Oh John Dall, light of my world.
Feb. 10th, 2012 04:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabinetzinSo, for reasons, more for distraction and soothing purposes than anything else, I ended up looking around for pictures of attractive men on the tumblr. And y'know, I just- I was having trouble. My future husband James McAvoy wasn't doing it for me, there are no good pictures of my Space Boyfriend, Tom Hardy's fans mostly want to talk about how he's adorable and not how he could toss you around the room (rawr).
And I realized what I really needed was Loomers.
This is a very special category of dudes (I say dudes because I have never seen a female loomer, but I like short girls, so idk.). Ideally, they need to be about six feet tall, though I have seen shorter men loom with ease, they need to be dark-haired, and they need to be intense. Like, they just need to have that "I could fuck you up" kind of look. Attractive and threatening is the name of the game, ladies and gentlemen. They're loomers. They loom.
I feel like looming is a dying art, but we are not without loomers in this day and age. Michael Fassbender is a loomer. Loki is a loomer- I say Loki and not Tom Hiddleston because we all know you take him out of that costume and five seconds later there is no looming left to be found.
But for really good looming, we need to step back in time. Vincent Price is, perhaps, the canonical loomer- and you can all eat me cause I think he's hot as hell. Stepping back further, Boris Karloff is a loomer- again, idgaf, he does things to me in The Mummy.
But the grandest, greatest, and most complex of the loomers is John Dall, light of my world. John Dall didn't make many movies; a lot of the ones he was in were really good and really important, but they were un(der)appreciated at the time.
John Dall's looming is probably my favorite because it's that complicated, fucked-up, "you drove me to this" sort of looming. LOOK AT THIS LOOMING. YOU SEE WHAT HE IS DOING HERE. THIS IS HIGH QUALITY LOOMING.
This obviously led me to rewatch Rope, and god, you have no idea how much I fucking love Rope. I'm a Hitchcock nerd from way back, right, though I've been backsliding in recent years, and Rope will always be my favorite. Rope is my favorite movie, ever. All the movies that I would put on my top ten or five or whatever list are movies that I am impressed by for some reason and that I am willing to watch over and over (you have no idea how many times I've seen Murder By Death or The Fifth Element. I have no idea how many times I've seen Murder By Death or The Fifth Element).
Rope is the one movie that I can watch over and over and over again and be blown away by every single time. I am always stunned when I see that movie. It is eighty minutes long and every one of them is perfectly constructed.
GOD I LOVE THIS FUCKING MOVIE SO HARD YOU GUYS YOU HAVE NO IDEA.
And god, John Dall plays such a crazy motherfucker in that movie and I love it. His character (Brandon) and Farley Granger's (Phillip), my god, they have such a fucked up codependent relationship. Brandon has total control over Phillip, and Phillip resents him for it, but Brandon needs his approval, but also Brandon likes to smack him around when he acts out and epotiahpaosdjfs;dlk.
And the first thing they do in the movie is murder someone, and it is basically just their way of having sex, as their dialogue will show. This dialogue does not demonstrate that 1) Brandon lights up a cigarette right after they finish their murder 2) he spends a lot of time during this holding a bottle of champagne, and his hand is on the neck and he is twisting it and Phillip finally takes it and pops it and Brandon sighs and GOD HITCHCOCK DID YOU THINK THIS WAS SUBTLE OR DID YOU THINK IT WAS HILARIOUS 3) John Dall makes sex faces all the time, esp. when he's doing something bad and thinks he's just gotten away with it.
And oh my GOD it didn't strike me until I was rewatching it that Brandon and Erik are SO MUCH ALIKE that it kind of boggled my mind a little. A lot of the movie is characters discussing whether or not some people have the right to kill, and Brandon keeps talking about "lesser men" and how they "merely occupy space" and need to be eliminated.
Y'all.
The only difference between them is that somebody straight up calls Brandon out and says he sounds like Hitler. Whoops.
And John Dall was queer and Farley Granger is queer and Farley Granger says everybody on that production knew it was gay except Jimmy Stewart and you cannot TELL me that John Dall and Farley Granger were not doing it. I REJECT YOUR REALITY. I am so actively seized of this notion that if I ever meet Farley Granger, I am going to ask him about it TO HIS FACE.
HOLY SHIT AS I WAS WRITING THIS ENTRY I WENT TO LOOK AND FOUND OUT HE DIED LAST YEAR. AND NO ONE TOLD ME. DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD:
By god, when we meet in Hell, me, him, and John Dall are gonna have a sit-down. Because nobody likes Rope as much as I do.
But if you're inspired, here is some Rope fic what I wrote, and here is some John Dall RPF. Also I spammed the tumblr with him. So there's that.
And now it's five in the morning, and it's not a coincidence that this entry makes NO SENSE. So whatever. Loomers, won't you?
And I realized what I really needed was Loomers.
This is a very special category of dudes (I say dudes because I have never seen a female loomer, but I like short girls, so idk.). Ideally, they need to be about six feet tall, though I have seen shorter men loom with ease, they need to be dark-haired, and they need to be intense. Like, they just need to have that "I could fuck you up" kind of look. Attractive and threatening is the name of the game, ladies and gentlemen. They're loomers. They loom.
