TomJH

Yes, Mammy may have stayed with the O'Haras for reasons of security but the point is it's Scarlett's strength and business cunning (including her marriages to men of means) that she leans on for economic survival. There is no indication that I can recall in the film that Mammy had any direct family to take care of.

Protests from black organizations over GWTW's portrayal of blacks as demeaning virtually go back to the film's openings around the U.S.. The Washington D.C. chapter of the National Negro Congress picketed outside the Lincoln Theater's presentation of the film in March, 1940, for example. And the controversy over the film's racism (even if it might be considered gentle by some) has continued to this day. Prissy's simple minded "d a r k i e," in particular, many find hard to stomach since it fits so many bigots' ideas of the low intelligence of many black people. The language that I cited from Prissy was used to identify the birthing scene. It wasn't thinking of the double negatives as being racial stereotyping, per se, since, as you pointed out, TikiSoo, many people of many races are inclined to speak that way. By the way I think the way Hattie McDaniel plays her role Mammy is a real character in the film, but we mustn't let the humour and charm of the actress's portrayal blind us to the fact that Mammy remains perfectly content to stay with the O'Haras after the Civil War. To many black viewers, I'm sure, Mammy is portrayed like a "good one," who loved and needed the whites, almost like a big pet. Strong as Mammy appeared to be prior to the war, her mind is too "simple" to run a plantation on her own afterward. She needs the strength and intelligence of Scarlett to be there in order to survive. Yes, it's a very patronizing portrait. I can fully understand why it offends many, keeping in mind, too, that Mammy comes off the best of the black portrayals in GWTW. But people take from a film what they choose to take from it. I had a black friend, who had been through some very hard times, staying at my place for a while, and one evening she watched GWTW on TCM. She enjoyed it very much and I can't even recall her making any reference to the black portrayals in the film. What she commented upon was the inspiration that Scarlett O'Hara gave her as a survivor.

House By The River (1950) A minor but still intriguing Gothic thriller from director Fritz Lang, for many years a rare film of his to find. A frustrated writer accidentally strangles his house maid when he tries to muffle her cries after making a drunken pass at her. He then gets his brother, used to bailing him out of problems, to help him discard her body in a river that runs behind his home. The brother becomes moody and withdrawn from guilt after the act while the writer, by contrast, becomes giddy from the publicity surrounding the maid's disappearance as it helps the sale of his books. But a river has ways of giving up its secrets as the estrangement between the two brothers grows. Lang's career was on a downward swing when this economy thriller was made, having just received negative reviews for his previous release, Secret Beyond the Door, and now having to settle to making this production at Republic Studios, a far cry from the major Hollywood studios where he had worked during the previous 15 years. There's little suspense here as we know who the killer is. Nor is the cast really top tier. However, the acting is, at least, adequate, and there's a certain interest in watching the serpentine machinations of the writer's self serving mind at work here. This is particularly true with the casting of Louis Hayward in the lead role. Hayward has never been one of my favourites but he's rather effective here in a duplicitous creepy role as a man who works hard at trying to appear normal to the outside world though, as the film proceeds, it is apparent that his mind is becoming increasingly twisted. There's a scene early in the film in which Hayward agrees to let the maid (pretty Dorothy Patrick) use the upstairs bathroom to have a bath. He is writing in his backyard at the time and as he approaches his house, glancing up at the bathroom window with a smile, he hears the flush of the bath water as it cascades down the pipe outside the house. The leering look on Hayward's face as he hears the water then glances upward at the bathroom window is all you have to see to know the licentiousness that exists within his mind. Lee Bowman is effectively cast as Hayward's conscious stricken brother, while Jane Wyatt plays his wife. Jody Gilbert (memorable to comedy fans as a hard-as-nails diner waitress clashing with W. C. Fields in Never Give A Sucker An Even Break) has a contrasting fun part here as Bowman's maid who pokes her nose into his life, much to his annoyance and consternation. Visually the black and white photography of this Lang film often takes on a noir look. 2.5 out of 4

Come on, Mr 50 Foot Woman Guy, can't you guess why?

