Film_Fatale
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Posts posted by Film_Fatale
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Yes, if he was born in '42 he'd have been 24 or 25 at the time of shooting... B-)
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> {quote:title=movielover11 wrote:}{quote}
> I would like to see more documentaries of classic actors/actresses. I remember being fascinated watching a documentary on Greta Garbo and Marlon Brando.....I hope TCM will show some more documentaries.
I'd love to see more docs about filmmakers and studios. They should show *MGM: When the Lion Roars* a bit more often. Maybe also try to get their hands on that RKO documentary from a while back.
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Gosh he looked young then! B-)
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> {quote:title=judycwrite wrote:}{quote}
> Must be from growing up in front of a swamp. I get all the weird places to live...
Just be glad you never got to live anywhere near piranhas...
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Why am I not surprised at yet more name-dropping...?
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Well, thank goodness EW reported on it... Heaven knows we'd never have heard about it otherwise...
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Well, doh!! That's what I just posted.
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> {quote:title=CelluloidKid wrote:}{quote}
> What is funn yin the book "The Postman Always Rings Twice" there is never an explanation
> from where the title comes from.
The title and explanations for its meaning
The title is something of a non sequitur; nowhere in the novel does a postman character appear, nor is one even alluded to. When asked for an explanation, Cain stated that the manuscript had been rejected by 13 publishers prior to being accepted for publication on his 14th attempt, so that when the publisher asked him what he wanted the work to be entitled he drew on this experience and suggested The Postman Always Rings Twice. Additionally, the theme of fate is made explicit by the doubles in the novel. Most obviously, Frank and Cora attempt to murder the Greek twice- the second only being successful. Frank's relationship with another woman - a sort of alternate Cora, another "ring" for Frank- creates a major disturbance between the couple that eventually leads to their downfall. Perhaps most significantly is that the criminals brush with the fate of justice and escape unharmed, only to ultimately be punished in the end.
Cain's own explanation
In the preface to Double Indemnity, Cain recounts how he showed the manuscript of The Postman Always Rings Twice to Vincent Lawrence, and continues:
Lawrence liked it, and even gave me a title for it. We were talking one day, about the time he had mailed a play, his first, to a producer. Then, he said, "I almost went nuts. I'd sit and watch for the postman, and then I'd think, 'You got to cut this out,' and then when I left the window I'd be listening for his ring. How I'd know it was the postman was that he'd always ring twice."
He went on with more of the harrowing tale, but I cut in on him suddenly. I said: "Vincent, I think you've given me a title for that book."
"What's that?"
"The Postman Always Rings Twice."
"Say, he rang twice for Chambers, didn't he?"
"That's the idea."
"And on that second ring, Chambers had to answer, didn't he? Couldn't hide out in the backyard any more."
"His number was up, I'd say."
"I like it."
"Then, that's it."
William Marling explanation
William Marling, author of Hard-Boiled Fiction, writes[2] that the title may come from one of the most sensational news stories of 1927 and 1928: the trial and execution of "Tyger Woman" Ruth Snyder and her lover Judd Gray for the murder of her husband Albert. The story was publicised by the east coast press, culminating with a photo of Ruth Snyder's electrocution being printed in the New York Daily News.
Snyder, an attractive thirty-one-year-old blonde, began an extramarital affair with Gray. In court, Gray asserted that Snyder insisted her husband was abusive, and that Gray then volunteered to kill him.
Marling notes that Cain could have borrowed the title from a statement of Snyder's: she took out a life insurance policy on her husband, but ordered the postman to deliver the payment notices only to her. He was to ring the door bell twice as a signal.
Roy Hoopes' explanation
However Roy Hoopes, in his biography of Cain [3] offers an entirely different explanation. According to Hoopes, Cain and his publisher had been going back and forth over a title, neither of them liking the other's suggestions, when Cain and screenwriter Vincent Lawrence finally came up with The Postman Always Rings Twice. Hoopes' account says that title was derived when Lawrence noted that amid the anxiety of awaiting news on a submitted manuscript, he would at times specifically try to avoid hearing the doorbell ring. However the tactic proved unsuccessful because the postman would always ring again to ensure he was heard. This caused Cain to think of an English or Irish saying which stated that a postman will always knock twice in announcing his presence. Lawrence and Cain then agreed that the postman ringing twice was metaphorically suited to Frank's situation at the end of the novel.
