Book Review: Irene by Frank Billecci and Lauranne B. Fisher

Now Available to Own 
 

Complete Title:
Irene: A Designer from the Golden Age of Hollywood - The MGM Years 1942-1949

Long before the Johnny Stompanato scandal, one of the most popular stories that followed The Postman Always Rings Twice femme fatale Lana Turner around as closely as her own shadow was the old Hollywood legend that the blonde screen star had been first discovered at a drugstore.

Comprised of all the ingredients of an underdog/fish-out-of-water/Cinderella story that's since become synonymous with Hollywood movie-making, the Lana Turner legend has become almost as iconic as the all-white image of her walking into the frame of the dark world of Postman's Film Noir.

Therefore it’s only fitting that the woman responsible for creating the single-hue dominant motif of Turner’s mostly white Postman wardrobe (which led to department stores being unable to keep white garments in stock) was also discovered working in a drugstore two decades earlier herself when future MGM costume department head Irene was spotted by Mack Sennett Studio director F. Richard Jones.

Now that's a coincidence worthy of – if not a Hollywood movie – than at least Hollywood itself!

Having worked since the age of nine in her family’s South Dakota general store before catching a train to Los Angeles eight years later, Irene was a quick study everywhere she went.

Acquiring the skills she would eventually require later on when starting her own successful dress shop, Irene graduated from extra to assistant to lead actress at Sennett Studios before attending Wolfe School of Design which gave her the knowledge and confidence she needed to strike out on her own.

Initially starting out small, Irene’s figure flattering creations soon attracted a long list of private clients including the wife of future boss Louis B. Mayer and A-list actresses who wore Irene’s fashions in some of their onscreen roles without studio permission or credit to the designer.

Inspired by everything from gallery exhibitions to architecture (which she utilized to construct undergarments for Marlene Dietrich) along with the Parisian salons she visited following a personal tragedy, Irene was so successful in her own dressmaking endeavors that she initially turned Mayer down the first time he tried to hire her.

Once World War II depleted the men from the costume department, Mayer’s wife encouraged him to ask her favorite gown designer to reconsider accepting the position which she did. Negotiating a sweetheart deal, Irene was granted everything that had already been put in place by MGM’s previous head designer along with greater freedom to make top-level decisions and approve staff.

With her own loyal employees in tow and the understanding that she would be able to continue to dress her private clientele despite her new job, Irene officially made the move to MGM in 1942. Soon tasked with juggling several projects at once, one of her first big assignments was designing the scandalous costumes for longtime friend Lucille Ball’s newest project DuBarry Was a Lady.

Responsible for overseeing, designing and/or handcrafting thousands of looks throughout her career, Irene’s landmark contributions to the Golden Age of Hollywood costume design easily made her one of the earliest pioneers of the art-form and one on-par with her far more well-known peer and industry rival Edith Head.

Plagued by misfortune, heartbreak and person demons in her private life which began to take their toll on her career near the end of her MGM heyday, authors Frank Billecci and Lauranne B. Fisher (daughter of Irene’s longtime personal friend and artist Virginia Fisher) bring Irene’s legacy to vibrant life in this long-overdue book.

Compiling over one hundred and fifty breathtaking sketches and photos (including many from Virginia Fisher’s own personal collection) to augment this accessible yet well-researched text, Irene gives readers a closer understanding of one of the most unsung artisans of the 1940’s. Furthermore, the work from Schiffer Publishing is filled with insider details from and about those that knew her best.

Articulating the groundbreaking techniques she used in making the color of a costume an opera inspired musical motif for example, we realize that Irene’s efforts enhanced viewer understanding of MGM's masterpieces on a level most are completely unaware. And film fans reading Irene today will undoubtedly be eager to go back and view some of the titles she worked on to see the impact her designs made on the final cut.

Additionally, the authors recount her great friendships with performers loyal to her throughout their careers including Esther Williams and Judy Garland as well as her conflicts with Katharine Hepburn who did everything possible to sabotage the painstaking work done by Irene’s department from covering up the costumes to hide clothes she didn’t like on camera or sitting on the ground.

An engrossing and fast-paced read, Irene addresses the highs and lows of life on and off the MGM lot. Yet despite this, true film lovers do long for more in-depth analysis regarding how and why certain key pieces were crafted and the ways in which Irene worked in tandem with the production designers etc. to convey with art a chosen story, mood or theme (as evidenced in the outstanding Postman section).

Nonetheless with so many films to work into the seven year span of her tenure at MGM in a mere one hundred and forty-four pages, Irene’s scribes do an admirable job. And all in all it’s a terrific starting point for those with an interest in greater study on the medium of costume design on film which is currently at an all time high given the success of the nationally touring Hollywood Costume Exhibit.

A gorgeously illustrated and lovingly crafted work penned by the writers in tandem with Virginia Fisher, hopefully Irene will inspire further research into the still influential work of the designer who’s often overlooked in favor of her likewise extraordinarily talented peer Edith Head.

