kingrat
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Posts posted by kingrat
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I thought WATERLOO BRIDGE and FIVE STAR FINAL were both terrific. I haven't seen the Vivien Leigh version, but I thought Mae Clarke was really good, and I wish she'd had a better career. FIVE STAR FINAL has been recommended by a lot of people on here.
THE GUARDSMAN I watched since it was an Oscar nominee, but I didn't care for it at all. It has its defenders, though, so maybe you'll feel differently. I felt the stars had little screen charisma, despite their vaunted stage reputations, and the story was tired even in '31.
"He IS the Kwisatz Haderach!!"
The Vivien Leigh/Robert Taylor WATERLOO BRIDGE is a fine romantic re-telling of the story. Leigh is outstanding, Robert Taylor gives his best performance so far, Lucile Watson is strong and sympathetic as his mother, and Maria Ouspenskaya is a villain you want to hiss. Mervyn LeRoy is a much underrated director, given the energy of his films at Warner and the high polish of his early MGM films, like this one. His movies will eventually get longer and stodgier, unfortunately.
I'm enjoying the year by year unfolding. A few years ago filmlover did a wonderful set of posts about 1939 day by day, letting us see how one newspaper reported on the films of that year. In 1931 Miriam Hopkins is a bigger star than Bette Davis, which must have been galling for Hopkins later on. Wonder what's going to happen in 1932?
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A note about some of the less familiar titles which I have seen:
THE GUARDSMAN is based on a Ferenc Molnar play about a man who tests his wife's fidelity by dressing up as another man. Lunt and Fontanne made their stage reputations playing this kind of artificial comedy.
WATERLOO BRIDGE in 1931 is much grittier than the glossy MGM remake. Mae Clarke plays a showgirl who has already drifted into prostitution before she meets the young soldier. In the remake Vivien Leigh plays a ballet dancer cruelly driven out of the ballet company by Maria Ouspenskaya, and she never considers prostitution until after she believes her fiance is dead. The 1931 version is more stagebound, without the MGM production values.
FIVE STAR FINAL concerns a tabloid raking up an old scandal and the disaster this brings to the people involved.
SAFE IN HELL is a classic pre-Code, like BABY FACE. William Wellman's direction is full of youthful energy. It's hard not to like a film that starts with the camera traveling up a shapely leg as a blonde dame, cigarette hanging out of her mouth, answers the ringing telephone, "Yeah?" Wellman's son has said that his father was never happier than when making 18 films in nine years at Warner Brothers. Dorothy Mackaill looks like a major star in a very challenging role. The African-American characters played by Nina Mae McKinney and Clarence Muse are treated with more respect than is common at the time.
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Oscar has the strange rule that performances from a foreign-language film are not eligible until the year after the film is eligible for Best Foreign Film. Thus Ida Kaminska's nomination for Best Actress was a year after THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET was considered for Best Foreign Film.
Cave Girl and filmlover have hit on two of the worst Oscar choices. 1954 was Grace Kelly's year, with several films, which always helps performers win Oscars. Had she been nominated for REAR WINDOW, her win wouldn't seem quite so wrong, but in 1954 THE COUNTRY GIRL was the more prestigious film, based on a Clifford Odets play that had been a modest Broadway hit. Neither the film, Kelly's performance, nor Clifford Odets' reputation has worn all that well.
It's possible to love Katharine Hepburn and still feel that in 1967, when she won for GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, she was by far the weakest choice, as opposed to Edith Evans for THE WHISPERERS, Anne Bancroft for THE GRADUATE, Faye Dunaway for BONNIE AND CLYDE, and Audrey Hepburn for WAIT UNTIL DARK. You could even argue that her nomination robbed the more deserving Diane Cilento for HOMBRE.
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IN RE: BORN YESTERDAY: Sigh, this movie. Aside from Holliday- there's not much to recommend it- a static, stagey and downright tacky set (what is up with those swastikas in the wall paper?!), Cukor at his most languid and uninspired, Brod Crawford- well cast, but (as usual), pretty awful- Paul Douglas would've been a better choice, and Holden wasted...also worth noting: really, more or less NONE of the characters in the film is really all that likeable, everyone seems to be something of an oppurtunist or immoral, too much yelling in the end and not enough funny lines (or even placement of the shots) to help with the glacial pacing. Just a really ham-fisted affair throughout, with Holliday (and the costumes!) the lone saving grace (I think the fact that BORN YESTERDAY was one of the top ten moneymakers of the year explain the pic and director nominations it head-scratchingly got.)
