filmnoirguy
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Posts posted by filmnoirguy
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On 6/5/2021 at 5:00 PM, Vidor said:
Tarantino told Bill Maher on his show last Friday that he would be doing one more movie. Talk about pressure! Maybe he should quit with Once Upon a Time....while he's at the top of his game.
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50 year old Cary Grant turned down the role of Linus Larabee in 1954's Sabrina because he felt he would look too old opposite 25 year old Audrey Hepburn and 36 year old William Holden. So 55 year old Humphrey Bogart accepted the role. Apparently Grant changed his mind when he starred with Audrey in 1963's Charade.
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On 7/4/2021 at 8:29 PM, TopBilled said:
9. Dorothy McGuire. Underrated. Superb, takes every role to heart.
Thanks for including the often overlooked Dorothy McGuire. I remember when she died in 2001, the Academy Awards show in early 2002 failed to list her in their In Memoriam, later apologizing after a backlash from fans and critics. Whether recreating her Broadway performance in Claudia, starring in its sequel Claudia and David, giving dramatic performances in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Spiral Staircase, The Enchanted Cottage, her Oscar nod in Gentleman's Agreement, Friendly Persuasion and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, or comedy turns in Mister 880, Callaway Went Thataway and Three Coins in the Fountain, plus family films like Swiss Family Robinson and Old Yeller, McGuire was always at the top of her game.
The reason I like Geraldine Page so much---when I went to one of her movies I never knew which Page was going to show up. When I compare her performance as Alexandra Del Lago in Sweet Bird of Youth (my personal favorite) to her Evie Jackson in Dear Heart and her interior designer Eve in Interiors to her Oscar winning Carrie Watts in The Trip to Bountiful, I have to remind myself that I'm watching the same actress. She very well could have won Oscars for any or all of those performances.
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On 7/4/2021 at 10:45 PM, Dargo said:
Irene Dunne
Fredric March
Never saw a bad performance given by either of 'em.
(...ever)
Totally agree. My favorite Irene Dunne performance was her portrayal of Marta Hanson in 1948's I Remember Mama. Favorite Fredric March performance was his turn as Al Stephenson in 1946's The Best Years of Our Lives.
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9 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
sigh.
I watched JAWS 2 last night.
It really isn't so much a cohesive film as it is a pastiche of passable shots, and with my new 42" screen, I could not help but notice HOW OFTEN LAND CAN BE SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND when the characters are ostensibly miles out at sea.
get mad at me for this, but I think JAWS 2 is the worst JAWS sequel.
its boring and it lacks the OUTRIGHT (but highly memorable) GALL of 3-D and THE REVENGE.
Plus the decision to make the shark all "Phantom of the Opera" just makes it look superduperfakey.
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I'm not going to get mad at you for anything, but for me Jaws the Revenge was the worst sequel. Of course, none of them lived up to the original which was 4 stars all the way.
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It's so hot and humid where I live, I'm going to bask in a/c and watch Born on the Fourth of July. 😎
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1 hour ago, Sepiatone said:
Or the re-release of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS(etc.) with the added footage of Dreyfus being shown inside the spaceship. But something(it seemed to me) was then too, deleted to make room for it.
Sepiatone
I believe the scene of Dreyfus throwing shovels, dirt and plants out of his window and frantically running around his yard with a wheelbarrow was shortened for the re-release of Close Encounters. Personally, I prefer the original version without the added footage inside the spaceship.
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I remember when Jane Fonda was married to Ted Turner, TCM showed the sanitized version of her 1978 movie Coming Home in the wee small hours of the morning. It was the edited print that had been shown on other TV stations with the sex/nudity scene between Fonda's and Jon Voight's characters deleted. (So it must have been shown on TCM sometime between its premiere on 4.14.1994 and their divorce on 5.22.2001.) All hell broke loose with fans and critics alike accusing TCM of not following its own "uncut" rule.
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On 6/25/2021 at 12:44 PM, ElCid said:
Body Heat should be watched with the A/C turned off.😃
Sitting in a bath tub filled with ice cubes and an old fashioned fan oscillating nearby.
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I've loved all of Leslie Caron's performances, especially An American in Paris, Lili, Daddy Long Legs, Gigi, Fanny, The L-Shaped Room, Father Goose, and Chocolat.
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My favorites have been Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings. And, no, I won't be hosting in this lifetime.
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3 hours ago, Det Jim McLeod said:
Shadow Of A Doubt (1943) was on Noir Alley.
