Contributing Editor: CHRISTY BRITAIN

CONTRIBUTIONS: 1 Favorites List: Christy Britain's FAVORITE STIRRING CLASSICS

E-MAIL CONTACT: murdermostbritish@yahoo.com

WEB SITE: Murder Most British
http://www.MurderMostBritish.homestead.com

LOCATION: California, U.S.A.

BIRTHDAY: December 17, 1966

WRITTEN LANGUAGES: English

INTERESTS: I crochet, do general crafts, read, (British historical mysteries), watch classic movies (especially mysteries and film noir); I collect ANYTHING to do with Sherlock Holmes, used paperbacks (Sayers, Christie, Carr, Innes, Frazer, Paige, Perry, Allingham, du Maurier, Shakespeare, Dickens etc., etc.) handmade bookmarks, Pfaltzgraff Tea Rose, teapots, used postage stamps (of roses, arctic animals, big animals, British royalty) and crochet patterns. I love Victoriana, writing letters, playing on my 'puter, puzzles, British history, writing fiction, pink roses, teapots, bears, arctic animals, and Shakespeare.

WHAT MAKES A MOVIE A CLASSIC: For me, I generalize...I'm a very simple person (HA!) Pre-1960, mostly black & white, worth watching over and over again...the best of the best seem to come from the 30's and 40's. They didn't offend our delicate sensibilities with flagrant and gratuitous sex or violence, although they were steamy and often implied violence off screen ('member, I'm a murder mystery buff), no flashy special effects to keep a wandering attention span, it was the dialogue, the consummate acting, the in-depth character portrayals, the intricate plotting that kept you engrossed. The more you watch them, the more you find little details, witty lines that you missed during the previous viewings. They get better as time goes on, for me.

I rarely watch modern films...unless they are British, mysteries or historical...I can see how Grease (1978) will become a modern classic. (Have you listened to the song lyrics lately?!) Does Dr. Doolittle (1967) with Rex Harrison count as a classic or modern classic? It's in color, I'd call it modern, and the push me-pull you was definitely a special effect, lol. The Wizard of Oz (1939), modern classic? I'm still terrified of the flying monkeys! The Sound of Music (1965), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Some of Hitchcock's later films, Vertigo (1958), Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 remake) all sit in a more modern classic category for me...Rope (1948) is another one. I know these are classics, but they don't fit my personal criteria for a basic and original classic movie...I told you, I generalize.

MOVIE MEMORABILIA: Sherlock Holmes stuff

FAVORITE MOVIES: ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh .... Arsenic and Old Lace (1944); Gaslight (1944); And Then There Were None (1945); Notorious (1946); The Lady Vanishes (1938); Suspicion (1941); Rebecca (1940); Charade (1963); Stage Fright (1950); The Old Dark House (1932); Another Man's Poison (1951); Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte (1964); The Blue Gardenia (1953); D.O.A. (1950); Sorry, Wrong Number (1948); The "Sherlock Holmes" series (Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce's Fourteen films 1939-1946); The Black Cat (1934); "The Saint" series (George Sander's five films: 1939-1941); The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945); Quiet Please: Murder (1942); Murder Ahoy! (1964); Murder at the Gallop (1963); The Third Secret (1964); Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) ....

FAVORITE ACTORS/ACTRESSES: Basil Rathbone, George Sanders, Bette Davis, Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Dame Judith Anderson, Gale Sondergaard, Nigel Bruce, Olivia de Havilland, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart ....

TESTIMONY: They just don't make 'em like they used to! They are clean, rarely has gratuitous violence (even in the mysteries) or explicit intimate encounters, dialogue is wonderful, clothing is awesome .... I just love 'em, love 'em love 'em!


*Contributed by: "Christy Britain" Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2002 / 12:45:58 PDT

This contributor is represented by a photo of Olivia de Havilland.

Movie Stills: Terror by Night (1946); And Then There Were None (1945)

Updated: Wed, Aug 31 2005