JackFavell

Hey, I'm on the run again today, taking my brother in law to the train station, and then family dentist appointments, but I wanted to stop in to say, Goddess, you read my mind! I had those lists copied down for later use here, too. My only sadness was that I couldn't reproduce them in Wayne's own handwriting. There is something charming about hand written notes. I was surprised that he rated Elizabeth Taylor so high up on his list. I was wondering if it was the silent version of 4 horsemen, but I don't see how it could be the other one. Edited by: JackFavell on Aug 26, 2011 1:38 PM

> {quote:title=CineMaven wrote:}{quote}As a New Yorker, I shall meet Irene bravely, with an umbrella in one hand...and Haagen-Dazs in the other. > > + +I hope she likes Rum Raisin. Who doesn't? Stock up on Twizzlers.

Allan Sherman! My dad had those albums! Aside from the punch cards and the ten ton size, that song is sadly even more pertinent now....but luckily that means it's still funny. kingrat, *Beat the Devil*, like a lot of the comedies on my list, has a very particular rhythm to it, have you noticed? There is even a marching band playing during some scenes, and a chess game going on.... with the lines spoken in a certain cadence, and a nervous, purposeful air about it all. It's very similar to Welles' comic scenes and movies, though I think I mentioned that somewhere else already. I get a lot of satisfaction from the sounds of different voices in comedies - in this one, Bogart, Lorre, Morley, and then the Brits and Gina Lollobrigida. I like the very different sizes and shapes of the people - the fat one, the short one, the tall, morose one, the brunette, the blonde. Again, this makes me think of Monsieur Hulot - there is just something intrinsically funny about people thrown together who don't quite fit one another. And then there is the way everyone eyes everyone else... *Topkapi* also has actors of different sizes and shapes.... everyone has their job to do, requiring a certain physical "type". Edited by: JackFavell on Aug 25, 2011 4:42 PM

Yikes! Be careful Bronxie, and you New York gals and cats... it's greying up here. As of yesterday, anyway, landfall was supposed to be in Massachusetts.

OMG, between you and MissG, I don't know where to begin. _MissG_ - I really like *Yours Mine and Ours*, and I also love *The Long Long Trailer.* I agree, you have to kind look around the kids to see the real story in Y,M and O. *Beat the Devil* has come up in conversation 3 times this week... and I love it's blend of humor, fatality and futility. Jennifer Jones is so blithe in it, I love her. *Sabrina* is wonderful and I feel the same about Bogie that you do. "Eat it!" He's very cynical, which makes it even better when he opens up at the end. and I like his relationship with Sabrina's father. *Love in the Afternoon* to me is even better. "It was Fascination....la la...." *How to Steal a Million* - oh, I love it! especially Hugh Griffith and his enormous eyebrows. _Bronxie_ - I have never seen your Matchmaker, lol, I got mad because every time I wanted to buy MY Matchmaker, it would turn out to be yours. I guess if it has Milo O'Shea in it, I have to give it a try! *Paper Moon* is just a great, great movie. I am unreserved in my appreciation of it. You should put aside your feelings about the cast and watch it immediately. O'Neal was never better than with Bogdanovich. And hey, it's not too tough to watch that pretty face for an hour or so. Madeline Kahn will be there to help you through it. *Chances Are* is a near miss, still fun to watch occasionally. I hear you about Rob Reiner. I prefer Carl. OMG! Fred Woodard, or something like that? Willard, i looked it up. Now see, I thought Jason Bateman was hysterical. My favorite Christopher Guest film is *The Mighty Wind*. But *Best in Show* comes close. Quit making me think of other comedies that aren't on my list! *Local Hero* is a better movie than *Comfort and Joy*, but I have a great fondness for C&J, because it was my first Forsythe film. And it has the wonderful Bill Paterson as Dickie Bird, a morning DJ who is chronically depressed after his breakup with a high maintenance girlfriend who is a shoplifter. The first half hour is difficult, slow moving, but if you get passed it, it is an incredibly charming, funny film about Dickie finding himself. Paterson is one of the few actors who will allow himself to look a complete fool on film. Bill Demarest and Ruth Gordon - yes! yes! You understand the pull of such great comic acting. *Quality Street* is probably an aberration on my part... I can't tell you Kate is not arch... sorry. But I still love it. As I say, I am probably the only one on earth who does. I can't even put into words why I like it. Yes, *the Lady Eve* is less good when Jean becomes Eve, but it is all made up for in the honeymoon on the train scene. I can't even hear a train whistle anymore without thinking of poor Henry Fonda's face. Shirley Temple and Elizabeth Taylor are the funniest teenagers ever. Shirley is so smug and "grown up" she slays me. There must be something in being a child star that makes one have a good grasp of irony.... they both come at the comic stuff so deadpan and serious. Scotty Beckett too. My favorite moment in *His Girl Frida*y is when Cary mistakes the old guy for Bruce Baldwin, and then shakes Bellamy's umbrella instead of his hand. Oh, yeah and Mr. Pettibone. I guess I like mistaken identity. and Gene Lockhart as Peter B (for bull) Hartwell. >Bruce : You know, Hildy, he's not such a bad fellow. >Hildy : No, he should make some girl real happy. >Bruce : Uh-huh. >Hildy : Slap-happy. Edited by: JackFavell on Aug 25, 2011 1:13 PM

