JamesJazGuitar
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Posts posted by JamesJazGuitar
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That year I would say all of the contenders "deserved" the Oscar. i.e. all were really first rate performances. Maybe the dramas kind of split the vote and this is why Holiday won in a comedy?
I'll admit to not knowing a lot about Eleanor Parker but what I have seen of her (Detective Story, Caged), I was impressed with. I'll have to seek out her movies more.
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Cool associated with Rock and Roll? With music I always associate jazz with cool not rock. Of course there was a cool school of jazz, like bebop this was a sub-gerne of jazz during the 50s.
Cool jazz was more layed back. The tempo wasn't as fast. The playing of notes more sparce.
This kind of fits in with your #7. That cool people don't talk a lot. But when they do speak what they say has substance. This was like the cool school of jazz. Less notes per measure, but often just the right notes at the right time!
As for cool actors and roles. I would say Alan Ladd in his early 40 noir type films. Take his part in The Glass Key. That is one cool guy.
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Well as I'm sure you guessed I'm going to disagree, but I do admit to having a certain about of snobbery. What I like about this forum is I meet so many people with more knowledge and experience about classic movies than I. But when I'm with most people (e.g. my wife's office workers), I clearly have a lot more knowledge of classic movies than they do. Yea, call me a snob but I don't consider their opinions on the same level as I would many (most) of the people at this forum.
For example, there is another thread about the best actor of all time. Brut Lancaster was mentioned. The person that started the forum had never seen a movie Lancaster was in. To me that makes their opinion of who is the best actor less valid. What other actors have they NOT seen? How can one have an opinion (worth merit), on something they have NOT experienced?
I don't think the 'issue' here is one of expressive skills (at least not to me), but instead lack of knowledge and experience.
I don't have an opinion about who is the best opera singer of all time. That would be folly. Thus in my world a certain amount of knowledge or experience is necessary for an opinion to have some validity. (validity in the sense that one can have an interesting discussion about our various opinions).
Of course I don't fault those that lack knowledge and experience. Everyone starts from the same place. What is also great about this forum is that many lacking in knowledge and experience come here to gain more. I continue to learn more and more about classic movies.
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Yes, I have read those comments. Hepburn needed multiple takes, didn't know her lines well, etc... Sabrina was just Hepburn's second staring role so I'm sure she wasn't a seasoned pro like Bogie. Add to the fact Bogie didn't like Holden and I guess Bogie was somewhat of a grump.
Still the final product is a great movie with many classic moments; e.g. When Hepburn comes out to the party in that great dress,,, what class, what beauty. She doesn't need any lines!
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As you often do, you saved me typing! Yea Lana started young and MGM pushed her quickly to stardom. I find early Lana very cute; Yes, cute is the right word. That soft voice and softer look. Of course with Postman, Lane moves way beyond cute and into the sexy, OMG, stage.
As I have said before I'm not a big MGM fan (I'm more of a Warner RKO type of guy), but Lana fit the MGM style very well.
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Yes, that one wins the prize between Cooper, Bogie, Grant and Astaire!
I don't have the exact math but I believe that in all of these cases the age difference was at least 25 years. Hey, I don't blame them for taking these roles. I would do the same to get close to Audrey!
And it the movie Roman Holiday she was with Peck which was a lot better match since he was at least in his 30s! But of course he doesn't end up with the gal. His lost.
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The Kinks song is Get Back In Line. Kind of a On the Waterfront type of vibe.
Note that Ray Davies wrote a lot of songs about living on the wrong side of the tracks but of course he clearly wasn't. Thus in the album Soap Opera, he mocks himself for doing so. In this concept album he trades places with a regular guy in order to help him write songs that regular guys can relate to.
As for how bad things are today? Well unless one has high tech skills I would say things are going to get worst and worst. Techology replaces more jobs than it creates. Thus I see little hope for the middle class. Oh, well it was great while it lasted.
