The Smiling Ghost: Movies about Writing

Here’s another one about a journalist (although she’s one of four leads in this story). Lucky Downing (Wayne Morris) is an out-of-work engineer who take a job pretending to be a wealthy woman’s fiancee for a month. The woman in question is Elinor Bentley Fairchild (Alexis Smith) who comes from an eccentric wealthy family and Lucky likes her instantly. What Lucky and his “valet” Clarence (Willie Best) aren’t aware of is that Elinor’s last three engagements ended in tragedy, each man dying or meeting a terrible fate in bizarre circumstances. The only living former fiancee, Paul Myon, asks a local reporter who has been following the strange events, Lil Barstow (Brenda Marshall), to warn the latest engaged man of the “smiling ghost” and that Elinor is cursed. Also, there’s a weird old man in the house who wants to add Clarence to his collection of shrunken heads. Do you have all that? Good. Let’s talk about writing and journalism.

Even though her first thought is of her newspaper, Lil does act like a decent person as well as a reporter. She warns Lucky about the fact that he’s being used as a “guinea pig” to lure out a killer, but still wants her story. When he decides to stay because of some fake tears from Elinor, Lucky becomes Lil’s girl Friday as she investigates the murders (and attempted murders). They make a deal that she will not print a word of what is going on until she had Elinor’s permission. Of course, Elinor doesn’t know they’ve made this agreement. Lil is also respectful of Paul Myron who is trapped in an iron lung and convinced that the ghost of fiancee #1 is behind everything. She’s logical and calm in the face of danger even as she starts to enjoy Lucky’s company. The only time she slips from her journalistic integrity is when Elinor declares she really wants to marry Lucky.

Spoilers!

Elinor insults Lil by calling her stories sappy and “hysterical”, yet allows Lil to come to the ceremony so she can finish her article (and rub it in Lil’s face that Elinor won Lucky). Lucky isn’t aware that Lil likes him as he’s too busy saving Clarence from the crazy man who wants his head. As the wedding begins, Lil excuses herself to a different room with a typewriter where the “smiling ghost” kidnaps her. Clarence accidentally find a secret passage the “ghost” has been using to get around the house and Lucky follows it to a tied up Lil. The “ghost” threatens them and Lil figures out that the killer is actually Paul Myron in a mask. Elinor had dumped him after his paralyzing car accident. When he healed (not paralyzed after all), he determined to both punish Elinor and make sure no other man could have her. And he would’ve gotten away with is to if it’s wasn’t for those meddling kids. Also, it turns out that the crazy man only wanted to use Clarence to make a model of his head, not actually kill him.

I assume Lil will remain a reporter after she and Lucky marry as, by the end of movie, he still doesn’t have a job.

In Caliente: Movies about Writing

Here’s another short blog about yet another 1930s film.

Larry (Pat O’Brien) is a magazine writer and editor who is taken to Mexico by his friend and publisher Harold (Edward Everett Horton) to escape a manipulative girlfriend named Clara (Glenda Farrell). Despite just helping Larry to escape a woman, Harold decides that a good distraction for Larry is famous dancer Rita (Dolores Del Rio). What Harold doesn’t know is that Larry wrote her a terrible review in his magazine which she memorized. Personally, I’d have been more insulted that he wrote such a scathing, hateful critique and didn’t bother to remember her face. She and her gambler manager plan to humiliate Larry for what he wrote about her. Shenanigans ensue.

This film includes several stereotypes of writers (and of Mexico, but that would be something for a different blog topic). Larry is an alcoholic who wants to have reckless fun between assignments. He waxes poetic when he sees a pretty face and thinks he’s more charming than he actually is. He uses his job as an excuse to avoid responsibility, stating exact word numbers like one of Hercules’s labors.

The Feminine Touch: Movies about Writing

One more Rosalind Russell film.

