Wall Sreet Journal – @Cinefille

Love Stories With Nora Ephron

I love this article where Nora Ephron picks her favorite rom-coms.

Hit List: Nora Ephron’s Love Stories
By Lauren Mechling

Manhattan
Woody Allen “was a pioneer of a more Freudian obstacle to love, which was the totally self-absorbed leading man’s character,” Ms. Ephron says of the 1979 film about a wrtier who dates a teenager and falls for his friends mistress. “What is miraculous about this movie is, you still love Woody.

Pride and Prejudice
Ms. Ephron says she was in “complete bliss” when she say Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of the classic, starring OScar noinee Keira Knightley. “It portrayed Elizabeth Bennet as a tomboy and I’ve never seen that done before,” she says. She also enjoyed the 1995 BBC version (available on DVD) starring Colin Firth.

Groundhog Day
“I remember when I saw the trailer, I thought ‘Oh, yeah right, how is this going to work?'” Ms. Ephron says of the 1993 Bill Murray comedy about a weatherman who falls in love while reliving the same day again and again. “And yet, it’s a miracle: Every time you see it, it moves one inch forward. You can’t believe it.”

The Lady Vanishes
“Most people think of it as a thriller, but the truth is, it’s a very classic romantic comedy that happens to have a thriller plot,” Ms. Ephron says of Alfred Hitchcok’s 1938 film about a couple searching for a woman who’s disappeared on a train.

What are your favorite romantic comedies? My all-time favorite is Bringing Up Baby and Annie Hall but I have a soft spot for Dirty Dancing.

History with Judi Dench

Judi Dench talks about her Oscar-winning actress on her favorite period films. An excerpt from the Wall Street Journal article is below:

High Noon (1952) – Directed by Fred Zinnemann
“I must have seen it four or five times,” Ms. Dench says of this classic Western. Though the film is often recognized for Gary Cooper’s star performance as the frontier marshal abandoned by his town. Ms. Dench also admires Grace Kelly’s turn as his young bride.

The Wicked Lady (1945) – Directed by Leslie Arliss
The film, set in 17th-century England, stars Michael Lockwood as a society woman who spends her nights as a highway robber. Ms. Dench saw it many times in the theater. “My parents would say, ‘Why does she keep going to this?‘ ”

Elizabeth (1998) – Directed by Shekhar Kapur
This is Ms. Dench’s favorite depiction of Elizabeth I. “That’s when my admiration for Cate Blanchett started. She’s a very remarkable actress,” she says. “And I believed it – I believe that Elizabeth was really like that as a young woman.”

A Man for All Seasons (1966) – Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Ms. Dench saw this first as a play but it “translated very beautifully into film,” she says. She was inspired by Paul Scofield’s performance as Sir Thomas More, condemned for refusing to endorse Henry VIII’s wish to divorce his wife.

Amadeus (1984) – Directed by Milos Forman
“I just adored the story,” Ms. Dench says of this revenge tale, which shows Mozart through the eyes of the embittered, envious lesser composer Antonio Salieri.