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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/08/2021 in Posts

  1. Anyone else find it ironic that a poster who bemoans the disrespect that some posters show for others also posted a laugh emoji on this same thread on the comment of another poster who spoke of a family death? Afterward, when another poster pointed out the insensitivity and rudeness of that action he responded by posting another laughing emoji. And now this same poster hands out lectures for others about disrespect. What is it they say about those who live in glass houses?
    5 points
  2. "The Philadelphia Story" wins by a landslide. The cast is world's better -- Hepburn, Grant, Stewart, Hussey, Roland Young, etc. etc. etc. -- they're all superior and much more suited to their roles and I especially hate the "High Society" sister-brat whose performance doesn't even come close to wonderful Virginia Weidler's. The only thing "High Society" has going for it is the music. My favorite song is the enchanting "Well, Did You Evah?" duet by Crosby & Sinatra. A magical movie moment. As for the rest of "High Society," Philip Barry, author of the original play and Donald Ogden Stewart, author of the original screenplay, are probably spinning in their graves every time this mediocre imitation hits the screen.
    5 points
  3. TCM is releasing the movie "High Society" in theaters. This made me think of comparing "High Society" and "The Philadelphia Story". "High Society" is a later musical version of "The Philadelphia Story". For me, it's "The Philadelphia Story" hands down. I love the chemistry between Katherine Hepburn and both Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart plus Katherine Hepburn is a much better actress than Grace Kelly. I also find the age difference between Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly a bit odd. Katherine convincingly transforms her character from angry and judgemental to warm and loving and can admit that nobody's perfect. I always love watching The Philadelphia Story. The only things I really like about High Society is the music from Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby with his amazing voice singing "True Love".
    4 points
  4. I love the old red scare flicks, but this one is rather on the bland side. To have a good red scare movie it helps to have scary reds and the commies here just aren't that scary. I prefer the effete, three piece suit wearing, high brow, pipe smoking reds, the ones with hearts as cold as Siberia. Other than that it was okay, though it dragged a little in the middle. It has as much interest as a typical Hollywood quickie romance movie as a red scare one. Isn't it against the law for the CIA to operate in America, not that the CIA has ever been a law abiding organization. And that is the most pathetic, scrawniest CIA agent I can ever recall seeing in a movie. I give this one a B-/C+ grade. The funniest line was toward the beginning when the waitress says We're out of ham. Well there's a little bit here, if not a whole meal full. Five Steps to Danger=16 minutes per step.
    4 points
  5. Strangers on a Train (1951) (This is the only movie where a tennis match and attempting to retrieve a lost lighter can keep you on the edge of your seat!)
    3 points
  6. Ah the Horn Blows At Midnight.....one of the movies I saw as a kid that actually got me interested in classic film & Jack Benny. I thought Alexis Smith was the most beautiful girl I ever saw. I enjoyed those "money pit" house movies as a kid too, but they lost some humor once I grew up & became a homeowner.
    3 points
  7. Just saying, posters on here will thoroughly rip into any TCM host not named Robert Osborne with extreme intensity for the slightest of possible infractions at any time.
    3 points
  8. But they do get their own back in NIGHT OF THE LEPUS.
    3 points
  9. Yes, I so agree. I was admiring her throughout. Such a gentle lady, and with an endearing vulnerability. I'm so glad that her character did not have something up her sleeve and turn out a bad girl in some way. Yes, it is too bad that they could not find a better place for her as an actress. Perhaps it's because they wanted splashy, and she had not that, or enough of it.
    3 points
  10. Make sure you are fully clothed ... unless you have a physique like Tor Johnson.
    3 points
  11. Of course The Philadelphia Story is the better film. What a cast, how can you go wrong with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart ? And even Katharine Hepburn, whom I sometimes find annoying, is perfect as Tracy Lord. I do agree that the music in High Society is pretty darn good, it's the main thing that version of the story has going for it. And in fact, that song, "True Love". is very beautiful and even moving. But so far as everything else goes, The Philadelphia Story wins, hands down. ps: It's of interest to note that George Harrison, no slouch when it came to judging timeless music, recorded a version of "True Love", I think on 33 1 /3. But then, when Cole Porter's the songwriter, it's almost a given that the song will be great.