John Hathaway (Don Ameche) is a college professor with a realistic view of the world around him. He is writing a book about jealously in the human psyche. He hopes the book will make enough money that he and his wife Julie (Rosalind Russell) can leave the university town. This is especially true when the dean tries to force him to pass an athlete who refuses to put in any effort. John decides to give up his job and talk to publisher Elliot Morgan (Van Heflin) about his book.

John’s academic approach to relationships drives Julie nuts, wishing he would be jealous every once in a while. Still, she supports his writing, encouraging healthy habits around his obsession at the typewriter. She is also he biggest cheerleader, stating that someday Morgan’s office will be lined with copies of John’s books. John replies that he’s know plenty of books that never get published. The character is a realist, through and through.

Enter Nellie (Kay Francis), Morgan’s assistant and girlfriend who has excellent knowledge of the literary world. She starts by saying that they don’t often publish scholarly works (to which Julie jokes that her husband can’t help being smart), however Nellie expresses an interest in the book if he focuses only on martial jealousy. As Nellie convinces him to change the book, Morgan flirts shamelessly with Julie. Julie worries about Nellie spending so much time with John. Nellie is frustrated with Morgan ignoring her for Julie. And John is completely secure in his marriage, continuing to upset Julie. She even has a ridiculous dream in which her husband dressed in prison stripes punches every man who looks at her. Oh, 1940s shenanigans! Of course none of these highly intelligent people think to get counseling and have healthy relationships. Nope. The women start screaming and the men eventually swing fists. Sigh.

There are several good jokes about the book world. Morgan grows a goatee because “Shakespeare had a beard”. The group attends a party full of drunk writers, self-deprecating critics, and smarmy lawyers making light of what terrible people agents are. The process of rewrites and publishing are shown through silly one-liners. Yet the film also makes it seem rather simple to sell a book, even one with an academic topic - if it’s skewed the right way. Lastly, there is the idea of what principles you have to give up in order to be printed.

No Time for Comedy: Movies about Writing

What can I say? I like Rosalind Russell movies. Plus in this one, James Stewart plays a guy named Gaylord Esterbrook. Heh heh heh. No one is laughing? Fine. Here’s the movie. Spoilers ahead.

Gaylord has taken a break from small town reporting to write a comedy about life in New York City (a place he’s never been to until a group of producers bring him and his play there). While working on rewrites, Gaylord is mistaken for an usher by the leading lady Linda (Russell). In fact, no one believes he’s a writer at first based on his usual Jimmy Stewart looks. However, he has a refreshing view of tourism. For example, he wants to travel by subway during rush hour so he can “have the experience”.

Despite the rough writing of his third act, Linda convinces the cast and crew to give the play a chance. When it’s a hit, Linda and Gaylord marry. He continues to write comedies all starring her, which their director friend Morgan says have the same story every time. Linda declares how strange it is to pace the corridor “waiting for your husband to give birth to a play”. However, he falls into the stereotypical pattern of New York writers when he hits a block - drinks and takes trips out of New York.

At a party, the couple meets Amanda and Philo Swift. Philo asks what Gay does for a living and he says playwright, Philo responds, “Yes. Er, yes, I have a hobby, too. What I meant was, what do you do for a living?” The financier finds the job of “writer” rather juvenile, however his wife finds it fascinating. Gay declares that he doesn’t want to write anything else unless it has an important message, an idea given to him by bubble-headed Amamda. Linda states that if Gay and Amanda affair, Amanda should at least leave his writing style alone.

Gay writes a play about immortality, fascism, and general human drama which 1) has no part for Linda, 2) causes their friend/maid to hold it out in front of her between her thumb and forefinger, and 3) is unintentionally funny because it’s so badly written. Not wanting to hear Linda’s criticism or jokes, Gay leaves her for Amanda and Philo agrees to marry Linda since they become friends.

Amanda shows how she truly does not understand how a creative mind works when she can’t understand Gay’s opening night jitters. And the play is awful. No one has a single positive word to say between each act. Morgan says how he’d never feel bad for a playwright, but he can’t help pitying Gay. We as the audience should pity Morgan as Amanda tries to get her hooks into him at the end of the night. After it all, Linda tells him that 4 hits and 1 flop is not a bad record. They talk about how to turn the drama into satire about the rise of dictators. And he realizes that even if she’s not his muse, she’s better for him and his writing because she’s a constructive critic.

