cigarjoe
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Posts posted by cigarjoe
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1 hour ago, Nightbird311 said:
The recent showing of “Reflections in a Golden Eye” was the gold-tinted version, which I had never seen. It was distracting at first until I got used to it. It didn’t really seem to add anything to the story, though. I had read that there was supposedly one object in each scene without the gold tone, but I didn’t notice that on my TV anyway. The movie itself was interesting, if overwrought, and Brando especially was excellent in a role at one time meant for Montgomery Clift.
I was going to watch Reflections in a Golden Eye this go round on TCM for the review but by the time I was ready it had already dropped off the "on demand" queue and I had to go with an Amazon Prime offering which was in normal color.
As far as an object in each scene without the gold tone, they must have meant just the static sequences it would have been a bit problematic for the runaway horse episode.
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7 hours ago, slaytonf said:
John McPhee
I really enjoyed his Birch Bark Canoe book and still remember the special tool called the "bent" knife used in their construction.
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Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) Twisted Soap Opera - Neo Noir
"There is a fort in the South where a few years ago a murder was committed."(Carson McCullers)
Directed by John Huston. Huston was one of the directors credited with creating one of the first noticed "American" Film Noir after WWII when a backlog of US Films hit Paris, The Maltese Falcon (1941). The other 1941 film curiously was the (in reality) much darker looking visually I Wake Up Screaming (1941) directed by H. Bruce Humberstone ) it was a one off film, Humberstone never directed another Noir.
John Huston went on to make the classics, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The Misfits (1961), and The Night of the Iguana (1964).
Written by Chapman Mortimer and Gladys Hill and based on Carson McCullers novel. The Cinematography was by Aldo Tonti (The Nights of Cabiria (1957)) and uncredited Oswald Morris.
The film has seven major characters starring Marlon Brando as Major Weldon Penderton, Marlon Brando as Major Weldon Penderton, Brian Keith as Lt Colonel Morris Langdon, Julie Harris as Alison Langdon, Zorro David as Anacleto, Robert Forster as Private L. G. Williams, and Firebird the stallion.
Pretty much right from the get go McCuller's script heads us right back into to that crumbling decadent south land of sexual ambiguity, fetid relationships, and moral swamps, sort of key words for the similar the works of James Leo Herlihy, William Inge, and Tennessee Williams.
Originally the film was released with a golden tint. A a sort of golden noir. Each scene, supposedly, was to contain stylistically one object normally colored. This tied into the films title which derived from the houseboy's watercolor of a golden peacock in whose eye the world was a reflection. I've seen that print once, it's suggestive of the monochrome ambiance of Black and White. It worked for me.
Its not a Noir of gritty cityscapes, or one of bleak desolate deserts. Its a film of the rural night, a shady neighborhood, a stable, a house of shadows and dark interiors both psychical and mental.
Most Noirs and Neo Noirs are usually Crime Genre films, but not all. During the Classic Era the Motion Picture Production Code had guardrails on Film Noir. On one side was the rail for violence, the other side for sex and other taboo subjects. With the demise of the code Film Noir lost it's guardrails and was allowed wander. It had the freedom to exploit whatever and go wherever it wanted to weaving off the usual highway and all over the psycho-sexual landscape. It's an adult noir.
Brando gives a bravura performance of a man going slowly to pieces as his whole world beings to shift. He's like a burnt marshmallow hard just on the outside, but a gooey mess on the inside. He's the complete opposite of testosterone laden Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Taylor is still good, a bit past her use by date. She's not smoking hot. She's on her way to being a full figured woman. Though in reality both she and her potential prey are confined to the "pool" of the army base. I guess if you are the most desirable woman in that small pool it works. Julie Harris is surprisingly tolerable in this and quite believable. Brian Kieth is playing his usual gentle easy going persona. Forster doesn't have much to say and Firebird is an impressive part of the tale. Some screencaps on Film Noir/Gangster pages. 7/10
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Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) Twisted Soap Opera - Neo Noir
"There is a fort in the South where a few years ago a murder was committed."(Carson McCullers)
Directed by John Huston
Huston was one of the directors credited with creating one of the first noticed "American" Film Noir after WWII when a backlog of US Films hit Paris, The Maltese Falcon(1941). The other 1941 film curiously was the (in reality) much darker looking I Wake Up Screaming (1941) directed by H. Bruce Humberstone ) it was a one off film, Humberstone never directed another Noir/
John Huston went on to make the classics, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The Misfits (1961), and The Night of the Iguana(1964).
