Tagged: Single-Breasted Suit
David Suchet’s Herringbone Suit as Hercule Poirot in The Mysterious Affair at Styles
David Suchet as Hercule Poirot in the 1990 episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot: “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”
Vitals
David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, fastidious Belgian refugee and former detective
Essex, England, Summer 1917
Series: Agatha Christie’s Poirot
Episode: “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” (Episode 3.01)
Air Date: September 16, 1990
Director: Ross Devenish
Costume Designer: Linda Mattock
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
“Queen of Crime” Agatha Christie was born 135 years ago today on September 15, 1890. Among her most prolific creations was the character of Hercule Poirot, a fussy Belgian detective whom she included in more than three dozen novels and short stories despite her own eventual exhaustion with the character she decried as “insufferable.” Poirot first appeared in Christie’s debut novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, first published 105 years ago next month in October 1920.
Recommended by Christie’s own family for the role, David Suchet crafted the definitive portrayal of the detective throughout 13 seasons of the ITV series Agatha Christie’s Poirot, originated by writer Clive Exton in 1989. To commemorate the centenary of Christie’s birth, ITV aired the feature-length episode “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” between the second and third seasons which, to date, remains the only major English-language adaptation of Christie’s novel. Continue reading
Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove
Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Vitals
Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove (né Merkwürdigliebe), ex-Nazi nuclear war expert
Washington, D.C., September 1963
Film: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Release Date: January 29, 1964
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Costume Designer: Bridget Sellers
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Comedy icon Peter Sellers was born 100 years ago today on September 8, 1925, making today an ideal opportunity to celebrate Stanley Kubrick’s political satire that featured Sellers in one three of his most memorable roles. Continue reading
Richard Arlen’s White Suit in Island of Lost Souls
Richard Arlen in Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Vitals
Richard Arlen as Edward Parker, shipwrecked sailor
South Pacific, Summer 1932
Film: Island of Lost Souls
Release Date: December 23, 1932
Director: Erle C. Kenton
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The old maxim that a gentleman shouldn’t wear white after Labor Day has long grown outdated, but those looking for one last hurrah in summer whites can find inspiration in Erle C. Kenton’s pre-Code sci-fi/horror adventure Island of Lost Souls.
Set on the titular island (but actually filmed on Catalina), this adaptation of H.G. Wells’ 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau stars Charles Laughton as the eponymous Moreau and Richard Arlen as the shipwrecked Edward Parker, who finds himself at Moreau’s mercy on the island.
The sole survivor from the sunken S.S. Lady Vain, Parker is plucked from the sea aboard the Covina, where he’s treated by the enigmatic ex-doctor Montgomery (Arthur Hohl)—who seems more in command of the ship and its strange animal cargo than the drunken Captain Davies (Stanley Fields), who grumblingly describes their mysterious destination as “Dr. Moreau’s island, and it stinks all over the whole South Seas.”
Parker soon understands this criticism firsthand after discovering that Moreau has been dissecting men and beasts and combining their DNA into grotesque hybrid creatures, snarling in response: “Now I can understand why you and your island stink from one end of the South Seas to the other!” To keep Parker distracted and further his own experimentation, Moreau introduces him to the alluring Lota (Kathleen Burke) without explaining that she is part-panther.
Born 126 years ago today on September 1, 1899 (and shockingly only two months younger than Laughton), Arlen was cast after Randolph Scott was initially considered to play Parker. One of the most prominent actors of the 1920s and ’30s, Arlen brought his experience as a Canadian Royal Flying Corps pilot to his starring role in the first-ever winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, Wings (1927). Though his stature waned in later decades, Arlen was one of the few major silent-era stars to successfully transition onto television, with guest appearances on dozens of shows until his death in March 1976. Continue reading
Terence Stamp’s Dark Plaid Suit in The Limey
Terence Stamp as Wilson in The Limey (1999)
Vitals
Terence Stamp as David Wilson, hardened English professional criminal
Los Angeles to Big Sur, California, Fall 1998
Film: The Limey
Release Date: October 8, 1999
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
One week ago today, British screen icon Terence Stamp died at the age of 87, following a six-decade career that began with his Oscar-nominated titular performance in Billy Budd (1962) and roles in the Superman and Star Wars franchises.
Steven Soderbergh’s offbeat crime caper The Limey (1999) provided the rare late-career starring role for the sixtysomething Stamp, starring as the laconic English criminal Wilson who arrives in Los Angeles seeking answers—and revenge—after his actress daughter Jenny’s death in a mysterious car accident. Continue reading
The Naked Gun: Leslie Nielsen’s Taupe Suit as Frank Drebin
Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun (1988)
Vitals
Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin, straight-talking police lieutenant
Los Angeles, Spring 1988
Film: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Release Date: December 2, 1988
Director: David Zucker
Costume Designer: Mary E. Vogt
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
As this year’s The Naked Gun continues to draw laughs, let’s flashback to 1988 when audiences first saw the bumbling Frank Drebin on the big screen.
After decades in dramatic roles (save for a zany turn in the first season of M*A*S*H), Leslie Nielsen’s comic potential was first appropriately realized when David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker cast the Canadian actor as Dr. Rumack in Airplane!, their 1980 spoof of disaster films.
The movie’s success—and Nielsen’s deadpan delivery—prompted ZAZ to craft a send-up of classic cop shows like M Squad, continuing their usual blend of slapstick, sight gags, and verbal puns. Police Squad! debuted as a mid-season replacement in March 1982, introducing viewers to “Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective-Lieutenant, Police Squad”. Critically acclaimed for its sense of humor far ahead of contemporary programming, Police Squad! was nonetheless canceled by ABC after only six episodes were produced.
