rosebette
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Posts posted by rosebette
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7 minutes ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
I can't say much about the female leads in these versions. The chief interest for me is the male lead. Frederic March is the American actor I probably respect the most of any American actor of his generation. Is he better cast than James Mason as Norman Maine? Mason is also a superb, extremely fine actor from the UK. He might even warrant a place alongside someone like Guinness; certainly he is a peer of Burton. Anyway so in this one lone case, I would choose Mason over March. Mason has the proper sombreness; the delicacy; a sort of fragility. And that marvelous voice.
For humor, I like Jack Carson's presence. Forget what version he was in. But his sardonic jibes were perfect.
The only thing I can heartily agree with about the female leads is that Garland's 'the Man that Got Away' is indeed, colossal. She reprised it at the London Palladium in her later years I believe--when the meds and the drugs had almost ruined her. Thats the version I savor.
Carson was in the Garland version. But I'll watch him in almost anything. I guess part of my bias toward March is that I could fall in love with the guy in that movie. I find Mason already a bit too needy, but March is someone who is a lot of fun, but also vulnerable. You can see what made him a star and why people are still loyal to him and willing to cast him, despite his alcoholism.
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I saw The Favourite, and Olivia's performance is tremendous -- at time repellant, at time profoundly sympathetic and moving. I haven't seen Glenn Close in The Wife yet, so can't judge that, but Meryl won a few years ago for Iron Lady, which wasn't that great a film, but obviously an award for a body of work, so I can understand the disappointment about Glenn.
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On 2/24/2019 at 8:53 AM, TomJH said:
Janet Gaynor's success in the movies, playing that wide eyed innocent in film after film, obviously appealed to a lot of film fans during the late silents and through the early talkie years since she was a top box office star. But her appeal leaves me a little cold, and this applies to her performance in A Star Is Born, too. Judy Garland's performance in the same role years later would blow Gaynor's out of the water even more.
Fredric March, on the other hand, is quite magnificent as Norman Maine. Truth is in, ironically, playing an actor on the decline, March quite possibly never showed more on screen charm than in his early scenes in A Star Is Born. Obviously we have to see the best of Maine in order to appreciate his tragic fall all the more, and March succeeds brilliantly in that respect.
The supporting cast is fine, Adolphe Menjou in particular, as well as a vindictive Lionel Stander, but it's March's touching portrayal of self destructiveness that makes the film worth a repeat viewing. I wonder if John Barrymore ever saw this film and what, if any, momentary impact the Norman Maine portrait may have had upon him, since his own downfall is said to have at least been partial inspiration for the role of the alcoholic film actor.
Of course, 1932's What Price Hollywood (with Lowell Sherman, a long time friend of Barrymore, as a self destructive actor) was the original source for this film, and years before Fredric March had played a John Barrymore parody in The Royal Family of Broadway (Barrymore is said to have loved March's stage portrayal of him in the same property, and told March so back stage).
I think the 1937 Star is Born is really March's show. While I love Gaynor in her silent roles, especially Seventh Heaven and Street Angel, I can't believe that she is really star material in A Star is Born, just someone who was fortunate enough to be discovered when her type of sweetness and charm were the trend in actresses (and that trend didn't last long, as Gaynor herself retired from films not long after ward, while ironically, March remained a big star). March is charming, funny, and ultimately tragic (The great writing also help a lot here; many posters have remarked on the wit of the 1937 screenlay). While James Mason is a fine actor, I don't find him as appealing as March, and obviously, Garland's Esther Blodgett is an unknown whose incredible talent will easily overtake Maine's. One feels that anyone could have discovered her and brought her to the recognition she deserved.
I actually find the spirit of the 1937 film closer to the current remake with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. I actually liked the new version more than I expected, and found that Bradley Cooper's likability and sympathetic qualities made him more akin to March's portrayal than Mason's. Lady Gaga's character is obviously a meteoric talent, but Cooper's character is also clearly someone of great talent, charm, and generosity, whose star is on the wane and who can't overcome his own self-destruction. In both the 1937 and 2018 version film, I feel the real sense of the generosity and sacrifice that the male character is making, perhaps because in both those films the part of the male is better written. The 1954 film is overbalanced in favor of Garland; Mason truly is just an adjunct, a "Mr. Vicky Lester."
