Swithin
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Posts posted by Swithin
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I saw Robert Osborne at a reception tonight in NYC. He seemed quite well, I had a brief chat with him. Other luminaries there were Thelma Schoonmaker, Elaine Stritch, Tammy Grimes, Jim Dale, and Edward Hibbert.
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Hope you like it. I fear I'm not a fan of Loretta's, not even of her pre-code performances. And Stanwyck, the "Queen of the TCM Boards," is ok by me, but I do not understand the extent to which she is worshipped here. I tend to gravitate to the character people anyway. But do watch out for the slap that caused the earthquake.
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*Frisco Jenny* is on TCM tomorrow morning. IMHO it's one of the best pre-codes, possibly my favorite (pace, Stanwyck and Young fans). It has a great performance by Ruth Chatterton and a heart-breaking final scene -- featuring Helen Jerome Eddy -- to end all heart-breaking endings. It's sort of an inverted Madame X and involves a poor but resourceful woman, the "rackets," prostitution, blackmail, murder, and mother love. Oh, and it also has the San Francisco earthquake, which seems to be caused by a slap in the face that Ruth Chatterton receives from her father, played by Robert Emmett O'Connor. Also stars Donald Cook and Louis Calhern. Try to catch it if you haven't see it.
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I guess characters have their reasons. I remember Bette Davis appearing on a talk show later in her life. She criticized her character in Beyond the Forest, saying "Who would want to leave Joseph Cotton?"
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Forgive my abysmal ignorance -- what exactly is SUTS? I assume it's Summer Under the Stars, or something like that, but what does that mean exactly?
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Tom, I've seen Zorro and Alley. I'm not a fan of Zorro but Alley is quite powerful. I like The Long Gray Line -- a later Power film as well. Made by Columbia, but it had the scope of the big Fox films. You're quite right, although I didn't realize it when I was writing -- the Power films I mentioned were all 1930s. I think in general, I prefer the look of the films of that decade to the 40s. This has nothing to do with Fox, or with Power, but I love 30s musicals and am not a fan of the big later MGM musicals with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, though I love Fred with Ginger.
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I like The Razor's Edge, Fox films, and Tyrone Power. I particularly like Power in Lloyd's of London, The Rains Came, In Old Chicago, and Alexander's Ragtime Band. Fox's The Egyptian is my favorite epic, and Fox's Wilson is one of my favorite biopics, if a bit hagiographic. Like every studio, Fox had a distinctive style. I'd like to see My Gal Sal again -- a very enjoyable musical biopic. This political season, it would be interesting to see Wilson again -- those convention scenes provide a fascinating look into the old style political convention.
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I guess more than you would know about humans!
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*Lucille La Verne*, who played the hag (La Vengeance) who hung out with Madame De Farge in A Tale of Two Cities (1935) was pretty plain. She had been a star on stage, before entering silent films and moving into talkies.
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Fascinating, Kyle! David Halberstam grew up in the same apartment building in NYC that I did, but a couple of decades earlier. I never knew him, but when he became famous, several of the older tenants talked of him.
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Eugenia, Hal took it in stride, I was the one who felt bad. I should have taken him out another way.
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casablancalover, thank you for assuming that I would be gracious -- I hope you're right! I've worked with a number of "famous" people. I'm not really impressed by celebrity, but I have respect for talent, professionalism, and achievement. I try to treat them as I would anyone else.
I presented Hal Holbrook in a program many years ago -- around 1997. After the program, I was leading him out of the theater, and a woman rushed up to him and kissed him! I was mortified, imagine having to face a (presumably unwanted and definitely unsolicited) sudden kiss from a stranger!
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Well, Wayne, that's not likely to happen. We live in huge apartment buildings on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The eight buildings that make up our complex have nice grounds and gardens, but staff take care of that, so I don't expect to see Dickie or Joan out with a rake!
