JackFavell

I was glad to see Barton Fink in your top 3 - it's a sadly overlooked movie, and my favorite Coen Bros. one. I also like O Brother Where art Thou? so I guess I'm following a different path than most on this website. Hudsucker is so great, I just love it, but I have heard that some people can't get around Jennifer Jason Leigh's character. Personally, I find the whole thing enchanting. Blood Simple is just fun, I really need to watch it again. I did not go see The Ladykillers and intend to avoid it as long as possible. Why watch this movie when I have the original here at home? It' is the one mistake I think the Coen Bros. made.... Miller's Crossing is my least favorite, even with Gabriel Byrne (pant pant) in it. I may have to give it another try though...in fact, I will, now that I reminded myself about Gabriel (hubba hubba).

That's true- I was thinking earlier that he could have been a younger Adolphe Menjou type, sophisticated and wise, but with a bon vivant quality....pretty much the William Powell character....

Arkadin- that was wonderful! Im glad you broke it down for us in such an intelligent way. I am also glad you mentioned Sabina from one of my favorite modern movies, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.....your description was spot on.... Message was edited by: JackFavell

Ro- With most movies I say watch in chronological order, but in this case I guess I would say watch *The Third Man* first. It's more humorous, more accessible. There is always something to keep you entertained in the Reed production - yes, yes, that's it....it's an entertainment as well as a classic. *M* is way more heavy duty, and the beginning can be a bit disturbing, especially if you have kids....

It makes me wonder what I would do in the same situation....... I mean, hindsight is 20/20.... I can say I would just break my contract, but there are all sorts of issues around doing something like that.... I think you are very right, it wasn't necessarily that he did bad films, it was that the audience couldn't see Gilbert as anything but a romantic lover.... and that character became sort of passe' about the time talkies began. He wanted to stretch himself as an actor, as well, but the writing of the time period either did not suit his style, or it was pretty poor. If he had lived, I think he might have made a comeback doing more character parts, he certainly had the temperament and gusto for character acting.

I can't tell you how many times I've felt like that- the net looming higher and higher, you just can't seem to get the ball over.... I noticed that during the training session where Mike is riding his bike while Pat is running next to him, Tracy looked really wobbly, and never pedaled at all, except at the very end..... I wonder what they had to do to get him on that bike.....

Yes, MissG, you're right. Add another similarity to the list!

Pod-duh.

Yes, Frank. Are you implying that Grace is really a man ?

a la Laurel and Hardy - "Why don't you do something to HELP me?" also from L&H - '"just like two peas in a pod"

Money really was Gilbert's downfall... if he had simply broken his contract with MGM his career might have revived. The money was too good and he had many bills to pay, plus he was too stubborn to be the one to give in... He felt he was owed that money, and he would get it, even if it meant that he got awful parts in ridiculous movies directed by amateurs.....DOWNSTAIRS must havebeen a breathe of fresh air between bad assignments. Message was edited by: JackFavell

Gosh, I must be getting old, because I remember a time when you could pick up movie stills for a buck, or maybe a whole box for 5 dollars! Isn't life strange? I'd like to go back in my time machine, snatch up a few boxes and make a fortune.

I think she looks much better with the stache, don't you? Now if she would grow a beard and really long hair (like Cousin It from the Addams Family) I could stand to watch her.

It sounds ridiculous (and it is), but I did a google search on pencil moustaches, and up popped Miss facial hair. I have no idea what the website was. I was actually looking for some dapper dans to post a comparison to Adolphe Menjou on another thread. I can't find the website now....but I knew Mr. Grimes couldn't resist a picture of beautiful Grace.....

I have been reading so much about DOWNSTAIRS lately, and I just can't resist the plot description. The fact that Gilbert wrote it totally intrigues me. Gilbert could have been a professional writer or a director according to many Hollywood insiders of the time. i have always wondered what happened to some of the writing that he did.....

Scotchie- look what I found! and this is the perfect thread to post it on! Of course, in all likelihood, it came from this thread in the first place....

That is one sexy photo of William Powell

mdffyx- I think that bottom one is the most beautiful and representative picture of Marion Davies I have ever seen... really she's just perfect. I love the way her irises seem to float at the top of her eyes... it is very pretty because of the complete symmetry of her face.

groan....