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On 2/24/2019 at 4:13 PM, TomJH said:
Dodge City (1939)
Grade "A" Technicolor Warner Brothers western which the studio used to introduce Errol Flynn to the genre. Flynn was concerned that with his accent audiences wouldn't accept him as a cowboy. He needed have worried, for the film would be one of the biggest box office hits of its year, and the studio would periodically cast the actor in seven other westerns over the next decade.
Michael Curtiz is in peak form, this being the kind of large scale film he loved to direct. While the story is ordinary and cliche ridden (a two fisted cattleman becomes sheriff of the wild and woolley Dodge City to bring peace to its streets) everything is presented on a big scale.
The film begins with a race between a stagecoach and a train, well shot by Curtiz and beautifully edited. It's an exciting opening to the film. There will later be such familiar incidents as a cattle stampede, a massive saloon brawl, an angry crowd taking the law into its own hands and a shootout on a train. But all are presented in such lavish style that you can forgive the familiarity of it all.
The saloon brawl, in particular, is on such a lavish scale (and, remember, in vibrant Technicolor) that it must be ranked as a classic of its kind. In fact, the studio would use clips from this brawl to include in a number of their other westerns over the years. It must have been a massive casting call for stunt men, with crashing tables and chairs, in a free for all brawl that must last the better part of five screen minutes (I didn't time it). Ironically hero Flynn is no where to be seen in this sequence. Curtiz has a field day here, as do the stunt men.
The supporting cast is an impressive one, headed by Olivia de Havilland. As per some of their previous films together Errol and Olivia do not get off to a good start in this one. But we know it will be a matter of time before the Flynn charm will work its magic upon her. The two actors do, in fact, share a charming sequence in which they stop to rest in the grass after going horseback riding together. The chemistry between the two actors is potent, Flynn indulges in some charming Irish blarney and it's the kind of light hearted romantic scene that audiences then expected of the pair.
The rest of the cast features Bruce Cabot and Victor Jory among the bad guys that run the town, Frank McHugh as a newspaper editor who will hire Olivia as an assistant (Flynn has a now politically incorrect moment when he tells Olivia she should be home sewing buttons on some man's shirt instead), a disappointingly wasted Ann Sheridan as a dance hall girl, along with Alan Hale and "Big Boy" Guinn Williams as Flynn sidekicks, the first of three westerns in which they would be so cast.
Alan Hale, in particular, has a great scene stealing performance in this film, with an abundance of humour mixed in. One of the highlight scenes has Hale, as a "reformed" man speaking before a temperance league of the town's women while the sounds of the film's big saloon brawl can be heard next door through the wall. When the wall finally breaks down, as the fight invades the temperance meeting, the "reformed" Hale lets out an excited holler and eagerly joins in the fisticuffs.
This is an undemanding fantasy Hollywood western, with Flynn always looking perfect in beautifully costumed clothes. The actor is still convincing as a man of action, however, and it is clear from this film that he knew how to ride a horse. Bottom line: if unexceptional, Dodge City is still a fun film.
SPOILER ALERT: Perhaps the screenwriters were running out of ideas when it came to the film's climax set aboard a train. Good guys Flynn and Hale are taking prisoner bad guy Victor Jory to another town for justice there when chief villain Bruce Cabot shows up to get Jory back. There's a shootout, a fire starts and Cabot and Jory leap on a pair of horses brought by other gang members riding alongside the train outside to make an escape.
This is where it gets dumb. The bad guys on their horses ride in the same direction that the train is travelling! This gives Flynn and Hale the opportunity to shoot them off their horses (which they do)! A suggestion to future bad guys: the next time you're going to escape by horse from a train ride the animals in the opposite direction from which the train is travelling. That way the good guys won't have the chance to blow you out of your saddles!
