TCM is showing A Matter of Life and Death (aka Stairway to Heaven), a lesser-known gem of Powell and Pressburger. David Niven is supposed to die in a plane crash, but his plane goes off course and the angel misses him. Low-key English hilarity ensues.

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The enormous royal barge is being rowed by long ranks of enslaved oarsmen propelling the two lovers into the darkened sea (toward paradise?) to the suggestive, seductive, cadenced beat and rhythm of the drummer.

- Cleopatra's love for Antony is re-kindled when he assembles the troops to do battle with Octavian, Caesar's nephew and heir. Cleopatra falls dramatically at Antony's feet to pledge herself to him, and he vows to fight with her, disavowing his allegiance to Rome:

Cleopatra: I've seen a god come to life. I'm no longer a queen. I'm a woman.
Antony: You choose me, Cleopatra, against the world.
Cleopatra: Against the world.
Antony: Then we'll meet it. We'll smash it to pieces, put it together again, and call it ours! War!...
Cleopatra: So Rome would forgive and take you back. And all they demand is for us to part. Why don't they ask the sun to fall right out of the sky?
Antony: Yes, we'll fight them. We'll fight them all, if we have to fight alone.

Stock footage from DeMille's own The Ten Commandments (1923) comprises some of the montage's action of attacking chariots, footsoldiers with shields and swords, flames catapulted from one ship to another, and exciting hand-to-hand combat. The elaborately-staged sea battle, especially the Battle of Actium, the greatest sea battle ever up to that time, is fought between Octavian's legions in Rome and Egypt.

- Later, in the film's finale, after Cleopatra has unsuccessfully attempted to have Octavian spare Antony's life in exchange for Egypt's crown, she witnesses Antony's death (he has fallen on his own sword, believing that she has betrayed him): "I am dying Egypt, dying." Realizing that she will be quickly conquered, Cleopatra is attended to by her loyal handmaidens - she is dressed in black with a low-cut decolletage. She requests a basket to be extended to her on the throne: "It holds victory." She removes a real, one-foot long snake/asp and applies it to her breast in one of the most memorable suicidal death scenes in film history. She sits immobile and defeated on her throne as her kingdom is conquered.

And how many actors have ever had the kind of year Colbert had in '34? Besides the Cleopatra Hec described (which I've yet to see, unfortunately), she also did Imitation of Life and It Happened One Night.

We saw Transporter 2 this weekend. Completely unbelievable. Completely fun. I can watch Jason Statham kick ass ALL DAY. Also, the BF (Mr. Car Guy) tells me that in the driving sequences, the actual shifting and whatnot was all accurate.

We saw Transporter 2 this weekend. Completely unbelievable. Completely fun.

I agree. I mean, *completely* unbelievable, second only to the Bond movie with Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist, but they really didn't need much of a plot beyond "Jason Statham kicks the shit out of people".

That movie was a delight. Jason Statham is brilliant (at doing what they asked) and it sure looked like everyone was in on the joke.

My only quibble with the movie was that he had his shirt on a bit too much.

My only quibble with the movie was that he had his shirt on a bit too much.

It's true. Somehow the trailer convinced me we were getting a homage to the greased-up shirtless scene, so I still feel cheated.

And how many actors have ever had the kind of year Colbert had in '34? Besides the Cleopatra Hec described (which I've yet to see, unfortunately), she also did Imitation of Life and It Happened One Night.

It was a pretty kickass year for her. I think Claude Rains probably had a year like that. He was in more classics than just about any other character actor I can think of: Robin Hood, Casablanca, Notorious, The Invisible Man (where he was the lead, of course)...

I bet Peter Sellers had a year like that in the 60s.