misswonderly3

It's a little-known fact that Deborah Harry's real first name was Martha.

I do not have trouble understanding what I read. I in fact have never even seen the film in question on this thread, and for all I know it is as unrealistic as you say it is. What I was responding to was your flat unequivocal statement, "The French don't know how to make movies". This opinion seemed to be based on the one movie in question, Elevator to the Gallows . Perhaps you did not intend it to sound that way, but it certainly looked as though you were basing this opinion on that one film. No matter how bad or unrealistic the movie was, it's beyond generalizing to say the French don't know how to make movies because of your ill regard of one French film. Now if you meant that Elevator to the Gallows was just one example of many French films you've seen, all of which strike you as poorly made, unrealistic, and technically incompetent, and if you'd cited other French films and other examples of what you mean, I'd have taken your statement more seriously (although not agreed with it. )

I always thought that was a dumb option anyway. Why would you want to ignore anyone? I never once used that function. For one thing, I never felt that angry at anyone. For another, even if I had, I would be too curious to know what they were saying to "ignore" them. If I were someone famous for my work -acting, singing, writing, whatever - I'd be one of those people who'd want to read all the reviews, even the bad ones. Edited by: misswonderly on Mar 30, 2011 4:05 PM

Actually fred's criticism of this film had for me the opposite effect of what he intended, which was presumably to warn people to avoid it. I missed it the other night, and now I'm really hoping they'll screen it again soon. However when I entered it in the tcm search the film came up, but no date for it. Guess I lost my chance. Anyone know any other way to see this movie?

> {quote:title=cujas wrote:}{quote} > I think of all the women who fronted bands--Chrissie Hynde & The Pretenders, Katrina & the Waves and Martha & The Motels. At first when I read "Martha and the Motels" I thought you meant Martha and the Muffins, an early 80s "new wave" band fronted by a woman. But the Muffins were a Toronto-based group. If you lived in Toronto in the early 80s they were one of the cool bands to go see. I remember wearing a Martha and the Muffins button, and thinking I was so new wave. Their biggest hit was Echo Beach . For a while you heard it on the radio everywhere (everywhere in Ontario, anyway.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmWxUGStTj4 Edited by: misswonderly on Mar 30, 2011 11:22 AM

> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote} > The Japanese, the Italians, and the Germans would never show a killer climbing up a rope in the front of an office building on a busy street in Paris. > > Can you name any Japanese, Italian, or German film in which this happened? Oh, I forgot...of course, one scene in one French film serves as the example of how all French films are rubbish.

A+, Robbie. A lot of American movies are filmed in Canada. Vancouver and other parts of British Columbia, as you said; also Alberta, lots of Westerns were and still are made there; and of course Toronto, Ontario (my home town, btw) has been the location for many films, American and Canadian. Toronto is also the home of the Toronto Film Festival, one of the most celebrated and popular film festivals in the world. It's held every September.

Well, filmlover, my vanity has received a hit, and perhaps that's a good thing for me. I've been posting here for quite a while now, and I mention all things and people Canadian at almost every opportunity. To the point where I wouldn't be surprised if some people roll their eyes and go "Does she have to mention that (fill in actor/director/comedien /singer ) is Canadian every time? " So, what part of Canada are you from?

(heavy sigh.) Well, it's deja vu all over again.

Yeah, Rick Mercer really knew how to make his neighbours to the south look silly. I'm impressed you know about that show, TikiSoo. To be fair, I think Mercer deliberately set things up and selected "person on the street" interviews that were likely to produce those kinds of results -ie, absymal and hilarious ignorance of their Canadian neighbour. Most Americans I've met are a little more knowledgeable about Canada than Rick Mercer's random folks. What's both fascinating and frustrating for me is how much more Americans know about Mexico than Canada. Even northern Americans pay a lot more thought and attention to their neighbours to the south than their neighbours to the north. And yet, I'm pretty sure that given the choice of living in either Canada or Mexico, most Americans would choose Canada. (Of course, you do have to learn how to cross country ski to get around in the 11 month winter. And we're very proud of our one university, especially its new faculty of beer study. )

FredCDobbs apparently wrote: "...The French don't know how to make movies. " I say "apparently" because I can't believe even you really wrote that, Fred. I mean, come on, that's a patently ridiculous thing to say. I know you're not crazy about foreign films, and I do respect your straightforward, "pull no punches" style. But that statement is just plain silly, and I think you know it is.

