JackFavell

Well, The Third Man isn't really a mystery either! Not like a Nancy Drew type thing or whodunit...Just a really suspenseful movie. It's funny how you get the music in your head with Rebecca........ because I do the same for TTM......

We had a blue beetle! What a coincidence.....and yes, we used to rub that red dirt all over ourselves and play indian. Not very PC, I guess, and the red wouldn't come out of your skin for about a week after, no matter how many baths you had to take. We loved it. Which Ford movie or landscape would you most like to be in? I mean, not really, because who would want to actually live out there in Monument Valley? But I mean, what movie is most appealing (for whatever reason, landscape, people, whatever) to you? For instance, I like My Darling Clementine's clean, clear desert landscape. And I think I could definitely enjoy living with Henry Fonda's Wyatt Earp and Victor Mature's Doc Holliday (I mean if he wasn't dead at the end of the movie.) Yes. That would be awful nice.... just me, Wyatt and Doc. But maybe I already know the answer to this question, MissG..... and Kathy....

Pretend is right! This is a difficult challenge because many of the movies cross the boundary from one genre into another.... a movie could be a mystery or a film noir, and some horror films are also sci-fi.........

NOW aren't you sorry you asked??????????? :-) Not at all. I always thought it was cool that KC straddles two states. It's like the Berlin of the midwest.... sort of.... or maybe not. I like to hear about the midwest. Am I supposed to capitalize Midwest? I feel like I ought to. Anyway, I still miss it after all these years on the east coast. East Coast. Uh oh.

Missouri side My bad. Was it Olathe you are from? I am looking at a map of the Kansas/Missouri border. Is your area flat or hilly? I'm picturing flat, but that's because of my childhood in Oklahoma. We used to drive from Norman, OK up through Missouri ( we would stop in St. Joe) and into Illinois and Indiana, then up to Michigan for vacations. I remember also going to Lawrence, KS. When my sister was looking at different colleges. On that drive we got stuck in traffic on the highway (in a Volkswagen without air conditioning) in 104 degree Kansas heat. I remember getting out of the car because we thought it would be cooler, but the pavement was so hot reflecting the burning sun that we ended up just getting back in the car.....

Hey, Kansas Kathy! Your jokes are always appreciated and sorely needed..... I need to watch some Pappy too, Dr. Rohanaka. Is Three Godfathers going to cure me as well as 3 Bad Men? I never did get to see it straight through, and the dvd-r seems to be working again, so I just might sit and watch it tonight.....

I had that battle over CGI when thinking about the animation part too. I just think that Toy Story was the most accessible animated film ever - you could be a boy or a girl and still love it.... And my first choice for classic scifi would be King Kong, but then 2001 is most representative.... It's hard! and how could I not have put down Gone With the Wind, MissG?

> {quote:title=rayallen wrote:}{quote} > I was wondering what one film in these categories do you feel is the best example of its genre? > I realize it will be difficult to only name one, but if you were putting a single film in a time capsule, what would it be? > > Animation *Toy Story* > Comedy *My Man Godfrey* > Drama *Best Years of Our Lives* > Family *Meet me in St. Louis* > Film Noir *The Maltese Falcon* > Horror *Bride of Frankenstein* > Musical *Singing in the Rain* > Mystery *The Third Man* > Romance *Brief Encounter* > Sci-Fi *2001:A Space Odyssey* > Western *High Noon* I feel bad about a couple of these - like The Third Man, or Witness for the Prosecution? or Toy Story over 101 Dalmatians?

No, I had heard of poor Dewey. Just trying to be funny and failing miserably.... I liked certain things about "Big Sky", but it's just not one of my faves....I had a hard time staying interested for some reason. I really just wanted to find out what happened to Zeb. Obviously he made it because it is his memory he's retelling in the voice-over....

FF- My Darling Clementine was my first Ford western, and I loved it.... I had it on tape for the longest time, with a big splice out of the end and I swore when dvd came out I would get a pristine copy! I think my favorite line is the one where Wyatt has just come from the barber, who poured a ton of smelly cologne on him, and he meets Miss Clementine.... she says something like, "I love your town in the morning, Marshal. The air is so clean and clear... the scent of the desert flower." and he says, "That's me."

I just watched most of *The Big Sky* which is why I posted the quote. MIssG- I couldn't quite get into it, myself. Though I admit, I was only watching for the finger sequence I had just read about! It should have been a Wayne picture. I just have some trouble with Kirk. I can't explain why. I did like the story a lot. All the different groups of people traveling along together - the french, the indians and the frontiersman all bunched up together, and finding that their biggest threat is not indians but other traders and the company that sent them....and lo, there was Frank Worden plain crazy again..... Kathy, I just loved Arthur Hunnicutt as Zeb. He was the reason I stayed watching as long as I did. His voice over, and the scene in which he talked about Blackfoot country and how beautiful it is really got me. What a good actor. Dewey who? :) :) I guess I am spoiled by Pappy, but I would sure have liked to see some real indians around....