    3 points
  12. https://www.buzzfeed.com/hopelasater/empowering-pictures-old-hollywood-actresses If Interested, Enjoy !
    2 points
  13. The Awful Truth (1929)
    2 points
  14. Samson and Delilah 1949 Hercules Unchained 1959 The Strongest Man in the World 1975 The Incredible Hulk 2008
    2 points
  15. “Shall we gather at the river” next another body of water in the title
    2 points
  16. Ghost Breakers is a fave too, but that's Bob Hope! I love Paulette Goddard too. Do we have to choose or rank these gorgeous spunky gals? Most likely I was attracted to Alexis Smith as a tween because of her clothing & elegant stature. Didn't discover Paulette until many years later. My love of Ann Sheridan has come even later, like only recently. I make sure to catch every Ann Sheridan movie when they're on TCM-still waiting to see STELLA '50 after it was favorably talked about here.
    2 points
  17. Deleted because I posted before waking up.
    2 points
  18. Noir Alley: It started out well, but then got very talky and convoluted. I wish the plot had been different as the beginning of the film had promise. Glad to have been able to watch it, but not something I'd watch again.
    2 points
  19. Alexis was, indeed, lovely, but, as a boy, I had much the same most beautiful girl thoughts about Ann Sheridan. Here's the two of them facing off with one another in One More Tomorrow, but Ann must be in high heels while Alexis is wearing flats for them to be seeing eye to eye like this. Strapping big Alexis was 5'8" while Sheridan stood 5'5".
    2 points
  20. Simone Signoret and Oskar Werner are my favorite screen duo in Ship of Fools.
    2 points
  21. Loretta Young Next: starred in an Edward Albee play adaptation
    2 points
  22. I agree...they made a fun pair. She was also good with Rod Taylor in two films which people fail to mention.
    2 points
  23. Time for an early 1960s TOR JOHNSON impression along with a hint of 'Dubya' (George W. Bush): "Tor no like nucular proliferation!" 👍
    2 points
  24. It took a while before Benny finally found the persona that would work for him. If you see him in some of his early comedies at Paramount he played a harder wise guy type and he isn't particularly funny or likeable in them (to me, at least). To Be Or Not To Be is usually ranked as his best film (justifiably, IMO), but, as much as the film became a butt of a lot of jokes, most of them coming from Benny himself, I enjoy much of The Horn Blows At Midnight.
    2 points
  25. Glad you enjoyed it. I've always had a crush on Ann Sheridan so watching her, at least, always gives me pleasure. Speaking of Sheridan she didn't think her role in George Washington was that good but she had a fun time making the film because she enjoyed working with Jack Benny and Bill Keighley, the director. The actress hated any dissension on a set and that was, apparently, a happy set.
    2 points
  26. I love this question. I had to ploddingly go back and do a little research though, before answering. Some of you have great recall of films and can summon them and their remakes almost immediately to mind. Am going to say, I prefer the Judy Garland/James Mason "A Star is Born", to the earlier Janet Gaynor/Fredric March, even though I like both Gaynor and March. (None of the later, more recent remake(s) appealed to me enough to watch.) Judy and James Mason's version was so soulful, and just tore at your heart. Not to mention the immense talent involved. That' improv-ey' scene where Judy's singing in an after-hours club, "The Man That Got Away", and Mason's watching her from the shadows and seeing her perform for the first time-- wow. Gosh, I'm the only one who prefers the original "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Love the evocation of the uneasy Fifties, the menace looming, Kevin McCarthy's performance and that allegorical ending of him running from car to car with the warning that "they're here!" What I remember of the Donald Sutherland version was that, for my taste, anyway, it seemed too cute and "in-crowd" and knowing. But I'm incurably fuddy duddy.
