speedracer5
-
Posts
11,245 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
22
Posts posted by speedracer5
-
-
Or twenty or thirty or fifty....Hell, it'd be worth mortgaging the joint to have Errol "on staff" full-time.
Lol.
If I lived in a town where Peter Blood was the only doctor, I'd become a hypochondriac just so I could get him to come over constantly.
-
Sweatpants, huh?
Also known as Philadelphia chic.
Classics never go out of style.
-
CAPTAIN BLOOD is scheduled for tomorrow.
I like this movie a lot.
I don't know how anyone can say Errol Flynn is not a good actor after seeing him this movie.
Someone who can make that dialogue sound like real speech (and Flynn does just that) has some real skills.
Errol's ability to make sometimes cheesy (or unrealistic) dialogue sound believable is truly a gift. He was a natural. He had no official training like many of his peers.
I love Captain Blood, although I can't say I'm a fan if his hair. Errol with long hair is a no-go for me. Although he does look pretty hunky during the slave buying scene. If I were Olivia de Havilland, I'd pay 10 pounds for him too!
-
I just finished watching The Killers for the first time. Loved it! What a great film. Definitely one of the best noirs I've ever seen. Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner were excellent, as was Edmund O'Brien, whom I wasn't too familiar with prior to seeing this film.
-
There are a few images of posters for The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Maybe they were meant for different markets. Some of them may have been lobby cards. Here's another -- Stanwyck and Heflin don't even look like themselves:
Stanwyck looks like she's going to eat Heflin's disembodied head. Scott is praying that Heflin's blood and chewed up skin doesn't end up on her face... or she's worried that after Stanwyck is done with Heflin, she's next!
Heflin, in this poster, looks like James Cagney.
-
I love Bette Davis, she's my favorite female actor. Even in the most lackluster of film, a Bette Davis performance is usually worth watching.
I'd love to see Beyond the Forest with Joseph Cotten. I read somewhere that it can't be aired on TV. I can't believe the film that features Davis' immortal line: "What a dump!" is not available.
I really enjoyed her in The Sisters with my boyfriend Errol Flynn. She didn't play one of her typical bitchy characters, she was actually a sweet woman, who unlike her two sisters, married for love. Her unconventional beauty, when paired with Flynn's very obvious beauty make them an unlikely pairing, but also a very interesting one.
I love that Davis goes "all in" in her performances like in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? I also like that she took a variety of roles in so many different genres. I think the only genre I don't recall seeing Davis in would be an adventure film.
I also loved Now Voyager, Mr. Skeffington, and The Catered Affair.
Of course, I loved her in All About Eve. She was fantastic as Margo Channing and it seems incredible to me that the role was originally meant for Claudette Colbert. As much as I enjoy Colbert, I cannot imagine anyone else but Davis in the role. My favorite part is the end when Davis tells off Baxter. "Nice speech Eve. But, I wouldn't worry too much about your heart. You can always put that award where your heart ought to be." Burn!
From interviews I've seen/read of Davis and her second autobiography of hers that I read, she seems like she would have been a fascinating dinner guest. I love how she doesn't hold back and she tells it like it is.
I loved her appearance on the Dick Cavett interview. Especially when she shared her thoughts about waiting until marriage and losing her virginity. A very candid interview. I also liked her thoughts on Errol: "The most beautiful man who ever lived." My sentiments exactly Bette.
...and how awesome was her interview outfit? Here is a 60-something year old woman, wearing a black mini skirt, black shirt, black go-go boots and a beret and big glasses. You go Bette Davis.
-
2
-
-
I guess the operative word in your post is "deserve." As has been said by others, it tends to related to business. The right actor's name over the title can mean bigger bucks for the studio. And many actors did have that written into their contracts. But evidently not Stanwyck. Without that, it's the studio's call, and also a business decision. If Wallis made a business decision to try to highlight Ms. Scott, that was also an acceptable business decision. The fact is, Stanwyck was never queen of the box office. She was never even in the top ten box office actors of the '30s or '40s! It may be she just didn't have the clout that many people here would like to assign to her, retroactively.
