flickerknickers
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Posts posted by flickerknickers
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Yes, yes, definitely a restored "The Black Cat" on DVD, along with perhaps a second feature--"The Raven," both from l934-35. In fact, I've heard that there was a double-feature video around with these two classics on it. I also love "Black CAt" for the same reasons you gave-the stunning art deco settings, the unforgettable musical score, the costumes, the story, etc. It's all like a surreal nightmare. I do hope Universal will someday SOON put "Night Monster" and "The Mad Ghoul" out as a double-feature disc. These two cult classics are definitely worth a new look and both are worthy of their increasing cult status.
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Moviejoe, you beat me to it! I was just going to give a hearty plug to the new, restored "Casablanca" now on DVD with those ever watchable extras. You made a good point about the promos for other much-desired goodies like "Yankee Doodle Dandy" that are still not available. Well, I'm here to give a big endorsement of the newly released and restored l950 shocker, "House of Wax," with Vincent Price. But even better than that is that one of the incredible extras is the complete, restored early Technicolor scare-fest, "Mystery of the Wax Museum" from l934! This is one of my all-time horror faves. I've nearly worn out my video tape of this grisly, juicy, Pre-code thriller starring Fay Wray and Glenda Farrell who steals everything that's not nailed down as the wise-cracking reporter. The two-tone Technicolor of pastels are used to fantastic effect, with fantastic Anton Grot set designs and everything moves at neck-break speed under the direction of Michael Curtiz. You definitely get your money's worth at $14.95. And don't forget that "The Thing From Another World" from l950 has also just been released in beautiful, pristine black and white. Now, if only some wise DVD executive would put on disc all of Betty Grable's musicals, Deanna Durbin's delights, all the rest of Bette Davis' gems and other faves like "Grand Hotel," "Dinner at Eight," etc.--they would make us mighty happy film addicts! And we're ALL waiting for the deluxe, extras loaded edition of GONE WITH THE WIND!
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fascinating take on john gilbert, coffeedan. This is an angle I never considered in mulling over his career. this also explains how Garbo finally got him to co-star in "Queen Christina," after she turned Laurence Olivier down. But then I wonder why Garbo didn't have the "Name Above the Title and No One Else's Name" proviso in her contract? When I watch Gilbert's silents, he's such a sensuous, charismatic figure. But when I watch him in a talkie, that entire mood is destroyed. I'm sure this is what happened when audiences first saw him open his mouth, make sounds and thus become a mere mortal like the rest of us.
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netlato, thanks for bringing up this topic again. I get so angry when I think how bizarre Disney's Eisner and his ilk are in their attempts to be poltiically correct. From what I've read, Disney received a few complaints from hyper-sensitive viewers and then of course, the NAACP regarding "Song of the South." What no one else in the world would even think of as being offensive, these professional whiners did. So--to appease a handful of complainers, no one in the world now can see "Song of the South." I always loved the movie and saw it many times as a child. The same goes for Speedy Gonzalez. Because a few complain, the whole series is yanked from the public and nobody gets to see it. AMC has locked away dozens of Our Gang comedies for the same stupid reasoning--and the Cartoon Network has locked away dozens more because some toons from the 40s showed Japanese and Germans being parodied.
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In those golden movie days, you never saw on the screen what you see on today's telly. Naked bods, smooching that never ends, etc. They made movies back then for the family. But--they knew how to heat things up by suggestion, by a raised eyebrow, and great acting by real professionals, writers and directors. Think Scarlett and Rhett, Jane and Tarzan, Wally Faye (Jack Carson) and Joan Crawford, Charlotte Vale and Jerry...the list goes on. You never saw anything explicit, yet--that sensuous tension was there. What are some of your favorite sexiest movies? Why? Who was the best at putting across naughty and sexy with style and conviction?
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From everything I've read about the talkie transition, studio heads decided to get rid of nearly all of their great silent stars beause the moguls were convinced audiences didn't want "silent stars" anymore. It's been pointed out below that the great silent stars also had huge salaries. Garbo, of course, seemed to have a good-luck angel looking out for her. David Selznick and George Cukor both wanted John Gilbert to play the Larry Renault role in "Dinner at Eight." Louis Mayer blocked this request and John Barrymore got the role--again. He was ideal in both "Grand Hotel" and "Dinner at Eight" but both movies would have given Gilbert a strong shot at continued stardom. That poor guy! He was so electrifying in "Flesh and the Devil" and "The Merry Widow."
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I also thought the "restored" version of London After Midnight was a disaster. After thirty minutes of wanting to really like this version, I changed the station. I'm always astounded that a huge studio like MGM never even kept its original negative of this Lon Chaney box-office smash? And that after making thousands of copies there's not even one duplicate left!
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MovieJoe, you and I are usually in sync on everything. But I have just a slight quibble about Selznick losing it after "Rebecca." I've always thought his l944 smash hit, "Since You Went Away" was fabulous. It's also listed on Variety's All-Time Grossing Movies. I also believe he put together yet another movie great, l947's "The Spiral Staircase." But after that, it was all downhill. GWTW really drained him and everyone associated with it of much of their vigor. Vivien Leigh never did anything close to GWTW except for truly depressing "Streetcar Named Desire." I watched it once and that was it. It was horrific to see the fabulous Scarlett turned into a quivering, cowering basketcase.
