rohanaka
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Days Won
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Posts posted by rohanaka
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I absolutely LOVE Jean Arthur's look in this film...her hair and jacket
Hi Miss Maven!!! You are so right about her look. I remember thinking as I was watching...very smart-looking... and with only a few alterations... truly timeless. And the hair... oh... I only WISH mine had ever looked so good! :-)
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3 Godfathers and Baby Makes 3 Bad Men and a Baby
The Man Who Knew Too Much Came to Dinner
It's The Wonderful Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
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A Very Happy Valentine's Day to you, Bronxie...
PS... Scottie wishes you a Happy Day too:
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VERY nice take on Grant and Arthur, Ms. Favell. :-)
And I agree with you about her and Mitchell too. They were always great together. ( I LOVED them in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
He really had a way about him that just made it all seem like he REALLY was "that guy" Which might be why I was so hard on Barthelmess... the scenes where he is talking w/ Mitchell... well... I almost felt like he was "reading" lines compared to Mitchell who just seemed so natural. When it came to speaking...and giving a real personality to his character... "The Kid" was "The Man" :-) .
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Good to know you know the name of the film now.
Ah yes... well... What's in a name?
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Well... I went to the store today... and I bought some more Kleenex... after that last go around w/ all the "mushy" love talk (ha) and w/ all the BEAUTIFUL screencaps w/ those heartwarming images... I needed to restock. :-)
If I may... a little ramble on the OTHER movie that I only got to watch PART of this past weekend. (Ha) :-) *Only Angels Have Wings*
Now again, bear with me, because I missed taping the first 15 minutes or so of this movie so I had a bit of a fuzzy memory in the beginning, as it has been a long time since I last saw this one ....
However... through the courtesy of the magical "youtube" genie... I was able to google around and find the first 10+ minutes of the film... which is just about all I was missing... so... hopefully, I won't be too "out of whack" (at least not for THAT reason anyway) ha. :-)
I must say, this was a WAY different story than the last ramble, by the way... but STILL a lot of emotions come tied up in this one. Which for me is one thing I look for in a good movie. It is NO fun to sit around and watch a film and get to the end and not care one whit about WHO did what or WHO said what.... or HOW the film's characters resolved whatever issues were at hand. I LIKE to care about my characters. Or at the very least... I like to have some sort of emotional response to them. And that was NO problem whatsoever for this particular story. There are some REALLY interesting folks in this one... And they all have their own little of "packages" they come tied up in. And as you open each one up, you get to the heart of who they are and what makes them tick. All together it makes for a really interesting mix.
But first... a question... WHAT were they thinkin' with that HAT on Cary Grant???? Ha. :-)
Oh my golly... It's quite the fashion statement... I'm just not sure what it is saying... Ha. I imagine they thought it would add to the "persona" he was playing... but in truth... He was NOT that hard to figure out... He really did not need THAT much help. :-)
Now back to the ramble...
PS... It will be hard to talk about certain aspects of this story without *SPOILERS* so read on at your own risk...
Every good story has some sort of "conflict" that has to be resolved.... And it seems to me that films with this many diverse characters usually have at least ONE of those characters acting as the major source of conflict throughout the story... Well, at first, I thought it would be "McPherson".... but HE turned out to be a hero in the end. Then I wondered if perhaps the "bad guy" was going to be "Rita Hayworth"... uh uh. I even was beginning to wonder about Cary Grant for a while ( he had moments where he was such a total jerk.). But look closer and you will see... the REAL source of conflict for all these folks.... The NOT SO "friendly skies".
FLYING (or the desire to fly) or even "the fear of what will happen to the flyer" is at the root of almost EVERYBODY'S trouble. It is GRAVITY (or perhaps the inevitable struggle against it) that is the REAL source of conflict in this story. And Mother Nature working in "cahoots" with gravity in the form of lousy weather... a LETHAL combination in this story. And also... Father TIME... Sooner or later he was bound to catch up with all of them in the end... NOT your usual sources of conflict in a story with such strong characters. But... there you have it.
Now... you are saying.. "But Kathy... what about the "conflict" between the individual characters?? You know... "the Kid" and "McPherson" (ha... NEITHER of those guys were using their real name) or perhaps the conflict between Cary Grant and McPherson, or Grant and Jean Arthur, or (even for a moment) between Grant and Hayworth... OF course there was conflict.. in this story"
And you would be right...... But I still maintain that the real "enemy" was the air. And it seemed to motivate all the other "conflict" in the story. Think about WHY The Kid hated McPherson.... because he "chickened out" on his brother during a plane crash. And that was an "unwritten" code between flyers and their crew. Think about how Grant seemed at odds with almost everyone in the free (or NOT so free) world....at some point or other in this story... Most of his anger and resentment centered around all the issues he had w/ keeping his pilots in line, getting the job accomplished, keeping the business afloat by keeping the planes in the air (and landing them safely) Not to mention keeping women who clearly did NOT have any understanding of him or his chosen life from shooting him..(Ooops... messed up on that one. ha.) When it comes right down to it, most of his troubles centered around who he was as a human being based on HOW he lived as a pilot. So... again... it was all about "the air".
