ChiO
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Posts posted by ChiO
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I went to our lovely Music Box Theater last night to see *Angel Face* and listen to a panel discussion (Foster Hirsch, Jonathan Rosenbaum, & Michael Wilmington) on the place of Preminger in American cinema. Wish I could have taped the discussion, though I assume that most of Hirsch's comments & anecdotes are in his book.
As Hirsch noted, there are few films as dark as *Angel Face* -- aggressively unsentimental and with no hope for the redemption of any character.
He asked JR & MW which four films they would recommend to an Otto newcomer.
[Rosenbaum] -- "Based on his three periods, I'd recommend: *Laura* , *Angel Face* , *Anatomy of a Murder* and *Such Good Friends* " (I do believe that JR has an obsession with Elaine May).
[Wilmington] -- "Based on his three periods, I'd recommend: *Laura* , *Angel Face* , *Anatomy of a Murder* and *In Harm's Way* , plus *Advise and Consent* and *Porgy and Bess* just to vary a little from Jonathan's recommendations."
[Hirsch] -- Agreed with the above except for *Laura* , which he thinks is overrated.
Much discussion of the ambiguity he built into his films, showing a respect for the audience to come to its own conclusions. Also discussed their sense of why his films (except, perhaps, for the earlier ones) often are not embraced: intellectuals didn't like his films based on best-selling books because that's middle-brow; perceived as a tyrant off-screen just because he was a tyrant behind the camera & in his acting roles, thereby confusing professional persona with real personality. Related anecdote -- Howard Hughes specifically asked to borrow Preminger to direct *Angel Face* because Jean Simmons' contract at RKO was about to run out and he wanted someone who would shoot quickly and punish Simmons. It worked -- Simmons would not discuss the film with Hirsch for his book because she so detests thinking about Preminger.
And, God bless Mr. Rosenbaum, he worked in a positive comparison of Preminger's directing of actors to Cassavetes' (Hirsch conceded that similarity, but admitted he doesn't care for Cassavetes). Anecdote -- During the filming of *Exodus* , Newman was to stand behind two characters and eavesdrop. As a Method Actor, he asked Preminger what his character's motivation was and what he should think about. Response: "For god's sake, just stand there." Rosenbaum's point: Preminger and Cassavetes thought (1) the actors are professionals and should figure it out (though the irony with Preminger was that if it didn't look exactly like how it had looked in his mind, the retakes could go on and on) and (2) human nature is too variable and complex for the director to dictate and limit that nature, which would deprive the audience of working through the ambiguities.
Much praise for his pioneering efforts in controlling his films, breaking the blacklist, making films starring black actors, and fighting censorship.
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[CineMaven] -- *Gable & Colbert did "It Happened One Night." Gable & Lombard did "No Man of Her Own."*
How embarassing. And I'm always doing that -- Claudette vs. Carole; play relationship vs. real relationship. Oh, well. I get so confused in my old age.
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[3RiversFrank] -- *C -- Timothy Carey (this isn't contrarian; it's sincere) -- Sadly, I know.*
Thanks for that picture. Whatta lovable hunk! As Fate would have it, not only did I receive my half-sheet of *God's Little Acre* yesterday, but I also received a half-sheet of:
*Bold! Brutal! Barbaric!* Yes, *Bayou* (aka *Poor White Trash* ) with two -- count'em, [two] -- pictures of Timothy Carey. With those two posters, I now feel as if I'm "Back Home Again in Indiana" (the northernmost Southern state, no doubt). I can hear Hoagy singing and watch Dean & McQueen movies all night.
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Here's a tidbit from "Robert Ryan: A Biography and Critical Filmography" (Jarlett, F.) that folks -- esp. [FrankG] -- may find interesting:
"When the idea for *The Set-up* first circulated among the various screenwriters at RKO, some thought it would be difficult to cast the main character. Director Samuel Fuller had only glowing words for the poem by Joseph Moncure March, on which the story for *The Set-up* was based, and spoke of 'falling for the cadence of the black fighter called Candy Jones.' But when Fuller learned that Ryan was to play Jones, he had doubts about the casting of a white man in place of a black.
