... Starring Peter Lorre as Leo Bloom!

[tealin]

First order of business:

SKETCHBOOK
Page One - In which I vainly try Adrian again (this time with a ponytail again for thefordmustang, though it didn't help much) before giving up and drawing the folks at the café.
Page Two - More folks.
Page Three - A couple more cafe people, then an attempt to make a pretty version of the Foie Heureux scene. There are so many things wrong with that drawing... maybe when I get my print cartridges refilled I'll fix them. Remind me.

PEOPLE LOOKING LIKE OTHER PEOPLE II
I thought I'd take a break from failing to get anything done on my portfolio (what is taking so long?) and watch the DVD of The Producers (the recent one) that a friend lent me ... That was at 8:30. I finally finished the bleeding thing after 11. It's LONG! It probably wouldn't be quite as long if they didn't keep restating things. Other than that, it was good; that is how movie musicals should be made. It wasn't ashamed to be a musical. There were chorus numbers and choreography and people hamming it up, but with the added benefit of cinematography and lucious sets. Also, say what you like about his voice, but Nathan Lane has STAGE PRESENCE. Like crazy. He reminded me how much I like (and miss) watching stage actors. Even Matthew Broderick, who I generally detest in all ways (especially voice acting) was tolerable. More than tolerable, at times, because I kept being distracted by how much he could look like Peter Lorre. This may be just how he was playing the character, or because I'd seen Arsenic and Old Lace a few days ago, but ... man. He was like a younger, prettier Peter Lorre, a 'Hollywood' version if you will. Here's proof:

Really you don't quite get the full effect without seeing the performance move, but I couldn't find any good clips in my five-minute search of YouTube. I did, however, find this one of Mr Lorre. Speaking of Arsenic, Cary Grant's gerning looks oddly like a precursor to Rowan Atkinson's. Mr Atkinson took it to heights never attempted by Mr Grant, but the timing and the assorted gestures are oddly similar. Maybe I'm seeing things ... maybe we'll never know.
AND OMG CAPTAIN JACK. (I'll leave you to figure out which one I'm talking about.) Springtime for Hitler was already the best part of the movie and then – THEN – you've got a blond Capt Jack in an SS uniform prancing about the stage with chorus girls and Femme Fuhrer. THE HILARITY. Holy cow.

Comments

[bomburjo.livejournal.com]

I had the opportunity to see Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick live a couple of times in The Odd Couple last year. You're totally right about Lane's stage presence... he played Oscar, and was so, so amazing. He's a great performer.

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

I will assume you already have the 1968 Gene Wilder / Zero Mostel version because I flat out refuse to believe you would watch the recent one without having seen the original.

[jesskat.livejournal.com]

*raises hand meekly*

I did. Even though I actually own both.

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

*gives you praise*

[cambryn.livejournal.com]

I got to see them on Broadway, and they really had chemistry on the stage. Nathan Lane was just amazing- like you said, he has stage presence. And his comic timing is just great. :)

[poisonedwriter.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be the odd one out here and send you a great cheer for Arsenic and Old Lace. That film/play is absolutely incredible, and it's probably one of the best let's-just-take-a-play-and-film-it to ever come out of Hollywood. Cary Grant's comic timing is at his best (although I also recommend Bringing Up Baby and Mr. Blanding's Builds His Dream House), and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Atkinson took a lot of influence from Grant.

[ardys-the-ghoul.livejournal.com]

I also cheer for Arsenic and Old Lace. It's one of my favorite movies.

When I was a kid, one of my friends came over one day, we watched it, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon running up and down the stairs yelling, "CHARGE!!!"

[adalanne.livejournal.com]

"OMG CAPTAIN JACK" was my reaction exactly, just before I collapsed in a fit of fangirly giggles. That alone made the movie worth watching.

When I saw it on Broadway, the actor who plays the director's assistant/partner in the movie was Leo Bloom, and I couldn't help but be disappointed at how subdued Broderick's interpretation of the character was. ^_^

Thankees!

[thefordmustang.livejournal.com]

Hola!

Thanks for the long-haired Adrian! I think it worked out well! He is soooo cute! Now, THAT is how a computer programmer should look! I should take this drawing over to the our version of the Smoking Gnu next door to our office (Raptor Technologies aka The Bachelor Pad).

Thank you, again!

[thefordmustang.livejournal.com]

Oh, the Foie Heureux scene is nice, too! I just saw that. Your Moist is always very cutely drawn.

[floramir.livejournal.com]

I think you're right about having to see them move in order to appreciate the similarity. I think there's something similar about the rigidity of the shoulders when they move... then of course there's the similar build and facial expressions. Watching Peter Lorre in the 'Arsenic and Old Lace' clip, kept reminding me of Matthew Broderick in his (cruddy) version of 'The Music Man' (since I haven't seen the new version of 'The Producers'). I can't believe I never noticed before.

[azvolrien.livejournal.com]

I really like that little cafe person with his scarf up over his face. He looks so surreptitious.

[karwei.livejournal.com]

You think that version of The Producers was funny? Watch the original. It's even funnier. Especially the play in the original version.

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

I gotta say, I don't see how anyone who'd seen the original, with actors that were BORN to play those parts, would have any interest in wasting their time (and considerable money) by seeing an overblown musical version of it, let alone a movie version of the musical version - and if they did, have any patience with it, not see it for the weak, bland, PALE imitation it is in every respect. But that's just me...;)