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"I can't believe these dummies are riding along with the train. Target practice time!"
3 out of 4
When we got our new big screen TV a couple of years back and TCM ran this one, I had to watch it. What fun, and Flynn never looked more gorgeous in glorious technicolor -- the goldarnest handsomest cowboy ever. It was actually one of my youngest kids' favorite movies to watch on an old VHS -- it's really nonstop action, except for the love scene and a couple of comical moments. As an aside, the rival singing between the former Confederates and Yankees in the bar is really just an earlier version of the singing contest between the Germans and the resistance singing the Marsellaise in Casablanca. Curtiz always new how to reuse a good idea.
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My husband's half Italian, and he said back in the day, there was an assumption that Italians weren't quite "white." Basically, any group of immigrants who did not speak English and were slightly darker complexioned were considered nonwhite. However, he loves the Marx Brothers and often mimics Chico's routines. We've always looked at the Marx Brothers as basically anarchists, violating every social convention. We've never looked at their humor in the same way someone may see blackface, for example.
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I am so looking forward to the TCM tribute for him!
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On 1/31/2019 at 10:10 PM, LawrenceA said:
Edge of Doom (1950) - 6/10
Crime drama with Farley Granger as a desperate young man who commits a violent crime and then tries to escape capture. Nice-guy priest Dana Andrews tries to help out. With Joan Evans, Robert Keith, Paul Stewart, Mala Powers, and Adele Jergens. The moral lessons come on too strong, and the film ends up being a commercial for the Catholic Church, which may appeal to some viewers. However, I liked many of the scenes of sweaty desperation and paranoia.
My father attended Catholic University with Leo Brady, the author of the book on which this movie is based. When it came out, it was a real big deal for Catholics at the time, but apparently, the film was a disappointment. Anyway, my dad was also a writer (mostly short stories) but ended up an English teacher, and perhaps had a bit of jealousy of Brady's success.
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18 hours ago, TomJH said:
And let's not forget the charm of Caesar the Parrot.
"Awk, gimme a cracker or I'll leave a gift on your jacket!"
I love this movie and haven't seen it in years! Was it shown on TCM?
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3 hours ago, Janet0312 said:
Deception with Bette Davis and Paul Henreid. Oh, and Claude Rains. You know, I have a hard time trying to figure out which is my favorite Claude Rains film. It isn't easy because he is so good in every single role he ever played. I guess I love him best as Master Larry's pop in The Wolf Man because he gives such great speeches about life and death. But Deception is one of my personal faves because Claude is so wicked. He's so devious. And pompous.
I wondered today if he had purposely lost weight for the role, because, man, he looks great. The other film akin to this one is The Unsuspected. Man, he is just so Claude Rainsey here.
In Deception, I think the poor Paul Henreid character must have lost weight due to that stressful restaurant scene during which Rains is every waiter's nightmare.
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I'm thinking the 3% rule might also apply to musicals, and I happen to be a musical fan. My husband and I were watching the That's Entertainment marathon New Year's Eve and thought about how brilliant it was for the editors of that series to pick the best numbers from musicals so we we don't have to watch the whole damn thing, especially the Esther Williams movies and those dreadful biopics like Words and Music, which are torture to watch in their entirety. Of course, there are the classics like Singin in the Rain, The Bandwagon, and An American in Paris, but very few musicals are of that caliber. The musicals from the early sound era are almost unwatchable. I even think some of the Warners' musicals from the 30s (except for Footlight Parade, 42nd Street, and Goldiggers of 1933) as being in that category, worth it only for the numbers, but not for anything else (how much Hugh Herbert and pre-film noir Dick Powell can anyone stand?). The same goes for those 20th Century Fox efforts with Betty Grable in the 40s. Who needs to give 2 hours of one's life listening to that banal dialogue and watching the same stupid plots?
