MyFavoriteFilms
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I am very impressed with Fox Movie Channel today. Great offerings to commemorate the occasion.
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Good news about its DVD release. PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE airs on 11.20.
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The rear-screen projection involving automobiles or buses and boats or people on bicycles does not bother me so much (though it does look noticeably fake). It's when actors are on horses and supposed to be riding in the great outdoors but they are in front of a pre-filmed background. That is what I can't buy. Sometimes this is necessary because of a stunt, but many times there is no stunt work involved. And the actors are in front of these beautiful backdrops inside a studio. Why do a western if you aren't going to take the cast outside? You might as well do a drawing room comedy or a haunted house picture where it's mostly interior.
The best use of outdoor photography, and thus the most believable and realistic, I have seen is in THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE. They wanted to do a Technicolor film outdoors. And it was done purely on location. CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA, another lush Technicolor western that boasts scenery from Glacier National Park, continues the tradition. You don't have to suspend disbelief when the story is filmed where it is set.
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> Get a grip, MFF.
I think you could be a bit more pleasant. I don't seem to recall making any derogative statements at you. Humor, yes. Negativity, no.
I am going to state clearly that I reject BIRTH OF A NATION and refuse to consider it a classic. I will not ever change this opinion.
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Yes, add KING KONG and SON OF KONG. A lot of people tend to get hung up on Val Lewton's work from the 40s (and he was brilliant, no doubt about it) but Selznick was first in mining the horror goldmine for RKO. And it was actually Selznick who recommended Lewton to helm the horror unit in the 40s.
It's a shame that Howard Hughes did not use the 3-D craze more to exploit the horror genre in the 50s. They should've been doing remakes of those earlier Selznick projects with the newer technology. That's what Warners did with MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM/HOUSE OF WAX.
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We would always watch reruns of Gilligan's Island after school. That's another show that should be on TVLand.
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They wanted her to change it to Kit Marlowe which is the name of the character she later played on TV's Falcon Crest.
Joan Collins was named after Joan Crawford (her mother's favorite movie star). And Collins actually does the Crawford role in the remake of THE WOMEN known as THE OPPOSITE SEX. It didn't hurt her to keep the same first name and basically develop the same sort of screen persona.
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We can probably say that Father Dunne's story would not have made it to the screen if Father Flanagan's story had not been so successful for MGM. I can't wait for this to air today, to see how it differs...tho I am expecting the same formula.
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I have never once accused anyone of being a racist on this message board. But I do think that some people are uncomfortable looking within and finding that tiny bit of hate or xenophobia that probably exists in all of us, something D.W. Griffith had no trouble putting on display in his film.
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THIS really should show Mr. Ed in the afternoons when young children get home from school.
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RKO did make some great movies. But like all studios, it had highs and lows due to the cyclical nature of the business.
My favorite period of RKO is the early to mid-30s, before Ginger and Fred. Some of the work that David Selznick did for RKO at this time is just excellent. He brought a great deal of prestige to RKO and often did some very risky projects: THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD and my favorite, THIRTEEN WOMEN (about a pseudo-lesbian psychotic killer).
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The 1990 version of MEMPHIS BELLE (inspired by the documentary) is not very crude at all. It's rather sugar-coated and romantic. LOL
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I still have not seen THE KING AND I or any of the other versions. Terrible, I know. So I will take your word for it.
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I had a hard time with THE PAWNBROKER. Steiger is great, but the film seemed too uneven, too disjointed. I like Steiger better as AL CAPONE.
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I agree that Dodsworth's wife is probably Ruth Chatterton's most memorable role...and it's shame that people don't remember her other films as much. Her legendary status at Warners was probably eclipsed by Bette Davis.
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I alluded to the studio system in my original post. When they were released by their studios and began to freelance, they were often competing for the same roles in independent projects. Many leads and character actors had been groomed similarly and had developed almost identical screen personas (Flynn & Power; Marjorie Main & Charlotte Greenwood; Charles Coburn & S.Z. Sakall). Of course, there are slight deviations within these examples.
It's interesting that MGM did not put Robert Taylor in pirate movies in the 30s and 40s. That's the one difference between him and Flynn & Power. I guess MGM was too busy using him in glamorous roles opposite Garbo, Lamarr and Shearer.