Design for Scandal: Movies about Writing

Oh 1940s shenanigans! As much as I love Rosalind Russell in comedies and Walter Pidgeon in general, this movie rubbed me the wrong way. Still, I watched it, so I’ll write a short blog.

Pidgeon plays Jeff Sherman, a reporter who agrees to dig up dirt on Judge Cornelia Porter (Russell) after she rules in favor of his bosses ex-wife in a divorce hearing. Sherman finds out that Porter has an interest in art and pretends to be a sculptor. He follows her on vacation with her sister, spoiled nephew, and associate Walter who is helping her edit a legal book she is having published. You know how the story goes from there. The pair fall in love under false pretenses. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy wins girl back. Still, Sherman does not deserve her. He so condescending and made up of playboy stereotypes that his dialogue is pretty much predictable.

Jeff is not much of a reporter. He does not seem to have much of a story nor does he actually plan out any thing realistic that would sell in a paper. He claims he’s going to trap her in a scandal and use a news article about said scandal to force her to overturn the alimony payments his boss is paying. See. Not a great plan. Cornelia is more the legitimate writer. Walter and she spend several moments throughout the movie checking chapters, fixing citations, and using a critical eye to make sure her book is polished. Maybe I should hire them as editors.

My Favorite Year: Movies about Writing

This film really isn’t about writing as much as it’s about being a writer. Loosely based upon a moment Mel Brooks life when he was a TV comedy writer in charge of keeping Errol Flynn in line.

Set in 1954, Benji Stone nee Steinburg (Mark Linn-Baker) is the freshman writer on the King Kaiser Comedy Cavalcade and determined to prove himself without anyone caring that he is young and Jewish. He’s written a sketch specifically for Alan Swann (Peter O’Tool), an aging adventure movie actor with a reputation for alcoholism and womanizing. Hilarity ensues as Benji has to babysit Swann to make sure that he shows up for his live TV appearance. And if Swann lets his bad behavior get in the way, Benji might lose his coveted job in a television studio. Furthermore, it is a story of how we can’t always live up to the legend or expectations that are set by the world around us. I think you should watch this movie yourself to find out more. It’s very underrated.

Although Benji is thrilled that Swann liked the skit he wrote, he is still a little unsure about being the youngest man in the writers’ room. If you ever watched the Dick van Dyke Show, the television writer’s room in this will look similar as many of the same people were the basis for both. There’s the hard-headed lead writer who throws a tantrum when something he came up with is rejected by the boss - until the boss is within earshot. There’s the solo woman, someone who has to be fairly thick-skinned and clever since she’ll be hit on by half of the building. Then there’s the oddball. This brain trust’s oddball comes in the form of a man who doesn’t like talking out loud and whispers everything to the female writer for translation. The movie show the pressure these four are under each week in order to produce something funny. Because, as the old quote goes, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”

The Year of Living Dangerously: Movies about Writing

Based on a novel of the same name, this movie takes place in the midst of Indonesia’s political and social upheaval in 1965. Yes, this is essentially a Cold War movie without the U.S. or the Soviets really being involved.

Guy (Mel Gibson back when we all still liked him) is a Australian reporter who has been dying for a chance to prove that he can handle tough and, shall we say, dangerous assignments. He immediately catches the attention of Billy Kwan, a Chinese-Australian photographer with dwarfism who is played by a white woman (that’s the only comment I will make about that because Linda Hunt really did do a good job- but really? There were no partially Asian people suited to the role? She still totally deserved an Oscar - Gah! This is such a hard quandary!). They team up as Billy sees something in Guy that he’s failed to find in the other journalists, a moral compass and passion for the work. The difference being that Billy has been stationed in Jakarta so long that he’s become close to the problems of famine and crime created by the corrupt government. Guy is much more interested in the stories he can share to make a difference and give him more clout as an foreign correspondent. Still, Billy likes Guy so much that he introduces him to Jilly, an English diplomat played by Sigourney Weaver and Billy’s favorite person. Guy and Jill fall in love in the midst of the turmoil and riots in the streets.

