Tikisoo

Fri/Sat are my weekend days so I watched THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 2020 on Netflix in 2 parts. Pretty interesting because I'm an old hippy girl & MrTiki is in law enforcement. This was one movie I watched without making ANY comments! The set up, screenplay, sets & costumes, editing & performances were outstanding. It definitely took you through the story, although of course, very biased. There were several references/insinuations of this being a "political" trial instead of a trial based on actual intentions of those charged. The parallels to todays demonstrations/riots is impossible to ignore. It does show however, the division between more conservative protester Tom Hayden & the more hippie Abbie Hoffman & Jerry Rubin. It also shows how many attendants to protests are just there for the social scene, just like today. At least those on trial were serious about changing the direction of US government policies. This movie tries to capture the fear the conservative generation had of hippies and the Black Panthers, although as in all dissipating prejudices, difficult for a modern audience to accept. One of my favorite lines spoken by Black Panther Bobby Seale, "We tried non violence like MLK wanted but it got us nowhere. Now we're going to try something different" which is identical to today's negative reaction of kneeling in protest quickly turning into street protests then rioting. While racial inequality and government misrepresentation continues exponentially 50 years later. I recognized Frank Langella immediately as the corrupt judge, played perfectly-I hated him! I also recognized Michael Keaton who played the former Attny General who deemed this as a "political" trial. (and said, "I work for the PEOPLE, not the PRESIDENT" um, hear that Bill Barr?) I was blown away by Sacha Baron Cohen's portrayal of Abbie Hoffman. I did not recognize him (wasn't crazy about Borat) and he perfectly embodied the charactor: a well spoken long haired hippy that wanted to make a difference. I also liked the extreme comb overs both Kunstler & Dellinger wore. Every actor was pitch perfect. The portrayal of law enforcement was clear: a shot of officers removing their badges before attacking protestors was shown several times. Remember it's BASED on a true story, not a documentary, although I enjoyed the flashes of real news footage interspersed with actors. The editing was really great, the story was easy to follow and moved along at a good pace. Worth seeing as an introduction of a moment in recent history.

Not a spoiled brat. Back then, you could treat a kid to an indulgence for what-maybe 89¢ on a $300/week salary? Nowadays kids are begging for (expect) electronics that cost more than two week's salary. Talk about uneven inflation.

Why not? They own everything else.

Whoa what a suggestive image!

While I enjoyed Sat morning cartoons, the real draw was later with the Saturday Matinee of monster/children's movies: Cormans, Castles & Foreign fantasy films, oh my! I first saw the fabulous Russian THE SNOW QUEEN '57 on a Saturday afternoon. I like that TCM continues this tradition with a great Saturday line up of cartoons & fun serials & Bs.

It's already a GEICO commercial Haha I LOL when I saw that commercial. No, the mannequins don't have names, although when someone wants to smoke I'll say, "Gotta smoke upstairs with Marsha" It's the "Smoking Area" because the smell dissipates upward & out. My gals (& one creepy 1940's child) are actually set up in front of the window around a small table surrounded by chairs just like in the commercial. Arms, legs & torsos hang from the rafters. I light them up at Halloween, they totally creep out anyone who sees them. It's funny they're always there but no one ever looks up.

THANK YOU Txfilmfan for sharing that video! I have never seen anything like that before! Amazing! The asbestos curtain seemed to be specially lit, but I suspect it's just the florescent paints reflecting the spot lights. Rome NY's vintage Capitol Theater projects slides advertising local businesses interspersed with vintage "Ladies remove your hat" slides. People are entertained by the organist playing the Mighty WurliTzer as a warm up while taking their seats. I sure miss the communal experience of seeing classic holiday movies in the theater with a big audience. I'd even watch ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE again, just to go there. There's a few projectionists on this message board. I've sat in the booth during a movie and it's fascinating, especially with a carbon arc projector. One year, the movie dimmed during a scene-the light expired-and the projectionist had to scramble to change it. When the movie resumed, he got a rousing hand of applause!

Typical male behaviour.

I have wondered for YEARS as to whether the face of OZ was Frank Morgan's face with make-up (his voice was used) or a random actor in make-up? I'm amazed someone married the two & posted it on YT as "The Dark Side of Oz". I could never synch it correctly with a record & videotape. Only "works" when high.

