Film_Fatale

We will never really know for sure, so any opinion is pure speculation.

moira, I'm glad to see you post at length about this movie - I'll read it after I've had a chance to watch it, but just out of curiosity, have you read the novel on which this is based?

You skipped Donna Reed Donna Reed was in *It's a Wonderful Life* with James Stewart

> {quote:title=TripleHHH wrote:}{quote} > *Requiem for a Dream* > Next > Ava Gabor Did you mean _Eva_ Gabor? Eva Gabor was in *The Last Time I Saw Paris* with Donna Reed

> {quote:title=CineMaven wrote:}{quote} > Do you believe a squirrely cherub/fussbudget can cross-over? I now do. And you just convinced me, too

Yes, but you also called TDK a "great" film, not just a big money-maker. I don't mind that trivial movies sometimes make a lot of money, I just can't understand why they're sometimes called "great". But that's another story.

> {quote:title=scsu1975 wrote:}{quote} > Did you know they were high heels? Well I wasn't expecting a pair of Mary Janes

Sorry you feel that way. I thought *The Dark Knight* was a waste of time and had a wonderful time with *Tropic Thunder*.

That one can count as both a favourite musical or a favourite family film! B-)

Wonder what it might have felt like to be in his shoes

Deneuve, Catherine

> {quote:title=gagman66 wrote:}{quote} > Sounds incredible, but look how Paramount has treated the rest of it's Silent's library! Actually, it no longer sounds incredible to me that Paramount has a total disregard for practically all of the classic films in its library, and especially the silents. Sad, but true.

> {quote:title=scsu1975 wrote:}{quote} > Noirleans In all seriousness, my thoughts and prayers are with all the folks from New Orleans.

> {quote:title=CineMaven wrote:}{quote} > DEWEY: "And therein lies the hidden love story in WHITE HEAT --Cagney and O'Brien. One that the censors clearly never spotted." > > Wonderfully written post Dewey. I agree with you. I think a lot of film noir had these hidden love stories that were hiding in plain sight. What comes to mind is John Hodiak and Wendell Corey in "Desert Fury" or Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn in the (unsung?) Western: "Warlock." > "Hidden Love Stories" - what a great TCM theme that would make