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Thanks, Moviejoe, for your appraisal of the "Now Voyager" DVD. I was thinking of buying it, along with "Dark Victory,". Now, I'll run to my nearest Best.buy and grab me a copy. Getting back to "Now Voyager", I'll never forget watching this on the big screen of the old Regency Theater here in NYC when it held its Bette Davis film festival back in the early 80s.In that packed theater one night, hundreds of us were held spellbound by the pristine print and of course--that incredible musical score by la master--Max Steiner. The music and the images created an intense hynoptic mood that no one there ever forgot. "Dark Victory" did the same, with yet another fantastic score by Steiner. By the way, Bette the Magnificent made an appearance right after the final images of "Now Voyager" faded from the screen. She was beyond fabulous. Small, trim, dynamic, dressed in a sharply tailored black suit, pearls, you felt her power from the stage into the last row. She was the star all of us had thought a star should be. Julia, J.Lo, Gwynth--fuggadaboutit!
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Many times I put on "Now Voyager" just to listen to the fabulous Max STeiner musical score. This was certainly one of his greatest creations--especially the music he wrote for the scene where "Jerry" finds "Charlotte" on her hotel terrace, they light up, they kiss and finally connect. Davis' biographers said that Jack Warner and producer Hal Wallis had originally wanted Irene Dunne, Norma Shearer, Garbo, Ginger Rogers, Joan Fontaine and Joan Crawford for the Charlotte Vale--until Queen Bette found out and raised holy hell. This is just one case where she had to literally fight for the great roles that made her career.
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I do wish TCM would consider having the wonderful, warm Robert Dorian--former host of the long gone good days of AMC--as an alternate host. Robert Osborne was okay but he always seemed a little tense and formal. Osborne was more like the man on the streets. I still think it'd be great if they could have some of our very rare living movie legends on to introduce some of their old movies: like Anita Page, Liz Taylor, Shirley Temple, Jennifer Jones, Rhonda Fleming, etc.
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I always wished Ramon Navarro could have gone on for a long time in talkies. He was cute, charming and he could sing, too. The new bio on him, "Beyond Paradise," claims Navarro was mainly responsible for the termination of his career when he became obsessed with becoming an opera star and ignored his movie career. Ramon supposedly turned down several juicy roles because he was touring and performing before European royalty. He started to accept horrible roles just to keep the money coming in. With his movies bombing, Louis B. Mayer finally had a good reason for kicking Navarro off the lot. Navarro had also started drinking heavily and by the time he was murdered in the early 50s, his friends were convinced he had a death wish--because he was dragging all these thugs into his mansion. John Gilbert could have lasted longer, too, if Louis Mayer had only helped him out. Garbo wanted Gilbert to play the John Barrymore role in "Grand Hotel" but Mayer nixed it. Can't you just imagine Barrymore as the doomed Baron?
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this reminds me of the era when Madonna was red-hot and she was being called "The Marilyn Monroe" and the "Jean Harlow" of her time--all because she'd dyed her hair platinum. Same thing about J-lo. That nasal, Bronx twang grates on my nerves. Rita Hayworth and her ilk were one of a kind who'll never be duplicated. Dying your hair and having a multi-million dollar PR firm pushing you onto mag covers equals nothing but hype but zero magic.
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did anybody see Ginger Rogers in the l943 "Tender Comrade" that TCM showed earlier this week? A very strange movie. At the end, when she gets the telegram that her husband is dead, she picks up their newborn son and makes a long, long speech about America. The camera stays on her face the whole time. Five years later, "Tender Comrade" was cited by the McCarthy UnAmerican Hearings in Washington as proof that Dalton Trumbo, one of the writers, was a leading Hollywood communist. Why? Because he used the word "Comrade" in the movie title. Yet, the movie itself, is unusually pro-American and gung-ho patriotic. This is a scary fact. That back then, the very word "comrade" could be used to destroy movie careers which happened to Trumbo and several others associated with this movie.
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I've already mentioned this quite a few times but I wish TCM would show some of the great old Republic serials like "G-Men Vs. the Black Dragon" (1944), "Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941)and "King of the Texas Rangers." Or, for Halloween, maybe have a Universal Horror festival, with all the Mummy, Wolf Man, Dracula, Ape Woman, Mad Doctor flicks. Or, maybe even a Judy Canova, Abbott and Costello festival.
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I, too, am so sick of the whole drag thing. It's been done to death. I hoped the whole idea of guys-in-drag would have ended with the hugely over-rated "Some Like It Hot." I still remember the interviews Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis gave during the filming, each of them shrieking about how really macho they were, how they simply couldn't imagine men dressing up. Pu-leeze! Everytime a major male star has to "dress up", it's always the same thing. they are terribly emphathic how they're merely "acting." If you watch some of Gene Kelly's musicals, he's bad at adding scenes of him throwing a towel over his head, prancing around and lisping (i.e., "An American in Paris") which can one shudder.