"Seeing Ryan's performance, though, Fuller came away amazed, and lauded it with the flashy style he had learned as a newspaper crime reporter in the late 1920's and early 1930s: 'Ryan [was] that Black fighter. Under the skin, he [was] Candy Jones. Bob caught all the nuances of guts and shattered hopes, and small-time aspirations of a never-was beating the hell out of the desperation of being a club fighter.'"
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*In the credits it said something about Shirley Temples Storybook--whatever that means.* -- From 1958 to 1961, there was a TV show called "Shirley Temple's Storybook." She was the host of, and sometimes actress in, the show, which consisted of one hour (or was it half-hour?) adaptations of fairy tales. As a faithful viewer at the time, I remember "Beauty and the Beast", "Rapunzel" and some others. At the time, there was also a book entitled "Shirley Temple's Storybook" (as I recall) that collected many of the fairy tales. I have a copy and just searched the house for it, but couldn't find it -- I hope it's at my parents' home or that I gave it to my older daughter when she was a youngster or (most likely) that it's squirreled away here to be found when my survivors are gathering stuff for my estate sale.
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[MissG] -- Your choices for "F", "I", and "J" did not surprise me, but "U", "X" and "Y" did. Who is this man you refer to as "John Ford"? I'm finishing up "Print the Legend" and, as soon as I do, I promise to sit, watch and re-evaluate. But my favorite choice was for "A" -- I love Jack Arnold. *The Incredible Shrinking Man* is a masterpiece in my book.
[cascabel] -- I wondered who'd be first to go with Powell & Pressburger. I almost went there myself. Your approach to the list is quite impressive.
Message was edited by: ChiO
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Thank you, MissG. Mitchum looks so...what's the word?...laconic. Even with a noose around his neck, it's all "Baby, I don't care." And that Wright gal sure has a nice set of cheekbones.
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Two that I'd like to be shown because I love them and would love to know others' reactions:
*Blast of Silence* -- A film noir that goes beyond the usual existentialism and into nihilism.
*The World's Greatest Sinner* -- Written by, directed by, and starring Timothy Carey. Prescient and odd, even for Carey, the Madman of the Method.
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I saw one of my favorite noirs, *Touch of Evil* , last night -- my first time seeing it on the big screen. It reestablished that some movies just [have] to be seen in a theater. As impressive as the opening shot is on my TV, I got goosebumps watching it last night. And when Quinlan gets out of his car, he [really] fills the screen.
Jonathan Rosenbaum moderated the screening and talked about his involvement in the re-cutting to get nearer to the Welles vision, or at least the vision he put into his 58 page memo to the studio. He showed a couple of clips from prior versions that were changed for the latest version. One was a single shot in the earlier versions that has been deleted, and that deletion arguably changes the psychology of the Sgt. and, therefore, the motivation and meaning of his shooting of Quinlan. He also showed a 6 minute clip from *Don Quixote* .
The real kick was a half-hour TV pilot that Welles did in 1958 (producer: Desilu), *The Fountain of Youth* . Fascinating, unorthodox (I could almost hear the TVs being turned off nationwide) and extremely droll. It was about narcissism and Welles, as the objective narrator, had more camera time than any of the actors. He looked like he was having fun playing a practical joke.
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Any of Mitchum & Teresa Wright in my favorite noir Western, *Pursued* ? If not, I'll just look at RM & MM. Not a bad consolation prize.
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For those in the Windy City, a tribute series starts this weekend at the Music Box with *Bonjour Tristesse* .
Others include (working from memory):
*Laura*
*Anatomy of a Murder*
*Angel Face*
*Fallen Angel*
*The Man With the Golden Arm*
*Bunny Lake Is Missing*
*River of No Return*
*Advise and Consent*
*Where the Sidewalk Ends*
*Whirlpool*
*Skidoo*
Foster Hirsch and Jonathan Rosenbaum with appear at some of the screenings.
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And what F-word might that be? Fassbinder, perhaps?
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Give us your alphabetical list for favorite directors.
