Category: Classic Films

Classic Films

Notorious

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Image credit: Notorious, 1946

As a rule, I hate August, but if I must suffer through it, at least I’ve got Hitchcock Week at the local revival cinema. This summer, I had the best intentions: I would skip the big movies I’ve seen a thousand times in favor of finally watching Notorious (Disc/Download), a movie I’d never seen. And then… it got hot. Very hot. So hot that leaving my house became an impossibility. I finally admitted defeat, popped in a Criterion disc, and fixed a drink. Even in a heat dome, Hitchcock Week marches on.

Starring Cary Grant as a government agent, and Ingrid Bergman as the honey trap he sets for an underground network of Nazis in South America, Notorious is a tense, sexy thriller set in Rio de Janeiro. Grant’s Agent Devlin recruits Bergman’s Alicia after her father is convicted of being a Nazi spy in Miami (Imagine! A Florida judge actually trying and sentencing a guilty man for treason! What a time to be alive!), and the two fall in love before she gets her assignment: seduce suspected Nazi Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains) to gain information about his acquaintances and plans. Devlin lets her go through with it, Alicia assumes the agent didn’t really love her after all, and she succeeds to the point of marrying Sebastian. However, Devlin is never far away, even when things become more and more dangerous for her. No spoilers, but a scene involving a wine cellar had me clutching my glass so hard I feared it would break.

Speaking of alcohol, there is a lot of it in this movie. You could certainly pop several bottles of champagne (be careful not to run out!), but I prefer to try a Brazilian classic. While watching Notorious, I recommend drinking a Rabo-de-Galo.

Rabo-de-Galo

1 ½ oz Cachaça

¾ oz Cynar

¾ oz Red Vermouth

Dash of grapefruit bitters

Orange twist (garnish)

Combine Cachaça, Cynar, Vermouth, and bitters in a shaker with ice. Stir to combine, then strain into a glass filled with large ice cubes. Garnish with a twist of orange.

Someday, I still hope to see Notorious on the big screen, preferably when it’s not over a hundred degrees and I don’t have a long walk over scorching sidewalks to the cinema. Watching at home with a cocktail is still fun, but be sure to put away all your devices and pay attention: you won’t want to miss a single look between these two glamorous spies. Cheers!

Classic Films · Uncategorized

Mandalay

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Image credit: Mandalay, 1934

My recent discovery of the classic Pegu Club on a Mississippi library lounge menu brought me to this week’s film Mandalay, a stylish Pre-Code gem starring Kay Francis and directed by Michael Curtiz. Lucky for us, we don’t have to travel far to go on a cinematic journey with cocktails.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Pre-Code movies are the best. Mandalay exemplifies all the hallmarks of what I love most about these movies through Francis’s character Tanya. Left penniless by her deadbeat boyfriend at a brothel in Rangoon, Tanya is forced to work as a “hostess” to all sorts of nefarious characters. Eventually, she draws the attention of the local police, who politely suggest she board the next boat out of town and not come back. Her destination: the cool, green hills of Mandalay. But before she can get there, she meets and falls for an alcoholic doctor on the ship, who is on his own journey to a fever-ridden area just beyond the city. Unfortunately, Tanya’s ex is also on the ship, and she’s forced to do some less-than-legal things to extract herself from his web.

Circling back to the Pegu Club cocktail, this was the signature drink served at the Pegu Club in Rangoon to British officers and businessmen. I can absolutely imagine it being served at the gentleman’s club in this movie, and “Spot White” probably would have enjoyed a few in between clients and jam sessions on the piano. While watching Mandalay, I recommend drinking a classic Pegu Club cocktail.

Pegu Club

1 ½ oz Gin

¾ oz Orange Curaçao

½ oz Lime Juice

1 dash Angostura Bitters

1 dash Orange Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a chilled coupe glass.