I agree that the artwork is definitely not at the same level as other posters I've seen. I just added The Strange Love of Martha Ivers to the top of my Netflix queue. I hope to get it in a couple days. For some reason, it made me laugh that it says "Suitable Only For Adults," it makes the film sound so provocative.
-
Isn't Big Bang Theory supposed to be a kind of REVENGE OF THE NERDS light? The funny carefree(?) life of nerds told from the perspective of nerds. Note the references to comic books, comic book conventions, Star Trek, Harry Potter, and all other things that it is perceived that nerds STEREOTYPICALLY take pleasure in. Even the names of the two main characters Leonard, not Len or Lenny, and Sheldon. Typical nerdish names. And I make that statement even though my name is Sheldon and I don't generally consider myself to be a nerd, although I do like the kinds of things that my television counterpart appears to like. Then again, maybe that's why I understand it's attraction.
I like the show too. I don't consider myself a nerd, but I'll admit that I do play video games, read comic books (occasionally), go to comic stores and watch cartoons and yes, last year I went to the Portland Comic-Con, but I did not cosplay. I just went to see what it was all about and people watch. I like The Big Bang Theory because it shows the awkwardness of these uber-smart scientists trying to relate to lesser smart people like Cheesecake Factory waitress, Penny. While the guys' constant theorizing and nerdy debates are funny, it's nice to have a more street-smart character like Penny to even them out.
-
Hell, for that matter, you could have given it to Harlow for Red Headed Woman, which was also made in 1932, if for no other reason than to give Joe Breen a heart attack. In terms of flaunting every taboo in the Hays Code, that movie was in a class by itself. Never had a character as conventionally immoral as Harlow ever been allowed to come out so blatantly on top at the end of any movie in the studio era. Not only does this homewrecker wind up with a French sugar daddy, but she even gets to have her lover as the chauffeur in her sugar daddy's limo! I have NO idea how that movie ever made it past the censors, even in that pre-code era. 99% of the time a character like that winds up in full scale confessional mode, like Miriam Hopkins in The Story of Temple Drake, or worse.
Not to mention in Red Headed Woman, when Jean Harlow is putting on her lingerie, you get a clear shot of her right breast and n ipple. I can't believe nobody saw that. I think Harlow's darker hair was also quite becoming on her.
-
Yes, one of the great questions of the 20th century is whether Zack Attack or Hot Sundae is the better band. I doubt we will ever have a definitive answer. There are just too variables to consider.
It is undisputed, however, that Jessie Spano's caffeine pill freakout from the SAVED BY THE BELL episode "Jessie's Song" is one of the greatest scenes (perhaps the greatest) in the history of television.
I doubt the other cast members would have agreed to appear in the Jimmy Fallon sketch if "Screech" had been included. Dustin Diamond is persona non grata now among the other Baysiders after the publication of his book which presented them in an extremely negative light, with some saying many of the events described in the book never took place. This book was the basis of last year's TV movie that aired (I think) on Lifetime.
I love the allusions in the Jimmy Fallon sketch to Elizabeth Berkley's role as a stripper in the movie SHOWGIRLS and to Tiffani-Amber Thiessen's post-BELL work on BEVERLY HILLS 90210.
I would venture to say that the Hot Sundaes are slightly better because at least they were actually doing some choreography... the members of Zack Attack couldn't even be bothered to pretend like they were even playing instruments.
Poor Jessie, she'll never get into Stansbury if she can't pass the geometry midterm. Remember how Zack outscored her on the SATs? She'll end up going to Beach U.
Elizabeth Berkely's face when mentioned her being a stripper was hilarious.
I also loved the inclusion of a re-creation of Slater's leotard and dance from another episode of the show.
If you don't have the show on DVD, you can binge watch it right now, it's on the Netflix Instant Queue.
-
Yeah, some of the most entetaining movies are not great ones.
Certainly a roller boogie contest is enough to peak my interest.
I'm a big fan of the 2007 Broadway stage musical XANADU (adapted from the movie starring Olivia Newton-John).