I feel like looming is a dying art, but we are not without loomers in this day and age. Michael Fassbender is a loomer. Loki is a loomer- I say Loki and not Tom Hiddleston because we all know you take him out of that costume and five seconds later there is no looming left to be found.
But for really good looming, we need to step back in time. Vincent Price is, perhaps, the canonical loomer- and you can all eat me cause I think he's hot as hell. Stepping back further, Boris Karloff is a loomer- again, idgaf, he does things to me in The Mummy.
But the grandest, greatest, and most complex of the loomers is John Dall, light of my world. John Dall didn't make many movies; a lot of the ones he was in were really good and really important, but they were un(der)appreciated at the time.
John Dall's looming is probably my favorite because it's that complicated, fucked-up, "you drove me to this" sort of looming. LOOK AT THIS LOOMING. YOU SEE WHAT HE IS DOING HERE. THIS IS HIGH QUALITY LOOMING.
This obviously led me to rewatch Rope, and god, you have no idea how much I fucking love Rope. I'm a Hitchcock nerd from way back, right, though I've been backsliding in recent years, and Rope will always be my favorite. Rope is my favorite movie, ever. All the movies that I would put on my top ten or five or whatever list are movies that I am impressed by for some reason and that I am willing to watch over and over (you have no idea how many times I've seen Murder By Death or The Fifth Element. I have no idea how many times I've seen Murder By Death or The Fifth Element).
Rope is the one movie that I can watch over and over and over again and be blown away by every single time. I am always stunned when I see that movie. It is eighty minutes long and every one of them is perfectly constructed.
GOD I LOVE THIS FUCKING MOVIE SO HARD YOU GUYS YOU HAVE NO IDEA.
And god, John Dall plays such a crazy motherfucker in that movie and I love it. His character (Brandon) and Farley Granger's (Phillip), my god, they have such a fucked up codependent relationship. Brandon has total control over Phillip, and Phillip resents him for it, but Brandon needs his approval, but also Brandon likes to smack him around when he acts out and epotiahpaosdjfs;dlk.
And the first thing they do in the movie is murder someone, and it is basically just their way of having sex, as their dialogue will show. This dialogue does not demonstrate that 1) Brandon lights up a cigarette right after they finish their murder 2) he spends a lot of time during this holding a bottle of champagne, and his hand is on the neck and he is twisting it and Phillip finally takes it and pops it and Brandon sighs and GOD HITCHCOCK DID YOU THINK THIS WAS SUBTLE OR DID YOU THINK IT WAS HILARIOUS 3) John Dall makes sex faces all the time, esp. when he's doing something bad and thinks he's just gotten away with it.
And oh my GOD it didn't strike me until I was rewatching it that Brandon and Erik are SO MUCH ALIKE that it kind of boggled my mind a little. A lot of the movie is characters discussing whether or not some people have the right to kill, and Brandon keeps talking about "lesser men" and how they "merely occupy space" and need to be eliminated.
Y'all.
The only difference between them is that somebody straight up calls Brandon out and says he sounds like Hitler. Whoops.
And John Dall was queer and Farley Granger is queer and Farley Granger says everybody on that production knew it was gay except Jimmy Stewart and you cannot TELL me that John Dall and Farley Granger were not doing it. I REJECT YOUR REALITY. I am so actively seized of this notion that if I ever meet Farley Granger, I am going to ask him about it TO HIS FACE.
HOLY SHIT AS I WAS WRITING THIS ENTRY I WENT TO LOOK AND FOUND OUT HE DIED LAST YEAR. AND NO ONE TOLD ME. DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD:
By god, when we meet in Hell, me, him, and John Dall are gonna have a sit-down. Because nobody likes Rope as much as I do.
But if you're inspired, here is some Rope fic what I wrote, and here is some John Dall RPF. Also I spammed the tumblr with him. So there's that.
And now it's five in the morning, and it's not a coincidence that this entry makes NO SENSE. So whatever. Loomers, won't you?
(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-10 01:44 pm (UTC)No devouring necessary, I agree with you. Vincent Price in Laura. Mmmm.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-10 09:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-10 02:01 pm (UTC)I have never seen Rope, and you have convinced me this is a tragedy that needs to be rectified as soon as possible.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-10 02:14 pm (UTC)*trundles off to read your Rope fic!*
(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-10 05:48 pm (UTC)Will definitely have to look up Rope. Sounds like it's worth watching!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-10 09:02 pm (UTC)(You've seen Stonehenge Apocalypse, right? Because it was a robot head.)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-11 02:50 am (UTC)I may need to start making a list!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-11 02:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-10 09:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-11 01:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-11 01:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-11 02:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-11 03:00 am (UTC)more loomers?
Date: 2012-02-11 06:04 am (UTC)Male friends are suggesting (but not agreeing upon) female loomers: Vasquez from Aliens, Sigourney Weaver (depends on role), Ivanova, Aeryn Sun.
Re: more loomers?
Date: 2012-02-11 09:24 am (UTC)Mmmm, Aeryn Sun, she's a hell of a loomer.