Swithin
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Posts posted by Swithin
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For humor, I watched *Ladies of the Jury* (1932) with Edna May Oliver on TCM a while back. It's actually quite funny. They remade it a few years later as *We're on the Jury*, which was a big bore, despite having the excellent Helen Broderick in the Edna May Oliver role.
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My favorite Paul Newman film is *The Young Philadelphians*, which has great courtroom scenes. But I wonder what would have happened if Richard Deacon didn't get thirsty on the witness stand!
And, although it wasn't formally a courtroom, the final scenes at the Royal Geographical Society at the end of *Stanley and Livingstone* are wonderful.
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Night of the Demon has may great qualities. I love Athene Seyler -- particularly during the seance, when she's singing. It's a bit of crazy humor in a very eerie film.
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C&C has a very British look -- like Powell/Presberger, I think. Anthony Harvey, later a great film editor and director of Lion in Winter played Cleo's little bro.
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I agree that it's a great film, a wonderful combination of horror and sci-fi, intelligently done. I particularly like the little touches, like Barbara Shelley saying "Oh God" when she first sees the creature. Andrew Keir does the same later on. After all, the creature was their God! (James Donald never does that, and, as it turns out, he's free of the Martian influence!)
And, as I wrote in another thread, the man in the church, describing his vision of Mars, is a really creepy scene! "...jumping...leaping!"
I wish we had TCM HD in NYC. I guess there aren't enough of us in this town.
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Actually, I think *Five Millions Years to Earth* aka Quatermass and the Pit, represents a very effective combination of horror and sci-fi, dealing as it does with the origin of the devil. Really interesting, with some truly creepy scenes -- e.g. the guy who runs into the church and is having visions of a purple sky.
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I have to admit I love all types of horror movies, except those with ambiguous endings. I hated the Nightmare on Elm Street films -- with those endings that allowed for sequels. Frankenstein was destroyed in the original Frankenstein film, and they found ways of bringing him back for sequels that did not compromise a good resolution for the preceding film.
I also must confess that I like to see the "monster". All that stuff about leaving it to the imagination doesn't appeal to me. There is of course alot left to the imagination, but I think the monster should be seen. Night (Curse) of the Demon is a good example. So many people have said that the monster should remain unseen. But I think the image of that demon floating along the railroad tracks at the end is exciting! It was left to our imagination for much of the film, but it was great to see it. I guess I don't want to see the monster at the beginning -- I don't like films which have to throw you right into the action.
Regarding the slasher films, although I prefer the older horror films, slasher films are probably "healthier" in that they generally show that the evil is within an individual; rather than "the devil made me do that" sort of attitude. More in line with personal responsibility. How can anyone resist the charms of Blood Feast, a slasher about an Egyptian caterer?
The genre is so rich, and I love most of it. I guess, for me, the most terrifying moment in any horror film is the end of Witchfinder General (aka Conquerer Worm). Even the audience is corrupted!
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I wouldn't use "high brow" in this context either. After all, someone in this thread referred to an opera singer as being high brow! Believe me, the sophisticated study of cinema is way more high brow than a peasant artform like opera! But I exaggerate to make my point.
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I wouldn't use a term like "higher arts". Who has the right to call any art form a "higher art"?
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And it starts out with a classic horror scenario -- people in a remote town afraid to go to a mysterious house inhabited by someone or something terrible.
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Don't mind a bit of low brow once in a while. One new insight I had after watching Murder, He Says again after all these years is that, just a few tweaks and it could become something like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Hills Have Eyes. I think this peculiar and lovable comedy is really just a few steps away from horror!
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No, I haven't seen it for quite a while, but I definitely remember preferring it to The Man Who Could Cheat Death, The Man Who Turned to Stone, and many of the other, similar films. The thing I remember most about The Man in Half Moon Street was the effective way they dealt with the pathos of the character played by Nils Asther, and the fact that, at the end, Helen Walker still loves him. I remember the last scene -- Asther aging and running away from Walker, who pursues him -- as being quite sad, an unusual mood to convey in a movie of this sort.
In any case, I wish they'd show it, so I can see how I feel about it now!
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So good to see it again, what a bunch of great characters! Did anyone notice that the song with the clue is the same tune as the much later "All Things Considered" theme song?
It was sad hearing about Helen Walker's tragedy, after the film. I would like to see another Helen Walker rarity -- *The Man in Half Moon Street*. The best of the mad-scientist-wants-to-live-forever films.
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I agree with you; based on the list, Wilcox is indeed underrated. Btw, *The Hills of Home* is my favorite Lassie move. It raises two great character actors -- Edmund Gwenn and Donald Crisp -- to lead performances.
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One of the funniest movies ever, and one of Marjorie Main's greatest roles.
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Frank Morgan in *Tortilla Flat*
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No, I haven't seen *A Little Night Music* on film. I saw it on stage once, in London. It starred Judi Dench and Sian Phillips. Excellent production, though I'm not wild about the show. I do like the film of *Gypsy*. Even though Rosalind Russell's singing is dubbed by Lisa Kirk, I think it's a very enjoyable film.
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I believe it. I've met people who knew Fredric March, and the impression that they all give is that he was a really decent man. And like his co-star in "Best Year" Myrna Loy, March was a good liberal Democrat!
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I think one of the funniest movies ever made is *Too Hot to Handle*, a 1938 film with Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Walter Pidgeon, Walter Connolly, and Leo Carrillo. I laugh out loud every time I see it. It's also timely -- one of the funniest scenes has Gable, a reporter, trying to stage a phony war scene in China for his newsreel company, which is desperate for news. The brilliant Jack Conway directed.
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Hitchcock liked to cast against type on occasion. Best example of that was Edmund Gwenn in *Foreign Correspondent.* Hard to believe lovable old Teddy Gwenn trying to shove Joel McCrea off the roof!
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Thanks -- sorry about that mistake. I should have known better. *Horror Hotel* aka City of the Dead is way too cinematic to have been made by Hammer.
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Well, I've just looked at the October schedule, and there is some good stuff, including *Five Million Years to Earth* (aka Quatermass and the Pit), which is a great marriage between horror and sci-fi. And October also brings some other good horror, including *Vampyr*, *Return of the Vampire*, *The Devil Commands*, and other golden oldies.
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I'm a big horror film fan but have never much liked the Hammer Dracula films. The exception, which I do like, is *The Scars of Dracula*. That seems to be the one TCM is NOT showing tonight. Why? I find most of Hammer's Dracula/Frankenstein/Mummy films a bit stodgy compared to the Universal productions. I do like some other Hammer films -- like *Horror Hotel* (aka City of the Dead) and *Quatermass and the Pit* (aka Five Million Years to Earth).
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Thanks for mentioning two of my favorites for which I've been waiting: *The Mystery of Edwin Drood* and the oddly poignant *The Man in Half Moon Street*, which is my favorite scientist-wants- eternal-life film.
Caesar and Cleopatra
in General Discussions
Posted
That little boy in one of your photos -- see photo of Ptolemy -- is Anthony Harvey, who grew up to be Kubrick's film editor on several films. He was also director of The Lion in Winter. Lovely man, lives a few hours outside of NYC.