CineMaven
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Posts posted by CineMaven
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As some have suggested there is a different department that manages the technical side, so I can't explain how it happened. But we all agree that there have been too many instances of this lately and there have been several conversations about how to make it better.
It'd be grand TCMProgrammr if you could point us in the right direction of how to make better another problem we've been having for a few years now.
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Look at how Boyer's eyes just bore into you. (He has LaRue and Valentino eyes). And then combine that with his French accent and "WOW" You've got a...a...butler. Yeah, butler. How
could I have forgotten Alain Delon from that list. He had smoky eyes and was gorgeous.
Rene Clair goes on the menu of films to see in the Villa. With those choices of butlers...it will be tres dificile to leave the room. Tres dificile. Let me open that door from just French men to conti-
nental men in general. (Made a mistake about Lederer's nationality). All are welcome --under the Tuscan sun-- I mean en Provence.
BTW: Saw Diane Lane in "Secretariat" and she did a fantastic job. Not an ounce of "Unfaithful" in her. Oh, that reminds me to add OLIVIER MARTINEZ to our butler list. I mean, you can't have too many butlers, can you?
OLLIE Your wild and loopy posts don't hide your eloquence!!
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You're right Harry. My error in sentence placement for those movies.
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STILL "NOTORIOUSLY" SPOILED...(AND I DON'T MEAN HITCHCOCK):
Hi there Grimesy! - Hola, Lively Gal -- "Sometimes I like a man who doesn't believe what a woman tells him." - Altar Keane.
I don't remember that quote. That's a good one!
Isn?t it?
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I didn't get this movie.
The film is about finding the truth. Both Vern (Arthur Kennedy) and Altar (Marlene Dietrich) find their truths. In fact, they need the other to tell them.
Gotcha.
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His casting of the three leads was like a moat around this movie, preventing me from getting closer. The movie felt false to me, artificial. Was this a parody of a Western? Was it a dark serious farce of the genre?? Arthur Kennedy a fast draw? Mel Ferrer fared better as a cowboy for me, but just barely. And as for Dietrich. Oh no....
From my experience on the board, it seems like women tend to have a bigger problem with who has been cast than men. I really wasn't bothered by any of that. In fact, I liked all three. Arthur Kennedy reminded me of Van Heflin. I liked Mel. He was a nice counteractive to Kennedy. He was smooth and polished whereas Arthur was anything but.
I?ve never noticed that that was the case with the men and women here on the Board. I should pay attention to that. I guess with men, you guys can wear one blue sock and one brown sock. Hell, it?s
a sock. What do we want from your lives! I think casting is very important. Most times I can accept the cast a movie gives me unless it?s something that jars me. I guess I felt jarred. Why was I able to accept Kennedy with a gun in ?They Died With Their Boots On? than in ?Rancho Notorious? I?ll never know.
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...Marlene tends to start off hard and harsh, too masculine, but then she becomes softer and softer and softer (feminine), and I'm all hers. Marlene is definitely one of the most abrasive of stars. Not too many people are indifferent with her. I loved that she was very moved by Vern's wanting to see her dressed up. Of course, there was an ulterior motive.
ASIDE: Did you ever see Maximilian Schell's documentary on Dietrich? She never wanted to be photographed for that film.
From my viewing experience, when women put on dresses after going through the picture in slacks or are in a position of power, they start to lose their power. They start baking cookies and changing to be less than. No, not all the time...but a lot of the time. I can see Crawford (Vienna) in that white dress. There?s Ella Raines all tough in ?Tall in the Saddle? at least in the beginning of the movie. So your preference would not be the types like Ella or Lauren or Myrna, Roz Russell, or Garbo or Gail Patrick or Margaret Lindsay, or Jane Russell, Stanwyck, Sheridan etc. You like girly girls like Tierney, Joanie, Rita, Lana, Vivien, Kim, Harlow etc.
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http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?messageID=7964327
Boy, those were the early days of my existence on this board.
I?m going to have to check that out more carefully at my leisure, but I remember when you were a babe in the woods here when I first joined and was trying to make my own way and slowly (and hopefully) be accepted on the Board. And now look at you; long pants on and quite the aficionado. I?m proud of you me boy even though many of the gals wanna tar and feather you.
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I liked her songs. But I have often felt Marlene was singing ?dirty jokes? to the boys. Hence...