I've never seen the movie XANADU, but the stage musical is so much fun.
I'm a sucker for roller disco movies too. Lol. I love Xanadu! It has everything: Gene Kelly, clarinet, neon, Greek Gods, roller skating, good music, what more could anyone want?
-
I'm not familiar with Sterling Hayden at all, so it'll be interesting to see some of his work. I have heard of him, but I'd never be able to pick him out of a movie or anything.
I love Orson Welles, so I'm all over him being a Friday Night Spotlight selection.
May 1- Features some pre-code secretary romances. That could be an interesting marathon of films to watch.
May 2- Ninotchka which I haven't seen. Maybe I'll finally be able to see it and see if I can understand the appeal of Garbo; Roller Boogie, which I'll need to re-watch and see the climactic roller boogie contest that I missed last time around. I fell asleep before the contest and woke up after the contest; I'm not a big Abba fan, but I do love music documentaries and live concerts.
May 6- Looks like a Nurse theme. I keep missing Night Nurse every time it airs, so I'll try to catch it again. The evening of Sterling Hayden crime/suspense films look interesting. I'm especially interested in The Killing, Crime of Passion and The Asphalt Jungle.
May 7- The evening of disaster movies. Five Came Back is a really good film and features one of my favorites-- Lucille Ball. I also love the cheesy 70s disaster films. I've never seen Airport so that'll be fun.
May 8- Mr. Arkadin, an Orson Welles movie I've never heard of, let alone seen. Journey into Fear, I like the sounds of the cast: Welles, Joseph Cotten, and Agnes Moorehead.
May 9- Irene Dunne films: I Remember Mama and The White Cliffs of Dover, two films I've never seen.
May 11- An evening of biker gang films, it sounds like an interesting line up.
May 14- A Day of bad sci-fi films. The bad ones are really the only ones I enjoy watching. Earthquake! during the Disaster movie evening.
May 17- The wee-hours airings of Laurel and Hardy films.
May 21- The Poseidon Adventure never gets old to me and I didn't even know there was a sequel, so that looks promising as well.
Memorial Day Marathon of WWII movies. There are many that look good (Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Captains of the Clouds, Twelve O'Clock High, Sahara, Across the Pacific, Action in the North Atlantic)
May 27- The Star with Bette Davis, Sterling Hayden and Natalie Wood; Dr Strangelove...
May 28- Alice Adams. I saw this film once, I'd like to see it again.
May 29- Orson Welles: Tomorrow is Forever and The V.I.P.S
-
Yay!!!!
ROLLER BOOGIE is back.
I missed it when it aired before on TCM.
As I recall speedracer said it was worth seeing.
Lol. I wouldn't say it was the best movie, but I watched the whole thing because I got hooked at the beginning with the mention of a roller boogie contest. After Linda Blair started training for said contest, I wanted to see the end result. The movie was amusing, although, the lead actor was terrible and it's just as well that this is pretty much his only film. I was disappointed though, because I fell asleep and missed the boogie contest, which was the reason I watched the whole thing in the first place. I'm happy to see it repeated, so that I can see the contest.
-
In my mind, the screenplay and the story are the same - aside from a book it may have been based on. Now what I just said just made me realize.. perhaps the Story Award was given for the story the screenplay/movie was based on. That makes sense, and it would seem to be redundant for one film to receive both Awards. Also makes sense. Maybe I've just answered my own question.
I'll have to research a bit more.
Maybe the Story award is for the person who came up with the overall concept of the film? But lacked the writing skills to produce a workable screenplay?
It would seem that the Story award would have to go to an original story and couldn't go to an adaption, unless the adaptation strays so far from the source material that it's almost an original idea?
-
You still see story credits today, there just isn't an Oscar for it anymore.
As the Writer's Guild got more power it streamlined credits to just screenplay and story, and the Academy eventually followed suit, finally dropping the story category in 1957. In the '30s you might see separate credits for screenplay, story, adaptation, dialogue, and (in the early talkies) scenario, all on one film.
