Swithin

Yes, that's it, Silverwolf! My favorite film about the scientist who wants to live forever (Nils Asther). He has to kill to do it, but the film does sort of have a bittersweet quality, and as he ages at the end, Helen Walker's response is quite touching. (I wish TCM would show it). Your thread...

No, far from trying to start an argument, I'm trying to say that, for me, the character actors in the classic films are what make the films great -- they are a special breed, as opposed to the leading stars who might occasionally play supporting (or character) roles. I love your thread which I see as a labor of love to those character actors, but I think it becomes ever so slightly less perfect when you put people in who may be truly great and have contributed a great deal to the cinema (and other forms), but are not part of that special breed of classic character actor, to give you a few examples, like Pallette, Ritter, and above all Bondi. The great Beulah Bondi was the lead in maybe one movie -- Make Way for Tomorrow. If you were doing a thread about classic stars, would she qualify, because she was in one film as a star?

Well... Olivier is not the lead in "Brideshead Revisited," nor is Gielgud in that, nor in Arthur, but still, I wouldn't classify them as "classic character actors." A few supporting roles doesn't make one a classic character actor, I don't think.

Would you really consider *Sir Noel* a character actor? He was almost always the lead, generally in plays/films that he wrote/directed himself. Seems odd to classify "The Master" as a character actor, except in the sense that every actor is a character actor!

Good guess, but no. The title of the film refers to the guy and his address, where he lived for a VERY long time!

This is where he lived for a very long time: in the Mayfair neighborhood of London, near Green Park.

Katina Paxinou, a classically trained Greek actress, deservedly won an Oscar for her performance as Pilar, a Spanish woman, in For Whom the Bell Tolls. It's almost condescending to imply, with hindsight, that it's okay for certain actors to have played certain nationalities and ethnicities, but not others. Today, there is a different sensibility. But I don't think we should apply our current model to the films of the past. If you want to do that, you can go way beyond casting with that sort of argument, thereby reducing the films we love to a pile of rubble.

Tortilla Flat has the best animal scene ever: the dogs having a religious vision. Frand Morgan is brilliant in his role as Pirate. The casting doesn't bother me. Some actors are good, some merely ok. Similar to Juarez, or For Whom the Bell Tolls, with Ingrid Bergman as a Spaniard.

The Doughgirls ?

So sorry to hear that, I remember we mentioned his 90th birthday on this board earlier this year. TCM showed the priceless rarity A Night in Paradise, in April, I think, in which Bey plays Aesop.

Talk about a hijacked thread! Has anyone answered the question about re-scheduling the two films?

What a great body of work. I'd love to see all those horrors -- I've seen a few of them, but not in years. And my favorite W.C. Fields movie, The Old Fashioned Way, with the great "Gathering Up the Shells at the Sea Shore" song/scene!

*Victor Francen* as Grodek in The Mask of Dimitrios gives a truly perfect performance in a brief scene.

Sorry I made an error. My Witchfinder General DVD was transferred from a PAL VHS videotape I purchased in London (not DVD), in the 1990s. I had it transferred recently when I threw out my PAL videotape player. Redemption was the British company. They had a big line of horror films. It now seems to have been absorbed into a company called Salvation, which no longer seems to carry the film.

Maybe think of it this way -- Pleasance's roles were usually NOT pleasant! And Sutherland's name means from the South (at least from the Vikings standpoint), but he's from Canada. So both gentlemen go AGAINST their surnames.

Interesting subject, Skimpole, but you complicate it by adding the adjective "great," which makes it very subjective. Or are you asking about short performances that were Oscar nominees/winners?" I think Sylvia Miles Oscar-nominated part in Midnight Cowboy was pretty short, wasn't it? There are plenty of short performances in films, shorter than the ones you mention, maybe not so famous. Also, I tend to disagree with you about Carrie, possibly the only movie I like that is based on a Stephen King book. Long Oscar-winning roles? Since Olivier's Hamlet is an edited version of the play, it could be Miss Scarlett. Edited by: Swithin on Oct 8, 2012 8:50 PM

Princess, it was Donald *Pleasance* that the director wanted in the Price role in Witchfinder General. Meingast -- my DVD of Witchfinder is indeed 82 minutes and change. I had it transferred from a Redemption PAL DVD which I purchased in London many years ago. I think the distinction of Witchfinder, in the genre of horror films, is that the presence of evil amid beauty is depicted in a deeply pronounced way, and the corruption of good is also depicted. More than any other horror film I can think of, the evil from without (Vincent Price as Matthew Hopkins) finally corrupts the utterly good hero (Ian Ogilvy as Trooper Marshall) in an ending that even corrupts the audience. We want more hacking of evil Price! Hence the last lines of the film: Ogilvy to his friend, who has shot Price to end the hacking: "You took him from me..." And the further line, from the friend, "God have mercy on us all..." And the final sound: the primal screams of Hilary Dwyer. Then the credits, with the contorted faces, yet the beautiful music plays on (in the UK version). Incredible ending. At a quick glance, the link you provided looks good; at least it seems to have the UK score, which is so important.

Basil, I agree with you. So many movies -- many considered classics -- are overrated. We all have our lists. As much as I worship Hitchcock, two of his films which are on my "most overrated" list are *To Catch a Thief* and *North by Northwest*.

Don't forget the Theremin, an instrument that is well suited to creating an aura of creepiness. Heavily used in horror films, but also a respected instrument in its own right. Here's a demonstration by its creator:

I'm not sure. Amazon has a bunch of reviews up, but some seem contradictory. I've put the link, below, the one that has the word "pivotal" in the title makes it sound hopeful. I had a UK PAL VHS tape which I had transferred to DVD when I threw out my PAL deck. I think the UK version is highly preferable, because of Paul Ferris' music score (this is mentioned in one of the Amazon reviews). By the way, evidently the director wanted Donald Pleasance to play the role that Price played! Here's the link to reviews, though I think there are various versions floating around these days, and I'm not sure which you'd get from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Witchfinder-General-Vincent-Price/product-reviews/B000RO9PUU/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Constance Collier was a great friend of Kate Hepburn's. I've read many of Collier's letters to Kate, which are housed in an archive in NYC. Collier was also a great acting coach. One of her famous film roles was as the older woman in Stage Door. I believe that, when Ms. Collier died, her personal assistant -- the famous "Phyllis," went to work for Ms. Hepburn.

One of my fave Andrews Sisters songs in an Abbott and Costello movie: "Aurora" in Hold that Ghost.

I'm looking forward to this film. I saw Anthony Hopkins play King Lear many years ago, and a few years later saw him play Antony to Judi Dench's Cleopatra. He's an incredible actor and presence, and thus I think a good choice for Hitchcock; let's hope the film is as intelligent as the subject warrants.

I meant as a great performance in a horror film, he hasn't been mentioned.

Let's not forget O.P. Heggie, who played the Hermit!