Billy acts as narrator for a majority of the film, typing out files on a rusty typewriter on everyone and the political system. Eventually, Guy disappoints Billy in that he wants to expose a story that could get him killed and potentially put Jill in a bad situation. The whole point of this is how Guy is more interested in getting the story than his own safety. As a writer, Guy has to decide what is worth losing and when it is time to give up on a story.

The Thing From Another World: Movies about Writing

You know The Thing - the cult classic John Carpenter film which is a must for all horror movie collectors? This is not that. But it did inspire that film. In turn, all of this was inspired by a short story by John W. Campbell Jr. from a science fiction pulp magazine.

Ned Scott (called Scotty) is a journalist invited to interview a team of scientist and military personal stationed at North Pole. Weirdly, the air force led by Captain Pat Hendry greatly outnumber the men there for the sake of science. Maybe I miscounted, but maybe the science team just didn’t have as many lines of dialogue, other than Dr. Carrington and his secretary Nikki. The other aspect of the film even more unbelievable than the alien life form determined to destroy the men and women is how thin their clothing is! No one should have survived in those clothes!

Scotty is overwhelmed when the team find a flying saucer trapped in the ice. They free it, only for the object to escape, living behind a large, human-like form in a giant ice cube. It really does kind of look like an ice cube at first, then looks longer when they thaw it out some. As this is a horror movie, I don’t want to give away very much since so many people have not seen it. Understand that is WAY different than the John Carpenter movie, but it has some good jumps. Also, the alien is played by the guy from Gunsmoke, so I just kept yelling at the screen, “Marshall Dillon! Marshall Dillon”.

Therefore, I’m just going to focus on Scotty. At first, he is angry that no one will let him radio the story of the UFO and creature back to his editor. Really? He can read his editor from the North Pole? That is a good radio. This leads into an argument about protection of the people by the government versus the first amendment. Second, everyone teases Scotty about how gruesome his news story will have to me and he confesses to being pretty desensitized. He does not use these words, but almost jokingly explains how he got to see a couple executed by electric chair (an event really did happen some 20 years earlier). Lastly, when the creatures start killing people and (spoiler/trauma alert) sled dogs, Scotty lets go of his argument to focus on the problem at hand. He is not so obsessed with the “un-gettable story” as he is with helping to solve the crisis. At the end of film, he gets to have the last words because, after it all is over, it’ll be his job to share the encounter and convince the world that what they saw was real.

Whelp . . .

So I’ve been sick. Like hospitalization, missing mass amounts of work, whiny, hungry, bored levels of sick. So I’m going to take a break from my Truman Capote theme and put up some blogs I already wrote for this year. We’ll get back to Capote a little later this year.

The Audrey Hepburn Story: Movies about Writing

Jennifer Love Hewitt and a very young Emmy Rossum play Hepburn at different stages of her life. The movie’s framing device is the filming of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Although the TV movie is based on Audrey Hepburn‘s memoir, it tries to make everything very obvious in what occurred in the creation of her career. The opening scene has her worried she’s going to mess up the part of Holly Golightly while Truman Capote is expressing to everybody that she’s already messing up and that Marilyn Monroe would’ve been a better fit. One of the other people on set points out that Audrey Hepburn is one of the nicest actors they worked with and Capote replies “I don’t write nice”. Therefore, Audrey Hepburn makes a bet with one of the other women on set that she will get a quarter if she can make Truman Capote smile. Michael J. Burg is playing Capote for the first time on the small screen in the Hollywood made-for-TV biopic. He plays the role as petulant, whiny, and pretty much how I image Capote was on set.

