Arturo
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Posts posted by Arturo
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From.a long list to chose from, I would have to go With CALL HER SAVAGE.
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It would have been one of Hollywood's more outrageous slaps in the face to history if they had cast Cagney as James J. Corbett.
Corbett was known as a defensive boxing genius who used dancing footwork and a penetrating left jab (shades of an earlier version of Muhammad Ali) to outstanding success against often bruiser opponents. I suspect that Corbett's widow, who assisted the studio with information about her husband, would have been horrified at the thought of the casting of short tough guy Jimmy Cagney as her elegant husband. Even Warner Brothers, who saw Cagney as pure box office, dismissed the possibility of casting him this role, and rightfully so, in my opinion.
Back then, Hollywood did make some unusual, even fatal, casting choices. It seemed easier with personages from the past, figuring audiences wouldn't really know if it was.accurate or not. Cagney as Robin Hood or James Corbett might've made those movies much less memorable, possibly not the beloved films.they are to this day. But it could've easily been the case. Good thing the studio made the (in hindsight) right decisions.
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Tor Johnson as the Incredible Hulk
Was a role oh so right, with his bulk
Though a match made in heaven
To Ferrigno 'twas given
Leaving Tor Johnson to sulk.
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Tor Johnson did have manboobs, didn't he. Good thing he didn't go the Caitlyn Jenner way, or back then, Christine Jorgenson. Can you imagine him in the CHRISTINE TORGENSON STORY.This movie holds up well, and is still watchable, and there are still plenty of folks who are seeing it for the first time.
And yes, it would have been better if Tor Johnson had replaced Martin Landau - I can just hear Tor saying "call it my woman's intuition."
And to tie it in to this thread, I loved me some Tor Johnson, and the way he is finding newfound fame on these boards.
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While Shirley Booth had presence, I wouldn't call it primal, at least not in the way I would Magnani, who is like the earth mother perzonfied. A magnificent actress.We should also mention Wild is the Wind (1958), in which she played a woman who emigrated to marry the husband of her deceased sister. Her English wasn't good and her husband (Anthony Quinn) seemed to be expecting her to be her late sister, so she fell into a relationship with a ranch worker (Anthony Franciosa) who understood her. There's an amazing scene where she tries to intervene to stop the shooting of a wild horse ("No! Don't shoot horse!"), sort of reminiscent of a similar scene in the later "The Misfits". Delores Hart was also in it, so it's probably a testament to her humility that she chose "The Rose Tattoo" instead, though "Tattoo" is a better movie overall.
I like that Holden made the comparison to Shirley Booth, since they both have that same kind of primal presence onscreen.
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Having gone to another graduation celebration last night, I just watched a couple of the noir films shown last night (well, one I watched when I got home last night, the other just now),.NIGHTMARE ALLEY.and TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY. I've seen both any number of times, and have rhem on dvd, but wanted to hear Muller's comments. Falling asleep to Power as the Geek, I'm surprised I didn't have nightmares.
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Agreed. I remember reading somewhere that she came along at.a time when her only two assets were highly prized in tinseltown. She is actually more effective in dramatic roles like THE BURGLAR or THE WAYWARD BUS, than in the leering comedies she made.It irritated me even more when Betsy Drake was supposedly doing it (I'm thinking they dubbed in Mansfield's squeal as Drake's mouth didn't even move) in a mocking fashion.
The movie was better in the scenes that Mansfield wasn't in. I can only think of two reasons why she was popular. She completely lacks the charm that her contemporary, Marilyn Monroe, had.
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I'll keep a watch out for GET-TV to show this film. They show a lot of Columbia films and I have seen a few other Columbia films like The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt with Warren William, and The Lady and the Mob with Fay Banner. Of course TCM shows mostly films from her Warner contract years.
TCM.also shows MGM, and some RKO and Columbia films, with a smattering of movies from elsewhere.
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I don't know if it's a cult classic, or even an essential, but I really enjoy this offbeat movie. I have recorded it before, onto vhs from AMC, and dvd from TCM. The cast is great. I hope to watch it "live"..
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Well, I love this movie, and most of what you said. I can quibble a bit there though; unethical things like having sex with Basinger pales in comparison to unethical things like beating or killing suspects, planting evidence on them, etc. The violence didn't bother me as much ss the racism, sexism and homophobia, but again, this is LA in the 50s.
