JamesJazGuitar
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Posts posted by JamesJazGuitar
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The Left Hand of God (1955).
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Shanghai Chest (1948).
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Bates.
Next: Wilder, Grey, Woolf
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Ian MacDonald was in High Noon, with Otto Kruger
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City for Conquest (1940)
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6. As noted other actresses were offer the part but declined. When Bette Davis was asked to play the role she said: "I was delighted with this part because it was a change of pace... I was always challenged by a new type of person to play".
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Bullfighter and the Lady (1951).
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Claude Rains was in Casablanca with Joy Page.
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ST. Louis Blues (1939).
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Johnny Apollo (1940).
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2 minutes ago, midwestan said:
Yeah...I have no idea where I got that 19 episodes junk! According to IMDB, Collins had emphysema real bad, which caused him to bow out of the series after the 1960-61 season had ended. He passed away just prior to the series' final season. It was decided to keep him on the credits to keep his spirits up during his illness and to allow him to maintain his Screen Actor's Guild insurance benefits. I forgot the primary rule of writing a term paper (or making an internet post)....RESEARCH before you write!!!! (or in this case, post)! IMDB says there were 271 total "Perry Mason" episodes.
As far as career film legacy, for me Collins is clearly the most esteemed regular actor of the Perry Mason show. Of course there is the role in Citizen Kane, one of the bigger secondary character roles (and I would say the most important one as it relates to the fall of Kane). His other films for Welles were The Magnificent Ambersons and Touch of Evil many years later. But he provided fine support in a host of other films:
The Big Street, The Human Comedy, Roughly Speaking, Leave Her to Heaven, Crack-Up, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, The Senator was Indiscrete, The Man from Colorado, The Heiress, Paid in Full, The Racket, and The Desperate Hours (and of course many other films).
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It is a movie about a jazz musician staring Sammy Davis Jr.
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25 minutes ago, midwestan said:
I'm presently on the last season of "Perry Mason" episodes on CBS All Access. I thought it interesting that Ray Collins, the most senior regular cast member (he played Lieutenant Tragg) only appeared in 19 episodes of the 8-year series. He died in 1965, which was the last season "Perry Mason" aired...and through all those seasons, Collins always got a screen credit at the beginning and the end of each episode. Compare that to William Talman who played L.A. District Attorney Hamilton Berger. If he wasn't in an episode, he never got a credit. So, that led me to think Collins either had a fantastic agent, or the producers of the show (or others affiliated with "Perry Mason") allowed him all the credits because of his longevity in the business? He was born in 1889 in Sacramento.
I'm also stream-watching old episodes of "The Twilight Zone", which are also commercial-free. I love watching the New Year's marathon on SyFy, but I've seen several episodes on CBS All Access that I never remember watching during those marathon broadcasts. I'm also getting into binge-watching "Mission Impossible" and "Reno 911".
Approximately how many total episodes where there in the 8 years of the series? 19 total for Tragg sounds "low". Note that in the books Tragg and Mason are very close, work together and really respect each other. E.g. Tragg lets Mason do things that the police can't do. The books also featured Sergeant Holcomb, who really disliked Mason, was always threating him and trying to show him up (but of course failing). Holcomb is kind of a dummy. Holcomb was only in two episodes of the original T.V. series.
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1 hour ago, TopBilled said:
I relate this to stage plays, especially Shakespearean works. Imagine if someone told Laurence Olivier, sorry buddy you cannot play Hamlet because it's already been done before.
Clearly "why" and "what's the point" type questions are from the POV of the consumer and not the artists involved.
As for film to me the most creative aspect is the screenplay: most books cover 100s of hours of potential film scenes, but a film is only a few hours.
Therefor related to the book the screenwriters have to decide: what characters are cutout, which supporting characters are emphasized or downsized, what scenes are included or not (or minimized), etc... This is where all the major decisions are made. I would hope most screenwriters don't use an original screenplay from an original version as a starting place for there own, but instead read the book! Of course they may watch prior film versions but only as reference. Note I just read The Scarlett Pimpernel. Really fine book (a great combination of romance and adventure). Of course I have seen the 1934 film version with Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon, and I love it! But after reading the book, I started to create a draft outline of my own screenplay. (yea, I'm bored since I can't jam with the band due to Covid). E.g. the ending of the film is much different. The book has the Pimpernel disguised as a poor Jewish fellow. This disguises fools the French du e to their bigotry. That angle is very interesting.