I don't mind ?dirty jokes to the boys.? ('Spellbound'). But can I just understand the words? Elocu-
tion, diction...so important; unless you?re Marlene and its all about her swagger and the fact that she?s one of the few women who can see what the boys in the back room will have up close and personal and come out unscathed.
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(Dietrich looked great in a tux and in that naval outfit).
Now that's a look I've never liked with Marlene (or any woman). Too "guy" for me.
Understood.
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Well, I believe you are very correct. I believe Nick Ray was influenced by 'Rancho Notorious', since the one predates the other. And I prefer 'Johnny Guitar', as well. Nick is a director with great heart. Lang's heart is usually half-hearted.
Wow. Kind of surprised to read you say that. My impression was that Lang?s heart was totally into what he was putting out there. I still kind of want to study Lang. (But maybe more in the City than in the West). I?m thinking that will make me seem more erudite than liking my dear Georgie Stevens.
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I don't think Lang organically understood the American Western genre as well as Leone did.
I definitely agree...Still, I feel Lang didn't fully grasp the western genre. But, in a way, this works for me with ?Rancho Notorious.? I love that it doesn't feel like a true western. This makes it a unique western, to me. And I did end up liking it.
I hear ya. Sometimes I want authenticity. Sometimes artificiality doesn?t bother me. I guess (for me) all that?s connected with whose cast. Am I a Rubick?s Cube?? A wheel within a wheel???
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I liked George Reeves in this film, too. He was a ladies man, which made him feel like a weasel, to me.
HA! He just had his priorities straight. The laaaaaaaaaaaadies!
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I never liked "Destry Rides Again" either.
Now that's one of my all-time favorites. It's a western that makes me laugh and cry... which is very rare. It has it all. And, ironically, I believe Lang stole the ending to ?Destry Rides Again? with ?Rancho Notorious.? The ending caught me by surprise, too.
Wish I could bear to see that one again.
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What I wish with Rancho Notorious is that we didn't know who killed Vern's wife. We should have been left in the dark. That would have escalated the drama and tension for us, the viewer. Instead, we are just waiting for Vern to find out the truth. This makes the drama purely all about when and how will he find out and what will he do when he finds out.
Sometimes suspense is good, and sometimes surprise is better; let the audience work along with the hero to make Discovery. In some instances it can lead to a better payoff.
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I just lent my friend "Meg" a film of Billy Wilder's "ACE IN THE HOLE" in light of the triumphant return to safety of trapped miners down in Chile. I compared it somewhat to the prescient na-
ture of "Network." This is her comment to me, on Wilder's great film:
"Side note: Saw 'Ace In the Hole.' Very powerful. It's a classic 'Network' approach for sure. Very gritty, guttural, and bitter. No one was going to come out of this movie ALIVE - mentally, morally, or spiritually. To me, it was a sad tale of what desperation and need for power can do to individuals. Kirk Douglas represented that mixture to me. As for the 'people' in the film - when the carnival was over - like children they cried.
Wilder wanted us to think it was because they realized their twisted ways. But, I think, in real life, the caravan of people would just find another carnival/spectacular to be a part of. No one ever wants the 'fun' to end.
All in all, it was a great movie and Billy Wilder was a pussycat tyrant who got the best work out of people."
Very well said Meg!!!
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"Sometimes I like a man who doesn't believe what a woman tells him." - Altar Keane.
Ohhhhhhhhhhkay.
"RANCHO NOTORIOUS" stars Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy & Mel Ferrer. A man's fiancee is brutally murdered during a bank robbery and he tracks her killer among a den of killers on a ranch headed by Marlene Dietrich.
I didn't get this movie.
The opening theme song took me out of this motion picture so completely that I struggled throughout to get back in the spirit of things. Every time that baritoned voice chimed in singing exposition of the plot, my heart sank, I cringed and then banged my head against my bed's backboard. I've read 95% of this thread, so I know that I must include Lang as part of my film education. I've enjoyed many other of his films. But I didn't care for this one.
His casting of the three leads was like a moat around this movie, preventing me from getting clo-
ser. The movie felt false to me, artificial. Was this a parody of a Western? Was it a dark serious farce of the genre?? Arthur Kennedy a fast draw? Mel Ferrer fared better as a cowboy for me, but just barely. And as for Dietrich. Oh no....
