Got a Light?

The lighting of a cigarette in a movie can indicate a fire in the soul - or in the loins. Smoke swirling in the air evokes a mysterious atmosphere or adds romantic ambience to a cinematic creation.

Hand-rolled or tailor-made, smokes dangling from the sneering lips of gangsters or the rouged kissers of dames suggest danger, sex appeal, power.

Bette Davis, one of cinema’s most famous onscreen smokers, had to hide her character’s nicotine habit in 1942’s "Now Voyager" - but only in the beginning when she is an ugly duckling with caterpillar eyebrows.

By the movie's end, she is a sophisticated woman, boldly and sexily puffing in public, smoke curling up around her stylish chapeau. Her cigarettes have come out of the closet, proclaiming her newfound confidence.

Her lover, Jerry, (Paul Henreid) famously lights two cigarettes at the same time, one for himself, one for the lovely Charlotte (BD). It is a most inviting gesture, perfectly conveying their illicit-but-true love.

Oblivious to the damage tobacco would eventually wreak on lungs and environment, the stars of the golden age puffed away. At least they get points for how they lit their cigarettes. Wooden matches were common: ignited on a shoe, a fingernail or - a typewriter:

Kirk Douglas’s wiseacre newsman in "Ace in the Hole" (1951) holds his unlit match to a typewriter carriage, hits the return lever and zing! the carriage ignites his match. His fag gets lit and everyone knows what a smartass the new reporter is.

The lighters of yesteryear became souvenirs, collectibles, keepsakes; some are still in use. They were sometimes beautifully designed and often inscribed. James Stewart unwittingly “steals” one such shiny ignitor from the wedding loot in the wealthy household of Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn) in "The Philadelphia Story" (1940).

The refillable lighter was a valued piece of property not to be tossed in a trash can or left at some amusement park - unless of course, it belonged to Guy Haines (Farley Granger) from Hitchcock’s "Strangers on a Train" (1946) -

My favourite smokin' cinematic moments come in "Double Indemnity" (1946). It's a film noir, wherein cigs are as much a staple as venetian blinds or rainsoaked streets.

The relationship between Walter Nef (Fred McMurray) and Barton Keyes (Edward G Robinson) is highlighted with a running bit of business around smoking, and it's touchingly wrapped up in the final scene.

Rue the day lighters became disposable. Plastic fire-starters are part of the detritus that is turning our oceans into “plastic soup”. Dissections have shown bird stomachs full of bottle caps and other plastic items, including Bic (and similar) lighters. Robert Stroud, as portrayed by Burt Lancaster in "The Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962), would have felt sad about the fate of our lovely winged creatures.

Now there was a man who knew how to repurpose stuff long before the term "upcycling" had been invented. He made birdcages out of used matchsticks (sorry, I can only tell you what the celluloid Stroud did; I don't know if the real Birdman built cages like that.)

Plastic got a boost after the end of WW2 when Life magazine rejoiced with a cover story titled: "Throwaway Living". But for a few more years, glass remained the container of choice. Milk, for instance, still arrived at your door in a glass container.

In 1955’s "Rebel Without a Cause" James Dean stands by the refrigerator, running a cold milk bottle over his forehead. Glass is cooling after a chickie run gone wrong, plastic not so much.

We had no idea what the full impact of Mr. Robinson’s one word of advice to Benjamin Braddock might be when in 1967’s "The Graduate" he uttered: “Plastics.” In countless domestic scenes in old classic movies, groceries were brought home in paper bags, not indestructible plastic bags. Fortunately, the latter are being phased out in the 21st century.

I admire the porcelain coffee cups in "Mildred Pierce" (1945). This is another great noir with plenty of smokes being lit and doused. There's nothing like making a point with a butt stubbed aggressively out in an ashtray or underfoot.

Me, I'll stick with the written word to make my points.