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I knew someone might point that out (and of course it had to be you
), but I didn't mention that movie on purpose since, to me, Grant is too old for the part and too old for Hepburn. Thus the pairing doesn't work for me. To me NBNW still works (even with Grant being the same age as the women playing his mother!), but Charade does NOT. The same is true for Sabrina. Yea, Grant and Bogie are part of my top 3 favorite actors but still I find them too old for these parts with Hepburn.
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Is Stompanato the guy killed by Lana's kid? If so, that is NOT a murder.
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I wonder if TCM shows this film so often because it is a color classic? I.e. the look of the movie isn't that 'dated' and is one of the last Cary Graht movies where he isn't too old to get the gal? In other words why is this specific Grant movie shown so often? I guess only the programmers know.
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I agree that Butch and Sundance don't come off as bad guys. Hey, what is a little bank robbery between friends!
I understand you point better now as it relates to 40s and 50s documentary style crime dramas told from the POV of the authorties. Note that in the 30s Cagney made a few of these (G-Men), but even when Cagney play for the good guys he was in many ways a bad boy.
But like others have posted here the leader of the FBI wasn't a good man in many ways. The ends don't always justify the means.
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I don't see that much of a difference between Bonnie and Clyde and some of the Cagney gangster films of the 30s. In both cases the star isn't really a hero but the story is told from their POV. At the end each is killed and thus crime doens't pay. Of course heros often die in movies but I don't view the killing of Bonnie and Clyde as a heros death (say compared to Butch and the Sundance Kid type of death ending).
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Well Chase a Crooked Shadow was released the year after The Ten Commandments. So either Ann lost some weight or it was those robes!
I enjoyed the film and since it was one I had never seen or heard about before it was interesting. The Fairbanks speech was somewhat corny and I assume done for marketing reasons.
But Ann did look very nice in this film as well as the countryside. I also wondered what part of Spain this was. Looked like southwest Italian coastline to me.
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I didn't know about any of those stations until a few weeks ago when I stayed at my wife's godparents house in Palm Springs. I got to see a lot of classic TV that the So Cal stations in the OC do NOT have.
I can see why a retirement area like Palm Springs carries these stations. I guess I have to go stay at their house more often! Of course I go there to hike and not sit and watch TV but after a long day it is nice to see Perry Mason reruns or other classic TV shows.
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Yes, Fred's post was one of the best I have seen in a very long time!!!!
He is a stranger I wish I would meet on a train.
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The point was that one shouldn't be surprised by spoiler comments in a thread about a specific movie. My mistake was that your comment was NOT about the thread's movie's topic (NBNW), but instead another movie. As you noted yourself the spoiler comment about Private Ryan was removed. That doesn't defend my mistake but it does explain it.
My point was germane to the topic of spoilers (a topic you started I assume) but again my assumtion that the spoiler was about NBNW was mistaken. I'm not embarassed but if I offended you I'm sorry.
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I did know what the definition of opinion, which is why I added the qualifier 'valid'. But thanks for providing it since it helps in this discussion.
I just don't find unsubstantiated opinions (which as noted opinions are by definition) very interesting and clearly they don't lead to meaningful discussions. Take this thread about morals slipping on TCM. There has been some good discussion about the criteria people are using to determine that morals are slipping. e.g. showing a female breast.
Again, one doesn't need to agree with how people back up their POV but at least we have something of substance to discuss. The thing I like about this entire forum and the people that use it, is that most of the time people are able to substantiate their opinions and knowledge is traded. I just find that more interesting than people trading opinions with no substance.
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Great poster. Also I wouldn't view Lombard as a spinster! So yea, I can clearly see why the producers would change the title of the movie.
Note that Love Befroe Breakfast was the only OK movie she had in what I view was the best run of a female comedian; from 35 to 37 Carole also made the following movies. I think all of these are very good and funny movies and a few like Godfrey and Nothing Sacred are some of the best of all time.
