kingrat
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Posts posted by kingrat
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Speaking of the fine film noir/romance Nobody Loves Forever, this is one of my favorite Walter Brennan performances. I like his weary con man much better than his lovable codger roles. Faye Emerson as the untrustworthy girlfriend, Geraldine Fitzgerald as the mark Garfield falls for, the lovely scene in San Juan Capistrano Mission--there's much to enjoy.
Jean Negulesco would make some even better films in the next few years, but this is a fine introduction to his outstanding work at Warner Brothers.
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Lorna, I love your reactions to Barbara Harris and Bruce Dern. Family Plot would be much better with Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon instead of Harris and Dern, but Hitchcock's budget probably couldn't have afforded them. This is my favorite example of how much star actors matter even in the work of first-rate directors.
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If you prefer Star Wars to The Empire Strikes Back (a toss-up for me), the Star Wars films pretty much fit this mold. I'm not up to re-watching 4, 5, and 6 to decide on lame, lamer, and lamest.
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Unlike the 70s, the 80s had very few songs which included the word "boogie," and this was definitely a good thing.
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There are many WWII movies better than Dunkirk. It's merely the current one in the contemporary formats.
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While we're on the subject, please no SPOILERS, I don't want to know how the movie ends.
Ham, given the lack of attention to history in many school systems today, for some younger people this could be an actual concern.
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That would be Russell's first, "Billion Dollar Brain" (1967)--
Which seems like a nice, tight coherent Harry Palmer spy thriller for Michael Caine, until the villain reveals his plot, the stylistic point is to satirize "American patriotism", and then....clear the dance floor for Ken Russell's Subtlety.
Indeed, Eric. First half good, second half not. One of the few English-language films of the time that sees the Soviets as preferable to the Americans.
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Bogie, I agree about The Departed. DiCaprio and Damon are leads. Nicholson is a (sometimes very hammy; unintentionally funny death scene) supporting actor.
Technically, I suppose Meryl Streep is a supporting actress in The Devil Wears Prada. Anne Hathaway has more screen time and the movie is really her story, but Streep plays the character everyone remembers, the one just about any actress of the right age would want to play, and I think that makes her a lead. Comparison: William Holden is obviously a lead in Sunset Boulevard, and the movie is his story, but Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond feels like a lead, even though she has much less screen time.
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Assuming that Brief Encounter and Henry V belong here:
Best Actor: Dana Andrews, The Best Years of Our Lives. Close second: Laurence Olivier, Henry V.
Best Actress: Celia Johnson, Brief Encounter. Close second: Jennifer Jones, Cluny Brown.
Best Supporting Actor: Claude Rains, Notorious
Best Supporting Actress: Jane Wyman, The Yearling. If this is a lead role, Myrna Loy, The Best Years of Our Lives.
I'm sympathetic to Lawrence giving all top four awards to the stars of Notorious. They are indeed excellent.
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Dunkirk wasn't bad (say, 6.5/10), though I wouldn't want to see it again. My spouse was eager to see it, and we chose a theater that showed it in 70mm, a format which worked well for the film.
As you may know by now, the film is not a straightforward narrative. To a genius auteur of today, a clearly structured film with three-dimensional characters would be the height of vulgarity. Christopher Nolan, who (under)wrote and (over)directed the film, interweaves three separate stories and time schemes: 1) the Mole (the breakwater in Dunkirk harbor), where events take place over a week; 2) the Sea, which is supposed to take place in one day; and 3) the Air, which is supposed to take place in one hour.
Although the action is somewhat confusing at times, there's no sense of the incidents on the beach taking place over a week, so that the events feel like they are taking place simultaneously. Much of your response to Dunkirk may depend on how much you like the aerial scenes. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, though he was rather cool about the film overall, thought this was the best part of the film; my attention drifted during most of these scenes, which are heavily influenced by similar scenes in Star Wars.
