kingrat

Joe, did you see this on DVD or on a website? Thanks for the heads up. I'd seen some excellent French noirs like Voici le temps des assassins and Dedee d'Anvers on a website which is now blocked.

For a Griffin Dunne double feature with After Hours, I'd rather see Almost You, a little-known comedy I liked quite a bit. Dunne is quite good--too bad he didn't have a bigger career--and, to my way of thinking, Brooke Adams and Karen Allen are preferable to Madonna.

I love wouldbestar's description of the appeal of Garson and Pidgeon as a couple. Mrs. Parkington is a favorite; both stars seem sexier than usual in the early scenes when they meet. I also enjoy Pidgeon's socially clueless scientist in Madame Curie. Pidgeon doesn't seem wooden to me; he has reserves of strength, intelligence, and humor. There's no doubt that Pidgeon/O'Hara and Garson/Colman make excellent screen couples, too.

For Wednesday morning's Buster Keaton tribute: Most people will have heard of Steamboat Bill, Jr. and The General, even if they haven't seen them, but I had never heard of The Cameraman until it was on at the TCM festival several years ago. A UCLA professor commented that it was his favorite Keaton film. Yes, it's that good. All three films have some amazing scenes. It's great that TCM has put together this feast for us.

Some secondary pleasures from a couple of the longer Jennifer Jones films this month: A Farewell to Arms: Elaine Stritch gets out-butched by Mercedes McCambridge. Tender Is the Night: I've only seen the first hour and fifteen minutes so far, but the first two Balmain outfits Jennifer Jones wears--the blue beach costume and then the shiny white gown at the party--are spectacular and look wonderful on her. She could have been a remarkable clothes horse as well as actress. The Song of Bernadette and Duel in the Sun didn't exactly give her that opportunity. Leon Shamroy's cinematography for Tender Is the Night is also outstanding. For one example out of many, consider the scene after the party when Jason Robards walks through one of the large rooms in the villa. The colors in the costumes and in the furnishings all complement each other perfectly. This is the kind of achievement that is all too rare today, when a giant smear of one dark color is held to be the apex of cinematographic art. Robards is also surprisingly viable as a romantic lead. Because I first saw Robards as Brutus in Julius Caesar, in which he is perfectly dreadful, it's hard to realize that in other roles he was a capable actor, sometimes more, and in this film at least, acceptable as a leading man.

Yes, I'm also a big fan of The Fisher King. I hope this will eventually be shown at the TCM Festival with Jeff Bridges in attendance.

Swithin, I recall seeing a TV production (early 60s?) starring Dirk Bogarde, Tammy Grimes, Rachel Roberts, and Ruth Gordon. It would be fun to see that again.

I agree with Lorna that Boomerang is not one of Kazan's better films. The train theme for Monday morning has a bunch of entertaining films. If you haven't seen The Tall Target, The Narrow Margin, The General, La Bete Humaine, Strangers on a Train, or Murder She Said, now is a good time to catch up.

I'll have to second Bogie's recommendation of The Life of Oharu.

Marcar, I am so glad that you enjoyed The Long Night. It is indeed a multi-layered film with complex characters. This is one of my favorite Henry Fonda performances.

Speedracer, be sure to see a couple of the early Lana Turner films like Ziegfeld Girl and H o n k y Tonk. They will be a revelation if you've only seen Lana in later films like Imitation of Life and Peyton Place. She's gorgeous, full of energy, and you can't take your eyes off her. No wonder she became a star. She steals Ziegfeld Girl from Judy Garland and James Stewart. She's surprisingly good with Spencer Tracy in the May/December romance Cass Timberlane. Johnny Eager is another very good film from this era, and Green Dolphin Street is a guilty pleasure with an outrageous plot twist I love. You're not likely to be disappointed by Act of Violence, a first-rate film noir. The stars of it all do good work, but Mary Astor is really unforgettable.