Lorna, BORN YESTERDAY had run for several years on Broadway, so like LIFE WITH FATHER, MY FAIR LADY, and other megahits, everyone wanted to see it. This may explain why the 1950 viewing public clasped BORN YESTERDAY to its collective heart in a way that you and I do not. Judy Holliday had played the role hundreds of times, and I believe there are scenes where you can see her playing the part exactly that way. "Languid and uninspired" describes Cukor's direction to a T and would work for his direction of MY FAIR LADY as well (sez me).
On a different topic, I'm happy that Eugenia likes ABANDON SHIP as much as I do. This is a little-known gem.
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I believe that a British reviewer who did not care for Streisand referred to her version as A BORE IS STARRED.
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I believe FRENCHMAN'S CREEK is a premiere, and I am looking forward to it. Saw it quite a number of years ago. How often do you get to see Joan Fontaine playing a pirate? Another very solid film from Mitchell Leisen, and great fun.
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I went back and took another look at Black Narcissus, and the murals are fine, at least to me. They have both a primitive and refined quality to them. Maybe it's the refinement in the artistry that allows them to appear simple portrayals without looking crude. There is one painting of a seraglio scene that has the same frenetic energy of Indian temple sculpture. I would guess that was intentional on the part of Alfred Junge, the production designer. As to who did them, there is no mention, but I suspect it was among the team of artists under him. Here's a good article on the set design and matte paintings:
http://silverscenesblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/set-design-black-narcissus-1947.html
Thank you so much for including this great article about Alfred Junge. The care and love which went into BLACK NARCISSUS is amazing. It was also good to see the close-up of John Bratby's work from THE HORSE'S MOUTH.
It's not surprising that you started this thread by talking about THE MOON AND SIXPENCE. Albert Lewin knew a great deal about art, and all of his six films include art in some way. The scene at night among the sculptures in PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN is another good example. I believe Man Ray worked with Lewin on designing this scene.
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Bogie, I haven't seen BAD SISTER. Isn't this the one where Bette Davis actually plays the good sister? She also has a small role in WATERLOO BRIDGE as the hero's good sister, and in THREE ON A MATCH she's the nice normal girl of the three. Warner Brothers hadn't figured out how to cast her, had they?
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I've seen very few Mary Pickford films, but she is delightful in MY BEST GIRL. If you like, say, Marion Davies in SHOW PEOPLE, you'll probably enjoy this one, too.
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Bogie, I'm really impressed that you have remembered so many fine performances. Marie Prevost is one of those actresses, like Una Merkel and Pert Kelton--and Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, and Edna May Oliver--who immediately brings a jolt of energy to any scene she's in.
Helen Hayes is very fine in ARROWSMITH. That's another role that could be classified as a lead by some, a supporting role by others. (For 1932, the problem for me will be where to classify Ann Dvorak in THREE ON A MATCH and SCARFACE.)
About three years ago TCM made a special effort to show more pre-Codes, which had been requested by some fans, and that's when I saw movies like SAFE IN HELL, BABY FACE, and the 1931 versions of WATERLOO BRIDGE and THE MALTESE FALCON. These were completely unknown to me, even by reputation, as late as 2009 when I first started watching TCM regularly. They had not even been mentioned in standard movie histories. Reading Mick LaSalle's COMPLICATED WOMEN was a good introduction to the pre-Code era.
I had known of Miriam Hopkins only as the foil to Bette Davis in THE OLD MAID and OLD ACQUAINTANCE, and had no idea that she was an accomplished and very sexy actress earlier in the 1930s.
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Tom, thanks for the reminder that Harry Myers is memorable as the millionaire in CITY LIGHTS. It's been a while since I've seen STREET SCENE. but Beulah Bondi is always good.
