when set design comes home

In the early 1930s, Hollywood set designer Cedric Gibbons
designed and furnished a home that he felt reflected
the image of his wife - Dolores Del Rio.



Sleek, modern, dressed up in white, even the name of this type of architecture-
"the International Style"- described her.
This home was an architectural statue of the Mexican-born movie star.
It is just as gorgeous as she.






Apparently it still is. Here's how the house looked in March 2008:

Here are some current photos on Flickr:

There are some absolutely stunning photos of Ms Del Rio in her home
that show off the fabulous furnishings. I found them in a book
The Power of Glamour by Annette Tapert (1998) but couldn't find them
on-line to share here. If anyone can find them,
let me know and I'll include them too.

These images I took come from:
Twilight (1998)
directed by Robert Benton
cinematography by Piotr Sobocinski

comments policy

Are you other bloggers getting spammed as much as I am in the comments?
It's reaching epic proportions around here.
I'm tired of clicking on links that take me places no lady would voluntarily go, so
for the next little while at least I'm going to be ruthless about which comments I publish.

If there is no meaningful content relating to that particular post, I will disregard and not publish such comments.

Hopefully this spamming will calm down soon and we can get back to regular social intercourse.

an nice art deco start to the new year

Why is Garbo so upset?
I'll bet it's the thought of having to leave this gorgeous set at
the end of filming The Kiss.

I was a little upset myself at the thought of never getting to see this
Art Deco masterpiece of set design. Luckily there are a few brief shots shown
during the biography film included in The Garbo Silents DVD from TCM.





Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the film quality is very poor.
I imagine the cost of restoring each clip of film for a biographical
featurette would be economically unfeasible.

A sepia tone brings out a little more detail - notice the carpet below, for example:



Notice everything, in fact. It seems one couldn't move recklessly past
some of this angled furniture without snagging one's clothing.
Aw, but it surely is beautiful.
I certainly wouldn't turn down the chance to create this setting
should it be offered.

The Kiss (1929)
directed by Jacques Feyder
cinematography by William Daniels
art direction by Cedric Gibbons

happy new year 2010

Flesh and the Devil (1926)

Happy New Year, all!
May there be many new and
exciting film discoveries all year long....