I agree, mm, it's near the top for me. My favorite part is the lemonade stand.

I just saw Monsieur Vincent recently, it's so beautifully shot, it looks like a painting, and comes from such a different viewpoint than most movies .... I was very moved by it. It inspires by example, nothing more and nothing less. Simple but profound.

You made me realize I forgot THE MATCHMAKER (1958) - A movie I just love, it's so philosophical. _Chris_ - I should have known you'd like the anarchic, anti-political Duck Soup the best - but.... it's the one with no music! I thought a musician like you would've picked one of the ones with the boys playing. _Frank_ - I just remembered that I most definitely watched Creature Features every Saturday night from about 9 years old and onward, discovering The Wolfman, The Mummy, Frankenstein and his Bride, and Dracula. These were, along with Cary and the Marxes, a great intro to classic films.

I immediately thought of this when I heard the name of the hurricane: Gone with the Wind!

Miss G - I love your new list, but I am embarrassed to say I have seen NONE of those movies. I'll add my own list of foreign films later.

> {quote:title=Bronxgirl48 wrote:}{quote}Jackie, these mashed potatoes are so creamy! Like two peas in a pod-uh. Glad to see another fan of While You Were Sleeping. I'll be back later to discuss your list... got a doctor's appt. ...see you later. Have you seen It Happened Tomorrow, starring Rex...um, I mean Dick Powell?

> {quote:title=FrankGrimes wrote:}{quote} > *It's the perfect mix of comedy and heart. I laugh quite often and then cry. "You like Mickey the Mouse?"* Oh Yeah! I always cry at *Paper Moon.* One of the reasons it moves me so much is that my mom was orphaned at the age of five. Tatum bore a striking resemblance to my mom. But of course my mom didn't get picked up by a grifter, and she was much better behaved than Addie. It's perfection. There is not a frame that is not perfect, the performances are spectacular, truly funny, but with a ton of pathos underlying them. It has a grit that makes it really true to that era. I once read all the reviews of it at IMDB. There was not a bad review there - and you KNOW that just doesn't happen. > You and I rank* *His Girl Friday almost the same. > > > *Yes, I believe you and I like that film the most of those who opined.* Another perfect movie. And really funny. > Even looking back at my rankings, I could switch most of them up differently today, except for my top five. Like I said, the top thirty can almost go in any order, depending on how I feel that day. > > > > *You're such a girl, Moody!* A girl has a right to change her mind! > I'd say the comedies on your list that I'm most curious about are the two Grant flicks I don't have yet ( *Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House* and *My Favorite Wife* ), *The Major and the Minor*, and *Quality Street*. I didn't list *My Favorite Wife* , but I did list *Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer.* You would HATE *Quality Street*. I wish I didn't have to tell you that. I don't think many people would like it. It's got a certain charm for me. It's odd but it reminds me of a Ford film, there are nosy mean neighbors all over, waiting to catch out our heroine doing something wrong. >*It seems like the last two films are somewhat similar.* It's fascinating that you correlate the two films with one another, it NEVER in a million years occurred to me that they had a similar structure. They are nothing alike in style. If you can lay aside a certain modern creep factor at the idea of a 12 year old girl and a grown man falling in love, The Major and the Minor is just great. I find it VERY funny. Especially Diana Lynn who was a genius at these roles. > *Oh! But where did you go from the Marx brothers? You see, when I was a kid, I watched the Three Stooges and some Abbott & Costello but that didn't lead me to classic film. It wasn't until I watched Hitch on my own and then my brother suggested *12 Angry Men* and *Inherit the Wind* to me that I really got going. *The Wild Bunch* was another "spark" film for me.* Gosh, I don't remember. I had definitely seen a few other old movies like A&C, The Bowery Boys, probably some L&H... I liked them all, but wasn't aware of them as "old".... I was too little to really seek out movies then. I would bet it was Bringing Up Baby, or maybe The Philadelphia Story... or maybe a Mae West or Cary flick or something. I read a lot, and so I was probably propelled by a movie book... I had a picture book called TALKIES and I used to look at the photos from hundreds of movies all the time. I bet I fixated on one of them and waited for it to be on TV. I just took off from there. > *Oh, you started with a biggie. I believe my very first "Cary" flick was *Suspicion*. In fact, I believe that or *Psycho* was my very first Hitch film. I watched both with my brother. I believe *Strangers on a Train* was the first one I watched by myself.* I am thinking Cary would have been a big draw for me. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people were drawn to classics by Cary. I think that is where I started out - the more I search my memory, the more I think my first after the Marxes might have been BUB, or Holiday. I know Hitch wasn't till far later, when I was in my teens. > Let's face it, any guy who'd wear that hat has got to have a sense of humor! > > > *And self-confidence! I wish I could make that look work for me!* Stick wth the baseball cap.... > *Oh, I see. I'm only going off of how I remembered the film after first watching it. I thought he was worrying about his appearances to others. That he was "just like them."* He was worse, but yes, he thought he was entitled, and too worried about appearances. Though that's a sympathetic trait in Tracy. Interesting. > It was just on yesterday! I was watching, and she is still my favorite character in the whole movie - I love the way she says her lines. I want to be Liz Imbrie. She is my role model. I really admire dry wit. > > > *She's definitely "you." I love how much she loves Macaulay (James Stewart) and he's completely oblivious to how much she loves him. I feel it's where the greatest heart lies in the film.* Thanks for the compliment. I'm glad I have a little Liz in me. > *Oh, that's right. While there can be truth with that, it still doesn't make the act right. Weakness is the problem. Weakness overtakes you and you use reasons to validate your weakness. It really is "passing the buck" for your own weakness in character, your own failure. "You forced me to cheat." Yeah, right.* Right. I'm with you. But the author is saying that everyone has weakness, and one should not necessarily condone them, but must at least acknowledge that you have weaknesses of your own, before you look down your nose at others. I can get behind that, but he muddied the water a bit, unfortunately. > *There are always reasons behind behavior, but actions almost always fall on that person*. I quite agree.