I must tread lightly for she is one of the great screen icons but I much prefer her in the 1930's. She looked soft, supple then; a veritable Teutonic dumpling. Emotion registered across her face. Per-haps I prefer her in a sophisticated urban setting. I loved her turn in "Witness for the Prosecution" Ducky, or in "The Nuremburg Trial" and in "Touch of Evil." By the 1950's, surely the late 50's, her glamor was a hardened lacquer; her face...a kabuki mask. And the singing, I thought she was parodying herself. I think Madelein Kahn imitated her perfectly. (Dietrich looked great in a tux and in that naval outfit). Looks like Lang tried to throw a little "Johnny Guitar" in this, but I thought Crawford had more chemistry with her male costars than Dietrich did with hers. Oh yes, there's a painted desert and artificiality in "Johnny Guitar" but I thought Ray had a grasp of what a Western is. I don't think Lang organically understood the American Western genre as well as Leone did.
I did like how Lang had other actors tell the flashbacks for us. But I just didn't like the story in general. You know, the only actor who escaped unscathed for my tastes was George Reeves.
Yes George Reeves. And I am not being snarky either. I waited to see him again throughout the proceedings. He was such a good-natured lug with this vivacious personality and a hundred-watt smile. He was the best thing in "Rancho Notorious" for me. Seeing his turn here made it all the more sad for me to realize how he sealed his fate when he signed the contract for "Superman."
He might have had a good chance at being a leading man character actor.
What is it they say? "It's not you, it's me." Alright then. What do I know. It's not Lang, it's
me.
I never liked "Destry Rides Again" either. I know...I know. It's me. It's me!! Let me get the Shanghai Express outta here.
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Thanx! I got so happy, I neglected to peruse the schedule as closely as I should have.
For all you Ava Gardner fans:
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Bronxie, Miss G., you've elevated "The Wolfman" with such a great post about this great classic. Ha, I think I'd rather face the Wolfman as opposed to what would pop out behind a Brooklyn fire hydrant today. That was a great cast, wasn't it? Lon Chaney Jr. was perfectly cast for the part.
PROVENCAL MINI-TCM FILM FESTIVAL:
Ro-Ro, you shall have your Dr. Pepper delivered to you in the best Lalique has to offer. Or if you prefer Waterford crystal, it?s yours.
Jackaaaay, You don?t have to decide between Francis Lederer or Charles Boyer. You may have them both!!! This is a VACATION. Throw caution to the wind!! Jack LaRue will be sharing the butling duties with les magnifique l'hommes pastries. After all, we will be in Provence. Girls, you will each have your own personal butler. You may choose from Yves Montand, Louis Jourdan, Charles Boyer, Jean Gabin, Marcel Dalio, Jean-Louis Tritignant, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Gerard Depardieu (60 pounds ago) or Jean-Paul Belmondo. I?m sure I?m forgetting some modern day Frenchman. Vincent Cassel comes to mind. Or anyone you wish. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.
Submit your film choices for this festival from today's films or yesteryear's. I'd like to put these on the list:
"Quai Des Orfevres"
"Il Postino"
"The Bride Wore Black"
"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and
"The Hairdresser's Husband."
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And this is why we flock to you. You can go from such sparkling high toned prose:
"I agree that Marlene had never looked more beautiful than here. There was such a vulner-
ability about her, as I remember Jackie pointed out in a Ramples post. But as you say, in that unforgettable lawn scene, Alexandra shows great strength and later on, remarkable resi-
lience.. Before 1917 unfolds, she is shown as performing her royal duties in a sparkling, pro-
tected world of incredible privilege, but we do see subtle cracks in her smooth, almost robot-like demeanor, where her "Of course I'm happy" has just the slightest tinge of poignant unreallzed subversive aspiration, even as the viewer is swept up in all the tragic glamour of White Russia."
To the downright bawdy:
"HA!! Does Andrew utter lines like, 'Get your filthy hands off me, you dirty, stinking mummy!' (although from what I saw, she looked pretty healthy in that bosomy Hammer way) Valerie Leon, where did the studio get those gorgeous big-chested woman who could (miracle of miracles) actually ACT as well? Leon had some interesting Barbara Shelley qualities, I thought."
Hammer goes the Russ Meyers' route. ("Beneath the Valley of the Mummy" or "Faster Imhotep, Kill! Kill!").
