Celebrating a Seventh Anniversary

Seven years ago this week Once Upon a Screen went into production for the first time in hopes that a love and an admiration for classic movies would be shared. Whether the sharing has made a difference to anyone but me I doubt, but it has been an interesting journey so far. Certainly this is a cause to celebrate.

To those who visit this blog I am sincerely grateful for your continued support. To those who have taken the time to leave comments, the tidbits of classic goodness I learn from, I say THANK YOU and offer Cary Grant, a glass of beer, and a Diego Rivera painting…

 

The traditional gifts for a seventh anniversary are wool and Topper…so I offer seven wool gift ideas:

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…and seven images from Norman Z. McLeod‘s TOPPER (1937)…

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An anniversary is a great time to reflect on the previous year to see what I most enjoyed and to remind myself why it is that I blog. The why is simple – I still love these darn movies and movie stars and enjoy sharing my thoughts and fabulous images on this blog. I do it or myself. The bottom line is always the enjoyment factor, the escape and learning more about the films, filmmakers and players. That said, this has been a difficult blogging year. Personal and work-related activities have kept me from posting as often as I would have liked. Still, people showed up to visit this blog more often than ever before, which is wonderful.

I particularly enjoyed revisiting with movies and TV shows to post the following entries…

 

As part of this year’s celebration I thought it would be fun to recommend seven movies with “Seven” in the title. It just so happens that these seven are actually my seven favorites.

  1. Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954)

An epic for all time and for all people. Seven warriors defend a poor village from bandits. You’ll never be the same again.

 

2. John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven (1960)

This is a remake of Kurosawa’s masterpiece in Western style. This doesn’t offer the impact of the original, nor the style and grace, but a fantastic cast makes this a genre favorite and time well spent.

 

3. John Frankenheimer’s Seven Days in May (1964)

This is a topical, terrific political thriller, which centers on plans to overthrow the U.S. president featuring a cast of Hollywood heavy hitters.

 

4. Melville Shavelson’s The Seven Little Foys (1955)

A favorite since I was a child, this musical comedy take on the life of vaudevillian, Eddie Foy is a delight. James Cagney reprising his role as George M. Cohan for a soft shoe duel with Bob Hope is the highlight and worth the price of admission.

 

5. David Fincher’s SE7EN (1995)

The seven deadly sins as illustrated in this 1995 crime thriller still disturbs. It is memorable.

 

6. Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) 

Walt Disney’s first animated feature length film was also America’s. For that alone I’d say every movie fan worth his/her salt must visit with this classic. Snow White received a standing ovation upon its conclusion at the Carthay Circle Theatre when it premiered in 1937 and I am inclined to give it one today. Yes, the animation is still wonderful and the music catchy, but consider this also features one of the greatest villains ever to appear on film. “Mirror, mirror..” this is still one of the greatest of them all.

 

 

7. Stanley Donen’s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

“A real standout is the acrobatic hoedown staged around a barn-raising shindig, during which six of the title’s seven brothers vie in love rivalry with the town boys for the favor of the mountain belles.” – Variety

Dancing, music, color, energy – the dream factory at its best.

 

There you have it – another year, another celebration, and another chance to look back at the best that ever existed. Thank you again for visiting this blog, for your comments, your support, knowledge, and overall sense of fun.

Aurora

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Oh dear. I am so embarrassed. It has just been brought to my attention that the gifts for a seventh anniversary are wool and copper, not Topper. I hope you’ll forgive this misunderstanding and accept this copper image of Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1963 film:

49 thoughts

  3. Happy Anniversary to you and your labor of love!! And, in fact, it has made a difference…for me, as inspiration! ♥️

    Reply

  5. Congrats, Aurora. It has been an extraordinary and thoroughly wonderful experience to visit and read your blog posts and meet you in person at #TCMFF. Here’s to many more. 😊

    Reply

  9. Congratulations Aurora!

    Sometimes I really miss those early days of blogging when we were still discovering others that had the same love for these movies. We had some terrific conversations and some amazing discoveries….. what a blast

    Reply

  16. Wow, hadn’t realized it’s been seven years!! They’ve been wonderfully entertaining and delightfuly educational! Thank you ❤ and here's to many, many more!

    Reply

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