Its my second favorite time of the year, TCM's
Summer Under The Stars. Obviously,
31 Days of Oscar ranks #1. I couldn't wait to see what the creative team at TCM has come up with this year. With great anticipation I click the
SUTS link on TCM's home page marquee it redirects to reveal the timed countdown to this year's flash presentation of iconic silhouettes of 31 stars for each day of August. The style was recognizably the work of
Micheal Schwab who has a long list of prestigious clients including AT&T, both Coke & Pepsi, The Gap, Estee Lauder, Mastercard, AmTrak and even a movie star Robert Redford. The general navigation is the same as previous years but this year's collectable download are 31 Limited Edition Trading Cards illustrated by Micheal Schwab of course. They are available as a down-loadable PDF file that must be printed out on color printer and cut out, folded, and glued together to create the double-sided Trading Card. One side dons the Schwabs silhouettes of the featured star. The other side provides a schedule of the stars movies for that day topped with a quote. Although I am fond of the artwork, it might be a rather tedious even for a maniac.
Cover of Hang 'Em High
Now to answer the most important question on my mind,"Who are the 31 Stars?" Well, the first of Schwabs illustrations revealed by the flash countdown was the iconic black silhouette of a man in western hat wearing a grey badge with a white noose in the fore ground, without reading the caption its easily recognized as Clint Eastwood ("Hang 'Em High") for the featured star for August 31st. I am not sure why we are first redirected to the end of the month.
A click on August 1st brings up the iconic profile of our favorite sleuth from "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" representing the first star Basil Rathbone. His Trading Card quote appears to be from the film as well. I won't spoil the rest for you, I'll let you enjoy the revelation of guessing each star and movie for the rest of the silhouettes.
At the bottom of the main navigation look for a link to the down-loadable printable PDF file available for you to view the entire months schedule at once and a link to list of DVDs for sale for this years SUTS movies.
****SPOILER****
I haven't determined if their is a connection for the particular iconic role that was chosen to represent each star. In some cases I would have chosen a different more recognizable profile for the star. I think I would have better recognized Norma Shear in her the sexy bob of the "liberated woman" in Precode "Divorcee" instead of the bejeweled head dress of "Romeo & Juliet."
Their were some surprises. Along with many well known favorites from the Golden Age of Hollywood, there were a few less known actors. For August 30th, I didn't recognize the purple dressed tea-cup holding silhouette of Thelma Todd from "Horse Feathers" nor the gun totting muscular profile of Woody Strode ("Sergent Rutledge") for August 5th.
Woody Strode is an African American actor known to that John Ford gave him the title role in
Sergeant Rutledge (1961)as a member of the Ninth Cavalry falsely accused of rape and murder; he appeared in smaller roles in Ford's later films
Two Rode Together (1961) another SUTS film. Strode was one of the last friends of Ford. This 6' 4" NFL star became a
Golden Globe winner for best supporting actor in
Spartacus in 1960. He was noted for film roles that contrasted with the African-American stereotypes of the time. I discovered him first in the opening sequence of
Sergio Leone's
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Thelma Todd was an American actress. Appearing in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935, she is best remembered for her comedic roles in films like
Marx Brothers'
Monkey Business and
Horse Feathers. Her tea-cupped hand hints to her slef nick name "Hot Toddy." This blonde beauty queen was teamed up with
ZaSu Pitts for slapstick comedies as Hal Roach's attempt to create a female version of
Laurel and Hardy. Todd's shorts often cast her as a single working girl with her embarrassing side kick, Pitts struggling through some hilarious predicament. She also had roles in several
Laurel and Hardy films. She died of carbon monoxide poisoning before her last film, the full feature comedy,
The Bohemian Girl was completed.
TCM always satisfies by presenting my all time favorites as well as illuminating me on some screen gems that I had not discovered. I look forward to exploring both of these less discussed actors and their movies in this year's Summer Under The Stars.
Cover of Once Upon a Time in the West Once Upon a Time in The West is my all time favorite film as well as my favorite movie score. Bernardo Bertolucci, the co-writer of Once Upon a Time in The West, later directs The Last Emperor, which is my second all time favorite film as well as my second favorite movie score. Beware this is not your usual western. It is epic poetry. It is opera. It is a perfectly crafted art film that expresses Sergio Leone's true love for the great American Westerns. Leone doesn't necessarily romanticize the American West, he romanticizes American Western films. He makes references to High Noon, 3:10 to Yuma, The Comancheros, Shane, The Searchers, My Darling Clementine and many other great American Westerns very much the way Quentin Tarrantino has made films that pay homage to the gangster film genre. 
Image by howzey via FlickrAlthough most of the film was shot in Spain & Italy like most spaghetti westerns, Leone traveled to John Ford's Monument Valley to capture the authentic Western United States panorama. Like Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar, it has a poetic quality that uses strong symbolism; but instead of symbolic words and lyrical phrases in the dialogue, Leone relies on the alliteration of sights and sounds to formulate poetic stanzas out of every scene. The length of the film is a result of Leone's choice to direct in a sometimes painstakingly slow pace that builds up incredible tension before key action scenes. He allows us time to imbibe the majestic landscapes, and appreciate the details of the authentic sets and costume design documenting this pivotal period in American history. Instead of cluttering the beauty of his carefully photographed frames with dialogue, close shots of these actor's iconic faces express all that needs to be said. 
Image via WikipediaEnnio Morricone, also my favorite movie composer, scored five distinct musical themes that embody each of the main characters: widowed new bride Jill (Claudia Cardinale), mysterious harmonica-playing gunman (Charles Bronson), bandit Cheyenne (Jason Robards), hired gun Frank (Henry Fonda) and railroad tycoon Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti). Instead of a musical prelude, the movie opens with a symphony of natural sounds using a screeching windmill, a buzzing fly, dropping water and a ticking telegraph. Meticulous sound editors maintain continuity throughout this mostly visual narrative, composing a perfect harmony between each of the main character's musical motifs along side the multitude of natural sounds mostly inspired by the two major symbols, the railroad and the water. An impressive lengthy tracking shot introduces the "anti-heroine" Jill as well as the beginnings of a bustling railroad town. Don't miss the first few minutes of this movie. Without music nor dialogue, Leone creates one of the most suspenseful thrilling first few minutes of a movie whilst still rolling the opening credits. For all 168 minutes I was captivated by each and every frame! Once Upon a Time in the West is the finest example of Sergio Leone's creativity and perfectionism as a director, but most of all it is his greatest testament of love for the American Western.
Image via WikipediBTW Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds pays tribute to this film with an opening sequence entitled Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France. 
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