Arkadin
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Posts posted by Arkadin
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I haven't seen the new Bond film, but will probably watch it when my brother (who is a Bond fanatic) gets it on DVD.
For me personally there are four main Bond Films:
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
Thunderball
You Only Live Twice
"Her Majesty's Secret Service" just never held my interest (and I love Diana Rigg). I do appreciate that they tried to bring the JB character out a bit and keep the series from becoming so predictable, but I never felt GL was the right actor for those films.
Timothy Dalton is a wonderful actor and I personally think his depiction of Bond is the best one, but by that time they were just recycling material and he never had anything original or good to work with.
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One question I do have is why "The Magnificent Ambersons" has not been released on DVD. Is there something I don't know about that's holding things up?
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"My Best Girl" (1927) and "Sparrows" (1926) are good ones to start with.
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Yes. Well, I consider "Once Upon a Time in the West" an Epic Western, but I would still place it within the Western catagory. As you say it's tricky (kinda like everyone's defintion of what is and isn't Noir).
I mostly consider epic films those movies that were made in the 50's and 60's with long time spans (and long time minutes as well) that were generally made to pull the folks out from the TV and get them back into the theaters (I know that shoots down "Gone With the Wind", but I just always threw that film in there as well--silly me).
I have done similar things though. I used to get crazy looks when people would ask me who my favorite SiFi character was and I would always say "Naussica" (Naussica of the Valley of the Wind (1984)) who is a character in an Anime film.
I was just breezing by this section and was surprised at what were considered "epic" films. As I said to Dfordoom in the "Aguirre" thread, I honestly never saw that as an epic, but if it brings someone to the film that might not watch beforehand--it's all good.
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Yes. The DVD looks great and is cheap (I paid $7).
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From what I have personally read he was learning at that point and credits Leone for taking a chance on him (most movie actors did not jump from the small screen to the big one it was often the reverse).
He has spoken of cutting his teeth with those films and learning about direction, but I don't think he helped or claimed to help Leone.
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It's a bit confusing because people are calling some films that I would have placed in other catagories as epic.
Before reading this thread I would have just said Gone With the Wind (1939), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and El Cid (1961).
But now I am wondering. What about "Intolerance" (1916), Farewell My Concubine (1993) or Leone's films Once Upon a Time in the West (1969) or Once Upon a Time in America (1984)?
Where do films like The Leopard (1963) or The Godfather (1972) fit?
I'm not trying to be cheeky about this or or anything. Would you consider these films to fall in the epic catagory?
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Aguirre is a an unbelivable film. When I finally got my Herzog/Kinski boxset a few years back I was sick in bed with the flu and I was so awed by the clean prints I must have watched it about 3 times before moving on to any of the other films.
I never really thought of it as an epic, but then again other people have spoke of films like 2001 (which I always considered sifi) as epic so why not?
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The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) in my opinion is a great film. Although it has the butchered ending it's a very rich film with great acting, multilayered themes, and awesome camerawork/set design.
In the ballroom dance for example, notice how the camera tracks with George and Lucy. Set people had to be pulling walls and doorways on cue (and then replacing them) while the actors walked through. Welles was a fan of the long take and you can see how it works here as we feel a part of the party instead of outsiders just observing the dance.
The central theme around which the little stories are built is that of the past being overtaken by the present (They had time for everything in those days) and the old way of life being phased out. Those who could not or would not change with the times are phased out as well. Gone are the past ways of things and nothing can reclaim them. Welles uses this theme in many of his films :Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, Chimes at Midnight, and others.
Joseph Cotton and Tim Holt are amazing in their roles and deserved Oscars as well as Agnes Moorhead (if you have not seen her breakdown at the end you are missing out!!) and Ray Collins. Welles voiceover is beautifully spoken and you feel the weight of his words not just what he's saying.
The ending is undoubtably flawed. Welles gave up the final cut in this second RKO picture and was haunted by it for the rest of his life. He wanted to reshoot the ending in the 60's with the same actors in the roles, but never could find the funding.
