[Favourite Agatha Christie Movies]

I am absolutely bananas over Murder on the Orient Express.  It is absolutely one of my favorite movies, even in a year when there were probably more great movies than in any other year.  Aesthetically, this is indefensible, but I just don't care. It is shocking how well Lumet does the Lubitsch touch, but also how haunting the score played at the beginning, and during the reenactment of the murder, is as well.  And there are so many lovely bits, John Gielguld's valet's sharp gesture of his contempt for his boss, the gesture Rachel Roberts makes during the solution scene, the crew inspecting oysters before they're sent to the kitchen, Lauren Bacall's complete nonchalance on finding the murder weapon.  And Albert Finney's performance is amazing, since he is so completely different from his character, and one watches him take vain pleasure in his own genius.

 

Death on the Nile has a cleverer solution, but it's not at same level.  And one might say the solution's slight at hand shows that Christie was capable of nothing more.  I don't know why TCM doesn't show Coming Home or Go Tell the Spartans, so I've never seen them, and De Niro was at the stage of the career when he could do no wrong in The Deer Hunter.  But Peter Ustinov really was the best actor of the year. 

 

Evil Under The Sun has a clever solution, but I can never remember the motive.  I do like one scene where a husband gives his wife a playful slap on her behind when she runs away.

 

As for And Then There Were None, I imagine Cary Grant as Lombard, Ingrid Bergman as Claythorne, Buster Keaton as Armstrong, Sydney Greenstreet as Wargrave, Mary Pickford as Brent, and, in a twist, Peter Lorre as Blore and the most sympathetic of the characters.  I can imagine him at a crucial moment appearing on screen saying, "I don't anyone expected anything quite like this."

[Films of 2015]

Well I've seen six of the eight best picture nominees.  The six are all competent, enjoyable movies, but so far The Revenant is the one I like best.  It actually has imagination, which is interesting because I wasn't that big a fan of Birdman.

[Films of 2015]

I liked CAROL and would recommend it. Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Sarah Paulson are all first-rate, the costumes evoke the era (1951-52) splendidly, and my car collector friend would enjoy seeing some of the old cars. The script is an intelligent adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel THE PRICE OF SALT. Rooney Mara is in no way a supporting actress--she's probably on screen as much as Cate Blanchett, if not more.

 

However, I will join the puzzlement of Bogey and others about why CAROL won the NY Film Critics awards for best picture and best director. Todd Haynes' FAR FROM HEAVEN was an attempt to re-create the Douglas Sirk mode for themes Sirk couldn't have treated openly. He achieved his goal, but some (including me) wondered if the result was more a museum piece than a living film. Haynes seems to taken his critics too much to heart, for CAROL looks all too much like a 2015 film, despite the loving re-creations of the period.

 

The cinematography is, to my mind, surprisingly poor, or at least not to my taste. I consider the current period one of the two lowest points of cinematography, the other being the Sepia Sludge era of the 1970s. Where is our late lamented FredCDobbs to complain about how underlit some of the scenes are, for no apparent dramatic reason? The scene when Carol consults her lawyer is one example out of many. This is 2015 cinematographic cliche; you see this sort of thing on TV as well as in the movies. Haynes also overdoses on rain-streaked cab windows and car windshields and diner windows, as if he had been watching too many imitation New Wave movies. This gets very tiresome.

 

Rooney Mara is made up to look as much like Audrey Hepburn as possible, and Cate Blanchett, one might say, has the Lauren Bacall role. Bacall would definitely have worn those clothes, the fur coat, and the little hat. Had CAROL been made at the time the novel was written, and without the production code, would we have been seeing Hepburn and Bacall in bed together?

 

I should also add, on the positive side, that this has to be a perfect lesbian date movie, and Rooney Mara will gain some devoted fans.

 

Having seen Carol last night I have to disagree.  I actually thought the cinematography was both intelligent and less artificial than that for Brooklyn, as well as making perfect sense for a movie that takes place in the winter of 1952.  As despite the resemblances, Mara and Blanchett's characters aren't really like Hepburn or Bacall.

[LEAST & MOST FAVORITE of the week...]

I saw six movies over the last two weeks:  four this week and two for the week before.  The silent version of The Blue Bird had some charm.  The Duke of Burgundy is about a lesbian couple who engage in BDSM rituals.  (They're also studying butterflies, which is what the title refers to.)  This is interesting, but not easy for me to appreciate it.  I probably don't have enough empathy for this sort of movie, where sex games have overshadowed everything else in the relationship.  Yesterday evening, I watched Josie and the Pussycats, largely because there's problems with my audiovisual system that prevent me from watching DVDs, and it happened to be on television.  It's kind of odd that this should be the one property from the Archie universe to make the big screen.  It's not a very interesting movie, though Parker Posey makes a good villain, and one wishes more of the awful Cabot siblings.