I don't recall adverts in theaters until maybe the 80's. Theater attendance was in a major downturn, I don't blame them a bit. I recall theaters projecting slides of mixed adverts & suggestions like no smoking/talking. I thought this thread was about advertisements SENT TO theaters by the studios to promote their newest prestige picture. I found a glorious 1940 pamphlet from Disney promoting FANTASIA in the basement of an old theater, as well as a cool theater lighting fixture catalogue.

I started my career working in an historical Main Street Department store, eventually bought by May Co in the late 80's. It looked very much like that shot above. I miss the elegance of these stores and camaraderie among employees especially. When the stores finally closed, some of my favorite mannequins came home with me, now living in the attic.

Lovely work, Lorna. I hope your star shoots up the skies! (particularly like how you draw men as ole square-heads)

Second thoughts, eh? Last night everything I put in the DVD player I had already seen. I stayed with 1941's THE SMILING GHOST mostly because I had forgotten it. It's a very simple mystery involving a ghost who kills or maims any man interested in marrying Elenor Bently played by beauty Alexis Smith. Wayne Morris is a happy go lucky never-do-well who is duped into pretending he's her fiancé to help unravel the mystery. This is lighthearted fluff but well crafted & acted by all involved. It contains two quotable lines that have wormed their way into my everyday speech: when looking at a homely woman, hero "Lucky" (Wayne Morris) proclaims, "Her face looks like 7 miles of bad road" and when Willie Best as Clarence is chided for being reluctant to enter the cemetery, "Oh don't act so scared" he replies "What makes you think I'm ACTING?" It's sad to see Willie Best play a bug eye scared valet/companion, but he makes the most of it with great lines & lots of screen time, albeit unrealistic. While I'm a taphophile, I'd never walk into a crypt full of old caskets at NIGHT! (not even in the daytime) The star of this movie is Wayne Morris who's career took a downturn after being put on hold serving in WW2. He is a joy to watch, kind of a cross between Alan Hale (who's in this film as the butler) and Aldo Ray.... a big slab of lovable beef and it's great to see him in this leading role, no matter how silly. He died at 45 while on a Battleship and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery, a true American hero. Apparently after Universal's success with horror, other studios dipped their toes in the genre. WB's decided to try with this lighthearted spooky tale.

Haha thanks for letting me know what I'm in for (requested this from my li-berry) Billy's Mom, "Get out of my kitchen!" Uh, he can't get out of your kitchen after blending. I hated the first movie because of the cheesy puppets & mean spirited heroes. Think I'll like this one because I'm older & will enjoy the absurdity factor. Good acting can elevate cheesy horror.

Ugh, this sure is a long wait...SO HOPING this will be good. Last "Hollywood History" movie that I liked was CAT'S MEOW by Peter Bogdanovich. Kirsten Dunst was perfect as Marion Davies and whenever I saw Edward Herrmann in ANYTHING, I was reminded of Randolph Hearst. Eddie Izzard was a good Chaplin, but oh, Robert Downey Jr as Chaplin is perfection. Wow, Jodie Foster is an incredible actress and certainly could have nailed it - although wispy beautiful, a little long in the tooth to portray 20-30ish Davies, though. As for Spacey, I never liked him or his performances. He seemed smarmy, insincere & secretive in interviews, something I just chalked up to the awful invasion of privacy celebs get bombarded with, but ew.

This thread is so much better for others when you express your opinions, rather than just list titles.