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17 hours ago, LawrenceA said:
Broadway Bill (1934) - Sports drama from Columbia Pictures and director Frank Capra. Dan Brooks (Warner Baxter) has a cushy job thanks to his wealthy in-laws, but he chucks it all, including his wife (Helen Vinson), to try his hand at horse racing, specifically racing his horse Broadway Bill. Dan is joined by his sympathetic sister-in-law (Myrna Loy) and loyal stable hand Whitey (Clarence Muse). Also featuring Walter Connolly, Raymond Walburn, Douglass Dumbrille, Lynne Overman, Margaret Hamilton, Jason Robards Sr., Charles Lane, Clara Blandick, Ward Bond, Lucille Ball, Charles Middleton, Alan Hale, and Frankie Darro.
I'm not crazy about horse pictures, and this was no exception. Baxter is obnoxious, and most of the supporting cast is unremarkable. I liked Loy, as usual, but not enough to enjoy the rest of the film. Capra didn't care for this movie, either, and remade it in 1950 as Riding High to try and correct his perceived failures with this earlier version. I haven't seen the later film. (5/10)
I'm rather partial to this film and wish TCM would show it again. Warner Baxter has a manic intensity which is almost tragic in this one, and Myrna Loy is exceptional as the woman who loves him, but tries to keep her emotions under wraps until the end. A slight spoiler alert -- this is mis-billed as a comedy. Anyway, this movie is far superior to the remake with Bing Crosby.
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7 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
I watched a lot of THAT'S DANCING! when it aired the next morning, I had never even heard of it. it was nice that even though it was MGM produced and focused, they took the time to look at dance numbers from other studios (Warners featured prominently) and included a lot of modern scenes including some from music videos (BEAT IT, a goofy scene from FAME, and a scene from FLASHDANCE where they (correctly) give credit to Jennifer Beals's stand in for her climactic WHAT A FEELING number)
the three primary hosts were BARYSHNIKOV (who was MAKING LOVE TO ME with his EYES), a blue-blocker donning GENE KELLY and a mulleted, oddly subdued LIZA MINELLI standing in the middle of Times Square and wearing a black sable coat with a two foot tall collar.
I saw Barishnikov about 20 years ago in a one man show that my sister gave me birthday tickets for. He performed part of the show in a pair of red briefs. Both of us agreed we should have gotten closer seats. Not only was he still gorgeous and in great shape, he did a dance with a rolling office chair that reminded me of one of Astaire's numbers with a prop.
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3 hours ago, DougieB said:
Ingrid Bergman has the best drunk scene I've ever seen on film. So often actors playing drunk go in the direction of blurred speech and exaggerated movements. In Ingrid's case we seem to see blurred thinking as she struggles to keep not her words but her thoughts in line. Her drunkenness came from a very interior place and wasn't the usual outward show. An amazing performance.
Both her performance and Grant's come from the interior. Love the moment when she's basically chewing her hair as she wakes up, so natural. She is one of my favorite actresses, perhaps because she's not "actress-y." Even Rains, who can be the ham, is exceptional.
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Notorious is my favorite, perhaps because it is such a "small" film, really focused on three main characters, Cary Grant's, Ingrid Bergman's, and Claude Rains'. The closeness of it, especially the love scenes, focus on the intimacy between the characters, and yet in that intimacy, multiple betrayals. Hitchcock was one of the few directors who could bring out the darker side of Cary Grant in a way that was extremely compelling.
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4 minutes ago, TomJH said:
Would you settle with seeing Lawrence dressed in scrubs?
Sorry, but I've seen too many posts on message boards from guys claiming to look like Errol Flynn, Hugh Jackman, George Clooney, etc., etc. I need to see the real McCoy.
Of course, I look just like the charming young brunette in my TCM profile pick!
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9 hours ago, TomJH said:
How fortunate Flynn was to have been able to cash in on his shared good looks with you, Lawrence.
That doesn't help me get through The Green Light any better, however, especially with all the sanctimony that Cedric Hardwicke's pious character insufferably brings to this medical soap opera.
On Hardwicke's character, the same here. Although I'd go to my end gladly as Spring Byington does if the last thing I see is a solicitous Errol dressed in scrubs. Also, my hope through the whole flick was that he'd end up with Margaret Lindsay. Anita Louise was just a blonde cipher. Good thing she didn't get to be Maid Marian.
