Last night's first-time viewing was The Reluctant Debutante, in which Sandra is charming, Kay is a goddess, Angela is hilarious, Rex is lively, and John Saxon is what you might call dangerously attractive.
It goes absolutely nowhere for 95 minutes, but it does it appealingly.
It's also hilariously glaringly obvious that Sandra's role was retooled, from the play, for an American actress. Like, they never stop talking about it.
I mentioned exactly that (Saxon’s appeal) to @gayerthanthou.bsky.social while watching the movie, and lamented that Minnelli didn’t mange to incorporate a swimming pool scene.
Never to be confused with Howard Da Silva.
I was about to say that no one's ever seemed less Italian (or, it seems, Portuguese) than Howard Da Silva, then I learned that he was born Howard Silverblatt, which makes a lot more sense.
Yeah, it's deeply sad.
BTW, The Dunwich Horror isn't a great movie or anything, but she's quite good in it. If you ever feel like it.
"Little Sandra Dee isn't supposed to smoke, you know. Or drink. Or breathe."
Look, I'm always here for some Lovecraft.*
*Standard disclosure that he was a huge racist even for his time and the World Fantasy Awards were right to finally stop using his image for their trophies.