The rest of the movie goes into Audrey Hepburn‘s childhood and flashbacks with how she became an actress intermingling things that are happening on the set of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (as well as the way she’s annoyed by Capote‘s dislike of her). She thinks back to her strong relationship with her mother, how they were part of the resistance in World War II, her father’s abandonment of them, and how ballet led to Audrey being a chorus girl. Finally, being a chorus girl led to her starring in her first play Gigi. I like this part because it also features Colette, the author of Gigi, telling Audrey Hepburn how perfect she is for the part. She also mentions that Anita Loos (author of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) who is adapting Gigi is a “difficult woman”. That’s right, Collette, be catty. You earned it.

There is a lot about Hepburn’s own lack of self confidence about her looks as her film career and love life change. They portray fashion icon Givenchy as one of the people to make her feel beautiful. This is opposite of Capote, who makes all of the actors feel like they are doing something wrong. Audrey marches up to Capote at one point with the question about Golightly’s actual purpose as a call girl. He asks her what she thinks and she compares Holly to her her earlier self. Her answer makes his expression change slightly, but he tries not to react. Later, when an animal wrangler asks why Holly puts “cat” out into the rain, Audrey glances at Capote who raises his eyebrows at her with a challenge. She gives the satisfying answer about Holly and cat being the same and he says, “That’s right”. I don’t think this scene ever happened, but in reality, Audrey Hepburn did manage to make Truman Capote smile.

Tru: Movies about Writing

In 1992, a version of this “one man” play was aired on television. And I found this broken up on the internet with some awful audio. Still I’m grateful it was there.

Tru takes place later in Truman Capote’s life when he (as he describes it) is more famous for being famous than his writing. Robert Morse place Capote as someone both untouchable by criticism and self-flagellating. As the fictional Capote talks to the audience and various telephoning friends about his latest work “Answered Prayers” and his life.

He jumps back and forth between topics from his family being more open to him being a dancer versus a writer to his sexuality to researching In Cold Blood to who in the literary circle is NOT an alcoholic (Arthur Miller, by the way). He laughs to himself quite a bit and follows up the saddest stories with the wittiest retort and cleverest jokes.

It’s revealed as the play goes that Tru is talking to an audience at Christmastime as many of his friends are angry he’s written a story that gives away their great secrets in a fictional setting. He feels this story was one of his best and he simply tells his friends that he “forgives them”. He also states that something similar happened when he wrote his first story about his neighbors when he was eight years old.

I rather enjoyed his rambling. It felt like being in a famous writer’s mind. But I was disappointed that he had mention of his childhood with Harper Lee. Then again, maybe Lee requested this. Either way, according to this play, Truman Capote had great taste in music.

Love Actually: Movies about Writining

Unless you are five or living under a rock, you know the movie Love Actually. But just in case - it’s several relationship stories revolving around Christmas most of which aren’t the healthiest (you know it’s true). Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy writer Richard Curtis’s stuff a lot of the time (Vincent and the Doctor is one of the best historic episodes of Doctor Who ever written), but this was more fun than it was practical. The best romantic love story in it is the couple who work as body doubles for filming sex scenes.

But that’s not the story I’m focusing on in this short holiday blog. Colin Firth plays Jamie, a thriller author who finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him with his brother. Instead of sorting out the drama, he escapes to France for a writing retreat. Already healthy. We’re doing well. A Portuguese woman named Aurelia (Lucia Moniz) is hired to keep house for him while he works. Despite them not speaking each other’s language they fall in love and he proposes. Yes. He proposes to a woman who doesn’t understand him! I’m not sure how that works outside of arranged royal marriages of the 1100 to 1700s.

Anyway, she does take an interest in his book after half of the pages fly away into the local pond. This is because he writes on a typewriter and (as they both point out with annoyance) he doesn’t make copies. All I think of is the first book I tried to write on a floppy disk which got corrupted. It’s fine. I’ve since rewritten the book 10 times. I should really finish it one of these days.