Best Supporting Actor for 1931:
Dudley Digges as Caspar Gutman in THE MALTESE FALCON*
Owen Matieson as Joel Cairo in THE MALTESE FALCON
Dwight Frye as Wilmer Cook in THE MALTESE FALCON
Harry Myers in CITY LIGHTS
Best Supporting Actress for 1931:
Nina Mae McKinney, SAFE IN HELL*
Aline MacMahon, FIVE STAR FINAL
Una Merkel, THE MALTESE FALCON
Thelma Todd, THE MALTESE FALCON
Granted, Huston's remake of THE MALTESE FALCON is wonderful, but I prefer Una to Lee Patrick and Thelma to Gladys George. Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Elisha Cook, Jr. are perfection, but Dudley Digges, Owen Matieson, and Dwight Frye are pretty good in their own right.
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SPOTLIGHT and THE BIG SHORT are excellent choices for the screenplay awards, and it will be no surprise if they repeat their wins at the Oscars tonight.
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I'll get us started with posts for Best Actor and Best Actress for 1931. I haven't seen DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. The top four actors on my list are all worthy of an Oscar for 1931. Asterisk for the winners.
1931:
Best Actor:
Charles Chaplin, CITY LIGHTS*
Edward G. Robinson, LITTLE CAESAR
James Cagney, THE PUBLIC ENEMY
Peter Lorre, M
Alfred Lunt, THE GUARDSMAN
Best Actress:
Dorothy Mackaill, SAFE IN HELL*
Mae Clarke, WATERLOO BRIDGE
Norma Shearer, A FREE SOUL
Miriam Hopkins, THE SMILING LIEUTENANT
Helen Hayes, THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET
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I'm having trouble locating candidates for best supporting actor for some of the years in the 1930s, and will be interested to see the ones the rest of you come up with. 1931 is one of those years.
It was surprising to learn that Marie Dressler was a big box-office star in these pre-Code years. She died not long after DINNER AT EIGHT was made. She got top billing, above Barrymore, Harlow, and Beery. I can't think of another woman of her age and body type who was such a big star at that age.
Something else unusual about the early 1930s: I grew up thinking male movie stars were guys like Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Brando, James Dean, etc. You don't find that many handsome leading men in the early 30s. It's easy to see why Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, and Cary Grant rose so quickly in this era. They didn't have much competition. The early 30s have quite a few guys who are basically character actors who can carry a movie in a leading role: Wallace Beery, Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, for instance. Paul Muni actually had enough looks and sex appeal to be a leading man, but as a serious actor did not want to go in that direction. Spencer Tracy is just good-looking enough to play some romantic leads, but when's he cast with Gable, Gable gets the girl.
The 1930s was a great time for leading ladies, but they may be playing opposite someone like John Boles or David Manners or guys whose names you can't even remember. George Brent would never have had as big a career in any other era. The type of actor the 30s had and we do not have is the suave, sophisticated man like William Powell, Ronald Colman, and John Barrymore. This was an image that women liked and that men wanted to be like.
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I highly recommend J.R. Jones' biography of Robert Ryan. You'll learn about his background and his interests outside the movie world as well as plenty of information about his films. Ryan was generally well-liked by his colleagues, but most of them said they did not know him well. His wife disliked socializing with movie people even more than he did.
Ryan is a great choice for Star of the Month, with an impressive group of films.
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Slayton, thank you for posting those images for us. I remember liking the murals on the palace walls in BLACK NARCISSUS, and the paintings in THE HORSE'S MOUTH seemed appropriate for the artist Gulley Jimson played by Alec Guinness.
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Not having gotten in on the fun soon enough, I'll add some favorite films of the 1930s, to keep Bogie's new thread free just for favorite performances. At various times Oscar has nominated from three to twelve films for Best Picture, and I'll keep to that format. Most years will fall in the five to ten range which is what we have now. Best of the best with an asterisk.