    2 points
  27. Sterling Hayden is an interesting actor for sure. He’s so physical. He moves so natural. In this one his shirt tail is never quite tucked in and his trousers are kinda slouching down to one side because he doesn’t wear a belt. He exudes the unaffected . I didn’t think the movie was special. It was fun, though, wasn’t boring.
    2 points
  28. I think it is better than that - at least 3 out of 4. It is a comedy so can't take it too seriously, but just enjoy a funny movie with very good acting.
    2 points
  29. 2 points
  30. Any comments I made about Kent Smith were fair play and my Tor Johnson joke was just that, not a put down of the poster. You are way over reacting. As for your not appreciating my sense of humour, this is just something I am going to have to learn to live with for the rest of my life.
    2 points
  31. George Washington Slept Here (1942) Warner Brothers film adaption of the Kaufman and Hart stage hit comedy about a pair of Manhattanites who buy a dilapidated old house in the country and have to rebuild it served as Jack Benny's premiere film for the film studio. Ann Sheridan, then at the peak of her gobsmacking beauty, played straight lady to Benny as his wife, along with Charles Coburn as their "rich" uncle to whom the couple kowtow, Percy Kilbride repeating his stage role as a deadpan handy man and Hattie McDaniel as (what else?) the maid. The cast is very likable, though the material now seems very old hat and, at best, mildly amusing. After a while Benny's constant whining and cracks about the place (though that is a primary source of the film's humour) caused me to think "Does this guy ever do anything but complain?" Benny and Sheridan seem an odd couple, to put it mildly, but they play well together, and the actress, then in the prime of her career, was always a pleasure to watch, even if the material, which was often the case, didn't measure up to her. There were rumours that Benny and Sheridan may have had a brief affair while making this film, with Benny's wife, Mary Livingstone, confronting the actress at a party over it. Percy Kilbride's deadpan delivery adds to the film's humour. Benny, who had to work hard to get Jack Warner to hire him for the film, apparently had a difficult time keeping a straight face whenever he shared a scene with the actor. Sheridan, who was always inclined toward having a good laugh, experienced the same problem. It doesn't show in the final film screen product, though you have to assume there were plenty of re-takes. William Keighley, who had recently directed Sheridan in another adaption of a Kaufman-Hart stage property, The Man Who Came to Dinner, was at the helm of this production, as well. Due to the likability of the cast I really wish I could say this film is funnier than it is. It's still worth a look anyway. The film's set, by the way, you may recognize as that recently used in Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace. 2.5 out of 4 P.S.: Does this dog who appears in the film look like Toto? That's because it was Terry, the same cairn terrier of Wizard of Oz immortality and fame. Alas, Terry did not receive a screen credit.
    2 points
  32. I don't watch it very often because it's standard Clifford Odets overkill (in my opinion), but I really like Marilyn Monroe and Keith Andes in Clash by Night (1952). It was an early role for Marilyn in which she was a pretty girl without the glam overlay. Keith was also a newbie and that seemed to be a bond, that they weren't trying to live up to established images and could be free with each other, Their easy manner with each other was a welcome relief from the torrent of emotions around them and, frankly, they were about equal on the hotness scale, which added to their appeal as a couple. People often point to Don't Bother to Knock at Fox in the same year as an indicator of Marilyn's ability to do drama, but I prefer her work in this loan-out to RKO. She and Andes had a real made-for-each-other vibe in the roles. This is no knock on Stanwyck, Ryan and Paul Douglas (It's a knock on Odets.), but Monroe and Andes were the ones you could watch without getting a headache.
    2 points
  33. I would normally say, "Don't get me started on this one," but that ship has sailed. "The Philadelphia Story" is tops in my book! The cast does it for me, from Grant, Hepburn, and Stewart to Virginia Weidler and Roland Young. "High Society" leaves me completely flat with its cast -- sadly because I rather like them all individually in other films. In short, I'll watch TPS whenever it comes on. HS, I tried to make it through the entire thing once and failed. Since then each time I try to give another chance I always turn the channel soon into the movie. Sorry, Bing and Frank and Grace.