I understand how conceiving the original story and writing dialogue are different, but as for the differences between screenplay, adaptation, and scenario, your guess is as good as mine.
I'll venture a guess regarding screenplay vs adaptation vs scenario...
A screenplay is a completely original story from the author(s)' imagination.
An adaptation is a screenplay that is based on another source (short story, novel, play, etc.)
I always think of a scenario as just being the setting, time frame, weather, etc. that the story takes place in. These are outside factors that directly influence the action of the film.
I know that in the studio system, there were a series of people whose job it was to write out a "treatment" or basically a description of the characters, setting, time frame, etc. of the story without the dialogue written out. The screenplay was written after the treatment had been completed and approved by the producer. Was the "Best Story" Oscar given out to people who had written the best treatment? I wasn't even aware that these treatments ever left the confines of the studio, I thought it was more of an outline, like what a writer would use for their novel.
In regard to The Brave One, it was actually written by blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (who was part of "The Hollywood Ten"). He used the pseudonym Robert Rich to submit his screenplays. He also used a front writer, Ian Hunter McLellen to submit screenplays, like with Roman Holiday. Both "Robert Rich" and Ian Hunter McLellen won Oscars for Best Screenplay.
-
True that. Judy Holliday might not even have worked in a remake of BRINGING UP BABY, despite the seemingly compatible daffiness, because Susan in BUB was an upperclass heiress, something I don't think Holliday could've pulled off with her screen persona.
Agreed. Hepburn also had that upper crust New Englander accent which definitely added to her numerous portrayals of high society women. Holliday had the classic New Yorker accent, which typically isn't present in films about rich people.
I've noticed that screwball comedies tend to involve rich people who are a tad on the eccentric side. Perhaps films about zany rich people work better than films about zany poor people.
-
Well, not to us. The Millennials, maybe, as actors they can more readily identify with.
While I can't speak for all Millennials, I can say that this old Millennial definitely raised an eyebrow when I saw the preview for the "new" Odd Couple. I watched the Randall/Klugman Odd Couple all the time on Nick at Nite. It was one of my favorite shows, and it had a great theme song:
On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?
I like the show better than the movie. Even though the movie definitely had its moments. Felix is hilarious with his sinus problems and when he vacuums Oscar's poker table while Oscar and his friends are playing cards.
I am unfamiliar with the actor they've cast as Felix and Matthew Perry has never been a favorite of mine. He wasn't my favorite 'Friend.' He does neurotic well, so hearing that he's supposed to play a slob, that'll be interesting.
Instead of a new 'Odd Couple,' CBS should just rerun old episodes of the original show.
-
This is for speedracer.
Well, it's for everyone but especially speedracer . . .
"I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so . . . scared . . ."
Thanks Holden!
I've watched this twice now. It was amazing. I cannot believe how much the cast looks almost exactly the same (well except for Mr. Belding... he looks a bit different) --even though it's been 20 years or so since it went off the air. I recognized all the posters in the background from various episodes of the show.
I loved when Jessie renacted her famous dialogue after she admits her addiction to caffeine pills. I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so scared! That episode is one of my favorites. Aside from the caffeine pill debacle, it also features the classic Hot Sundaes music video.
And who could forget that classic Zack Attack song "Friends Forever" ? Although, Jessie wasn't even in the band, so they must have had to teach her the song. Since bassist Lisa was MIA...
I'm glad Screech wasn't there. He was an irritating character even on the show. I wish Kevin, his robot, could have been there in his place.
In that wig, Jimmy Fallon looked a lot like Mike Myers in Wayne's World.
-
Sad News... Lizabeth Scott has died. She was 92.
http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-lizabeth-scott-20150206-story.html
-
I second the "Moses Supposes" number from "Singin' in the Rain."
I also love the Washington's Birthday number in "Holiday Inn" where Bing Crosby keeps changing the style of music being played and Fred Astaire effortlessly transitions between dancing waltz, tango, jazz, conga, etc.
I also love Fred Astaire's "slow motion" number from "Easter Parade."
Gene Kelly's "An American in Paris" ballet is fantastic.
