faceinthecrowd

Sometimes the Academy manages to get it right. My top five Oscar-winning pictures are: The Lost Weekend All the King's Men All About Eve On the Waterfront The Silence of the Lambs Others that won, and deserved to: Grand Hotel It Happened One Night West Side Story Lawrence of Arabia A Man for All Seasons Midnight Cowboy The Godfather The Sting Amadeus

The last time I checked, Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole held the record for most Oscar nominations without winning one. And I believe that Thelma Ritter holds that record for supporting performances. At least they got the recognition of nominations. But I'll never get over the fact that Edward G. Robinson never got even that nod. I'm not counting honorary awards here. Speaking of which, when Alfred Hitchcock was finally given one (honorary, that is), he went up to the podium, said -- and here you have to imagine his voice dripping with sarcasm -- "Thank you." Then he walked off without saying another word.

Has anyone mentioned Irene Dunne? THE AWFUL TRUTH and THEODORA GOES WILD. And Leonard Bernstein deserved one for his score for ON THE WATERFRONT. I guess the Academy doesn't like dissonant music. Maybe they prefer the kind that Sydney Greenstreet liked in THE HUCKSTERS: "On the beat! OVER THERE, OVER THERE...."

People would be lured -- suckered is a better word -- into watching it because of the director and the two stars. Which just proves that the talent involved is no guarantee of a good picture. And it wasn't ordinary, it was atrocious.

My vague recollection is that this was a running gag: all through the picture the guy keeps asking people, "WHY must the show go on?" Nobody has an answer. Finally someone tells him, "Because if it didn't, we'd have to give everyone their money back." And he says, "Oh!"

To JonnyGeetar and HollywoodGolightly: Maybe it's not a coincidence that some of the greatest films were made during times of economic depression and war. And in 1948 all people had to worry about was the Cold War and the threat of nuclear annihilation. But I digress. I think de Havilland should have won the Oscar for her performance, which conveyed the misery and the terror of mental illness.

Another Hitchcock bio by Donald Spoto -- unless it's the same book reissued under another title -- is "The Dark Side of Genius." It's one of the best biographies I've ever read, of a filmmaker or of anyone else. Robert Lewis Taylor's "W. C. Fields: His Follies and Fortunes" may be too credulous concerning some of Fields' tall tales, but it's a fascinating read.

I was intrigued by your mention of NUMBER SEVENTEEN. I bought the Laserlight DVD that contains that film and another silent, THE RING. They're both great examples of Hitchcock's skill at telling a story visually -- especially crucial in a silent. The first few minutes of NUMBER SEVENTEEN show how influenced he was by German Expressionism -- it's startling and mesmerizing.

In one forum I tried to register as Rupert Pupkin, but the name had already been taken. Great minds think alike.

My favorite Garbo film is QUEEN CHRISTINA. The first time a closeup is shown, it takes my breath away -- literally. It makes me feel that this is why movies were invented. And there's the scene where she kisses her lady in waiting on the mouth, and later, when her counsellor tells her she mustn't die an old maid, she says, "I have no intention to. I shall die a bachelor!" Hmmm.... And, of course, the last shot -- one of the most famous fadeouts in movie history.

Probably the first movie that everyone thinks of in connection with Frank Morgan is THE WIZARD OF OZ, and he was perfect in it. He was also a delight in BOOM TOWN, where he was constantly being suckered into bankrolling the wildcat ventures of Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable. After one such incident he managed to get tangled up in some flypaper, and his cry of, "Oh, I'm -- stuck again!" is hysterically funny.

From THE PRODUCERS (1968): Franz Liebkind (German for "Love Child") (Kenneth Mars) Roger DeBris (Christopher Hewitt) Carmen Ghia (Andreas Voutsinas) Lorenzo St. DuBois (LSD) (Dick Shawn) And in MR. SKEFFINGTON, the given name of the title character (Claude Rains) is Job! Very symbolic, but what a name to give a kid --a harbinger of a bright future. Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 13, 2010 7:35 AM

I should have noted that the movie in which Ben Gazzara (I misspelled his name) appears as Jocko DeParis was released as THE STRANGE ONE. It was based on Calder Willingham's novel, END AS A MAN. It was the debut of Gazzara and George Peppard.

