"Admission" Movie Is Confusing, Too Long

“Admission” was previewed here last night starring Tina Fey, Paul Rudd and Lily Tomlin who has such a new look that it took me much of the movie to recognize her. Cosmetic surgery is great.
Public radio is interviewing Miss Fey now without making any critical comments on “Admission” which I thought was too long with a confusing plot about illegitimate births and college admission. 
The politics of decision-making by college admission officers in judging the worth of prospective students is disturbing and much too long.  The movie ends in confusion and boredom. 
Given the convoluted judgment calls on student admission at Princeton University, revealed here,  students would be well advised to consider Boise State University which has a better football team.
I think all of the actors in this movie would be well advised to seek better scripts in the future.

Deep Blue Sea, Bunny Lake From Britian

Yesterday I was reunited with the adult British film “The Deep Blue Sea” which I hadn’t seen since I was 15 in Spokane’s stately State Theater as a second feature with mom and dad.  One scene which has haunted me for years is when Vivien Leigh contemplates suicide by putting coins in a gas heater (which is a very British thing).  This London Film deals with adultery and also features Kenneth More.  Advertising for the movie advises “not suitable for children” although there was no nudity.  No doubt Julia Ormond created her Vivien look in “My Week with Marilyn” after seeing this film.

Also from Great Britain is the wonderfully twisted 1965 film noir “Bunny Lake is Missing” with Laurence Olivier, Carol Lynley and Keir Dullea.  Almost from the start there is a sense of impending doom where a toddler disappears in a crowded bedlam like day school.   Subsequent scenes in the dark basement of  a doll shop and on city streets add to the nightmare.  British playwright and actor Noel Coward adds to the creepiness as the demented landlord in this Otto Preminger film.  Martita Hunt is great as the daffy head mistress of the school.  It’s a must see for film noir fans.  Cable TV subscribers can see it next month on TCM.

Kim Novak, Noel Coward Found Painting Joy

(Coward photo shown from Jamaica.)  Kim Novak couldn’t stop the tears when she spoke last night on TCM about her paintings that she hopes to display at a public showing soon.  Novak, 80, found tremendous pleasure in painting in the solitude of rural Oregon life which she shares with her husband, a veterinarian.  She had kind thoughts about Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn and Alfred Hitchcock.  She regrets that she wasn’t more assertive when it came to choosing movie scripts.  Her father was a cold fish and also bipolar as is she.  Her told her he loved her on the day he died.  I found the interview disturbing but worthwhile.
It helped to have seen the restored “Vertigo” the night before the Novak interview.
Another celebrity who found joy in painting was writer, actor Noel Coward whose paintings can be seen at his home and burial place, Firefly, near Ocho Rios, Jamaica, where I visited with friends in late February.  The Coward home was a rich experience that apparently only British visitors favor.  I was lucky to have seen the BBC documentary, Noel Coward in Jamaica, before I went on this tour. Some of his fabulous life is on display at Firefly including his paintings and photos which such theater greats as Gertrude Lawrence, Lottie Lenya and Lionel Bart.