The Holiday: Movies about Writing

I’ll keep this one short. The Holiday is a film by Nancy Meyers about two women who switch houses and lives for the holidays. Cameron Diaz’s character is Amanda, a trailer editor whose boyfriend cheated on her. Kate Winslet’s character Iris and her brother Graham (Jude Law) are a newspaper columnist and book editor respectively whose parents are also in the writing industry. Beloved unto me, Jack Black rounds out the cast as Miles, a film composer who befriends and potentially dates Iris. Amanda and Graham start dating too and discussing his work and family but . . . I like Iris’s plot better so let’s focus on that.

First, there is Iris’s toxic relationship with her ex, Jasper, played by he who does not smile, Rufus Sewell. Despite breaking up and him being engaged to someone else, they still work together and he relies on Iris to be his support and editor. He even sends her pages from his book while she’s on vacation TO GET AWAY FROM HIM. This is a douche writer who no-one should want to be like. That having been said, you know he’s probably a very successful author. The douches always are.

The positive relationship Iris finds (besides Miles) is also with a writer and it’s my favorite part of the movie. Eli Wallach plays Arthur who wrote screenplays during the golden age of Hollywood. He and Iris instantly bond and she finds out about his life and late wife, Marion, who he based all of his female heroes on. Arthur says Marion had gumption, something he want Iris work on so she can move on from Jasper. He recommends movie after movie to her featuring some of the best written leading ladies - Stanwyck, Russell, Bacall, etc. He tells her to be “the leading lady of her own life” which is a great line.

P.S. Why do Graham’s kids say they never have grown-up ladies visit them? What is Aunt Iris? A penguin?

A Christmas Memory: Movies about Writing (Copy)

Netflix. You need to learn to think for yourself. But no. You keep canceling some of your best shows in favor of spending money on Hallmark holiday ripoffs. Luckily, there’s still some class on streaming.

I found the 1997 version of A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote on Kanopy. Eric Lloyd (from the Santa Clause) plays young Capote in the form of Buddy who is excited for “fruitcake season” with his best friend/ spinster cousin Sook (Patty Duke). They send the cakes to everyone including F.D.R. For several years, Buddy has lived with the Southern cousins Sook, Callie, Seabone, and Jennie (Piper Laurie) (as well as a dog named Queenie and visits from a Cherokee housekeeper named Anna and a neighbor girl named Rachel - not Harper Lee, or is it, I’m not sure). Other than Sook, the cousins make snide comments make about his mother back in New York and his absentee father. Jennie worries that Buddy is not going up to be “a man” since he spends all of his time with Sook.

Despite the protests from the other three cousins, Jennie is determined to send Buddy away to military school. Still, Buddy and Sook go through their Christmas adventures of tree chopping, gift delivering, kite flying, and visiting bootleggers. In the end, Buddy is still sent away in hopes that the military school will give him a better education. It gives Sook opportunities to stand up to Jennie and both she and Buddy grow up a little. It’s kinda dark for a Christmas story.

I did also watch the 1966 version narrated by Capote himself which includes more of his fantastic descriptions, but depicts the Native bootlegger talks in broken English like a reject from a 1950s western. Buddy doesn’t go to military school on screen in that one either, just in an epilogue.

By the way, I know Truman Capote did go to military school, but I don’t know if the cousins sent him or his mother did. Either way, there is mention of Buddy’s future as a writer. He gives a notebook and pencil to Rachel so she can write down tall tales she tells about her family. And everyone talks about how they’ll miss hearing his “little stories”. And those little stories would someday be about them.

A Thanksgiving Visitor: Movies about Writing (Copy)

Although this is not about writing, it is based on Truman Capote’s happy childhood memories staying with his “spinster cousin”, a woman in her 60s named Miss Sook (Geraldine Page). Young Capote is called Buddy (Michael Kearney) in these childhood tales while adult Capote in all of his lispy glory narrates.

Buddy is being horribly bullied by a classmate named Odd Henderson (I’m not kidding, that his name). Miss Sook is the only person in the household who understands that academic Buddy does not know how to fight back against a bully like the other cousins want him to (yes, everyone else in the house keeps telling him to punch this kid back - oh, the good ole’ days). As a more progressive adult, Miss Sook then invites Odd Henderson to Thanksgiving dinner.