Sterling Hayden was in *Johnny Guitar* with Mercedes McCambridge

*Stone's 'W': His portrait of the president* Ruthe Stein Sunday, August 31, 2008 As President Bush prepares to depart the White House, along comes a movie claiming to explain how the onetime boozing rabble-rouser got there in the first place. The movie, "W.," already is creating controversy just from its trailer, showing an inebriated young Bush driving his car onto his family's lawn and being bawled out by his father, who shouts at him, "Who do you think you are? A Kennedy? You're a Bush." Oliver Stone is steeling himself for an avalanche of criticism when "W." opens on Oct. 17 at the height of a promising fall movie season. The same thing happened with "Nixon," his 1995 movie about the disgraced president. "People said I was going to do a hatchet job on him, but 'Nixon' is not a hatchet job and neither is 'W.,' " Stone said while taking a break from a rush editing job to get the film into theaters before the election. "My Nixon was dark and brooding. 'W.' is a souffle compared to that. It is lighter. "I had a great story to tell about how someone who was a bum and a failure and who hadn't done jack s- until 40 became the most powerful person in the world. I give him full credit for the way he turned his life around." The film shows Bush's enormous willpower. After his 40th birthday, he went on a run and felt awful and realized the more he continued on this road the worse it would get. So he quit drinking cold turkey, without the aid of Alcoholics Anonymous. Along with many people, Stone says he believes Bush was saved by his conversion to the evangelical faith and emphasizes this by "shooting a lot in the Bible belt." *Casting the film* For the title role, Stone hired Josh Brolin (after another, unidentified actor passed). "Josh is better looking, but he has something of a rural American about him and a lot of cowboy." The other parts - including Elizabeth Banks as Laura, James Cromwell as Bush's father and Ellen Burstyn as his mother - were relatively easy to fill. But Dick Cheney was a toughie. The film was well into pre-production before Richard Dreyfuss finally agreed. Brolin went directly to his friends John Malkovich and William Hurt, but they turned him down. Robert Duvall told Stone he wasn't interested. "I think people were scared to do this role," Brolin said. Doris Day, or probably her representatives, wouldn't give Stone permission to use her recording of "Que Sera, Sera." Stone was supposed to be in Vietnam this year working on "Pinkville," a war drama about the 1968 My Lai massacre. But when numerous movies about Iraq tanked at the box office, financing vanished for his war movie, even though Bruce Willis was set to star. Stone, who's been around a Hollywood block before, had a fallback script about Bush written by Stanley Weiser, who penned "Wall Street." "I wanted to do it because the man has had tremendous impact on this world, and he is not going to go away in January. His policies will stay around," Stone said. *Former classmates* The 43rd president made absolutely no impact on Stone when they were at Yale together. He didn't even realize they were classmates until Bush told him at their one and only meeting. It was a formal breakfast in 1998, when he was governor of Texas. "I suppose they were reaching out," said Stone, known to be a liberal Democrat. "I got a summons to come. He was very friendly He used a lot of body language and a lot of touching like politicians do. I remember the breakfast vividly. I felt in my heart that this guy would go all the way. His confidence level was so high." "W." covers a lot of ground, starting with Bush at 21 through his rebellious years and almost up until the present. Stone, who got a reputation for playing loose with the facts after his "JFK" movie, said they have tried to make "W." as truthful as possible, using actual dialogue from books written about their subject. But Stone owns up to writing the line about W. being a Bush not a Kennedy. "We're not salacious in our approach. We didn't get into cocaine, although I heard quite a lot about it. But we needed to show (Bush's) rebellion. We show him in jail." Playing the president Like Bush, Brolin followed his father, actor James Brolin, into the same business. "I didn't use my dad to get into the role other than to know what it is like to want to carve out your own path when you're headed toward the same goal," Brolin said. His daunting task was to convince audiences they were watching someone they see on television almost every day. He viewed dozens of tapes of Bush in action and called hotels in Texas just to hear locals speak. "I wondered how I was going to get his voice down," Brolin said. "I am not a stand-up comic who does 15 seconds of brilliant impersonation. I had to sustain a voice for two hours. Early Bush had this trajectory of getting breathier and breathier." He lost a lot of weight to play the younger Bush, and had to gain it back to be him as president. Gaining was the hardest part until his wife, Diane Lane, who has trouble keeping pounds on when she's acting, advised him to try her avocado and banana milkshakes. Stone told his star to keep in mind an image of James Dean in "Giant." Brolin, however, failed to see the resemblance. "Oliver is from Brooklyn, so what does he know from cowboys?" said Brolin, who spent part of his youth on a ranch in Paso Robles. He recalls "sitting there pining for anything" that might be a key into his character. At a bookstore one day he found it: a huge biography of Steve McQueen. He read it and moved on to documentaries about McQueen. "This is the guy, rebellious, doing things his own way. A bit of an outsider. Not necessarily brilliant, but intuitive and emotionally intelligent." So if you see some of McQueen in Brolin's performance, it is fully intended. *Early reaction* On the airwaves, conservative Republicans are already decrying "W." sight unseen. A couple of regulars on "The View" complained that it was going to be another Stone fantasy where the facts had no relation to what's onscreen. The press has made much of both Stone and Brolin being Democrats, and Stone as also an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war. All of this seems intended to imply that "W." can't stand on its own apart from those who conceived it. But Brolin sees "W." as more of a comedy than a political treatise. Scenes show the president passing out goofy nicknames to his pals. Condoleezza Rice (Thandie Newton) is Guru and Karl Rove (Toby Jones) is Turdblossom. In a flashback, Bush sings the "Whiffenpoof" song at his fraternity pledge. "There's so much humor in his gestures," Brolin said. Stone likes to compare "W." to "The Queen." Since he can't explain why in any way that makes sense, you wonder if this was his pitch raising money for the film. A majority of the financing came from China, and almost none of it from America. There's a political science lesson in there somewhere. W. opens Oct. 17 in Bay Area theaters. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/29/PKRV12GVMH.DTL

> {quote:title=gagman66 wrote:}{quote} > Film_Fatale, > > PETER PAN (Paramount, 1924) not only exists in virtually pristine form, but is actually on DVD from Kino. The print is gorgeous, and the score is excellent. > Do you know if Kino got it because it is PD, or did Paramount license it? Because it's a shame that there aren't more Paramount silents on DVD - not even *Wings* !!

> {quote:title=MissGoddess wrote:}{quote} > Don't miss A Man's Castle tonight at 11:30 p.m. (EST)...it's directed by another imaginative Irishman, *Frank Borzage*, and is a very remarkably told tale. (I also recommend The Seventh Cross at 2:30 a.m.) I'm dying to record this - it's always exciting when a movie like this premieres on TCM. B-)

> {quote:title=MissGoddess wrote:}{quote} > Well, I'm German so Romy is no stranger to me at all. I grew up hearing about her. I first saw her in the Orson Welles movie, I forget which one...The Trial? But always knew all about her. Ich liebe Romy Schneider! :x I was happy when the *Sissi* movies were released here in America, but the transfers left a little bit to be desired. Still great fun to watch, tho.

*Quiz Show* nw: rhubarb

Leonard Nimoy was in *Old Overland Trail* with Slim Pickens

> {quote:title=scsu1975 wrote:}{quote} > >Did he ever have to answer the "hot line" at 3 a.m.? If so, what did he say? > > Yes, and he said "Marilyn, I told you never to call me here." :0

Or maybe he has more clout now because he's the new co-host of "At the movies"?

> {quote:title=scsu1975 wrote:}{quote} > I love how Laughton's face twists while Rita Johnson is telling him off. George Macready is solid as Laughton's slimeball assistant. > > Check out the novel by Kenneth Fearing some time as well. Pretty good read, as I recall. I'd love to read the novel on which this is based!

*Fantastic Voyage* nw: appendix