kingrat
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Posts posted by kingrat
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When we get back around to 1936, I'll have to add Zeffie Tilbury to the best supporting actress list for her performance as Aunt Olga in Desire, shown on TCM earlier tonight. I couldn't help wishing that we'd learned even more about her character, a really good sign in a supporting performance.
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We Were Strangers, though not altogether successful, is a very interesting film, one of the few American movies to consider what being in a small group of revolutionaries would be like. The setting is Cuba, and the film was made more than a decade before Castro overthrew the Batista regime. John Garfield's character is never identified as a Communist, though that seems to be implied; he's that figure we used to hear about the 50s and 60s, an "outside agitator."
The film confronts the kinds of moral dilemmas faced by a revolutionary cell. The right wing papers found the film much too leftist, and the Communist critics liked it just as little as the right wingers.
Gilbert Roland has a sympathetic role as one of the revolutionary group; I'd put it alongside The Furies as some of his best work.
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Audrey is so enchanting that I'm not sure the audience would ever have accepted her as a villain. I believe that Two for the Road was intended for us to be equally sympathetic to Albert Finney and Audrey, but when he's mean to her, that's it, he's not worthy of her, he never regains my respect. Perhaps a more charming actor than Finney would have balanced the film better.
Audrey makes the off-the-rack outfits she wears in Two for the Road look like haute couture.
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Wednesday morning's salute to Katharine Hepburn focuses on some lesser known films. Judging by those I have seen, lesser known for good reason. None of these films would be in the first thirty or forty most classic film buffs would recommend to newcomers curious about Hepburn.
Perhaps there have been other screen couples with as little chemistry as Katharine Hepburn and Robert Mitchum, but not many come to mind.
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Fans of British comedy may want to record Laughter in Paradise, which is on late Monday night. According to the terms of the will, each relative must perform certain tasks to claim a share of the estate. For instance, Fay Compton, who is unkind to her maids, must work as a maid for a month. Audrey Hepburn has only a small role as a cigarette girl in a nightclub, but she is lovely.
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Sunday evening has A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which I love. For years I avoided it, expecting it to be sentimental. "Grim" would be more like it, even with the hopeful elements at the end. It's hard to say which family member's dilemma is more touching: the intelligent young girl who's kept back a grade by her mother so that she can help her not so bright brother in school; the father who can't stop the drinking that ruins his family; or the mother who always has to be the unsympathetic rational adult while everyone adores her charming but self-destructive husband.
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The Librarians is a particularly clever theme, and I love your including Foul Play as part of that theme. "No one can be too careful these days, Gloria." Rin Tin Tin is an exceptional guest programmer, and I'm delighted that he included Deep Valley. I'd like to see those rare Paramount 1930s films, too.
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Bogie, I am also a fan of The Half-Naked Truth, one of the most enjoyable of Gregory La Cava's comedies and a must for fans of fast-talking Lee Tracy. Definitely recommended.
I also agree that Paradise for Three is definitely worth checking out. Edna May Oliver is in it, as well as Mary Astor. A ski resort assumes that Robert Young is a rich businessman and Frank Morgan is a lowly employee when of course it's the other way around. The comedy builds from there. Note: it is weird to see a Hollywood film set in 1930s Germany that has no relation to the actual events going on then, but if you can get past that, it's a lot of fun.
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The French voters for the Cesar were right on track in selecting Elodie Bouchez as best actress for The Dreamlife of Angels. A haunting film, with a gritty and believable performance by Mlle. Bouchez in the leading role.
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A few words in praise of Joan Cusack's performance in In and Out: she actually has an awful role, the girl who's just good enough that we don't think less of the protagonist for almost marrying her, but not good enough that we don't cheer when the protagonist moves on to someone else. Think of Carroll Baker in The Big Country, for instance. Not bad, but also not memorable. Janice Rule in Bell, Book, and Candle. These are simply the first two examples that came to mind; it's a standard part.
Cusack not only fulfills the plot function of her role, which is the most that can usually be expected, but she's also very funny and even a little touching, without our hating Kevin Kline for dumping her. Joan Cusack walks the tightrope as well as it can possibly be walked, and for me she is the Best Supporting Actress of the year.
Best Actor: Russell Crowe, L.A. Confidential
Swithin, I'd love to see The Woodlanders. I also think this is my favorite Hardy novel, although Jude the Obscure haunts me more.
