kingrat
-
Posts
4,574 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Posts posted by kingrat
-
-
SueSue, I really enjoyed the interplay between Ben M and his dad on Father's Day. The best moment was Ben's astonishment that his dad had twice dated Mercedes McCambridge, and that in those days everyone pronounced her name MERS-uh-deez.
-
Danger Signal was quite enjoyable. You've just missed several of Faye Emerson's films, which were shown during Eleanor Parker's Star of the Month tribute. These include Between Two Worlds, The Very Thought of You, and Crime by Night. Both actresses were under contract to Warner Brothers. Other films which turn up on TCM from time to time include Nobody Lives Forever, The Mask of Dimitrios, and Hotel Berlin. Faye is quite good in all of these, in a variety of roles from the relatively innocent stenographer in Danger Signal to a feisty WWII factory worker (The Very Thought of You) to bad girls (Nobody Lives Forever, Crime by Night) to the madam of a brothel (The Mask of Dimitrios).
-
Slayton, you made an interesting point about the change in the fate of Lady Esketh in THE RAINS OF RANCHIPUR. The remake has lovely color cinematography and sets, but the original is better in just about every way. The sense of the English community, the work the doctor does in the hospital, the precise sequence of events once the rains come and the earth shakes, all this gets scanted in the remake. Lana Turner had hardened by 1955, and making her character so unsympathetic was not a good idea.
-
Mr. Muller, thanks for dropping by. I'm enjoying your series on noir writers, and I particularly enjoyed Rouben Mamoulian's direction of CITY STREETS, with Guy Kibbee as a villain and Sylvia Sidney giving a super performance. SATAN MET A LADY isn't film noir, but it's an entertaining screwball comedy, and it's mind-boggling that someone had the idea of making a comic version of THE MALTESE FALCON, even if Miss Davis was not amused (and miffed, no doubt, at playing a supporting role to Warren William and having no more screen time than Marie Wilson).
I hope you will be presenting more films on TCM and at next year's festival.
-
Eleanor is very good in OF HUMAN BONDAGE, and it's easy to understand why anyone might become obsessed by her. All three versions of this story (Bette, Eleanor, and Kim Novak) have their strong points. In addition to getting a much better understanding of Eleanor Parker's career, her SOTM showcases some little-known but quite good films, from OF HUMAN BONDAGE to BETWEEN TWO WORLDS to THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU, which I like better than some of the rest of you.
This month also showcases some of Eleanor's co-stars at Warner Brothers, from Faye Emerson to John Garfield to Dane Clark. Later this month there's Robert Taylor in ABOVE AND BEYOND, one of his best performances, and THE KING AND FOUR QUEENS has not only Clark Gable but one of Jo Van Fleet's too rare appearances. If you like Faye Emerson, she's also starring in DANGER SIGNAL, which is on overnight/early tomorrow morning.
Did you notice that THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU obliquely refers to abortion, which was a taboo subject according to the code? Andrea King as the "bad sister" tells Eleanor she shouldn't have the child of a soldier who will probably be killed. What else can she mean, given that she knows her sister is already pregnant?
ESCAPE ME NEVER is an interesting film, especially for fans of THE CONSTANT NYMPH. Not only are both based on novels by Margaret Kennedy, they seem to be mirror images of the same situation. In NYMPH the great composer (Charles Boyer) marries the beautiful but rather cold Alexis Smith rather than the warm, intelligent girl (Joan Fontaine). This doesn't turn out too well. In ESCAPE Errol Flynn, in a role very much like Boyer's, makes the different choice, marrying Ida Lupino (the Fontaine character) rather than Eleanor Parker, whose character is similar to Alexis Smith in NYMPH. This doesn't work out well, either.
-
Hi, ****, welcome to the boards. The programmers usually work about six months in advance, so it may be a while, but the postponed films will be rescheduled. I was also looking forward to THE SEVENTH DAWN, a very good film that deserves to be better known, and LOSS OF INNOCENCE (aka THE GREENGAGE SUMMER), which would have been a TCM premiere.
-
I'm glad to see so much love for this fine film, which is all but unknown to American audiences. I only watched it the last time it was on because of recommendations from people on these boards.
-
Overeasy, thanks for a great review. I'm with you all the way on this one, including George Brent giving a strong performance. A very satisfying film.
THE RAINS CAME will be repeated a couple of times in the coming months (July, I think), and Arturo, thanks for the heads up about THE RAINS OF RANCHIPUR, which I've never seen.
No one else has mentioned the gasp out loud moment when Tyrone Power unwinds his turban. He's quite a knockout in this one. No wonder Myrna was smitten!
-
Peter, thanks for choosing THOSE LIPS, THOSE EYES and for reprinting those posters. After an opening that was a little too casual for my taste, everything came together well. If you've ever been involved in community theater, this film will especially ring true. Moira, I have to agree about "Jerry Stiller underplaying." Their scenes together were really well done. Frank Langella was perfect, big enough for the role, yet allowing us to see that maybe he wasn't Broadway quality.
