Hi gang, Ben here, taking over for Justin on this week's Friday Five. I'm not the first to note the pointlessness of "top whatever" lists, but maybe I'll be the first to do something about it! I say, why not make the criteria equally as pointless? In that spirit, I offer up my five favorite cinematic Atlantic sea voyages:
5. Nosferatu
Nosferatu’s sea voyage from Transylvania to England (I’ve always wondered how that works, geographically speaking) produced one of the most infamous shots in cinema history: the dark vampire against stormy gray clouds, hideously elongated by the low camera angle. Few images are more iconically frightening.
4. Beat the Devil
For a ship with only 8 passengers, there sure is a whole lot of no good gotten up to onboard this steam voyage to Africa. This being a collaboration between John Huston, Truman Capote, and Humphrey Bogart, all the wheeling, dealing, and backstabbing is done while three sheets to the wind, naturally. This is a bizarre and hilarious flick, and the casual, haphazard way the lead crewman deals with theft, attempted murder, suicide, and the eventual sinking of the ship is indicative of the movie’s devil may care vibe. Beat the Devil is wildly underrated.
3. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
The slow boat to Europe gives gold digger Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) ample time to charm the monacle off of the rich (and old and fat) entropeneur she affectionately nicknames Piggy (Charles Coburn). Meanwhile Dorothy (Jane Russell) tries in vein to attract the attention of a team of Olympic gymnists whose still-rings obviously don't swing her way, if you catch my drift. Fabulous.
2. The Sea Hawk
The Sea Hawk is never better than its first hour's Ye Olde England-by-way-of-Hollywood double-crosses and antiquated political espionage. Nevertheless, Errol Flynn and crew’s trip to Central America is a jolt to the movie’s system. The tint of the filmstock switches from silver to sepia-tone to reflect the heat and mugginess of the Tropics. Woah!
1. A Night at the Opera
A singular expression of “The American Dream": Chico and Harpo on the deck by starlight, entertaining Europe’s huddled masses on their voyage to the New World. Cinematic perfection.
May your weekend be chocked full of wonderful movies,
Ben