clore
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Posts posted by clore
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It's a shaggy film, but if one likes those "old dark house" melodramas, it's worth a watch.
That site "archive.org" has a lot of stuff to investigate. It's all public domain, so some prints are better than others. I watched STRANGE ILLUSION on there a few weeks ago and the print was better than the one that aired on a local channel years ago.
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You can watch it online here:
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>>Karen DeWolf was a writer who contributed storylines and screenplays for many films, including some in the Blondie series.
CONDEMNED TO LIVE's director Frank Strayer directed at least a dozen of the BLONDIE films. He also helmed THE VAMPIRE BAT (which also used Universal sets), THE GHOST WALKS and the camp classic THE MONSTER WALKS which has to be seen to be believed.
I actually liked CONDEMNED TO LIVE, which has a protagonist whose "family curse" causes him to take on beast like characteristics when aroused - a theme explored better in THE CAT PEOPLE but one certainly unusual for a 1936 film.
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>>Helenbaby...I so much wanted some sort of nod to the younger cousin there at the end...I'd have loved to see Silky say something to Muncey about "Look after the kid for me" or ANYTHING like that.
Well, if they weren't going to provide any real detail about how Edward Arnold was screwing Robert Montgomery, I can't see why anyone would have given any thought to the nephew. This film looked as if it was written by a committee, with no one really collaborating. To further the damage, they put the least talented director on the lot - Richard Thorpe - in charge.
The film actually started well, but kept shifting tone and provided little in terms of character depth. Montgomery, like his character, must have known what was going on but kept his mouth shut. He was an intelligent man, and would prove to be a capable director himself, but here it seemed that he was just trying to fulfill contractual committments. There was some great "fish out of water" potential here, but it was a script that should have been tossed back.
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Was the character called Bugs Bunny in "Hare-umm Scare-umm" of 1939? They used to show that one on TV when I was a kid, but he had a different voice and was much more manic. I remember him singing "I'm Looney Tuney, yoo-hoo" and jumping all over the place.
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>>I don't think a movie is necessarily going to look better just because it has been transferred to a digital master. If the source material doesn't look too good, the digital master you make from it probably won't look too good, either.
That's true - as any of those "National Film Museum" prints that TCM has aired will prove. The NFM appears to be just another public domain supplier and some titles that have aired appear to be copies of Alpha home video prints.
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>>As I understand TCMProgrammr's post, they are not getting the entire Universal library but they will have access to both the Universal and Paramount film libraries that have digital masters available for broadcast.
I'll try to be more optimistic. The print of REMEMBER THE NIGHT didn't exactly look like a digital remastering.
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I don't like the new prime openings. I see those bodies walking around and I think of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS or a George Romero zombie movie.
The late night one is my favorite, the one with the images from KILLER'S KISS and the "Nighthawks" diner. The opening of the 1946 film THE KILLERS with the scene in the diner always makes me think of Nighthawks.
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To me there would have been one problem were Grant playing the role of Linus - the outcome would never be in doubt. The casting in the remake made the end result so obvious. I ask the femmes of the board - is there much of a choice between Greg Kinnear and Harrison Ford?
Cary Grant also backed out of doing LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON with Wilder and Hepburn. Thank goodness that Grant and Hepburn did CHARADE together or she might have gotten a complex.
Grant did insist however that there be enough references to his being senior to her, and also that the script have her pursue him. -
I suppose it could have been CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. I was thinking that maybe he had done some interview with TCM along the line and that this was just an excerpt.
I am certain that it's not from HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS ON GILLIGAN'S ISLAND.
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I like the one that Eastwood did for James Garner as the latter doesn't get enough credit for his 50 year career.
My favorite family one is the one by Liza Minnelli for her father.
On a slightly different subject, when the "Word of Mouth" promos open, one person can be heard saying "Damn good actress." It sounds like Martin Landau to me and I've always been curious.
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>>And I've even been at a theater where the projectionist STOPS the film during the credits! I raised a big stink and it hasn't happened since.
Wow, and I thought it was bad when a theater I was in closed the curtain during the end credits. I was really surprised as I had not seen that happen in about 30 years. I never even notice anymore if they even have curtains.
The other day, I went to see GRAN TORINO. When the closing credits came on, a man in front of me got up, but his date/wife/whatever said "I want to see the credits." However, she stood up also and I had to tell them someone behind them wanted to see the credits also.
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>>Oh, that's a great anecdote, Charles! I would have loved to see the look on her face when she heard that.
What I'd love to see is Katharine Hepburn doing an impression of Carradine saying that.
That was pretty ballsy of him to say at that period of his career. But I'll just bet that Pappy loved it.
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>>I haven't seen Mary of Scotland or don't remember it very well, but maybe I'll catch it when it plays again. I do think the cast is appealing, if nothing else.