Written by Chapman Mortimer and Gladys Hill and based on Carson McCullers novel. The Cinematography was by Aldo Tonti (The Nights of Cabiria (1957)) and and uncredited Oswald Morris.
The film has seven major characters starring Marlon Brando as Major Weldon Penderton, Marlon Brando as Major Weldon Penderton, Brian Keith as Lt Colonel Morris Langdon, Julie Harris as Alison Langdon, Zorro David as Anacleto, Robert Forster as Private L. G. Williams, and Firebird the stallion.
Robert Forster as L. G. Williams 
Marlon Brando as Major Weldon Penderton 
Marlon Brando as Major Weldon Penderton 
Julie Harris as Alison Langdon 
Brian Keith as Lt Colonel Morris Langdon 
Zorro David as Anacleto
Pretty much right from the get go McCuller's script heads us right back into to that crumbling decadent south land of sexual ambiguity, fetid relationships, and moral swamps, sort of key words for the similar the works of James Leo Herlihy, William Inge, and Tennessee Williams.
Firebird
Marlon Brando is Weldon Penderton an Army Post officer, who has the hots for a PFC L.G. Williams played by Robert Forster. Weldon also has a personal "whack off" box where he keeps photographs of statues of naked Romans. He also keeps as a sort of trophy a silver spoon he purloined from some officers party way back when. Into the box also goes trash dropped by Williams as Penderton is so obsessed that he even follows him around at night as if he's a **** in heat. Penderton would probably be rolling around in his poop if he could.
Williams is no innocent either. An alienated country boy who is great with horses. He's a sort of a backwoods bumpkin from the bible belt whose parents told him that "wiminz" were evil. His love of horses goes a bit outre when he starts galloping around in the nude and stops for impromptu sun baths in clearings.
Penderton, his wife Leonora (Elizabeth Taylor) and Lt. Col. Morris Langdon (Brian Kieth) are out riding when they spot Williams doing his Laddie Godiva routine.
Leonora is an earthy horse woman, she really gets off on her riding. The way she controls her stallion is the way she controls Weldon, forcefully. She's not getting any obviously from Weldon who is afraid of her. He knows that she can probably kick the **** out of him. Taylor is thirty-five in this, but she looks a puffy forty-five, must be the boozing.
Taylor must have an affinity for horsey pictures. I'll admit she does look like she knows what she's doing. The rides are like a substitute for foreplay. Her brisk canters on her stallion Firebird stimulates her sex drive. Her partner in the illicit affair is Morris Langdon.When they reach a secluded glade they wade into the bushes for some earthy au natural bare-assed **** caveman fashion rutting on the ground, Mother Natures first mattress.
Permitted our imaginations we can only assume the most practical scenario and fantasize Leonora on all fours with Langdon mounting her doggy or better yet horsey style from the rear.
Foreplay on horses and then rutting in the woods
Langdon is an alcoholic cheating husband who can't resist the over **** Leonora. He's married to Alison a frail, bookish, neurotic woman who, because of a recent miscarriage has some continuing metal problems. A past episode of depression had her using a pair of garden shears to snip off her now useless nipples.
Other than that she gets along well with her effeminate Filipino houseboy Anacleto much to Morris' displeasure. He keeps mumbling about how he'd like to get him in the service and put him thought basic training. Anacleto dotes on Alison and he is her only real confidant. They chatter away, listen to music together, and also watercolor.
The bizarre ain't over yet. Williams we find out has more kinks. He sneaks out of the barracks at night and prowls around the officers housing. He progresses from peeping tom to pantie sniffer, targeting Leonora.