The point being there is a lot for a creative person to "harvest" using a book as the source material. It is at the heart of the creative process. Sadly most consumers appear to be blind to this.
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14 hours ago, TomJH said:
I've got nothing against remakes in general but what's the point of remaking THE WIZARD OF OZ?
Are there millions of people out there thinking, "Good. I hope they get it right this time."
What's the point????
What's the point with such a question.
They are NOT remaking a film but instead using the original novel by Baum to make their own film
So that is the point: for new artists to use high quality source material to provide their own vision to the viewing public.
I have to assume those complaining have never attempted to create any artistic work. Those that do understand the above POV.
Should I not play a song because someone has played it before?
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14 hours ago, Classic movie fan said:
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/wonderful-wizard-of-oz-remake-1234904194/
They should leave the classics alone. What's next, Gone with the Wind?
No so called classic is being touched. In fact so called remakes, bring attention to original versions.
Really what harm is caused to an original version when a new adaptation is done? NONE!
ALSO, movie makers have made new adaptation since the beginning of film making. I.e. new adaptations are NOT something that is recent.
E.g. Huston's The Maltese Falcon was the 3rd try by Warner Bros; The Strawberry Blonde the second attempt, etc....
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12 minutes ago, TopBilled said:
I think Bette could have pulled off playing the mother of a son about to marry. After all, didn't she play Teresa Wright's mother in THE LITTLE FOXES three years earlier?
Not sure if Greer Garson and frequent leading man Walter Pidgeon would have been able to play the Dodsworths as well as Bette Davis and Claude Rains would have. My opinion.
You're correct about The Little Foxes. Of course I'm sure you're aware about the issues on the set and debate about her make-up in that film. But yea, Bette had the chops to pay an older women and mother. While a Garson \ Pidgeon pairing would have "worked" I don't think it would have as well as Davis \ Rains.
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16 hours ago, TopBilled said:
Okay, it's late 1944 and you're Jack Warner. Bette Davis is in the front lobby saying that she wants to do another remake, something as good as THE LETTER. She just finished filming MR. SKEFFINGTON and had a good time with Claude Rains.
Do you tell lead her into your office, light her cigarette and say guess what Bette darling, I'm going to buy the rights to DODSWORTH from Sam Goldwyn and we're going to star you and Claude in it. How does that sound?
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For some reason, I actually think Bette & Claude would have done it better than Walter Huston & Ruth Chatterton did. Mary Astor could have played the same part that she had in the original, since she and Bette did well together on screen.
What WB contract players would have played David Niven's part and Maria Ouspenskaya's part?
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And while we're on the subject...if we were remaking it today in 2021 who would you cast in it?
Fran Dodsworth: Meryl Streep, Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry
Sam Dodsworth: Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Denzel Washington, George Clooney
In 1944 Bette would have been too young for the part of the wife with a son that is also getting married. Greer Garson would have been a better choice.
Of course like Mr. Skeffington, the screenplay could have had Bette as a younger married women in a flashback scenes, and then aged her for the her scenes as a 40 plus women who want more than just being married.
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8 hours ago, MilesArcher said:
"The Danny Thomas Show", which had also been known as "Make Room For Daddy", served as a pilot film for "The Andy Griffith Show". In the episode, Danny and his family are stopped in Mayberry by Sheriff Andy Taylor for not stopping at a stop sign. Danny insists he is innocent and chooses jail time over a fine. Ronny Howard plays Opie and Frances Bavier is on hand, but not as Aunt Bee . She plays a local widow whose husband was buried in a rented suit and she is still paying fifty cents a day for it. Andy Griffith had preciously starred in a few movies, including "A Face In the Crowd".
You got it! Just found this one this week when I was looking at spin offs related to the Burke's Law trivia. Really enjoy watching Andy Griffith on ME-TV but I didn't know that the character was first on the Danny Thomas show. Of course there were many spinoffs from Andy Griffith related to the town of Maybury.
Your turn!
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The Strawberry Blonde (1941).
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Gentleman Jim (1942).
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The Sisters (1938).
1) First of two films to feature Bette Davis and Errol Flynn.
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The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947).
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Actor/Movie Association Game
in Games and Trivia
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Tom Tully