Hands Across the Table, The Princess Comes Across, My Man Godfrey, Swing High Swing Low, Nothing Sacred, and True Confession.
After this Carole tried drama and the run was over. She ended with a great comedy; To Be or Not to Be but of course sadly she died after making this movie.
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I have the book The Films of Carole Lombard. The movie she made after Hands Across the Table is 'Love Before Breakfast' and that is based on the novel Spinster Dinner.
So I guess the title was changed before the release. Funny how dinner became breakfast! Only in Hollywood.
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Yes, this was a common marketing ploy but Fairbanks has so much class it was interesting to see him give the actual advise. (he was the producer). Funny that you mention looking up the ending. I have a lot of movie books and of course now there is the Internet. So if something I'm unaware comes on I often do look it up to see if it would interest me but I do NOT want to know TOO MUCH about the plot. It does change how one views the movie.
Also yesterday I saw Malaya for the first time too. Hard to beat Tracy and Steward as far as actors. I felt Tracy was great in this movie but Steward was a little flat. I also found it strange that the lead actress was an unknown (well at least to me), instead of one of the MGM stars.
This was yet another movie where Tracy showed he could do it all and be so natural doing it. i.e. I could see Tracy doing the Steward part just as well but I don't think Steward could of done the Tracy role. Not a knock on Steward but just praise for the ability of Tracy.
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I also saw *Chase a Crooked Shadow.* It was a good and interesting film and like you, one I had NOT seen before. So even when a movie isn't great it is a joy to see something for the first time.
*POSSILE spoiler alert!!!*
I'm not going to mention the actual ending but I wondered about the ending after the ending where Fairbanks Jr comes out and tells us NOT to disclose the ending. I wondered two things; Who was he addressing this to; everyday fans or critics (those that would write articles about the movie).
Second; does that type of advise make a difference OR is it just a marketing ploy? By 'make a difference'; e.g. would the ladies at the beautyshop or men at the barber NOT discuss the ending because of the advise from Fairbanks? The ending did surprise me but I found the Fairbanks speech strange.
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The justice system isn't about finding out the truth or ensuring real justice; it is about the DA getting enough evidence to believe they can get a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. Sometimes the guilty go free and the innocent are convicted.
It cases like the Natalie Wood case determining the truth (i.e. what really happen that night), is very difficult. I'm not so sure about 'future honest speculation'. Is that really possible? I do agree everyone should just move on. All we have are the many fine movies of Natalie to enjoy forever. To me that is enough (but like everyone else I do wonder,,,,,,,,).
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People do read these message and this type of post is fairly common here.
It is hard for me to say if TCM is in a rut. Of course there are movies I wish TCM would show or show more often and from time to time I do find myself saying 'TCM is showing this again!'.
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Yea, one cannot fault the guy writing the book for wanting to make money from said book by doing all he can to exploit the case. That is just the American way!
But I do question the police and why they had to have a new conference. I live in So Cal and this is the TOP news story on EVERY local TV news station. How I watched many of these since they showed pictures of Natalie why they were covering the story. Natalie was such a beauty! But the TOP news story??? Insane. Oh well this is LA Hollywood.
), but I didn't mention that movie on purpose since, to me, Grant is too old for the part and too old for Hepburn. Thus the pairing doesn't work for me.
"Yes we can can!" said Little Nicola.
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Yes, I was indeed a brat. Sadly the older sister never got her Beatles Christmas album back. In fact I gave alway all my Beatles and rock music. I moved in with a jazz guitar player. I didn't know nothing about jazz but I did play guitar. Well this guy could really play and he started to show me how to play jazz standards. So I went from a British Rock music fan to a complete jazz nut. I got rid of all my rock albums and only listened to jazz for 3 or 4 years.
Of course I got over that phase and started listening to other music but my entire collection was gone. Oh well. At least jazz got me into classic movies. I learned to play the jazz standards and then went to watch the movies these songs were introduced in.