One night Leonora and Langdon have an argument. Leonora is in what I'd guess is her favorite position on the carpet. On her hands and knees.
peeping tom
Weldon tells her that she looks disgusting and cheap. She begins to strip throwing clothing items at his face, taunting him, ending up nude in the middle of the room. Outside looking in the window, Williams is watching the show.
Apparently that was enough to fixate his obsession on everything Leonora, eventually he later on spends whole nights just sniffing her clothes and watching her sleep.
Weldon in revenge takes out Firebird spurring him out for a ride. Weldon pushes the stallion just a bit too far and the horse bolts off at breakneck speed through low branches and brambles until Weldon gets thrown from the horse with his foot caught in the stirrup. He gets dragged a good long way before he can get loose. It's an exceptionally well done sequence of cinematography that barely ever gets mentioned and any still frames of it won't capture its ingenuity.
When Weldon finally catches up to the played out Firebird, He grabs a switch and viciously beats the stallion. Williams shows up (naked of course) and leads away the injured horse.
Later at Leonora's big shindig she confronts Weldon when she finds out what happened to Firebird. She takes a ridding crop to Weldon's face its a real party stopper.
Alison begins to go off the deep end when she imagines she sees someone sneaking repeatedly into the Penderton house at night. She thinks it's her husband.
She goes over to tell Weldon. Who thinks she's crazy. So Alison goes upstairs to confront Langdon in Leonora's room and she finds Williams in pantie sniffing mode instead. She runs back to her house, while Williams skips back outside. When Weldon opens Leonora's bedroom door no one is there.
Back at her home Alison finds Langdon in his room and tells him that Leonora is two timing him also with an enlisted man. She tells Langdon that she wants a divorce. Of course they all now think Alison is certifiable. Langdon has her committed. Alison is soon dead (heart attack or suicide) and Anacleto vanishes. Langdon now begins to feel the loss. He is repulsed when Leonora, while going through Alison's personal effects, begins to come on to him.
Meanwhile Weldon's obsession with Williams continues. One night he sees Williams lurking about his house and he gets ready for what he thinks is the big rendezvous. It all goes Noisrville.
Noirsville
Originally the film was released with a golden tint. A a sort of golden noir. Each scene, supposedly, was to contain stylistically one object normally colored. This tied into the films title which derived from houseboy's watercolor of a golden peacock in whose eye the world was a reflection. I've seen that print once, it's suggested of the monochrome ambiance Black and White. It worked for me. (See below)
Its not a Noir of gritty cityscapes, or one of bleak desolate deserts. Its a film of the rural night, a shady neighborhood, a stable, a house of shadows and dark interiors both psychical and mental.
Most Noirs and Neo Noirs are usually Crime Genre films, but not all. During the Classic Era the Motion Picture Production Code had guardrails on Film Noir. On one side was the rail for violence, the other side for sex and other taboo subjects. With the demise of the code Film Noir lost it's guardrails and was allowed wander. It had the freedom to exploit whatever and go wherever it wanted to weaving off the usual highway and all over the psycho-sexual landscape. It's an adult noir.
Brando gives a bravura performance of a man going slowly to pieces as his whole world beings to shift. He's like a burnt marshmallow hard just on the outside, but a gooey mess on the inside. He's the complete opposite of testosterone laden Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Taylor is still good, a bit past her use by date. She's not smoking hot. She's on her way to being a full figured woman. Though in reality both she and her potential prey are confined to the "pool" of the army base. I guess if you are the most desirable woman in that small pool it works. Julie Harris is surprisingly tolerable in this and quite believable. Brian Kieth is playing his usual gentle easy going persona. Forster doesn't have much to say and Firebird is an impressive part of the tale. More screencaps at Noirsville 7/10 -
16 hours ago, LawrenceA said:
Cemetery Without Crosses (1969) - 7/10
Italian western with Robert Hossein (who also co-wrote and directed) as Manuel, a reclusive gunslinger who lives in a desert ghost town by himself. Maria (Michele Mercier), an old flame of Manuel's, asks for his help in seeking revenge against a family of ranchers who have murdered her husband Ben, who was also an old friend of Manuel's. He agrees, setting in motion a series of violent confrontations. With Lee Burton, Michel Lemoine, Daniel Vargas, Serge Marquand, Pierre Hatet, Philippe Baronnet, and Anne-Marie Balin. Well-done spaghetti western, although it takes some time to figure who's who, as many of the actors look like Gary Merrill. Dario Argento is among the credited screenwriters, although Hossein claims that Argento had nothing to do with the movie. Sergio Leone also reportedly directed the dinner scene.