There are other childhood traumas such as one of the cousins trying to force Buddy to kill a turkey and jealousy over attentions of a pretty young female cousin. Hey, Truman Capote could have been curious about pretty girls as a child.

SPOILER ALERT: Of course, a drama occurs when Buddy sees Odd steal Miss Sook’s cameo. Buddy tries to reveal the theft in front of everyone at dinner and Miss Sook tries to cover for Odd because she states that “two wrongs don’t make a right”. Buddy humiliating Odd didn’t help the situation. However, Odd does return the cameo when Miss Sook lies that the cameo was not missing.

Miss Sook is clearly an inspiration for a writer’s voice. The way she talks is very poetic yet simplistic. She is also a woman trapped in a family who does not understand her and dreams of leaving for a new life. But a single woman in Great Depression South is not a person able to escape those with small minds. Of course, the cameo she planned to sell for her freedom was worthless and she never has the heart to tell Buddy.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Movies about Writing

I know, know. Technically, this movie isn’t about writing or Truman Capote - TECHNICALLY - so I’ll keep this short.

If you don’t know, To Kill a Mockingbird is the award winning 1962 film based on the novel by Harper Lee (her only novel published with her consent - you hear me, Go Set a Watchman people)! In case you didn’t have to read the book in high school or watch the movie in film class, it’s a from the point-of-view of Scout. Scout is a lawyer’s daughter living in Great Depression Alabama. She is telling the tale of the big moments of her childhood including when she and her brother Jem tried to make friends their mysterious neighbor and her father defended a Black man wrongly accused of assaulting a white woman.

The book/film is presented like a memoir, with and unseen adult Scout narrating over the top of each change in season or introduction to a crucial moment. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) is the perfect father in so many eyes, however no more than in his daughter’s. I do get chills throughout this movie at the little moments. Still, you see it differently at different times of your own life, especially when one is viewing racism, the justice system, gender roles, and parental roles. As a screenplay, the adult Scout only gives you snippets of her own feelings, choosing to show instead of tell (as they constantly tell you to do in writing class).

The book is loosely based on author Harper Lee’s own childhood where she witnessed racism and discontent in her own hometown. Scout’s next door neighbor during summer vacations is Dill, a talkative and awkward little boy. Lee’s next door neighbor as a child was Truman Capote, a talkative and awkward little boy. Capote supposedly used to call the pair of them the “apart people”, because other children didn’t always get along with the two bookworms. They had a lifelong friendship that needs to be stated before I can continue these blogs because in talking about Capote, I’m going to be talking about Lee a lot too.

Truman Capote Theme: Movies about Writing

Most of the next few months I will be writing about films about or by Truman Capote (off and on). Why Capote, you may ask? Because I want an excuse to watch Murder by Death. But Murder by Death has nothing to do with Capote as a person or writer, you say. Shut up - I say.

I will probably pause this theme for some other upcoming events/seasons, but you get the idea.

Also, I did watch the new season of Feud, but I planned out these blogs before that - I swear.

Salem's Lot: Movies about Writing

First rule of being an author in the Stephen King universe - never travel anywhere to write something.

It’s been a while since I’ve watched or read Salem’s Lot (personally, I’ve always loved the fictional history of the town more than the actual plot of the book - and, yes, before you’ve asked, I’ve read the short story). My first thought when I heard about this one was, “It’s under 2 hours? They must’ve cut out the whole story!”

Ben (Lewis Pullman) is a writer who comes back to Jerusalem’s Lot looking for inspiration. He rents a room from a woman demanding payment in advanced when she hears his profession. His second encounter after the local sheriff is meeting Susan (Makenzie Leigh) who is reading one of his books and insults it without knowing that he’s the author.

