Classic Film Exchange 2024 Letter

[desertvixen]

Apologies for the lateness!  If you've started something, ignore my ramblings!

My general preferences are here.

 

MY DNWs  are unrequested mundane AU | female characters in fridges | non-con | violent dub-con | graphic violence | gore | graphic sexual violence | cruelty/death to animals | cruelty/death to children | requested character death | unrelieved grimdark | bigotry by the good guys | first or second POV | reader fic | ABO | soulbonds | wildly OOC in a non-cracky way

 

Treats are welcome!

 

 

 

 

 

House on Haunted Hill (1959) 

 

SOLO: Ruth Bridges (Haunted Hill 1959)

Frederic Loren/Annabelle Loren (Haunted Hill 1959)

Lance Schroeder/Nora Manning (Haunted Hill 1959)

Dr. David Trent/Annabelle Loren (Haunted Hill 1959)

 

I love this movie. So creepy and atmospheric, although the 1999 one has better dialogue.

 

Ruth Bridges: What does she write about this evening?

 

Frederic/Annabelle: Seems like this isn't their first attempts at trying to murder each other... How much money would she get? What are some other "accidents" (the ones mentioned or others)?

 

David/Annabelle: I would be in for a story where they get away with it but are being haunted by Frederic OR one where he's playing a longer con.

 

Lance/Norma: What happens to them after the house?

 

So if you want to write a cute romance for Lance/Norma, I’m here for it.

 

Ruth – what does she write?  Does she suspect the truth?

 

Feel free to slide towards the dark on Frederic/Annabelle or David/Annabelle.  If you’ve seen the 1999 one, I’m kind of looking for that vibe for the Price character and his wife.

 

Murder By Death (1976) 

Sidney Wang & Dick Charleston/Dora Charleston (MBD 1976)

Dick Charleston/Dora Charleston (MBD 1976)

SOLO: Dora Charleston (MBD 1976)

 

I love this movie/play.

 

Tell me about some of the previous/future adventures of the Charlestons (with or without Sidney).

 

Or, what does Dora do while Dick solves the mysteries?

 

I’m sorry, David Niven and Maggie Smith together are delightful.  Feel free to lean into how the movie parodies the famous characters, or lean towards more serious?  Do they have another house party encounter?  Feel free to go with a Clue type vibe (maybe detectives being blackmailed?  I don’t know). Feel free to mine the Thin Man movie for dialogue/suggestions if need be.

 

Murder on the Orient Express (1974) 

Colonel Arbuthnott & Mary Debenham (MOTOE 1974)

Hercule Poirot & Signor Bianchi (MOTOE 1974)

SOLO: Mary Debenham (MOTOE 1974)

 

Just realized I picked platonic instead of shippy - I would prefer shippy for these two!

 

 Poirot and Signor Bianchi - Past adventures? Future adventures?

 

Mary: Seems likes the kind of woman who has adventures in a Christie book.

 

So what happened before?  What happens after?  Does Mary have another mystery encounter to solve?  Mary Debenham seems like the sort of woman who might have encounters with the good Colonel Race.  Connery and Redgrave both nail their characters, and I’d love to see more of them.

 

And Then There Were None (1945) 

Philip Lombard/Vera Claythorne (ATTWN 1945)

SOLO: Judge Francis J. Quincannon (ATTWN 1945)

William Henry Blore & Vera Claythorne (ATTWN 1945)

Vera Claythorne & Emily Brent (ATTWN 1945)

 

I love this movie (based on the play).

 

Philip/Vera: They deserve each other, especially in this version. What happens after?

 

Judge Quincannon's plottings to make the events happen.

 

Interested in how Blore and Vera interact?

 

I love how Vera and Miss Brent interact so snarkily.

 

I love this novel.  I love this play.  I love this movie (especially the twist that neither Vera or “Philip” actually belong with the rest of the group).  What happens for Vera and “Philip” next?  Explore who they really are.  I also love how Vera is a little on the sharp side, especially with Miss Brent. 

 

The judge’s plottings to make the weekend happen?  Feel free to look at the letter in the bottle in the novel for inspiration.  Or maybe they take him alive?

 

Vera and Blore work together,  tell me about it.  Maybe save him?

 

Feel free to make Emily Brent Miss UN Owen.

 

Death on the Nile (Movie 1978) 

Rosalie Otterbourne/James Fergsuon (DOTN 1978)

Colonel Race & Miss Bowers (DOTN 1978)

 

What do Rosalie and Ferguson get up to during/after the movie?

 

More adventures with Colonel Race & Miss Bowers.

 

So Rosalie gets different treatment in all of the media, but how does it work out for her in this one?  I assume Ferguson does have the money he has in the movie.  Missing scenes with them, realizations?

 

Colonel Race and Miss Bowers dealing with more mysteries?  I’m in

 

Sabrina (1954) 

David Larrabee/Elizabeth Tyson (Sabrina 1954)

Sabrina Fairchild/David Larrabee (Sabrina 1954)

 

David/Elizabeth - What do these two get up to after the movie?

 

David/Sabrina - How might it have gone down?

 

So I feel like Elizabeth Tyson is going to lead David a merry chase and they will both enjoy it.  Tell me more.

 

Or lean into the fairy tale promise and give Sabrina a happy ever after with David.

 

 All About Eve (1950) 

SOLO: Claudia Casswell (All About Eve 1950)

Lloyd Richards/Eve Harrington (All About Eve 1950)

SOLO: Birdie Coonan (All About Eve 1950)

 

Miss Casswell - What happens to her?

 

Lloyd/Eve - How did that go down?

 

Birdie - I love her. More of her POV?

 

More about Miss Casswell!  Marilyn is so good in this role.  I love the line about Gable and sables.

 

Lloyd/Eve – feel free to show Eve being a manipulative schemer on this – how does she convince Lloyd to do something he shouldn’t?  Does she even like him or is he just a tool?

 

More of scenes in the movie from Birdie’s POV.  Does she ever find out about what Karen did?

 

Rebecca (1940) 

Beatrice Lacy & Narrator (Rebecca 1940)

Beatrice Lacy & Maxim de Winter (Rebecca 1940)

Maxim de Winter/Narrator (Rebecca 1940)

 

Interested in Beatrice's interactions.

 

Max/Narrator - What happens after the movie?

 

Pretty much what it says– how does Beatrice dela with her brother and sister-in-law? 

 

What do Max and the narrator do after, away from Manderley?  Do they ever actually go back?

 

I always thing of her as Joan after her actress.

 

Rear Window (1954) 

SOLO: Lisa Carol Fremont (Rear Windown 1954)

 

Lisa being Lisa (really too good for Jeffries) - give me more.

 

So, I’m really thinking about this Captain Awkward blog post: https://captainawkward.com/2021/05/03/1329-is-this-ever-going-to-work-out-in-my-favor/

 

The relevant bit: She ends the film in jeans, hiding a fashion magazine inside her “serious” book now that she’s “proven” to her condescending boyfriend that she can hang, even though it is her specific knowledge of women’s fashion that solves the film’s mystery. (If these characters were to manage to actually marry, I give it two years until they get divorced specifically because she took up photography as a hobby and became the more famous and successful photojournalist because she actually likes people, and he completely melted down as a result.)

 

Lisa is too good for him – tell me she realizes it, tell me she does something interesting.  If it’s photography, I applaud that!  Or something else fashion adjacent.