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Today started off badly but ended well.
I went for a walk with Rita and Joan but had to turn back after about 10 minutes because my knee hurt so badly I could hardly walk. Rita gave me her keys and instructions not to go anywhere but the kitchen because the alarm would go off if I turned the corner. The alarm for the kitchen wasn't activated. So I carefully limped into the kitchen and put an ice pack from Rita's freezer on my knee, which I elevated on a kitchen chair. I caught a few glimpses of the giant woodpecker I've seen there before, so I kept watch in hopes of getting a closer look. I am pretty sure it's a pileated woodpecker because it makes huge rectangular holes in the roof of her condo. Nothing else that flies around there is that big. I've never put it on my list because I've never gotten a good enough look at it to be 100% sure. Anyway, it was too far away for a good look today and I didn't have my binoculars with me. Who knew I would be bird watching out Rita's kitchen window instead of walking?
By the time Rita and Joan got back the weather had turned cold and raw. Winter trying to come back? March coming in like a lion? I told them about my woodpecker vigil. Rita says she's never gotten a really good look at it either, but she's sure it's a pileated woodpecker.
We warmed up with grilled cheese sandwiches and espresso. That hit the spot.
I limped back to my car, annoyed at myself for this mysterious knee thing.
I picked up Nancy at the bus station in Boston. We had transcendent macaroni and cheese at The Blue Diner, and headed for Cambridge on our mission of the day: to see the 1945 prerelease cut of The Big Sleep.
The film opens with a few words from Robert Gitt, the film archivist who put this project together. He explains that this cut was never seen by the public and The Big Sleep wasn't released until 1946. We're supposed to look for the differences.
The Brattle Theater was packed. I think there were a couple of empty seats - it was the 7:00 show after all - but not many. Running time for the whole film was 150 minutes.
For those unfamiliar with The Big Sleep, it's a film noir set in Los Angeles and has a higher murder rate in 48 hours than even Cabot Cove! It's (I think) Lauren Bacall's second picture with Bogart - first was To Have and Have Not. Bacall made a forgettable picture, Confidential Agent, which got terrible reviews. Her career was kind of "on the rocks" - or at least not as poised for takeoff as her agent would've liked - when The Big Sleep 1945 cut was set to be released. She was already married to Bogart by then - "we had it all, just like Bogie and Bacall..."
The story is that Bacall's agent wrote to Warner requesting the elimination of one scene and the addition of more scenes for Bacall, to rescue her career. Warner agreed and even claimed he'd wanted to do that all along. All this delayed the release of the film until 1946.
The most noticeable difference is the scene where Mrs. Rutledge (Bacall) pays Marlowe (Bogart) for his detective work. In the 1945 cut, she comes to his office wearing an odd hat with a veil. The veil makes her look like she has chicken pox or measles or something. It's really really really ugly. Bacall gives a wonderful performance, but her agent hated it. I can see why. The veil makes her look old. Anyway, that scene was cut and a new scene - probably the most famous one in the movie - was shot. Instead of Marlowe's office, the scene takes place in a restaurant. Bacall makes an entrance in a gorgeous satin vest, no stupid veil. And, most memorably, there's added dialogue full of double entendre's about horse racing. The other changes are less radical, and I won't spoil your movie detective fun totally... Go see it.
At the end, Gitt guides us through a postscript showing the changes in detail. We get to see old and new versions compared and contrasted. Great fun. There's one scene where new material was filmed in 1946 and edited into the scene. Bogart becomes a year older in mid sentence. Not really obvious unless you're looking for it but once you know it, you see it.
One of my favorite details is the bookstore across the street from Geiger's "bookstore" is called Acme Bookstore - Warner Brother's signature (Acme Dynamite springs to mind for those of us who love Coyote and Roadrunner). So the mythological LA of the forties had a street with 2 rare book dealers? Wow! And all that rain! I guess it rained in Southern California a lot more in the forties ...
It was worth the trek to the big city...
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