While it may not be obvious from recent posts, I have been enduring a rough patch in my health. From dizzy "It's probably Benign Positional Vertigo" and "I'm sure you have PCOS" to random fevers and being sent home from work puking, I've spent more time in bed in the last month than I think I did as a baby in a bassinet. Yes, I am old enough to have had a bassinet. And yes, this whole paragraph was a bad joke. Except for the bassinet part and being sick. In my infirmity I've had the opportunity to explore Turner Classic Movies with more abandon.
My brother frequently asks me why I like old movies. Partly for nostalgia, as I've said before. In part it is because I get along so much better with people who are older than myself and it gives me a popular common ground on which to converse. I think I mentioned that fact before. But with this last bout, unable to lift my head from the pillow and unwilling to move save for a mad dash to the toilet, I have discovered another set of benefits to old movies. Calm cinematography.
It was a special treat to be sick on a Sunday and skip church to watch Matinee at the Bijou with mom on PBS. TCM allows for that same kind of comfort during illness; which ranks with cinnamon toast, Vernors and jell-o, ice cream for sore throats. The treat this time is a stillness not present in modern cinematography. Boring is what my brother calls it. I call it peaceful and focused. When your head is spinning you don't want the choppy, roller coaster, slash and dash shots you get with say a Rob Zombie or George Romero movie. Nor do you want to watch the camera calisthenics of James Cameron's Titanic... for very obvious reasons. Even in the modern romantic comedy the camera is focused on the characters less than in the old movies.
I'd rather watch Myrna Loy and William Powell with his slap stick antics than the sliding split screen and wild screen changes of Ryan and Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle, or Ryan and Jackman in Kate and Leopold when I'm holding the garbage pail like a life preserver. Old movies let you have a chance to let the script sink in. You didn't have to try to keep up with the goof ball antics or the warp speed one-liners. When you're sick that is the distraction that you need. What you don't need are the bells and whistles of a game show that masquerades as a drama, dramedy, teen slasher movie, sci-fi adventure or something other than an excuse for the effects guys to blow something up.
Of course there are exceptions. I can't deal with the 3 Stooges when I don't feel good. And Lucille Ball with a headache? Well... I guess that's when I figure out where Dezi's acting and real life meet. I won't say that old movies were more thoughtful. I've seen a couple of real snoozers. But given the material available at the time, and here I am thinking cinematic interpretations of literary classics and pulp fiction, you can't beat an old movie when you feel like offering yourself as Ahab's whale bait. Not that ol' Moby would have kept me down.
Steadily parked in front of the TV for more than 48 hours you'll wake to a few gems. TCM ran a Julie Christie special. Before seeing some of these movies I'd only heard of her because Doctor Zhivago was Gramma Olive's favorite movie. I found a few that I liked. And a few that fit into the crazy shots category since they were 60's flicks. Petulia was a little hard to follow. Okay, the psychedelic cinematography instantly spun the room. But I did like the Go-Between. I saw a few things that I wouldn't know the name of. Sure I could look it up at TCMs homepage. But then I'd have to know what day I was watching and what time. Funny thing about stowing away in some one else's man cave: it's dark. And when you're that sick you can't really hit the buttons on the remote. So you are at the mercy of the movie gods... or Robert Osborn.
Vernors (a native MI favorite ginger ale), popsicles, cinnamon toast and old movies are a good way to try to forget about all the crap wreaking that special havoc on your internal systems. I can't really say which movies are the best. Everyone has a preferred genre. I happen to like the literary classics like Little Women, Jane Eyre, Sherlock Holmes and Pride an d Prejudice (with or without zombies) and the dance movies with Astaire and Kelley. I'm not so much a Garland fan but I like Mickey Rooney comedies, Powell and Loy, Tracy and Hepburn, and most of the psychological thrillers... but not when I'm sick. At some point in time I have to be able to figure out at least one mystery before the movie gumshoe does and that requires all of my faculties.
Though now that I think of it... maybe a 103degree temp will mess up my brain enough to give me that genius flash of inspiration that could only be induce in Holmes with a 7% solution. Ya know, that may have been something Lastrade should have taken for a spin. I really hate being sick. It is unproductive and emotionally draining to lie like a lump on a couch or a bed. But when you are sick there is always TCM for your sorrows. Just don't drown them in Duck Soup.
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