Cinemascope

I actually don't remember reading about The Great Ziegfeld's box office returns, but in any event MGM could well afford a few "prestige" movies that didn't necessarily make money for the studio, they were the most profitable one AFAIK and also the only one that managed to stay in the black during the Great Depression.

Well, hopefully they'll include her in the little montage they do every year with all the filmmakers and celebrities that have passed on. Anything more than that would be too tacky -- even for the Oscars!

Sorry to disappoint you, hun, but I'm not male -- and pretty darn proud of it, too! All of your other points (being generous here) could best be addressed via PM, rather than engaging in pointless bickering on these threads... I had doubts about you when you posted yet *another* of the "sky is falling" threads and I've tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, but once you start flaming like that, it kinda makes me wonder if maybe I was right all along.

That's a great story, grassistant, as they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery!

Love Cyd, love Donald, love Debbie, love Gene, love Stanley!

> They evoke the battered but unbowed looks of an > earlier time, when Gable, Bogart, Cooper and their > ilk said, "This is me, take it or leave it" to the > world as they aged. Perhaps they understood that > those creases and lines gave them that elusive human > quality that so many lack in current film: > Character. Well said, moira, same reason I like 'em.

Exactly! I'm also glad Powell got to reprise the role (albeit briefly) in Ziegfeld Follies.

Could it be the Asian DVDs were actually "region zero" DVDs? I thought a lot of Asian-made movies were. But in any event you're right, it's fairly cheap to find a way to get around all this silly regional coding, it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg unless you want top-of-the-line players.

Larry, I'm delighted to hear you've liked some Scorsese movies, those two are also favorites of mine. As for replies, well, it's an open board, so anyone can reply to anything. If we dislike certain replies, we always have the option of ignoring them.

I've always been a big fan of The Great Ziegfeld, great MGM movie

Well I knew it was just a matter of time before you started flaming. Thanks for proving me right.

Well said, moira. It is ironic perhaps that those of his movies that might be the most off-putting to some moviegoers are always the best remembered ones. When his name comes up, very few will talk about Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The King of Comedy, After Hours. Maybe not his greatest artistic achievements, but well worth watching.

Well for a while there, you could have fooled me... I think it's pretty obvious that when using the word "unknown" to refer to an actor being cast in a low-budget Italian movie, it is obviously being used in a relative fashion, rather than strictly literally.

We can go on arguing semantics for days, weeks, months, if you like. I'm pretty sure that arriving in Italy in the mid-60's, Eastwood was pretty near a complete unknown to most people in the street, possibly even to a lot of folks in the film crews. As we all know, Leone's films (at least up to The Good the Bad and the Ugly) were very low budget, so they couldn't get famous movie actors. It might surprise you to know that just because someone had been in a TV show in the U.S. didn't necessarily make him well-known everywhere in the world. Well, at least nobody who hadn't previously been a movie star.

BTW -- If anyone should be interested in the DVD, Universal recently re-released it with a much improved transfer -- see screenshots: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews28/all_quiet_on_the_western_front.htm

imdb.com does include him in the credits: Produced by Sam Spiegel .... producer Original Music by Leonard Bernstein Cinematography by Boris Kaufman Film Editing by Gene Milford Art Direction by Richard Day

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and mention Stewart's last movie -- maybe not the greatest animated movie ever made, but at least it was kind of a sweet farewell for Stewart -- which came out in 1991, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. He voiced the character of Wylie Burp.

Actually, many would consider Oh! What a Lovely War to be an anti-war film. And certainly for a movie that was originally released during the Vietnam war (albeit made by British filmmakers) you certainly could consider it wears its heart on its sleeve.

Hun, I'm not going to "shoot" you because of the kinds of movies you like. You have every right to watch whatever kind of movie you enjoy, it should be about whatever is fun for you. At the same time, certain subjects that not everybody wants to see portrayed in their movies can sometimes be the springboard for something that has great artistic merit. It should be ironic indeed if Scorsese finally wins Best Director for this one, many thought he was trying to appeal to the Academy with movies like The Age of Innocence and The Aviator.

> Well i am sorry if this offends but as a chap born > and raised in a blue collar environment i would say > that that the average blue collar chap could learn a > lot about manors and politeness and basic civility, > which should universal, from their white collar > piers. What's that got to do with a filmmaking discussion? You're talking RL there. > And yes it may seem hypercritical to be nice when > you hate some one, but that?s the point being > nice at all times, thus offering the greatest > possibility to diffuse conflict before it gets > violent. Again, what's that got to do with filmmaking? > It is as if they were foul mouthed behavior and > rudeness as a badge of Honor: very sad. > And yes it would be a great world if every one was > polite and well mannered You're replying to a post of mine, yet have nothing whatsoever to say about filmmaking, instead you're talking generalities about society... that's all very well and all, but has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what I said in my post.

Yes, I hope the rumors of a second DVD volume of Lon Chaney's films might soon come true!

I like the Garland-Rooney musicals too, hear WHV might be doing a DVD box set...

Well said, MissGoddess!

When I look at them movies of the classic era I see it as a portrayal of how we/they whished the world was rather than how it was. No, what you see is a portrayal that was heavily censored in many instances due to the production code. And even with the code, not all movies necessarily portrayed the world how people wished it was -- certainly I don't think many would want the world to be like in film noirs, full of doomed, flawed individuals and also full of double-crossings, for example.

> I am speaking to their violent, foul mouthed, > downgrading endeavours, which I don't consider > entertainment. Shooting people every five minutes > and saying the "F" word is not what I call talent. Artistic endeavors shouldn't be limited to portrayals of upper-class people who speak politely and engage in leisurely activities. Marty Scorsese is a great director because he's chosen to portray some of the darkest aspects of the human soul, in a way that hopefully sheds a bit of light into the lives of people we probably wouldn't care to know in real life. Some of the most memorable characters of his contemporary films are either real people or based closely on real people - Travis Bickle, Jake LaMotta, Henry Hill, Frank Costello, Howard Hughes. And he's examined the lives of these poor souls with extraordinary filmmaking that also benefits from some of the best craftspeople in the industry, especially when it comes to editing, cinematography, set design, costume design, etc. Of course his movie's aren't everyone's cup of tea, and nobody should be expected to enjoy these movies (which oddly enough is easy enough to do when you focus on the filmmaking technique, which is often exhilarating). We're very fortunate to have such fine American directors as Scorsese and Eastwood, their movies aren't about genteel aristocrats who speak politely and demonstrating great education, but what would be so American about that? When I feel like watching something like that, I'll just rent a Merchant-Ivory.