Slayton, thanks for mentioning Seven Men from Now, another favorite of mine. It's great that The Uninvited now has received the Criterion treatment. That will bring Gail Russell even more fans.

I'll second the recommendation for The Walking Stick. If two or three scenes (including the last shot) were just a little better directed, this would be an absolute classic. It's still pretty darn good. Emlyn Williams makes a wonderfully slimy and smarmy villain.

Lorna, the pan in the Maltin book isn't even original. It's copied from a book on all the RKO films. Because some of the reviews in Maltin's guides are farmed out to others, Maltin isn't necessarily the one who repeated the "long night indeed" comment. That may mean Maltin has never seen the film. Fortunately, TCM shows The Long Night from time to time, and people can decide for themselves.

Blues in the Night is definitely worth seeing. An oddball musical, or "All This and Elia Kazan Too." The Sisters is enjoyable, especially for Bette Davis and Errol Flynn fans. However, the Litvak movie I want to recommend strongly is The Long Night. A wonderful writer who no longer posts here recommended this movie to me several years ago, and I'm just paying it forward. This remake of the French classic LE JOUR SE LEVE is first-rate in all respects, even though it isn't quite so dark as the original and can't be quite so frank about sex. The story is moved to America and updated to post-WWII, and both aspects actually work. Henry Fonda is Joe, an orphan, now an ex-soldier, who meets Barbara Bel Geddes as Jo, another orphan, who is drawn to the intellectual and musical worlds introduced to her by Vincent Price, a magician who yearns to despoil her innocence. Ann Dvorak is the worldly-wise ex-girlfriend of Fonda who longs to rekindle their romance. Elisha Cook, Jr. has a nice supporting role as another ex-GI who's a friend of Fonda. Fans of any of the five will not be disappointed. A first-rate film noir, well directed by Litvak and beautifully photographed in noir style by Sol Polito. I consider The Long Night one of Litvak's three best films, along with Decision Before Dawn and The Journey, with The Snake Pit a close fourth and City for Conquest not far behind.

I enjoyed the Return to Giant documentary. The scenes of Marfa, yesterday and today, and the voices of the locals were special treats. It was good to see George Stevens, Jr., Rock Hudson, Dennis Hopper, Earl Holliman, Carroll Baker, and Monte Hale, but Jane Withers would have been a great addition, even if they couldn't get Elizabeth Taylor. Several long scenes from the film were included, which would have been fine if I hadn't just seen most of the movie on TCM. It was fun to learn that the "oil" James Dean is covered with was actually molasses. Apparently he did not like having to do half a dozen takes with the molasses gushing all over him. Dean got along well with the locals, who, according to the documentary, accepted him as "a good old boy." Because Edna Ferber's novel had aroused a lot of controversy, Stevens went out of his way to include locals in his film amd let bystanders watch the scenes being shot and even the daily rushes. The movie was accepted by Texans in a way that the novel had not been, thanks to Stevens. Fans of the movie would almost certainly like the documentary.

It's a bit late to mention this, but early tomorrow morning's Diane has fabulous costumes. Walter Plunkett really outdid himself. Lana Turner, as Diane de Poitiers, wears one amazing gown after another. If you want to see the young and hunky Roger Moore, he's also on display, and Marisa Pavan gives a splendid performance as Catherine de Medici.

To add a couple of notes to midwestan's excellent review of Cinderella Liberty: I thoroughly enjoyed Ben's wraparound interviews with Mark Rydell. Rydell talked about discovering Marsha Mason in an Ibsen play in San Francisco and how the studio cut his budget in half for his insisting on someone who wasn't a star. He also talked about how much he liked to rehearse his actors. He is very proud of the Oscar nominations and wins by his films. By the way, if you want to see Rydell as a young cutie (and a very good actor), check out Crime in the Streets. Rydell was a soap star on As the World Turns before he shifted to directing; Marsha Mason had had a small role on Love of Life a few years before Cinderella Liberty. Usually I would put James Caan in the category of "who cares" actors we were discussing a little while ago, but this is the best Caan performance I've seen, even better than Hide in Plain Sight. The quality of the acting throughout the film is high, and Rydell's faith in Marsha Mason was justified. I did not care for Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography, which offers lots of the overly dark scenes popularized by Gordon Willis and too much of the "sepia sludge" common to films of this era. These trends are popular again, splashed all over just about any show on TV and many films as well.

