MidCentury Modern Movies

Speed Racer

2009-07-06T15:01:00.000-07:00

Per a suggestion from a reader, here's Speed Racer. While the interiors in this film do have furniture pieces (in wild colors), I decided to concentrate on a little drive down the street from near the beginning of the film, where every house is a looker.

The houses are slightly unfocused ('cause the action is supposed to be on the car and its riders), but you get the idea. Slant roofs and clerestories oh my.

Revolutionary Road

2009-07-04T14:54:00.000-07:00

The living room in Revolutionary Road.

As is the case when watching most movies that are set during this time period, it becomes an incessant, "Ooh I want that," exercise. Like, ooh I want that lamp and ooh I want that sideboard (is it a sideboard? or a stereo cabinet?) and ooh I want that table and ooh I want to put four distinctly different chairs in my living room.

I wonder how those legs are attached to the glass table? Perhaps some cross-brace structure underneath?

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

2009-05-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I watch a random movie just to have something playing in the background to distract me while I'm plopped down in front of the computer screen. This process is facilitated by the fact that all of our DVDs are housed within a 4TB array that's tucked into my George Nelson style slat closet. Touch of a button movies- it's the only way to fly.

Yesterday's pick was Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Why that one? 'Cause in a very short list of my favorite films of the 80's, there's Ferris, Back to the Future, and Die Hard. And maybe Airplane.

But what does Ferris Bueller have to do with MidCentury Modern Movies? Well nothing really, but I came across a fabulous scene with two examples of vertical slats. Since I'm currently suffering from a Nelson inspired slatted objects obsession right now (see The George Nelson Bench Project), these two snapshots made me laugh.

First, we have the teacher standing next to a vertical slat podium. This is the scene where he poses an unbearably drawn-out question to the class:

In... what... way... does the author's... use of the... prison... symbolize... the protagonist's struggle, and how does this relate to our discussion of the uses of irony?

Yeah, that'd put me to sleep. Just like Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara!) in the second pic. Behind her is a vertical slat wall. A prospective client of mine discussed the possibility of vertically slatting an entire wall in his place of business. Perhaps this is what it'll look like. Of course, the purpose of the slats in a lecture hall setting is for sound control and diffusion, but to me it just looks cool.

Does anyone know what book the teacher is referring to? I'd like to read it and perhaps figure out how the prison symbolizes the protagonist's struggle.

A Star Is Born

2009-05-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

The 1954 adaptation of the 1937 film A Star Is Born is exactly the kind of film that my wife and I were looking for in an attempt to find photographic or celluloid evidence of period furniture pieces residing in their natural habitats. After all, when one uses the phrase MidCentury, you can't get any closer to the middle of the century than 1954.

One particular scene that just is overflowing with the type of style and design sensibility that will one day grace our midcentury-modern-house-in-the-making, is Judy Garland's little (or maybe not so little 'cause it's a loooong scene) song and dance number in her living room.

She's got four, count 'em four white Barcelona Chairs. One at the front door, one next to a wall opposite the entryway, and two more facing each other in the sitting area next to the windows.

What strikes me is the starkness and the simplicity. Nothing garish, nothing ornate, nothing cumbersome and nothing big. In the second still frame above where she's in the corner leaning on the chair, there's nothing in that part of the room except for the drapes! Fabulous.

That studio sofa (if that's what you call it) would be a perfect addition to our library. I'm contemplating building something in that vein using a twin mattress as a starting point and going from there. Follow craigwoodworks.blogspot.com to check on its progress. Assuming I do get started on it of course.

And, uh, about the Chinese thing she did with the lamp shade over her head... It was 1954 after all.

The Incredibles

2009-04-16T20:22:00.001-07:00

In preparation for my new line of midcentury modern inspired furniture pieces, I was gonna do a little pictorial of screenshots from The Incredibles showcasing that film's 50's smooth style.

And then I found this:

http://www.midcenturymodernist.com/2009/04/mid-century-modern-idealism-in-the-incredibles.html

Oh, midcenturymodernist, you beat me to it!

Dollhouse

2009-04-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

Spotted. Click on the big Play icon in the middle of the Hulu window above to view a quick clip of the Dollhouse.

OK, Dollhouse isn't a movie, but it's a fabulous way to start this quest into finding examples of MidCentury Modern furniture on screen. It's the small screen instead of the big screen, but it'll do. Or in this case it's the smaller screen instead of the small screen 'cause it's a clip in a viewer on a computer screen and not an actual TV screen.

And it's a Nelson Bench! From watching other episodes of Dollhouse, the set decorators seem to have placed 6 foot Nelson benches throughout the hallways of the underground Dollhouse complex. The dolls need places to sit when roaming the halls aimlessly, so why not have them sit in style, right?