1931:
CITY LIGHTS*
M
SAFE IN HELL
MAEDCHEN IN UNIFORM
MONKEY BUSINESS
1932:
TROUBLE IN PARADISE*
SHANGHAI EXPRESS
I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG
GRAND HOTEL
THREE ON A MATCH
THE MATCH KING
ME AND MY GAL
HORSE FEATHERS
SCARFACE
1933:
DUCK SOUP*
THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN
BABY FACE
LITTLE WOMEN
COUNSELLOR AT LAW
GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933
DINNER AT EIGHT
QUEEN CHRISTINA
EMPLOYEES' ENTRANCE
1934:
L'ATALANTE*
DAMES
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
LES MISERABLES (D: Bernard)
HEAT LIGHTNING
MANHATTAN MELODRAMA
IT'S A GIFT
1935:
THE 39 STEPS*
CARNIVAL IN FLANDERS (LA KERMESSE HEROIQUE)
THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
TOP HAT
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY
OIL FOR THE LAMPS OF CHINA
1936:
DODSWORTH*
MY MAN GODFREY (flip a coin)
MODERN TIMES
LIBELED LADY
THEODORA GOES WILD
SABOTAGE
1937:
STAGE DOOR*
LOST HORIZON (flip a coin)
GRAND ILLUSION
THE AWFUL TRUTH
EASY LIVING
1938:
PORT OF SHADOWS*
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD
JEZEBEL
ALEXANDER NEVSKY
SIDEWALKS OF LONDON (ST. MARTIN'S LANE)
THE LADY VANISHES
BRINGING UP BABY
FOUR'S A CROWD
PYGMALION
1939:
GONE WITH THE WIND*
LE JOUR SE LEVE
THE WIZARD OF OZ
MIDNIGHT
THE RAINS CAME
JUAREZ
DARK VICTORY
THE RULES OF THE GAME
STAGECOACH
NINOTCHKA
THE WOMEN
BEAU GESTE
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THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON - (6/10) - Drama about 4 friends reuniting with their basketball coach on the 24th anniversary of their championship-winning game. Over the course of the day and night old and new animosities and grievances are revealed. Based on Jason Miller's Tony and Pulitzer prize winning play, the film fell flat for me, and despite the capable performers, something must have been lost in the transition to the screen. Bruce Dern, Paul Sorvino, Stacy Keach, Martin Sheen, and Robert Mitchum as the coach round out the cast. Miller himself, best known for his Oscar-nominated role as the young priest in THE EXORCIST, assumed directing duties on this film after William Freidkin dropped out. Mitchum was also a replacement, for an ailing William Holden.
First time watched. Source: VHS. I recently bought this from a mail-order clearance retailer, and it was an unopened, MGM vhs factory release, manufactured in 1983. It is one of those over-sized cardboard boxes with a book-style cover flap that opens to reveal the tape, and has a cast list printed on the inside. Crazy to think that tape has been laying around unopened for 30+ years.
Lawrence, I don't think that much, if anything, was lost in the transition from stage to screen. I'm with you 100% on your description of the film, but the energy of the actors on stage would be the only plus for the original. The play is rather shallow and its cynicism easy, and the Martin Sheen character is a kind of alcoholic I have never met in real life, the truth-telling alcoholic who drinks because he's the only one who sees the truth (Claire in Albee's A DELICATE BALANCE is the same character in female form). The acting in the film is good, and that's the best thing it has going for it.
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The problem with "melodrama" is that the term has several different meanings.
1. The word comes from the Greek, meaning a drama with music. We don't use this definition much, but when Max Steiner uses the full orchestra, we're close to this original meaning.
2. There's the generally unflattering sense that Swithin mentions: characters are all black or all white, situations are exaggerated and highly improbable. Any genre can be melodramatic in this sense. If I called Billy Zane's character in TITANIC melodramatic, and is it ever, it would be in this pejorative sense.
3. Melodrama = soap opera. Enter amnesia, evil twins, etc.
4. Melodrama = domestic drama. Our Douglas Sirk and Delmer Daves favorites.
5. Some academics seem to use drama and melodrama interchangeably, but this isn't helpful. Calling A FACE IN THE CROWD drama and WRITTEN ON THE WIND melodrama is a sensible distinction. (I love both pictures.)
6. Some of the melodramas in categories 3 & 4 were traditionally called "women's pictures." A friend suggested that more men will watch these films, which many of us love, if they are called "domestic melodramas."
Of course, a film may fit several of these meanings at the same time, just as MILDRED PIERCE is both a film noir and a woman's picture, er, "domestic melodrama."