Hey, that song I Wear My Sunglasses at Night is by some Canadian guy, can't recall his name right now. A long way from the 80s...The Incredible String Band were the ultimate British ( Scottish, actually ) hippy dippy trippy band, the kind who had their flowing-robed, flower-wearing girfriends on their album covers and who lived in a berry-growing commune somewhere (well, I made that last part up.) They were pretty twee, but also kind of good, in their hippy dippy trippy way. Here's one of their most British hippyish tunes, The Hedgehog Song :

chaney7, if you'd read my post completely you would have seen an edit I added, which said: "...Actually, it just struck me, maybe by "original product" you meant the actual original film celluloid, in which case, I guess it wouldn't affect that. I thought you meant it wouldn't affect the look and feel of the movie. If you meant the former, my apologies." I'm glad to know the "colourization" process wouldn't alter the original film. But I still am at a complete loss as to understanding why anyone would want to see a colourized version of an old movie that was made in black and white. kidhendrix made a point I was thinking of making, which is, colourizing a b and w film is to cinema what modernizing Shakespeare's plays is to literature. I do recognize the purpose behind both, which is to interest people who find Shakespeare or black and white films inaccessible as they are. But I think there should be some other way to accomplish this. In both cases, it takes both the art and the heart out of the original. Also, I still believe that if someone has any interest in "classic" films, they will watch them whether they are in black and white or not.When I first started watching old movies I too was used to mostly colour films, but the b and w, far from hindering me from pursuing them further, had the opposite effect. They were mysterious, from another world and another time. Colourizing them would not only subtly alter the original cinematographer's or director's intention, it would diminish that ineffable out-of-time quality they have. Edited by: misswonderly on Mar 29, 2011 12:11 AM

Nothing's wrong with it. I don't quite follow you. Why would you think I was suggesting there was something wrong with being Canadian, simply because I noted that Scarlet Johansen had been married to one? In my hubris, I fondly imagined most regular posters knew by now that I am Canadian, and that I never miss an opportunity to point out the Canadian -ness of anyone mentioned on these boards who shares my nationality. It's because I have a theory - unscientifically based on personal observation - that Americans know very little about Canada and Canadians, and I always enjoy enlightening them. I suspect some people- possibly even some fellow Canadian posters here- may find this annoying, but there you go.

But Sean Penn is very sexy. And as for the age difference, what else is new? (ps -before Sean, Scarlett Johansen was married to Ryan Reynolds, a Canadian. )

I like Morrisey's wobbly dance moves there. You know, you're too polite. If you don't like Paul McCartney, I don't mind if you say so. I'm used to it, everyone despises him. I fully expect people to not like him -solo, that is. Edited by: misswonderly on Mar 28, 2011 2:02 PM

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote} > It really is a noir. Is it usually classified as such? finance, I thought we'd worked this out: any film made after 1940 that stars Joan Crawford is officially designated a " JOAN-O-DRAMA".

And Jeanne Crain is very good as Glenn's wife. She really communicates the "no, not again" hopeless kind of feeling that comes over the family whenever the "fastest gun alive" matter comes up in whatever town they're in, and how they can never "settle down" because of it.

Of course it affects the original product. This idea falls into the same category as the one somebody had about adding dialogue to silent movies. And if someone is disinclined to watch a black and white film, they clearly don't care about old movies, and colourizing it isn't going to change that. You could colourize all you want, and it's not going to get someone who doesn't watch old movies to change their minds about them. I can never understand why so many people who seemingly love old "classic" movies suggest these kinds of changes. And yet we also get an inordinate number of people complaining about new movies. I've got an idea...let's leave old silent and /or black and white movies alone, appreciate them for the cinematic beauties they are, and just try to be more open to current movies, which, surprise ! - have sound and are in colour ! Edited by: misswonderly on Mar 28, 2011 11:07 AM Actually, it just struck me, maybe by "original product" you meant the actual original film celluloid, in which case, I guess it wouldn't affect that. I thought you meant it wouldn't affect the look and feel of the movie. If you meant the former, my apologies.