The film IS a "Magnificent" work that was ruined by shortsighted Hollywood excecutives and Orson Welles the boy wonder received his "comeuppence"-- all the rest of his work would be hacked and edited by fools who couldn't understand his genius.
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I like Dana Andrews line to Virgina Mayo when he talks about their vows being for better or worse and then concludes with "and THIS is the WORSE!!"
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Although most critics love "Hard Days Night" (1964), I much prefer Help! (1965), which was always my personal favorite closely followed by Yellow Submarine (1968).
"Magical Mystery Tour" as was stated is frought with problems. Brian had just died at that point and Paul was beginning to try to establish control of the group--which the other three naturally resented.
As for "Let it Be" I think John summed it up best when he said when it came out even the biggest Beatle fan couldn't have sat through those 6 weeks of misery.
Here's a little deleted clip from Let it Be: John is making fun of Paul's song.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f1ELhUa5bQY
Tensions must have been high that day.
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Nice little film based on the Somerset Maughm story. Actually this is availible on DVD although in mostly bad prints.
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Keaton was a master. When you look at his films and the way he worked it's amazing how he did it.
Part of the problem with the MGM stuff was the fact that he lost a lot of his cameramen and workers who had become a very tight knit team over the years. Also, when he was working on his own they would brainstorm, shoot a bit and sometimes add stuff in. If they couldn't think of good skits they would play bridge or take a break and come back later.
MGM frowned on someone not being on the lot working all day (or at least looking like they were working!). They also didn't want to waste time or film. As a result, most of Busters work suffered because he could not work in the ways that had allowed him to be creative before he came there.
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Dishonored is a great film. I like it much better than the similar "Mata Hari" which came out around the same time. Sternberg was trying to make Detrich a similar star and you can see how some of the films he made were really trying to keep up with what Garbo was doing at the time.
When you read what other directors who worked with Detrich say about her, they all were astonished at how much she knew about direction and lighting. Then they remembered she'd worked with Sternberg.
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Yes, that is what I was looking at in the review section. Thank you though.
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Juliet of the Spirits (1965).
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I never really considered "The Glenn Miller Story" as a musical. It was always just a bio to me. My dad is the biggest GM fan and he used to play me all that music as a kid when we were in his car. That's when he wasn't playing old radio shows (The Shadow, etc).
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"Love" is definitely a great one that should be included.
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I looked at the prints on the "movie review section" they're kind of soft, but Capra used lots of filters to soften the film anyway so it's kinda guesswork from this end. I guess I need to pull out my tape & compare.
A better judge of what they've done would be checking their version of "The Lady Eve" against the Criterion one.
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The prints look pretty good!
I enjoy "The Blue Dahila". I think "The Glass Key" is a better film, but they both have some amazing work by Willam Bendix.
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"Strange Love" is a nice little film with great actors. Nice storyline and a good ending as well. All the players shift around their roles a lot in this film from stong to weak, etc.
I enjoy seeing Kirk play different character types. A lot of people just write him off as one demensional, but he was clearly a much deeper actor.
I'd also like to say that I personally think Van Heflin is a hugely underated actor who never gets credit for the many great roles he played (aside from that best supporting actor Oscar that is!).
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Let me know how the transfer of Bitter Tea is when you do have a chance.
The only R2 DVD's I have are "Face of Another", "Cul De Sac", and "Voyage in Italy". I got lucky on the first 2, but the "Voyage" transfer isn't much better than my old tape. I might be better off to wait for the stateside release.
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My personal favorite has long been "Gate of Hell" (1953). It needs a Criterion style restoration though.
The classics I own: Ugetsu (1953), Tokyo Story (1953), Late Spring (1949).
Recently I was blown away by TCM's showing of "The Face of Another" (1966). I liked that one so much I ordered the R2 DVD the next day!
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Thanks.
The Man Who Would Be King
in Adventure/Action
Posted
A great film that deserves more mention (so I am mentioning it!).