In the movie, W. C. Fields gave instructions on how to pronounce Sous?: "Accent grahve over the e." (Actually, it's an accent acute.) And in one movie he read a telegram to his troupe of players, then ad libbed: "Signed, Snead Hearn." (Which he enunciated lovingly.) And he used the name Charles Bogle as a screenwriting credit, although his "screenplays" were often just notes scribbled on an envelope. I've read that some of these names were real ones that Fields noted on signs and store fronts during his travels in his vaudeville days. But Sous? sounds too good to be true. Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 12, 2010 7:27 PM Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 13, 2010 1:38 AM Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 13, 2010 1:44 AM

I made some mistakes, too: I misspelled Ben Gazzara's name, and I forgot that the movie was released as THE STRANGE ONE. After doing a little research I now know that it was the film debut of Gazzara and George Peppard. The getup I spoke of, which Gazzara wore off base, consisted of his military cap, a Hawaiian shirt, Bermuda shorts, long socks held up by garters, and a cigarette holder. It was a fetching outfit.

Wackford Squeers is magnificent. I'm also fond of the name of David Copperfield's stepfather, Mr. Murdstone. And going back to Mr. William Shakespeare's Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor, we find: Mistress Quickly.

The movie with Ben Gazarra, set in a military academy, is END AS A MAN, based on a novel by Calder Willingham. Gazarra's getup in that film is something to see. Maybe someone can find a photo.

To visual feast: Ben Quick is good -- I forgot about him. To mrroberts: DR. STRANGELOVE slipped my mind -- it's a rich source of names. Peter Sellers plays the title character, and Lionel Mandrake, and the President, Merkin Muffley. (I won't sully this fair page with the definition of merkin.) Also, 'Buck' Turgidson (George C. Scott), 'King' Kong (Slim Pickens), and Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden). You mentioned Bat Guano -- he's the one who said to Mandrake: "You know what I think? I think you're a deviated prevert." (Sic!) The action on the ground takes place at Burpelson Air Force Base. To: ALL In CATCH-22: Gen. Dreedle (Orson Welles) Nurse Duckett (Paula Prentiss) Major Major Major Major (Bob Newhart) Aarfy Aardvark (Charles Grodin) Milo Minderbinder (Jon Voight) And Crazy (Anne Archer in THE HONKERS), and Jocko de Paris (Ben Gazarra in END AS A MAN). Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 10, 2010 10:39 PM Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 10, 2010 11:40 PM

True, there are things that the viewer may not notice consciously. But I'll listen for the footsteps the next time I see the picture. And there's a lot of great dialogue here: "He's not as tough as he thinks." "Neither are we." "After what happened to Luther, I don't think we could get more than a couple of hundred guys." And Robert Shaw: "We have to discourage this sort of thing -- do you follow?"

As much as I enjoyed watching Lee Marvin -- in other movies, not especially in CAT BALLOU -- I have to agree that Rod Steiger should have taken it. And how about THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH for best picture? Instead of HIGH NOON?!

John Wayne is the kind of actor who is easy to underrate. He doesn't SEEM to be doing much. But in THE ANGEL AND THE BADMAN, look at the suppressed pain in his face when he's asked about his friend who was killed in a gunfight, and the way he says, "Knew him."

Cooper's first Oscar, for SGT. YORK, has to be understood as a wartime movie that met the emotional needs of the country. I think he should have been Oscared for MEET JOHN DOE -- I don't know who won that year -- because he went from being the happy innocent to being "introduced to deeper obligations," as it was put in BECKET. And HIGH NOON? I have absolutely no problem with his award for that picture. It was a first rate performance.

My favorite names for characters are: Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck) in BALL OF FIRE Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK Shack (Ernest Borgnine) and A Number One (Lee Marvin) in EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE Bullseye (Jack Webb) in THE SCAR Can you add to this list? No cartoon characters, please -- only people. Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 10, 2010 10:55 AM Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 10, 2010 11:39 AM

Thank you, Jonny, I'm blushing. Although I disagree about Jezebel -- as George Brent said to Bette, "Ah'm most poignantly delighted to see you, Miss Julie -- most poignantly delighted!" I certainly agree about Margaret Sullavan: she should have won for something -- if not Three Comrades, then The Shop Around the Corner. And this is as good a place as any to add a couple of scary performances: Carrie Snodgress in Murphy's Law Billie Whitelaw in The Omen Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Feb 9, 2010 7:18 PM

How true. And I just realized that I made an unintentional pun. Milland to bartender: "I'll have a double." (Bartender gives him two Oscars.) Milland: "I'll give one of these to Jane Wyman."