Edith Head Exhibit In Oklahoma City

Edith Head was an award-winning costume designer who made dresses for a literal who’s who of Hollywood stars during the classic period. She won eight Academy Awards and became something of a celebrity herself. If you’ve seen any of The Incredibles movies, Edna Mode the cantankerous costume designer in that film is based on Edith Head.

I love classic movies, of course, and my wife is a bit of a seamstress and lover of beautiful costumes. There is an exhibition of Edith Head costumes currently happening at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. For my wife’s birthday, we went down and saw it. It was fabulous so I thought I’d share some of the highlights here.

My apologies for the bad formatting on all of these images. WordPress is absolutely awful for this sort of thing.

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The wedding dress Barbara Stanwyck wore in Sorry Wrong Number (1948)

Grace Kelly in Rear Window (1954).

Veronica Lake in This Gun For Hire (1942)

Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray (and my wife) in Double Indenmity (1944).

Kim Novak in Vertigo (1958) and me in my Vertigo shirt (2023).

There were many more costumes at the exhibit and it was so much fun to see them all. My wife was enamored with the style of the costumes, I just kept going “Kim Novak wore that!,” “Grace Kelly wore that!!”

If you are in the area I highly recommend it.

High Noon (1952)

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High Noon changed the way I understood Gary Cooper. I think it was the first film I’d ever seen by him. I knew who he was even when I was a little kid. He was the strong, silent type. I thought that meant tough and mean. I wasn’t expecting someone so sensitive. Tough yes, but also caring.

He’s now one of my favorite actors. You can read my full review of the Blu-ray here.

To Catch a Thief (1955)

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Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 film To Catch a Thief is a light, fluffy picture that differs in content from much of the suspense masters’ other pictures. Cary Grant stars as a former thief, and patriot of the French Resistance, who is currently suspected of a new series of crimes. Grace Kelly plays the beautiful daughter of a rich American woman who is high on the list of possible victims of the new cat burglar.

The plot is all cotton candy. Shot in the French Riviera, Hitchcock allows his camera to take all of the beauty in. There are lots of lovely traveling shots of the location. Hitchcock follows cars driving the streets in high crane shots, simmers through the sea on a boat ride, and stops to take in the view of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly at a picnic overlooking a stunning valley.

Cary Grant is playing Cary Grant at this point, but that’s perfectly fine since there are few actors I enjoy more. Grace Kelly is simply gorgeous. Hitchcock’s camera is as admiring as a new suitor. Their interplay is fun, witty, and sensuous. A famous scene between them intercuts their developing romance with fireworks and is pure sizzle.

If you are looking to write a thesis on the genius of suspense then you should look elsewhere. But for a beautifully shot, light-hearted romance for a Saturday night, it would be difficult to find a better picture.