Lady and the Tramp

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Lady and the Tramp (1955)!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th December 2020

Well i am a dog person so perhaps it is inevitable that I end up seeing this.
You know, this movie is sixty-five years old and yet it still comes across as being quite striking. One of the beauties of animation is that it can do things that Live action can never do and that certainly is the case here. It is impressive that we have animated dogs acting very much like real dogs and the sheer expressiveness of these characters are stunning to behold.
It may be short and it may be overlooked by Disney fans but honestly? I think this is one of their strongest works.

Marty

And this week's Friday night movie has been.....Marty!

Original image located here. Accessed 8th December 2017

I recall my dad once remarking that he doesn't like watching movies that were made pre-1960. His reasoning was that they tend to age rather badly. I bring this up because whenever I bring up a post-1960 movie it gets a far greater response than when i bring up a pre-1960 movie, like this one. Seems my audience shares a similar thought. True, a pre-1960 movie would be well before much of my audience was born but I can't help but think how long a shadow the era of New Hollywood casts.

Rambling aside, what drew me to this film? Well it's about a guy who is in his mid-thirties (Hello!), is unmarried and resigns himself, however reluctantly, to bachelorhood (Hellooooo!).
Okay seriously, i enjoyed this movie. But what i find particularly interesting about it is viewing it through the lens of sixty years and numerous rom-coms. Yes, this movie isn't a rom-com but it does provide an interesting contrast: This is a romantic film about two grown adults, as opposed to teenagers/young adults. There is no reliance on tried-and-tested tropes (ie plots driven by misunderstandings, climax at some dance), there is no wish-fulfillment prospect (ie Oh My Goddess and Twilight) and comedy is taken a back-seat to a character study. And is all the better for it. I will even say that Marty's speech in the final scene still has potency some sixty years later.

That being said, is there any chance of such a film being made today? Of course not XD