"Life is a Banquet..."

"...and most poor suckers are starving to death" -Auntie Mame.

Allow me to begin by saying that since I started using Netflix, the quality of my life has gone up a million fold. Being someone to cheap to pay for TV, Netflix has been a life saver. I have been able to see tons of movies that otherwise I would never have had the oppurtunity without many confluence of events occuring (i.e. My being at a TV + whatever movie I want to see playing at the same time= rare). In my time with netflix, I have taken to catching up with old movies that seem like I might enjoy them. One movie that has stuck out and nudged itself into my top all time favorite movies is Auntie Mame.

It stars Rosalind Russell, as the eccentric, over the top, and ultimately loveable title character. Auntie Mame is a well to do single woman who takes in her nephew after his father passes away. Together they have many adventures beginning in the roaring twenties up until about the 1940's. The story is sweet and hilarious in the well balanced way movies from the era tend to be. The humor is reminiscent of the type of satire and farce popular today. I love the wild cast of characters; there are lots of great archetypes in the movie which could be annoying but never is thanks to the campy nature. The costumes are splendid, if not exactly accurate to the time periods. The production design is, of course, fantastic as well. When you have legions of artisans working right on the studios, how can it not? Auntie Mame changes her apartment over time and it's always wonderful to see it in it's different incarnations. Also, Mame travels a lot. The backdrops at times are hilarious (the pyramids in egypt as triangles, the alps are a nice little sculpture)but it builds on the campy over the top nature of the story and fits right in. I really can't explain the gloriousness of the film, but it does have a good message. It tells us that we shold always be true to ourselves and live life to the fullest no matter the situation. Here is a little clip o enjoy but really you should go out and Netflix, rent, borrow, or buy this gem of a movie.