Eventually, Tanya and the doctor decide to atone for their sins by going to the dangerous part of Mandalay together, and their fate is left up to the viewer to decide. My opinion? Hot Doc cures the fever, they live happily ever after, and Spot White wears a new Orry-Kelly gown every single day from then on. Also, giant hats. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

Double Indemnity

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Image credit: Double Indemnity, 1944

When someone says the term “Film Noir” Double Indemnity (Disc/Download) is the first movie that comes to mind. Although there are so many other notable films in the genre, Billy Wilder’s classic about a scheming wife and the insurance salesman she ensnares to do her bidding will always be my primary touchstone for moody lighting, complicated female characters, and sweeping musical scores.

Double Indemnity recently celebrated its 80th anniversary, and quite frankly, I was shocked to find I hadn’t covered it yet on Cinema Sips. I love this movie! Barbara Stanwyk is unbelievably sexy, Fred MacMurray is sleazy as hell, and the script is tighter than an assassin’s arms around a throat. My only excuse is that it’s not an overt “cocktail” movie. There’s no signature drink (like a bourbon on the rocks, or a Tom Collins) our characters order in some dimly lit bar while hatching their plan. Instead, these scumbags like to meet in broad daylight at the grocery store! The lack of alcohol is surprising, just like the climax that manages to shock me even after multiple watches. But that’s Billy Wilder for you- always swimming against the current.

As mentioned, Double Indemnity has a definite dearth of booze. Really, the only memorable beverage scene is where Fred MacMurray drinks Stanwyk’s iced tea, then follows it with a beer, “…to get rid of the sour taste of her iced tea and everything that went with it.” What a line!!!! This got me intrigued about a sour iced tea cocktail, and if you’re a fan of Arnold Palmers, you’ll want to give this a shot. While watching Double Indemnity, I recommend drinking an Iced Tea Sour.

Iced Tea Sour

2 oz Bourbon

1 oz Black Tea simple syrup

1 oz Lemon Juice

To make simple syrup, bring 1/4 cup water to a boil, then drop in a tea bag to steep. Once tea has steeped, add 1/4 cup sugar and return to heat. Simmer and stir until sugar has dissolved. Allow mixture to cool. Combine cooled syrup with bourbon and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a tumbler filled with one large ice cube or ball. Garnish with a lemon twist.

MacMurray would go on to play yet another sleaze in Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, and in some ways I consider Double Indemnity to be a prequel to that film. The offices of the Pacific All-Risk insurance company look an awful lot like C.C. Baxter’s Consolidated Life Insurance offices, and both films force the audience to think about the value of a human life, as well as the consequences of a dangerous affair. My advice: start with the bleak world of Double Indemnity, then let laughter put the crumbled cookies back together in The Apartment. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

Being There

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Image Credit: Being There, 1979

My annual summer road trip has officially commenced, this time taking me to one of the most famous homes in America, and filming site of an essential movie within our cinematic history: A Biltmore Christmas.

Just kidding!

Although I love that delightful Hallmark Christmas flick, the real claim to fame for Vanderbilt’s opulent American castle is the 1979 Hal Ashby classic Being There (Disc/Download). I can only hope Shirley MacLaine’s infamous bearskin rug is part of the standard tour.

In this social and political satire, Peter Sellers plays a simple-minded gardener named Chance, who through a series of miscommunications and accidents, is brought to the home of a wealthy political operative. Believing Chance-the-Gardener to be “Chauncey Gardiner”, wise businessman and philosopher fallen on hard times, the Rands (Melvyn Douglas and Shirley MacLaine) adopt Chauncey into their rarefied world. Soon, this former gardener is spouting nonsense on television, having tête-à-têtes with the President, and fostering diplomacy with the Soviet Ambassador. His name is even batted around for the nomination in the next presidential election! At our present moment where America’s political future is on the shakiest of ground, Being There makes the viewer wonder: did Democracy ever exist in the first place? Or have powerful people always been throwing darts into the void, hoping to hit a malleable, naïve pawn whom the public would, if not love, at least not hate? And is that the best we can hope for, even now?

Because Chance’s true love is his garden, it seems appropriate to make a something from my own garden this week. About the only thing I’m capable of growing in the summer is a pot of basil, which lends itself to a flavorful cocktail syrup. While watching Being There, I recommend drinking this Honey Bee-ing There Basil Martini.