Ok...maybe I am stretching it here to make a point... I could be. But for me... the forces of nature (air, gravity, weather, and time) as they relate to " manned flight" seemed to have it in for these people.
There were some really fine performances in this film. Wasn't that Noah Beery jr, just SO doggone cute? (Alas....poor Joe... "Who's Joe?") And though I found them both quite the 'handsome couple", I did sort of find both Barthelmess and Hayworth a bit "rough around the edges" as far as handling the emotional aspects of their characters.... However, SHE finally started getting more interesting... after she got drunk. Ha. It seemed like before that scene she was just too "melodramatic" but once she started in w/ the drunk scene... she improved quite a bit, (at least it seemed that way to me) He had some good moments.... but I think overall... the "character" he played was more interesting than he was as an actor... but I may not be expressing that well enough...
And I really enjoyed the whole love/hate thing going on between Jean Arthur and Cary Grant. She was just the right combination of "flirty and funny" as well as having a pretty good level of "feisty" thrown in too. And Cary did a good job of being "gruff and grumbly" yet deep inside... he'd have given his own life to spare that of one of his men... and they all knew it. But he was LOUSY with the women... Ugh.. He had a LOT to learn... but he finally got there. :-) This is not my favorite film for either one of them, but it is a good job of acting for both.
However... this IS my favorite film ever for Thomas Mitchell (the Kid). And that is saying a lot because I REALLY enjoy him in some of his other roles (especially "Uncle Billy in "It's a Wonderful Life") But he is PERFECT in this film.... cocky yet absolutely faithful to his friendship w/ Grant... stubborn but willing to "stay under the wings" of Grant's authority as his boss. Very sure that each flight could be his last, but still totally owned by his love of the sky. He's one of the things that makes this film sort of run like a well oiled... propeller. Ha.
Aside from the actors, there are some really good flying sequences and a lot of interesting film work. I think (just from looking w/ my untrained eye) that this film used a lot of different methods to convey the whole "flying" part of the story.... miniatures, close up cockpits getting tossed about and splashed w/ water or doused in fog, and also some real live aerial stunts as well. For the time, it was nicely done w/ the special effects. Even some really good "crash" sequences.
Boy... this has turned into a long ramble... (I know...when has THAT ever happened to me??? ha.) If you are all still awake after reading THIS far... I promise to wrap it up here pretty quick.. but I just wanted to mention one last aspect of this film that I find so enjoyable... the dialogue. It was VERY entertaining and very witty. And sometimes VERY tragically poetic. (as they are looking over the contents of their dead comrades pockets, for mementos.... a common theme was "not much to show for their life...") VERY sad.
Because one thing these men all seemed to have in common (except perhaps for Grant and "McPherson") was a sort of "live for the moment" kind of mindset. No worries for he future, because there might not be one. What a fatalistic way to live, and yet... not surprising under the circumstances. After all... as we say around our house (when things get dropped) "Gravity will get you every time". Ha.
Perhaps one of the best lines for me was when Jean Arthur's character is watching Joe take off into the sky she lets out a little emotional sort of "wow". And Grant's character, ever the cynic, says something like, "I know... it reminds you of a great big beautiful bird". And Bonnie doesn't miss a beat... "No, It didn't at all, that's why it's so wonderful. It's really a flying human being." And THAT is how I feel watching planes up in the sky....as I NEVER have flown anywhere myself And by the way... that is OK by me. I am content to just watch from the ground... because after all, as I have just mentioned.... Gravity will get you every time. Ha. :-)
Thanks for putting up with my "wordiness" folks... and again, thanks for the chance to "ramble".
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Yoda
HA! "There is no try... Only "do or do not".(mostly for me it is "do not"...sad but true) ha.
I think you figured it out... Frank is Yoda... that is likely more appropriate... He lives in a swamp. HA!!
(Kidding, Grey Guy... only kidding... maybe)
Here... I found a "lost clip" of the great teacher in his early days...
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Ohh, he's just smiling.
Sure he is... He is looking at you and thinking.... "YAY... my favorite flavor... ROTTEN!"
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would anyone like to see screencaps from that too? im too excited about learning how to make screencaps! pretty please!