    2 points
  34. Death Walks at Midnight (1972) Italy/Dir: Luciano Ercoli - Thriller starring Susan Scott (aka Nieves Navarro) as a model who witnesses a murder across the street in the adjacent high-rise during a photoshoot. The only problem is she was high on drugs at the time, and no one believes her story, nor can they find any evidence. When she keeps seeing the killer, she decides to solve the case herself. Also featuring Simon Andreu, Peter Martell, Carlo Gentili, Ivano Staccioli, Claudio Pellegrini, Fabrizio Moresco, Claudie Lange, Roberto Cifarelli, and Luciano Rossi. This one isn't a giallo exactly, as the identity of the murderer is never a mystery. It's more of a "why" than a "whodunit". The method of murder is a bit odd, with the killer using a spiked metal glove. Otherwise, this is routine stuff, with adequate filmmaking and acting. (6/10)
    1 point
  35. I prefer the 1949 version of Little Women to the 1933 version. The 1949 version with Margaret O'Brien and June Allyson, always makes me laugh and cry. Althought The American Tragedy and a Place in the Sun were equally good, I prefer A Place in the Sun. I prefer the original Invasio of the Bodysnatchers, I really was surprised how much I enjoyed Tom Cruise's version of War of the Worlds. I prefer the original Dr. Doolittle with Rex Harrison and the original Hercules with Steve Reeves.
    1 point
  36. Holy cow, you're right! That is Marty! All the times I've watched them both and the similarities never occurred to me.
    1 point
  37. Lydia Reed who did a few movies but whose main claim to fame was being part of the cast of The Real McCoys.
    1 point
  38. I try really hard not to let an actor or actresses personal life affect my appreciation of them in the movies. The misconduct of an actor or actress would have to be pretty extreme for me to cancel them out. This also goes for directors too. Certainly, Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen are surrounded by controversy but I don't let this cloud my views of their films many of which are masterful. I'm also skeptical of "tell all" books written by relatives, associates, etc.. How do we really know for sure?
    1 point
  39. 1 point
  40. So, looks like this weekend's Noir Alley offering is 5 Steps to Danger. I don't think I've ever seen this one, so any work featured on Noir Alley I haven't already seen is always a bonus. ( although recently there've been quite a few of them, including the foreign films. ) I'm not sure about the "Commie threat" theme, I often find that American films from the 1950s on that topic can be a bit proselytizing -ish and over-the-top. A major exception is Pickup on South Street, but in that film the Commie spy thing is more a McGuffin than anything else, it's really about Skip McCoy and the other shady characters who populate the seedier areas of New York City. Not much anti-Commie propaganda, unless you count Moe's extremely touching and eloquent speech . But I'm digressing here. I'm prepared to like 5 Steps to Danger. It's got the always interesting Sterling Hayden, and also the somewhat under-rated Ruth Roman ( I believe last seen on Noir Alley in Tomorrow is Another Day.) I've never heard of the director, one Henry Kesler. Anyone know anything about him? Anyway, looking forward to this. It's got a good title, for starters.
    1 point
  41. Oddly, I do wish that I knew LESS about certain actor's lifestyle on the contemporary scene. For example, my enjoyment of Woody Allen movies has definitely diminished in recent years. But still, "Annie Hall" is a funny movie. "Crimes and Misdemeanors" seems to be Allen's attempt to wrestle with his own conscience--a struggle that he seems to have lost. Yet, when reading about some classic actors' scrapes, I usually guess they did what they thought they had to in order to get through life in the fast lane. I just ask myself: Would I have had the ability to avoid such temptations as these men and women met on a daily basis? Evidence of racism and an eagerness to participate in McCarthyism STILL bothers me, however--though it doesn't stop me from watching and enjoying an actor's work. I think my viewing is more influenced by my reading about some of the egos of some actors...but then, if they didn't believe that their needs and wants and talent were the center of the universe, how would these folks ever have cultivated the drive needed to succeed in this tough, tough profession?
    1 point
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