This is my favorite Hitchcock film and also in my top ten favorite films of all time. One thing I liked about it is the killer, Uncle Charlie is one of the most unlikely villains in movies up to that time. He is a well dressed, charming gentleman so no one would suspect. His niece, also named Charlie, adores him and when she finds out the truth, her whole world is shattered. Both of them feel that they more than uncle and niece, more like twins. But Uncle Charlie is the dark side whereas Young Charlie is sweetness and light. We first meet Uncle Charlie in a depressing boarding house and then we see Young Charlie's idyllic, almost dream like small town. Then Uncle Charlie arrives and brings nightmares. One of the most striking and "noir" like scenes is when the two confront each other in shadow, Young Charlie shows a bit a of dark side when she threatens to kill her uncle. There is also expected black comedy relief supplied by the eccentric neighbor Herbie, who is fascinated by murder stories, not realizing a real murderer is living next to him. Hitchcock supplies all his usual ingredients as well as the final ironic touch of Uncle Charlie being hailed as a great man by townspeople.
Hitchcock agrees! He wrote that this was his personal favorite because it took place in a small town with the locals unaware that a serial killer was living in their mist. (Or something like that)
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18 hours ago, Thompson said:
The Birds which is on TCM right now might be the worst movie I’ve ever seen. The blonde actress is so phony so false that I think I’m giving up movies all together.
That's Tippi Hedren who also starred in Hitchcock's Marni (1964). According to her auto-bio, Hitch, who loved to cast blondes in his movies, became very upset with her when she wouldn't "play ball" with him, telling her that he would ruin her career, which apparently he did.
The brunette in The Birds is Suzanne Pleshette who played Bob Newhart's wife in his sitcom The Bob Newhart Show for 6 seasons in the 1970s.
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2 hours ago, chaya bat woof woof said:
Yes , Paul Douglas was in the stage version. Originally, Jean Arthur was cast in the role of Billie Dawn. Now, there are a number of rumors surrounding why she bowed out:
1) Paul Douglas got great reviews while she didn't
2) She was too old for the role
3) She wasn't well (and, if you see her in Shane, that is believable)
4) Judy Holliday stepped in and, when it came to the film, Tracy and Hepburn championed for her to reprise her role (the powers that be considered her a fat Jewish broad).
Another reason: Jean Arthur asked the play's writer-director Garson Kanin to change the story-line so that her character, Billie Dawn, would not be "living in sin" with Harry Brock. She thought it would be detrimental to her reputation as an actress. When he refused, she dropped out of the play, handing the role over to her understudy Judy Holliday.
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On 6/21/2021 at 9:57 AM, chaya bat woof woof said:
My favorite movie of hers is The Solid Gold Cadillac because it reunites her with Paul Douglas, who played the B. Crawford role in the movie.
Do you mean that Paul Douglas starred with Judy Holliday in the Broadway play Born Yesterday? I know that Broderick Crawford starred in the movie version.
Born Yesterday is my favorite Judy Holliday movie. And to think she beat out Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. and Bette Davis in All About Eve for the Oscar that year!
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I enjoyed host Dave Karger's and author John Malahy's kickoff to the Summer Movies Series on TCM:
Moon Over Miami Starring Betty Grable, Don Ameche, Robert Cummings, Carole Landis, Charlotte Greenwood and Jack Haley.
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I usually prefer black & white movies, but my favorite Hitchcock film is in color:
1. Rear Window
2. Strangers on a Train
3. North by Northwest
4. Vertigo
5. Psycho
6. Rebecca
7. Spellbound
8. Shadow of a Doubt (Hitchcock's favorite)
9. Notorious (Pat Hitchcock's favorite)
10. Frenzy
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1 hour ago, Bronxgirl48 said:
Van is accused of murder in 1954's BLACK WIDOW.
Peggy Ann Garner as you've never seen her!
Ginger Rogers is terrific No one ever mentions this performance as one of her best (alongside STAGE DOOR in my opinion)
Poor Gene Tierney....she was going through some personal mental health issues and unfortunately it shows
George Raft trying to stay awake
Reginald Gardner, that British bundle of charisma
Virginia Leith, not remembered for anything except her unforgettable performance in THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE
I remember Virginia Leith as William Holden's leading lady (is that term still acceptable?) in 1956's Toward the Unknown. She was quite good, actually.
I do agree with Maltin that Black Widow is a dull mystery, and that Rogers and Raft give "remarkably poor performances." But then again, the script gave them nothing to work with.