Mine was *The Unknown*, with Lon Chaney... Right before that I watched *HE Who Gets Slapped*. I know my next will be : *The Hands of Orlac.* Edited by: JackFavell on Aug 23, 2011 4:01 PM

> {quote:title=FrankGrimes wrote:}{quote}Howdy, Arly -- *"The time to make up your mind about people is.... never."* > > I've made up my mind about you! > Sure! I'll include the "contemporary" flicks. > > > 1. Blazing Saddles > 2. Airplane! > 3. A Christmas Story > 4. His Girl Friday > 5. Paper Moon > 6. Mr. and Mrs. Smith > 7. The More the Merrier > 8. It Happened One Night > 9. Harvey > 10. The Awful Truth > 11. My Man Godfrey > 12. The Lady Eve > 13. The Philadelphia Story > 14. Trouble in Paradise > 15. This Is Spinal Tap > 16. Twentieth Century > 17. Midnight > 18. The Talk of the Town > 19. To Be or Not To Be > 20. The Miracle at Morgan's Creek > 21. Ball of Fire > 22. It Happened Tomorrow > 23. O Brother, Where Art Thou? > 24. The Palm Beach Story > 25. The Good Fairy > 26. Nothing Sacred That's interesting! I am glad you rank Paper Moon so high.... I probably should have ranked it higher on my list. I do own it (for me to pay money for a movie is high praise), and I have tremendously great memories of seeing it with my mom when it came out. You and I rank *His Girl Friday* almost the same. Even looking back at my rankings, I could switch most of them up differently today, except for my top five. Like I said, the top thirty can almost go in any order, depending on how I feel that day. > I'd say the reason behind all of them is that I started to collect DVDs and most of the greats are on DVD. Of all those classic comedies, the only ones I don't have on DVD are *The More the Merrier* and *Nothing Sacred*. How I came to watch them was mostly Snippy and her suggesting I watch certain titles. But others have pushed me to viewings too, such as *Harvey*. Are there any on my list that you want to be pushed to watch? > Probably *Airplane!* and then *A Christmas Story*. Of the classics on the list, it was *Mr. and Mrs. Smith*. I believe *The Palm Beach Story* may have been next because I was into Preston Sturges fairly early on. Most of them I have seen for the very first time in the past two years. Have I ever told you that I'm very new to all of this? Of course! I should have known the ones that would be first - Hitch is your gateway to classic films. > When did you start watching classic film? Was it comedies that interested you from the start? I said earlier that I watched a Marx Brothers movie, *Room Service*, and that they were my gateway to classic films. I knew my dad liked old movies, and especially The Marx Brothers. I don't remember which came first, watching that movie or getting a book about the Bros. for my birthday from my dad. I just know that when I watched that movie, I fell instantly in love with the Marx Bros. - they were so subversive, and I was a little kid and wanted that kind of anarchy to reign in my very controlled life. The Marxes are great for kids, who always want to let loose and say just what they think, or do something outrageous in their heart of hearts. I lived near Chicago, and they always had old movies on at that time, on weekends, on a couple of channels at 8:00, and then late at night. I could easily find more movies to watch. Maybe they were showing a Marx Bros. movie every week? It seems like I rapidly saw all their movies, except *Animal Crackers*, which was not available for years and years. > No, not really. I'd say *Cary Grant* is someone who spurred me on to other comedies. The one Cary Grant DVD box set is one of my very favorite in my collection. It's loaded with great comedies. Cary is King, no doubt. I think my first was Bringing Up Baby, though I'm not sure. Let's face it, any guy who'd wear that hat has got to have a sense of humor! > I forgot about that. George (John Howard) had no humility and he was seriously insecure. Inferiority complex. I don't think he was insecure, I think he thought he was better than they were, at heart. In