Honey Bee-ing There Basil Martini

1 ½ oz London Dry Gin

1 oz Honey-Basil simple syrup

¾ oz Lemon Juice

2 dashes Orange Bitters

2 oz Sparkling wine

Fresh Basil Leaf, Honeycomb (Garnish)

To make simple syrup, combine ¼ cup honey with ¼ cup water, adding 4-5 basil leaves. Simmer on the stove until honey is dissolved. Turn off heat. Allow basil leaves to steep as the syrup cools, then strain out the leaves. Next, in a shaker filled with ice, combine gin, prepared syrup, lemon juice, and bitters. Shake until chilled, then strain into a coupe glass. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with a fresh basil leaf and honeycomb.

Most people remember the final shot of Being There, where Peter Sellers seems to walk on water with that familiar Biltmore symbol of American excess silhouetted off in the distance. Maybe a man pure of heart and free of ambition is what the country needed at that time, and maybe that’s what it still needs. Or maybe we just need someone capable of tending the garden. Cheers!

Classic Films · Uncategorized

The Thomas Crown Affair

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Image credit: The Thomas Crown Affair, 1968

The 1960s gave us a lot of great things, not least of which was the “sexy heist” genre. With films like How to Steal a Million, The Italian Job, Gambit, Ocean’s Eleven, The Pink Panther, and many, many others, it was a great time to be a robber in a Savile Row suit. Thus it’s no surprise that one of the most iconic heist films came out of this period, Norman Jewison’s 1968 classic The Thomas Crown Affair (Disc/Download).

Although most people are probably more familiar with the 1999 remake starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, the original starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway is even better (in my opinion). I always thought the newer one tried too hard to be sexy, but back in the sixties, there was no trying- these people just were sexy. Tightly edited by Hal Ashby, the audience is pulled into the story immediately as Crown begins orchestrating a complex bank robbery. It’s a tense, perfectly planned job, and at the end of it, a bored millionaire walks away with more money than he needs, just to prove that he can. All goes swimmingly until he crosses paths with the insurance investigator hired to find the criminal mastermind, and unfortunately she’s his perfect match. Neither anticipates falling in love over fireside chess games, dune buggy runs on the beach, and cute strolls through the farmers market, but it quickly happens. The story takes some interesting turns, and even the ending is unexpected for someone well-versed in these movies. It takes a lot to surprise me, but this one did.

Norman Jewison always brings a dose of cheeky realism to his pictures, and Thomas Crown is no exception. Watching McQueen and Dunaway stroll through various Boston neighborhoods (some of them upscale, some of them decidedly not) grounds these extraordinarily beautiful and intelligent people in an actual time and place. While you’re watching The Thomas Crown Affair, do yourself a favor and pour a Boston cocktail.

Boston

1 ½ oz Gin

1 ½ oz Apricot Brandy

½ oz Lemon Juice

¼ oz Grenadine

Cherry garnish

Combine gin, apricot brandy, lemon juice, and grenadine in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Sexy heist movies are always an automatic watch in my house because the good ones keep me on my toes until the very end. I love a script that makes me wonder whether or not the robber will get away with it, and whether or not I want them too. Plus, the style is always superb. I know I can count on beautiful dresses, jewels, sports cars, and perfectly coifed hair, and in a world of so much uncertainty, isn’t it nice to be certain about these small but wonderful details? Just sayin’, if Hollywood ever wants to save itself, bring back the sexy heist. Make a dozen of them. I’ll buy every ticket. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

The Great Gatsby (1974)

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Image credit: The Great Gatsby, 1974

With summer officially here, it seems like a great time to revisit a classic story of wild parties, sweaty cocktails, sweatier people, and lightweight linen suits. The Great Gatsby (Disc/Download) has been adapted several times by Hollywood, but my favorite will always be the 1974 version. There’s something so soothing about the soft focus and pastel costumes that watching it is akin to having a lovely dream during an afternoon nap on a screened-in porch.