With the "postman" being God, or Fate, the "delivery" meant for Frank was his own death as just retribution for murdering Nick. Frank had missed the first "ring" when he initially got away with that killing. However, the postman rang again, and this time the ring was heard, when Frank was wrongly convicted of having murdered Cora, and then sentenced to die for the crime.
In the 1946 film, Frank explicitly explains the title in the terms offered in Hoopes' biography of Cain.
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Well I'd say that both *1776* and the *John Adams* miniseries are very well done and can easily stand up to multiple viewings. Which one you like may simply be a matter of taste, and whether you prefer a musical take on the days leading up to the 4th of July, or a miniseries that takes a longer view and accompanies Adams all the way to the day he and Thomas Jefferson died.
If anything, the HBO miniseries may have gotten more people interested in *1776*, which is a great thing, I think.
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CM, the only reason I've ever used bold in a thread title is to (hopefully) make it a little easier for others to notice, so that people won't be starting too many redundant threads which only serve to clutter up the forum. Certainly CK has probably posted more redundant info here than anyone else I can think of, but occasionally others will do (probably an oversight). As for that Bozo thread, I checked the forum before I posted and there were NO Bozo threads whatsoever. It's possible someone else who had posted a thread recently could have edited that thread and changing the thread subject.
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> {quote:title=sandykaypax wrote:}{quote}
> I agree that William Daniels' performance as Adams in 1776 is definitive. It's one of my favorite movie musicals, ever since I was a kid. I just watched the dvd on the 4th--a new tradition.
As much as I enjoy Daniels' performance in *1776*, I think Paul Giametti and Laura Linney also deserve a lot of credit for their performances as John and Abigail Adams in the HBO miniseries, *John Adams*.
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Well, Fedya, why don't you follow your own suggestion?
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Your calling other posters idiotic doesn't exactly sound like constructive criticism...
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> {quote:title=Minya wrote:}{quote}
> I was seven when this came out and my stpefather took me to see it-I think he was experiencing the same emotions as your mother when it was over. The movie freaked me out so much I was afraid to take a bath by myself for quite a while. Even being near the toilet made me nervous. I had an extremely active imagination.
Imagine if they'd taken you to watch *Psycho*.
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The script does have multiple references to what the characters did before, and what they might do after Ilsa and Victor leave Casablanca.
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> {quote:title=gagman66 wrote:}{quote}
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> Blast! Now I can't find the link to Silent Sunday Nights in July?
I seem to have found it...
http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=188845&mainArticleId=199526
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Great choice for The Essentials B-)
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What excessive narration?
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I don't think he's very well-known, but I appreciated reading about him
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> {quote:title=CineSage_jr wrote:}{quote}
> Great white shark reported at 'Jaws' filming site
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> There was also a sighting of Murray Hamilton, in a loud sport coat, trying to persuade the press that everything is perfectly fine.
Oh, he's back from the dead?
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I don't remember if I've seen The Prowler recently. Hopefully, TCM will be able to schedule it sometime soon, with or without a tribute to Keyes.
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> {quote:title=ccbaxter wrote:}{quote}
> Though not nearly as bad as Skiddoo, Candy (1968) is another wacked-out, misguided vehicle with an amazing line up: Charles Aznavour, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, James Coburn, John Huston, Walter Matthau, Ringo Star, Sugar Ray Robinson, John Astin, Ewa Aulin, and screenplay by Buck Henry. From IMDb: (It's) an incoherent, bewildering and hedonistic mess of a movie which must be seen to be disbelieved. Like, far out, man!
*Candy* would definitely make a great Underground film. B-)
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CK, we all know Krentzlin writes it... so unless you're in love with the guy, I don't see why need to keep pointing it out every day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY THREAD !!!!!!!!!!
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Oh I didn't know you were offering courses....