ValentineXavier
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Posts posted by ValentineXavier
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I dislike tea and hate coffee. I hope that doesn't make me unamerican...
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So, Fred, are you psychic, and know what was cut? This is the one Welles film I don't like. It was cut to try and completely change the meaning and mood of the film. They ruined it. No wonder you don't like it. If they had left it alone, as Orson had cut it, I'd probably love it, and even you might like the bleak, dark satire it was meant to be.
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I liked that film, as more or less a fantasy. I prefer the 1962 film *The 300 Spartans*. Probably my favorite Greek hero film.
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*El Norte* is one of the best films about immigrants I've seen. It's from 1983.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085482/
Edited by: ValentineXavier on Mar 17, 2012 11:07 PM
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Great print for 1856 though...
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> {quote:title=Sepiatone wrote:}{quote}
> So I feel by simply replacing the word "best" with "favorite" might keep things in here a bit more civil, don't you think?
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> Or DON'T you?
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> Sepiatone
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Certainly "best" and "favorite" are quite different things, even if some people don't seem to think so. *Sanjuro* is my favorite Kurosawa film. Since I am the ultimate authority on what is MY favorite, that is unquestionable. But, which is Kurosawa's best film? I can think of at least three good candidates, and *Sanjuro* isn't one of them.
We can come up with some objective criteria as to what makes a film best, but such a declaration will ultimately remain a matter of personal opinion. To have a discussion of the relative merits of films, we have to move beyond the question of 'what is your personal favorite.' So, I don't think we can dispense with the question of "best." However, I do think that question is unanswerable.
BTW, did Babs really write the score for The Twonky? I never knew that!
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More from *Billion Dollar Brain:*
>*General Midwinter:* Did you know for example, that the air in the East Coast of America is polluted by the reds? Oh, you might look at me, but boy, I tell you and I know that the air in Texas is the only truly wholesome air in this world. That is why I have not been out of Texas in twenty five years. I don't like the air in other places.
>*Harry Palmer:* It's amazing how we all survive, really.
>*General Midwinter:* You have disappointed me Harry, you have let me down. You've sold out!
>*Harry Palmer:* What have I done?
>*General Midwinter:* These photographs show what you have done!
>*Harry Palmer:* I think you're making a big mistake, General.
>*General Midwinter:* You are the one who's made a mistake, boy!
>*Harry Palmer:* What's going on?
>*General Midwinter:* I am not going to rest until every communist, and everyone who works for the communists, is six feet under ground. Go down and join your communist friend.
>*Harry Palmer:* You, General Midwinter, are the biggest idiot I have ever met.
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MGMWBRKO, thanks for giving us some valuable info. Also, it's nice to know that someone from programming checks this thread once in a while.
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> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}Her "cuteness" is lost on me.
I like her acuteness.
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> {quote:title=SansFin wrote:}{quote}
> > {quote:title=ValentineXavier wrote:}{quote}
> > I don't recall ever seeing any feature films in school. The earliest film I remember seeing was in 4th grade, when they showed us Bell Labs science films. We watched a theatrical movie each week in each foreign language class. I do not know how the classes could be taught if not for them.
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> I do not remember watching any movies in the lower grades. We watched many movies in the upper grades. They were documentaries made by the government. In my last school we had two rooms in which movies could be shown and I believe those rooms were in use all of the time.
Showing foreign language films in a foreign language class makes good sense. I don't think my HS did it, but I took two years of Latin, and I'm not sure there are any films in Latin...
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I don't recall ever seeing any feature films in school. The earliest film I remember seeing was in 4th grade, when they showed us Bell Labs science films. In HS, I remember that they showed us some WWII US propaganda films, about how Nazis used propaganda. They also showed us films about drugs, and VD. Some were gruesomely graphic.
I said it before, but I want to reiterate - I don't think showing feature films that purport to be accurate history is a good idea, unless you have someone there who is qualified to point out any factual inaccuracies.
OTOH, I would be much more comfortable with showing films that are admittedly fiction, but do a good job of accurately depicting an era, such as *The Grapes of Wrath*, *Black Robe*, *Wild Boys of the Road*, and numerous others.
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That well may be it, but I'm not absolutely certain. Thanks for the link. Surprisingly, it isn't listed on the IMDb, that I can find.
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I like Powers in lots of films, including *Nightmare Alley* and *The Mask of Zorro*. I don't blame his acting for what I consider the failure of *The Razor's Edge*. It is a good looking film, and an earnest film. It wants to be deep, but I find it hollow. It wants to be a bit like *Lost Horizon*, but was more like *Looking for Mr. Goodbar*. Although I have not read the novel, I attributed this to the difficulty of portraying a philosophical search on screen.