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On 12/11/2018 at 7:03 PM, Dargo said:
Yeah, maybe if Olivia would start hangin' with Betty White a while, she'd get used to those swear words.
(...yep, Betty would sure loosen her up, alright)
You haven't seen those Warner blooper reels where the words "S-o-B" drop so prettily from Olivia's lips when she blows her lines?
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1 hour ago, TomJH said:
All those Power films you have recorded are worth viewing, Speedy.
But since you're a Flynn fan you might be particularly interested in The Mark of Zorro to compare Power as a swashbuckler to Flynn. Not only does the film have a magnificent, fast paced duel with Basil Rathbone, but Ty is extraordinarily effective playing Don Diego, fop by day, and Zorro, masked avenger of the common folk by night.
As you're watching you might also speculate how Errol would have fared in the same role. Could he have pulled off the fop scenes? We'll never know but Power certainly does, and he does so with a subtle humour that is most delightful.
I don't think Flynn could have pulled off the fop masquerade. Contrary to those who say Flynn, compared to action heroes of today, comes off as "effeminate," I think he's much too innately masculine. I'm a Power fan, too, but feel that Flynn just exudes masculine sex appeal. I also think that Flynn had a certain insecurity (if you've read is autobiography and biographies on him, you'll see this) which may have prevented him from taking on that type of role early in his career. Flynn was also more of a "studio product"; I think Warner's had a lot to say about his image. Power's playing at effeminacy fairly early in his career is a fairly big risk as an actor, and Nightmare Alley was another risk, taken fairly early in his career. His early death was truly a loss of someone who could have been recognized as one of America's finest actors if his career continued. I believe that the heart attack was definitely from a hereditary condition. I wouldn't even chalk it up to smoking. Our favorite fencer/villain, Basil Rathbone, was often photographed on set with a ciggie hanging from his lip, and he managed to stay active until a fairly ripe old age.
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4 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
I watched THE KENNEL MURDER CASE on HULU, and then all the rest of the VANCE MOVIES autoplayed as I puttered about and did some other things, so I caught parts of them.
I was very disappointed in the BASIL RATHBONE one- not because of Basil- but because it was SO POORLY SHOT! The sound seemed to be from an Edison Cylinder and I turned it off during an INTERMINABLE STATIC LONG SHOT of VANCE talking to the police OUTSIDE with natural light and you can barely hear a word of it. Was this one a SUPER early talkie?
The mystery of the PAUL LUKAS as VANCE picture was, for me, just what in the Hell Lukas was saying throughout. I would've given anything for a scene where he gathers the suss-pects in the Library and the following exchange takes place:
VANCE: Or vaSS our keeler in fahkt murly vaddling along INiss GRDANVODDER'S VOOTSCHTAPPS?"
SUSS-PECTS: (in bewildered unison) WHAT?!
VANCE: VOOTSCHAPS! VOOTSCHTAPS! (stomps ANGRILY in place)
SUSS-PECTS: Oh, "footsteps, got it..."
I'm a big Rathbone fan, but I could never sit through the The Bishop's Murder Case. I don't know who filmed it, but it seemed mostly people's backs, and shots with the tops of their heads barely showing. The prints were always abysmal and the dialogue unintelligible (quite a feat, since Rathbone is known for his precise elocution). I think the Warren William flicks are better, but they have that nice B-level Warner's snap.
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On 12/7/2018 at 8:35 AM, TomJH said:
Bruce had one too.
I saw this movie, but can't remember the name. It got bad reviews, but I remember enjoying it.
Fill me in, Tom.
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On 11/22/2018 at 9:25 PM, TomJH said:
The Woman in Green (1945)
One of the last of Universal's Sherlock Holmes Bs, this item has the Baker Street sleuth involved in a series of grisly finger murders, in which a digit is surgically removed from the hand of a number of women found murdered in the streets of London. Is it the act of a fiend or is there some kind of method to the madness?
