JarrodMcDonald
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Posts posted by JarrodMcDonald
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You will see in my forthcoming comments that Curtiz does not go fast at all. It is a very slow movie with little action.
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LA PAURA does look interesting...very Hitchcockian. Supposedly, Isabella Rossellini is trying to acquire the rights to it in order to restore it and re-release it. (Perhaps she has some 'lost footage' of her father's to add to it.)
I also like the idea of SIAMO DONNE...how they followed several well-known actresses and documented an episode of what was going on in their lives...seems like an early cinema verite...like what today we would see on a reality TV show. I'd love to view a copy of it.
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When I watch 12 ANGRY MEN, it plays like an episode of MURDER, SHE WROTE to me.
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I think we can 'judge' them two ways...by looking at them in the proper historical context; and at how classic they are and if they transcend the era in which they lived and performed.
I don't think Ruby Keeler was terrible.
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Monroe lived for three more years after the film was made.
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Filed Under: *'DAY' & 'NIGHT'*
Today's Picks: *A DAY AT THE RACES (1937)* & *A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)*
The Marx Brothers had already made several big screen movies for Paramount by the mid-1930s, when they signed with Irving Thalberg and went to work for MGM. They really hit their stride in the next few movies they did. A particular favorite among fans is A Day at the Races. It is the seventh film starring the three Marx Brothers?Groucho, Harpo & Chico. They are joined by Margaret Dumont, Allan Jones, and Maureen O'Sullivan.
Another great movie the Marx Brothers made for MGM was A Night at the Opera. This film also featured Margaret Dumont and Allan Jones, with Kitty Carlisle in a supporting role. It was a major hit. This time, the guys turn an operatic performance into chaos.
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In addition to STROMBOLI and EUROPA 51, she also made these with Rossellini:
SIAMO DONNE (Italian dialogue)
GIOVANNA D'ARCO AL ROGO (Italian dialogue)
VIAGGIO IN ITALIA (English dialogue)
LA PAURA (German and Italian versions)
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Okay, here's the deal:
I bought a copy of this film several years ago and it sits in the original wrapping. I have decided that I am going to tear this film apart...I mean it figuratively and literally.
I am going to watch it, very slowly...I will spend four to five hours on it, pausing it along the way and writing down notes. I am going to be very methodical about it.
I am going to be brutal.
If this film is as good as everyone says, it will be able to withstand my extreme scrutiny of it. If it's that good, then I will fall in love with it and reverse my opinion. But in the event I do not reverse my opinion, the brutality will stand.
We have to understand,
There can be NO:
Well, it was made in 1942 excuses (it has to hold up to today's standards, or else it's time as a true classic is finite and it has a shelf life that it has exceeded).
There can be NO:
Well, anyone could find something wrong with it excuses.
There can be NO:
Well, that is not what Curtiz meant. (I will be reporting the facts of what appears on screen.)
There can be NO:
Exemption from politics. I am a registered Republican. If I feel the film is entirely too liberal and that it interferes with its entertainment value, I will definitely cite examples.
There can be NO:
Repeat viewings. I will only watch this film once and then I will put it under one of the tires and drive over it. I will crush it. If I happen to like the film, I will ask Santa to bring me a new copy later this year.
Expect my findings in the next day or so.
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Kinokima,
I think I bought it at Target for about $15. They had LIFEBOAT for $10 on the day I bought CASABLANCA, and I wish to Hades I had bought LIFEBOAT instead. One of my former professors does the audio commentary on LIFEBOAT. So that was a mistake...especially, since I love Tallu.
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That's a great post...you have cited specific examples, often using dialogue to convey your knowledge and perspective about this film. Bravo!
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ValentineXavier,
I think you may be 'faking us out.' I sincerely disbelieve that you have seen any of Ingrid's Italian films lately. It is too easy, way too-too easy to just mention the ones Rossellini is more commonly known for, without going into specifics about STROMBOLI and EUROPA 51. You need to cite specific examples as to what you found 'plodding' about them, or else one may logically assume you have not seen these films recently or else not entirely.