I own *Detective Story*. I agree with you all, it 's obvious it's made from a play. I don't usually like that, but they pull it off in this film. And Kirk has never been more Kirk-like, which is to say intense.

Oh, johnbabe, I wasn't actually comparing Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman, their common country of origin notwithstanding. They're very different, from different eras, and I like them both. I just brought up the sacred name of GRETA GARBO to tease you, in a friendly way. I knew if I mentioned the mysterious one's name I'd get a reaction ! (Does this make me a troll? ) Neither of those ladies irritates me. I do prefer Ingrid, and although I said I wasn't comparing them, since it's come up, I would go so far as to say, Greta's cold, Ingrid's warm. I know Garbo made many steamy love scenes etc,, but Ingrid Bergman comes across as warm and human, Garbo as cool and goddess-like. Anyway, I had to come to Ingrid's defense - you were dissing her performance in that wonderful scene from *Notorious* . Edited by: misswonderly on Mar 28, 2011 10:58 AM

The much dissed solo Paul McCartney was actually pretty good sometimes. "Is", don't know why I used the past tense. *No Other Baby* is an obscure but just fine little song. I'm posting the original, by some ancient British band called The Vipers. It's just ok, nothing that would stick in your brain. But along comes Paul McCartney who covers it and absolutely nails it. In the hands of the Vipers, it's just some pleasant little ditty like a thousand others recorded at that time. When Paul does it, he slows the tempo, ups the intensity, plays up the melody that was hiding in the Vipers' version, and you've got a fantastic love song. (Well, thinks I, anyway.) Vipers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=502WqzqLu6s&feature=related Paul: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNBdsGBKX94 Don't know why he thinks he's more effective in a rowboat. Edited by: misswonderly on Mar 28, 2011 10:32 AM Edited by: misswonderly on Mar 28, 2011 10:33 AM

But we seemed to have switched over to current actors. For some reason I thought it was mostly going to be about actors from the "classic" era. You almost need a separate thread for actors people find irritating today .

> {quote:title=infinite1 wrote:}{quote} > I don't know about favorite, but for me the least favorite are the gimmicky or unrealistic dances that involve dancing on furniture and the sort. Well, those aren't the most memorable of the Fred Astaire dance routines, but they have their place. The " gimmicky" ones are almost always just Fred without a partner -dancing with a coat rack, a hat, his own shadow, dancing on the ceiling, etc. I suspect that Fred got a little bored sometimes, or, if not exactly bored, let's say he was always searching for something new and different, new challenges, something to shake up the usual tap numbers (which was the kind of dancing he usually did solo.) The fact that he didn't really attempt the "gimmicky" numbers when he was working with a partner suggests to me that he didn't take them as seriously as the other kind of dancing at which he so excelled.

I've seen *The Fastest Gun Alive* ! I thought it was really good. I don't remember all the details, as I did not catch it the other night but saw it two or three years ago. But the fact that I remember it at all is testament to how good this little film was; I see a lot of movies, and if they're not very good, they don't stick in my brain. Glenn Ford was in a lot of Westerns, and I think the genre really suited him. Something interesting about Glenn Ford westerns: often there's something a bit different about them, they don't follow a formula, they're kind of quirky and off-beat. *The Fastest Gun Alive* is a perfect example - Glenn admits in the end that he's no gunfighter, just a phenomenally quick shot, and yet he wins the gunfight . I also like the film because it refuses to re-enforce the stereotype about gun slingers and what they are like. Other " off-beat" Glenn Ford westerns: *Lust for Gold, Jubal, 3:10 to Yuma, The Sheepman* . He doesn't play the same kind of character as the one in *Fastest Gun Alive*, but in some way they're all "different" from the usual western.