I felt very little emotional connection to the film except, and this was a major exception, when Mark Rylance was on screen. Rylance represents all those who sailed to Dunkirk in their own small boats to rescue the British army. Simple, decent, and knowledgeable, this man lets us understand how the amazing rescue at Dunkirk was accomplished. Every moment Rylance was on screen was believable, and his interactions with the young men (boys, really) on the boat always rang true. Although I have some reservations about this storyline (see below), this was by far the best part of the film.
Except visually, that is, for there were some remarkably lovely shots in the beach storyline. Oddly enough, most of them are shots of an empty beach. Except for the very beginning of the Mole story, Nolan never shows us a crowded beach, and this movie really could have used the "cast of thousands" that an older epic like Spartacus had available. Of course, there is plenty of blue-tone cinematography, something which will date the film rather quickly.
Bad marks to the casting department for casting so many dark-haired actors of similar height and facial structure in the beach story. If you recognize the actors, this might not be a problem, but I didn't, and I had difficulty sorting out which actor in the current scene had done what in a previous scene. Nolan's lack of interest in creating characters compounds the problem, to be sure.
Because the story of the Dunkirk rescue is so much a tribute to the British, it may not play well with some anti-British leftists, and Nolan seems to throw a sop to them by showing most of the British except for our heroes as xenophobic to the point of violence. It's also important to note that one innocent character is killed by an Englishman, not by a German.
Michael Phillips took particular exception to the score by Hans Zimmer, who telegraphs every punch musically. The score also uses a "Variation 15" by Benjamin Wallfisch based on Elgar's Enigma Variations. Unfortunately, the new variation is so close to the great Nimrod variation that it can't stand on its own; simply using Elgar's music would have been a better choice.
I should add that this film is not recommended to anyone with a fear of drowning. There are many, many scenes of people drowning. You might think that this was another Titanic rather than the story of a rescue. The credits mention several of the "little boats" which were re-created for the film, but these boats appear in only one brief scene. There's nothing to compare with the scene in Mrs. Miniver when all the small boats join together for the trip across the Channel.
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She's not bald but wearing a blonde wig probably, below a cropped image. See what you think.
Dang, cigarjoe, she really does look like Kathryn Leigh Scott. And am I proud that some of you remember her!
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Joan's dress comes awfully close to matching the drapes. Is Miss Ellen missing a set of portieres?
Love the examples of dresses cut on the bias, and the dresses from The Young Girls of Rochefort.
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It seems that the overlooked performance in Mystic River is that of Laura Linney as Sean Penn's wife. The Boston Globe critic thought that Linney was the one who nailed the Boston accent. Because the performances by Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Marcia Gay Harden, although very strong, border on the overwrought, the quieter work of Laura Linney, Kevin Bacon, and Laurence Fishburne helps to balance the film.
If you've read the novel, you know that Whitey Jackson was white. Not only was it a good joke to cast Laurence Fishburne as Jackson, his status as outsider gives the audience someone to represent our point of view. Those people from South Boston think what? They behave like that? In this respect, the film improves on the novel.
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Night Tide also features the young Dennis Hopper in very tight white pants. Curtis Harrington would be a good choice for a follow-up Gay Hollywood series.
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Thursday, June 29
10:30 p.m. Torch Song Trilogy (1988). With Anne Bancroft, Matthew Broderick and Harvey Fierstein. I still haven’t seen this one.
Definitely worth seeing. Harvey Fierstein wrote the leading role for himself, and he understands what works for him. Anne Bancroft leaves no scenery unchewed, and I can't help wishing that Estelle Getty had had the opportunity to transfer her stage role to screen. As for the character of the young male hustler who loves the less than attractive middle-aged man for his sterling inner qualities, well, this is a common enough fantasy. Brian Kerwin might be overlooked in the role of Fierstein's bisexual boyfriend, but he is subtle, honest, and believable.
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I find Catch Me If You Can one of Spielberg's most appealing films. People who don't particularly care for Spielberg should be directed to this film.
The Bourne Identity is a solid thriller, with intrusive but gifted direction. Like a number of Matt Damon's projects, it has a distinctly left-wing attitude. The Ludlum novel and the TV movie starring Richard Chamberlain were about a CIA agent who wrongly believes that he may be the international terrorist known as Carlos. In the Damon version there are no international terrorists; the problems are within the CIA itself, and Jason Bourne is a CIA black ops killer. Damon has more chemistry with Franka Potente than with most of his other female co-stars, and this is a plus.
