misswonderly3
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Posts posted by misswonderly3
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What, you purposely get up at the ungodly hour of 6 am to catch a flick on tcm? I take my hat off to you ( a fedora, of course.) No, I bet you always get up at 6, rain or shine, and run three times around the block , followed by 50 push-ups and then a refreshing cold shower. Morning people ! ...
I cannot wait for the time change next weekend, when we set the clocks back one hour. That's one more sweet hour I can stay in dreamland. I'm afraid I'll never be such a hard core movie fan as to get up any earlier than I have to just to catch a noir or two.
redriver, thanks for the feedback on *Sidestreet*. That's a good way to put it, it's "a little more wholesome" than They Live by Night. Farley G. doesn't get involved in any armed robbery in this one. Hey, anyone can yield to the temptation to pick up a few thousand bucks just lying around waiting to be "borrowed". I'm not sure that I'd pass the opportunity by -depends; whose money, how was it going to be used, would I get caught etc. I'm not saying I'd do it for sure, but I 'd seriously consider it. My sympathies go out to Farley in this one. (But why does he decide to store the loot in that bar? Very dumb idea.)
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Ok, I noticed all the noir films scheduled today and was going to post about it. There is a thread about it in General Discussions, posted by our noir fan friend, markbeckuaf.
I've seen most of these,except for *Strange Bargain,* which I guess I've missed today. Who watches movies at six o'clock in the morning? Ane yet it's the rarest of the ones being screened today. I kind of wish they'd shown something like *White Heat* (a great film, but one I've seen many times and own) at 6 a.m., and saved *Strange Bargain* for later in the day.
*Side Street* is an unusual little noir film -I enjoy Farley Granger's role in it, along with his sweetheart from *They Live by Night*, Cathy O'Donnell. And Jean Hagen turns in a nice little performance too. I love good bad girls. Anthony Mann does a great job here; watch out for the aeriel shots looking down on all the dinkie toy looking cars in the city streets far below.
I remember being disappointed and even a little bored with *While the City Sleeps* (6:00 pm). Despite the cast -Ida Lupino, Dana Andrews, Vincent Price, George Saunders, Rhonda Fleming - you'd think it would be impossible to go wrong ! - also despite the director -Fritz Lang - I found it hard to stay awake for this one. Maybe tonight I'll try it again, and have a "Hallelujah ! " moment.
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SansFin, i adore so-called "dumb jokes" ! Your Siamese cat (s) joke had me literally laughing out loud !
My cats do not have film character names. However, one is named after that Italian soft drink, "Orangina".
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I recently watched for the second time Jim Jarmusche's funny, bittersweet film *Broken Flowers*. One of the best things about it was the opening theme song, There is an End. And hey, it's by Holly Golightly and the Greenhorns.( Maybe that's how our former TCM boards friend is spending all her time. She's moved up in the world. )
Anyway,this has that classic twangy pop guitar sound that always hooks me; and it somehow seems like a song for November. Have fun trying to read the Spanish translation.
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Looks like the Giants may win the Fall Classic this year. I hope so, because the American League teams usually seem to get it. It's a nice change for one of hte National League teams to win . Still, it ain't over till it's over.
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laffite, I love Mahler. I must admit, I may not have discovered his music on my own-I had help. My father loved classical music, and Mahler was one of his favourtie composers. My dad used to play his classical music (records, of course, back then) on Sunday afternoons.I particularly remember with great affection his sharing Mahler's 4th symphony with me, probably not only because the music is so sweet and comparatively accessible to a young kid, but also because it has a bit of a story to it. The fourth movement of this symphony contains some of the most heavenly music for soprano singing ever.
Here is one version of it:
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I wish I could comment, hamradio, but I still haven't seen *Hallowe'en* or any of its sequels. All I can say is that your favourable opinion of it has caused me to become a little more open-minded about it. Perhaps I'll watch it..next Hallowe'en ! Too late now for this one. Who knows, maybe viewing this film will cause a "Hallelujah ! " moment for me.
I watched *The Curse of the Demon*, which, apparently, is actually entitled *Night of the Demon*. Directed by Jacques Tourneur, it has all the hallmarks of that specialist in "eerie"'s style. I had high expectations for it, and I was not disappointed. Afterwards I read about it -it's listed in one of my "Cult Films" books. This article said that the screenplay was supposed to have been written by Charles Bennett, who had written on numerous occasions for Hitchcock. Due to some kind of mix-up too detailed to go into here, Bennett lost the rights to the story and it was picked up by Hal Chester.