You go right ahead and "Paint the fence", little "Scotchie-san!!" :-)
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frankie is no mr. miagy
Ha... Well... as much as I hate to admit it... when it comes to techno stuff... he is MUCH more Miyagi...than I am "Daniel-san!" Ha.
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Hi Chris... thanks so much for that youtube. I have heard that rendition of this song, but it has been a while. PS... the movie in that video is WONDERFUL by the way, if you have never seen it.
(PSS... Have a restful evening. I know it was hard day for you, my friend.)
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Thanks Mr. Miagi... Wax on...wax off!
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I didn't know you had Madame Curie on DVD
Ok...enough is enough... Lassie would not sully her sweet little teeth to bite the likes of you.... She has called in her cousin SAM... He's happy to oblige.
give me a minute...technophobia ha set in...
Ok... we now return you to our regularly scheduled "biting" already in progress...
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Did you ever watch any of those shows on PBS where they would take modern day people and make them live in a particular time period? Like the 1700's, or 1910?
Yes... I loved those... I remember there was one episode on the "pioneer" one where a little boy got mad and started crying when he found out they were going to eat one of the chickens. Ha... THAT would be me. I would never make it on a farm... I would make pets out of all the menu items. :-)
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Watch it Grey Guy.... I have been spending a LOT of time with Lassie lately...and she has told me that she is a HUGE Greer Garson fan... Careful now... or I will have LASSIE bite you...
You can see here by her "thoughtful pose" that she's thinking about it already...
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Little Miss Butterscotch!!! Those are some really great pics!!! I was looking at them before I even read what you wrote... and it is hilarious because I already knew what it was Little Women before I even read any of the character's names and your post... they are that "true" to the characters. (at least visually anyway) I bet you had a blast. :-)
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Imagine what all those poor women went through back in the colonial or pioneer days... Ugh... At least w/ our modern cooking appliances... it is NOTHING quite so bad as that. Not to mention we don't have to dress in those long skirts or long sleeved blouses while we are cooking and cleaning too. The modern day world DOES have some advantages. :-)
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Now I am thinking.... How can I make money baking these gol' darn cookies? It would be nice to get paid for this, although it is a bit of work. I keep hearing about all these women who became entrepreneurs and giant business owners all because they knew how to make cookies......all I want to do is be able to work from home.....
You bake the cookies; I'll bake the pies... if we do it as an internet business... our "store" can be in both locations.... :-) (We can call ourselves "FavellaRo's" Ha.)
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Thanks Nightwalker... Great choices, all. You had one on there I had never heard before (He Giveth More Grace) I always have room for another new favorite. :-)
Rock of Ages always makes me think of this one too: (I had to get at least on Fanny Crosby on here) :-)
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/e/h/hehideth.htm
PS: Anita... glad you enjoyed them.
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Hi Chris... I got to thinking more and more about "favorite" hymns after you shared yours (Holy, Holy, Holy" over in the Rambles thread...
I still maintain I can't choose a favorite because there are just so many... but I really do enjoy all the old standards...
Here are links to only SOME of my favorites (and I stress SOME) Truth is, I could likely have posted every hymn on the site below as a favorite. (Again... lots of solid doctrine and also that bit about a "fun" alto part.) Ha! :-)
(PS...folks...to those who may take issue w/ reading Christian lyrics... Please be advised these are all links to a site that contains lyrics and melodies to old standard Christian hymns...open only if you want to)
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/f/hfirmafo.htm
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/i/itiswell.htm
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/i/gisthyf.htm
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/m/amiasold.htm
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/k/iknowtmr.htm
Oh...PS.. I should also include... Just about anything Fanny Crosby ever wrote... :-)
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51
The Lost "Hitch"....
Anthony Perkins... starring in: TYPO!
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So here's a nod to some great Lincoln films and performances
Thanks for the great list of films, Chelsea
I found the following quote at the link below:
http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln78.html
Perhaps a man's character was like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln compiled and edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher and Virginia Fehrenbacher (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1996), p. 43.
Whether the above is an actual quote by Lincoln or not... no one can argue that the man did indeed cast a VERY great shadow... because he made an even GREATER tree.
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Chris... I don't think I can pick a favorite... There are absolutely TOO many choices for me to pick from. But if I did, that one would be on the list for sure. :-)
(PS... usually I lean toward the ones w/ a lot of solid doctrine and a really fun alto part.) :-)
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My favorite is "All Through the Night". I am not sure if this one is in the movie or not, I can't remember.
Wendy, I love that song.... and I can not recall for sure if it is in the film or not...I would have to watch again... but it seems to me that it would fit very well in certain places there.
Grab a tissue....(I had to use a napkin... Molo and Frank already cleaned me out of Kleenex... I need to go to the store for sure now...)