 

The other three movies were three of the best picture nominees.  They're all good, but one wishes they could be better.  Saoirse Ronan is so good in Brooklyn that you think the movie is actually better than it actually is.  But I couldn't help but notice when I was watching it that it took some time for the movie to actually produce an individual character as opposed to the type of the shy, devoutly Catholic immigrant.  Richard Brody criticized the movie since actual Irish women in the 1950s would show more curiosity about NYC than the intelligent and not unambitious character does in the course of the movie.  Spotlight is competent, interesting journalism about the Boston Catholic sex abuse scandal.  One wishes it showed more cinematic flair and that the characters showed greater emotional engagement with their subject.  The Big Short is certainly more fun, though at times it appears like a more "responsible" and less imaginative The Wolf of Wall Street.  One problem in its useful narrative is that the people who are betting on the world economy to collapse also have to double as the moral conscience of the movie, regularly getting appalled at the chicanery around them.  That doesn't entirely work.

[Oscars Best Actors/Actresses, and their best roles.]

Ah the Academy Awards, so often honoring the right actors for the wrong roles.  If you could give the Academy honorees for their best work, what would it be?

 

Emil Jannings, The Last Laugh

Warner Baxter, Haven't seen enough movies of his to care

George Arliss, Ditto

Lionel Barrymore, It's A Wonderful Life

Wallace Berry, The Champ

Fredric March, The Best Years of Our Lives

Charles Laughton, This Land is Mine

Clark Gable, Gone with the Wind

Victor McLaglen, The Quiet Man

Paul Muni, I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

Spencer Tracy, Adam's Rib

Robert Donat, Goodbye Mr. Chips

James Stewart, Vertigo

Gary Cooper, High Noon

James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy

Paul Lukas, Watch on the Rhine

Bing Crosby, The Bells of Saint Mary's

Ray Milland, Dial M for Murder

Ronald Colman, A Tale of Two Cities

Laurence Olivier, The Entertainer

Broderick Crawford, All the King's Men

Jose Ferrer, Lawrence of Arabia

Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca

William Holden, The Wild Bunch

Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire

Ernest Borgnine, The Wild Bunch

Yul Brynner, The Ten Commandments

Alec Guinness, Lawrence of Arabia

David Niven, Around the World in Eighty Days

Charlton Heston, Touch of Evil

Burt Lancaster, The Leopard

Maximilian Schell, The Black Hole

Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird

Sidney Poitier, Sneakers

Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady

Lee Marvin, Point Break

Paul Scofield,  A Man for All Seasons

Rod Steiger, The Pawnbroker

Cliff Robertson, Not enough movies to judge

John Wayne, The Searchers

George C. Scott, Patton

Gene Hackman, The Conversation

Jack Lemmon, Some Like it Hot

Art Carney, Not enough movies to judge:  though I have vague positive impressions of The Late Show from two decades or more ago

Jack Nicholson, Chinatown

Peter Finch, The Red Tent

Richard Dreyfuss, Jaws

Jon Voight, Midnight Cowboy

Dustin Hoffman, Midnight Cowboy

Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver

Henry Fonda, 12 Angry Men

Ben Kingsley, Gandhi

Robert Duvall, The Godfather

F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus

William Hurt, A.I. Artificial Intelligence (I should point out that I really dislike Hurt intensely so it's not too surprising that my favorite role of his has him playing a smug sociopath.)

Paul Newman, The Hustler

Michael Douglas, Traffic

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune

Anthony Hopkins, The Remains of the Day

Al Pacino, The Godfather

Tom Hanks, Splash

Nicolas Cage, Raising Arizona

Geoffrey Rush, Elizabeth

Roberto Benigni, Down by Law

Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects

Russell Crowe, L.A. Confidential

Denzel Washington, Inside Man

Adrien Brody, The Pianist

Sean Penn, Mystic River

Jamie Foxx, Django Unchained

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Forest Whitaker, Ghost Dog:  the Way of the Samurai

Jeff Bridges, Cutter's Way

Colin Firth, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Jean Dujardin, Haven't seen enough movies to choose

Matthew McConaughey, The Wolf of Wall Street

Eddie Redmayne, Haven't seen enough movies to choose, but certainly not the movie he won an oscar for

 

Janet Gaynor, Sunrise

Mary Pickford, Sparrows

Norma Shearer, The Women

Marie Dressler, Dinner at Eight

Helen Hayes, My Son John

Katherine Hepburn, The Philadelphia Story

Claudette Colbert, The Palm Beach Story

Bette Davis, All About Eve

Luise Rainer, The Good Earth (quite frankly, not much of a choice)

Vivien Leigh, Gone with the Wind

Ginger Rogers, Top Hat

Joan Fontaine, From this Day Forward

Greer Garson, Goodbye Mr. Chips

Jennifer Jones, Portrait of Jennnie

Ingrid Bergman, Voyage in Italy

Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce

Olivia de Havilland, The Heiress

Loretta Young, Man's Castle

Jane Wyman, All that Heaven Allows

Judy Holliday, The Marrying Kind

Shirley Booth, Haven't seen any movies with her

Audrey Hepburn, Two for the Road

Grace Kelly, Rear Window

Anna Magnani, L'Amore

Joanne Woodward, The Age of Innocence

Susan Hayward, The Lusty Men

Simone Signoret, Casque D'Or

Elizabeth Taylor, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Sophia Loren, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Anne Bancroft, 7 Women

