JackFavell
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Posts posted by JackFavell
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*Don't* touch that dial.....
I'm going to sit here waiting in front of the computer till she gets back.
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Start, you say? Well I dunno. He had been directing movies for about 14 years at that time, since 1917's The Land of Long Shadows
*YIKES!*
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I am stunned that it was Van Dyke! I can't even speak.... I guess everybody has to start somewhere... yikes.
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I think when the writer is James Hilton and a track record of his:
Lost Horizon
Random Harvest
The Story of Dr Wassell
So Well Remembered
And don't forget he wrote the screenplay of Mrs. Miniver as well....
I too was very grateful for the Random Harvest quote....thanks Gus!
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Thanks for those floor pics! I know it's a bit obvious, but she really seems so down to earth in those pics.... I love them.
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Why not compare? I don't believe anyone was comparing their acting - simply their way of choosing a role. So, what's wrong with that?
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*Far More Than Just a Clothes Horse....*
Well, I couldn't have been more wrong about Kay Francis. I have always had a hard time watching her, partly because of her reputation as an empty dress, and her sometimes blank portrayals, like in The White Angel in which she is given nothing to do. Her throaty voice seemed phony to me. After this month, my opinion has radically changed- about a 360 degree turn!
First of all, Francis made sometimes as many as nine movies a year in her fairly short career, and I have only seen a few of the many before now. The movies I had been lucky enough to see before this month were either later films in which she was faltering with lackluster direction and scripts, or romantic ones in which she was only the ingenue. I think that the studio just used her up and spit her out, putting her in anything and everything, whether she fit or not. I did not know about her studio problems before this month. This in part explains my lack of feeling for her.
This month, the movies I watched were incredible! Kay could be light and easy, as in Jewel Robbery and Trouble in Paradise , or wounded and deeply affecting, as in Confession. The greatest was One Way Passage in which she suffered elegantly and was perfectly matched with William Powell, doing a bit of suffering himself. Yes, occasionally there was a horrible pre-code like Guilty Hands, but I was amazed to find that Francis was not the worst in the cast, and in fact, acquitted herself remarkably well compared to the hideously stagy Lionel Barrymore. Frankly, Guilty Hands should not even be mentioned, since the editing was so poor that anyone in the movie should be absolved of guilt! There were shots in the movie that simply didn't match up to the action, one minute Barrymore would be leaning over a desk, and the next he would just be crossing over to the same desk- it was just awful- however, it WAS interesting, and Francis gave a good performance. But I digress....
I was most impressed with her "women's" pictures. Kay was just super at suffering, and she was also a great role model, earning her own living as a nurse, or even a doctor. But the thing that I bring away with me after this month is Kay's way with an ending line.... She really could be so subtle... I especially enjoyed Kay's reading of the last line of Dr. Monica - "The baby's yours...." She just drops the line so effectively. She did it again in Confession- a really creepy movie with a German expressionistic style. Her scenes are quite incredible. She transcends the rather frightening and heavy style of the movie, forcing her emotions inward, burying them in order to make sure that everyone else lives happily ever after. Her character is like the walking dead at the end of the movie and it is a striking contrast to the clothes horse that I thought she was.
Message was edited by: JackFavell
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My daughter is fine thanks, Greer! For some reason, I am the one who lost all the sleep! She seems bright eyed and bushy tailed....
Did you ever sing, "Napoleon Avait Cinq Cent Soldats"? It's like B_I_N_G_O. You sing it through once, then start dropping syllables at the end of each verse. So the second time through it goes:
Napoleon avait cing cent sol_ _ _,
Napoleon avait cinq cent sol_ _ _,
Napoleon avait cinq cent sol_ _ _,
Marchant du meme pas.
I especially like when there is only Napo____ left......
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I never thought of Marlon that way! It's true, though.
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What a doll!
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I loved the technicolor- Greer's hair was so gorgeously colored. I liked seeing Rhys Williams- he is a favorite of mine. I pretty much like any movie he is in. Ian Wolfe was not playing a butler, so that was really something different! The whole thing was very sweet, and shows what a couple of pros like Pidgeon and Garson could do with fairly standard material.
I have unfortunately been falling asleep during every movie I wanted to see lately. My daughter coughed and coughed all night long so all I got were bits and pieces of movies. Stars in my Crown started out great, but then about the time that Alan Hale was helping Juano Hernandez rebuild his farm, Kay Francis and William Powell came around the corner, being chased by Warren Hymer. They were spending a romantic night, before going back to San Francisco to fight with Robert Taylor in the Civil War! I really have got to see a movie all the way through one of these days.
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I enjoyed Scandal at Scourie. It was a bit simplistic, but it all worked. This was the first time I've seen it.
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Jeff- I thought A Kiss for Cinderella was a lost film... does the i-offer site say anything about the completeness of the copy they are selling? I would love to know more about this. Is there only one copy for sale, or several?
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Angie, may I call you Angie? I really liked what you had to say about Clara. I agree 100% with you about how women really identified and felt (and still feel) close to her. I think this is why she and Gaynor were the most popular stars of their time- you could just feel what they were feeling. There is something so warm about her, and kind.
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I was also thinking they were from the Great Race ...
I like that Natalie was a floor sitter-- She seems to prefer sitting on the floor than anywhere else in these pics.....
Sarah- please continue posting from your collection - they are beautiful.
I especially like the closeup finger/chin shot....
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I completely agree- I think Brad Pitt longs to be a character actor.... he is much more interesting to me as a chooser of movies than he is as an actor. His choices are quite diverse.
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TRANSGRESSION
(In Lina Lamont's voice) I liked it...
Sort of like Under the Tuscan Sun, 1931 style.....
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Thanks! He does look like Pee Wee! You could post those two on the lookalikes thread...
It's a shame that there isn't much of a market for an Owsley biopic... Pee Wee would have the part- unless they got Alan Cumming instead.
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I love those cute critters too, but I bet they have really big spiders and insects too! yecch.
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Thanks guys, for putting up with my momentary irritation with my dad!
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Thanks, guys! I will have to have an Owsley filmfest!
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Oh, yeah, it IS Latin.
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According to my dad, who made me look it up after telling me the name of the song....
The name of the song is *Gaudeamus Igitur*. It is a students' drinking song. Many Western nations use it for graduation ceremonies, probably because they don't understand the lighthearted references to sex and death in the song. Brahms stole the melody and used it in one of his famous works.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Brevitate_Vitae
http://www.newfoundations.com/Gaudeamus.html
Thanks a lot, Dad, for forcing me to guess answers to things I don't have a clue about, never letting me get an answer right, and for making life generally difficult. I guess I know a lot of useless information because of him, but man, I would love it if he would just answer the question sometimes.....
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I just listened to it - and I STILL don't know what it's called!
It's because of my public school education- no Latin taught anymore.....
The Annual FrankGrimes Torture Thread
in Your Favorites
Posted
The Searchers
Stage Coach
The Undefeated/North to Alaska
HONDO!!
I fell off my chair! Very nice! Which will you watch first? Which watch?