First of Favorite Performers

  I watched the last half of "The Philadelphia Story" on TCM last night.  I haven't seen any of it in  years.  This year, though I had an advantage over previous years in that I could watch it with closed captions.  This resulted in  a greater understanding of what was going on and also the really neat lines that were not always revealed in the old days.  Hearing impairment has been a part of my life since I was first diagnosed in the first grade.  Through the years it gradually got worse until back in 1985 it resulted in a greater loss and the necessity of wearing a hearing aide.  It ain't got better sense.

  I can't quote any of the lines that were new to me but will note a reference to "Easy Virtue" a remark by Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn) after her excessive intoxication and some undisclosed romantic happenings in this state with newspaper reporter role Carter played by Jimmy Stewart.  Of course in those days I was not aware that "Easy Virtue" was a very successful English play written by Noel Coward.  Just a couple of years ago it was produced in a film starring Jessica Biel, Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas.  Biel and Firth are both favorites of mine and the play in it's film version was really entertaining.

  This led to some additional soul searching and I generated mental energy considering various favorite actors/actresses and tried to decide what was the favorite role for each, that role in that particular film that I was most anxious to see again.  For Jessica Biel it meant her performance in"The Illusionist" opposite Paul Giamatti, Rupert Sewall and in the tile role as the Illusionist Ed Norton.  this was a dramatic film with many mysterious elements not only from Norton and his performance at illusions but also from the complexity of the story.

  Norton has not been one of my favorite actors being portrayed in roles primarily of the sniveling dislikable mode.  Fortunately he usually gets his comeupance at the end of such films.  Paul Giamatti on the other hand has been in a number of films with outstanding performances including of course "Sideways" among others.  Most recently I have been watching him again in the HBO series about the life of John Adams  a really outstanding historical series commencing with his defense in court of the British soldiers who were participants in the Boston Massacre prior to the Revolutionary War.  Laura Linney has the role of Abigail Adams, John's wife who apparently is a most unusually smart woman for those times or any time.

  Rupert Sewall first came to my attention in the film "Cold Comfort Farm" a film that featured Tara Fitzgerald in the lead.  Sewall appearance was very stylized in this film.  Later he starred in a detective series set In Rome  The name of the series escapes me now, but in it he was known only by his last name in the film role.

  This is just a first among the series I plan to implement in the following weeks on the Mensa Classic Films blog.  I'll consider performers form all years of media from the earliest days of sound films until those of just yesterday.  As usual comments either negative or positive are gladly accepted.  Ricky of L.A.