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Fedya

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Posts posted by Fedya

  1. The Dolly Sisters (1945)

     

    Fox musical biopic about a pair of Hungarian immigrant sisters (Jenny played by Betty Grable and Rosie played by June Haver) who dance and become a huge stage success that way.

     

    Male lead and romantic interest is John Payne playing Harry Fox (a real person), who falls in love with Jenny; this also provides the dramatic tension in that Rosie wants to keep the act together while Jenny loves Harry. Harry doesn't want to wait for Jenny.

     

    In real life, Jenny and Rosie married within a year of each other. Rosie's first two husbands are completely ignored so that the movie can have a plot.

     

    If you like Fox musicals, you'll love this one. 7/10.

    • Like 1
  2. Probably Paramount and Universal are the two worst studios about giving no care at all to their catalogue of classic films.

    Paramount, of course, doesn't have much of a catalog of classic films, having sold the rights to pre-1950 films to MCA, which wound up part of Universal.

    • Like 1
  3. Frankly, most wouldn't exist if it weren't for corporations packaging the channels together.

     

    Cable companies are trying to force the a la carte style and the channels are strongly against it. Because if people could choose, most channels would disappear. That's why there are so many carriage disputes. Soon it all will fall off of a cliff. Certain networks are on the verge of collapse as noticed by recent firings. Its all death of a thousand cuts.

    THIS. So much this.

     

    It never ceases to amaze me when people think being able to buy channels a la carte is going to be a good thing for TCM.

  4. Ice Castles (1978).

     

    Lynn-Holly Johnson makes her screen debut as Alexis, an Iowa figure skater living with her widower father (Tom Skeritt). She's got promise, and a coach takes her on. The first hour or so of the movie plays out like it could be an interesting exposé on the people who exploit amateur athletes.

     

    But then the film veers into melodrama when Alexis has an on-ice accident that has her in a temporary coma and then after she awakens, still near-blind. She pities herself to the point that expected her to shriek "Where's the rest of me" in response to her missing eyesight.

     

    Robbie Benson was hired for his good-by-1970s-standards looks to play the part of her chronic quitter boyfriend Nick. He's dropped out of college, and then quits hockey. And he quits Alexis when he sees a creepy sports reporter putting the moves on her. Benson does get to channel Bruno Antony in one scene however when he's watching Alexis at a competition.

     

    Eventually everybody comes around and tries to get Alexis back into competition, which results in the movie becoming filled with comical plot holes. Really nobody knew about her condition despite the fact that she was being touted as a future world/Olympic champion?

     

    5/10 if you're looking for a good movie; 7/10 if you're looking for a good comedy.

    • Like 2
  5. ETA: because of some very weird rules the Academy put in place to try and keep foreign films from getting nominations,

    Actually, the rules have been in place for a long time that the movie has to run in LA. That's why Limelight didn't get a nomination until about 1970.

     

    The rules have since been changed although I don't know all the details.

  6. Woman in the Dunes (1964)

     

    An entomologist goes looking for sand bugs on a Japanese island and misses the last bus. So the locals house him with a woman. The only thing is, she's at the bottom of a sand pit, the the other locals keep her as a slave there. And they're not going to let the guy out either.

     

    It goes on like this for nearly two and a half hours. This is the sort of film that people who slag foreign films as pretentious and tedious likely have in mind. And a thoroughly stupid ending to boot.

     

    3/10. I'm being generous.

  7. A Star Is Born (1976).

     

    You know the story. Talented male entertainer (in this case a singer played by Kris Kristofferson) is destroying his career by drinking too much. He meets a wannabe star (Barbra Streisand). They fall in love and her career becomes big while he continues to suffer.

     

    This isn't as bad as some of the reviews would have you believe, but it's certainly nowhere near as good as the Janet Gaynor version. Streisand already starts off in Hollywood a few notches above the bottom. And the Andy Devine character is missing.

     

    The problem with the music is, I think, the songwriting. Streisand's style of singing is an acquired taste and this movie won't change anybody's opinion either way.

     

    7/10. If you haven't seen it before, it's on TCM overnight between Sept. 29/30, along with the other three versions of the story (including What Price Hollywood?, of course).

    • Like 3
  8. gangvertigo.png

     

    "I'll bet more would know me today if Hitchcock had cast me in that film rather than Jimmy Stewart. And I'd have been great too: "Here, Kim, put on THESE clothes!"

    Have you seen The Gang's All Here? The finale, the "Polka Dot Polka", has the stars' heads against a kaleidoscopic background:

     

     

    Forward to about 4:20 for Pallette.

  9. Lucy I can see, since there are kids( and many just on the threshold of toddler age) who can and are watching I LOVE LUCY reruns on TV.

    I got my 10-year-old niece a DVD of The Long, Long Trailer for Christmas last year. My sister responded that she and the niece had just been watching Lucy the previous day.

    • Like 1
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