Highly recommended, while Irene makes a perfectly lovely coffee table book for fashion fans, it’s also an inspired title to pluck out of obscurity (much like Lana Turner or Irene herself in a Hollywood drugstore) and add to the holiday gift list for the cineaste in your circle of family and friends.
   

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Blu-ray Review: The Duchess (2008)

Gracing Us With Her Presence

On DVD & Blu-ray



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In Keira Knightley's most impressive performance to date, she portrays The Duchess of Devonshire a.k.a. Georgiana Spencer-- whom-- as both a distant relative of Princess Diana and as a contemporary of Marie Antoinette, has become another incredibly fascinating female historical figure who has captured biographers' attention again and again.

In director Saul Dibb's The Duchess-- one of Film Intuition's favorite films of 2008-- which was based on Amanda Foreman's biography Georgiana: The Duchess of Devonshire, we're given an intimate look at the life of the young young who was later dubbed the "Empress of Fashion" and became argably England's first "It Girl."

For the gorgeous Blu-ray transfer from Paramount Vantage, some intoxicating High Definition bonus features have been added to the film, which I'll rate along with the technical aspects, after first presenting the film's review, which was originally published upon its release on October 10, 2008.

I. The Film

Photo Source: MovieWeb

Review:

Overall, while period pictures or costume dramas have always been popular (Ben Hur, Spartacus, etc.), with very few exceptions-- including Cleopatra and Out of Africa-- it's been a largely male dominated genre. History after all begins with the letters H-I-S but over the past decade and most notably since Shekhar Kapur's brilliant original Elizabeth--which launched the career of the then unknown Cate Blanchett-- we've begun to catch a glimpse of the past from a feminine and/or (more often than not) feminist point-of-view.

Whether it was in Sofia Coppola's controversial re-imagining of Marie Antoinette based on the book by Antonia Fraser or in more conventional adaptations such as this year's The Other Boleyn Girl, history has suddenly become "herstory" and British director Saul Dibb's brilliant new film, The Duchess is not only the latest entry but one of the best since Blanchett portrayed the Virgin Queen in 1998.

Of course, by now we've all been presented with the unfavorable circumstances of women being bartered and legally contracted into marriage or traded as though they were cattle for their ability to produce a male heir. Not to mention, we're familiar with the sad truth that one must either marry well or become a spinster governess in both the films and the novels of Austen and the Bronte sisters. Still, The Duchess manages to drive this home even further in its extremely effective structure by presenting this situation nearly completely from our heroine's point-of-view.

While admittedly one could say that Keira Knightley has agreed to star in one too many period pieces (coming off the heels of Pride and Prejudice, Atonement and the Pirates of the Caribbean films among others), she turns in her best work in her most mature performance to date as Georgiana Spencer.

Spirited and beautiful-- the natural people-pleaser who'd always been the center of attention-- Georgiana became, as Paramount Vangage's press release notes, England's first authentic "It Girl." Often dubbed the Empress of Fashion, Georgiana is plunged into the spotlight from relative obscurity after her ambitious mother, the Lady Spencer (Charlotte Rampling) negotiates the socially advantageous marriage with the middle aged Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes) with the promise that her teenage daughter will bear him a son.

Cold, ill-mannered, and far more at ease seducing maids and playing with his dogs than talking to his new young wife, as Georgiana's closest friend the Lady Elizabeth "Bess" Foster phrases it, it seems as though Fiennes' Duke is the only man in London not in love with his wife. Prone to leaving dinner parties filled with politicians as soon as he's finished eating or roughly handling his wife when fulfilling his procreational duties, the Duke quickly surprises Georgiana with the arrival of Charlotte, a daughter he'd fathered years earlier. While fortunately Georgianna takes to the young girl at once and becomes the mother the orphaned girl had always wanted, unfortunately for the Duke, she conceives and births two additional daughters and the pressure to produce a son drives their already strained marriage further apart.

Seeking solace in apparel she designs and in the company of others, she finds what she assumes will be a friend for life in the far worldlier but troubled Lady Elizabeth a.k.a. "Bess" (played by Hayley Atwell), who has suffered far more devastating crimes in her own marriage. Yet when the Duke makes a move on Bess, suddenly their friendship is jeopardized when initially a love triangle is formed, which grows into a quadrangle after Georgina discovers a passion of her own when she becomes reacquainted with a youthful crush, Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper).

Fresh out of Cambridge and climbing the ranks in Parliament, Grey's devotion to changing England for the better with the Whig Party inspires Georgiana to get involved and as noted by Paramount, "determined to be a player in the wider affairs of the world, she proved that she could out-gamble, out-drink and outwit most of the aristocratic men that surrounded her." However, when she tries to carve out a piece of her own romantic happiness, everything comes tumbling down as the Duchess is forced to choose between duty, family and love much "like her direct descendant Princess Diana."