You may get a kick out of this tidbit from the film's trivia page at IMDb:
"According to A. Scott Berg's memoir "Kate Remembered", Katharine Hepburn was already chosen for Mary but they had trouble casting Elizabeth. At one point Hepburn, who had by then been nicknamed "Katharine of Arrogance", suggested that she play both roles. Supporting player John Carradine asked, "But if you played both queens, how would you know which one to upstage?" She was not amused at the time but roared with laughter when retelling the story years later."
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You may be right about all the bells and whistles.
Not long ago, I was channel surfing and saw that there was some sitcom episode on sister station TBS that I wanted to see. I tuned in just as the preceding sitcom was going off.
What do I see on my screen but the closing credits for one show on the top of the screen while the opening of the next show was on the bottom. It's that kind of on-screen activity that has driven me away from most TV. You get the credits thrown up into a corner, promos for a show in the center and a crawl at the bottom telling you to watch the 11pm news. I'm a credits junkie, and I get most annoyed when my observation of them is disturbed.
I may cancel my subscription to The Movie Channel. During closing credits, they have off-screen announcers who come in telling you that theirs is the channel for movie lovers, and give you the line-up for the rest of the day. It reminds me of the days years ago that I'd tape a movie off ABC, but during the closing credits, I'd hear "Hi, this is David Hartman. My guests this year on GOOD MORNING AMERICA...."
OK, ABC is free-TV, but I'm paying a premium for The Movie Channel and I'm a movie lover who wants my movie intact and that includes closing theme music.
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But I almost wish that TCM would go back to the "billboard" format to present trailers rather than the present one. Now we have a center screen on which we see the trailer, plus screens which sit behind it on the left and right on which the same image is being presented, only we just see the extreme borders of those screens, and it appears slightly out-of-sync.
I just find it quite distracting to see these multiple images. As Sidney Pollack says in the letterboxing promo, the eye sees things peripherally and try as I might to concentrate on the center, I can't help but notice things moving on the sides.
Since TCM does take such pride in presenting films as they were meant to be seen, I just wonder why trailers don't get the same respect.
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Nice to know that someone managed to put Ford in his place for a spell. He's one of those of whom I wish that I hadn't learned some personal things.
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>>Clore also pointed out he was in Mary of Scotland, which I have completely blanked out.
>>Thanks, clore!
You're welcome.
Not to anger any of the Ford fans here, but considering the talent involved, it was a forgettable film. Even Ford didn't think too much of it from what I recall reading. He never attempted such a costumer again.
Message was edited by: clore
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Mowbray was also in MARY OF SCOTLAND. I only remember that from having watched the film a few weeks ago.
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I was wondering if it had to be shot there or just set there also.
The epitome (right down to the title) may well be THE BIG COUNTRY.
I see that Gary Cooper's DALLAS was mentioned, so let's toss in Randolph Scott's FORT WORTH and Errol Flynn's SAN ANTONIO. Warner's had a thing for using cities as the title for their westerns.
I believe RIO BRAVO was set there also although filmed in Arizona.
EDITED TO ADD:
The most obvious escaped me, TEXAS with William Holden and Glenn Ford.
Message was edited by: clore
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I hope that if you get the DVD, you'll find that some of the elements have been upgraded. Some of the clips shown from Beery and Garbo films were in sad shape at the time of the documentary's production. They've been cleaned up since, but I guess that updating the show with these scenes would have been cost-prohibitive.
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>>By the way Charles, I was trying to look up the title of the movie you mentioned the other day, also MIA, that I think starts with a C... Crooked something?
Was it CORONER CREEK?
I do have a copy of a nice little John Payne noir titled THE CROOKED WAY, but i don't believe that I've mentioned it on the boards.
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>>Here is a review of the French DVD:
OK, the review that I saw was of a German issue.
Nice work by Ted McCord on camera in the film, he also did some good stuff in THE PROUD REBEL, another DVD MIA.
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No, I don't have a multi-region player, although I am presently investigating a hack for my unit that would solve that problem.
I wish I could remember the site, but I recall reading somewhere that the Region 2 release of THE HANGING TREE was a pan-and-scan job. I already have that on my VHS copy, so I can wait if that's the case.
Grant did insist however that there be enough references to his being senior to her, and also that the script have her pursue him.
Cowboy's Horses
in Westerns
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>>I believe Randolph Scott's horse, a white-maned and white tailed chestnut, is called a Sorrel. Not a Palomino. An absolutely beautiful horse, though, huh?
I wouldn't know a palomino from a pal o' mine.
Someone once told me it was a palomino on the IMDb message boards when I mentioned the horse there. I do believe that in RIDING SHOTGUN it is referred to as a palomino, I'll have to watch it again.
I watched BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE the other night for the first time in about 20 years. I thought it was odd that a secondary character was riding the horse in that film, but at the end, he gave the horse to Scott as a reward for his assistance.
Message was edited by: clore