Tom Hulce adapted THE CIDER HOUSE RULES for the stage, in addition to his other work. If he'd been stateside in the 1940s, he'd have been fighting for the Van Johnson and Lon McAllister roles. In the 50s/early 60s he could have done the sensitive young man parts. The 1980s and 1990s were not great eras for his character type, but at least he has credits like AMADEUS, DOMINICK AND EUGENE, and THOSE LIPS, THOSE EYES.
A very solid choice for both filmlover and Illeana Douglas.
-
Mark, if you like OUTWARD BOUND, which I've never seen, check out tonight's BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, a remake of that film with a great cast and Erich Korngold music. It's good to have you back groovin' again!
And SansFin, thank you so much for your ardent recommendation of THE CRANES ARE FLYING, which I loved.
-
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS (1944), shown tonight as part of Eleanor Parker's SOTM, is a remake of OUTWARD BOUND (1930), which will be shown early Friday morning.
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS is a fine film, with Paul Henried, Eleanor Parker, John Garfield, Faye Emerson, Sydney Greenstreet, Sara Allgood, and George Coulouris. Music by Erich Korngold.
-
Uh oh, I drank some of the Hatorade. I can see it TCM's way: Clint is potentially a big benefactor for the network. He could help finance restorations. He has a big fan base. Yes, it's smart for the network to do this. But I'm not interested in seeing any of the scheduled films.
Try to think of this as the Summer Under the Stars day devoted to Elvis which you know will please other people but you have no intention of watching.
TCM has had some great things on recently. THE CRANES ARE FLYING was as good as SansFin and JackFavell had said it was. The Alain Delon tribute. I recorded IN OLD CHICAGO and look forward to watching it, possibly during Clint time tonight.
-
Lavender, I remember MOTHER LOVE if that's the one where Diana Rigg did a variety of evil things trying to control her son and everyone else around her and getting back at the second family of her ex-husband. She was pretty terrifying as you didn't know whether she was going to get away with it.
There's a British website which tells which British TV shows have been lost. You'd think BBC would have done a great job preserving their work, wouldn't you? Wrong. The great late 1960s THE POSSESSED has never been released on VHS or DVD because only a 16mm version now exists. A production of another Dostoevsky novel, THE IDIOT, which received rave reviews but wasn't shown in the US, is unavailable because one of the episodes is missing. That's probably what I'd like to see most.
-
MissW, the equivalent female Method (over)actors are Geraldine Page and Kim Stanley, who did most of their work on stage. A recent discussion on another site revealed that several people think Miss Page's twittering has not worn well. Kim Stanley in THE GODDESS shows the Method run amok--there could be a good performance there if the director insisted on editing her performance. In SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON she has a strong director, Bryan Forbes, who does exactly that, so there are fewer mannersims and less hamminess.
-
I'm with Addison on the stupefying badness of THE BIG KNIFE and the hamminess of Mr. Steiger's performance. Of course, if they'd cut about 45 minutes of Clifford Odets' pretentious dialogue, it wouldn't have been so bad. Although I still haven't seen THE PAWNBROKER, I'm inclined to think that Steiger did his best acting in supporting roles where he had a strong director to keep him in check. Like, say, Kazan in ON THE WATERFRONT.
But how did a thread on hammy actors get to page 2 with no mention of Lionel Barrymore?
For enjoyable hammy actors, the name of Edna May Oliver comes to mind.
-
The recent film PHANTOM, which vanished in about a week, was actually quite good. It will soon be out on DVD and presumably available through Netflix. Ed Harris plays the captain of a rust-bucket Soviet sub that's suddenly ordered to sea for one more mission. A few men know what the real objective is, but the captain doesn't. Lots of suspense, and several crew members have to make choices with life or death consequences. Harris is great, and so is William Fichtner as his second in command.
The producer of the film said that the target audience is men over 35, and that described all 10 of the people in the audience the night I saw it.
This is based on the episode recounted in the book RED STAR ROGUE.
My favorite submarine movie: THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, though several other good ones have been mentioned.
-
Some of the original reviewers suggested that James Fox would have been perfect for the role played by Robert Morse.
I think THE LOVED ONE has some very funny moments, but it's definitely not for everyone. If it hadn't offended part of the audience, the filmmakers would have been disappointed.