Patricia Neal, Hud

Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria

Julie Christie, Don't Look Now

Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl

Maggie Smith, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Glenda Jackson, Hopscotch

Jane Fonda, Klute

Liza Minnelli, Cabaret

Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Faye Dunaway, Chinatown

Diane Keaton, Annie Hall

Sally Field, Norma Rae

Sissy Spacek, Badlands

Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia

Shirley MacLaine, The Apartment

Geraldine Page, Haven't seen enough movies to judge

Marlee Matlin, haven't seen enough movies to judge

Cher, Moonstruck

Jodie Foster, The Silence of the Lambs

Jessica Tandy, The Birds

Kathy Bates, haven't seen enough movies to judge

Emma Thompson, Howard's End

Holly Hunter, Raising Arizona

Jessica Lange, The Music Box

Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking

Frances McDormand, Fargo

Helen Hunt, haven't seen enough movies to judge

Gwyneth Paltrow, Se7en

Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry

Juia Roberts, Erin Brockovich

Halle Berry, Die Another Day

Nicole Kidman, Dogville

Charlize Theron, Monster

Reese Witherspoon, Election

Helen Mirren, The Queen

Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night

Kate Winslet, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Sandra Bullock, Speed

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Julianne Moore, Boogie Nights

[Alternative Oscars Podcast 1950 and 1951]

My choices for 1951

 

Alice in Wonderland

The River

Miracle in Milan

Diary of a Country Priest

Strangers on a Train

 

Robert Walker, Strangers on a Train

Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire

Chishu Ryu, Early Summer

Gene Kelly, An American in Paris

Kirk Douglas, Ace in the Hole

 

Vivian Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire

Kathryn Beaumont, Alice in Wonderland

Ingrid Bergman, Europa 51

Setsuko Hara, Early Summer

Patricia Walters, The River

 

Karl Malden, A Streetcar Named Desire

Stanley Holloway, The Lavender Hill Mob

Sterling Holloway, Alice in Wonderland

Adolphe Menjou, The Tall Target

Richard Loo, The Steel Helmet

 

Kim Hunter, A Streetcar Named Desire

Chieko Higashiyama, Early Summer

Ludmilla Tcherina, The Tales of Hoffman

Nora Swinburne, The River

Radha Burnier, The River

 

Jean Renoir, The River

[R.I.P. Glenn Frey]

I have rather distinct memories of "Lyin' Eyes."  Unfortunately it reminds me of Sunday afternoons where I was bored out of my mind since a quarter century ago many things were still closed on Sundays.  Not the best thing to remember about Frey, but that has to be my last favorite Eagles song.

[Alternative Oscars Podcast 1950 and 1951]

My choices for 1950

 

 

Sunset Blvd

All About Eve

The Flowers of Saint Francis

La Ronde

Orpheus

 

George Sanders, All About Eve

Humphrey Bogart, In a Lonely Place

William Holden, Sunset Blvd

Takashi Shimura, Rashomon

Gregory Peck, The Gunfighter

 

Gloria Swanson, Sunset Blvd

Bette Davis, All About Eve

Ingrid Bergman, Stromboli

Peggy Cummins, Gun Crazy

Gloria Grahame, In a Lonely Place

 

Orson Welles, The Third Man

Anton Walbrook, La Ronde

Erich von Stroheim, Sunset Blvd.

Severino Pasascione, The Flowers of Saint Francis

Toshiro Mifune, Rashomon

 

Alida Valli, The Third Man

Anne Baxter, All About Eve

Danielle Darrieux, La Ronde

Maria Casares, Orpheus

Thelma Ritter, All About Eve

[Great Movie Ironies]

Irony: (a) it's a black fly in your Chardonnay ( it's a death row pardon two minutes too late © it's the greatest Howard Hawks movie of all time being directed by Michael Curtiz.

[Programming Challenge #31- There's No 'I' in Team" VOTING THREAD, WINNER ANNOUNCED!!!]

Yes congratulations

[Programming Challenge #31- There's No 'I' in Team" VOTING THREAD, WINNER ANNOUNCED!!!]

I vote for Stevo Machino

[LEAST & MOST FAVORITE of the week...]

I saw three movies last week.  Jane Eyre was more interesting than I thought it would be.  I wish I actually watched it more instead of listening to it while I made my dinner.  The Little Fugitive was also interesting, and I can see why the French new wave was admired it, even if it did not quite meet the highest of standards.  But I think the movie of the week was Victoria,   At the beginning of this 138 minute single take, one might wonder what the point of such an exercise is.  After all the first part seems to demonstrate little more than that hanging out with drunks after clubbing is not a good idea.  And indeed, the movie goes on to show that in this case, it's a spectacularly bad idea.  More to the point there doesn't seem to be much depth or grace in the single shot, in contrast to Sukorov, Jancso, Angelopoulos, Tarr or German.  But as the movie goes on, it becomes progressively more exciting and alarming.

[WOW, what a hot batch of Oscar Noms.]

1945, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1963, 1967, 1985, 1988, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 are the years when none of the Best Picture nominees made my top 10, though to be fair I haven't seen them all.  None of the 2015 nominees are on it yet, though I haven't seen six of the eight.