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce play Holmes and Watson for the third last time in this outing, which I think is the last of the series with a few memorable moments. A superbly understated Henry Daniell appears as Professor Moriarty, the third actor in the Holmes series to play the role (the others being George Zucco and Lionel Atwill). Rathbone would later write that he regarded Daniell as the best of the Moriartys.
Also memorably cast in the film is Hillary Brooke as a hypnotist involved with Moriarty in the case. Brooke's icy regal beauty and sophistication are perfect for the part. Highlight of the film comes at its climax when Holmes allows himself to be hypnotized by Brooke, placing himself in peril in the process, of course.
SPOILER ALERT: One of my favourite moments in the film occurs at the end. After one character has fallen to his death and Watson comments upon what a horrible way it was to die, a coldly impassive Holmes quickly responds, "Better than he deserved."
The Woman in Green is a B, to be sure, with its limited budget particularly apparent in a clearly painted city landscape in one major scene. However director Roy William Neill is an old hand at this kind of material and the smooth professionalism of the cast makes this film a fun show.
2.5 out of 4
This is one of my favorite Holmes films of the Universal series. It's also one in which Holmes is definitely not an asexual character, as there is clear chemistry between him and Hillary Brooke's character. I think this is also the one in which Holmes is in a bar and describes the female character's "lustrous eyes." Rathbone always has an undertone of sexiness and a worldly wise character, which you don't see in the Jeremy Brett version. Perhaps not entirely faithful to Conan Doyle, but most appealing to watch.
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This story is related to the new book by Robert Matzen which is to be released later this winter, which is also written up in the TCM site. He also wrote Fireball, which was about Carole Lombard, focusing on the tragic plane crash in which she died, and a wartime bio of Jimmy Stewart, Mission. I'm a fan of his Errol and Olivia. I'm actually looking forward to this new book. Matzen's a good writer with some interesting takes on his subjects, and he really does his research. Dutch Girl might be the breakthrough book for him.
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4 hours ago, kingrat said:
I can't exactly recommend Life Begins in College, but it gave me a chance to see the Ritz Brothers, whom I had never seen, and enjoy the comic talents of Joan Davis. The film is obviously suggested by the story of Jim Thorpe (not a well-known figure today, but famous at the time). The humor and the references to Native Americans are so politically incorrect, according to the sensibilities of today, that you may be deeply offended or you may laugh yourself silly at the extreme political incorrectness.
The Ritz Brothers are a kind of combination of the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges. Life Begins in College seems inspired by Horse Feathers, and Straight, Place, and Show by A Day at the Races. It was great to see a young and svelte Ethel Merman. I saw the last half hour of Kentucky Moonshine; most of the references to the popular music of the day would be lost on a modern audience.
Despite the political incorrectness, I found the Ritz brothers incredibly funny. My husband's just back from the hospital and almost lost a few stitches. They were also terrific dancers -- some of their musical numbers are amazing. Harry's rubber face and drag acts were a scream. I'm ashamed I laughed so hard. I can see why Mel Brooks admired them; like him, they pushed the extremes of taste to get a gag.
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16 minutes ago, jakeem said:
Not really.
Except for Cary Elwes, who is paying a kind of comic homage through Mel Brooks' Men in Tights, the others are pale imitations. Kevin Costner with his midwestern twang? Alan Rickman steals the picture from him handily. The dour and pudgy middle-aged Russell Crowe in Robin Hood: The Legend Begins? So when is the next part of the story -- when he starts collecting Medicare? The aging and wistful Sean Connery in Robin and Marian might be a better telling of that tale.
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A Star is Born (1937) First Time Viewing
in General Discussions
Posted
I don't know if Carson is my favorite, but he is one of the character actors that I really enjoy. There's something refereshing about his crassness and honesty. In Mildred Pierce, I almost wish she ended up with him instead of Zachary Scott because at least Carson's honest about his bad intentions. The last time I wept at a star's death when when James Garner passed (oh and I shed a few tears for Mary Tyler Moore, but more for the memories of her TV show).