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Brando as Stanley is definitely one that seems hard to top. Vivien Leigh did it on the London stage, so she worked opposite another actor as Stanley before the film was made. It's hard to think of her doing so well in these scenes with someone else.
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I think Tolkien was right...you can't suspend your own rules, or else the audience will know you are making it up as you go without much careful thought.
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I have a feeling FATHER DUNNE will be a carbon copy of BOYS TOWN, but I am looking forward to seeing it nevertheless. And WONDERFUL CRIME is one I really want to look at, since it costars an actress from my hometown in Wisconsin...our very own Carole Landis.
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What I am saying is that TVLand needs more variety. And they need more than The Andy Griffith Show to offset endless reruns of Roseanne and Raymond.
I think it's a high-concept network. It's a clever way to market shows that otherwise appear on Hallmark, on TBS and on local affiliates. But they could do so much more with their programming to make it stand apart from the rest. (And I don't mean reality series or other uninspired original programming.)
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I think TVLand has gone the way of AMC, into the graveyard of lost hopes and unrealized dreams. LOL
TVLand airs too many recent series (and their status as classic television is debatable). I have a feeling that it is the goal of TVLand's execs to get Friends, before getting the rights to Hazel, Marcus Welby and Charlie's Angels.
They should be working more with Aaron Speling Enterprises. How can you have a classic TV channel and not show any Aaron Spelling productions? I am sure Hotel is not as expensive to acquire as Charlie's Angels or Dynasty would be. And where is Love Boat...you don't get more classic than that.
TVLand seems to want to show only sitcoms. Their idea of a drama is a western...and those only appear on weekends. So much potential, so much waste.
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In the past, film stories may've been accepted by audiences willing to overlook the more far-fetched elements. But I can't. I don't look at them with such an 'oh it's just a movie' mentality. I want to know why the screenwriter didn't address the holes in the story...why the director let the actors off the hook...and why the viewer was given something so incredible to swallow it would've made inhaling a golf ball more desirable.
I have noticed that there are things in movies I won't tolerate, even if it's a genre in which I am supposed to suspend disbelief more than usual.
_The minor peeves_: excessive rear screen projection; stunt men and women who look nothing like the actors they are supposed to stand in for; dubbing on songs in which the singer's voice does not at all match the actor or actress' speaking voice; and a recent one (in current movies)..too many films today are too softly lit/too warmly lit...they use soft lighting all the time on young actors and on rugged characters in genres like westerns and action movies, it was never that way before...I want scenes with hard lighting and scenes that feel cold as well as warm.
_The major peeves_: lack of foreshadowing when a stunning plot twist occurs (I think it's a ripoff and deprives viewers the chance to predict or figure something out in advance); scenes where supporting characters are practically chopped off on the edges of the frames because the emphasis has to be on the highly paid star (I can't stand that); and another big peeve is when gay actors are cast in straight parts and straight actors are cast in gay parts and they have zero chemistry with their onscreen lovers (if it's a love story, then there has to be chemistry, simple as that).
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Hi Turo,
I wasn't referring to Charlotte Greenwood's musical roles. I was thinking in particular of HOME IN INDIANA which Fox ran this morning. I could see Marjorie doing that part very easily. GLORY (another horse racing flick) is another one I think Marjorie would've been fine doing.
Charlotte did take Marjorie's role in the remake of THE WOMEN called THE OPPOSITE SEX.
As for Monroe and Novak, I was working off a comment made in another thread in which a poster felt that Marilyn could've done Kim's part in KISS ME, STUPID. I happen to agree.
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Biographies (and some autobiographies) are often filled with a lot of embellished tales.
War films on FMC 11.11
in General Discussions
Posted
So many great titles today:
THE BATTLE AT BLOODY BEACH...excellent early 60s film with Audie Murphy
AMERICAN GUERRILLA IN THE PHILIPPINES...Ty Power and the enchanting Micheline Presle
THE DESERT RATS...with Richard Burton and James Mason
DECISION AT DAWN...with Richard Basehart
VON RYAN'S EXPRESS...one of Sinatra's later films
PATTON...Oscar-worthy work by the always magnificent George Scott