 

1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1992 and 2001 are the years where three of the five nominees made my top 10.

[WOW, what a hot batch of Oscar Noms.]

Mad Max, Carol and Spotlight made the top three of both the Indiewire and Village Voice critics polls.  I haven't seen six of the eight Best Picture nominees, but I did see Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria.  I certainly liked her performance, and it won both critics polls by the largest margin of the four acting categories.  So her being snubbed is a bit annoying.

[Romantic movie "happy endings" that made you want to scream]

The Philadelphia Story;  but lucky for her the guy dumped her and she went back to her first husband. 

 

Also,  Elizabeth as it relates to Mike Connor.   She was willing to stay with Mike even when he asked Tracy to marry him! 

 

So there are two women like that in this film.

 

And one could even add Tracy's mom.      Man if I keep going I might be able to make a case for the little sister.

 

This strikes me as more being tempted by such a person.  Otherwise one would have to include all Ralph Bellamy movies.

[Romantic movie "happy endings" that made you want to scream]

Can you think of a movie where the woman went with the suitor who took no initiative, ran no risks and made no sacrifices?

[Programming Challenge #31- "There's No "I" in Team" THE CHALLENGES!]

Neat schedule Stevomachino!  I like the SOTM, the Hayley Mills special, the choices for Silent Sunday, Imports and the Essentials.  We don't see Black Narcissus all that often (though we see The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp even less).  I also like the TCM Underground choices.

 

I'm not seeing a voting thread.  Has the challenge been extended another week?

[How about Zeppelin (1971)?]

I actually did see it on video sometimes in the mid nineties.  All I remember about it is that York confronts a German plot which ultimately is unsuccessful and the zeppelin crashes.  Now if TCM would show The Red Tent that would be awesome.

[LEAST & MOST FAVORITE of the week...]

I saw six movies this week.  The Martian shows Ridley Scott at his most competent.  But I wonder whether it will be like American Gangster, a movie I saw before several classic Sidney Lumet movies that put it in the shade.  I suspect it will be like Apollo 13, only slightly more off-beat, but ultimately forgettable competent entertainment.  Certainly, the ending breeds suspicion.  And the difference between it and A Man Escaped nicely encapsulates the difference between Scott and Bresson.  The Spanish Earth was a propaganda film that lacked particular information and insight.  Dr. Erlich's Magic Bullet was an OK scientific biography.  Bulldog Drummond was an early sound film and while it ultimately doesn't amount to much, I can see why audiences warmed to Ronald Colman, who is comparatively more engaging than most actors in the very early silent era.  Peter the Great, Part II is the sequel to the Soviet historical epic that I mentioned last year.  Keeping in mind all the propaganda elements, it's not a bad film with some nice films.  Zvenigora is clearly the movie of the week.  Aside from reminding me that I should rewatch Earth again, a movie I treated too cursorily when I first saw it, this movie is a very strange one.  Beautifully shot, visually dynamic, and with a strange plot that goes forth and back in time, I can see why Guy Maddin included it in his 2012 Sight and Sound top 10 poll.

[Programming Challenge #31- "There's No "I" in Team" THE CHALLENGES!]

Three interesting schedules everyone.  Lydecker, I noted with particular interest your many pe-1960 premieres, Theo Van Gogh as your foreign film selection, and especially choosing Presumed Innocent as a premiere.  Also having Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as the Essential is an interesting choice.  Stoopnagle, I like having Dragnet Girl as a Silent film choice, celebrating Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday, and a spotlight for Nicholas Ray.  Lonesome Polecat I'm intrigued by the choice of The Postman, a section on Stephen Sondheim musicals, as well as having A Boy Names Charlie Brown as a choice, as well as a spotlight on war movies made by actual war heroes.

[Programming Challenge #31- "There's No "I" in Team" THE CHALLENGES!]

Week of June 11, 2017 to June 17, 2017

SOTM:  Setsuko Hara
The Essentials:  Late Spring (1949)
Silent Sunday Nights:  The Battle of the Somme (1916)
TCM Imports:  Grand Illusion (1937) and Life and Nothing But (1989)
Friday Night Spotlight:  Great Actresses and the Directors who Love them
TCM Undergound:  Vengeance in Mine (1979)

Team Challenge:  Liv Ullmann, James Mason, Tony Leung, Madhabi Mukherjee

Premieres

The Winds Rises (2013)
The Shining (1980)
The New World (2005)
The Fixer (1968)
Watership Down (1978)
In the Mood For Love (2000)
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
The Chronicle of Anna Magadelana Bach (1968)
Berlin:  Symphony of a Metropolis (1927)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Docks of New York (1928)
Faust (2011)
The Sun (2005)
The Sound of the Mountain (1954)

The End of Summer (1961)

Exempt Premieres

The Battle of the Somme (1916)
Life and Nothing But (1989)
Shame (1968)
Charulata (1964)
Offside (2006)
Shaolin Soccer (2001)
Vengeance is Mine (1979)

Breakdown

1910s:    2
1920s:    7
1930s:   19
1940s:   12
1950s:   15
1960s:   10
1970s:   10
1980s:     8
1990s:     2
2000s:     6
2010s:     2