Source: Amazon Prime video
I wrote this a while ago...
This is a very unique and different style SW. In the opening title sequence, the emphasis on a classic horse chase is enhanced by the shifting camera angles from the pursued and their point of view, to the pursuers, and at times the camera is right amongst the horses as if you are there in the group, adding to this "you are there" effect are the sound of pounding hooves, the billowing dust, the passing barren, open, no place to hide landscape.
This all adds to the desperation of the three Cain Brothers as the closing of distance by the Rogers clan builds up to a dramatic climax. We see that one of the three Cain's is lagging behind and when this wounded Ben Cane (Benito Steffenelli) drops off his horse at his own ranches doorstep and is summarily dragged from his wife's Maria (Michele Mercier) arms and hung from a gatepost to a mournful Spanish guitar score, the bleak, dark tone of this Western is set. There are no good guys in this film.
The other two Cain's escape death and watch from a ridge as their small ranch house is burned to the ground. Here Hossein adds a nice human little touch, when later their ranch house is reduced to smoldering ashes one of the Cane brothers sifts through them and retrieves a functional keepsake a small skillet that he drops into his saddle bag before riding off. This is one of the first references to food in the film which if you pay attention you'll notice, you see a lot of references to bread, lol. Perhaps its a French affectation.
The two Cains ride back to Ben's place where they find Maria burying Ben. They split up the gold they got from the Rodgers cattle, giving Maria a third before they go. Maria takes her cut to "Ghost Town" to get revenge.
In the middle of a shifting sand dune desert that threatens to swallow it whole, lies Ghost Town the most surreal town in any SW. There at a dilapidated gambling hall she seeks gunfighter Manuel (Hossein), Ben's best friend, and her former lover.
Manuel's whole demeanor has "something to do with death", and its fitting that he is the only resident of Ghost Town. Reluctant at first, he accepts the bag of coin, and plots to kidnap Clan leader Will Rogers only daughter. Manuel smokes cheroots with his own style, he has a habit of placing the cigar in his mouth and wetting it with saliva then turning it around and places the dry end in his mouth before lighting the wet end.
In the Hall after he decides to do the job he pulls out a music box that chimes (referencing the musical pocket watch) when he opens the top and pulls out a black leather glove, when he puts on the glove people die, (he uses it to fan the hammer on his Colt).
After he kidnaps Johanna, Maria visits her, and takes her locket as proof in order to blackmail the Rodgers into giving Ben a proper funeral in town. Meanwhile Tomas & Eli Cane ride into Ghost Town unexpectedly and rape Johanna. Manuel does not interfere with this act nor tries to stop them in any way.
There are no winners in this film.
If I had to name one off key element it would have to be the title song and its chorus which pops up on and off throughout the film, it has that '70's modern sound and unfortunately takes you out of the somber mood of the story and also dates it, the rest of the scoring is perfect.
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Richard Todd would have been good also.
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20 hours ago, LawrenceA said:
That must be one that I haven't seen.
I did some research
, my bad, it's not a Pedro Almodóvar flick, its FRENCH TWIST (1996)
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Rod Taylor
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Patrick McGoohan - Excellent in Danger Man/Secret Agent, McGoohan would have been a perfect choice for Bond. Unfortunately, he declined the role, but at least we have a good idea of how he would have behaved as Bond from his portrayal of John Drake.
Agree.
