February 27

Happy Birthday to Elizabeth Taylor, Franchot Tone, and Joanne Woodward.

To celebrate Elizabeth Taylor I watched Butterfield 8. What a great film. Over the opening credits the camera stays on Elizabeth who is a sleep, for the entire time. When she wakes up, that scene is wonderful. She looks around for cigarettes, not finding any she smokes a cigar, chokes and goes for a glass of alcohol. She goes into the (hideous pink) bathroom, puts the toothbrush in the alcohol, brushes her teeth and gargles with alcohol. She explores the rooms and you can tell it is not her apartment. She finds her purse and the man left her $250. Upset she writes “no sale” on a wall mirror with lipstick. She leaves the money and takes a mink coat. Her dress is ripped so she leaves in her slip and the mink. This between 5 - 10 minutes long, no dialog and you are just amazed in watching her move. She goes to her friend Eddie Fisher to get her car and gets his girlfriend to bring some cloths for her to wear. She leaves the fur coat, which Eddie hangs up in the closet. I have to admit, he is pretty good in the film. Laurence Harvey is the man that Elizabeth is involved in. No one seems to like the life they have. Laurence's wife comes back and discovers the mink is missing. He realizes that Elizabeth took the mink. He is upset, he doesn't want to divorce his wife, but he feels guilty about being involved with Elizabeth and tries to cheapen the relationship. There is a great argument scene in a restaurant. They go to a hotel and Elizabeth changes her mind and leaves. Laurence chases after her. Her car goes off the road and she dies at the hospital. I really didn't expect that. It did reminded me of a John Gilbert/Greta Garbo film.