I thought I would be too busy to actually work on a schedule this time around, which is why I haven't been commenting on this thread.  But about a week ago, an idea come for my schedule.  This will be a tribute to 65 years of Best Picture winners.  Without any actual best pictures!  In rough, but not exact chronological order!  The four choices for Wings are fairly self-evident, as are those for All Quiet on the Western Front later that evening.  The choices for The Broadway Melody include one musical with the song with the same name, another musical on Broadway, and one of Broadway's most famous names being honored.  As for Cimarron the choices include the most famous musical about Oklahoma, and the movie with the funniest line about Oklahoma.  The choices for Mutiny on the Bounty involve two mutinous actions, on land as it happens, with the second being a version of Billy Budd.  The choices for Gone with the Wind deal with five societies that faced that fate.  It includes two aristocracies, one based on slavery, and two indigenous societies.  As it happens this week isn't that full of relevant anniversaries, but the 12th is the 50th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, which struck down anti-miscegenation laws.  This conveniently is relevant to the first two movies.

Whether on the side of justice or against it, birthday boy Basil Rathbone shows You Can't Take it With You.  There aren't that many movies about the Dreyfus affair, and the one movie that deals with the Leo Frank case, They Won't Forget, is a shameful evasion.  So instead we look at the third anti-Semitic affair, the Beilis affair with the TCM premiere of The Fixer.  I'm rather fond of my alternative/inspiration for Rebecca.  In fact Suspicion is a surprisingly similar movie since in both Alfred Hitchcock directs Joan Fontaine in a story where she incorrectly believes that her husband is guilty of murdering his first wife.  Mrs. Miniver is also the arrangement for the TEAM challenge.  All five movies deal with middle class housewives under pressure of a sort, with Shame sharing with Mrs. Miniver a common wartime setting.  The actual movie involving Liv Ullmann, James Mason, Tony Leung and Madhabi Mukherjee is open to many ideas, especially there's no particular time the actors all have to be at.  And if Katherine Hepburn can play a Chinese woman, then Leung and Mukherjee can play any role they like.  One thinks of Anna Karenina with Ullmann playing Anna to Mason's Karenin.  Or Vronsky, earlier in his career, with Leung and Mukherjee as Levin and Kitty.  One could imagine Vertigo with Leung as Scotty, Mason as Gavin Elster, and with Ullmann and Mukherjee as both versions of Kim Novak's character. 

We honor Going My Way with two more downbeat films about Catholic priests, then turn to The Best Days of our Lives with three movies about postwar Europe.  All About Eve is honored with three movies that look at, respectively, the great actress, the successful understudy and the waspish critic.  The Greatest Show on Earth conveniently meets the sports requirement, with movies about boxing, soccer and cycling.  And Jean Seberg and Fred Astaire, are both Americans in Paris.  Marty is honored by one movie each by Martin Scorsese, Martin Ritt, Steve Martin and Dean Martin.  For people who think Gigi doesn't have the full charm of Lubitsch or Ophuls, we have a film from both honoring Gigi, along with Robert Altman's more downbeat movie about being a courtesan.  The Sound of Music is honored with three movies that striking combine muisc and film.  A Man for All Seasons has a film about Pascal, like Thomas More, an intellectual of strong Catholic convictions, bookended by the more sinister Faust, in versions by F.W. Murnau and Alexander Sokurov.  Hollywood films by Maurice Chevalier and Jean Renoir make up The French Connection.  And birthday boy Stan Laurel is the honored madcap comedian of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. 

The Friday night spotlight are actresses and the directors who love them.  The first four honor Annie Hall in that a gentile actress is involved with a Jewish director.  Arguably The Heartbreak Kid not only deals with the same theme, while Jeannie Berlin is presumably loved by Elaine May, her mother.   The four movies dealing with Out of Africa start with the racist Trader Horn which was a best picture nominee and arguably better than the winner that year, then movies that come from, respectively, Mali, Egypt and Senegal.  The Last Emperor is honored with a movie about Hirohito who, if not Japan's last emperor, was the last one with any power.  We reach star of the month Setsuko Hara, whose birthday fell on the 17th, and whose four movies conveniently exemplify Ordinary People.  And we conclude the Japan theme with TCM Underground and Vengeance is Mine. 

[Programming Challenge #31- "There's No "I" in Team" THE CHALLENGES!]

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Wings

06:00 AM With Byrd at the South Pole (1930) Paramount BW-82 min Rear Adm Richard E. Byrd No Director credited P/S
07:30 AM Hell's Angels (1930) United Artists BW-131 min Ben Lyon, James Hall, Jean Harlow D: Howard Hughes P/S
09:45 AM Only Angels Have Wings (1939) Columbia BW-121 min Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Thomas Mitchell, D: Howard Hawks P/S
12:00 PM The Wind Rises (2013) Studio Ghibli C-126 min Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto D: Hayao Miyazaki PREMIERE #1

The Broadway Melody

02:15 PM Singin' in the Rain (1952) MGM C-103 min Gene Kelly, Debby Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Jean Hagen D: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen P/S
04:00 PM The Band Wagon (1953) MGM C-113 min Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant D: Vincente Minnelli P/S
06:00 PM  Ziegfeld Follies (1945) MGM C-110 min Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, William Powell, Lena Horne, D:  Vincente Minnelli, Charles Walters, George Sidney and four others P/S

Cimarron ("And if it [Oklahoma City] should get dull, you can always go over to Tul-sa for the weekend. I think a big change like that does one good, don't you?)