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Jeff, what an interesting group of films in your thread. I can understand your Bresson choices --- his films are enhanced by further viewings, I think. Of your other films, I'm not a fan of My Fair Lady -- I think that if I had to pick two worst travesties in Oscar history, one of them would be for Rex Harrison's Oscar that year -- over four more deserving gentlemen. Lady from Shanghai and Blow Up are two great films that also, I think, improve as one sees them again and again; just as David Hemmings sees more and more as he looks closer at the photo he's taken.
For me, I'll take your invitation to address the opposite. On first viewing, long ago, I liked NBNW. I liked it because, as a worshipper of Hitchcock, I related to and appreciated the careful cinematic language of Hitchcock, which is present in all his movies. But upon closer examination, over further viewings, I realize that the film is hollow -- it used Hitchcock's language and imagery, but it's fake. It doesn't deserve to stand beside other Hitchcock films of that era -- Rear Window, or Psycho, or The Birds, or The Man Who Knew Too Much, as a representative film made by one of the top masters of the movies. NBNW is Hitchock's joke film.
But back to you, Jeff. What do you think of Au Hasard Balthazar ?
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Andy, I think it comes down to the particular film and the viewer.
I love Rohmer. I can watch his films again and again. Ok -- Perceval is an exception; though the subject matter interests me, I found it rather boring. I find a couple of Rohmer's films -- or bits of them -- annoying. One of my favorite Rohmer films is A Summer's Tale -- part of the seasons quartet -- but one that I find annoying is simply called Summer ( Le Rayon Vert in French). But as a body of work, few other directors have given me more pleasure; and one of the best lines ever, in any film, is in The Marquise of O. I can't quote it properly so I won't try.
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JJG, I don't disagree with you. Though I adore her, I never said Kate was the most versatile actress in Hollywood; I was saying that BS was NOT the most versatile actress. Perhaps BS is better in the first part of The Lady Eve, though I think Kate could do it as well, maybe along the lines of her role in The Little Minister. But as I've said, I think the best things about The Lady Eve (my fave Stanwyck film) are the script and the character performances.
But this thread has got me thinking more about BS -- whom I like, but don't worship to the extent of some others on this board. I think her strength was portraying rich women who came from the gutter (or seemed to), or women from the gutter who aspired to be rich. (Please note I mean to cast no aspersions on the gutter!)
Just to keep it fair, Wallace Beery occasionally played men who came from the gutter (e.g. Dinner at Eight ). Maybe BS is the female Wallace Beery.
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mzl, we who can see Brazil for what it really is, are few and far between!
Rosebette, LOL! Though I hope your husband doesn't have to get sick for you to have a bit of fun -- times have changed, you don't need an excuse! Btw, Dickie Moore lives across the street from me (with his wife Jane Powell).
Blonde Venus is a great film. It also has a great role for Hattie McDaniel. Her best line: "I know when a white man's browsing and when he ain't."
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IMHO, K. Hepburn would have been better as Eve. Though Stanwyck's rich ladies always gave a hint of coming from the gutter -- she played that especially well.
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I can't imagine BS in Loy's role as Nora Charles. It just wouldn't work, it would sink like a stone.
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Drunks can be extremely irritating to watch if not done well. I think the best is *Donal Donnelly* as Freddy Malins in The Dead.
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Didn't she sing and/or play the ukelele in Tovarich ? Am I remembering that scene correctly?
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Touch of Evil and Stage Fright. Also, some critics write that Blue Angel is proto-noir, and that the Stanwyck character in Double Indemnity was a sort of homage to earlier Dietrich characters (the name of the lead -- Phyllis Dietrichson -- was changed from another last name in the James Cain story).
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Thank you, Miss. W. But now that I think of it, and although I didn't say it, maybe I do feel that there is something to be gained/learned from every movie. Even movies we hate, or find boring. There may be that one short scene in a movie we don't like; or, on the other hand, as we know, even negative life experiences enrich us and teach us in some way.
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*The L-Shaped Room* is a gem of a movie, starring Leslie Caron, with great performances, particularly by British stage veteran Cicely Courtneidge as Mavis, whose rendition of "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty" recalls the England of another era.
10th Anniversary of SUTS
in General Discussions
Posted
Thanks, Val. I thought maybe it had something to do with some outdoor screenings, or something like that.