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10 hours ago, TomJH said:
The Dark Corner (1946)
A minor but well crafted and satisfying film noir from 20th Century Fox, about a private eye with a mysterious past, followed for some reason by a mystery man in a white suit, who gets the feeling that he is being set up for some kind of frame.
Film veteran Henry Hathaway was at the helm of this production, its opening and closing titles benefiting from the always welcoming lush orchestral sounds of Alfred Newman's "Street Scene" music. The film also has some appropriately moody photography, as well as some tough, spare dialogue.
"I feel dead inside," the frustrated gumshoe says at one moment, "I'm backed up in a dark corner and I don't know who's hitting me."
Love it!
The detective is played by fourth billed Mark Stevens, who is really the main player in this film. If he's a little nondescript compared to a Bogart or Mitchum, he's still an efficient actor and is convincing in his role. Lucille Ball, playing his loyal secretary who takes a special interest in him, is surprisingly quite terrific in a dramatic role here. She looks great, even a little sexy, and brings the P.I. the only sense of support that he has in a dark, lonely world in which unknown forces are closing in upon him.
The supporting players are also strong. William Bendix plays the guy in the white suit who's tougher and more ruthless than initially appears to be the case, while Clifton Webb plays the owner of an art gallery, with a young wife he adores (Cathy Downs) as well as a portrait, the subject of which looks strikingly like his wife. Webb's casting in this film has a real feeling of familiarity for those who had seen him in a similar role in Laura, made for the same studio two years before.
Film noir fans, and even a few of those not into the genre, should be pleased with this one.
3 out of 4
It would have been a 4/4 if the two leads had been Film Noir "A" list-ers
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10 hours ago, LawrenceA said:
The Flower of My Secret (1995) - 6/10
Spanish melodrama from Pedro Almodovar. Leo Macias (Marisa Paredes) is an unhappy middle-aged writer of romance novels whose military-officer husband (Imanol Arias) is distant both in proximity (he's been deployed to Bosnia) and in his affections. Leo seeks sympathy from her friend Betty (Carme Elias), but she seems troubled with her own issues. Meanwhile, Angel (Juan Echanove) is a chubby, middle-aged editor who wants to publish Leo's new works, while also harboring a crush on her. With Rossy de Palma, Chus Lampreave, Kiti Manver, Joaquin Cortes, Manuela Vargas, and Jordi Molla. I didn't warm to this tale as much as Almodovar's others, and would probably rank it last among those that I've seen. It's not terrible, but it's not very memorable either. I will grant that Marisa Paredes is given a real acting showcase, and she's terrific in the lead role.
Source: The Criterion Channel
Since you are on a Almodovar kick, which Almodovar flick has Victoria Abril as a blond running around nude for practically most of the film? 🤪
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16 hours ago, rayban said:
How did they get Alain Delon to do this?
$$$$$$$$
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R.I.P.
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18 hours ago, LawrenceA said:
P.S.: I just started a new year ('68), so I'll try posting longform again.
Yes!
I look at your reviews as taking a bullet for the rest of us especially on the lousy films and finding possible diamonds in the rough on others.
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4 hours ago, jamesjazzguitar said:
PS: I have pointed out how MOVIES censor content with the most strange example being in The Dark Corner (the Mark Stevens, Lucy Ball, Clifton Webb noir). At the end is an Italian statue and the breast were blocked-out. I believe it was a Donatello statue which means those breast were OK to view over 400 years ago!. This bugs me as much as it does Nipkow because TCM doesn't show Hot-Spell!
I knew I was discussing the above with someone, know I know who. 😉
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When it first came out years ago, no desire to actively want to see it again.
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2 minutes ago, TopBilled said:
Someone would have to go through the TCM Schedules thread I've maintained here on General Discussions.
And that someone ain't gonna be me I since I not all that concerned about it.
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13 hours ago, TopBilled said:
I honestly don't think TCM will be airing anything from 2019 or 2020 until at least 2025. So these new films being released are not yet classic, by TCM's terms.
I've never paid attention but does anybody know the latest film shown on 31 days of Oscar?