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On 2/27/2020 at 1:40 AM, skimpole said:
-----Interestingly, two films not nominated for best picture will get more nominations than the winner. This would also happen for the awards for 1952 and 2006.
For 1952, The Bad and the Beautiful got 6 Oscar nods and 5 wins. Best Actor nominee Kirk Douglas lost to Gary Cooper. Biggest disappointment: David Raksin was not nominated for Scoring of a Dramatic Picture. The Best Pic Oscar winner The Greatest Show on Earth received 5 noms.
For 2006, the Best Pic Oscar winner was The Departed with 5 nods and 4 wins. Supporting Actor Mark Wahlberg lost to Alan Arkin. Biggest disappointment: Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for Blood Diamond rather than The Departed.
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2 hours ago, chaya bat woof woof said:
My father knew an ad man who worked with Crosby on a Minute Maid commercial. Not only was he a Jew hater but he wasn't an easy man to work with. Elvis was manipulated by the Colonel. Wonder how he would have liked his daughter marrying Michael Jackson?
I was an ad agency copywriter/producer who worked with Crosby on three TV commercials that ran on the Bing Crosby Pro Am Golf Tournament. We completed all three commercials in one day and Bing was a joy to work with. He was so professional, the crew called him "one shot Bing" (which he got a big kick out of).
You still haven't answered Shank Asu's question: Where did you hear that Bing was an anti-semite?
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6 hours ago, Det Jim McLeod said:
I got the idea for this after Spence's old thread about Sinatra, Elvis & Bing resurfaced.
These three actors have been credited with changing the course of film acting. Who is your favorite?
MARLON BRANDO
He exploded onto the movie scene with The Men and A Streetcar Named Desire. He could be brutal and animalistic, but could also be kind and vulnerable. His performances were very realistic. I always preferred his 1950s performances best. His performance in On The Waterfront maybe my favorite male acting ever on film. He grew disillusioned with acting and the movie business and simply phoned in performances in later films. By that time he was doing it for the money.
MONTGOMERY CLIFT
If I had to pick a favorite, it would be him. His first film The Search got him an Oscar nomination, his performance as the soldier was so realistic many people thought he was a real soldier not an actor. He would soon create a screen persona that was very new in the 1950s, that of the sensitive, lonely outsider in films like A Place In The Sun and From Here To Eternity. A car crash in 1956 marred his looks and his acting sometimes suffered, but he still had a few good performances left in him with The Young Lions and Judgment At Nuremberg,
JAMES DEAN
His career was very brief, cut short by his death in car crash in 1955, but he made a big impression, still being felt today. He only appeared in 3 movies-East Of Eden, Rebel Without A Cause and Giant, but they are all excellent. No one could portray angst better than him.
I love all three of these guys. But then, the 1950s is my favorite decade for Golden Age movies. So, if you're twisting my arm, I would put them in this order:
James Dean knocked my socks off when I saw him as Cal Trask in his first film, 1955's East of Eden. He deserved his posthumous Oscar nod (he was killed on Sept 30, 1955), losing to Ernest Borgnine as Marty. His second film as Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause, was released shortly after his death on Oct 27, 1955. Probably his most popular movie with teens and young adults. His final film, Giant was released on Nov 24, 1956 and earned him a second posthumous Oscar nomination, losing to Yul Brynner in The King and I. I recently re- watched Giant. His screen time as Jeff Rink was much longer than I had remembered and once again he blew me away. He had been cast to play Rocky Barbella in 1956's Somebody Up There Likes Me and we can only wonder what he could have done with the role.
The same can be said about Montgomery Clift's screen debut as Ralph Stevenson in 1948's The Search, followed by Red River that same year and as the cad Morris in 1949's The Heiress. My personal favorites are his performances as George Eastman in 1951's A Place in the Sun and as Robert E. Lee Prewitt in 1953's From Here to Eternity, and the Academy voters agreed. He scored in two more movies with Elizabeth Taylor: As John Wickliff Shawnessy in 1957's Raintree County and as surgeon John Cukrowicz in 1959's Suddenly Last Summer. Besides the last two pictures you mentioned, I would add his performances as TVA admininistrator Chuck Glover in the 1960 drama Wild River, and as Perce Howland in 1961's The Misfits.