I watched two movies last night. They were recordings from March/April because the host referred to 31 Days of Oscar was the previous month! First was SIREN OF THE TROPICS '27 a silent film starring Josephine Baker. Silent films are great to watch when you're on a long rambling phone call with someone that only requires an occasional, "uh huh". The story is about a young guy sent away to some tropical paradise to forget about the girl back home he wants to marry. He has a grand old time, but sprite Papitou (Baker) falls in love with him & follows him back to "civilization" Paris. This movie mostly revolves around Baker's charactor, an adorable sprite you can't take your eyes off of-her joyousness comes across in every scene. She loves life and everything in it and you love her too. Even though Baker's charactor lives as a "primitive savage" with all the stereotypes, she is depicted as a normal person: not subservient, lazy or low intelligence like US films of the time. She is especially striking in "modern" clothing of the flapper era and she has DIGNITY. Enough dignity to make a happy ending in an otherwise insulting scenario. Baker only made 3 films, all similar stories, but SO GLAD her magic is captured on film- Cute comedic moments like this- (and for all of you boys that like glimpse of bewbs, there are a few scenes like this) Second movie was IT'S LOVE AGAIN '36 a British comedy starring another sprite Jessie Matthews. This is a cute story of gossip columnist (American Robert Young) who fabricates a fabulous charactor Mrs Smythe-Smythe to intrigue readers. Matthews decides to "impersonate" Mrs Smythe-Smythe to show off her singing/dancing talents in society nightclubs to be "discovered". I love Jesse Matthews and this was a great vehicle for her. She's adorable and wears some fabulous costumes. She has a gorgeous singing voice and I enjoyed the songs. But this viewing, I noticed I really wasn't impressed by the dancing. Even Robert Young does a little soft shoe with her and these scenes stall with a thud. Don't get me wrong, she was an OK dancer...but my mind just wandered to Astaire/Rogers dance numbers noticing these just weren't them. Matthews dancing has a jerky phrenetic quality to it, it's not soothing or even graceful, really. Matthews singing is enjoyable, her personality engaging, the story is fun and it's definitely worth watching. Again, there just aren't enough movies with Jessie Matthews either.

Good call! Should have noticed that since it's my nickname.

Another big THANK YOU to both MovieCollectorOH & Sewhite for posting this information! You guys are AWESOME!! I would have to sift through day after days listings to pick out titles I haven't seen or are interested in. Sewhite's daily call outs with themes, principle stars & dates completely streamlined my task. I already have a list of 20 "possible" titles to program on the DVR. Now it's a matter of sifting through to see if I already have them (!) and if they're worth recording for later viewing.

Full review? That post wins "Longest Post Ever" on this board! Can't find the post to quote, but I too sat with my mouth agape at the end of KISS ME DEADLY-shocked first time I saw it. It still impacts me every time even though I know it's coming-I imagine it's the long slow build up.

On our vacation we left Myrtle Beach a couple of days early to visit Ft Bragg & pay respects to Martha Raye who is interred there. We were surprised to hear trumpet "calls" over loudspeakers while there. Must drive them nuts after awhile.

I imagine all production has shut down the past 9 months. There's not much new in these Universal titles for the classic film fan who has seen these ad nauseam. What would really work for me is if Svengoolie started showing horror films of the 70's/80's/90's. These are "old" now (same as the Universal classics were "old" to us in the 60's) and there are so many good/bad/ugly films I've never seen. Syracuse has a 35mm horror festival every year* where I've seen several excellent 80's/90's sci fi/horror movies for the first time like POPCORN, FRIGHT NIGHT, TREMORS, etc. all perfect Sven fare. Bet they don't have the budget for it. But their parent company must have something worthwhile available. *This year they held it at a Drive In Halloween weekend!

Thanks for your impressions. I've made that poster image into a magnet for MrTiki's locker-it's the cigar that slays me!

Personally, I think it was great that they didn't raze the old Fairfax area May Co. Building and incorporated its Art Deco corner facade into this new museum's overall design. I don't see an old Department Store façade, I only see a concrete ball that looks like a bunker for the apocolypse. Looked further and found pix from the other side. I kind of like that the decoration looks like a stack of golden film cans!

Count me in as one of them. When I had the incredible good fortune to meet Debbie Reynolds, that's exactly what I spoke with her about, her costume collection. I thanked her so much for gathering them together, the incredible cost of storing them and how important these items are for illustrating the artistry of American film productions. It's thrilling to see the actual sizes of the movie stars by the mannequins wearing the garments. Sometimes costumes are pinned together unfinished and other times they have incredible hand sewn detail. It's an illustration of an industry of people who MADE things and made a living doing it. On a personal note, I actually know a Hollywood costumer, it's a tough, innovative, fascinating business. I think the backdrop paintings and props are also fascinating Hollywood History and deserve preservation & exhibition as well. And I appreciate Todd's interest in camera equipment: I once sold old Hollywood camera equipment & lenses on ebay for a client. I didn't have any idea what I was selling, but people paid big bucks for it.