mrroberts
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Posts posted by mrroberts
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Richard Widmark in *Kiss Of Death* . Honorable mention, Yosemite Sam (most lovable villain?)
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I just remembered a wage illustration shown in *I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang*. When Paul Muni gets a job on the construction gang he gets several promotions, and they show how his hourly/daily wage goes up. Someone will have to refer to the movie, I don't remember the specifics.
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Even if those stories have some basis of truth, who cares? Is there filmed footage or documentation of these things to prove the stories, again who really cares? I say stick to information that helps give better understanding of the film itself, no national enquirer crap.
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As you have said, its only in the current digital era that we can find these "flaws" , the technology we viewers of today have is certainly as good or better then what the film makers themselves had 70 years ago. So if we were to frame by frame examine other films we would find other "flaws" I'm sure. For the audiences of the day and for many years in the future these little moments were never seen. --- I am thinking of the original *Invisible Man* movie from 1933 with Claude Rains. I have the DVD box set of the "Invisible Man" movies and in the commentary it is mentioned about the numerous tricks used to show off the "invisible man" ; the wires to work the clothes around, a track in the ground for a riderless bicycle, etc. Here's a flaw in that movie; when the invisible man (whose obviously naked, no clothing) is walking through the snow we see foot prints, but they are shoe foot prints. My point is that today we can actually see the evidence of these tricks with our enhanced viewing, but back in the day the audiences never could.
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Since this sort of a Jimmy Cagney thread, on Thursday 12 noon est is the 1932 film *Taxi* . Its a typical early Cagney flick (which means its good) and its near the end of that film when Cagney comes closest to saying that famous "You dirty rat" line that all of the Cagney impersonators love to use. *Taxi* also stars a very attractive young Loretta Young.
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Doris Day was in *The Man Who Knew Too Much* with Brenda De Banzie
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*The Strawberry Blonde* , my favorite James Cagney film.
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In *Superman* , Glenn Ford certainly outacted Mr Brando, but who got the big pay check?
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One of the most memorable scenes for me in *White Heat* is when Cody Jarrett walks out of the cabin and up to the back of the car, where he has his "buddy" Parker stashed in the trunk. "Stuffy, need a little air in there, BAM, BAM". Its another example of how ruthless this guy Jarrett is, although it was payback, earlier in the prison Parker had tried to kill him. But at the same time the scene taken out of context is really funny, I wonder if during the filming there was a lot of laughing going on? Another thing I don't believe a lot of people pick up on, Cody's wife Verna is the one who shot Ma Jarrett, lucky for her Cody never found that out. Poor Big Ed took the blame for that one.
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Interesting, both Jeff and the "Swede" thought they could hide out working at a gas station. That didn't work out too well.
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If I try to watch all of these William Powell movies I'll need to go to rehab
. And I see a bunch more prospects for December, going to be some tough decisions to make. -
the FLIM-FLAM MAN
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Kelly, Miss --- Peggy Dow in *Harvey*
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This whole thread has been a very good discussion, its nice to know there are some rational people out there. Sometimes it seems that that lunatics (Cody Jarrett relatives?) are taking over this TCM forum place. *White Heat* is so much more than just a shootum' up gangster flick. Great director, great acting performances, etc. Virginia Mayo gives a very solid supporting performance, if the script had been altered a little more towards her character she could have been amongst the great femme fatalles like in *Out Of The Past* or *Double Indemnity*. And Ma Jarrett played by Margaret Wycherly , the same woman who was Sgt York's mother. Lets not leave out Edmond O'Brien here, he plays "straight man" in *White Heat* but I think he does an excellent job acting with James Cagney. A lesser actor would have just been dominated by Cagney's performance but O'Brien plays off him nicely.
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That is one of the few good lines that guy (Chevy Chase) ever had.
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I know we have talked this one up in the gangster/noir forum. *Too Late For Tears* is a very good noir, Liz is a very bad girl, Kathie Moffat territory here. And Dan Duryea plays his usual weasly character, always good at that. I have it on a DVD, picture quality is not very good, its looked better on tv. --- Where do I live? You know what happened to Jeff Bailey and the "Swede"?
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To get back to the original intent of this thread, I don't see anything wrong with a person appreciating both the high brow and low brow of a subject. This reminds me of the story of President Franklin Roosevelt entertaining the King of Britain at FDR's home in Hyde Park. For an afternoon lunch FDR had a picnic style menu of beer and hot dogs. Apparently the King had a good time of it. Probably some of the King's party was shocked by the sight of such a thing.
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Cagney's portrayal of Lon Chaney in *Man Of A Thousand Faces* is one of the very best bio pics of all time. Maybe Cagney couldn't have done his own makeup like Chaney, but his ability to play Chaney's characters was impressive. As for Cagney's Captain in *Mister Roberts*, he was criticized by some for being a little over the top in his role, but Cagney himself said he felt he had to be an exaggeration of the character so as to take some of the hard edge off it. I sometimes find myself answering the phone or door Cagney style, "Yes, Whooo is it?" Ensign Pulver hasn't been on the other end, yet.
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In The Stooges short, "Woman Haters", the gal who marries Larry and causes the "problem" for the boys was Marjorie White. I have a picture of her in my Noel Francis group pictures in the CFU forums, she was in the New Movietone Follies of 1930 with Noel. Sadly Marjorie was killed in an auto accident right after working on the Three Stooges short. She would have been a natural to work on other films with them.
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When I first read the reference to "Sir Larry" I thought of the other Larry. I often get those two guys mixed up. But I bet Olivier couldn't jam on the violin like Larry the Fine.
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I prefer Glenn FORD over CHEVY Chase by a mile.
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Having a letter from James Cagney, that is very cool. He comes across as a "lunch pail" actor, especially in the early days when you were under studio contract and came in to work every day and did your assignment. But there were people like Cagney who obviously took great pride in their work and always wanted to do better each time. And his career shows that effort.
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Come on people, I am seeing some repeats ---- *The Cincinnati Kid*
Edited by: mrroberts on Sep 23, 2011 12:36 PM
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Ingrid Bergman was in *Murder On The Orient Express* with Richard Widmark
. And I see a bunch more prospects for December, going to be some tough decisions to make.
Kirk Douglas SOTM September 2011
in General Discussions
Posted
What would the TCM schedule look like if James Dean were SOTM?