Here is a quote from the Howard Hawks section in The Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age: In *Red River*, I wanted Wayne to get his finger caught between the rope and the saddle horn and come in with it all mangled. Then Walter Brennan would look at it and say, "That finger isn't going to be much good to you." Wayne says, "No, it isn't." Brennan would say "Get a jug and build the fire up good and get me a chopping block." They'd start feeding him some liquor, and Brennan would say, "I guess he's ready," and he puts Wayne's finger on the block and Brennan sharpens up the knife and cuts it off. Wayne wasn't supposed to know that it was cut off. But then his line was, "Where's my finger? A man ought to be buried whole." The scene ended with a bunch of fellows looking through the ashes for the finger. Wayne said to me, "You think that's funny ?" "Yeah." I said, "but we don't have to do it." He said, "I don't think that's funny." "Okay, I'll do it with some actor who's better than you are." And I did it with Kirk Douglas in *The Big Sky*, who isn't nearly as good as Wayne. I think it's the only time they laughed at Douglas. Wayne saw it and came around and said, "Well, I was wrong again. If you tell me a funeral is funny, I'll do it." Message was edited by: JackFavell

Thanks, Fred! You're a gent! The Griffith picture was great! I also really liked the Karloff at home and Gable photos at the second website. Karloff looks like such a nice guy, doesn't he?

I usually hate to post things twice, but since I posted this in The Third Man thread and there was virtually no response, I thought it might be more appropriate for some discussion here. I apologize in advance to anyone who might have already read this post. I have to say that I love *The Fallen Idol* almost as much as The Third Man. It is such a great movie. I really don't know how Reed was able to get such performances out of children. RO talked about it a bit in the intro, but my goodness! Bobby Henrey was good, just doing his own thing as the adults implode around him..... I love the scene in which Philipe follows Baines to the bar - and is oblivious to the fact that Baines and Michele Morgan are trying to be alone and are in the midst of saying goodbye. These are the kinds of scenes that Reed and Greene were so good at.... WE the audience are aware of every little nuance or emotion that is being played, and yet, one character may be completely out of the loop. Morgan and Richardson are openly weeping, and Bobby Henrey is eating a sticky bun. I think this is one of the best things about Reed/Greene - the juxtaposition of two opposite emotions, happening at the same time in the same place. And we are aware that Baines, as flawed as he is, is a kindly fellow, because even though he is tormented, he doesn't tell Philipe to go home, or get mad at him. It is the true exposition of the film, that scene. Reed comes very close to being my favorite director.....Oliver, The Fallen Idol, Odd Man Out, and the very best -The Third Man - these are all so high on my list. I love that Reed is a technical director. He has all the tricks that Welles or Lang had, but he has a heart and soul too. You feel so very deeply for his characters, even when he shows you their worst flaws right up front....

So whatdoIknow - Is Gone with the Wind kitsch or classic?

I enjoyed all three evenings immensely. Congratulations, TCM on a job well done. The choices for the three nights (plus The Magic Box) were wonderful, and included some great filmmakers as well as some great actors. I especially enjoy when TCM gives equal time to behind-the-scenes workers.... writers, directors, artists, composers, designers...... It would be great to do a month of cameramen, or DP's....... showing the qualities of their work, how they differ, and how they are alike. Have they ever done this? Fred- Great analogy about the cops being like sharks.....

Hey, Gahdaila, Most of us love lists here. You can find many old threads that include lists of favorite this or that....I think there have been threads for almost every list you mentioned. I love Judy Holliday's clothes in Born Yesterday. If you make enough lists, you can make a list of your favorite lists......

A friend of mine (who has no knowledge of old movies) saw it last week. He said it was really good, very interesting and it made him want to watch *M* and many of the other movies shown in the doc. Hooray! However, My local PBS station is not showing it. WGBH is another PBS station that I get, but they are showing it at 4:00 AM on Friday. I am quite disgruntled over the turn PBS has taken over the last 5 years or so. The quality just isn't always there nowadays, even for major presentations (which this obviously is not). Not to mention the ridiculous scheduling - ( sometimes we will show Masterpiece Theatre, but then maybe not for a few months. Perhaps there are no more masterpieces out there?). How could they have declined so far? I will be excited if I can get a copy of this one and actually WATCH it.

