Yes, I agree. It gets better and better with each viewing. I first saw it as a kid as a Movie of the Week. My father wanted to watch it (cause of Ava - he loved beautiful women). I remember him boasting about it as he recollected that at the time of it's release, it was such a major event that the theaters charged viewers more money to see it.
I'm not sure that if it was at this first viewing that I realized that it was 'Julia Hoffman' that was in it, but I think so. Don't think I would have watched it through if not. Too adult in theme for a kid like me to be interested otherwise (at that time). Of course, after that viewing, I immitated Grayson's scene on the beach, (hysterical that the Sue Lyon character was 'out to sea' with the Burton character), for years. Funny, there is a scene in DS that always reminds me of this scene in the movie whenever I see it. It takes place in the present, I think it is the pre-1840 period with Sebastian Shaw, where Julia keeps seeing the signs of the impending destruction of Collinwood. Carolyn is supposed to sing a song, as one of the signs, and Julia walks into the drawing room as Carolyn is singing, and screams, "No, Carolyn, no!" I know the quote is wrong but that's how I always 'perform it' when I catch my hubby or the cats doing something "wrong". LOL. (Yes, all four of them (three cats and one hubby) think I'm nuts - heh heh. The kitties run. The hubby rolls his eyes...) It's the way Grayson 'screams' that reminds me of it. It's always fun and interesting watching DS alumni in earlier roles and catching glimpses of the actor's DS characters in said actor's previous roles in film and television.
It is now in the top five of my 'favorite films of all-time' list. Wasn't this supposed to be released earlier this year, like February? I remember there being some kind of voting thang we were all talking about and as DS fans we tried to vote to have it make a top 100 list or be considered for DVD release this year or something like that. It was on my birthday wish list. I figured the hubs would pre-order it. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't available in January for pre-order. Well, hopefully, one day it will be.
Ever since I saw it, I always yearned to visit that place. I didn't know it existed for real (if you know what I mean). Then one day I mentioned it to the hubs and I found out that it was a real place and that it was down the road from where we would be vacationing that year. I nearly fainted. Have been visiting it every year since (save one very cash-poor year). I never tire of it. and yes, I'll admit it, I mentally act out scenes from the film everytime I'm there, lol, especially when I'm on the beach,
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I hope you get to see it, Josette. I'm eager to hear what you think of it. If I got TCM I'd definitely catch it for the umpteenth time.