misswonderly3

Sorry, NandN, I'm not sure whether you mean you saw this movie or not. If you have seen it, I'm interested to hear what you have to say about it. If you haven't, did you mean you plan to soon, but haven't yet? I too am a huge Cate Blanchett fan. She's actually Australian, but I suppose she's made a lot of American movies, so fair enough with the "gift to the American film industry". (Sorry, maybe you already knew that, I didn't mean to come across as know-it-all-ish.) Whatever her associated nationality, she's very beautiful, almost radiantly so, and very talented. I like almost every movie I've seen her in (except, actually, for "Benjamin Button". But I won't go into that unless you've seen it.)

Depends on the buttocks.

's'ok, dgf, if I had any closet to come out of , I'd have done it here ages ago. Perhaps it was a Freudian slip, and you were really thinking you'd like to kick me "out" of the boards here. But I'm not really worried you wanted to do that, either.

Dry your eyes, fi baby. I found your youtube site, and I love it !

All of the above are as you say, quite creepy visuals. But the one that stands out for me the most, the one that makes me feel kind of frightened when I think about it, even after the movie's over, is that fourth scene you cite, "the woman ghost in the weeds..." What makes it particularly chilling is that the figure is still there, even after Miss Giddens looks away. Usually with this kind of ghost scene, the protagonist sees a ghost , looks away, and then when they look back, the specter is gone. So there's something especially eerie about the fact that the woman dressed in black is still there, even when the governess looks away and then back again. It makes the ghost seem real; it also makes the ghost seem somehow more malevolent; she almost seems to be staring steadily at Miss Giddens. This really contributes to the uncanny atmosphere of the entire scene.

That sentiment always reminds me of this great song. It's been covered by many, but here's the original:

You oughtta know, PeckirFan, baby .

Yes, David Bowie and Prince were great; but they weren't the only ones who "kept rock and roll on a high level after the Beatles broke up". There were many great musicians and songwriters who created superlative music. But I don't want to be argumentative; I don't think you were actually saying Bowie and Prince were the only ones, maybe you were just saying that they both certainly played an important part in keeping the banner of pop /rock music held high.

Well, since Kipling's "Riki Tiki Tavi" is under discussion, it seems a great excuse to post this quirky song by Donovan.

No ! The same? I'm so glad you shared that gem of arcane information with us, we'd never have known otherwise.

Perceptive analysis, speedy. Yes, you're right, the whole "woman must be perfect" idea has been deeply a part of society's concept of the female. And not just Western culture, almost all cultures throughout history. I suppose, if this were to go its logical conclusion, that would mean that Georgie's character would have started on "plain" women at some point - after all, women are supposed to be beautiful. I love what you said about psychological thrillers being far more interesting than the slasher kind. So much more to think about with the former kind of movie. Did some part of George want Dorothy to escape? Maybe. Unlike the other women he'd killed (except of course for poor Rhonda Fleming), he knew Helen, knew her fairly well as the gentle, intelligent, dedicated young woman who helped with the family household. He'd talked to her many times. Maybe you're right, maybe he had mixed feelings about killing her. Either that or he'd suddenly become quite inept at the art of murder.

Not to mention George Costanza.

But you did. Talk about being an extra on the show, that is. In fact, you talked about that more than about the show.

Aw, come on now, most people are rather fond of the Mank. (nice to think you dedicated an entire poem to him, though. I hear Michael Jackson was a huge Mankiewicz fan...)

Vautrin, I for one, am not under the Queen's rule. Just making sure you know.

SPOILERAMA - IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN "THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE", READ NO FURTHER (although if you haven't seen it, why would you be reading this thread anyway?) Thanks for the highly readable write-up, speed baby. (Your clear writing skills make a nice change from some of the posts we get around here.) Something that, as far as I know, no one here has talked about much, is the psychological sickness of the killer, the obsession he had with what he regarded as "imperfection". It's pointedly mentioned in the film more than once, that the previous victims all had some kind of "defect". I could be wrong, but I believe they were: a scarred face, an "intellectual disability" (what they call in the film, "simple" ), a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair. And then, there's Helen, who cannot speak. It's interesting that all the "flawed" victims were women. Shirley there were one or two men around who possessed some kind of "defect" or disability. Did the killer limit his obsession to rid the world of imperfection to women? Is the onus on women to be "perfect" while it's ok for men to have defects? And then there's poor Rhonda Fleming, who seemed to be perfect but was murdered anyway. I guess her imperfection was that she didn't love George Brent. I don't know how it goes in the book, but the film conveys the idea that Brent's character had always been told that he was "weak", that his father despised him (but democratically, since it's given to understand that he was equally contemptuous of his other son) because he wasn't "manly" in the way his father was (I guess hunting and such are proof of manhood...) So poor old deranged inferior-feeling George gets the idea that if he rids the world of imperfection, eg weakness, (but only in females), this will make him strong and noble, and worthy of taking his father's place. Sounds pretty nutty, but then, Georgie is nutty, as the speech he gives to Dorothy as he's preparing to strangle her proves. By the way, did anyone else think it was pretty darn easy for Dorothy to break free of his manic grip and run up the stairs away from him? and how come he kind of let her, didn't run after her? He could have done so easily. I guess he figured he had plenty of time. Anyway, to get back to my original observation here, it's interesting to ponder that particular obsession the man had with what he saw as imperfection, and how he somehow turned murdering people (just women, though) who were "imperfect" into some kind of noble deed. In his mind, I mean of course. Hey, come to think of it, if that was his thinking process, I'm surprised he didn't try to off Ethel. edit: It struck me upon rereading/editing this post that it sounds kind of smart-azzy, as though I didn't like the film and am finding fault with it. Not so, I'm sorry if it came across that way. In fact I really enjoyed the movie.