Honorable Mention:
The "Timewarp" number from "Rocky Horror Picture Show"
Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain" dance
The "Greased Lightning" number from "Grease."
-
I'm not sure how this will go over here, but I'm going to do it anyway. I think some props have to be given to Marilyn Monroe in this department. She wasn't always asked (or allowed) to show this side of her screen persona but I think the good-natured obtuseness she brought to some of her (mostly early) roles would definitely qualify her as a screwball comedienne. I'm thinking of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "How to Marry a Millionaire" of course, but also particularly of Howard Hawk's "Monkey Business", where she was a worthy foil for Cary Grant in their scenes together. I'm tickled every time by her straightfoward delivery of lines like "Mr. Oxley has been complaining about my punctuation, so I'm careful to get here on time" and her explanation to that same boss (Charles Coburn) that she was "showing him my acetates" when he walks in on her adjusting her stockings in front of Cary Grant, "acetates" being a prototype nylon stocking the firm is developing. Her character's obliviousness in these situations shows a subtle gift for comedy and was definitely an actor's choice. Unfortunately, it was so convincing that much of the public thought of her as only a "dumb blonde", which the studio was prepared to perpetuate endlessly but which Marilyn herself felt she needed to escape. Escape it she did, but later roles such as "The Seven Year Itch" and "Some Like It Hot" showed her gift was still intact.
I think Marilyn was a great screwball comedienne. I think the key is that no matter how zany she might seem or how ridiculous she is, there's always some modicum of common sense or intelligence to accompany her actions. While her approach to a situation may be unorthodox, there's always some logic somewhere. The screwball comediennes typically aren't dumb, they're just eccentric or don't think things through all the way until it's too late.
-
The film that will win you over to The Mims' Side is Becky Sharp from 1935; it's a partial adaptation of Thackery's Vanity Fair and she got her only Oscar nomination for it. She is fantastic and it is shot in gorgous color.
I saw it on AMC 10,000 years ago and recall quite distinctly loving it.
Don't recall it ever showing on tcm though.
Thanks. I'll try Miriam out again when I see her. Actually I'm curious to see her in the two films she made with Bette Davis. Knowing that they couldn't stand each other I think will enhance the experience of watching the film for me. Lol.
I just know that she was not matched up well with Flynn in Virginia City, they had no chemistry.
-
There's just something about GLENDA that made me fall for her right from the start. I first noticed her in a straight role in the Sybil Jason showcase Little Big Shot, where Jason steals the show, but then I caught her in Hi, Nellie! with Paul Muni and I was completely hooked. She's not quite on Harlow's comic level, and unlike Blondell she didn't get to play romantic leads in too many big time features, but I guarantee that the more you see of her, the more she'll grow on you. You might want to start with Girl Missing, Havana Widows, and any or all of the Torchy Blane series with Barton MacLaine and Tom Kennedy. Those last movies fall into the comic detective genre, where she plays a reporter who's forever solving her detective fiance's crimes for him, in spite of his constant attempts to domesticate her.
She was also in a fair number of dramatic roles later in her career, most notably (IMO) as Kim Novak's overly protective mother in the 1959 film The Middle of the Night, but it's in her 1930's movies that she really made her mark.
Thanks for the tip. I'll look out for her. It looks like she's in a bunch of films coming up: Little Caesar (which I think I actually own on a Edward G. Robinson set I have. If it's not on there, it's on one of the 4 Gangster film collections I have); Johnny Eager, I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, Life Begins, and Mary Stevens, M.D. I'll keep an eye out for "Torchy," I've heard it (read it?) mentioned often on these boards.
-
Fred MacMurray & Claudette Colbert
Veronica Lake & Alan Ladd
Judy Garland & Gene Kelly
Rita Hayworth & Glenn Ford
Clark Gable & Jean Harlow
when is treasures from the disney vault coming back?
in General Discussions
Posted
I love The Three Cabelleros. What a fun film and great music! I haven't seen the other selections in the Vault. I look forward to seeing them. The Story of Animated Drawing sounds very interesting.