As Knightley told Josh Patner in the November issue of Glamour Magazine, she was fascinated by the prospect of playing someone so complicated, describing the Duchess as the type of individual who "can be lonely in a huge group of people" which reminded me of her French contemporary, Marie Antoinette ("Keria for Real," pg. 230). And since as the title connotes, it is the Duchess with whom we identify throughout the film--based on Amanda Foreman's award-winning and critically acclaimed biography Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire-- Knightley gives her character her all as we feel her small joys and pain throughout.

And while on the first viewing, it's Knightley's show all the way and I'd be extremely surprised if this didn't garner her at least an Academy Award nomination, in viewing it a second time, I was struck by the entire cast, most notably Hayley Atwell. Following up a role in Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream, the icy and unsuccessful period piece Brideshead Revisited and an excellent Irish sleeper How About You-- 2008 is Atwell's year for dynamic supporting work and she's truly a marvel in a role that is easily as complicated as our leading lady's.

And rebounding from the disastrous Mamma Mia! in a role that finally did justice to his phenomenal History Boys buzz, Dominic Cooper makes a dishy young hearthrob but it's the former hearthrob Ralph Fiennes who definitely surprises. While not as easily evil as his work as Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter-- especially since as loathsome as the Duke is, he is also a product of his time-- Fiennes shows a quiet, powerful, and off-putting side in a commanding portrayal of a man who rarely seems comfortable in his own skin and, much like his wife, always gives off the impression he'd rather be somewhere else entirely.

Penned by the director, Casanova screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher and After the Wedding's Anders Thomas Jensen, this sumptuously ravishing period piece is far more than a deceptively pretty little picture. Additionally, it manages to avoid the surface level trappings of its genre. And as a nice change of pace to the testosterone-fueled historical epics like Braveheart and Gladiator, by offering a look at a time and place from a woman's perspective, it helps to breathe much needed life and offer a more irresistible approach to a classical genre. One of the most impressive new films of the fall, The Duchess is highly recommended, especially for mothers and their teenage daughters to see together to promote a worthwhile dialogue about gender and history.

II. The Blu-ray

The superlative picture quality and emphasis on natural candle based light actually improves upon the digital transfer to televisions which can adjust the brightness of the color in order to either make things more vivid, help with the contrast or make the period world seem a bit crisper in one's living room.

Yet, one major flaw with the Blu-ray is that-- even with an HDMI cord obtaining the highest audio transfer possible-- the sound was overly quiet, much like the DVD of Knightley's Best Picture nominee from the year before, Atonement. With music and sound effects drowning out the dialogue, I found myself constantly playing with the remote, trying to balance the sound settings specifically for the film and grudgingly cranking the sound up to 50 in order to make out a conversation between Knightley and her mother, played by Charlotte Rampling.

Although thankfully, subtitles are offered so that we can read what we are missing on the audio track-- it detracts somewhat from the experience, yet fortunately the film still packs a wallop in Dibb's dedication to bring audiences a 360 degree world of the time, as he notes in the 23 minute "How Far She Went...Making The Duchess" featurette.

Learning there was much more to Georgiana's life than what appeared on the screen, we discover that she secretly battled with numerous difficulties including a gambling addiction and subsequent debt, battle with bulimia, and drug abuse which author and biographer Foreman attributes to the "crippling effect" that overwhelming scrutiny, notoriety, and fame had on the young woman.



With a disregard for traditional manners in favor of addressing people with warmth and in energetic earnest, historians discuss the life of the woman and take us to numerous real locations such as Chatsworth and the Old Vic which were used in the film in the wondrous "making-of" featurette."



Also including insights from the three main stars both on their own characters and each other as Fiennes and Atwell marvel at Knightley's stamina and talent, special consideration is also given to the makeup and wardrobe department as they explain not only how much work went into each selection and in preparing Knightley (sometimes adorning her with wigs that were so heavy she couldn't move her neck) but also, in the "Costume Diary" extra, the way that the young women's wardrobe (as evidenced in the photos) changes over time as Knightley is first seen in pale colors and ends in a dark gown and Atwell is given the opposite approach, to add subtextual layers to their characters.



Like Coppola's Marie Antoinette, the production design and costuming are first rate but history buffs will also want to explore the mini-featurette "Georgianna In Her Own Words" as we listen to the letters written by the Duchess and note the way that her handwriting, personality, and outlook changed from her initial correspondence as "a young girl trying to be a grown up" to the amount of pressure and insecurity she faced in continually being unable to bear the Duke a son.



Although this extra runs a brief seven minutes and you'll find yourself wishing the Blu-ray had come as a gift set complete with Foreman's book to get the fullest picture possible on the beautiful Duchess, it's a remarkable work that I'm hoping will garner the audience it should've received initially now that it's been made available on DVD and Blu-ray, which nicely hits shelves just following Ralph Fiennes' recent Golden Globe nomination for his performance.

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