Thanks, fi, but I was listening to rockabilly before you were reborn (as a rockabilly fan.)

I still say I admire Prince for just doing what he wanted, publicly acceptable or not. So what if he didn't join the (literal) bandwagon? There's a tendency in our society - now, with the internet and social media, more than ever - to judge people, especially celebrities, if they don't do what everybody else thinks they should do. Prince always went his own way. I know all this fuss about "We Are the World" happened more than 30 years ago, so there's not much sense any of us getting worked up about it now. But there is still - as I said, more than ever- heavy judgement held over celebrities who don't do what most people want them to do, or think they "should" do. Yes, the artists who contributed to "We Are the World" were thinking of the famine in Ethiopia and were genuinely trying to do something to help with that terrible situation. But there was also a kind of pleased-with-themselves aspect to it, that maybe Prince didn't want to join. And I still say the song stunk.

You know, I kind of admire Prince for not participating in the "We Are the World" thing. I skimmed the article you provided here, and I have to say that it sounds to me like the crux of the matter, the real reason why Prince didn't attend the "We Are the World" recording, is because, as Prince put it, "it's a horrible song." Good on you, Prince ! I always thought that song stunk, too, and the fact that some of my favourite artists contributed to it didn't change that. I respect Prince for being true to himself and not jumping on the do-gooding bandwagon of the time. (Not to say that I think efforts to raise funds for starving people is not a worthy cause; for that matter, neither did Prince. He made his own contributions to help poverty-stricken children in his own way.)

Lorna, baby, I did not forget about Pinky, I just didn't have time to post a write -up about two films. And since there's a lot to say about Pinky, I wanted to do it justice by waiting til I had more time to write about it when I had more than two minutes. (I use a stopwatch when I write these posts, it helps control my tendency to be prolix.)

What are you thinking of in particular, other than La Belle et La Bete ? (which certainly qualifies as "other wordly".)

What series? What "television series" are you talking about? You do that a lot, talk about a film or show or whatever without naming it. You shouldn't assume that we all always know whatever it is you're referring to at any given time. Wouldn't it make sense, if you 're making the effort to post about it on the boards anyway, to take an extra few seconds and name whatever movie or show you're talking about? To just say "that show that he directed with Matt Dillon", as though everyone here knows what it is, is kind of annoying.

You didn't ! ! ?? How horrible of you ! I suppose, if you hadn't seen it before and it was a first time viewing for you as well as your parents, one could argue that it wasn't a true spoiler because you were just guessing. But in general, I hate spoilers and I hate it when people commit spoilage on a film.

That's interesting that the book is set in England, Lorna, because my husband (who's from England) commented that he thought maybe the story was originally set in England, because throughout the film the characters refer to the "constable", as opposed to "policeman". "Constable" is the British term for an officer of the law (eg, policeman.)

Last night I did something I rarely do, I watched two movies in a row on TCM (in real time, to boot.) The Spiral Staircase and Pinky. There's a lot to say about both, so for now I'll just talk about the first one. I saw The Spiral Staircase many years ago, on the great TVO show "Saturday Night at the Movies".(fellow Ontarians, you know what I'm talking about.) Never saw it again until last night. I'd entirely forgotten how good the film is. Directed by one of film noir's own, Robert Siodmak, it flirts with noir in its lighting and mood - in fact, the whole of the movie is deliciously noir-ish. However, I'm not sure I'd call it a "noir" as such. It's more a Gothic suspense type of pic. But why worry about labels ? Whatever you call it, it's a fine little movie, with a wonderful performance from Ethel Barrymore (well, yeah, she was the theme of the evening) and sweet Dorothy McGuire. Roles in which people (usually women) can't speak are always kind of interesting, if only to see how others behave around them (a recently aired example of this is "Johnny Belinda".) So we have a beautifully atmospheric setting: I know it's a cliche, but it works, it's fun - a huge old mansion, looks like it's in the middle of nowhere, on a dark and stormy night. I've seen that staircase in a lot of old movies, it's almost like a character itself by now. I don't want to talk much about the plot itself, because that's spoiler territory in this film. I'll just say the fact that Dorothy's character cannot speak plays an important part in the story. Rhonda Fleming and Elsa Lanchester round out a sterling cast, with special kudos going to Miss Lanchester for a small but entertaining part as the family housekeeper with a fondness for brandy. The only slightly flat note in the proceedings is from Kent Smith. Poor old Kent, I like him but I always forget about him as soon as whatever movie he's in is over. He's good in the Cat People movies, but again, not particularly memorable either. I haven't said much about the plot because for me these write-ups are not about plot narration, they're about your impression of the film and whether you liked it or not. So, yeah, I liked The Spiral Staircase. Check it out if you like "psychological thrillers", which is how wiki defines it. Good phrase.