faceinthecrowd
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Posts posted by faceinthecrowd
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Thank you! That seems to do the trick. It's been very frustrating not to be able to put my two cents in. Now I can participate again, not just watch.
I knew it wasn't my browser, because I'm using the same one that I had before this trouble began. Thanks again.
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Interesting that you mention KEEPER OF THE FLAME -- it's my favorite Hepburn/Tracy. Kate has a great monologue there.
And in their first, WOMAN OF THE YEAR, look how they meet: Their editor asks, "Have you two met?"
Tracy: "In a belligerent sort of way."
Hepburn: "He hit me first."
That says a lot about their relationship, on and off screen. And the chemistry is undeniable.
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Try clicking on the icon to the left of the word "Reply." Sometimes that works (but not always).
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What strikes me about the Osborne quote is that he used the word "inspire." It should, of course, be "deter." It's not the same thing at all -- just the opposite, in fact. More grist for the conspiracy theory mills.
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Definitely the Powell-Lombard original. Powell was born to play that role, and no one could be so funny and so sexy at the same time as Lombard. And dialogue like:
"May I be frank?"
"Is that your name?"
"My name is Godfrey."
"Go ahead--be frank."
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In a made-for-TV movie called "The Glass House" (1972) Morrow played a prison inmate who ran a drug dealing operation within the institution, Clu Gulager was an idealistic new guard, and Alan Alda was an inmate doing a one-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter. The script was by Truman Capote.
Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Dec 27, 2009 10:27 PM
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I didn't realize that Gene Kelly was ever cast so much against type. Other shocking casting occurred in:
Secret Agent (1936)
After the Thin Man
Once Upon a Time in the West
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For me, the best thing about the 1933 version is Charlotte Henry as Alice. She also had a major role in The March of the Wooden Soldiers, aka Babes in Toyland. She was a good enough actress, and she was gorgeous.
The wittiest film version of AIW I've seen featured the Bunin Puppets -- I wonder if that's still available in any format. It captures the subversive humor in what was supposedly a children's book.
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I didn't appreciate Barbara Stanwyck at first. I don't remember what opened my eyes; maybe it was Double Indemnity. Some of my other favorites:
The Lady Eve
Ball of Fire
Forty Guns
The Furies
Union Pacific
Golden Boy
Meet John Doe
Christmas in Connecticut
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
And in the TV series, The Big Valley, in which she appeared between the ages of 58 and 62, she put her much younger female co-star in the shade.
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"THERE'S A MOVIE THAT REALLY STANG" -- very funny, and very true. I saw it only once, and that was enough. Great photo, though -- Stang and Strong.
Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Dec 23, 2009 11:12 PM
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First, welcome to ClassicCoCoNUT. And to everyone, whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of the year, have a happy one.
Now, my picks:
A Christmas Carol (aka Scrooge) -- the Alastair Sim version is just as good as its reputation, and more.
The March of the Wooden Soldiers (aka Babes in Toyland) -- one of Laurel & Hardy's funniest movies, and that's saying a great deal.
The Shop Around the Corner -- ah, Margaret Sullavan!
Christmas in Connecticut -- a charming picture.
The Man Who Came to Dinner -- in addition to the thinly disguised real life characters, it has one of the best seduction lines ever: Banjo (Jimmy Durante), leering at the horse-faced nurse: "Come to my room in half an hour -- and bring some rye bread!"
Meet John Doe -- Cooper and Stanwyck, two of my favorites.
It's a Wonderful Life -- but only the first five minutes. After I've seen Gloria Grahame walking down the street I lose interest. Nothing could top that.
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The scene from "A Face in the Crowd" that I always remember is when Lonesome Rhodes, after the mike (today they call it a "mic") is off, mocks his audience as a bunch of nitwits, and Neal, fuming because he's two-timed her, throws the switch that turns the mike back on -- and then, when the crew realizes it and tries to pull her away, holds on with a demented fury that's something to see.
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Neal was perfect as Dominique in "The Fountainhead." Ayn Rand wanted Garbo to play the role, but it wouldn't have been within her range, as Garbo would have been the first to admit.
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"It wasn't released, it ESCAPED!"
Very good! I'd use LOL, but that's been done to death.
Which reminds me: there was an episode of the TV Untouchables in which a man who's been marked for death by the mob is playing Santa Claus for the kiddies. He leaves, and as they watch he's machine-gunned in the street by a hit squad. Ho-ho-ho, indeed.
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Great choice. Although Sturges didn't direct, only he could have written a line like, "The pigs beseech you to accept their fattest hams."
And don't forget Ellen Drew. She makes a most attractive barmaid.
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"Alias Nick Beal" features Ray Milland at his most sinister in the title role, and Audrey Totter at her most alluring. It doesn't seem to be available on DVD.
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Hey, Barack Obama got a grade of B+ for what he's accomplished so far.
Oh, wait -- he gave that grade to himself.
But about Ronald Reagan -- people tend to judge his acting by whether they agree with his politics. Without taking sides on ideology, I think he did good work in KINGS ROW. And I recently saw KNUTE ROCKNE, ALL AMERICAN. Even before the famous deathbed scene ("Win just one for the Gipper") he gave a good reading of a complex character.
What does a star's acting ability have to do with his political leanings? Nothing at all, IMO.
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Jonny,
Wow! I'm stunned that you didn't think Broderick Crawford gave a great (or even a good) performance in ALL THE KING'S MEN. Think of how Willie Stark started out as an idealistic shnook, then, realizing he's been played for a sap, stands up on his hind legs, then uses his power for ends that are sometimes good and sometimes evil. Well, that's all in the book, which is a great one. Did Crawford convey that? I think he did, and brilliantly. But you can't really argue about personal preferences. And I like your user name, too. (BTW, I think Mercedes McCambridge walked away with that film.)
Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Dec 16, 2009 1:21 AM
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I was struck by your reference to Anderson's "interesting sexuality." I wondered whether I was the only one who felt that way. She certainly added some intriguing dimensions to LAURA.
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If you think George Brent wasn't a good actor, see JEZEBEL. And as for Broderick Crawford: ALL THE KING'S MEN.
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THE BIRDS: The ending says that the human race is doomed. "Boids! Doity, disgusting boids! Do you get my drift?"
GWTW: Rhett has had it with Scarlett, and he's not coming back, ever, despite her deluding herself that he will.
CASABLANCA: Rick and Ilsa will probably get together again after the war is over, but not until then, because Victor needs her. As for the Allies (not) blundering into Berlin, that was a shorthand way of Louis needling Strasser about the fact that Germany lost WWI. It was effective, even if not strictly accurate.
Where's the ambiguity?
Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Dec 16, 2009 9:23 AM
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In my original post I somehow neglected to mention the wonderful Claire Bloom.
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Claire Bloom's brilliant performance makes "The Chapman Report" worth watching. And don't miss her in:
"Alexander the Great"
"The Haunting"
"Look Back in Anger"
"The Illustrated Man"
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You've made me want to buy a letterboxed DVD to replace my VHS. But if Marian saw Norman arguing with his mother, isn't that a cheat? Or was Norman the only one she saw?
Oldest film you seen so far?
in Films and Filmmakers
Posted
Friese-Greene's story is told in THE MAGIC BOX (1951), starring Robert Donat and Maria Schell. Leonard Maltin's review of the film refers to him as "the forgotten inventor of movies."