-
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}I agree with TopBilled that Faye Dunaway seems more like a classic era star than most of her contemporaries. From 1967-1981 she was a big star, and I’ve included most of her best-known films. The Happening was her first film. Puzzle of a Downfall Child, where she plays a fashion model, pairs nicely with Eyes of Laura Mars, where she plays an avant-garde fashion photographer. The Deadly Trap pairs Faye with the great French director Rene Clement.{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Faye Dunaway{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}The Happening (1967){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Bonnie and Clyde (1967){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}The Thomas Crown Affair (1968){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}The Arrangement (1969){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Little Big Man (1970){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}The Deadly Trap (1971){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Chinatown (1974){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Three Days of the Condor (1975){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Network (1976){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Eyes of Laura Mars (1978){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Mommie Dearest (1981){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Stanley Baker had supporting roles in a number of British war films and in The Guns of Navarone, but I’ve concentrated on the ones where he plays larger roles. Two blacklisted American directors who worked in Europe, Cy Endfield and Joseph Losey, gave him major parts in four films each, and I’ve noted which films these are. Stanley Baker plays the menacing tough guy very well, but he’s also interesting when cast against type as an intellectual (Eva, In the French Style, Accident).{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Stanley Baker{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Hell Drivers (1957) – Endfield{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Campbell’s Kingdom (1957){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Sea Fury (1958) – Endfield{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}The Angry Hills (1958){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Blind Date (Chance Meeting) (1959) – Losey{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}The Criminal (1960) – Losey{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Eva (1962) – Losey{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}In the French Style (1963){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Zulu (1964) – Endfield{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Sands of the Kalahari (1965) – Endfield{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Accident (1967) – Losey{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Robbery (1967){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Alan Bates{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Whistle Down the Wind (1961){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}A Kind of Loving (1962){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Nothing But the Best (1964){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Zorba the Greek (1964){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Georgy Girl (1966){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}King of Hearts (1966){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Far from the Madding Crowd (1967){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}The Fixer (1968){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Women in Love (1969){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}The Go-Between (1970){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Butley (1974){font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Butley, one of Alan Bates’ great stage successes, was filmed as part of the American Film Theater project, which unfortunately did not last long. If it is unavailable, the obvious replacement is An Unmarried Woman (1978).{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
-
Andy, the online schedule was correct. Hope you got them all recorded and enjoy them.
-
The Harold Lloyd night was an out-of-the-park grand slam, and the restorations looked sensational. Having Suzanne Lloyd introduce them and talk about her grandfather was another plus. Wow!
-
For a second home--or maybe a first--the Monterey house in SUSAN SLADE.
An unforgettable location I don't want to visit: the dangerous roads in THE WAGES OF FEAR.
-
Rover, I'm also glad that TCM showed this great film. It's easy to see why Jean Gabin and Arletty were such big stars in France. James, I'm also a big fan of THE LONG NIGHT, an unusually good remake. The American version has to soften the ending, and it can only hint that Henry Fonda and Ann Dvorak have been lovers in the past, whereas the French original can make it clear that Gabin is sleeping with one woman while he pines for another.
James, I think you're right to point to the big change from Gabin to Fonda as crucial. Gabin always seems like a blue-collar guy. Fonda is a middle-class Midwesterner who nonetheless had a huge success as Tom Joad in THE GRAPES OF WRATH, a working class role if there ever was one. When Fonda plays blue collar, I think we get the sense of what the character could have had given the right opportunities. Gabin is the working class guy who fits in; Fonda is the working class guy who was really meant for bigger things. That's how I can accept him in THE LONG NIGHT.
-
SansFin, I think you've done a great job of explaining the appeal of Adolphe Menjou. An actor today would go broke or play boring secondary parts if he were best suited to play the gentleman, but times were different then. I might add that there aren't many leading men types in the early 30s. So many pre-Codes have a great leading lady, but an inadequate leading man. Actors like Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, and Spencer Tracy who came to prominence at this time had very little competition.
By the way, I'm not sure that Spencer Tracy is any better-looking than Menjou.
-
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Picking the stars for 2014 is a fun idea. I did not use any stars chosen for 2012 or 2013 and tried to use the same kind of mix that TCM uses: big names, a few character actors, one foreign star (Alain Delon), one silent film star (Buster Keaton, and some of Garbo’s silent would be shown, too), one star whose film are just after the classic era (Faye Dunaway), and one African-American star (Ruby Dee). I cheated and picked two Fox greats, Susan Hayward and Richard Widmark. I tried to include a mix of decades and genres. Not all of the selections are favorites, but most are.{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Featuring Ruby Dee would mean including some films past the classic era, but it would be interesting to follow the changing roles she played over several decades. For a few of the stars I’ve mentioned hard-to-find films I’d want to include, and I would postpone choosing Alan Bates for SUTS until the films mentioned below were available.{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s choices and am happy to second some of those recommendations.{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri} {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Fred Astaire{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Stanley Baker – Eva, The Criminal, Hell Drivers{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Richard Basehart{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Alan Bates – Whistle Down the Wind, Nothing But the Best, The Fixer{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Joan Bennett{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Charles Bickford{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Joan Crawford{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Ruby Dee{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Olivia De Havilland {font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Faye Dunaway – Puzzle of a Downfall Child, The Deadly Trap{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Edith Evans – The Chalk Garden{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Greta Garbo{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Susan Hayward{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Audrey Hepburn{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Buster Keaton{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Charles Laughton{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Peter Lorre{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Ida Lupino – The Light That Failed{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Aline MacMahon – All the Way Home{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Agnes Moorehead{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Paul Muni{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Paul Newman{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Dick Powell{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}William Powell{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Vincent Price{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Debbie Reynolds{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Thelma Ritter{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Robert Ryan – About Mrs. Leslie{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}James Stewart{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Lana Turner{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
{font:Calibri}Richard Widmark{font}
{font:Times New Roman} {font}
For Father's Day, Ben Mankiewicz and dad
in General Discussions
Posted
His dad was campaign manager for Bobby Kennedy and for George McGovern. Check out SueSue's thread under General Discussions in the TCM Film Festival section for more information.