sineast

Jamaica Inn: Different kinda beachcomber Next: Ruggles of Red Gap

I'm always tempted to reply to threads titled "Anyone here love X?", yeah, X was okay. I do like Dana Andrews, especially in his 1940s heyday. As I said before, maybe it seems he is rather expressionless due to the stoicism of many of the characters he seemed to play in that era, though that would not be an across-the-board characterization. Bill Holden really got beat up for his performance in Golden Boy. But it was his first starring role, so I cut him a break, especially in light of how he improved later on. He does look and mostly act the part of the juvenile, but you have to start somewhere. The manner of Holden's death was indeed tragic, and being only in his early 60's he probably had some more good performances left, if his health had been all right. Very sad all around.

Shadow of a Doubt: Install Herbalarm ASAP Next: Lifeboat

I remember reading a few years ago about an attmept to revive the Ma and Pa Kettle brand and update it for a contemporary audience. A few rough drafts were worked up, I think one was Ma Kettle Gets an Abortion and Pa Kettle's Meth Lab, but things just didn't work out, and the project was scrapped.

Bra and stockings are okay, but I would think the true MM fan would want to wait on the possibility of panties, especially if they had a hint of her precious bodily fluids. If you're going to do movie star worship, might as well go all the way. Hurray for Hollywood.

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote} > Which of the 3 big Ealing comedies starring Alec Guiness do you think is the best, "Kind Hearts and Coronets", "The Lavender Hill Mob" or "The Ladykillers". I would vote for "The Ladykillers". Hilarious. Maybe it's the rule of last thought about, but I'd keep them in the order you put them in. This is difficult because each one is funny in its own way, and I'd be glad to see any of them again. Guinness had an amazing run from the mid 1940s to the mid 1950s.

> {quote:title=ChipHeartsMovies wrote:}{quote} > I _love_ spending an evening with a bottle of wine and DVDs of *Can't Stop the Music, Xanadu* and *Roller Boogie* . There is no disputing taste, but if that was the evening's line-up. I'd drain that bottle of wine first. Show no movies made after 1910.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Incorruptible Max and the Jacobins, probably beyond what they deserve. The French Revolution did eventually succeed, but it took a long and roundabout way to get there. It's good to behead king. And the French Revolution had one advantage over the American. It did something to limit slavery, whereas the American Revolution further institutionalized it. Not a good way to spread liberty. Even if TCM didn't celebrate Bastille Day, Sundance did, though perhaps not on purpose. Sundance showed Jean-Pierre Melville's Bob le Flambeur (1955) last night. Since if started at 12:30 a.m. on the 15th, it was technically not on Bastille Day, but who's counting. Intriguing little movie, a crime caper film with a few twists, some fine on-location shots of Paris, in general sort of a movie with one foot in low-budget film and new wave. Definitely worth the viewing, especially as I hadn't seen this one before. That's half the fun.

Bonjour Tristesse: Cocteau's Boho's Better. Next: Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (it is Bastille Day after all).

Maybe I am misremembering, but I thought TCM showed The Hustler a few years back, maybe two or three. Something I always miss in that film are the things that Piper Laurie's character writes in lipstick on the mirror just before she offs herself. I get most of them, but there's always one I can't quite decipher before the shot changes.

Then there is the Southeast Masocinematic Festival's coming double-bill of +20,000 Years in Sing Sing with Can't Stop the Music+.

Stalag 17: Love Holden's disinvite. Next: La Grande Illusion.

SOTC was an okay musical. Yes, some people were put off by the fact that Marni Nixon dubbed all of Jesus's solos, others were confused by the segue from +Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered into Casey Jones+, but, all in all, it wasn't half bad.

So Proudly We Hail: Somebody say...meeoowwwww Next: Four Jills in a Jeep

"Mr Chairman, let me explain. I am just an ordinary joe who joined CFU because I have an interest in classic movies. Little did I know this seemily harmless organi- zation was not interested in classic movies, but was a front for the communist takeover of our country and the destruction of all that we, as Americans, hold dear. I deeply regret my actions, however innocent they really are, and hope the committee will understand. Thank you, Mr. Chairman."

It certainly does, especially with White Heat, that's one of my all-time favorite crime films. Top of the world.