Although it's still a fine film, it's possible it would have been even better if Bennett had maintained control of it. Incidentally, I also read that Tourneur was against "showing" the demon ; he always preferred suggestion of the horrific to showing it. However, he lost out on this to Chester, who was also the film's producer. Chester believed the actual depiction of the monster would bring in the young crowd, ironic considering that those under sixteen weren't permitted to attend such films in Britain anyway.
In any case, Tourneur still managed to create a very effective and chilling "horror" movie of the type at which he excelled. Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, and especially Niall MacGinnis as the gentlemanly but evil Dr. Karswell are all in fine form. A thoroughly enjoyable little movie.
Edited by: misswonderly on Oct 31, 2010 2:28 PM
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XTC made a very unusual but very good album in the early 90s - Nonsuch. Too bad these guys never really took off commercially, there's nobody else like them , they have a unique style in both their lyrics and their music. The most accessible song from Nonsuch was "Peter Pumpkinhead". There is
an official video for it, but I didn't like it. I can't imagine why XTC went along with it -it makes political and historical suggestions that I don't think go with the song at all. So I just posted the version with the album cover. If you follow the lyrics you'll see that this song is both Sundayish and Hallowe'enish at the same time.
"Peter Pumpkinhead" :
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Saay - don't you know, you can't think too highly of Joel McCrea. Plus, his name rhymes so easily.
JOEL McCREA !
JOEL McCREA !
From Frances Dee
He never did stray. (well, maybe he did, but not that I've ever heard of.)
I do agree that he would have been great in more Hitchcock movies .
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Right, who can forget *Young Frankenstein*? Hilarious.
"Perhaps...some Ovaaahltine?"
Edited by: misswonderly on Oct 30, 2010 7:34 PM
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Apparently it is JOEL McCREA'S birthday this Friday -November 5th (also Guy Fawkes day: "please to remember the 5th of November". But I digress.)
Anyway, to honour this auspicious occasion, TCM is showing some Joel McCrea films on Friday - can't recall the exact times, but they include *The Most Dangerous Game,* *Foreign Correspondent*, and *The Palm Beach Story* .
JOEL McCREA !
JOEL McCREA !
An old-fashoned hero
Who often goes "Say..."
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I used to watch foreign films all the time, always going to the local "art" /revue cinema to catch the latest foreign film that had made it to North America. I loved them, I never minded the subtitles, and some of my favourite films are foreign films. Sadly, my "life style" has changed so much since those days that I just don't get a chance to keep up with these often wonderful movies. Also, the "repertory cinema" doesn't really exist as such anymore; not the way it used to anyway. Ah, the reminiscences of a fond and middle-aged film fan. Anyway, here is a brief list of some of my favourite foreign films (bearing in mind that for the reasons given, none of them will be very recent.)
*8 1/2* and *Amarcord* - ya gotta check out Fellini. These are two of his most likable and most accessible. I love them both, and the soundtracks to both films (by the great Nino Rota) are amongst the best movie soundtracks ever.
*The 400 Blows* and *Une Belle Fille Comme Moi* - Francois Truffaut. He made so many films, but these are two that I especially like. Everyone's heard of *The 400 Blows*, fewer know about *Une Belle Fille* ("Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me"). This film is truly funny, the main female character is absolutely shameless in her exploitation of her physical attractiveness.
*The Exterminating Angel* and *The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeouisie*, Luis Bunuel. Both of these films by Spanish film maker Luis Bunuel are unforgettable. *Discreet Charm* is absolutely hilarious. Leave any expectations of logic and plot at the door.
*Aguirre, Wrath of God* - Werner Herzog - This film from the great German director Werner Herzog is about a seriously deranged Spanish conquistador. Especially the "deranged" part. Incredible images of Klauss Kinski, who plays the crazed Aguirre, floating down the river in the middle of the rainforest. This film is a great argument for how important images are to film, and how the concept "cinematic" really is am essential element to certain movies.
So many others, but those are some that come to mind immediately when I think of foreign films.
Oh yeah, I have to chime in with those who suggested Jean Cocteau's *La Belle et La Bete* .
Leaves the Disney version of *Beauty and the Beast* in the dust.
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It's impossible to resist that song. And whoever made that video for it did a great job. There's a reason for why "chestnuts" linger on year after year -they're likekable.
