Screening a classic movie at a classic venue

Yesterday Jenn and I headed downtown to see a classic movie, Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest," the way it should be seen -- on the big screen -- at Knoxville's 1920s movie palace, the Tennessee Theatre.

I loved the fact that the Tennessee showed this 1959 film via 35mm print. I was a little confused that the projectionist had to keep realigning the film every time the reel needed changing. But I'll take it. Classic movies should always be seen in 35mm. Too often theaters are using digital prints these days, like when we went to see "To Kill A Mockingbird" in Maryville earlier in the year.

My friend Dean Harned ran into one of his former students in the lobby. He'd taken Dean's film studies class at Gibbs High and said the two movies he enjoyed most that Dean showed that semester were "Citizen Kane" and "Dr. No." I think Dean had inspired him to become a movie usher at the majestic Tennessee.

"North by Northwest" isn't my favorite Alfred Hitchcock film -- I like "Shadow of a Doubt," "Rope," "Dial M for Murder," "Vertigo" and "Rear Window" much better -- but I can think of a 1,000 worse ways to spend a rainy Sunday than with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint chasing after James Mason and Martin Landau.

Outside, we ran into my friend and fellow scribe Lola Alapo. Lola says that she finally got power restored to her house in the aftermath of last week's storms. She was ducking into the Regal Riviera to "see something that doesn't make me have to think."

We ducked into the Downtown Grill after the show. Shock of all shocks, they actually had the State Street Stout in stock. So, I enjoyed a sampler while downing a burger.

Classic movie at the classic venue. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Hitchcock, headaches, NASCAR and Nancy Drew

So it's Saturday night, and I'm finally starting to feel better.

Haven't done too much today. Slept mostly.

I'm alternating between NASCAR on TV and watching the old "Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries" on DVD. When I was a kid, I had a big crush on Pamela Sue Martin's Nancy Drew. I wanted to grow up and marry a girl just like her -- good looking, smart, feisty, full of vinegar.

Ahh, the sweet bliss of youth.

Last night, I watched the underrated Hitchcock classic "Rope" while I was sick. May be one of the best movies of the director's distinguished career. If you love Hitch and have never seen the film, give it a look.

I know one thing. It has one of the most ingenious trailers of any movie I've ever seen. A couple is sitting together on a park bench. They agree to meet later at a party. The woman watches the man walk away.

Cue Jimmy Stewart:

"That's the last she will see of him. And that's the last you will see of him..."

"Rope" is best known for Hitchcock's experimentation with shooting a film in "one take." That was, of course, impossible in 1948, so Hitch shot a series of extended takes, hiding the breaks by zooming in on an actor's clothing.

The plot is rather simple. Two friends (Farley Granger and John Dall) murder a school chum (Dick Hogan) and temporarily place him in a chest in their New York apartment's living room.

The duo then host a perverse dinner party -- with the food laid out on top of the chest! Dinner guests include the boys' school headmaster (Jimmy Stewart), an old girlfriend (Joan Chandler), another schoolmate (Douglas Dick) and the murdered boy's father (Cedric Hardwicke) and aunt (Constance Collier). Providing comic relief is the smarmy housekeeper (Edith Evanson).

Stewart, whose offbeat philosophy has inadvertently inspired the boys to commit the murder, eventually unravels the deed in this true classic of a picture. It made me forget all about my migraine.

Tonight, I may screen Hitch's 1943 classic (and a film he considered his favorite), "Shadow of a Doubt," starring the great Joseph Cotten and the beautiful Teresa Wright -- that is if I can take my eyes off Pamela Sue Martin long enough to find the DVD.

Schoolboy crushes die hard. Sigh.

(What's sad is Pamela Sue Martin is probably about 50 years old now. I've led a screwed up life, what can I say?)

You gotta wonder...

You gotta wonder about people sometimes.

Ate brunch at my favorite spot downtown today. Ordered the usual: mountain eggs, mixed fruit and brunch potatoes. Favorite server Lindsey waited on us. Found out she's working toward a doctorate in forensics at UT. She wants to go into law enforcement.

Headed over to McKay's with time to kill before "Vertigo" at the Tennessee Theatre. Found a couple of good pieces on Hemingway, a travel book on Vietnam, a memoir I'd read good reviews about, and a Lost Generation classic.

While strolling down the biography aisle, I noticed two roughnecks, out of place, hastily coming in my direction.

"I didn't know this many people read," one said, loudly, to the other.

I looked up, sporting what I'm sure was an angry look.

"Yeah, it's great. Some of these books don't even have pictures!"

During the movie, a couple of hours later, the guy two seats down from me actually laughed -- loudly -- when the police officer falls to his death off a roof at the start of the film.

"I didn't know this was a comedy," said I to the person on my left.

"Me either. What a moron."

Still, it's difficult to ruin the screening of a Hitchcock classic in an old-time movie palace. I went home happy, still wondering, though, about the guy who laughed out of place.