Great choice, Laffite! Let's start off with gentle comedy to get the ball rolling. I guess this is pretty obvious, but the camera amplifies the act of seeing, making one able to view something that one might not have been aware of without the camera: This brings out the true voyeuristic tendencies of a character, including feelings of guilt: By the end of our movie, the voyeuristic act brings a new self-awareness to our character:

Laffite- Pat and Mike has a lot to recommend it, not the least being the sports sequences. I just love the scene you are talking about - and also a setup in which we watch Kate lining up a shot from beside a tree. The camera drops down right behind the hole, and we watch Kate swing- no cuts away from her- and the ball roles straight toward the camera and into the hole. Gotta love it! The movie has grown on me over the years becoming a big favorite. Tracy's wonderful "dems and dose" voice makes me fall for him every time. Kate's letting herself free on the golf course is really amazing to watch. Aldo Ray gives a super performance (he should be on my list here) and I never fail to crack up when he is on screen ( "I trew up."). And I love the calm way that Kate takes out Charles Bronson and Frank Richards - twice.

And now I'm off to bed. I'm plum tuckered out.

OK. Get ready to ramble..... *M and the Third Man* I just recently rewatched *M* and discovered that, at least to me, there were many connections between it and *The Third Man*. Many people compare *Citizen Kane* and TTM, but I think a case could be made that M and TTM are closer cinematically. *SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT* First of all, they have in common a lead character who is a reprehensible criminal. Throughout each movie, our feelings about these criminals change. In The Third Man, we go from thinking *Harry Lime* is just a sort of kindly black marketeer, to realizing that he considers his victims less than human. He becomes a monster before our eyes. As M starts, we see *Hans Beckart* as a monster, but by the end we have begun to see that he is a victim, and almost sympathetic (thanks to an incredibly strong performance by *Peter Lorre* ). In M, there are significant, long sections of the film in which there is total silence.Then the silence is suddenly punctuated by sounds, eerily coming out of the dark, or off screen, or even rising over a totally black screen. These noises consist of crowd noises, children playing, agitated talking, singing, whistles, bells and tapping. In TTM, there are significant, long sections in which the zither music is playing, sequences of Holly running down a street, or scrambling over rocks or down stairs. When the music stops, we hear an amazing series of sounds - of footsteps echoing, crowd noises, children's voices, agitated talking, tapping, gun shots, and dripping water. The sounds eerily come out of the dark, sometimes coming from different directions, we don't know where they are coming from....Both movies are quite amazing in their use of sound. Both movies have a balloon, and a balloon man. Both balloons hold our attention uncomfortably, stealing the scenes they are in from the actors.... In M, the balloon floats crazily in the phone wires in the Elsie Beckmann scene. It is a horrible image, making us think of a body jerking in the throes of death. At the end of the film, the same balloon flies up above and behind Peter Lorre's frightened face, taking our attention, and reminding us that he is always being followed, shadowed by his crime. The balloon (and balloon man) in The Third Man literally fills the frame, obscuring our view, just as it possibly ruins the stake-out for Calloway, blocking his view of Lime....It isn't quite as uncomfortable an image as in M, but it is distracting. For some time, I have thought that it was meant to be a kind of red herring, making the audience think, "Is that Harry in disguise? Is he making his getaway?" Both films have a double chase setup, a desperate search that turns awry. Both also deal with mistaken identity - the mob at the beginning of M mistakenly accuses one then another innocent (or not so innocent) person of being the murderer; whereas in TTM, the dead body is a double - the never seen and unfortunate Harbin, mistakenly assumed to be Harry. Both movies have many other things in common - the use of flashlights directed at the camera, wet city streets, stairs, doorways, verticals.... an expressionistic use of lighting. But the movies differ from each other as well. M uses the theme of concentric circles and clock imagery to make it's main points. TTM uses crumbling ruins, odd craggy unnatural faces, the idea of falling, and theatrical imagery to make it's main points. But they feel the same, and the underlying ideas are so similar. I don't know if *Carol Reed* ever saw the *Fritz Lang* movie. I can imagine Reed seeing M, then years later making TTM, never even realizing that the other movie might have been buried in his subconscious. I also think it's possible that Reed may never have seen M. It may have been his favorite film. It's taken me years of watching both movies to realize how connected they are, at least in my mind.....

Le Chevalier Laffite, who is never wrong... Yes, that's true!

Let me know how it is when you get a chance to watch it. I have been dying to see it!