June was a pretty busy month for me, but I managed to squeeze in a good number of movies anyway. On the personal front, two of my friends married each other last weekend, so I got to spend a couple of days back in my Southern California hometown. I’ve known the bride since preschool and the groom since high school and the two are high school sweethearts and have been together for ten years, so it was a very joyous time. But anyway, movie-wise it was another good month of viewing. Unfortunately, I only managed to watch one film for the 52 Films Directed by Women project, so I’m going to try to get back up to speed in July. Fortunately, though, that one film was one of my favorites of the month so I’ll talk about it more further down the post. Also, in preparation for Olivia de Havilland’s centennial, I watched the four movies in which she was Oscar-nominated for Best Actress every Friday in June. I’ll be posting my tribute to those performances later today, so be sure to look out for that. With that said, let’s look at what I watched in the past month.

New-to-Me: 21

Re-Watched: 6

New-to-Me Films by Decade:

• 1920s – 0
• 1930s – 6
• 1940s – 3
• 1950s – 7
• 1960s – 2
• 1970s – 0
• 1980s – 0
• 1990s – 0
• 2000s – 2
• 2010s – 1

List of New-to-Me Films:

1. Sideways (2004)
2. Double Harness (1933)
3. One Man’s Journey (1933)
4. Rafter Romance (1933)
5. Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
6. Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
7. Perfect Strangers (1950)
8. American Madness (1932)
9. She Couldn’t Say No (1954)
10. Show Boat (1936)
11. To Each His Own (1946)
12. So Long at the Fair (1950)
13. Rome, Open City (1945)
14. Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
15. Finding Dory (2016)
16. Life with Father (1947)
17. I Love Melvin (1953)
18. Private Lives (1931)
19. The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)
20. The Music Man (1962)
21. The Parent Trap (1961)

A Few Favorite Discoveries:

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), directed by Audrey Wells

Although I’ve only seen a few of her films, I’ve always enjoyed seeing Diane Lane on screen. This is probably the first time I’ve actually seen her in a film where she’s the main focus, as I’ve more often seen her in supporting roles of just the wife or the mother. Really I just need to see more of her starring roles (I really need to get around to watching Unfaithful). But anyway, she’s wonderful in this movie as newly divorced writer Frances, who makes the impulsive decision to buy a Tuscan villa. I also love her dynamics with all the colorful people in her new life in Tuscany, especially Katherine (Lindsay Duncan), who lives like she’s in a Fellini movie. But my favorite of Frances’s relationships is the one she shared with her best friend Patti (Sandra Oh). It’s a perfect comfort movie, and it makes me want to go back and visit Tuscany (or really Italy in general).

To Each His Own (1946), directed by Mitchell Leisen

As I mentioned before, I had a mini “Oliviathon” every Friday in June as a sort of countdown to her centennial. I ended up enjoying this movie a lot more than I expected, and that was mostly thanks to Olivia de Havilland’s performance, which elevates a rather melodramatic story. You can read more about de Havilland and her Oscar-winning performance in my tribute post to her that’ll pop up on my blog later today.

So Long at the Fair (1950), directed by Antony Darnborough and Terence Fisher

I was very intrigued by the premise of the film and made it one of my priority TCM watches for the month, and it didn’t disappoint. I’ll watch practically anything with Jean Simmons, as she’s become a favorite of mine over the past couple of years. One actor that I just started getting into a couple of months ago is Dirk Bogarde, and this is the third film I’ve seen with him. Anyway, this is a criminally underrated film worth discovering. It’s similar to films like The Lady Vanishes and Bunny Lake Is Missing, as people around the protagonist believe her missing brother doesn’t exist. TCM will be playing it again in August during their Summer Under the Stars program as Jean Simmons has her own day this year, so I encourage you to check it out.

The Music Man (1962), directed by Morton DaCosta

The TCM Spotlight for June was Stage to Screen, where movies adapted from Broadway productions were highlighted on the channel, and there were a ton of great films that were showcased. This was another priority TCM watch, it’s one of those musicals I’ve been wanting to check out for a long time but didn’t get around to sooner because of its length. I’m glad I found time to watch it though, as it’s such a fun, enjoyable musical. I’ve loved Robert Preston since seeing him in Victor/Victoria, and while he gives an entertaining performance there, in The Music Man he’s on a whole other level. He gives such a lively performance, I can only imagine how much more energetic he was when he performed it on stage. Shirley Jones is also always a welcome sight in musicals, and she’s wonderful alongside Preston.

Rome, Open City (1945), directed by Roberto Rossellini

I posted my monthly entry for the 2016 Blind Spots series a few days ago on Rome, Open City, another excellent film I watched this month. My thoughts on the film can be found here.