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i really meant "buddy rogers" instead of Buddy Clark in my entry just below. Anybody got anymore jazz babies and boys they think should be pointed out?
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I wish Hollywood could come up with some fresh ideas instead of cannibalizing its classics. "Father of the Bride" and its sequel were perfect and fit their era's ambiance perfectly. This summmer's movies are all sequels or based on video games. Currently filming is Nicole Kidman and Drew Barrymore in a remake of "the Stepford Wives," and also being cannibalized for the new generation are remakes of "Star is Born" (starring Christine Aquiliere and John Travolta), "The Towering Inferno," "Earthquake" and a dumbed-down version of "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane." Both are being heralded in the press as "aimed for the younger generation." This is a like a nightmare!
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you said it, alix. gimme a double dose anyday of of buddy clark, billy haines, johnny (the fab) mack brown over today's (yawn) heartthrobs like ben affleck, brad pitt, tommy boy cruise.
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Same here! I've never heard of Thompson but would love to see what kind of a guy he is. I wish TCM would try to hire Bob Dorian, that terrific movie host who was dropped by AMC under their new regime. Dorian had a warm, folsky way about him and he gave the impression of being just so excited about the movie he was hosting that night. I also think it would be fun to hire TCM addicts now and then to host a favorite movie of theirs. New York's old Drive-in Theater back in the eighties used to do this. These movies were all fun, Grade-B classics like 'Hercules,' 'The Blob' but this could be renovated on TCM to be Pre-Codes, Silents, Clara Bow flicks, Bette Davis, horror classics, etc.
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Moviejoe, I'm so with you over these selections that were chosen to be presented on DVD. But--I think we all realize that one man's passion is another man's boredom. But you have to wonder--what the hell is holding up the DVD's of some truly great movie classics, like: King Kong, Since You Went Away, Broadway Melody, all the stunning Technicolored delites of the Betty Grable musicals, the Deanna Durbin musicals, the rest of those Universal shockers from the 30s and 40s (I'm thinking mainly of my favorite, 'Night Monster' and "The Black Cat" and "The Raven"). Those Hammer Studio thrillers like "Brides of Dracula. And last but not least, a sumptuous edition of "Gone With the Wind"! The version that's out now is a cheap, pan-and-scan version with some dippy little preview as the only extra.
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Yet another downer for AMC is that they censor, tweak and butcher their movies. From what I've read in the New York press, AMC belongs to the same company that owns Bravo which is equally notorious for deleting and censoring "sensitive" aspects of their films. Bravo rotates its censored movies on over to AMC. Case in point: when AMC and Bravo both ballyhooed their telecasts of "The Godfather", you would have thought it was the biggest event in TV history. The hype went on for months! But when some of my "Godfather" addicts watched it, they screamed bloody murder. Words, scenes were deleted. As I've mentioned several times on this board, AMC has also locked away 47 episodes of the OUr Gang comedies because pressure groups complained that Buckwheat was presented in an "undignified manner." Duh! He was treated like the others but I presume these pressure groups, (i.e, NAACP, etc.) wanted Buckwheat to wear a Tuxedo and top hat in every scene.
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Even Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard" would thrill to this stunning restoration of the l928 legendary and much-betroubled, "Queen Kelly," from Kino International. If you're a Swanson fan like myself, you may remember that silent film clip she shows to her loverboy, William Holden. The clip is from 'Queen Kelly,' directed by Ernest Von STroheim but aborted by Swanson half-way through production. She says in an interview on the DVD that it was because she knew the censors would never allow the movie to be shown the way Stroheim was filming it. Movie stills and fragments fill out the remaining thirty minutes. Swanson is fabulous as the convent girl who somehow becomes the madam of a South American brothel. A typical Stroheim plot of the bizarre. You watch what might have been if Stroheim had only been allowed to complete the film and feel great sadness. The nearly one million dollars spent on the unfinished masterpiece all came from Swanson's own purse. Her sugar daddy, Joseph Kennedy, dumped her when he realized 'Queen Kelly' would never be realized. This is a must DVD to either rent or buy and cherish. Viva la Swanson!
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Remakes of "The Thing" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "The Blob" were all better than the originals. In the case of the first two, I think they equalled each other out. The remakes went in for more graphic effects which you need in a sci/horror film but the originals all had wonderful atmospheres through their black and white photography.
Which era is your favorite?
in Silent
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To change the topic drastically from John Gilbert to Al Jolson, I was just re-watching Mr. Hambone himself--Jolson--last night in my video tape of "The Singing Fool" from l929. This is one silent screen legend who does not translate well today. He was simply unbearable to watch as he hammed it up and sang and rolled his eyes and crooned "Sonny Boy" to his baby boy. I know that each generation has their favorites and those 50 years from now will wonder what we saw in Madonna and Snoop Doggy Dawg. But Jolson also had that intensely irritating habit of screaming, "Waita minute! Waita Minute! Waita Minute! everytime his audience interrupted his singing to applaude. Jolson makes me think of Coleen Moore. The few movies I've seen of her's are soooo excrutiating. She resembles an animated doll with that tiny, thin mouth, those huge eyes and that weird grin. And she was even bigger than Garbo and Clara Bow at one time!