JackFavell

Oh Frankie, I love you! You are right. Brian Wilson can be a little scary! I just loved your selection of Beach Boys and Monkees songs. I hope you actually like them, because you picked out two of the best songs of all time- God Only Knows and Wouldn't it be Nice. Do you have the Pet Sounds box set? There is a track of God Only Knows in which the boys sing the ending a capella, it literally sends a thrill down my spine every time I hear it. How anyone could sing so beautifully I don't know. Did you know Brian was deaf in one ear? and he still arranged all those harmonies perfectly. The Monkees? Great when I was five and still great .... now. Whew. Almost slipped and let my age be known.

MissG- Thank you for the lovely Valentine- the article on Boyer was super! The author really nailed it on what makes Boyer so good. I wish he had more space to write, because he left out some of my favorite Boyer roles- Tales of Manhattan, Tovarich, The appy Time, ( my fingers seem to be typing in bad french), etc. I just love Boyer's fatalistic charm and the way you see him pushing his feelings under the surface. I wonder if TCM will ever show Cluny Brown or History is Made at Night... I haven't seen either for years, but remember them fondly. I am glad to see several Ford movies are going to be shown on 2/17 and on through March. I am really looking forward to The Long Voyage Home and Rio Grande. I have not seen Rio Grande at all, and have seen only a few minutes of LVH. Very exciting! I've also never seen The Last Hurrah. Long Voyage Home looks really stunning visually. and it has John Qualen....

Sheba's not...coming....back....?

I like "The Rainmaker". I think there is a place in the world for stagy.... Then again, I come from a theatre background. I do have to be in the mood for it though.

Lidash - yes! yes! yes! Something about those homey, 40's cottages... I used to try to get to OZ when I was a kid. I would swing as high as I could on my swingset, and then jump out. I thought if I could get high enough, I would land in OZ. Message was edited by: JackFavell

It was junk food, actually. It was "Love Affair". I only saw the end of it, unfortunately. I've been dying to see it, but my daughter must get to school, and I had too many things on my hard drive to tape it. I was hoping it would be better than "An Affair to Remember" ( A movie that I really don't like), and I think it was. Somehow it was more palatable in the black and white thirties version. And of course, there is Charles Boyer. I would walk across a burning desert to see Boyer even in a lousy movie. He is definitely a guilty pleasure, like chocolate! But maybe dark chocolate or champagne, only for grownups. A mature woman's dream.... I say I don't like "An Affair to Remember", but I actually watch it almost every time it's on. I can't decide whether this is due to the fact that there is nothing else on and I am a slave to the TV, or that there are things I do like about it....

I had trouble watching another movie this morning, it seemed so flat and static compared to Ford's movie. His movies really are "move-ies"- they move all the time! Within the frame, things are always happening, though you may not notice it at first. I want to say thanks to MissGoddess for making me notice music in the background, and thanks to FredCDobbs for making me notice all these wonderful shots. With Ford, my enjoyment just keeps growing and growing as I peel the layers back....

Watched The Quiet Man last night, and I noticed some things. When the cart is driving into Innisfree for the first time, the cart pulls up really close to the camera - nice and big, then turns and drives away out of the shot. It literally gets smaller and smaller. It's beautiful. He could have had an establishing shot of the cart pulling in, then cut to the characters talking, then cut to a shot of the cart pulling away, but he had the brilliance to film it all in one breathtaking shot. This kind of thoughtful directing is what makes me love John Ford. Nobody just walks into the frame, they come around a corner (of a bar, for instance), or pass between two people. Ford sets up shots that use what I call triangulation- 2 people in the foreground and one in the background, to give depth to his scenes. Or there are 4 people lined up on one side, and 3 in a triangle on the other side, but deeper in the shot, to balance. His geometry is lovely, using asymmetrical compositions and foreground and background to such advantage. The characters somehow get to their marks in an easy and natural way so that you never catch him setting up a shot. How does he DO that? This balancing is what makes his pictures so satisfying. He films his shots on an angle, or on the diagonal, again, to give depth. They say you should make a garden so that it can be viewed on the diagonal, as this is the most pleasing. Then he does what I think no other director ever did, or even thought of. It strikes me as Ford's trademark. I am pretty sure it is the establishing shot of Mary-Kate. She starts out in a half shot filling the upper two thirds of the frame, on the left side (I believe I've read that this is the strongest side of the frame, the place that the eye automatically goes to.) She bends over almost into closeup, then, as she hurries away with her sheep, her head becomes smaller and smaller, drifting to the bottom of the frame, like a little period. We see the mammoth sky of Innisfree behind her, filling the entire screen.

cmygor- That's awesome! Those really are important dates in history.

