kingrat
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Posts posted by kingrat
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Among many other outstanding performances, Ruby Dee was great in a small role as Wayne Williams' mother in THE ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS, a TV mini-series. She had little to say or do, but every minute she was on screen I believed she was that character.
Were some of you who lived in New York able to see her on stage?
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Tiki, you've exactly identified the weakness of THE SHINING: Nicholson begins by playing his character as nuts, so there's nowhere for him to go in the film except more and more over the top.
Nipkow, great quote from Leonard Maltin, that Kubrick is too controlled and Nicholson too uncontrolled.
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I believe you're referring to Richard Barrios and his very entertaining book, SCREENED OUT.
The story of Hollywood's portrayal of homosexuality in the classic era involves the censors, once the Code was strictly enforced, trying to keep all mention of the subject out, while the writers, actors, and directors smuggled the references back in.
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Great schedule, obrienmundy. You've scheduled three of my special favorites--Ashes and Diamonds, Deep Valley, and Sherlock Jr. The Ida Lupino tribute is great. I love Mme. Defarge as Guest Programmer. She does like to see people getting their heads chopped off, doesn't she?
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Those of you who have access to theaters that show foreign films might be interested in Ida (2013) and Belle (2013). I liked them both very much. If you live in an area where only Godzilla and X-Men will put in an appearance, no doubt these will soon be available on Netflix.
Ida, a Polish film directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, is set in the post-Stalinist Poland of 1962. Sister Anna, a novitiate nun about to take her vows, learns that her real name is Ida and that her parents were Jewish. She is sent by the mother superior to learn about her past. Her aunt is bitter, alcoholic, and depressed. The two women try to find out where Ida’s parents are buried. This is a black and white film with cinematography of extraordinary beauty which emphasizes shades of gray. The leads are perfectly cast, and the film is less than 90 minutes long.
Belle, directed by Amma Asante, is based on the true story of a young woman of mixed race who is taken in by her aristocratic relatives, even though this is shocking by eighteenth-century standards. The story of Belle and two unexpected suitors intertwines with the court case which her great-uncle, the Lord High Justice, must decide: should an insurer have to pay for slaves which the captain ordered to be thrown overboard because there was not enough water for everyone to drink? Lovely sets and costumes, a well-made script. The camera loves Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who stars as Belle. A great supporting cast includes Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Penelope Wilton, and Miranda Richardson.
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Speaking of Maltin's Guide: I noticed that the negative review of The Long Night makes the same rather lame joke about the movie being a "long night" that can be found in The RKO Story. Copied? An obvious line by someone who doesn't like the movie? I noticed because I happen to love that film.
Maltin, like Siskel and Ebert, is most like Judith Crist in the 1960s--not an intellectual, but personable and smart, trying to make movies accessible to the ordinary filmgoer. There are other approaches, but this is a useful thing to do.
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Thank you for posting this, wouldbestar. Matthew Cowles obviously had a ball playing Billy Clyde Tuggle. He was fun to watch.
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I'm another fan of TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH. Good acting, taut direction, excellent cinematography, and aerial footage from both Allied and Axis sources.
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Frank, I'm delighted that you saw Mirage, which I haven't seen in years but loved. One of the best 60s thrillers. Makes my top five for 1965.
Merrily We Live - I find this just as funny as Chris and The Bride did. The drunk scene with the stairs is priceless.
Green Dolphin Street - Great plot twist. This film is a guilty pleasure, although I agree that Lana makes a better impression in other films.
Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex - This one is fun, too. Years later Bette Davis realized that Errol Flynn is actually quite good in the film.
Terror in a Texas Town - Love the harpoon, but the idea of a duel with a harpoon is better than the actual showdown itself. You can only throw the thing once. The middle of the film drags, as Sterling Hayden slowly discovers what the audience already knows (poor writing there).
Great Day in the Morning - Robert Stack, sometimes a block of wood, is really quite good here, and so is Ruth Roman. A solid western.
Devotion - Far from accurate about the Bronte sisters, but not bad, especially if you like Ida Lupino. In real life, Charlotte Bronte was described by one writer as the shortest woman she had ever seen outside of a circus. Too bad Linda Hunt never played her.
Three Strangers - I love this one, especially because we don't know for at least two-thirds of the movie if Geraldine Fitzgerald will turn out to be a villain or not. Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, splendid direction by Jean Negulesco.
The Conspirators - Negulesco hated this film because working with Hedy Lamarr and Paul Henreid turned out to be difficult. It's an imitation Casablanca, too. And yet . . . if you look at what the director did, there is much to enjoy. Greenstreet and Lorre are there in smaller roles, too.
Three Coins in the Fountain - Negulesco's best work is pre-Cinemascope, but the fantasy of living in an affordable apartment in Rome carries me along. Good popcorn entertainment.
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Kenneth Geist in his biography of Mankiewicz, Pictures Will Talk, suggests that the best JLM pictures are the ones where he wore two hats (out of writer, director, and producer) but not all three. For A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve, JLM wrote and directed but didn't produce. For The Barefoot Contessa he also produced, so there was no one to urge that he cut the script, shorten the picture, etc.
Given our complaints that Contessa is too long and slow, I'd say that Geist has a point.
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A – Ashes and Diamonds
B – Black Narcissus
C – Citizen Kane
D – Duck Soup
E – The Earrings of Madame de . . .
F – Forbidden Games
G - Gone With the Wind
H – High Barbaree
I – In a Lonely Place
J – Johnny Eager
K – King Rat
L – Lawrence of Arabia
M – The Manchurian Candidate
N – The Nun’s Story
O – On Dangerous Ground
P – Port of Shadows
Q – The Quiet American (1958)
R – The Red Shoes
S – Singin’ in the Rain
T – The Third Man
U – Umberto D
V – Vertigo
W – The Wages of Fear
X – X, Madame (1937)
Y – The Yearling
Z – Zorba the Greek
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This is a cool idea, skimpole. I just prepared a 1964 list with two Z films at the top (Zulu and Zorba). Don't think I've seen an X film other than X, Y, and Zee and X-Men 2, and neither is a favorite.
