darkblue
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Days Won
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Posts posted by darkblue
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Can you imagine what the 26 minutes of footage extracted from Tod Browning's 'Freaks' (1932) would be worth? The 90 minute version ran for a week in San Diego, then the 64 minute cut ran everywhere else (where it wasn't banned outright).
Anyone stumbling across a canister containing those 26 minutes would be a very fortunate person, I'd think.
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I shouldn't have been so tough on Cavalcade. I saw that in VHS in the '80s, but had to wait an eternity to get it on DVD again. It is one of the "weaker" offerings, but I don't think any of the BPs were necessarily "bad".
By IMDb voting, 'Cavalcade' (1933) is more highly ranked than just one other Oscar winner. The lowest-rated Best Picture winner is 'Cimarron' (1931).
'Cimarron's score is 6.0, 'Cavalcade's score is 6.1
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@Jlewis
Well, you have had a great deal many more years to watch earlier winners "more than twice".
I'm sure you'll do the same for the more recent winners as the decades pass.
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Are the results for this TCM based poll on the Oscar winners in? Am I right in thinking DarkBlue was comparing the imdb poll with our little TCM poll?
No, not in yet - skimpole has given us until Jan. 31 to get our lists in.
I'm still thinking about mine.
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Many thousands of people rate movies at IMDb. Hundreds of thousands, in fact.
It's probably the broadest sampling of what "people in general" think about such a question as "10 best best-picture Oscar winners of all time" like what this poll is asking.
The results, based on votes, would be:
The Godfather - # 1
The Godfather Part II - # 2
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - # 3
Schindler's List - # 4
Forrest Gump - # 5
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - # 6
The Silence of the Lambs - # 7
Casablanca - # 8
Gladiator - # 9
The Departed - # 10
Every one of these movies received better than half a million votes (except 'Casablanca' - it received less than 400,000). Some came close to 900,000. The lowest aggregate score is 8.5 (The Departed, Gladiator - with the tie broken by number of votes received). The highest aggregate score is 9.2 (The Godfather).
Naturally, we here at TCM Forums vote differently than the general movie-going public - which I realize is what the poll is interested in - us. But I thought it would make for some interesting comparative information.
By the way, based on aggregate scoring of best picture Oscars, the greatest decade for movies ever was the 70's. I'm gratified by that, as I've held that opinion myself for quite a long time.
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Oops - I made a mistake - I have to remove 'American Beauty' from the list.
'Casablanca' was supposed to be on it.
I corrected it and re-printed it above.
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I guess it's not too surprising that the first 44 years of winners are completely unrepresented.
Not unrepresented. They just score lower. Some came close (All About Eve, Lawrence of Arabia, The Apartment).
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Reprinted above after a correction was made.
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(But I do think the Coppola adaptation of the book is a great film.)
It's a truly great movie. The book explores the thinking, plotting, rationalizing, and life experiencing of these mid-20th century Mafia people. It's fascinating and frightening. The movie just couldn't get it all in.
But one thing the movie does have over the book - an exquisite performance by Marlon Brando.
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But I still feel that the film was better than the book. Which is unusual.
Having not read the book, that's an uninformed "feeling".
It's an excellent novel. I recommend reading it.
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You're right, of course skimming doesn't count as reading - especially when you're 13 years old and skimming for the dirty bits.
There have been several times when I've read a (relatively) recent novel and then seen the movie. And almost always, I think I would have enjoyed the film more if I hadn't read the novel first.
If you've read the book, you can't help but think of all kinds of things in the book that were either left out or altered in the film. Not only story details and even entire characters, but more than that, what's going on in the characters' minds. "Voice-over" works sometimes, but even that can't provide the character's interior life the way a book can.
Unquestionably there have been loads of great films based on novels. I'd be an idiot to argue otherwise. But to answer the question as it appears on the topic thread (there you go, james) I prefer to read the book first;but usually, if I like the book, I'm not too interested in seeing the movie.
"On the other hand", I'm sure I've seen lots of films where I never read the book in the first place, and yet enjoyed the film. A case of not knowing what I was missing, I suppose.
Well, I agree with almost everything you've said in this post. I just disagree with the answer to the thread title.
That is to say, I definitely prefer to see the film first.
That's because the film is slightly to greatly ruined for me if I read the book first.
I don't worry at all about books being ruined - if I like the film enough, I'll still read the book. If the film doesn't strike me as all that good, I'll probably read something else.