Edited by: JarrodMcDonald on Mar 21, 2010 9:12 PM
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I have become so turned off to CASABLANCA in this thread that I think I will either a) burn my copy of it without watching it;
donate it to the Salvation Army; or c) accidentally on purpose drop it in a pot of scalding water.I am going to go with Ingrid's assessment that she made more important films, and I will make sure I find and watch those. CASABLANCA is now out for me. LOL
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*Support Ruby* / *Ruby for President*
(Source: IMDB)
Ruby Keeler began appearing as a singer and dancer in nightclubs when she was 13 years old, after dropping out of the sixth grade at Catholic school. She would work at two or three clubs a night, making a minimum of $150 a week. Her iceman father, Ralph, had costly medical problems, and she became the Keeler family breadwinner.
She married Al Jolson when she was 18. He gave her a $1 million dowry. They divorced a decade later.
Ruby, who was Irish, and her 24-years-senior husband Al Jolson, who was Jewish, could not conceive a child, so they adopted a baby boy who was half-Irish and half-Jewish. After she divorced Jolson she had four children with her second husband. Her adopted son, Al Jolson Jr., was a contented member of her new family.
Although she had been married to Al Jolson she forbade the use of her name in the film of Jolson's life, The Jolson Story (1946). Portrayed in that film by Evelyn Keyes, Keeler is referred to as "Julie Benson."
She went to Broadway in 1971, starring in "No No, Nanette", appearing in a run of 861 performances.
Received a standing ovation at the 1979 Academy Awards when she appeared to co-present the Oscar for the Best Song.
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Ingrid's E X A C T quote about CASABLANCA:
*"I made so many films which were more important, but the only one people ever want to talk about is that one."*
Of course, there will be 'spin' and re-interpretation of it, but Ingrid and I both know what she meant...
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Favorite film indicates a personal, emotional, sentimental attachment.
Best film may not be a sentimental favorite. It could just be a technically good film that even people who dislike it have to concede is an effective piece of cinema.
2001 is definitely not one of my favorite films. But for the era in which it was made, it was probably the best film made that year and for quite a few years afterward. It took cinema in bold new directions.
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I have to laugh at this thread. The title is written in the plural, but only one star is bashed in it. It's clear the original poster had a big axe to grind. What did Ruby Keeler ever do to warrant such hate?
We need to start a Ruby Keeler Appreciation thread. Maybe I will make some Support Ruby buttons and start handing them out.
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Leave it to Billy Wilder to make some smart-aleck comment that makes absolutely no sense. He needed to stay quiet, to stay out of it.
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I think Judy was scheduled for BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY, but when she went haywire, MGM prevailed upon Ginger to step in at the last minute and save the production.
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Lucky you...I recorded the four that were broadcast last summer on TCM. Percy Kilbride is not in the last two...his character is absent in the penultimate one where they visit the Ozarks (an Uncle character steps in); then Pa is recast with Parker Fennelly in the final installment.
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Percy Kilbride has a role as the town store owner in Renoir's THE SOUTHERNER. He's very good in it...it's about two years before THE EGG AND I. It's fun to see him in a different role.
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I think there's a bias in favor of Ingrid's Hollywood efforts, and she was really an international film star in the true sense of the word, since she had made films in several countries and languages.
It is definitely ignorant of Americans to say CASABLANCA or SPELLBOUND is her best when they have not seen STROMBOLI or the slew of films she made with Rossellini. Just as it is ignorant for Italians who have only seen those films to say STROMBOLI is her best without having seen CASABLANCA and comparing it or examining her technique in each one. (We also need to look at her films from the 30s in Sweden.)
I really have a feeling I will never watch CASABLANCA. I can keep finding other films to fill that 102 minutes of my life.
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His dancing is great, but his chemistry with Judy is not at all romantic...and I think it should be for this film.
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Part of the reason I haven't watched it is because while reading up on Ingrid Bergman, I learned that she despised it. She was very upset that the film received so much attention over her other efforts in the cinema. She felt she had done much better work and wanted to be remembered for other films, not CASABLANCA. So partly out of respect to her, I don't watch it. I don't want to get caught up in the tide of people who think it's so great that it undermines the other accomplishments of its cast and crew.
That's another reason I don't watch too many of Billy Wilder's films. I feel like there's all this hype that surrounds them and it comes at the expense of lesser known, but infinitely greater works.
I am sure CASABLANCA is highly entertaining and I wouldn't regret the time spent watching it...but I really have to push myself to see STROMBOLI and AUTUMN SONATA first.
donate it to the Salvation Army; or c) accidentally on purpose drop it in a pot of scalding water.
The anti-CASABLANCA thread
in Films and Filmmakers
Posted
I think people are afraid I am going to make valid points and the film will lose some of its false loftiness.