![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The dearest things I know are what you are
And it came to pass that being unable to attend the Catgirl Goth Rave, to which I had non-hyperbolically been looking forward for months, I resigned myself to doing not much of anything with my Friday night beyond experimenting with molasses cookies and reading the second volume of Michael Powell's autobiography, both of which are fine things in their own right, but rather lacking in glowsticks and cat ears. And then I saw that TCM was showing something called A Letter for Evie (1946) with Marsha Hunt and Hume Cronyn, the former a stranger to me, the latter—I tracked down Lifeboat (1944) and The Seventh Cross (1944) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) in the days long before Netflix just so I could see him in another role besides Professor Elwell, all right? I imprinted on him and Walter Slezak at an early age. And it was a variation on Cyrano de Bergerac, taking place between a shirt-factory secretary, a shy dendrologist, and the platoon lothario during World War II, with recurring motif by Jerome Kern. Jules Dassin did tempt me and I did watch. And considering the mood I was in at midnight, it was kind of exactly what I needed. Thanks, TV. Who knew?
no subject
no subject
I don't know if it's available on VHS or DVD, but I recommend finding out. It's not perfect as either a romantic comedy or a Cyrano retelling, but frankly, there are few perfect movies in the world. I'm glad this one exists and hasn't been entirely forgotten; it's another of these Golden Age B-pictures, like The Canterville Ghost or Three Strangers, which I love because their stars are ordinarily only the supporting players. And although there are some wobbles here and there, I appreciated that someone in the world was sufficiently annoyed by aspects of Rostand to write a version where Roxane gets to be angry at Cyrano for lying to her.