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Going back to Carol Channing, I found it quite interesting how she was in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway on and off for roughly 30 years or so. She did the original Broadway production in 1964, then did the revival with Eddie Bracken in 1978, and then did yet ANOTHER revival in 1995. So, essentially, 30 years. Ms. Channing really must have loved this role. I remember reading somewhere that both Mary Martin and Ethel Merman declined the role when it was initially offered to them, but they did get a chance to play the role as some of the many star replacements during the run (Ginger Rogers and Betty Grable come to mind).
I'll have to give this documentary a go
The Forbidden Broadway parody of "Hello, Dolly" has the cast begging, "No, no, Carol, oh no, no, Carol" begging her not to play Dolly again, but she assures them, "Either it's that or Lorelei!"
There were not a great many roles appropriate to her unique talent, so it's not surprising she made the most of the opportunity.
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Have you seen Bedrooms and Hallways (1998)? Perhaps Ste grows up to be, sort of, a tiny bit like Leo, played by Kevin McKidd in that film.
Swithin, I haven't heard of this film but will have to check it out. Thanks!
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Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes, The English Patient
Best Actress: Brenda Blethyn, Secrets & Lies
Best Supporting Actor: Edward Norton, Primal Fear
Best Supporting Actress: Juliette Binoche, The English Patient
Primal Fear seems to me one of the best thrillers of the decade. Also glad to see a kind word for the good but not great film The Spitfire Grill, with, I can't help thinking, Allison Elliott in the Jodie Foster role and Ellen Burstyn in the Katharine Hepburn role. Gotta believe it was pitched that way.
I wish there had been a sequel to Beautiful Thing. Jamie fits so easily into gay subculture but Ste doesn't. Actually, Ste seems bi rather than gay. That could be the basis of a solid romantic drama with some comic moments.
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Fans of the offbeat and twisted definitely need to see ODD OBSESSION. An old man with a young wife. The old man's daughter and her college student boyfriend. Of course it makes sense for the old man to want to regain his potency by watching his young wife make love with the daughter's boyfriend. What could possibly go wrong?
I've only seen CONFLAGRATION on a wretched VHS copy, which was like not seeing it at all. Fingers crossed that TCM has a better version. Based on Mishima's novel THE TEMPLE OF THE GOLDEN PAVILION.
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Lorna, I agree with every word you wrote about Wild River. One of my favorite movies, a film that's more powerful because it's about the conflict of good vs. good. Every time I get a chance to vote in a poll for Lee Remick and Jo Van Fleet as the best of this year, I do. Two amazing performances.
Whenever I think of the best Hollywood portrayals of healthy female sexuality, I think of Lee Remick in Wild River and Deborah Kerr in The Sundowners. In his autobiography, Kazan wrote that Lee Remick was at this time in the early stages of a happy marriage, and this definitely shows.
The scene where Lee Remick sings "The Garden" to Clift as they drift across the river on the raft is one of my absolute favorites.
This is one of the best films ever made about the South.
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Sunday night has Louis Malle's great film The Fire Within. Not to be watched if you are feeling depressed, however. Maurice Ronet leaves the clinic where he's been treated for alcoholism and visits his friends, looking for a reason to go on living. Jeanne Moreau has a small part as one of his friends.
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Like jakeem, I'm a fan of Bruce Greenwood's performance in Thirteen Days, a much underrated film. Kevin Costner's performance is probably the weak link.
Greenwood's a versatile actor who, according to me, should have been a big star.
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Most Surprising Couple: Nicolas Cage and Shirley MacLaine, Guarding Tess. Both actors enjoy playing kooky or eccentric characters, and they play well opposite each other. This movie is a big favorite of my spouse.
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Best Actor:
Ralph Fiennes, Quiz Show*
Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump
Hugh Grant, Four Weddings and a Funeral
Best Actress:
Toni Collette, Muriel's Wedding*
Best Supporting Actor:
Gary Sinise, Forrest Gump*
Paul Scofield, Quiz Show
John Turturro, Quiz Show
Best Supporting Actress:
Rachel Griffiths, Muriel's Wedding*
I actually think all three Best Actor nominees deserve an Oscar. Hugh Grant gives one of the best comic performances since the heyday of Cary Grant. This is what being a leading man in a romantic comedy is all about. Tom Hanks gives a lyrical performance physically, and to make so much from Forrest's monotone delivery demands consummate acting skill. American actors rarely exhibit this much vocal skill (see, for example, Rob Morrow).
As for Ralph Fiennes, the upper-crust New York accent is merely one aspect of a complex characterization. (British actors usually have top-notch vocal skills.) Where else can one find a character who is both charismatic and weak? To me, this is a fascinating paradox, and that's how Fiennes plays Charles Van Doren.
Toni Collette is a great actress who could play just about any role, or so it would seem.