How about some Lemmon with that coffee? This one won't get many whistles, I'm afraid.

Oh fine. I guess I AM a sentimental weenie, because I thought of another weeper. Now, Voyager- "Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars."

Fred, most interesting clips. I actually enjoyed the "La Marseillaise" clip the most. What a really great song it is, possibly the most moving national anthem. Now I realize why they used it in Casablanca, it is so emotional.

I like my movie endings nice and dramatic, don't you? I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang- Helen: Jim, why haven't you come before? Jim: I couldn't, I was afraid to. Helen: But you could have written. It's been almost a year since you escaped. Jim: But I haven't escaped. They're still after me. They'll always be after me. I've had jobs but I can't keep them. Something happens. Someone turns up. I hide in rooms all day and travel by night. No friends. No rest. No peace. Helen: Oh, Jim! Jim: Keep moving. That's all that's left for me. Forgive me, Helen. I-I had to take a chance to see you tonight. Just to say good-bye. Helen (She hugs him with a look of intense suffering and pity on her face): Oh, Jim. It was all going to be so different.Jim: It is different. They've made it different....(A door slams) (He whispers) I've gotta go. Helen: I can't let you go like this! Jim: I've got to. Helen: Can't you tell me where you're going? (He shakes his head no and stares wildly at her.) Will you write? (He backs up and again shakes no.) Do you need any money? (He again shakes no.) But you must, Jim. How do you live? I steal!

Lovely, Frank.

Fred, I had no idea. The movie is so good, it never occurred to me that it was not Wales- though I have read over and over that they could not film there because of the war. Thanks for the info. I did look up where The Ghost and Mrs. Muir was made, and discovered that it was filmed in many California locations, including Stillwater Cove Regional Park in Sonoma County, Palos Verdes, Carmel-by the-Sea, and Monterey.

Oh, yes, and the end of The Man Who Would Be King shocked the heck out of me.

The Front, with Woody Allen, directed by Martin Ritt. I don't want to be a spoiler, so I'll just say that I love the ending....

Definitely The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Top Hat (2nd runner up) How Green Was My Valley (while it was still green, and without the snotty church guild) "There is no fence or hedge around time that has gone. You can go back and have what you like if you remember it well enough." -- from Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was My Valley.

Harold and Maude Monsieur Verdoux Delicatessen Catch-22 The Evil Dead/Army of Darkness Sorry - I have to mention The Ladykillers ( 1955) again because it is probably the best black comedy of all time.

I guess my favorite would be The Cocoanuts with the equally forgettable Oscar Shaw..... Un Chien Andalou was made in 1929 If I could choose the movies from 1929 that I would most like to see they would be: Hallelujah! Applause Show Boat Pandora's Box and.... Sunny Side Up Queen Kelly The Vagabond Lover Sally Rio Rita The Canary Murder Case Evangeline A crazy year for movies- very free seeming in some ways.

A Little Romance

Lone Star, directed by John Sayles. Wow. What a terrific movie.

Ditto. I would love to see it on The Essentials-or anywhere for that matter.

I thought they supposedly "found" ON-J's husband or boyfriend. The story is that he was trying to change identities or something and just ran off on his boat....don't know if this is true or not-I saw it while passing by Nancy Grace's show...blecchh. (sorry if someone here likes her) Frank- loved the INXS vid. They were a great band. I knew you had a soft spot- including Audrey in that lineup of sultry nightclub singers. And in Breakfast at Tiffany's, one of the most romantic movies ever made! Personally, I think she should have run off with Cat and skipped yucky George Peppard.

Not sentimental? After those ooey-gooey You Tube presentations you just played for us? Come on. This one's for you, FrankieG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HejVjzhKTY