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Some additions to the list:
Joseph Losey - The Prowler, the remake of M, The Criminal
Jean Negulesco - The Mask of Dimitrios, Deep Valley, Nobody Lives Forever, Three Strangers
John Brahm - The Locket, The Lodger, Hangover Square
Jules Dassin - add Thieves' Highway and Rififi
Anatole Litvak - The Long Night, Blues in the Night (a kind of noir musical)
Max Ophuls - The Reckless Moment, Caught
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SHOOT THE MOON - (7/10) - Domestic drama detailing the ugly separation of a successful novelist and his wife. He's been having an affair, and she's had enough, so they separate and begin the awkward, painful process of establishing two new lifestyles and dealing with the awful burden it puts on their 4 children. Albert Finney stars as the writer, with Diane Keaton as his wife, Karen Allen as the other woman, and Peter Weller as a handsome construction worker that Keaton has eyes for. The children include an outstanding Dana Hill, later of NATIONAL LAMPOON'S EUROPEAN VACATION, as the eldest daughter suffering the most with the new situation, as well as early roles for future tv stars Tracey Gold (GROWING PAINS) and Tina Yothers (FAMILY TIES). Alan Parker directs, and it's a much more grounded, less sensational story than most of his directorial efforts.
The performances are all top notch, and the story can be painfully authentic, but eventually I got tired of watching miserable people being miserable to each other without the added verbal artistry of an Edward Albee. It may be true to life, but that doesn't mean you want to hang out with them for very long.
First time watched. Source: DVD.
This catches my view of the film exactly. So well done, and yet . . . .
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Hillary Clinton to star in biopic of Tea Leoni.
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I saw THE SILVER CORD many years ago on TV. The play and the subsequent movie were among the most prominent of the domineering mother drama. Laura Hope Crews, best remembered as Aunt Pittypat in GWTW, played a very different kind of character as the mother. Irene Dunne is the young woman who has to fight her for the heart and soul and even the life of the man she loves.
Miss Crews will be on my list of contenders for Best Supporting Actress when we get to 1933.
I haven't seen THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BROADWAY, but Ina Claire was a big star on Broadway, especially in drawing-room comedies.
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The 2015 BFI London Film Festival has some interesting restored films.
Variety (1925) Dir: EA Dupont. With Emil Jannings. By the Murnau Foundation using nitrate prints and duplicate negatives to realize a 2K digital restoration.
A Man For All seasons (1966) Dir: fred Zinnemann. Sony Pictures 4K Digital restoration from original negative.
Women In Love (1969) Dir: Ken Russell. "Taken for 4kScans" supervised by cinematographer Billy Williams.
Our Man In Havana (!959) Dir: Carol Reed. Sony Pictures 4K restoration from original picture negative.
The Battle of the Century (1927) Dir; Clyde Bruckman. With Laurel & Hardy. Previously thought to be (mostly) lost, "rediscovered via the 'mostly lost' film workshop at the Library of Congress Film Department, courtesy of a collector.
Warlock (1959) Dir: Edward Dmytryk. With Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn and Dorothy Malone. 4K Digital REstoration by 20th Century Fox.
The Raging Moon (1971) Dir: Bryan Forbes. With Malcolm McDowell and Nanette Newman. 2K Digital Restoraiton from original negative.
Rocco and His Brothers (1960) Dir: Luchino Visconti. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna. (I'm guessing that this restoration was done a few years ago)
WARLOCK has gorgeous cinematography by Joe MacDonald, so this would be a treat. The only print I've seen of THE RAGING MOON was not good at all; not one of Forbes' better films (all my faves are in B&W), but Malcolm McDowell and Nanette Newman are very good. OUR MAN IN HAVANA is a fine film, and I've never seen VARIETY.
I'd love to see some of these turn up at a TCM film festival.
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FRENCHMAN'S CREEK - The Good of It and the Bad
in General Discussions
Posted
The color was so bad in parts of FRENCHMAN'S CREEK that I hope no contemporary directors and cinematographers saw it, given how filter-crazy most current films are. The washed-out look could be the next steel blue. (I see that clore made a similar comment.)
To me the film is a delight. The story is a charming fantasy, and Arturo de Cordova is really very attractive. Cecil Kellaway has a great supporting role, and Basil Rathbone makes a scary villain. Joan Fontaine makes a fine heroine.
Does anyone have the made-on-demand DVD? Is it as bad as this print? I'd love to see a really good print of this.