Luckily, ZAZ never gave up on Nielsen’s character, co-writing a screenplay with Pat Proft that retooled the formula for a movie that would become arguably one of the funniest comedies of all time, spawning two sequels (which also starred Nielsen as Drebin) and the 2025 continuation with Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. Continue reading
Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter
Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Vitals
Robert Mitchum as Harry Powell, self-described preacher and serial-killing swindler
West Virginia, Summer 1930
Film: The Night of the Hunter
Release Date: July 26, 1955
Director: Charles Laughton
Wardrobe Credit: Jerry Bos
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 108 years ago today on August 6, 1917, Robert Mitchum delivered arguably the greatest performance of his prolific career in Charles Laughton’s 1955 gothic horror masterpiece The Night of the Hunter, which premiered 70 years ago last month in Des Moines, Iowa. Laughton’s first and only directorial effort was negatively received upon its release, though decades of reassessment have elevated its reputation and it’s now included on lists among the best movies ever made. Continue reading
Daniel Craig’s Cream Linen Suit in Queer
Daniel Craig as William Lee in Queer (2024)
Vitals
Daniel Craig as William Lee, dissolute American expatriate
Mexico City, Spring 1951 and 1953
Film: Queer
Release Date: November 27, 2024
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Costume Designer: Jonathan Anderson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Following the success of Challengers earlier in the year, director Luca Guadagnino kept his 2024 momentum going with Queer, adapted from the 1985 novella by Beat Generation icon William S. Burroughs—who died 28 years ago today, on August 2, 1997. Daniel Craig stars as William Lee, a clear stand-in for Burroughs, complete with the author’s distinctive wardrobe, substance issues, and ever-present handgun—albeit with some of the rougher edges sanded down for the screen. Continue reading
The Great Gatsby: Sam Waterston’s Tan Suit as Nick
Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby (1974)
Vitals
Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway, impressionable bachelor and bond salesman
Long Island, New York, Summer 1925
Film: The Great Gatsby
Release Date: March 29, 1974
Director: Jack Clayton
Costume Designer: Theoni V. Aldredge
Clothes by: Ralph Lauren
Background
Published 100 years ago this spring, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s generation-defining novel The Great Gatsby has been adapted for the screen several times, though many continue to consider Jack Clayton’s 1974 film the definitive cinematic depiction to date. The story of star-crossed lovers Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford) and Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow) is observed through the neutral lens of their mutual acquaintance, Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston), an Ivy League grad and war veteran from the Midwest clearly modeled after Fitzgerald himself. Continue reading
Summertime: Rossano Brazzi’s Glen Plaid Suit
Rossano Brazzi as Renato de Rossi in Summertime (1955)
Vitals
Rossano Brazzi as Renato de Rossi, antique store owner
Venice, Summer 1954
Film: Summertime
Release Date: June 21, 1955
Director: David Lean
Costume Designer: Rosi Gori (uncredited)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Summertime is here! And by that I mean both the fact that Friday was the summer solstice and that David Lean’s Venetian romance Summertime was released in the United States seventy years ago yesterday on June 21, 1955, nearly a month after its Venice premiere.
Like Lean’s 1940s dramas Brief Encounter and The Passionate Friends, Summertime lushly depicts the intense romance between two strangers—in this case, the American tourist Jane Hudson (Katharine Hepburn) and the dashing local antiques dealer Renato de Rossi (Rossano Brazzi), whom she meets during her long-awaited summer vacation to Venice.
Lazing across a few chairs in Piazza San Marco, Renato first observes Jane while she’s filming the square. She’s initially oblivious to his attention, then becomes uncomfortably befuddled by it and hurries out of the area. Continue reading
Ben Johnson’s Cream Suit in The Town That Dreaded Sundown
Ben Johnson in The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
Vitals
Ben Johnson as J.D. Morales, Texas Rangers company captain
Texarkana, Arkansas, Spring 1946
Film: The Town That Dreaded Sundown
Release Date: December 24, 1976
Director: Charles B. Pierce
Wardrobe Credit: Karen Jones & Bonnie Langriff
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Born 107 years ago on June 13, 1918, Ben Johnson was an Academy Award-winning actor and—like his father, Ben Sr.—a bona fide cowboy and rodeo champion.
Johnson’s screen career appropriately began as a stuntman in Howard Hughes’ controversial 1943 film The Outlaw, establishing the start of a half-century career that began with Westerns like 3 Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Shane (1953), Hang ‘Em High (1968), and The Wild Bunch (1969). After a more dramatic performance in The Last Picture Show (1971) resulted in Johnson’s sole Oscar win, the middle-aged actor diversified his filmography with major roles in non-Westerns like The Getaway (1972), Dillinger (1973), Red Dawn (1984), and Angels in the Outfield (1994).
Since today’s commemoration of Johnson’s birthday also falls on Friday the 13th, it feels appropriate to focus on one of the actor’s first of few forays into horror. The Town That Dreaded Sundown was loosely based on the real-life Texarkana Moonlight Murders when a still-unknown “Phantom Killer” attacked eight people—killing five—through the spring of 1946. Filmed on location in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas through the hot summer of 1976, The Town That Dreaded Sundown erroneously centered most of the action around Texarkana, Arkansas, which initially resulted in the city threatening director Charles B. Pierce… but has since become an annual Halloween tradition during Texarkana’s “Movies in the Park” series.
Johnson’s cowboy background and persona suited his performance as Captain J.D. Morales, based on the case’s actual lead investigator: Manuel T. “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas. Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.