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Thanks. I will be sure to catch it at the next opportunity, on TCM, or FMC.
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> {quote:title=Swithin wrote:}{quote}
>Oh, and it also has the San Francisco earthquake, which seems to be caused by a slap in the face that Ruth Chatterton receives from her father,
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You know, I've long suspected that...
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> {quote:title=wouldbestar wrote:}{quote}{font:Times New Roman} {font}
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> {font:Times New Roman}*Leave Her to Heaven* has been mentioned several times here and I’m watching it now. The color is exquisite and you’d swear they were in real houses, the Southwest or the Maine Woods rather than the Fox set. I’d love to live in the main house for real.{font}
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I like *Leave Her to Heaven*, but it's not a favorite. But, every showing of it I've seen, the print looked way too dark, like it was in serious need of cleaning, before a transfer was done. This includes seeing it on TCM a couple of years ago (IIRC.) So, I don't understand saying "the color is exquisite." I guess I should try to catch it the next time around, and see if they have a better transfer.
Edited by: ValentineXavier on Mar 11, 2012 9:03 PM
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> {quote:title=Sepiatone wrote:}{quote}
> *Heaven's Gate* is too short? Funny thing to say about a Michael Cimino film, as his supposed masterpiece *The Deer Hunter* was WAYYYY too long! You could cut about 45 minutes of useless crap out of it and STILL have a good story. Good Godfrey! Hadn't he ever thought of hiring an EDITOR??
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I'm not a fan of *The Deer Hunter*. *Heaven's Gate* is a way better film. I realize that it is a very long film, longer than most people like a film to be. But, I see little, if any, that I would cut. And, as I said, there are just too many gaps in the story in the last 1/4-1/3. So, it needed to be a bit longer, to fill those gaps. *HG* is a story of the times that had not really been told before, but needed to be. It was long and complicated, but very well done. I had no problem sitting through it.
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> {quote:title=Swithin wrote:}{quote}Forgive my abysmal ignorance -- what exactly is SUTS? I assume it's Summer Under the Stars, or something like that, but what does that mean exactly?
I was hoping that someone else would answer, but...
Yes, SUTS stands for Summer Under the Stars. Each day is dedicated to the work of one actor. Even though I am never a fan of all the actors represented, I do like it, because there are always several that I like very much, and see too little of.
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As someone who was born in Oklahoma in 1948, and lived there, and in Texas and Louisiana until 1958, and later too, I was not offended by the accents, and didn't find the dialog to be "cornpone," but rather typical for the time and place, and true to Steinbeck's book.
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Although I believe that our views of politics and religion are very different, I strongly agree with much of what you have said, most especially that below.
> {quote:title=rohanaka wrote:}{quote}
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> And having said all that.. with regard to the topic.. I would say that in a Jr. High or High School setting viewing films of a "theatrical nature" is not in and of itself a "bad" idea in a classroom setting... so long as a teacher is using the film for enrichment purposes, to expand on a topic of study.. and not TEACH the topic by watching the film.
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> If the film being selected (such as the one mentioned.. Glory) is rated R and the students are not old enough to view it (in a theater on their own) then it is the parent's right (and the school's obligation) to have that communicated in advance. And then IF a parent objects to their child being exposed to a film that contains graphic violence, profanity, and racial slurs (again like the one mentioned) an alternative activity should be offered (that does not penalize the child for missing the film and offers an equal opportunity for enrichment)
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Do you really want TCM to show muppet movies? UGH!
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I often complain that 1.66:1 films are rarely presented in their original aspect ratio, but cropped to 4x3, or to 16x9. I want to thank TCM for showing both *Morgan*, and *Sans Soleil*, two excellent films, in their OARs. I enjoyed both very much.
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I don't see *Morgan* as the least bit slapstick. It's actually a very serious film, with lots of subtlety, pathos, and large amounts of surrealism lumped in.
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I saw him say swordfish...
The Magnificent Ambersons
in General Discussions
Posted
Fred, the film was meant to be down-beat, a film about decay. The studio tried to make it into an up-beat family film. Perhaps you would not have liked Welles' cut. But, the studio tried to do a 180 turn with the original intent of the film. That definitely ruined the film, IMO. They did NOT do that with *The Lady From Shanghai*. It was meant to be an adventure/mystery, and remained one. What they did to Ambersons was akin to doing a 90m cut of *Seven Samurai*, and trying to turn it into a comedy.
LZ, I agree... if only Welles had waited to go to S.A.