Swithin
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Posts posted by Swithin
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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.
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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*.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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One of my fave Andrews Sisters songs in an Abbott and Costello movie: "Aurora" in Hold that Ghost.
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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.
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I meant as a great performance in a horror film, he hasn't been mentioned.
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Let's not forget O.P. Heggie, who played the Hermit!
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That's it, Lavender.
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What a great week, I'm particularly looking forward to the very strange Vampyr and the Thursday films. Why do you think they listed Vampyr by that alternate title? It's so well known as Vampyr.
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I don't mind photos in threads that are pretty much photos only, like Top Billed's Character Actors Thread. But in conversation threads, I would try to be the same way I'd be in an in-person conversation.
To get back to horror, I guess we need The Brainiac to figure this out. Maybe not the best performance in a horror film, but certainly the best tongue!
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Of course there are no rules against photos! It's just my personal thing to kvetch about. Like very, very, long posts. They push the conversation to other pages, I find it a kind of distraction, no matter how nice the photos are.
Re: ignore, I don't even understand how it works, or what it's for. It's sort of like blocking out reality, I assume!
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Don't Stop Now! There are so many posters, photos, window cards out there on the Internet, waiting for you! (Actually, I have to admit that your response was amusing). In the 8th century Byzantium period, you would have been called an "iconodule."
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Actually, Meingast, I mentioned the Donald thing first. It's not that I need credit, but I made of point of doing it discreetly, at the end of my first post on the subject, since I don't take pleasure in correcting people, but I thought, for the record...
But now it's on another page, because somebody had to put a PHOTO up! I have to say, photos are my least favorite thing on this board, unless they are in threads that are pretty much photo-only threads. (But I know I'm in the minority in this).
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Keep quiet, the cephalopod approaches.
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I think I agree with you about the singing number relative to Universal Classics. But I also like "Hey You" from The Mummy's Curse, and, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I have a fondness for Tante Berthe in that movie.
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Great list, Prince! And I'm particularly glad that you -- to paraphrase a line from the last movie you mention -- "brought out Elizabeth Selwyn!" I think Valentine Dyall as Jethrow Keane from that film also deserves a mention.
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When the new wine singer sings to Chaney and Massey, "...And may they live eternally..." Chaney goes berserk, the song ends, Chaney grabs the singer and shouts: "Eternally, why did you say that, I don't want to live eternally!" It's a very powerful, disconcerting scene, and Chaney is brilliant in it.
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I'm rather fond of *Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman*, and the whole cast therein; Ilona Massey is quite good as Baroness Elsa Frankenstein, a very positive character. The Festival of the New Wine musical sequence in the film is priceless -- pure operetta, and so well integrated into the plot.
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Yes -- thanks, I mentioned that in my post. Possibly Sutherland's second greatest performance, after The Day of the Locust, which is also not without horror elements at the end. And a film which positively SHRIEKS to be shown on TCM, what with the obvious classic Hollywood subject, great cast, story, etc.
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The director, Michael Reeves, allegedly committed suicide a week after filming was completed. I first saw the film at MOMA in NYC. By the end, even the audience was corrupted. Young hero Ian Ogilvy's line: "You took him from me..." is what the audience felt. We want villain Price to continue to be axed to bits. It is the total victory of evil over sanity.
Yet the film has moments of incredible beauty -- when Trooper Marshall is riding to see his girlfriend, to that haunting tune (cut from the US version), amidst all the beauty of East Anglia. What a contrast.
Don't Look Now (with Donald Sutherland btw) is another film so terrifying, that it sent a friend of mine into labor.
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RM, it's not supposed to be historically accurate, although it uses the character of a historical figure. The UK version is much better, not because the US version uses Poe's poem, which is relevant, but because they changed the amazing music score for the US.
This movie portrays, better than any other, the pervasiveness of evil in the midst of beauty.
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I think Price's greatest horror role -- in one of the great horror movies of all time -- is as Matthew Hopkins in Witchfinder General. A brilliant, utterly depressing movie about the victory of evil, it is called The Conquerer Worm in the U.S. Price is not quite so campy in this film. It's truly a great performance.
Edited by: Swithin on Oct 6, 2012 10:20 AM
Greatest Short Performances!
in General Discussions
Posted
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