08:00 PM Oklahoma! (1955) RKO C-145 min Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Gloria Grahame D: Fred Zinnemann P/S
10:30 PM The Awful Truth (1937) Columbia BW-90 min Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy D:  Leo McCarey P/S

All Quiet on the Western Front

12:15 AM The Battle of the Somme (silent) (1916) British Topical Committee of War Films D; G.H. Malins, J.B. McDowell [EXEMPT]
01:45 AM Grand Illusion (Foreign) (1937) RAC BW-117 min Jean Gabin, Marcel Diallo, Erich von Stroheim D: Jean Renoir P/S
03:45 AM Life and Nothing But (Foreign) (1989) UGC C-135 min Philippe Noiret, Sabine Azema D: Bertrand Tavernier [EXEMPT]

Monday, June 12, 2017

Mutiny on the Bounty

 

06:00 AM Red River (1948) United Artists BW-127 min John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan D:  Howard Hawks P/S
08:15 AM Beau Travail (1999) Pyramide Distribution C-90 min Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Gregorie Colin D: Claire Denis P/S

It Happened One Night

09:45 AM One Hour With You (1932) Paramount BW-80 min Maurice Chevalier & Jeanette Macdonald D: Ernst Lubitsch, George Cukor P/S
11:15 AM Another Thin Man (1939) MGM BW-103 min William Powell, Myrna Loy, C. Aubrey Smith D: W.S. Van Dyke P/S

Grand Hotel

01:00 PM Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953) Discina Films BW-114 min Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud D: Jacques Tati P/S
03:00 PM Avanti (1972) United Artists C- 140 min Jack Lemmon, Juliet Mills D: Billy Wilder P/S
05:30 PM The Shining (1980) Warner Bros C-144 min Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers D: Stanley Kubrick Premiere#2

Gone With the Wind

08:00 PM The Birth of a Nation (1915) David W. Griffith Corp BW-193 min Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall D:  D.W. Griffith P/S
11:30 PM The New World (2005) New Line Cinema C-135 min  Q'orianka Kilcher, Colin Farrell, Christian Bale D:  Terrence Malick Premiere#3
02:00 AM The Music Room (1958) Aurora BW-100 min Chhabi Biswas, Padma Devi, Gangapada Bose D: Satyajit Ray EXEMPT
03:45 AM Russian Ark (2002) The Hermitage Bridge Studio C-96 min Sergei Dontsov D: Alexander Sokurov P/S
05:30 AM Nanook of the North (1922) Les Freres Revillion BW-79 min Allakariallak, Nyla, D: Robert Flaherty P/S


Tuesday, June 13, 2017

You Can't Take it With You (as birthday boy Basil Rathbone shows)

07:00 AM Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) Universal Studios BW-71 min Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce D: Roy William Neill P/S
08:15 AM The Adventures of Robin Hood  (1938) Warner Bros, C-102 min Basil Rathbone, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains D: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley P/S
10:00 AM The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) 20th Century Fox BW-81 min Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Ida Lupino D: Alfred L. Werker P/S

11:30 AM The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) 20th Century Fox BW-80 min Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce D: Sidney Lanfield P/S
01:00 PM The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) RKO C-68 min Basil Rathbone, Bing Crosby D:  Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronomi, James Algar P/S

The Life of Emile Zola

02:15 PM The Fixer (1968) MGM C-132 Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde D: John Frankenheimer Premiere #4

Rebecca

04:30 PM Suspicion (1941) RKO BW-99 min Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Sir Cedric Hardwicke D:  Alfred Hitchcock P/S

How Green was my Valley

06:15 PM Watership Down (1978) Avco Embassy Pictures C-101 min John Hurt, Richard Briers, Zero Mostel  D: Martin Rosen Premiere #5

Mrs. Miniver (or Five middle class housewives under pressure)

(This is also the TEAM challenge:  the four actors in question are bolded below.)

08:00 PM Shame (1968) Lopert Pictures Corporation BW-103 min Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand D: Ingmar Bergman TEAM-EXEMPT
10:00 PM The Reckless Moment (1949) Columbia BW-82 min Joan Bennett, James Mason D: Max Ophuls P/S
11:30 PM In the Mood for Love (2000) USA Films C-98 min Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung D: Wong Kar-Wai TEAM-EXEMPT
01:15 AM Charulata (1964) R.D. Bansal & Co BW-117 min Madhabi Mukherjee, Soumitra Chatterjee, Shalien Mukherjee D: Satyajit Ray Premiere #6
03:15 AM Tess (1980) Columbia C-186 min Natassja Kinski, Peter Firth D: Roman Polanski P/S


Wednesday, June 14, 2017

 