Your welcome.

This is so interesting! Thank you Rayallen for posting those letters. What a find.... And thank you Izcutter for going into the history of The Silent Movie Theater.... Fred, I can't see what you posted.... I tried a few times but it will not come up on my computer. Can you tell me what the picture is? I too had the 8mm Blackhawk version when I was young. It is an amazing film. Controversial, even in it's own time, for it's racist slant, it is still filled with many other things that make it worth seeing. There is no more powerful scene for me than Henry Walthall's return from the war. It's a shame that Griffith's viewpoint wasn't ahead of it's time as his filmmaking was......

> {quote:title=ddalehall wrote:}{quote} > > *JackFavell*, I like your observation that, for Scotty, the dream is more appealing than a messy reality (I can relate to that, which is probably why I spend so much time hiding in my house and watching movies). .Unfortunately, I think we can all relate to that here..... >Maybe it is more about power and control. Maybe, since Scotty can't control his vertigo, which cost him his career in law enforcement, he's trying to compensate by having a relationship in which he is in complete control, so that he doesn't feel so powerless. > I think your point about control is very astute. In fact, I'd say that if one were to write a sentence summing up the movie, that would be it..... He certainly does have a lot of time on his hands.....and so his obsession becomes his job......his affair with Judy feels like a stakeout or a crime scene much of the time. On first viewing the movie, I just thought stalker - but that is his job, isn't it? He's a professional stalker. All the energy he put into his job has to go somewhere....

I hate to be stupid, but what does TV-14 mean? Does it mean you have to be 14 years old to watch it? I am assuming that someone thought TTM was disturbing in some ways to young minds. That weird camera angles and images of Berlin would lead you down a path of degradation and immorality.....

> {quote:title=Film_Fatale wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote} > > Did Scotty really love Madeline? Or does he just love the MEMORY of Madeline? Maybe their relationship wasn't so hot, but now he remembers it being perfect? I think there is a case to be made that Scotty's feelings and memory are not to be trusted..... What is real love for Scotty? What is real? > > Well, it would make sense to me that Scotty also felt a great deal of guilt thinking he couldn't stop Madeline from falling to her death (although of course he'd just been set up). So to me it seems like he's got a lot of conflicting emotions going on all at once, including love, and regret, and some guilt, and a desire to undo a painful memory. The more that he can remake Judy into who he wants her to be, the more he falls in love with his own creation, in a way that is perhaps similar to *Pygmalion*. I don't know, it seems if a guy can remake a woman into exactly who he wants her to be, it's going to be a bit different than just loving a woman exactly as she is, and for who she is (rather than for who you want her to be). > Again, I wonder. The more he tries to remake Judy into Madeline, the further he gets from a true relationship, or love. He THINKS he is getting what he wants, but is he? Does he want love, or power? Does he want love, or a bland copy of a happy life? Does he actually think he can bring back Madeline? I think there is something more here. He wants to recreate Madeline to CHANGE the story. To stop his guilt, to make it into the great love of his life, rather than what it really might have been, a nice, rather boring love affair. And Judy, the closer she gets to looking and acting like Madeline, becomes more and more herself, NOT Madeline. Here is love staring him in the face, a woman who will do anything for him - Judy. But he doesn't want that. So is it merely sexual fantasy on his part? In Pygmalion, Professor Higgins creates a beautiful, sophisticated perfect, well-spoken woman. But he finds that the "soul" of Eliza is more interesting than the facade.... Her strength and power are what he desires in the end. And that is her true character coming through, IN SPITE of what he's done. I would say that Scotty actually shies away from this sort of reality and power, the true nature of a woman - maybe this is why he "loved" Madeline - she was completely trouble free, no emotions, no heart, no soul. At least, this is what we see portrayed in Scotty's memory.... a woman who looked good, but had no depth. So the dream is far more attractive than messy reality...... I'm actually answering one of the questions posed by Professor Izcutter. I think Scotty would have gone on trial for murder, because no one in their right mind would think that he was innocent in two cases of women who looked exactly alike falling off of the same tower.....

I have another question, if that's OK?.... I haven't seen Vertigo for a few months, but this popped into my mind when Prof. Izcutter posed her questions: Did Scotty really love Madeline? Or does he just love the MEMORY of Madeline? Maybe their relationship wasn't so hot, but now he remembers it being perfect? I think there is a case to be made that Scotty's feelings and memory are not to be trusted..... What is real love for Scotty? What is real?

face- That makes me think of what I was originally going to write - that the line in TTM was so very American sounding. Almost midwestern, or maybe western, since Holly did write westerns.....