JackFavell

ILRM- Sorry I am never here on the weekends.... I think you and I are on the same wavelength as far as SAM and Brigid go.... I completely agree that he was interested only because of her "unpredictability". Yes. Once he figured her out, she was history. And I really like the "prim" look Mary Astor has, and her performance. I agree that she doesn't look like her true personality. I believe it was a choice on Huston's part to make her as far from her inner self as possible....to fake out the audience, and to show what length's Brigid will go to to get what she wants. She is an actress after all, she has to look innocent..... OK. I know. I'll go back to Tara..... the rich earth of Tara..... Tara............

No, about halfway through Billy the Kid, I had to start doing some cleanign up around the house, so I missed the other movies..... I shouldn't have even watched the Randolph Scott picture, because watching in the morning throws my entire schedule off completely! And of course, I couldn't resist coming here to post my discovery of Betticher/Scott........so now I am really behind in my work. I did watch part of Hamlet last night and wanted to talk to you about it some time in another thread. I really enjoyed what I saw and will have to rent it again, since I haven't seen it for years. Olivier doesn't do the grandstanding that I remember from some of his other films, but reserves his tricks for the camera- a really good choice on his part. Anyway, you name the place and we can chat about it a bit more in depth elsewhere. Thanks for asking about our weather here, but being on the edge of the Atlantic we were spared most of the hateful cold. Just floods and wind.... no snow.

I agree that *Billy the Kid* is breathtaking. The first shot, crossing through Ford country, is not a vast expanse as in some other westerns, but a layering of images, Ford's Point being the first thing shown. The Point then recedes into the background as we enter into a sagebrush covered glen. The colors are not stark reds and browns like in other westerns I've seen, but instead show the lush glade at sunset... all deeply saturated blues, purples and crimsons.... WOW! It looked like a Maxfield Parrish, if he had done paintings of the old West.... Despite the presence of grogeous color and Brian Donlevy in BTK, I much preferred the Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher film right before it, even though Boetticher himself didn't like this one. *Decision at Sundown* was a perfect introduction for me to the Scott westerns of this time. I found it fascinating in it's relentless pursuit of the truth - with quite a different ending here than I was expecting. In fact, the movie went in a completely different direction than any western I have ever seen. *Decision at Sundown* SPOILERS................................... It is Tate Kimbrough's wedding day. Years before, his actions were responsible for Bart Allison's (Randolph Scott's) wife Mary's death. Our hero, Bart, seems, through his own noble nature, unable to gun down Kimbrough in church at his own wedding. He tells Kimbrough that he is going to kill him by the end of the day. While his honesty makes his job of tracking Kimbrough more difficult, it causes the people of Sundown to doubt Kimbrough, and his control of their community. Turns out, Bart's honest confrontation of his enemy has a positive effect on the townspeople of Sundown. Each townsperson must come face to face with his/her own demons....for the better of the community. But this has dire consequences for our hero... In forcing the twonspeople to confront their own foibles, Bart forces a final look into his own soul, something he simply cannot face. Though in the end the town is changed and redeemed by it's self analysis, Bart's life is ruined, as he sees that his own actions are not noble but deeply flawed and hateful. I really enjoyed Scott's performance. I have seen bits and pieces of Scott's westerns through the years, and never understood his popularity or importance. He seemed to me to be a cipher - unable to emote or express himself as an actor should. Well, I was wrong. The very quality that makes him inscrutable was the perfect quality for this movie character. And at the end of the movie, Scott got his chance to show me up - he has a breathtaking scene of drunken anger, self-loathing and just plain bad behavior.....He certainly gives Tom Doniphon a run for his money.... Many early television character actors show up and give solid performances. My favorite was Richard Deacon (Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke show). as the preacher with a drinking problem. But Noah Beery, Jr. stole my heart as the good natured, wise-cracking sidekick, "Sam". He made the claustrophobic scenes in the livery stable so much fun that I didn't notice how small the scale of this picture was..... Message was edited by: JackFavell

It's a shame the Gill-man had to wear that mask. He's quite good looking under there....

Moirafinnie- Wow! This was a really fine piece of writing (and thinking), Moira.

Great one. I love Buster.

It must be code....

DanielEmery- Might I ask who, in your opinion, would be a worthy guest? And for that matter, who would you pick as hosts?

But one of my favorites of all time was this one: She really looks right into your soul...

Right now: Conrad Veidt and Francoise Rosay from Le Joueur d'?checs

Effie is my favorite character. I think she loves Sam.

It looks more likely that the blond was not permanent. Most of the other pics I have seen of him are with dark hair. Maybe he is just sun bleached, or he darkened as he got older. The photos I have are very small, and I don't know how well they will come out. Last time I scanned from that book, the scans came out so you could see how the paper was woven. The pics were not very clear. However I will try, if hubby will bring the scanner downstairs to my computer.

I gotta agree with MissG- give me the scruffy Tom......with the blue blue eyes.... wow...... I was looking through my few silent books, but could not find any pics of Tom worth scanning. There are a couple I would like to scan just to show what his hair looked like, because in 1914, his hair was extremely curly...sometimes it is combed nicely in waves (like Joseph Cotten), but in the pics from "The Spoilers", it is curled up all over his head like Shirley Temple's and blond looking.....

That's it! I'm moving to Oregon..... Our Tom was a pretty cool character. I imagine that he and Ford got along quite well.... he seems to have had a bit of a split personality much like Ford's. He got into film by playing the piano, so there is a little sensitivity mixed in with the macho hunting and fishing.... from ebay:

Thanks, but I'm no ..... never mind. I'll just take that compliment......

Thank you!

Alright. I'm REALLY sorry to post this one, because the contrast between these two stars is so great. Anyway, last night I was watching Pennies from Heaven with Bing Crosby. I kept looking at the young Crosby, thinking to myself, "He LOOKS like someone ......" I pondered and pondered..... an hour went by and finally it came to me..... I hope none of you can see a resemblance....and that I'm wrong. I could just kick myself for having noticed this..... I can never look at Bing the same way now.....

Xavier Cugat

Valeska Suratt

FF- I'm so glad you are going to watch these movies. I really enjoyed them so much. Miss G- Thanks for posting those lobby cards and pics.....just beautiful... I'll take one of those T-shirts.... I believe Thomas Santschi started acting in movies in 1907. He directed 28 pictures in a two year interval from 1914 -1916. But he gained fame as one of the two main characters in the massively popular 1914 movie, *The Spoilers*. This movie was famous for the giant fight scene at the end, between Santschi and William Farnum. Nothing like this fight had ever been seen in the movies before, and it is reported that the men decided beforehand to make the fight a real one, and that they were carried from the set with cuts and contusions. Santschi went on to star in hundreds of movies until 1931, when he died in his sleep of a heart attack at age fifty. Many of his movies are presumed lost, including Michael Curtiz' debut in America, "The Third Degree" in which Santschi gave an "acclaimed sensitive performance" (according to IMDB). Incredibly, one of his movies recently showed up at a yard sale in Maine, and was shown at a festival in 2002 along with "The Spoilers" The movie has since been donated to the Museum of Modern Art for Preservation. (also according to IMDB)

Sal Mineo

My gosh, your right. I can't believe I misspelled that..... I'm going to correct it. Thanks.

Mica, that's so cool!

I cheat all the time.... I usually look things up first on IMDB before I post, because I don't want someone to catch me in a mistake..... like CineSage....

The bugs are all very charming in their own way, and each has a very distinct personality. Even worm....