I know that version of Cleopatra and Sign of the Cross are somewhat notorious for their scantily clad actresses in certain scenes. I saw a part of Sing of the Cross a few years back, and it looked all right. I'm sure some of these films are well-made and interesting, but since my spare time is limited, I usually have to pick and choose carefully, so it's just easier to omit the genres that I know I'm not interested in. I'll probably check out The Undercover Man tonight, I like crime films and, even better, have never seen this one before.

I hold in my hand, well actually it's right here on the desk, a list of 251 persons associated with the CFU, or who know people associated with the CFU, or who at sometime in their lives wrote the letters C F U, though not necessarily in that order. I will transmit this list to the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and its current chairman, Adolph Menjou III, to do with it as he sees fit. P.S. If anyone wants any advice on evening wear, AM 3 is your man.

It is funny how many old groups are out there touring. Of course Tap had the disadvantage of always having to find a new drummer. I'm getting to be a genre hag. There's just certain subjects I'm just not all that interested in. Never seen Spartacus or Ben-Hur and really have no interest in seeing them, though they are probably fine exemplars of their genre.

To a certain degree, Spinal Tap was a real band. They released albums and did concerts. If some band that had one hit twenty years ago and is still playing can be called a real band, why not the Tap men? Turn it up to...12, man.

> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote} > Harvey is a great choice for Sebastian, but you just made me realize that I have always pictured Sebastian as a variation on Montgomery Clift. Such is the power of suggestion.... My doctor, my son. My son, my doctor. Things could get confusing in that household, as if they're not already strange enough. Move a couch into the elevator. Would have been a great cameo for Larry. Wouldn't see his face until near the end, then he could turn to the camera, medium shot, and give a little mischievous grin, though that would be out of place with the rest of the film.

Shame on you, Holly. Poor old Dennis Price always seems to get overlooked. Despite Guinness's fine turn in those eight roles, Price's character is really at the heart of the plot, and probably has as much, if not more, screen time than Sir Alec. He does a fine job of portraying Louis as a polite, gentlemanly, man about town, who has learned to hide his humble origins, but is also a striver with a meticulous plan to work his way to the inheritance via murder. His problem was, with his habit of close record keeping, he wrote down one thing too many. Hope this shows up on TCM soon, it really is quite a unique movie.

Sebastian probably did exist in real time and space, but his tale is told by others, so there's something a little ghostly about him, except for his obvious desires. I guess one could view his death on at least two levels-the symbolic, where he plays all those games with Death before the inevitable loss, and the concrete, where certain of his actions lead to his death. One could see either way, or both. The problem I have with all of Violet's musings on the eternal flow of life and death, nature's winners and losers, is that there is a distinction to be made: The beasts of nature don't act with malice afore- thought. The birds eat the turtles merely to survive. With humans, it's different. Sebastian does act with malice in his exploitation of the poor natives, and his survival really doesn't depend on them. So humans can opt out of the bloody necessities of nature, and that makes her view of life much too limiting and without nuance. I think Bronxgirl was the first to point out the parallel to Moby Dick, especially in reference to the color white, that vast whiteness and what it might mean. There are some similarities, but Moby Dick is also a separate work, with its own vast interpretive history, and it can stand on its own. Haven't read it in many years, but it's worth the effort. Though we only see Sebastian fleetingly, I've always imagined Laurence Harvey in that white suit. He seems perfect for the part of the egocentric manipulator with high style. Olivia appeared in a similar device (maybe it was the same one) in one of her later films. Throw in Joan Fontaine and you'd have a three-star circus.

It's been a while since I've seen it too, Holly. It seemed to show up fairly regularly on TCM, maybe because of the prominence of the three stars. It will be interesting to see how the details jive with a general overview of the film. I've never read the original one-act play, but apparently there were a lot of things added for the movie version. Instructive to read the play and compare it with the movie.

Very perceptive piece on what is truly one of the grandest of all black comedies. Yes, Guinness is marvelous in his multiple roles, but Dennis Price is sometimes overlooked due to this. Price did an excellent job as the discarded heir trying to kill his way up the chain. Though the screenplay is marvelously witty, the concept is rather broad, so the whole picture is hard to take too seriously, and Price strikes just the right tone so that it's hard not to be, to some extent, sympathetic to his character, however wrong his actions. A true comedy classic.