Overall, a good pastiche capturing the corruption of the institutions, the Hollywood scene, etc. I especially love Hollywood landmarks shown, like the Frolic Room, the Formosa Cafe, and the weird Crossroads of the World. More quibbling: in 1954, Veronica Lake was no longer much of a player, not having made a film on Hollywood in like 5 years. It would seem that the sought after blonde lookalike then would be Marilyn Monroe, not someone from the previous decade. Oh, and another blonde, Lana Turner, was played by someone that didn't come close to resembling her, despite the hilarity of that scene. Again, that's just me.
I saw this movie the night it opened, on a day my world seemed.to be collapsing. It was like a lifesaver for me, and I will cherish it forever.
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I'm thinkin here.. The WesTORner (1940). .. yeah..
Wasn't it one of his later films, like LOVE IN THE AFTORNOON or TEN TORTH FREDRICK?
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DAY OF THE DEAD LOCUSTS
George Romero freely adapts the Nathaniel West novel. Here the premiere of a blockbuster movie at a mall multiplex in N. Hollywood is disrupted by ravenous mutant locusts, who even after dying in droves, a mysterious ray from other space has reactivated them, and they attack all the stars on the red carpet. Army Archard, playing himself, barely gets away alive, by ducking into a T-Mobile kiosk in the far wing of the mall.
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Since LAURA is airing tomorrow on TCM, I'm wondering if the "alternate ending" will be discussed in TCM's film noir class.
As I noted in the original post in this thread, the mystery about the supposed alternate ending was cleared up as far back as 1978 in Jacques Lourcelles's article in L’AVANT-SCENE.
(Lourcelles noted that the often alluded to "alternate ending" was in reality a cut portion of one scene.)
Even the DVD commentary on LAURA confuses this point.
Oh.man! I totally forgot it was Noir Friday. Tomorrow is.my every other Friday off, but I signed up for overtime. LAURA is one of my all time favorite films, and I try to watch it whenever.I cam.
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Tor Johnson big Hollywood star
Drew crowds to his films, near and far
But he suffered defeat
Didn't get to plant feet
Grauman's forecourt didn't want.that big scar.
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There are several numbers filmed for GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, but were not used. The preview has Jane and Marilyn performing one of these, it can be noticed because of the costumes. In the film, you jusg see them coming off stage with these costumes, but the number was not used. It would be great if the footage of this and other deleted numbers could be located, and added as extras to a dvd / bluray release.
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OK. Thank you. I knew it was a Fox film, so wondered......
Does Osborne normally pick Fox films for Bob's Picks?
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BEYOND THE FORESTand ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST. In which Bette Davis plays a woman younger than her age, and Ann Blyth plays younger version of the Davis character from THE LITTLE FOXES.
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That's their way of "marrying" you to their service and to keep people from recording programs off-the-air.
That is one reason why I own my own HD DVR.Magnavox is currently the only one available stateside that has it's own tuner.
Can be had from Walmart online or Amazon.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/36246088?reviews_limit=5&adid=1500000000000038762490&veh=eml
Also, the components are easily replaceable.
In fact, if you're careful, you can open up those rental boxes and replace the HD in it with a new one (1-2 TB), and keep doing so as they fill up.
You can also record live TV on your computer using a screen capture program like FRAPs or Bandicam and then edit later.
VLC multimedia player is Freeware that allows viewing (and listening) to all manner of media, and it's easy to hook a PC to a big screen TV and view from there.
But the simplest route would be what MovieCollectorOH suggests.
Although I've had some audio/video synch playback issues using Hauppauge tuner encoders. But that was using Vista 32bit (3.5 Gb RAM limitation), haven't tried it yet with Win 7 Pro 64bit and plenty of RAM. That may make a difference?
Thanks. Good to know I have options.
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TROG is really silly, but fun to watch. A rather ignominous way for Joan Crawford to end her career.These are 2 that I'm really looking forward to as well.
NIGHTMARE ALLEY is an amazing, rather sordid noir, with outstanding performances.
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That squeal is so.annoying. But it is surprisingly complex. It starts off as a breath inhalation, goes into classic squeal mode, and appears to end in a whistle. Truly irritating, and done too often.I watched Did Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Ugh. Don't need to watch this again.
I like Joan Blondell and Tony Randall, both were fine and funny. I've liked most things I've seen these two appear in. I also like John Williams, he's always a good supporting character actor.
Betsy Drake was dull. I can't even remember her.