Movie Rambles
in Films and Filmmakers
Posted
Well hello there, Grey Guy... or should I just call you "Geoff"???
Sadly, I do find it tragically ironic that we are discussing this film in lieu of today's
national news.
That truly was a surprise to me when I heard of it. Very tragic. And indeed ironic. And also very representative to some of the issues discussed on the forces or nature being at odds w/ the actions of man as well. Very sad indeed.
You are doing a wonderful job in sparking some of us to write around here. You are to be applauded. Way to ramble!
Well thank you kindly... but I think it is mostly just due to the opportunity to watch some really good films so closely together in the same time frame. That and the fact that I have to get those GAZILLION and a half words a day that bubble up into my brain out somehow.. The QT only has so much time in a day to listen... Ha. I take the rest out on all of you. :-) And you are right... HGWMV AND OAHW are BOTH centered around the family. Families come in a lot of different packages.
Geoff Carter (Cary Grant) is "papa." He is to lead them through all the obstacles their dangerous life throws at them.I think "Dutchy" (Sig Ruman) is actually the mother of the family. He takes care of the "boys," and he's always worrying about them like a mother hen.
Again you are correct, sir. Both had the leadership role in the family... Dutchy was every bit the little Mama worrying over the brood and also helping to keep them in line a bit... but never with the same sort of authority as.... "Papa". (He even tried to reason w/ Grant to get some of the boys out of trouble when he thought maybe "Papa" was being too stern... again... very MOM-like.)
You did mention the word that I think Only Angels Have Wings is all about: fear. Fear
of failure, fear of the past, fear of love, and, most especially, fear of death
The only way the men of Barranca could carry out their jobs was to block out their fears.
This is why Geoff's reaction to Joe's (Noah Beery, Jr.) death is as it is. He knows that if his
men were to dwell on the loss of a comrade, they would start to think about their own
mortality and this would in turn make them more afraid of the dangerous missions they
were to undertake. They needed to move on quickly in order to block out their own fears.
And so they did.
Well I can't add ANYTHING to that...except maybe.. Bullseye. :-)
She ran into the door and then bumped her head while leaving such an embarrassing
situation. She was such a lovely contrast to Rita's perfect elegance. She was to be
Cary's gal "pal," which is what he was looking for most.
The two women are a perfect contrast for one another... and I think Arthur's Bonnie was exactly what Grant's Geoff had been waiting for all his life... and vice versa as well. And neither of them had the faintest idea.... until they both finally were able to figure it out. Of course... It took HIM till the end of the entire movie... (at the risk of repeating something I may have said in my HGWMV ramble... MEN!!) :-)
This is also my favorite Thomas Mitchell role. He's brilliant. I just loved how in-synch he and Geoff were. Their relationship was very brotherly; they were that connected.
I think that is exactly how they viewed one another.
When we depart, we do leave behind our life's accomplishments and possessions, but it's the memory of who we were as a person that is to be most valued by those who cared about us. And we cannot speak for ourselves in this instance. We can't say, "I was friendly and a kind person." Nope. That's for others to decide.
Ok... now just because I SAID I went out and bought more Kleenex.. doesn't mean you have to get me to use them all up at ONCE. VERY nicely said
Why do the men die with so "little"? I think it's because the more you have in life, the more you fear losing what you have. If you don't have much to lose, you will have less fear. That's why the guys had flings with women and not relationships and they spent their money on having fun that day not saving for tomorrow. If you have a wife, a child, a house, and so on, you have so much more to lose
And they would have you to lose as well... It almost goes back to the whole idea of wanting to protect and provide for your family... even in a subconscious way.
VERY nice ramble there Grey Guy... If me getting all wordy is what it takes to get you and others out here to chat with me... OH... well... You may have created a monster.
PS... Your screencaps are terrific as always... and THANKS for putting in the one with the Lookout guy and the MULE!! Ha. I remember thinking... I want a job where I can sit around all day and play cards w/ my friends... Ha. :-)
About a year and a half ago, there was a thread that asked, something along the lines of, "what movie character do you wish to be?" My top choice then and today is Geoff Carter.
THE QUESTION IS: would you wear the hat??? :-)
Hey! I LOVED the hat! Also, I think his hat is a statement on him hiding beneath it. Geoff is a "hider."
So THE ANSWER IS: of course you would wear the hat....all the better to hide in the shadows with!!
HA! Hey... I just thought of ANOTHER guy you claim to have a lot in common with who ALSO wears a HUGE white hat.... Hmmm... Are you sure your name is GEOFF... or is it REALLY ... LAYNE???? 
Message was edited by: rohanaka