There could be some really tough choices. Children of Paradise or Citizen Kane? Of course, Les enfants du paradis would work for E.
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Thanks for posting this. A fabulous lineup, with a great mix of stars and supporting players. Several of us have mentioned wanting Jeanne Moreau as the foreign star, and the choice of her films is outstanding.
Speedracer, if you want to try just one Lee Tracy film, The Half-Naked Truth is a very funny film, directed by Gregory La Cava (My Man Godfrey, Stage Door).
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The original poster was interested in movies actually about famous writers, like THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA, THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET, and DEVOTION.
Among more recent films, THE HOURS was about novelists both actual (Virginia Woolf) and fictional. Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway have turned up in several movies, including MIDNIGHT IN PARIS and WAITING FOR THE MOON. A most interesting film about the process of writing is THE WORDS, which is about how an author might make use of another person's work.
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I really enjoyed reading about your adventures at the festival. The last night was especially nice, as we all sat around and talked, not wanting the moment to end.
And thanks for posting a decent picture of me, where I don't look like a serial killer!
For people who are thinking about coming to next year's festival for the first time: Not only do you get to see great movies and some of your favorite stars, you also have the chance to meet some of the other festivalgoers, all of whom are just as crazy about classic films as you are, no matter what their age.
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Thanks for posting the list of previous topics, allthumbs. Two topics I'd like to see are:
Cinematographers
Film Composers
The only problem would be choosing which ones to feature. Obviously there are many deserving candidates.
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What are you most excited to see from her films and what are your favorites?
I am happy that High Barbaree will be shown, but unfortunately it is on in the middle of the night. June probably never looked lovelier than in the scene where she reappears in Van Johnson's life at the dance. This film is one of the best wartime romances. A big plus is that the child actors who play Van and June as children really do look like them.
What a beautiful picture of our star you posted, Ms. T.
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At the risk of being laughed at forever, I'd nominate The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as the most "beautiful" movie I've ever seen. Of course the scenery is unremarkable, but with the singing, the poignancy of the plot, and the ethereal loveliness of Catherine Deneuve, the entire film just kind of floats on a dream. It's kind of ironic, since musicals are just about my least favorite genre, but this one is a major exception.
Andy, I just got around to seeing The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and my reaction is similar to yours. A really beautiful film.
A number of you have mentioned Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes, with Jack Cardiff's sublime color cinematography for Powell & Pressburger. His work for Albert Lewin in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is spectacular, too.
An unusual achievement in B&W cinematography is Oswald Morris' work for The Hill and The Pumpkin Eater, which combine grim stories and beautiful photography.
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There are also some good performances by the women in the film. Barbara Rush, for instance, has one of her best roles ever.
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Thinking about this topic made me realize that although it's way too easy to name more recent films I hate--yo! Braveheart and Batman Begins--and I can even think of highly praised 1970s films I loathe--calling out Husbands, A Clockwork Orange, The Conversation just for starters--there aren't many classic films (pre-1967) I acutely dislike.
For instance, I've tried to watch Life with Father a couple of times and given up in boredom after a half hour or so, but I certainly don't hate it. Going My Way is very polarizing, as an extended discussion a couple of years ago showed, and I'm on the negative side of that one.
One of the few classic films I can't stand is Love in the Afternoon. If you can accept a sick and aging Gary Cooper as an acceptable partner for Audrey Hepburn, you probably like this movie. If not . . . well, you can come sit by me.
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Moira, thanks for posting that hilarious photo of Joan in Torch Song.
Shakespearean actors customarily played Othello in blackface up through the 1960s, and Laurence Olivier's 1965 Othello is familiar to some of us through the film made of that stage performance.
Perhaps we should also include the very embarrassing scene in Antonioni's L'Eclisse where Monica Vitti visits friends who have been to Africa, puts on blackface, and prances around getting in touch with her primitive side.
Blackface usually seems connected with nostalgia in Hollywood musicals. In addition to Astaire as Bojangles, Irene Dunne sings in blackface in the 1930s Show Boat.
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Congratulations to TCM for winning the Peabody. Whatever arguments you might want to have with Mark Cousins (and I could pick a few), showing the series and so many movies associated with it was a great idea.
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Aomg the Maureen O'Hara films are such rarities as The Forbidden Street and The Battle of the Villa Fiorita. The Doctor's Dilemma on July 1 is great for fans of Dirk Bogarde and Robert Morley as well as fans of Leslie Caron. Five Fingers on July 9 is another welcome sight.
Those of us who enjoy foreign films have Bunuel's Diary of a Chambermaid, Antonioni's La Notte, Louis Malle's documentary Calcutta, some of the best-known films of G.W. Pabst, and a six-pack of Bergmans to look forward to.
The extensive tribute to World War I films is a great idea.
All in all, this is a very well-balanced schedule with lots to offer a variety of audiences.
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Fedya, what a delightful schedule. I enjoyed all the ways you played with "25." I'm so glad that your Jane Withers tribute included The North Star, which shows that she could be an excellent dramatic actress. Melvyn Douglas is one of those useful Stars of the Month who gives us access to a half-century or more of movie history.
The "bridge with the waxworks" idea was also a lot of fun.
TCM PROGRAMMING CHALLENGE #26 - FRESH AND NEW!
in TCM Program Challenges Archive
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ClassicAfficionado, welcome to the boards and the challenge. I really liked your schedule, which had many movies I enjoy seeing over again.