At the same time, Marsten House, the haunting source of all local urban legends, has a European antiques dealer moving in. Straker (Pilou Asbaek) and his mysterious partner Barlow (Alexander Ward) are the catalytics who will destroy the town (in case you haven’t read the book).

Spoilers ahead.

A group of characters will come together as vampires take over the town. Ben and Susan are joined by teacher Mr. Burke (Bill Camp), Dr. Cody (Alfre Woodard), Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickley), and 11 year old Mark (Jordan Preston Carter). Honestly, I spent most of this muttering, “I don’t remember that in the book.” Look, there were vampires and the cast gets killed off one by one.

Ben is the first person Mr. Burke goes to when he realizes that there are vampires. He thinks that just because the guy is a writer that he’ll believe in vampires. And he does, because this movie has no time for character development. There are other quips about being a writer, but honestly, they are really just repeats of how being an author is not always viewed as a legitimate career. Maybe I’ll just watch the mini-series from the 70s.

Coraline: Movies about Writing

Coraline - the delightfully creepy tale of a child being courted and hunted by an ancient terror who creates a dreamworld to catch her in. But that’s not what I’m going to write about. I’m going to focus on Coraline’s parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones are working on a gardening catalog when they move to the “Pink Palace”, the Victorian home turned into apartments where Coraline discovers the tiny door leading to the “Other Mother”. Her mother is the editor and her father is the author. These jobs fit their personalities. Dad is more laid back and silly. Mom is more rigid and practical. My favorite line of Charlie Jones’s is “I have a terrible case of writer’s rash on my-”, but his wife cut him off as he points to his butt. He works on a computer that appears to be a little out-of-date (either that or the story takes place a few years before I think it does) on a cluttered desk with the usual research and half-drunk coffee. How do I know that coffee is half-drunk? Because that’s part of the process. Duh.

Coraline’s mom (who is name Mel according to the internet, but I’m not sure if they ever say her name in the movie) keeps Charlie on task. She is also in charge of the finances, promising Coraline that things will change once the book sells.

Coraline feel ignored by her parents even though they work from home. In the world created by the “Other Mother”, a creature known a the Beldam who wants to keep children and eat their lives away, Dad is a pianist who writes songs just for is kid and helps her in the garden. The Other Mother cooks delicious food and buys Coraline whatever she desires. Although it’s sweet that Coraline wants the attention of her parents, the Other Mother’s world clearly did not give them jobs.

P.S. In the part where Coraline touches a switch that shuts off the power, including her dad’s unsaved work on his P.C., he lets out a cry which I feel in my soul every time.

Field of Dreams: Movies about Writing

Normally, in September and October I do spooky films about authors and newspaper people. However, James Earl Jones, one of the icons of my childhood, passed away. I know he was in his 90s, but it doesn’t matter. I’m still sad. His deep voice and infectious smile meant a lot to me as a kid. So here’s a short blog about Field of Dreams - it kinda has ghosts in it.

If you weren’t alive in the 90s, you might not know this film. A struggling Iowa farmer, who regrets his last encounters with his baseball-obsessed father, is told by a disembodied voice to build a ball field in his corn. So he does. The ghosts of famous players (as well as a doctor played by Burt Lancaster who did so much good, but never got to the majors) show up in the field. However, only certain people can see them.

James Earl Jones plays Terrence Mann, an award winning author who has hidden himself from a corrupt world which he feels expects too much of him. In case you can’t tell, he’s based on J.D. Salinger. He was the favorite author of the main character Ray and his wife Annie in college. Annie fights to keeps Mann’s books in the local school district, arguing about how pacifism and learning from reality are not reasons to ban a book (she makes a good speech about Stalin and Nazi book-burning). When the voice tells Ray to help Mann, he discovers a bitter man unwilling to speak to a fan. Mann gave up writing a decade early to become a software programmer, feeling like after two terms of Nixon as president, no one was really listening to him anyway. Still, he sees the ghosts like Ray and his family do. He goes to Iowa and returns to a sense of wonder and hope in humanity. And he’s going to write about it, because, “That’s what I do.”