HollywoodGolightly

Thank you, Laura!! Yes, in a way it is a little scary, but on the other hand it is amazing that the movie holds up so well three decades later, and credit for that should go not only to Lucas but also to director Irvin Kershner and screenwriter Leigh Brackett, imho. By the way, there's going to be special screenings of the film in some cities, some for charitable contributions, so stay tuned!

> {quote:title=JimL wrote:}{quote} > I like Joel McCrea a lot. I enjoyed him in Preston Sturges' *Sullivan's Travels* and, unless I am mistaken, I think he was also the lead character in *The Palm Beach Story*, which I like a lot. He was also in the under-rated *Foreign Correspondent* > I think he was great in all of those movies, certainly lucky to have worked with Preston Sturges and with Hitchcock early in his career.

Looks like it could be a PD copy - I know Movies Unlimited sometimes offers those, from its own supplier. (Which doesn't mean it's not a good quality copy).

I looked for another thread about this movie, but couldn't find any. I had never heard of this silent directed by Ren? Clair, but it's coming out on DVD next Tuesday. Hope somebody here can tell me if it's a good silent (though it definitely sounds interesting from reading Kehr's column). April 8, 2010 *The Horse That Ate the Hat That Spoiled a Wedding* By DAVE KEHR The Italian Straw Hat The French filmmaker Ren? Clair continued to work well into the 1960s, but his most creative period came much earlier and, mysteriously, didn?t last long. His achievements bridge the period from the aggressively experimental Parisian avant-garde of the early ?20s ? when he made his debut with ?Entr?acte,? a 1924 Dadaist dream farce conceived by Francis Picabia and scored by Erik Satie ? and the rise of the Popular Front in the mid-?30s, which Clair celebrated in three free-spirited social comedies that have remained favorites: ?Le Million? (1931), ?? Nous la Libert?? (1931) and ?Quatorze Juillet? (1933). ?The Italian Straw Hat? fits squarely in the middle. Made in 1927, as the silent era was drawing to a close, the film is a highly kinetic farce that contains some residual surrealist elements, including a fantasy sequence with sinister men in silk hats, a bed that scoots around by itself, and a general delight in that favorite surrealist trope, furniture being flung out of windows. But this is an audience-friendly film, not meant to scandalize and provoke but to comfort and amuse while evoking a warm nostalgia for a recent past. Clair?s source, a stage piece by Eug?ne Labiche and Marc Michel, was first performed in 1851, but he has moved the action up to a more fondly remembered age: 1895, at the height of La Belle ?poque, a time of mutton sleeves, tailcoats and discreet adultery. Fadinard (Albert Pr?jean) is driving his horse and buggy to his wedding rehearsal when he stops for a moment in the Bois de Vincennes, just long enough for his horse to take a bite out of an elaborate ladies? hat hanging temptingly on a branch. The damaged article turns out to belong to a young married woman (Olga Tschechowa), who has been dawdling in some nearby shrubbery with her lover, a lieutenant (Geymond Vital) whose carefully twirled moustache bodes no good. Following Fadinard back to his apartment, the irate officer demands that he replace the lady?s hat ? she won?t be able to return to her husband without it ? threatening to smash every stick of furniture in the place if Fadinard can?t provide an exact duplicate. Even in mercantile Paris, this proves difficult, as the distracted Fadinard keeps darting away from his wedding party, frantically searching for a substitute. There was another reason for Clair?s decision to update the material: 1895 was the year the Lumi?re brothers first successfully projected motion pictures on a large screen for a paying audience. (We see a poster for that program affixed to a Morris column.) The hidden subject of ?The Italian Straw Hat? is how much the movies had changed in the three decades since then, changes Clair doesn?t entirely approve of. By the 1920s French filmmaking had evolved to a point of high sophistication ? of complex editing (as in Abel Gance?s 1927 ?Napol?on?), elaborate d?cor and dramatic lighting (?L?Inhumaine,? 1924, directed by Marcel L?Herbier), and elusive, metaphorical imagery (Jean Epstein?s 1927 ?Glace ? Trois Faces?). By cutting through the clutter and emphasizing movement above all, Clair hoped to reclaim the spirit of early comic chase films like Ferdinand Zecca?s ?Fun After the Wedding? (1906, and included as a supplement on this disc), in which crowds of anonymous players pursued one another from scene to scene (and shot to shot, much the same thing in those primordial days), leaving acres of destruction behind them. Clair?s film does just that, though with the controlled pacing essential to expanding a chase from 1 reel to 10. As the initial situation expands to involve dozens of characters and one perfectly timed plot twist, Clair maintains a delicate balance of anarchic energy and formal symmetry. Like all great farces, ?The Italian Straw Hat? is as much concerned with order as disorder; Fadinard?s world spins around furiously but never topples. The loveliest part of the film may be its slow denouement, as the chaos dissipates and the underlying patterns emerge. This new edition from Flicker Alley presents ?The Italian Straw Hat? in its complete version for the first time in America, drawing on a negative made for a British release in 1930, with some missing shots taken from an original French print. For musical accompaniment, the viewer is given a choice of two soundtracks: a graceful arrangement of period themes from Rodney Sauer?s Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra and a rollicking piano score by Philip Carli. (Flicker Alley, $29.95, not rated)

> {quote:title=clore wrote:}{quote} > At least that way you'll get to see Harrison Ford with such a baby face, you'll want to pinch his cheek. Well, see, that might just be a good enough reason for me to give it a try!

> {quote:title=clore wrote:}{quote} > I could go on, but the film isn't really worth the verbiage I've given it thus far. Consider this a public service message and beware at all costs. Well, sorry to hear it isn't a better movie, I recorded it but wasn't going to watch it until later. Now I wonder if I will ever bother at all.

I've been meaning to watch that one, as well.

You may have a point there, helenbaby. I find that with a lot of Leone movies, the plot machinations may not be entirely clear on first viewing. However for Leone fans that's not an issue, because we've seen them tons of times. Good observation, though

Quinn, Patricia Quayle, Anthony

Keough, Robby - Rene Russo in Outbreak

Angel and the Badman

Nichols, Mike - directed The Graduate

Johnson, Jeremiah - Robert Redford in Jeremiah Johnson

Q - Queens Logic

Gordon MacRae was in On Moonlight Bay with Doris Day

Hayworth, Rita

Jezebel

You're quite right about those, too, fred - thanks for reminding me.

> {quote:title=TripleHHH wrote:}{quote} > Cheezyflicks has a great letterboxed DVD of it actually. Is this DVD out-of-print, or is it still available? Anywhere I can get it now? I looked on amazon, couldn't find one that was from "Cheezyflicks".

Gary Cooper was in Love in the Afternoon with Audrey Hepburn

7 Men From Now

The Big Heat

Robert Young was in The Enchanted Cottage with Dorothy McGuire

I guess, unless you count Union Pacific

Odds Against Tomorrow