I'm really not putting Brando in third place here. Ask me tomorrow, and I'll probably change the order around. The Godfather notwithstanding, I also prefer his 1950's performances. Especially as Stanley Kowalski in 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire and as Terry Malloy in 1954's On the Waterfront that earned him two Oscar nods and one win. He also received Oscar nominations as Mexican rancher Emiliano Zapata in 1952's Viva Zapata! as Mark Antony in 1953's Julius Caesar and as Air Force Major Ace Gruver in 1957's Sayonara. Ask teenagers back in the day, and I bet they would add his Johnny Strabler in 1953's The Wild One.
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On 6/5/2021 at 11:18 AM, speedracer5 said:
Gidget. Gidget is one of my all-time favorite movies. I've seen this movie dozens of times and it's still fun to watch each and every time. Sandra Dee and James Darren are adorable. Darren and Cliff Robertson are smokin' hot. This film has hot guys, the beach, surfing, what more could I want from a film?
A Summer Place. This film is amazing and has everything I want from a good melodrama, plus it has memorable theme music. I knew the music long before I'd seen the film for which it was written.
I love Picnic. It takes place on Labor Day, which is typically considered the unofficial end of summer (even though summer technically ends later in the month). Picnic is just so much fun with the love triangle, the drama, the romance, I just love it.
The Parent Trap. Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills meet at a summer camp run by Miss Inch and Jane Hathaway. They discover they're actually twins, separated at birth and decide to switch places. I love this movie. I've seen it dozens of times and I never tire of it. Hayley Mills is my favorite of the Disney child stars.
Summer Stock. Despite having one of the worst musical numbers of all time ("Heavenly Music"), it also features one of the best, most iconic musical numbers of all time ("Get Happy"). Judy Garland and Gene Kelly are a lot of fun together, even if the plot of this film is nothing special. This film is driven by the sheer star power of Garland and Kelly. Plus, I like that the action of this film starts on my birthday, as evidenced by the calendar at the beginning of the film!
I also love the aforementioned Summertime. I love genuine romantic films that play out realistically and don't include the typical contrived plot points that plague many other romantic films (see Hallmark's drivel).
The summer season provides such a great setting for film. I don't know if it's the heat and the lazy, sweltering atmosphere that it provides, or what it is about the summer. The summer is often the setting for one of my favorite subgenres, the 50s-60s teen beach movie. But despite not having listed any above, I think the summer also provides a great backdrop for film noir.
Ever notice how slender and elegant Garland is in the Get Happy number? As an afterthought when the movie was finished, the producer and director decided Summer Stock needed one more big production number. So a couple of months later, Garland was called back to film Get Happy. In the meantime, unhappy with her "chubby" (her word, not mine) appearance in the film, she had gone on a crash diet. Of all her movies, many film historians consider this to be Garland's best musical number.
Garland was suppose to join Kelly and Phil Silvers for Heavenly Music. The two guys were in makeup and costume and the crew was prepped to shoot when they got word that Judy had called in sick. Rather than sitting around and wasting the day, Kelly and director Charles Walters decided to film it without her (much to her chagrin). There is a scene backstage when all three are in their costumes. All of the dramatic scenes were filmed first, then the musical numbers were filmed later. Hence Judy appears backstage in costume for a number she never filmed!
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13 hours ago, Toto said:
Thanks for bringing my attention to "The Long Hot Summer". I just watched it on TCM. Newman is a standout as the crafty Ben Quick and I loved Joanne Woodward as the reluctant love interest of Quick with a quiet strength. It was mentioned in the commentary after the film that the director Martin Witt (I think?) had difficulties dealing with Orson Welles who was use to running the show and sometimes delivered his lines in a way that made them inaudible. Despite these problems, Welles is quite a presence in this film. I read that the sweet ending is not the way Faulkner (author of the story) intended but I liked it.
Martin Ritt directed. One of my favorites, he also directed Paul Newman in 1963's Hud.
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22 hours ago, cinemaman said:
Frank Capra Pocketful of Miracles 1961 David Lean Passage To India 1984 Anthony Mann A Dandy In Aspic 1968 Robert Wise Rooftops 1989 Henry Hathaway Hangup 1974 Henry King Tender Is The Night 1962
David Lean went out on a high note with A Passage to India. I had forgotten that was his last picture.
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A Paramount film you'd like to see on TCM
in General Discussions
Posted
Once again, I'd like to watch Thelma Ritter as Ellen McNulty steal the show in 1951's The Mating Season. She received her second Supporting Oscar nod (6 noms, no wins) and was billed fourth behind Gene Tierney, John Lund and Miriam Hopkins. Directed by Michell Leisen for Paramount.