From Hollywood thrillers and New Wave classics to Italian cinema hits, Manolo Blahnik unveils his favorite films to watch during the period of confinement.
Double Indemnity (1944)
Considered one of the best American films of all time by the BBC, Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity is a captivating film noir starring Barbara Stanwyck as a provocative housewife who seduces an insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) and enrols him in her Machiavellian plan to murder her husband to claim his generous life insurance policy.
Why Manolo Blahnik likes this film : “I love any Barbara Stanwyck films. She gave a performance that ended all performances in Double Indemnity... also such beautiful photography."
Possessed (1947)
In Curtis Bernhardt's Possessed, Joan Crawford plays a mentally unstable woman who, once admitted to a mental hospital after being found wandering the streets looking for a man named David, tells a doctor her complex story, a dramatic love story in which passion turns to obsession.
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All About Eve (1950)
Winner of six Oscars, this cult film shines with the unforgettable performance of Bette Davis in the role of Margo Channing, a Broadway star threatened by a young ingenue played by Anne Baxter.
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Why Manolo Blahnik likes this film : “Bette Davis is just spectacular.”
Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
A cult film by Nicholas Ray portraying middle-class youth in 1950s America. Jim Stark, played by James Dean, settles in Los Angeles where he falls in love with Judy (Natalie Wood), the girlfriend of the high school bully. James Dean's last film (he was killed in a car accident three months before the film's release), Rebel Without A Cause became the favorite film of a rebellious, pre-rock and roll youth, and perpetuated the actor in the firmament of Hollywood's sultry legends. His smoky teenage silhouette wrapped in a white T-shirt, a short jacket and old blue jeans forever forges his style as a young rascal, whose legacy has stood the test of time.
Why Manolo Blahnik likes this film : “What a marvelous film, James Dean is an icon and that jacket – I even had the same red leather biker!”
And God Created Woman (1956)
In 1952, Roger Vadim married Brigitte Bardot, a shy 18-year-old brunette dancer who he made into a bombshell in And God Created Woman, released in 1956. Having turned blonde, Brigitte Bardot plays Juliette, a young unattached woman who walks her graceful silhouette and sulky pout through the sunny streets of Saint-Tropez. She turns heads, including those of two brothers and a billionaire. On the set, Bardot fell in love with her partner Jean-Louis Trintignant. On its release, the film created a scandal that Bardot was too provocative, too naked, and too free. In 1956, morals were struggling to free themselves. In spite of herself, Bardot became the embodiment of the sexual revolution.
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Why Manolo Blahnik likes this film : “Brigitte Bardot has always been a huge source of inspiration for me through her beauty and acting, so elegant, feminine and beautiful.”
The Leopard (1963)
Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale star in this scorching film portraying the decadent and impoverished Sicilian aristocrat of the 1860s who blindly enjoys the advantages and comfort of his class, deaf to the roaring revolution that is gradually transforming the country and replacing the old world. A breathtaking adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa's famous novel that won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1963.
Why Manolo Blahnik likes this film : “Visconti represents the epitome of European visual culture. All his films are the vision of an artist captivated by beauty and sublimated in all forms. The leopard is so beautifully done.”
Translated by Freya Doggett
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