Well, here's another Hallwe'en offering. I am not proselytizing the Kinks again, honestly, but this is a perfect Hallowe'en song, especially for fans of witches. Take it away, Wicked Annabella:
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Well, how many Frankenstein movies can you stretch out from the original story? After a while, perhaps it's best to close the tomb forever on Herr Frankenstein and his invention.
Just thought of a very frightening horror film I saw a few years ago: *The Ring*. I saw the American version with Naomi Watts, but I've heard the original Japanese is better and even scarier. After I got over being scared by *The Ring*, I thought about it and decided that the plot and the "explanation" were silly and didn't hold up. This, however, did not stop it from being very frightening.
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I've deliberately stayed away from the "Hallowe'em" series because I don't care for that particular kind of horror movie -I'm assuming it's full of young people who one by one get murdered in some horrific manner. But perhaps I'm wrong - I've never actually seen *Hallowe'en*.
*I Walked With a Zombie* was on this afternoon; an eerie, mysterious, and very atmospheric film. The kind of scary movie I like.
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more Proxy Music; *from finance* , Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" (most Hallowe'enish):
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Just what was Captain Beefheart all about? If anyone deserves the epithets "bizarre" and "perverse", it's got to be him. He took blues and rock and turned them upside down and inside out. Although he wasn't much of a musician himself, he employed great musicians to help create his strange and inventive musical world. This is a funny and odd video, (not made by Captain Beefheart, but kind of in the spirit of the man), to accompany "When I See Mommy I Feel Like a Mummy" :
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A cross-dressing man in *Carnival of Souls* ? ! Now I have to find it in my collection and watch it again.
Edited by: misswonderly on Oct 29, 2010 10:44 AM
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On this Hallowe'en weekend, does anyone else have a comment about horror or scary films?
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I think in some ways John Prine is the folk/"roots" equivalent of the Velvets: most people haven't heard his music, but those who have are deeply influenced by it and go on to write "Prine-ish" songs themselves. Very nice tune.
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Very cool song, "The Israelites".
Jimi Hendrix on the Lulu Show with "Voodoo Child": (to go with all the Zombie movies being shown right about now.)
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VAMPIRE BATS
The logical sequel to *Vampire Bat*. In a frenzied attempt to win the World Series, the owner of a contending baseball team hires a scientist, who may or may not be mad, to develop a kind of baseball bat that will suck the power out of their opponent's baseballs, thereby rendering every attempt to hit completely ineffectual. Not even bunting will work. The details as to how to get the enemy team to use the vampire bats without their knowledge had been worked out between the team owner and the scientist during the pennant races.
bat[/i]lab.jpg]
"When will they be ready? I tell you I want those bats to suck
every last drop of energy from the pitcher's balls. Er..I mean..."
A secret weapon which could counteract the effects of
the vampire bats.
Edited by: misswonderly on Oct 28, 2010 9:41 AM
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*The Innocents*, the 1961 film directed by Jack Clayton and starring Deborah Kerr, is a genuine blood- chiller. Not from any special effects (there are very few) and certainly not from any gore (there is none.). The chill factor lies in the story and in the subtle implications of what we hear from the characters' revelations. The story is what's usually called a "psychological thriller", and - no spoilers intended -the viewer is unclear even at the end of the film if what they have just seen is real or in the main character's mind.
Probably because it is based on The Turn of the Screw, a work of fiction by a master writer, Henry James, the film is rich with the heroine's inner perceptions and psychological development. This story is about the haunting, either real or imagined , of a young woman who is isolated, fearful, and sexually repressed. The story she learns about the dead lovers who dwelt in the house before she arrived, and the effects these ghost lovers have on the Deborah Kerr character and the young boy and girl who are her charges, make The Innocents one of the strangest and, in a subtle way, one of the most terrifying ghost stories on film I have ever seen.
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Aargh ! (I'll say no more.)
Grooving to crime and noir flicks on All Saints Day on TCM!!
in General Discussions
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mark, baby, I agree, *Dark Passage* is fun. I enjoy Agnes Moorehead's Madge so much - it's funny that she's so proud that she likes the colour orange.
Best scene in the film: Bogart's plastic surgery, complete with disorienting camera angles and the defrocked surgeon warning Bogart that he could make him look "like a monkey or a bulldog" if he so desired. Nice reassuring speech, just before you go under the knife...
Edited by: misswonderly on Nov 1, 2010 6:23 PM