I watched Gone With The Wind for the first time in well over a decade, and was struck, once again, by the extraordinarily impressive professionalism of this Selznick production. It is the film by which everyone involved is arguably best remembered today. The second half, dealing with the marriage of Scarlett and Rhett, is a little less involving and certainly less epic than the first half, with its gracious fantasy depiction of antebellum Georgia. Of course the film has also long been a source of controversy for its false depiction and stereotyping of slaves and there are a few too many casual references to "darkies" in the screenplay. The portrayal, in particular, of Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) as a simple minded black maid makes many viewers (actually most, I suspect) more than a little squeamish. One of the film's more famous scenes is the "I don't know nothing about birthing no babies" one in which Scarlett slaps her. You have mixed feelings about a scene like that though it can also be seen as a cathartic moment for those irritated by Prissy's character. If The Birth of a Nation bursts through your front door with its blatant racism then GWTW comes more gently through your back door with it. On the other hand Hattie McDaniel's Mammy brings warmth, humour and common sense wisdom to her stereotyped role. Mammy is, perhaps, the most likeable character in the film and I only wish there could have been more scenes between her and Rhett, as McDaniel and Gable had great chemistry in their scenes together. But, for all of the film's many overwhelming virtues, including art direction, stunning cinematography and the legendary musical score of Max Steiner, with its sweeping "Tara's Theme," the most dominant impression emerging from this repeat viewing of the film for me was the magnificence of Vivien Leigh's performance as Scarlett O'Hara. She captures all of the many moods of this fiery southern belle, as well as the strength and determination. Scarlett is a self centred **** in much of the film (you may well wonder why Rhett puts up with the abuse) but she is also inspirational as a hard nosed survivor. Leigh also manages to be very funny in a few scenes, none more so than when she is somewhat inebriated in one of the best written scenes in the film when cynical Rhett, on bended knee, pokes fun at the whole idea of romance while proposing marriage to her. I love this scene. Rarely in either of their careers, I feel, would either Leigh or Gable match this moment again. But, arguably, the film's single most dramatic moment occurs just before the film's half way intermission. Scarlett, desperate for food, throws up after trying to eat a root of some kind she found in the dirt. She lies on the ground weeping for a few seconds but slowly rises. As Steiner's music magnificently builds she then makes a declaration, "As God is my witness" that they're not going to lick her, that, whatever it takes, lying, cheating, stealing, killing, she and her family will never starve again. It's a glorious, truly stirring film moment, one of the great moments of the movies, in fact, sure to run chills up your spine. I don't know if, in an overall appraisal of her career (there's mixed opinions about this) Vivien Leigh was a great actress. I do know, though, that she gives a film performances for the ages in Gone With The Wind.

Believe me, the cover's better than the film. In that respect the Underwater cover did it's job.

So in your multiple viewings of Best Years of Our Lives did you ever figure out what happened to Rob, the Stephenson's son? Everybody but him appears in that wedding scene but he hasn't been seen since at least an hour before in the film, maybe more. In that last "uplifting" scene Al is undoubtedly thinking about where he can get the next snifter, Mom is wondering if she left that pot boiling in the kitchen while the daughter is smiling to herself that she's finally got Fred Derry hooked. We've had this discussion before, Dargo, and I, at least, am still worried about the kid. Am I the only one? There's so sign of concern from his family. Nor do I see it from you. DOES NO ONE CARE ABOUT ROB!?!

If your butt starts to twitch it's too long. The buttometer never fails.

Trust Bugs Bunny to come up with an answer for when he's falling through space

Painted by Kim Novak

Everyone goes on about Lucy, understandably so, as a comedienne. But what I really appreciate about a viewing of The Long Long Trailer was how very funny Desi could be.

