Dangerous Curves

Did anyone catch the Simpsons last night? I usually don't watch TV of my own accord, but I was over at my sister's when it was on, and I'm so glad. The whole episode was an homage to Two For the Road! One of my absolute favourite Audrey films, so beautiful. While they didn't get the rights to the film's music, the soundtrack on the show was very Mancini, and very true to the feel of the film. It was interesting to see the Simpson's family history worked into the TFTR story, and I like how they still kept some of the imagery from the film, especially the ending. If you missed it, or would like to see it again, you can view the full episode on Hulu (link goes straight to the episode). I'm not sure how long it will be up, since I'm fairly new to American websites sharing TV shows (I usually have to use these crazy Chinese sites), but if it goes off or you need to look it up elsewhere for any reason, the episode is called "Dangerous Curves."

Speaking of the film, though, when I was looking for a picture to post, since I'm lagging and haven't posted any of my own yet, I found an album called "Two For the Road" by the producer of Nouvelle Vague, a favourite of mine. The album has the same basic feel of the film, charting a couple's relationship emotionally and geographically, though with modern music. They made a video for the title track, and it's all footage from the 1967 film. So even if the style of music isn't your cup of tea, just enjoy the visuals.

Two for the Road

I really wish my copy wasn't in storage right now! I'd love to watch this again.

Wait Until Dark Soundtrack

Since it's practically Halloween already, I'm going to talk about a great scary movie, Wait Until Dark. It was Audrey Hepburn's last film before retiring for ten years to focus on her children and family, and the last film for which she earned an Oscar nomination. It's also the last film of hers that was scored by the fantastic Henry Mancini, who wrote "Moon River" for dear Audrey. This soundtrack was a huge departure for Mancini, who usually does what would now be considered as lounge or soft pop music. Unfortunately, the soundtrack was never officially released, so it's impossible to find. It was never on vinyl, sadly, and was never on CD ... until now! After searching high and low for this, there seems to be only one place that offers the Wait Until Dark soundtrack.

Film Score Monthly offers a rare or never before released soundtrack every month with their magazine, and each album is a limited run. Through the Screen Archives Entertainment website you can buy your own copy of the soundtrack, sans magazine, for $19.95. It's a limited press of 3,000 copies, so this definitely won't be around forever! It's a shame I didn't think to look sooner, because the soundtrack would have been a great addition to your creepy Hallween music. Well, there's always next year. The picture at top left is the cover of the soundtrack, very scary. You can read more about the soundtrack and Henry Mancini here, as well order your own copy and even preview some tracks from the album. This might be the only chance we ever have to own this soundtrack! I've already ordered my copy.

rare insight into Audrey Hepburn

There's a new video on You Tube from a made-for-TV biography that I don't think I've ever seen. The clip that was uploaded was from a Chinese airing, but maybe it's been aired in English-speaking countries? Either way, it's fantastic interviews with Mel Ferrer, Henry Mancini (composer of "Moon River"), Stanley Donen (director of Funny Face and Two For the Road), and Hubert de Givenchy. It's a really fascinating segment to watch and gives more insight into Audrey's career and relationships with these men, you really just have to see it to appreciate it. I certainly can't do it justice!

"Bloodline" author dies, Audrey Hepburn inspired Edie Sedgwick

Author Sidney Sheldon, who wrote many pulp-style novels and has the dubious distinction of penning the worst Audrey Hepburn film ever, died Tuesday at the age of 89 from pneumonia complications. Sheldon had been active writing screenplays for over 30 years, and Bloodline was his fourth novel out of his final 22 published books. Thankfully, it's a lesser-known and harder to access film, and the cover art of the video tape alone should put you off of it. Is Ben Gazzara made of wax?


Making big news lately is the fictionalized biopic on Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick, Factory Girl. Reviews of the film often call Edie a "real-life Holly Golightly," and according to Ign.com, it's because Edie herself confesses to seeing a movie poster for Breakfast at Tiffany's and desperately wanting to be as glamorous as Audrey Hepburn looked as Holly Golightly. Edie never got around to reading Truman Capote's novella or watching the movie, but she nonetheless knew she wanted to be a real life Holly. An icon influencing an icon.

And to make up for news being so slow, here's Audrey singing "Moon River." She was the first one to sing it, she saved it from being scrapped in the movie, and it was always Henry Mancini's favourite version of the song -- he should know, he wrote the song!