But Jayne Mansfield on the other hand. Ugh. She was so annoying. She definitely seemed like a second rate Marilyn Monroe. She alternated between the wispy baby voice Marilyn voice and what I presume was her normal voice, but it was that obnoxious squeal she did throughout the movie that drove me up the wall. Each time she squealed, I cringed.
This movie was too irritating to watch again.
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I got a Hauppauge HD-PVR2 (a video encoder). Connect to the sat box video & audio outs and then run that into a PC via USB. It comes with its own software and drivers for the computer to run it. To transfer, you would basically just operate it like you would a VCR. The only caveat is you will have to record that in real time though. (PM me if you should decide to go this route for more details) This is the core of my setup, except that I record directly to the computer - using NextPVR - a PC program to schedule and automate, and skip using the sat box DVR altogether. The rest of the details are too much for this reply, but you get the idea.
Thanks again. I will look into the feasibility of this setup.
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A NIGHT TOR REMEMBER: In which America's half-ton Sweetheart has a dual role.as.the Titanic, and the iceberg it struck. He shows off his virtuoso acting chops in each portrayal. Unfortunately, attempts to get Shelley Winters to do a sort of prequel to her role in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE are stymied, both because Tor 's diva side came out, refusing to let anyone share the screen who rivalled him for girth, and because a workable time travel ability had not yet been invented.
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I disagree with your take on MAN HUNT. Sure, it may not be Lang's best, but it's an intriguing little thriller. And it's actually not a wartime film; not only was it released some six months before Pearl Harbor, but it is supposed to take place before the war started in Europe, in the first half of 1939. As for it being propaganda, it pales compared to the real flag wavers (soon to be) turned out by Hollywood. And its plot may be cookie cutter, but only in hindsight; we hadn't yet been bombarded with a plethora of these. There had been a few warnings about the rise of Nazi Germany, but there were a few: THE MORTAL STORM, FOUR SONS, THE MAN I MARRIED, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, among others, including, surprisingly, a Sonja Henie vehicle, EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT NIGHT.After watching Man Hunt, I feel like Charlie Brown having been suckered in by Lucy's claim that "this time I won't pull the ball away."
Look, Joan Bennett was glorious, granted. But Sanders was little more than a cartoon Nazi with no depth whatever*, and Pidgeon was Pidgeon as only Pidgeon can be, forever the staid gentleman no matter what the role. About as exciting as a 21 inning scoreless baseball game played in a rainstorm.
But am I misremembering, or did Bob say that this was Lang's BEST Hollywood film? Is he crazy? The worst is more like it. Wholly pedestrian plot, little real suspense, innumerable impossible scenes and premises to swallow, all excused by what? The need to raise homefront morale before we were even in the war?
Seriously, while Lang is undoubtedly one of filmdom's all time great directors, how was this movie any better than the equally doltish and crudely propagandistic Mission to Moscow? These cookie cutter wartime movies were understandably rah-rah for domestic purposes during the war itself, but once the war was over and they have to stand on their own merits, it's almost as if once you've seen one of them, you've seen them all. I wish that TCM would cut a lot of these WW2 Hollywood potboilers and start showing more movies made in countries that actually experienced war on their own soil, and accordingly did a much better job of depicting war's complex realities.
* And it hurts me to say that, since aside from this dreadful movie Sanders is almost always interesting and one of our most underrated actors.
I think it is suspenseful enough, and it has as many improbabilities as the average thriller of its type.
PS......I think Pidgeon was effective enough, as was George Sanders. Sanders.may now be best known as usually playing a cad, but back then, he was just another bad guy featured player; he might be the other man, a crook, or a Nazi. He seemed perfectly plausible in his portrayal.
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Yes, Anna Magnani was brilliant in THE ROSE TATTOO and also in another Tennessee Williams's adaptation THE FUGITIVE KIND (which co-starred Marlon Brando).
Magnani is probably the only actor who could "steal a scene" from Brando.
If I remember.correctly, I believe Brando did not want to do Orpheus Descending (the Williams play renamed THE FUGITIVE KIND for the screen) on Broadway because he was afraid if being overshadowed by Magnani. In the end, she didn't do the stage production either.
TV Movies You'd Like to see on TCM ... once in a while
in General Discussions
Posted
It's kind of hazy, but it might be TRILOGY OF TERROR, if that's the one with Stockard.Channing
Also, SHORT WALK TO DAYLIGHT, with Bobby Sherman.