Starring Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby and Mia Farrow as his long lost love Daisy Buchanan, this adaptation is tonally more faithful to the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel than the more recent Baz Luhrmann cinematic extravaganza. Nevertheless, some disco-era touches manage to sneak in. The sequined head wraps, the dewy makeup, the frenetic, dancing crowds—Gatsby’s mansion may as well have been a Studio 54 outpost. The cast is great, particularly Bruce Dern as Daisy’s philandering husband Tom Buchanan, and Sam Waterston in the role of gentle narrator Nick Carraway, but what this film will most be remembered for are the clothes. Featuring menswear designed by Ralph Lauren, The Great Gatsby ushered in a new era of preppy chic. The movie is long at two-and-a-half hours, but I’m convinced the filmmakers just wanted an excuse to throw another three-piece suit up on the screen. Really, I can’t blame them.

Speaking of linen suits, now seems like a great time to drink a quintessential summer cocktail consisting of gin, cucumbers, and elderflower liqueur. Bright and fresh, this will have you dancing the Charleston in no time. While watching The Great Gatsby (1974), I recommend drinking a White Linen cocktail.

White Linen

2oz Gin

¾ oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

1 oz Lime Juice

2-3 slices cucumber, plus more for garnish

2 oz Soda water

Muddle cucumber at the bottom of a shaker with gin, elderflower liqueur, and lime juice. Add ice, and shake to chill. Double strain into a glass filled with fresh ice, and top with soda water. Garnish with fresh cucumber.

Honestly, the true MVP of this movie is the ice bucket. Because there was no central air conditioning in the 1920s, the only relief for the wealthy elite was a cold cocktail. Ice was essential then, and it still is today. It always amazes me when I show up to a party and the host has all the mixers out, but no ice! If you want to be a helpful old sport like Nick Carraway, make sure to stop for a bag of ice before arriving at your next summer soirée; your fellow partygoers will be paralyzed with happiness. Cheers!

Children's · Classic Films

Pollyanna

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Image credit: Pollyanna, 1960

Sometimes, it can be challenging to play the “glad game”. I’ve been thinking about this recently as I approach the one-year anniversary of my novel Follow the Sun being published. I look back on those photos of my launch party and my smiling face as I finally saw my book on a shelf, and I want to go back in time and tell this person: enjoy it because this might be the only day you’ll feel like you’re “enough”. As I wrestle with my thoughts about a book that never really found its audience, and contemplate getting back on the roller coaster again, I think about what Richard Egan says in this week’s pick Pollyanna (Disc/Download): “What this girl really needs is a good shot in the arm of hope.”

In Disney’s first venture into live-action cinema, Hayley Mills plays the perpetually sunny orphan Pollyanna, who is sent to live with her rich spinster aunt Polly. In a town full of jaded, disgruntled people, this little girl is a bright light of positivity. She convinces Agnes Moorehead that it’s far too early to be picking out a coffin, she shows Adolphe Menjou that his knowledge of refracted light is actually really cool, and she helps Jane Wyman find a second chance at love with Richard Egan. With a cast like this, and a heavy dose of melodramatic music, I’m a little shocked this film was not directed by Douglas Sirk. It feels very Sirk, with a dash of Frank Capra. Just like George Bailey, Pollyanna will realize that when the chips are down, and her little white-stocking’d legs are paralyzed after a bad fall off the roof, it’s her community who’s really there for her. They are what she can be glad about, just like I’m glad for mine.

One thing I can say about Harrington (sorry, “Gladtown”) is that the residents really like their ice cream. I didn’t even know ice cream was such a thing at the turn of the century, let alone variations like Sorbet and Frappes! This week, let’s enjoy this sweet pink riff on the Strawberry Frappe, a Ladies Aid.

Ladies Aid

2 oz Beefeater Pink Gin

1 scoop Vanilla Ice Cream

3/4 oz Lemon Juice

1/4 cup Milk

3-4 Strawberries, sliced

3/4 cup crushed ice

Strawberry (garnish)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass with one large ice cube, and garnish with fresh strawberry.