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I would say Rob Morrow is a lead in that as well. It's not as if I'm going to nominate him, though.
Ain't that the truth, Lawrence. Yes, Rob Morrow is, alas, a lead in an otherwise very good movie. Rob Morrow, who was fine on a TV series like Numbers, let the accent play him instead of the other way around.
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I'd love for Lady in the Dark to be shown on TCM. The network would have to have the legal rights to show it and there would have to be a digitized version. The festival presented a nitrate print.
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I enjoyed The Zookeeper's Wife and would recommend it to most audiences. Skillful direction by Niki Caro, excellent sets and costumes, a slightly washed-out look to the cinematography which nonetheless has a full range of color, and a capable cast. The story is based on the actions of the owners of the Warsaw Zoo, who saved the lives of more than three hundred Jews during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
Nonetheless, the performance of Jessica Chastain is the single most important factor in the film. Unlike many American actors, she understands that a Polish woman of the 1940s does not look, move, or carry her features like a contemporary American. So fully does Miss Chastain inhabit her character that I never had the sense of an actress making choices.
The film is a bit long and a bit slow, like most films today, but not to a damaging extent. I particularly admired the way that the official from the Berlin Zoo who becomes a Nazi officer, well played by Daniel Bruhl, has certain scruples and personal moral standards although he embraces the Nazi philosophy. He's a villain, but not a cardboard villain, and part of the suspense of the film is waiting to see which lines he will cross and which he won't.
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OH, you mean how the Brits seem incapable of pronouncing the letter "r"?
YOU know, as in such things as, "Why, yes Mate. I'll have a glass of 'WOE-tah', please!"
And whereas any good ol' American knows that that wet stuff is pronounced "WAH-ter".
Well, unless of course that "good ol' American" happens to have been born and bred along the upper eastern seaboard, and THEN we're back to all that "incapable of pronouncing the letter "r" thing again, of course.
Hey, Dargo, Americans pronounce "water" a lot of different ways. WAH-ter is the standard pronunciation, but, as you say, along the eastern seaboard people don't pronounce their R's. Also, in the Deep South I've heard WAW-tuh, in the Inland South it's "wadder," and in Baltimore it's "wutter." Or, should I say, in Balmer it's "wutter."
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Cora, thank you for including Jeanne Tripplehorn's performance in The Firm in your list of best supporting actresses. Although she never got a lot of acclaim for this performance, I think it's the standout in a generally well-acted film. The Firm probably wouldn't make my list of best thrillers, but it's effective, well-made, and just as interesting on a repeat viewing, perhaps more so.
Jeanne Tripplehorn plays a fairly ordinary young woman, smart and attractive, with a good-looking husband who seems to have found a great job. Things are not as they seem, and her world begins to go wrong in more ways than she can imagine. Her performance is mostly reacting, letting us know what she's feeling but not always able to say. Her scenes with Gene Hackman are particularly worthy of note, as she's suspicious of him, even repelled by him, but not altogether ruling out the possibility that she might be attracted to him. "Pretty wife of movie hero" can be an uninteresting role, but Jeanne Tripplehorn finds every nuance that can be found in the scenes.
If you like Scorsese's Age of Innocence, it's worth seeking out the brief 1930s version, which TCM occasionally shows. Of course the production values and direction all favor Scorsese. The 1930s filmmakers probably had a better sense of the values shared by Edith Wharton's characters in the novel, however. Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder, who all do good work in Scorsese's film, are somewhat miscast, to my way of thinking. Irene Dunne is very close to Edith Wharton's conception of Countess Olenska, although Michelle Pfeiffer's not quite seeming right for the period is also fairly effective, given that her situation presents a problem for the mores of the day.
Although I prefer Miriam Margolyes, Helen Westley also has fun with the role of the grandmother in the 1930s version. John Boles has the right gentlemanly quality for Newland Archer, but his Southern accent is more wrong for the upper-class New Yorker than Daniel Day-Lewis' almost Englishman. I prefer Julie Haydon to Winona Ryder as May. Julie Haydon, the original Laura onstage in The Glass Menagerie, did not make many films, and it's interesting to see her. Haydon, by the way, was the mistress of George Jean Nathan, the prominent theater critic who is usually taken to be the model for Addison DeWitt in All About Eve.
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HITS & MISSES: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow on TCM
in General Discussions
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Lawrence, I would not call British Agent a turkey, although it's surprisingly pro-Communist. Lenin is spoken of (by Kay Francis, of all people) as reverentially as a character in a 1950s Biblical epic would speak of Christ.
Nowhere to Go is well directed, and I love getting to see Maggie Smith before she was a star.