*A* -- Robert Aldrich
*B* -- Robert Bresson
*C* -- John Cassavetes
*D* -- Carl Th. Dreyer
*E* -- Sergei Eisenstein
*F* -- Samuel Fuller ("My name's Sam Fuller. I make Westerns." Right?)
*G* -- D.W. Griffith
*H* -- Howard Hawks (Is there any other "H"? Oh, yeah...Werner Herzog and John Huston.)
*I* -- James Ivory
*J* -- Jim Jarmusch
*K* -- Stanley Kubrick
*L* -- Fritz Lang
*M* -- F.W. Murnau
*N* -- Max Nosseck
*O* -- Max Ophuls & Yasujiro Ozu (tie)
*P* -- Otto Preminger
*Q* -- Richard Quine
*R* -- Jean Renoir
*S* -- Martin Scorsese
*T* -- Jacques Tourneur
*U* -- Edgar G. Ulmer
*V* -- Erich von Stroheim
*W* -- Orson Welles (Whatta wealth of "W"'s! So, Mr. [FrankGrimesWiseGuy] , who's it gonna be among Wilder, Wyler, Walsh, Wellman, Warhol, Wenders, Whale, and that other guy? Hmmm?)
*X* -- X (The Man with the X-Ray Eyes) (OK, I haven't seen any films by an "X" director.)
*Y* -- Terence Young
*Z* -- Fred Zinneman
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Thank you -- just what I need, another DVD.
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*Merrill's Marauders* was released in 1962. It was Jeff Chandler's last movie, having died in 1961 right after the movie was made. I saw it in 1962 at a drive-in with my parents & little sister -- my mother was a big Jeff Chandler fan and [had] to see it.
Only years later did I realize that it was a Sam Fuller film, so I am anxiously awaiting someone to release it on DVD. About all I remember is that I saw it. If it is half as good as *The Steel Helmet* , *Fixed Bayonets!* and *The Big Red One* , then it qualifies as great in my book.
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*It'll be an old-fashioned affair -- catered. Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine will show up*
We had such a catered affair. But we couldn't keep the photographer out of the John. The leftovers were put into Reynolds wrap. At the end, the Taylor sped out in his Rod and there was Gore everywhere. Those who didn't survive, we had to Barry in the area between the Brooks.
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Christopher Lloyd [or] Lloyd Bridges?
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[bronxie] -- We'll miss you at the Otto-Show and the Warhol Festival this month.
Can Mike's meal-in-a-bun taste nearly as good in South Florida?
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I have no explantion for Hagman. As for Bobby Darin, maybe Paul Anka, Fabian, Sal Mineo or Tommy Sands being in the movie caused you to channel Darin. The only '50s teen dream missing was Frankie Avalon.
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My modest wish list:
*Blast of Silence*
*Deadline at Dawn*
*Edge of Doom*
*The File on Thelma Jordan*
*The Friends of Eddie Coyle*
*Human Desire*
*The Lineup*
*Murder by Contract*
*My Name Is Julia Ross*
*Night Has a Thousand Eyes*
*Nightmare*
*Phantom Lady*
*Pitfall*
*The Reckless Moment*
*So Dark the Night*
*Stranger on the Third Floor*
*Underworld USA*
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I may have a broader definition of Film Noir than some, but some of the more recent movies that I have seen and consider to be modern Film Noir (using 1980 as an arbitrary cut-off for "modern") are:
*Body Heat* (1981)
*Blood Simple* (1984)
*Paris, Texas* (1984)
*Blue Velvet* (1986)
*Angel Heart* (1987)
*The Grifters* (1990)
*Pulp Fiction* (1994)
*The Usual Suspects* (1995)
*Dead Man* (1995)
*L.A. Confidential* (1997)
*Memento* (2000)
*The Man Who Wasn't There* (2001)
*Mulholland Dr.* (2001)
*Brick* (2005)
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Nobody's perfect.
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40) *The Inspector General* - Rhys Williams
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5) Sergeant Rutledge - Woody Strode
Movie title
in Information, Please!
Posted
*Excuse My Dust* (1951), perhaps.