Going My Way

06:30 AM Diary of a Country Priest (1951) Union Generale Cinematographique BW-115 min Claude Laydu, Jean Riveyre, Rachel Berendt, D: Robert Bresson P/S
08:30 AM I Confess (1953) Warner Bros BW-91 min Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden D: Alfred Hitchcock P/S

The Best Years of Our Lives

10:15 AM Passport to Pimlico (1949) Ealing Studios BW-84 min Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford D: Henry Cornelius P/S
11:45 AM The Bicycle Thieves (1948) Produzioi De Sica  BW-93 min Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola D: Vittorio De Sica P/S
01:30 PM Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) British Film Institute C-85 min Pete Postelthwaite, Freda Dowie, Lorraine Ashbourne D: Terrence Davies Premiere#7

All About Eve (the great actress, the successful understudy, the biting critic)

03:00 PM Sunset Boulevard (1950) Paramount BW-110 min Gloria Swanson, William Holden D: Billy Wilder P/S
05:00 PM 42nd Street (1933) Warner Bros BW-89 min Ruby Keeler, Warner Baxter, Dick Powell D: Lloyd Bacon P/S
06:30 PM Laura (1944) Fox BW:-87 min, Clifon Webb, Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney D: Otto Preminger P/S

The Greatest Show on Earth (special sports feature)

08:00 PM Raging Bull (1980) United Artists BW-129 min Robert DeNiro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci D: Martin Scorsese P/S
10:15 PM Offside (2006) Sony Pictures Classics, C-93 min Shima Mobarak Shahi, Safar Samandar, Shayestah Irani D: Jafar Panahi SPORTS-EXEMPT
11:45 PM Shaolin Soccer (2001) Universe Entertainment Ltd C-87 min Stephen Chow, Zhao Wei D: Stephen Chow SPORTS-EXEMPT
01:15 AM Breaking Away (1979) 20th Century Fox C-101 min Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley D: Peter Yates P/S

An American in Paris

03:00 AM Breathless (1960) UCG BW-87 min Jean Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg D: Jean-Luc Godard P/S
04:30 AM Funny Face (1957) Paramount C-103 min Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn D: Stanley Donen P/S

Thursday, June 15, 2017

 

Marty

06:15 AM New York, New York (1977) United Artists C-163 min Robert De Niro, Liza Minnelli D: Martin Scorsese P/S
09:00 AM The Spy who Came in From the Cold (1965) Paramount BW-112 min Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Oskar Werner D: Martin Ritt P/S
11:00 AM Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) MGM/United Artists C-88 min Steve Martin, Rachel Ward D: Carl Reiner P/S
12:30 PM Artists and Models (1955) Paramount C-102 min Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Shirley MacLaine D: Frank Tashlin P/S

Gigi

02:15 PM La Ronde (1950) Films Sacha Gordin BW-97 min Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Simone Simon D: Max Ophuls P/S
04:00 PM Angel (1937) Paramount BW-91 min Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Melvyn Douglas, Edward Everett Horton D: Ernst Lubitsch P/S
05:45 PM McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) Warner Bros C-121 min Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, D: Robert Altman P/S

The Sound of Music

08:00 PM 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) MGM C-142 min Keir Dullea, Douglas Rain, Gary Lockwood D: Stanley Kubrick P/S
10:30 PM The Chronicle of Anna Magdelena Bach (1968) Frank Seitz Film Production BW-94 min Gustav Leonhardt, Christiane Lang D: Danielle Hulliet, Jean-Marie Straub Premiere#8
12:15 AM Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (1927) Fox Europa BW-65 min D: Walter Ruttmann Premiere#9

On the Waterfront

01:45 AM The Usual Suspects (1995) Polygram C-106 min Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Kevin Pollak D; Bryan Singer Premiere#10
03:45 AM The Docks of New York (1928) Paramount BW-76 min George Bancroft, Betty Compson D: Josef von Sternberg Premiere#11
05:15 AM Port of Shadows (1938) Franco London Films BW-91 min Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Michele Morgan D: Marcel Carne P/S

Friday, June 16, 2017

A Man for All Seasons

07:00 AM Faust (1926) UFA BW-100 min Gosta Ekman, Emil Jannings, William Dieterle D: F.W. Murnau P/S

08:45 AM Blaise Pascal (1972) RAI Radiotelevisone Italiana C-129 min Pierre Arditi, Rita Forzano D:  Roberto Rossellini P/S
11:00 AM Faust (2011) Proline Film C-134 min Johannes Zeiler, Anton Adasinksy D:  Alexander Sokurov Premiere#12

The French Connection

01:15 PM The Love Parade (1929) Paramount BW-107 min Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald D:Ernst Lubitsch P/S
03:15 PM The Southerner (1945) United Artists BW-92 min Zachary Scott, Betty Field D; Jean Renoir P/S

One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (aka, happy birthday Stan Laurel)

05:00 PM The Music Box (1932) MGM BW-30 min Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert D: James Parrot P/S
05:30 PM Another Fine Mess (1930) MGM BW-28 min Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy D: James Parrot P/S
06:00 PM Be Big (1931) MGM BW-28 min Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Anita Garvin D: James M. Home P/S
06:30 PM Blotto (1930) MGM BW-26 min Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Anita Garvin D: James Parrot P/S
07:00 PM Big Business (1929) MGM BW-19 min Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Jimmy Finlayson D: James M. Home, Leo McCarey P/S
07:30 PM Two Tars (1928) MGM BW-21 min Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy,  Edgar Kennedy D: James Parrot P/S

