick for today Sunset Boulevard. One of the few films where you know the ending at the beginning starring William Holden as Joe Gillis, an unsuccessful screenwriter and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded silent-film star who draws him into her fantasy world, where she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen.
Sunset Boulevard has become a world renowned musical with Glenn Close that might (fingers crossed) might be filmed this year or next. Is it too much to hope they might cast Hugh Jackman (who played Joe in the Australian production).
