JackFavell
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Posts posted by JackFavell
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MissGoddess, you can find the Good Morning, Madam alarm clock here
http://voco.uk.com/demo.php?version=gmm&country=UK
for a ridiculously high price, but I imagine you might find it less expensive if you look around on the net. I had never heard of it, but my sister apparently got one for Valentine's day, lucky girl....
Nice choice of Butler!
I like this one:
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I'm sorry, ButterscotchGreer- here i go butting into your conversation about ballet, and then you can't even listen to the link I posted!
The first one said:
"Good morning, Madam. I've drawn a bath for you, the room has been scented, your breakfast is being prepared by cook, fresh flowers have been placed in all the reception rooms, and the water for yesterday's flowers has been changed. The house awaits your arrival, Madam."
The second said:
" Good morning, Madam. A gentleman calling himself Mr. Cruise wishes to talk to you. He is looking for someone to accompany him to something called the Oscars ceremony this year. He has banged his somewhat obtrusive nose on the door I fear..."
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It was Stephen Fry, the actor, writer and butler extroardinaire- namely Jeeves. He has lent his voice to a new alarm clock called Good Morning, Madam.
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ButterscotchGreer and Miss Goddess- in order to serve tea to Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, you must have an impeccable butler....
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I have to say that Grace Kelly is also one of my least favorite actresses....
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I am so jealous of all of you, who get to see movies on the big screen. I have only seen a few old movies that way, thanks to The Majestic Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin (I was in college there), and The Garde Theatre in New London, Ct. I've seen Casablanca, and Captain Blood, but my favorite was the week of Billy Wilder movies- Sunset Boulevard is soooo sensationally BIG and creepy on a large screen. I still remember the audience collectively sucking in it's breath when Gloria Swanson said, "There's nothing else - just us - and the cameras - and those wonderful people out there in the dark. All right, Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up." and she came right out into the audience.....
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I too, chose to list the five films that influenced me, rather than films that I think are important to the world.
1. The Marx Bros.- I don't know which movie I saw first, I think it was Room Service (which makes me wonder why I ever watched another), but the Marx Brothers were my first entry into the world of old movies. They taught me that there are rules that need to be broken. Very subversive stuff for a little kid to see....
2. Oliver- A huge movie experience, at age eight with my mom. I fell in love with the Artful Dodger and British film and literature. The movie just envelops you with music and color. Michael Powell said that Carol Reed "could put a film together like a watchmaker puts together a watch". And Graham Greene said of him, "The only director with that particular warmth of human sympathy....".
3. Paper Moon- Another movie seen with my mom. Bogdanovich combines old movie making skills with a new sense of gritty reality. He mixes comedy and drama in a flawless, very modern way. This along with "What's Up, Doc?" and "Oliver" are my great childhood movie experiences.
4.The Grapes of Wrath- I saw this when I was maybe ten or twelve, and realized for the first time that there were people struggling just to put food on the table. Ford literally transmitted his sense of humanity to me.
5. A Streetcar Named Desire- Wow. It was like a punch in the jaw. Psychology, and a brand new style of acting hits you -wham- in the face. Kazan peels the layers off Williams' characters like an onion.
The movie(s) I'm embarrassed to say I haven't seen? Intolerance and Spartacus.
The movie I have watched the most times? It's a tie between My Man Godfrey 1936( for sheer fun), and Pygmalion (for the joy of watching Leslie Howard's brain at work. It is an almost perfect movie.) Miracle at Morgan's Creek comes in third because it's just great!
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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.
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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....
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Sheba's not...coming....back....?
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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.
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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.
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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....
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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....
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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.
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I loved Gosford Park! I think you and I have similar tastes, Bio!
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I was just thinking how great Cary Grant was at any age. I think it is awfully easy to underrate him, or let his private life interfere with our opinion of him. But watching him today, I just thought, man, he was great. There is a reason Hitchcock used him for so many movies....
Fred, the Mayor: "You're through."
Walter Burns: Listen the last man that said that to me was Archie Leach just a week before he cut his throat.
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More Sturges, from the real guy, not a movie:
?A pretty girl is better than a plain one. A leg is better than an arm. A bedroom is better than a living room. An arrival is better that a departure. A birth is better than a death. A chase is better than a chat. A dog is better than a landscape. A kitten is better than a dog. A baby is better than a kitten. A kiss is better than a baby. A pratfall is better than anything.?
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cmygor- That's awesome! Those really are important dates in history.
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How about some Lemmon with that coffee? This one won't get many whistles, I'm afraid.
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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."
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Lion in Winter-
Henry: Woman, can't you give me a little peace?
Eleanor: Why be so modest? How about eternal peace? Now, there's a thought....
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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.
Off Topic: Favorite Music?
in Your Favorites
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I would love to hear more of Hugh Laurie's piano playing- he seems quite an accomplished jazz pianist.
He was also in Sense and Sensibility, which has some lovely music in it...