Lorna, Zabriskie Point really catches a cultural moment (not unlike catching an unmentionable disease) in American history. As a friend of mine said about The Knack, the extreme datedness of it is the most interesting thing about it. At the time of ZP, many college students were opposed to the Vietnam War. Add to this the baby boomers' belief that they were ultra special and that their **** didn't stink (as a boomer, I'm not innocent here), and some college students considered themselves radicals and believed that they were, rather easily, going to overturn/remake society. Most of these, as you will see in ZP, though this wouldn't have been Antonioni's point, could not have found their rear ends with both hands searching. Some middle-aged persons rather fawned on the student generation, agreeing that they were ultra special, etc., and Antonioni is not innocent here.

The Counterculture theme gives us some nice supporting performances: Joyce Van Patten as Peter Sellers' fiancee in I Love You, Alice B. Toklas and Eileen Heckart as Edward Arnold's mother in Butterflies Are Free. I also remember really liking Pat Quinn's lead performance as Alice in Alice's Restaurant. I have no idea how well this film holds up after almost fifty years. On the other hand, I'm confident that the nonprofessionals who star in Zabriskie Point will look just as inept as they did way back when. The film is very pretty to look at, and man, that script must have have seemed really, you know, profound, man, if you were stoned. Sample line from the female lead: "'So anyway' ought to be the name of something . . . Soanyway River."

Carry On Cabby made me laugh out loud several times, especially in the first half. If you need a break from Herzog movies, this could be what you're looking for. The line about the mammoth fur coat was a special favorite. I must revise my list of best actresses for 1963 to include Hattie Jacques. She's very funny and also gets the opportunity to show some serious feelings in a few scenes. Maybe Swithin or someone else can tell me: did she pronounce her last name the French way or did it get anglicized to "Jay-quez" or even "Jakes"?

Unfortunately, the union in On the Waterfront had real-life counterparts. Some of us remember that Dave Beck, the leader of a major American union, arranged for the murder of his rival, Jock Yablonski, who was running for union president as an anti-corruption candidate. Yablonski and his family were murdered in their home. This was several years after On the Waterfront. On a lighter note, The Pajama Game is a film I'd love to see on TCM--or better yet, on the big screen. Some of the musical numbers can be found on YouTube. The staging of "There Once Was a Man" is delightful.

Hi, Yancey! I've always been a fan of Lloyd Nolan, ever since I was a kid. Love the voice, love the presence. He'd be a great choice for SUTS or a birthday tribute or just an evening of his films.

I have to second filmlover's recommendation of Cluny Brown. One of my movie buddies said she could only describe Jennifer Jones in this film as "luminous." For those who have only seen JJ movies like Duel in the Sun and The Song of Bernadette, it may be hard to imagine that Jennifer Jones is a superb comic actress. Cluny Brown and Beat the Devil make us wish she had made many more comedies. For JJ in more serious roles, my favorite is Love Letters. In this romantic melodrama Jones plays an amnesiac young woman who may have killed her husband. She gets the chance to begin life anew, symbolically named Singleton. Ayn Rand worked on the script, and it may be no coincidence that Love Letters has four strong, interesting, unusual women. Incidentally, The Song of Bernadette, if long, is a much better film than I expected, far less saccharine than might have been the case. Many, in both convent and town, are unhappy about Sister Bernadette's visions, and political and social as well as religious dimensions are portrayed. So many good actors are in this cast.

Thanks, Marcar. Most of us speak of TY-rone Power, but Robert Osborne always called it "Tuh-RONE, which may well have been how Mr. Power pronounced his name.