"Oh, I'm so glad you loved the Donat tribute! I don't think any other actor, even Ronald Colman, had such a beautifully-layered voice, and I agree completely with your wonder-
ful words." - < (Jack Favell) >
I'm not a Donat fan, but I saw that YouTube tribute which was very well-done, and he did raise
my eyebrow a couple of times. Hmmmmm, hey wait a minute...
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I'd have gone with Kerry Washington. Or Rosario Dawson.
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Saw some of Gary Cooper last night in "Morocco" (1930). Watched a liitle of his screen persona being formed here in one of his earlier movies. And Dietrich was softer and more expressive than she was in "Rancho Notorious" but more on that in the appropriate thread.
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I'm glad you enjoyed it Bronxie. I've seen his one-man show (or is that one Queen show) and he is fabulous!!!!
TCM should really consider him to host a show.
Really.
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Johnbabe is looking for this thread.
http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?threadID=156113&tstart=0
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No, that would be "Something Wooden This Way Comes." (1933)
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I'd be up for that filmlover. And I have the perfect title for that mini - festival, written here for all to steal:
"WHEN IT'S RAINES, IT SHINES!"
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This festival will run throughout the month of August 2011, when all those pesky Europeans are on holiday and we can take over their countryside.
Details revealed shortly.
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Steve Hayes' contribution to the world of Alfred Hitchcock:
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You mean to tell me Travelocity and Expedia and PriceLine do NOT do lay-a-way??
:-( MON DIEU!!!!!!!! :-(
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ChiO writes - "I saw that 35mm print of REIGN OF TERROR (Anthony Mann, 1949) last night...This is John Alton's movie all the way. Despite the above, this is a wonderful movie and Alton's photography has to be the reason. Every one of his trademarks is there -- the high contrast between light and dark, scenes in which there is only enough light to keep the screen from being pitch black, shadows cast when there is no apparent light source, close-ups that are grotesque, performances in silhouette, diagonal lines cutting through the frame. All adding up to creating dramatic tension and visual interest.?
Frank Grimes replies - "I finally watched the film just a couple months ago, and your very high recommendation rang true with me. I loved the film. It's one of the most unique films I have seen. As you say, it's a costumer done as film noir. Basically, Shakespearean noir. Fascinating. And you're also right about the mixing in of melodrama and western.?
Rohanaka responds - "Well NOW you gents have really got me curious. That sounds like a truly intriguing combination...WOW, I am truly thankful to have started this thread so long ago to be able to get a chance to learn more about and hear of so many movies I might otherwise have NEVER known about before.
I am such a "movie watching" wannabe compared to most of you... To borrow from a famous late night talk show host.. .thank goodness this is "ONLY an exhibition.. and not a competition" Ha.?
A-ha Rohanaka. ;-)
Jack Favell chimes - ?That is way too creepy! A Robert Cummings movie! No, I'm just kidding. But it was really scary! Especially Norman Lloyd's face. I think the hand in the mirror shot would have been way creepier though if they had not brought the knife in front of it. Just let the hand tell the story. But who am I to argue with a real director and a great cinematographer??
Step right up. Get your wet noodles here! Step right up. Give the CineMaven forty lashes with a wet noodle. She didn?t heed the advice of Fred Baetz when waaaay back in June of this year he gave her one of his recommendations for an Anthony Mann film to see while it played at NYC's Film Forum. And he wrote:
?Dramas: I loved "Reign of Terror" or the original title "The Black Book". A film noir set during the French revolution with Robert Cummings and the beautiful and very good Arlene Dahl Some terrific performance by Richard Basehart, Norman Lloyd and Charles McGraw.. Great Mann style with marvelous close ups and everyone trying to discredit the notorious Robsepierre and his "Reign of Terror". A wonderful example of what can be done on a small budget and it a great ride to the guillotine..Off with their heads...? - < ( FRED BAETZ - JUNE 21ST, 2010 @ 12:56PM ) >
Yes, step right up and give forty lashes with a wet noodle to the CineMaven who missed another fine classic. She deserves the lashes b?cuz you folks? postings of "REIGN OF TERROR" was ANOTHER great read.
STEP RIGHT UP!!!!
Edited by: CineMaven on Oct 16, 2010 12:47 PM - At least the metaphor is keeping up with the torture.
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Hey hey Sue Sue, Jackaaaaaaay... I can't take credit for this announcement. I'm blind as a bat.
