'rebel without a cause' screen test of james dean, natalie wood, and sal mineo + corresponding scene from movie

rebel without a cause is a movie i love. i have watched it countless times. i am also a fan of both james dean and natalie wood.

so i was glad to see this youtube video (uploaded by blumoon531. thanks!) of a screen test of three man actors; dean, wood and sal mineo. it is actually two tests, second one runs for few seconds and has no audio.



in the next video (uploaded by jimmysgirl. thanks!) you can see the actual (much improved) scene corresponding to the first screen test. the video contains most of the initial 'abandoned mansion' sequence of the movie and is 7 min long. screen tested scene starts at about 3.35 and continues almost to the end (in fact uploader has edited out few seconds of the sequence at the end and replaced it with few seconds a kiss from a little later).



note: second video has very low audio. if your speakers/earphones at maximum volume don't help, you might try downloading and playing it in a media player; after few minutes, audio becomes normal quality and remains so even on replay. no idea why.

for those who don't know already, all three actors in these videos died prematurely.
james dean, famously due to a car accident, at age 24, even before this film (2nd of his only 3 feature films) came out.
natalie wood, from drowning at age 43.
sal mineo was stabbed to death at age 37.

of course you can find lots of clips from movie, as well as fan made tribute music videos on youtube. there are even copies of the atrocious original trailer. i don't think full movie is there. i don't recommend watching the movie (or any other movie) on youtube if you have not seen it already. it deserves better.

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thank you john hughes for the movies

film director and screen writer john hughes has died
i adore his 80s teen movies ( the breakfast club, pretty in pink, ferris bueller's day off, some kind of wonderful, sixteen candles). they are the best of the genre. they defined and influenced a generation.

i have never tired of rewatching them. allison, bender, duckie, andie, cameron, ferris, watts, etc. will remain as endearing (and weird) and above all recognizable as part of ourselves as long as ppl watch movies and are going/have gone through adolescence.

if you have not seen them, watch them. you will never regret it. (btw you will be surprised as to how many and how much new teen films and tv dramas "borrow" from his movies.)

"the sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. they think he's a righteous dude. "

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sunday post: what does christopher marlowe, ian mckellen, richard iii, and stacey kent, have in common?

well a poem of christopher marlowe titled "the passionate shepherd to his love" or called "come live with me and be my love". watch the video.


marlowe of course was a contemporary of william shakespeare, so it was no surprise that ian mckellen and collaborators of his 1995 movie adaptation of shakespeare's richard the third used it as lyrics for a song sung by jazz singer stacey kent.

btw i love that adaptation, even though imo it rather unnecessarily cut good portion of admittedly long text of the play, because of its innovative wit in fitting 1930s britain into the text. who could forget, among other things, how the line "my kingdom for a horse" was adapted.

i got to shakespeare through richard iii. when i was a teenager my curiosity was aroused while reading robert louis stevenson's the black arrow (which like shakespeare is historically inaccurate about richard and openly admits to it). so began to read shakespeare's richard iii and then other plays. anyway i think teenage boys will like that route to shakespeare. lot of gore that way :-) .

and i love stacey kent as followers of my twitter will know. i first got to know her singing through this movie.

here is the full text of the poem "the passionate shepherd to his love" by christopher marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of th purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

you may find
text of richard iii here
screenplay of the film here
a interactive conversation with ian mckellen about film and play here

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