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Yes, there have been lots of novels I've read and then seen the movie.
"Classic" novels such as Jane Eyre and Great Expectations come to mind. Although I think the latter (the David Lean version) was pretty darn good, it could not contain all the ideas and character and plot details that were in the book.
So, unless you're going to make a "series" based on a long novel (this can work), one film, no matter good it is, is not going to do the novel justice.
On the other hand, I think sometimes a film can be better than the book, depending on what the quality of the original book. Hitchcock famously used "pulp" stories because he liked the basic idea, and then felt free to do whatever he liked with it.
I thought The Godfather was a better movie than book. But then, maybe that was because my friends and I had eagerly skimmed the book solely for the naughty parts, which I found (at the age of 13, after all) were disappointingly few and far between.
Skimming doesn't count as reading.
Let me amend my question - have you EVER read a MODERN novel and then seen the movie? And if so, DO YOU BELIEVE you enjoyed the movie as much as you would have had you not read the novel first?
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Two questions, misswonderly.
Have you EVER read a novel and then seen the movie? If the answer is "no", you may stop here - no need to answer the 2nd question.
If "yes", do you believe you enjoyed the movie as much as you would have if you hadn't read the novel first?
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Why are all the premieres lately Grade Z programmers/imports?
Hey, at least you probably haven't seen them before.
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I think my great grandmother might've thought Al Jolson movies were okay. Don't know anyone else who does, though.
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However, it could be claimed that all of are memories were faulty.
Not mine.
I hope someday you find a print of 'Nevada Smith' (1966) that has the word "breast" in it. But I don't believe you ever will.
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Does your brother-in-law feel the same way about you?
No.
He has admitted to me that I understand him. He just loves bugging people with never-ending argumentativeness.
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Good one, but Taylor was better-looking.
And much less furry.
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NEVADA SMITH HAS BEEN CUT
No, it hasn't.
Not in my experience, anyway.
My friends and I had read 'The Carpetbaggers' in the early 60's, so we were well aware of what was presented in the novel. The word used in the novel was "t it".
In 1966, I was a 16 year old usher in my hometown's best movie theater and 'Nevada Smith' played there. My friends and I eagerly watched the movie at that time and when the word "dress" was used to explain where the tobacco pouch came from, we smirked knowingly. We knew that the producers of the movie had changed it from the novel's "t it" because, after all, censorship in movie content was what was done then.
I watched the movie several times over the course of the week it played at the Capitol - in 1966, when it was a new movie. At no time did I hear the word "breast". It was always "dress".
IF it had ever been "breast", it was quickly changed after the very first screenings. It's highly doubtful that there are any editions of the movie still in existence where "breast" is used - IF there ever were.
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I done discussing anything more with you since you decided to 'go there'. Really uncool of you and totally out of line.
Never a good idea to get into a "discussion" with infinite1. I have a brother-in-law just like him - it's all about arguing for its own sake.
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In 1967 (what a great year!), there was a western-comedy called 'Waterhole #3' that starred James Coburn. Good movie.
Throughout the entire movie, Roger Miller would sing different verses - though all to the same tune - of a song called 'Code of the West'. After about verse #6, it did begin to grate a little.
Still a good movie, though.
I guess it's similar to the musical interjections that Stubby and Nat provided in 'Cat Ballou' - although Roger Miller was on the soundtrack for 'Waterhole' only - he didn't appear on screen.
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Some replies ago someone raised the point of whether TCM has the obligation of showing every movie that has ever been made. I, for one, am in favor of that approach
I'd be all for that as well.
But I won't call TCM cowardly or dishonest if it doesn't change its policy to that. It has never stated that it will show every movie ever made, so it cant be held to keeping a pledge it never made.
If any station ever does makes that pledge, I'll probably switch to that station. It'd be interesting to see racist movies on Thursday mornings and porn on Friday nights, along with comedy Tuesdays, western Wednesdays, Noir Sundays and on and on and on.
There are thousands of movies I'd like to see that nobody shows.
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I'm still getting half a dozen titles a month that are recordable.
I just wish they'd go back to the old TCM on-screen logo that gets shown every 20 minutes through the movie. The new one - which reads TCM.COM is larger and more intrusive to the eye. The old one was much better, which was just a faint TCM.
Time for a new movie about Billy the Kid
in General Discussions
Posted
Nah. It's all been done.
They should just re-release 'Dirty Little Billy' (1972). That's my favorite.