This being Thursday, it's normally time for another edition of Thursday Movie Picks, the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. This week's theme is "Love in the Tech Age", which at first thought might have been a bit difficult for me since I don't watch the sort of recent movie that are the intended subject for the theme. But after some thought I decided to go in a slightly different direction:
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
New Technology: Telephone
Don Ameche plays Alexander Graham Bell, who taught deaf children, and tried to come up with artificial means of enabling them to speak. His attempts led him to the invention of the telephone, as well as falling in love with one of his partially deaf students, Loretta Young. Unfortunately for Bell, there was a patent dispute over the telephone....
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947)
New Technology: Typewriter
Betty Grable plays Miss Pilgrim, who becomes the first female office typist in late 19th century Boston, when it wasn't common for women to work outside of domestic service, teachers, or nurses. She falls in love with her boss (Dick Haymes), but her becoming a leader for women's rights and part of the suffrage movement threatens to derail the relationship.
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
New Technology: Talking pictures
Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont (Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen) are a successful silent movie partnership. But sound comes to the movies, and Lina has a voice that's decidedly not for movies. So Don's friend (Donald O'Connor) has the idea of having Kathy (Debbie Reynolds) dub Lina. Kathy and Don fall in love along the way. The title song is originally from the 1929 movie The Hollywood Revue, which was basically a sound test for MGM's contract players other than Greta Garbo:
PS: I actually looked up the plot of One Million B.C. to see if I could use fire as a new technology, but the discovery of fire isn't a plot point. I haven't seen Quest for Fire to use that.
4 comments:
I like that way you took this. It's very different. I've only seen Singin' in the Rain, which I adored. I was really lucky to find someone trying to get rid of their blu ray of this for $.50 at a garage sale. Their major loss.
That's an interesting take on the theme. I've only seen Singin' in the Rain and it's a great film.
I love your take and this is a new technology for that time I love it. I wonder if there is a film about the original printing press from Germany so that the average public can finally learn to read.
This is such a cool theme within a theme! I love typewriters, I wish to own one in the future but meanwhile I have to enjoy seeing them in movies and shows. :)
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