I am all too aware of how many wonderful manuscripts never make it out of an agent’s slush pile, and therefore I’ll always be glad mine miraculously made it through the gauntlet of luck, timing, and craft to land with a major publisher who put so much care into the editorial and design process (not to mention the stellar audiobook version, which totally made me cry happy tears!!!). I am also glad that the wonderful people who did read Follow the Sun have reached out with their positive reactions and let me know my work meant something to them. I’m glad I still have this blog, which brings me so much joy and stress-relief week after week. I’m glad that by publishing this book, I saw my Cinema Sips community grow even more, because as it turns out, people who like to read also like movies and cocktails. I’m glad I have people in my life encouraging me to try, try again. Maybe, just maybe, I’m playing the game after all. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

Bonjour Tristesse

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Image credit: Bonjour Tristesse, 1958

With nearly everyone I know getting a head start on their summer travels, I decided why wait for June or July to watch one of the best vacation movies? You know Cécile wouldn’t. This girl was over her schoolwork back in September! This week, I’m revisiting the Otto Preminger classic melodrama, Bonjour Tristesse (Download).

Starring Jean Seberg as a free-spirited teen and David Niven as her indulgent father, Bonjour Tristesse is an interesting example of both color and black & white being used simultaneously in a classic film. As Cécile’s empty present-day life gives way to a vibrant color flashback of the summer she spent on the French Riviera, one immediately senses she was alive before, and now something inside her has died. And don’t we all feel like that, thinking of vacations past? Not for the same tragic reasons as these characters, but sometimes I’ll be sitting at my desk, depressed because yesterday was the same as today, and tomorrow will probably be yet another repeat, and as the song says, I live with melancholy. But then I’ll think back to floating in the Mediterranean Sea, and how very orange the Aperol was in my spritz that summer, and how blue the water. And suddenly, life seems chic and fun again. Well, maybe just 53.5% fun.

One of my favorite scenes in this film is when Cécile makes a list of all the important qualities she thinks a woman should have, comparing herself to her dad’s new girlfriend (played by the elegant Deborah Kerr) with numerical rankings. “Possessiveness” and “Intelligence” are right above “Dancing” and “Drinking”, and honestly, this list is a pretty accurate character study. Why would I want to hang out with someone who’s only 4% skilled in “Conversation”? Speaking of percentages, I’ve recently taken a journey through lower-alcohol cocktails in the lead-up to summer*, and this seems like the perfect time to make a drink that’s as bright and gorgeous as one of Cécile’s many swimwear choices. While watching Bonjour Tristesse, I recommend drinking this 11% Spritz.

11% Spritz

2 oz Dry French Vermouth

½ oz Aperol

½ oz Lemon Juice

½ oz Blood Orange Syrup (I prefer Liber & Co)

4 oz Soda Water

Orange Slice (Garnish)

Combine vermouth, Aperol, lemon juice, and blood orange syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Top with soda water and garnish with an orange slice.

Although Bonjour Tristesse was a new-to-me watch a couple of years ago, it’s one of those movies that feels like it’s always been a favorite, whether I knew about it or not. Somehow, I set my book Follow the Sun in this same rarefied world of jet-setters in beautiful locales without even realizing it. Maybe I just needed a vacation when I was drafting the story; maybe I still need one. If you’re struggling through a black & white world right now, I urge you to spend some time with this movie and breathe deep- let’s smell the day together. Cheers!

*If you’re looking for more low-ABV cocktails this summer, I highly recommend the book Session Cocktails: Low-Alcohol Drinks for Any Occasion by Drew Lazor.

Classic Films · Musicals

Top Hat

LizLocke1 Comment
Image credit: Top Hat, 1935

While staring at the refrigerator on a particularly lazy afternoon, I realized I’d somehow acquired all the ingredients for a classic Venetian cocktail, the Sgroppino, without even realizing it. And what’s a girl to do when she’s in the mood to pop some lemon sorbetto into a glass of prosecco? Put on the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers classic Top Hat (Disc/Download)!

As anyone who has seen this movie can attest, the “Venice” in Top Hat looks about as authentic as the It’s a Small World attraction at Disney World. I half expect a Mary Blair goat to pop out during one of the dance numbers. But nevertheless, this 1930s screwball musical comedy is everything I love about this period in American cinema: gorgeous gowns, lovely Irving Berlin songs, elegant set designs, and a twisty-turny plot that’s equal parts absurd and charming. The movie starts off on a realistic note (Fred Astaire’s tap dancing is keeping Ginger awake in the hotel room below, and who among us hasn’t been in this situation at 3am??), and from there it devolves into a wild case of mistaken identity, followed by a spur-of-the-moment jaunt from London to Venice. There’s a flamboyant fashion designer chasing after Ginger, a salty butler orchestrating things behind the scenes like a Machiavellian Mr. Belvedere, and my favorite side character of all, the put-upon Madge, who just wants to drink a Horse’s Neck on the Lido in peace.