I didn't see Kim Novak's recent TV interview. But I was at TIFF to see her give a 12 to 15 minute interview following a special presentation of Vertigo in 2015. Shy? To be sure. But pretentious, artificial? Not in the least. What I did see was a great deal of pride and enthusiasm about her most famous film, as well as fond reminiscences of both Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart, as well as a wish that they could have been there to share the moment with her. Seeing her that day was a very positive experience. Mind you, there was a large crowd of appreciative movie fans there that day, and I think she could feel the love coming from the room and reciprocated in kind.

The same thing dirty old men do?

Such as . . .

I used to count down to when TV GUIDE was released so I could plan for the next week's movie watching. And that's the advantage of having a DVD collection today. Now I don't have to stay up until 2am or 3am to finish watching a film (and go to school or work the next day with drooping blood shot eyes like a basset hound). I can just pull the same film out of my collection and watch it when I feel like it. A lot of sleep was lost in my teenage movie obsessing days.

What do we mean when we say a movie is too long It means you just saw Where Eagles Dare, which I did tonight for the first time. Boy that blow up those WW2 Germans sucker went on forever. I can take only so many bullets and explosions in a film before I think, "Enough already! Let's end this war!" Clint Eastwood's name in the film should have been Efficient Killing Machine (maybe I just described Clint in half of his films, but is this the one in which he has the highest body count?).

Some films I saw so often years go they are permanently embedded in my brain. For example, I saw The Adventures of Robin Hood for the first time in probably a dozen years a little while ago but it almost felt like like having just seen it the day before. I still knew most of the dialogue and musical cues as they played on screen. It was still fun to watch it again but it's almost as if I don't have to since I know the film so well. There are quite a few other films that fall into the same category of familiarity for me.

Very much so, Miss W. I've often felt that a repeat viewing of some films is like visiting an old friend, and I suspect many others feel the same way. Truth be told, in some cases, those films can even turn out to be more reliable than certain old friends.

In their later careers MacMurray got into real estate while Brando was real estate.

We're a real contrast here, stagebrush. I rarely watch films on TV. My movie watching is almost exclusively what I have in my DVD collection, making me my own movie programmer. Last night I put on Zulu after a friend brought the film up in discussion.

That's true too with me. There are some films such as Citizen Kane or The Grapes of Wrath that I know are great but I have no feeling of sentimentality or warmth towards them therefore they are not on my repeat list. Unlike, say, a piece of cheese like Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, which I saw and enjoyed as a kid.

Yes, childhood nostalgia plays a huge role for me, as well, when it comes to the films that get repeat viewings. An inordinately large number of my favourite films, in fact, are some of those that I first saw as a kid. I grew up with such films as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Ghost Breakers, Captain Blood and Mark of Zorro, among others, and they are all films I will view every couple of years.

Are you one of those viewers who sees a film once and thinks, "That's it. Done"? Or, like me, do you have certain films that you will watch multiple times and love to savour? And do you have any films, in particular, that you may have seen so many times you have no idea how many it may be now. Or are you one of those who keeps count and knows, for example, that he's seen Casablanca 89 times? One of my concerns when it comes time to pulling out one of my favourites to watch it again is the fear that I may have seen it too many times and some of the fun will be missing from excessive viewings. That's the reason why I try to avoid seeing the same film any more often than, say, every two or three years. I had a friend who had a favourite childhood memory of a film (The Strawberry Blonde, with Jimmy Cagney), hadn't seen it since then and was afraid to watch it again for fear that it would not hold up. He was delighted when he finally did see it again on TCM and actually thought it better than he had remembered. Has anyone else felt that way about a particular favourite, an anxiety over seeing it again for fear that it will disappoint? So, with all the movie buffs on these boards, what's your preference when it comes to movie viewing, once and it's over, or repeat viewings of certain films (and, if so, do you have any record breakers?)

The ultimate fall - into outer space - the Alien Queen in ALIENS