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PS
![Great British Movies - Film Noir [DVD] [1940]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51ib9MlVrdL._SX385_.jpg)
You need a Region Free DVD player* for the above, they are all Region 2 DVDs.
*Region Free players are all sold by third-party sellers, manufacturers like Sony, Samsung, etc. do not manufacture or market region free bluray/DVD players in the US. The third party sellers make the programming patch that converts the machines to play 1,2,3,4, and 5 DVD regions and A,B,C Blu regions.
For about $150-60 its one of the best purchases you can buy, opens up a lot of films for viewing.
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21 Days (1940)
Labeled as a British Film Noir. It's a pretty early entry sort of testing the waters for films to come. 21 Days comes in a box set below (Volume One),
with Hunted, Sapphire, So Long At The Fair, and Turn the Key Softly.
Directed by Basil Dean with Vivien Leigh, Leslie Banks, Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton, and Francis L. Sullivan.
It's a sort of café au lait noir, it starts off dark. Larry (Olivier) and his gal pal Wanda (Leigh) are head over heels in love with each other. They meet for a date, grab the fixin's for an Italian dinner at a deli. When they reach Wanda's he light is suspiciously on. When they open her apartment door a man is there. When Larry asks who he is the man replies "Ask my wife."
The husband demands his wife Wanda's money. Larry confront's him. He pulls a knife. They struggle. The man goes down hitting his head on the hearth. He's dead.
Larry is distraught and goes to visit his brother Kieth who is a judge. Larry tells him the details and Kieth to avoid scandal tells him to get rid of the body.
Larry sneaks him out of the apartment and dumps him in an archway leaning him up against an alcove.
On his way back to Wanda's he meets a bum, a former preacher, who bums a cigarette from Larry. They chat a few minutes then Larry takes off but Larry accidentally dropped his gloves. The bum notices them eventually and puts them on. The bum also later discovers the body and robs it of its ring and money
Kieth instructs Larry to get ready to travel without Wanda. Wanda can follow later. Meanwhile the bobbies find the body and pick up the bum and accuse him of murder. The 21 days represents the number of days between the killing and the trial of the bum.
Instead of splitting, Larry and Wand decide to stick around to makes sure an innocent man isn't convicted of the crime. Larry will confess if need be, but they feel that it most likely will not happen with the flimsy circumstantial evidence. 3/4 of the film is a light love story with Larry occasionally getting hallucinations of the innocent man.
Larry and Wanda try and make the most of their 21 days together, if that's all they have.
<spoilers>Of course the ex padre is found guilty and sentenced to hang. Larry heads to the police station to confess to the accidental killing. However the bum has a convenient heart attack and dies of natural causes. Wanda hears the news and runs to intercept Larry reaching him after a dramatic chase right at a police station.
What's interesting is if this was an American Noir, the MPPC would usually not allow Larry to get away so Scott-free. 6/10
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How many fathoms down did the event go?
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Censorship can get ridiculous at times. I remember watching some biblical epic produced by some church group that had the Roman Legionaries wearing all their regular armor and accouterments but with one minor change. They were all wearing underneath it all, flesh colored union suits. I turned the channel, lol.
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On a similar subject....
Took a train trip on the Pennsylvania RR to Washington D.C. at three years old. I liked trains especially choo-choo trains. So I'm standing on the seat looking out the window going around a curve watching the GG1 Electric Locomotive that's pulling us down the tracks. I see the cloud of smoke up a head, it's getting closer and fast. I get excited and start hopping up and down. It's a choo-choo train.
Well that Mother **** Choo Choo train came roaring and clanking by at some ungodly deafening decibels about a foot or two outside the window. It just lasted a second or two but I've never forgotten it.
Now that was real and SCARY!!!!!!!!
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7 minutes ago, Hibi said:
Orpheus Descending was the play, right?
First version Battle of Angels, second Orpheus Descending third The Fugitive Kind.
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Should Netflix be worried about Apple's new $6B streaming service?
in General Discussions
Posted
Netflix should be worried of their lack of a library of interesting films.