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For 1970s swinging bachelor pads, there's Dudley Moore's apartment in Foul Play.
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Tom, I'm also fond of Lana Turner's performances in Ziegfeld Girl--she actually steals the film from Judy Garland and James Stewart--and H o n k y Tonk. These were movies that made her a star. She's so lively and full of spirit in these films, not to mention drop dead gorgeous. For those who know her best from later movies like Imitation of Life, Peyton Place, and Portrait in Black, this young Lana may be a revelation. They certainly changed my view.
She's also fine as the photographer called Snapshot in Homecoming--she and Clark Gable have good chemistry--and she has surprisingly good chemistry with Spencer Tracy in the May/December romance Cass Timberlane. In both she's a feisty pint-sized beauty in a man's world. This kind of role brought out the best in the younger Lana.
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A recommendation for Thursday morning: So Well Remembered is a fine noir, set in England, starring John Mills as an ambitious young man of the people and Martha Scott as the rich man's daughter who intrigues him. Both stars are first-rate, as is the direction. Based on a novel by James Hilton (Lost Horizon, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Random Harvest).
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Early Sunday morning offers Bonjour Tristesse, a favorite of mine, and the excellent noir He Ran All the Way, which has strong direction, visuals, and performances.
And I must record Chunking Express. Wong Kar Wai is a gifted director, even if both of his films I've seen (Happy Together, Days of Being Wild) have major structural problems.
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hmmm...seems like we've got someone around here who is a big fan of this one...gosh darned if I can remember which poster it is tho....
Yes, who could that be? Saturday morning may not be the perfect time for a double feature of King Rat and In a Lonely Place, but two mighty good films.
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I have to admit it's a guilty pleasure. His piano playing is pure heaven. It's a remake, and I've never seen the original, THE MAN WHO PLAYED GOD, starring George Arliss. I keep hoping TCM will show it.
TCM has shown The Man Who Played God, which also features the young Bette Davis as a possible love interest for George Arliss. Arliss saw her potential as an actress and encouraged Warner Brothers to promote her career. This is a serious romantic film, despite the fact that Arliss is much older than the women.
Sincerely Yours, on the other hand, is a guilty pleasure and a Bad Movie We Love.
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Filmlover, I'm with you completely on The Pleasure Seekers and The Song of Songs. Where did you find Angel, Angel, Down We Go? I've always wanted to see it for Jennifer Jones.
The Pleasure Seekers makes you appreciate how good Jean Peters and Maggie McNamara were in Three Coins in the Fountain. The Spanish scenery is nice, and the actor who plays the Spanish doctor is quite handsome. When you think about how good Negulesco's early black and white films are, it's disappointing that his later work is like this.
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Tom, so glad you posted the picture of that outrageous feathered outfit. If only we had a Carol Burnett parody of this scene!
Cooper had really improved as an actor since Morocco, where he seems rather wooden. He's even better in Design for Living, where he really gets the romantic comedy style.
If I recall, Lee Garmes was Dietrich's favorite cinematographer, and there are a few shots in Desire where Charles Lang doesn't do her justice. From certain angles she looks hard-featured and about forty-five. (And yes, the eyebrows add to this impression.) Her face must have been tricky to light, because she can look beautiful and glamorous in other shots.
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It's RONALD COLMAN as July SOTM!
in General Discussions
Posted
I got to see a little bit of A Double Life and tuned in to my favorite part: the exquisite montage where various parts of the theater light up as Ronald Colman is taking his bows. The photography by Milton Krasner is noir lighting at its best, and the editing by Robert Parrish is even more sublime. A great poetic sequence, whatever one thinks of the film as a whole.
No one would ever look at this montage and say, "Oh, a George Cukor film." It's hard to guess how much of this was Cukor's idea. Cukor did direct some other noirish films (Gaslight, Keeper of the Flame) but neither film has anything like this. In any event, these moments of the film are to be cherished.