fact, I think he actually hated the wealthy, because he wanted to be them. > You know, I completely forget why Tracy (Kate) doesn't wish to be with C.K. (Cary Grant) anymore. Was it how he treated her? I'm probably going to watch *High Society* very soon, so maybe that will serve as somewhat of a refresher for me. He had a drinking problem, and she couldn't understand it. She simply thought it made him weak, and unattractive. She couldn't acknowledge his demons lurking underneath, or understand and try to help him. She was harsh instead of trying to find the underlying problem. > I loved Ruth Hussey in *The Philadelphia Story*. It was just on yesterday! I was watching, and she is still my favorite character in the whole movie - I love the way she says her lines. I want to be Liz Imbrie. She is my role model. I really admire dry wit. > Geez, I really need to watch it again! I remember the father and his infidelity and the forgiveness, but I don't recall the entire context. He said that a man's infidelity had nothing to do with his wife, that it was a search for youth, and that if he has a kind, girlish daughter who looks up to him, he's less likely to stray. Now I can see all this talk as rationally being true, but part of my brain says they are just excuses, and, like Tracy, I don't like the way he uses excuses and blame falls on everyone else EXCEPT the man who committed adultery. Tracy seems the reasonable one to me, no matter how convincing his argument is, or how her character may not be all that it should be, lacking kindness. Also, the incestuous quality in this argument really disturbs me.

Oh, I forgot to say how much I liked the Rudy vids! I agree with Maven though, I like him unadulterated. I have to go back and see his hands. Chaney's use of his hands is INCREDIBLE. There are several moments in HE WHO GETS SLAPPED that are amazing - one at the beginning, where he reaches up and grabs his head in exhaustion after having finished his scientific paper, and another where he turns his back to the camera and reaches his hand up, stopping all action.... I have to check out Rudy's hands, I mean the times when he's not fondling some poor swooning girl.

I have a great fondness for Dobie Gillis the movie and the TV show. They are different as apples and oranges, but both make me chuckle. I love the dance numbers with Van and Debbie and seeing Bob Fosse as a young man. To me, the dances are far above the usual ones in films of this type and time, thanks to choreographer Alex Romero. Reynolds, Van (who's cute as a button), and especially Fosse really lift the film to a higher plane. It ain't the greatest, but it's light and fluffy in the most genuine, enjoyable way, and there is something to appreciate if you like dancing. Oh, yeah, I love Tuesday Weld! Edited by: JackFavell on Aug 20, 2011 2:33 PM

I keep dreaming of what the movie might have been like had he accepted The Godfather role. Sorry for gushing, but isn't he so cute as an old man?

I just found the most wonderful pic of Joe as an old man, this was after he retired to Malta (which was on House Hunters International last night!)

Use your geometric logic to find those ribs....

OMG, if you stare at the picture of the alligator while listening to the song..... it's an absolute riot! :D :D

Maybe she did.

> {quote:title=hlywdkjk wrote:}{quote}*"The poster for the Man From Red Gulch is just wonderful.... Thank you so much for including it! I love it!"* - lzcutter > > You mean you've not yet had your fill of Carey, Sr.? Not yet! Harry Carey has the most magnetic, interesting face of any of the cowboys we've seen, at least I think so. His face on a poster is enough to make me want to see the movie without knowing a thing about it. Edited by: JackFavell on Aug 19, 2011 12:50 AM

Uh huh! What a pair of cuties....

Aaaah! Now that's scary! You've reminded me of that awful scene in The Meaning of Life. "A wafer thin mint?" If you haven't watched it, DON'T. It's guaranteed to make you even more ill than you are.