Annie Hall  (as part of Friday Night Spotlight, great actresses and the directors who love them)

08:00 PM Manhattan (1979) United Artists BW-96 min Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway D:  Woody Allen P/S
09:45 PM Morocco (1930) Paramount BW-82 min Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou D: Josef von Sternberg P/S
11:15 PM The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon me, but your Teeth are in my Neck (1967) MGM C-108 min Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, Jack MacGowran, D: Roman Polanski P/S
01:15 AM Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Orion C-106 min Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Michael Caine, Dianne Wiest, Max von Sydow D: Woody Allen P/S
03:15 AM The Heartbreak Kid (1972) 20th Century Fox C-106 min Jeannie Berlin, Charles Grodin, Cybil Shepherd D: Elaine May P/S

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Platoon

05:15 AM They Were Expendable (1945) MGM BW-135 min Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed D:  John Ford P/S
07:30 AM The Steel Helmet (1951) Lippert Pictures Inc BW-85 min Gene Evans, Robert Hutton D: Samuel Fuller P/S

09:00 AM Ivan's Childhood (1962), Mosfilm, BW-95 min, Nikolai Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeny Zharikov D: Andrei Tarkovsky

Out of Africa

10:45 AM Trader Horn (1931) MGM BW-122 min Harry Carey, Edwina Booth, Duncan Renaldo D:  W.S. Van Dyke P/S
01:00 PM  Yeelen (1987) Atriascop Paris C-105 min Issiaka Kane, Aoua Sangare D: Souleymane Cisse P/S
02:45 PM  Cairo Station (1958) Gabriel Talhamy BW-95 min Youssef Chahrine, Hind Rostum, Farid Shawqi D: Yussef Chahine P/S
04:30 PM  Touki Bouki (1973) Cinegrit Studio Kankourama C-85 min Magaye Niang, Mareme Niang D:  Djibril Diop Mambety P/S

The Last Emperor

06:00 PM The Sun (2005) Nikola Film C-115 min Issei Ogata, Robert Dawson D: Alexander Sokurov Premiere #13

Ordinary People (star of the Month Setsuko Hara)

08:00 PM (Essentials) Late Spring (1949) Shochiku BW-108 min Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu D: Yasujiro Ozu
10:00 PM Early Summer (1951) Shochiku BW-125 min Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima D: Yasujiro Ozu P/S
12:15 AM Sound of the Mountain (1954) Toho BW-96 min Setsuko Hara, So Yamamura D: Mikio Naruse Premiere#14
02:00 AM The End of Summer (1961) Toho C-103 min Setsuko Hara, Ganjiro Makamura D: Yasujiro Ozu Premiere #15

Unforgiven

03:45 AM (Underground) Vengeance is Mine (1979) Shochiku C-129 min Ken Ogata, Rentaro Mikuni, Mitsuko Baisho D: Shohei Imamura EXEMPT

[April Schedule Up! Judy Garland SOTM]

We finally get the premiere of The Young Girls of Rochefort.  Pity that I'll probably be out of the continent on vacation when that happens.

["1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"]

There used to be a website called listsfobests or something like that.  The point is that  you could mark off lists like "1001 movies" and I recall marking 90% of it off. 

[LEAST & MOST FAVORITE of the week...]

I saw seven movies over the last two weeks, two in the first week, five last week.  Sicario has a good surface, but questions soon arise.  For a start, is it really a good idea to hide so many bodies in a Arizona suburb.  And there's one seen of helicopters panning the Mexican landscape where the score is so bombastic you think Godzilla is going to pop up.  And instead of a real political critique of the drug war, there is a conspiracy angle that doesn't really make much sense if you think about it too hard and amounts to a cop out.  Guardians of the Galaxy is the kind of Hollywood blockbuster one thought Hollywood didn't know how to make anymore.  It's actually amusing and competent in parts, though the grand climax is a bit weak.  Incidentally, there are two teams with that name in the Marvel  universe, with the movie being about the second one.  Michael Rooker plays the only member of the original team alluded to, and he does have one scene to show just how tough he is.  The Assassin is an opaque movie, and it could be clearer.  But that just means you should see it more than once.  It is a beautiful movie, as well as a subtle and thoughtful one.  Two Weeks in Another Town was interesting, the sort of movie about Hollywood Vincent Minnelli could make and be of some value.  Although more "grown up" than The Bad and the Beautiful, it isn't as well regarded.  Nor do I think this is necessarily unfair.  Another Thin Man isn't as good as the previous two Thin Man movies, though it's certainly enjoyable.  And I could think of movies that would be a lot worse to end the year with.  Smile in retrospect looks like shooting fish in a barrel, but that doesn't mean that beauty contests don't deserve it.  One might think the small town hypocrisy is laid on a little thick.  But the characters do try to muddle through.  Jonathan Rosenbaum compared it to American Beauty, and it does have more integrity than that movie.  Divine Madness is actually kind of fun.