Speaking of cocktails, I’m mixing up something as frothy as Ginger’s feather gown (the one that apparently caused a great deal of headaches during production and earned her the nickname “Feathers” from thereafter). It’s gorgeous and wildly impractical, so naturally I love it. Let’s pretend we’re in this magical version of Venice with a cocktail that’ll leave you feeling like Fred Astaire just spun you around over the canal. While watching Top Hat, I recommend drinking a Sgroppino.

Sgroppino

1 Scoop of Lemon Sorbetto

4 oz Prosecco

1 oz Limoncello

¾ oz Vodka

Lemon Slice (Garnish)

Combine sorbetto, prosecco, limoncello, and vodka in a small bowl, whisking to combine. Pour into a glass, and garnish with a slice of lemon.

This drink gets its name from the Italian word for “loosening a knot”, and there are always a lot of knots in a screwball comedy. Thankfully, just as we know the cocktail will leave us feeling warm and happy, we know Fred and Ginger will do the same. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

What a Way to Go!

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Image credit: What a Way to Go!

It’s so comforting when you find an instant-favorite classic film because it proves that no matter how many things you’ve seen, there will always be gems waiting to be discovered. Such was the feeling I got from watching the 1964 Shirley MacLaine dark comedy What a Way to Go! (Disc/Download), a movie that had me asking: where has this been all my life??? If you long to live in a pink world and watch nothing but “Lush Budgett” productions, this is the flick for you.

Starring MacLaine as a widow four-times over, and Dick Van Dyke, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, and Gene Kelly as the husbands who find success as well as comically tragic deaths after falling for her, What a Way to Go! is a perfect illustration of the old phrase, “Behind every great man is an even better woman.” All Louisa wants is a simple life in the country with a man who will put their relationship first. Unfortunately, she happens to have great ideas that spur these paupers into action, turning them all into selfish, foolhardy multi-millionaires. Her bank account grows with each reading of the will, until she’s left distraught and alone with nothing but a closet full of Edith Head gowns and a garish pink mansion to keep her company. And by garish, I of course mean ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. The cast is outrageously perfect, from the sweet Van Dyke, to Newman playing a sexy bearded artist, to Mitchum as the charming CEO with a fabulous private jet, to a tap-dancing Gene Kelly. Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a finer collection of male specimens. I hope Shirley had as great a time making this one as I did watching it!

If you want an excuse to drink a pink cocktail, and you’ve seen both Barbie and Barb and Star approximately 1,000,000 times already, then here’s another one to add to the rosé oeuvre. Note: I’m using the seasonal Hendrick’s Flora Adora in this, which has distinct notes of rosewater. If using regular gin and you want that flavor, add a few drops into the shaker. While watching What a Way to Go!, I recommend drinking this Flaming Lips cocktail.

Flaming Lips

1 ½ oz Hendrick’s Flora Adora Gin

1 oz Raspberry Orange (or Blood Orange) juice

½ oz Orange Liqueur

1 oz Lemon Juice

¾ oz Coconut Cream

2 oz Sparkling Rosé

Dried orange slice (garnish)

Combine gin, orange liqueur, orange juice, lemon juice, and coconut cream in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled and blended, then double strain into a coupe glass. Top with Sparkling Rosé and garnish with a dried orange slice.

With all this talk of the cast, I haven’t even gotten to the best part of the movie: the costumes. With a budget fit for Hollywood royalty, Ms. Head obviously went nuts. Pink chinchilla coats! Backless dresses! Mod bikinis! Gowns dripping with diamonds! Louisa may have wanted a simple life, but I prefer her nuzzling Robert Mitchum in an oversized champagne coupe wearing nothing but an Elvira wig. This is pure cinema. This is: Lush Budgett. Cheers!