I only added my congratulations. If you check this out:
http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?threadID=154461&tstart=0
you can see the real leaders of the pack. I didn't want to post on top of their pictorial tributes
to the Queen, so I slinked over here. Your tribute is funny Suex2, b'cuz you hit on all things
Bronxie.
Now, having said that, is there any reason we can not plan our own mini TCM Film Fest in Provence for next summer? After all, we won't have to worry about Spain's Generalissimo
Francisco Franco hogging up all the popcorn.
Whaddya say folks?
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Hotcha indeed Marky Mark. I think Ella is all that AND a bag of chips.
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I just perused the schedule you linked us to ClassicStarlet, and I see loads of goodies in January.
We've got Von Sternberg, Jane Wyman, Loretta Young and Kay Francis among those featured. I like seeing gruff ol' William Bendix have a little spotlight on him. (He could do comedy and drama, no mean feat!). I also look forward to seeing "THE LEARNING TREE" a wonderful coming-of-age story I saw when it was initially released and one I wholeheartedly recommend. Photographer Gordon Parks' directorial debut was confidently accomplished.
I think there is something for everybody. I am not impatiently rushing the months for January. I'm never impatiently kvetching TCM to rush and post its future schedule. But it's just nice to know what awaits me when the time comes.
Aaaah yes Ella Raines and Suzanne Pleshette. Anticipation...
Thank you TCM. :x
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I recorded "Murder, He Says" but haven't watched it yet. I saw Helen Walker's entrance though. Whew! Tough guy, fedora, cigar. Ooh and a gun. I can't wait to watch it, though I think this is the film that turned me away from Freddie Mac (acting all goofy and everything). The last thing I saw was Fred all trussed up like a hog. Yikes! Walker's Lilith...wow! That was a great performance and she certainly was a cold one in "Nightmare Alley." (GodblessMoira for doing her Morlocks article on Helen Walker: http://moviemorlocks.com/2010/03/24/helen-walker-a-well-kept-secret-part-i/ ). But I don't think anyone was colder than Audrey Totter in "Tension" which aired the other morning. I've got to wrap my thoughts around that performance and tell you about it, but first...
I see some congratulations are in order. You've reached a 13G milestone.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
There has been more liquid spit up on keyboards and monitors since you've joined the board back in January 2007. We must ALL send you our computer bills. And you've done all of this with just O-N-E identity? How is that possible Boca Queen? While others use three or four identities, you've achieved over thirteen thousand posts with the one name: BRONXGIRL48. How is that possible? How, you say? Well I'll tell ya. There are a lot of imitators on this message board and I guess imitation IS the most sincere form of flattery. At least that's what they say. But I can only surmise you do it by being brilliantly smart, wickedly sarcastic without being hurtful, knowled-
geable without being pedantic and boring, cleverly hilarious as all get out, loving of most things classics whether its "Wuthering Heights" or Pete Smith's Specialties (Joe Doakes & Robert Benchley included). You make me laugh when I don't want to. (The waddle...OMG! and I love Lee!!)
Those qualities are why we flock to you. You don't have thousands of threads. Just the two main ones and the views your posts garner are a testimony to the flocking. We want to see what you have to say next. And now that you only post on the weekends, you've got us strung out like junkies on Methadone waiting (Okay, I'm only speaking for myself here) to read your or your Mom's next bon mots. (By the by, how is she?)
I guess the most important ingredient is that you are genuine.
"Oh, Goddess, merci mille fois!!! Ha!! I hope Franky doesn't wear a Speedo, that would end our South of France romance right then and there."
Au contraire mon amie. Remembering Madeleine Kahn's reaction in "Young Frankenstein" I daresay you most certainly will not be disappointed.
CONGRATULATIONS, BRONXGIRL!!
--Your No. 1 Fan-- Your gushing Imitator,
C-Mave.
Edited by: CineMaven on Oct 16, 2010 10:51 AM - Kathy Bates took that nom de plume and look what happened to her in "Misery."
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OMG!
Professor Favell, your post about "...Shark Island" makes me realize finally, unequivocally how much I do NOT know.
I have never seen (or heard) of this film. What a wonderfully insightful analysis you gave. I love
the photos you selected and the parallels you made. Depth, genuine emotion in your post.
Ford, huh?
Dissected, deciphered, displayed. You've made the movie come alive for me. Now I must check
it out.
Thank you.
Western Movie Rambles
in Westerns
Posted
Ha! Well THAT double post looks like it honors (Baby T) Butterscotchgreer.