TomJH
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Posts posted by TomJH
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11 minutes ago, laffite said:
He had to work with the criminals. It was a firm decision and yes he was quite leery of it. But he couldn't have possibly foreseen the death of his friend. I don't see the connection between the decision and the death as compelling enough to warrant a haunting. He couldn't have possibly thought well I had better not do this because Wesley might be killed. The latter showed up at the boat unexpectedly. But, in your favor, I did think he might have tried to get Wesley to leave earlier. That was running through my mind, get rid of him, get rid of him. If Harry starts ruminating too much with that, then yes you may be right.
Wesley was a complete innocent and a friend of Harry's who worried about him and tried to be there for him. Harry was pushed into a corner of desperation, I agree, but I don't see how you can say he HAD to work with the criminals. He could have quit as a skipper, as his wife pleaded with him, for example, and tried to take up farming. Instead Harry decided to gamble by going for a big cash haul, the $1000. If he hadn't done that Wesley would not have died. Harry loved Wesley, I'm sure, and he's clearly, despite the surface macho bluster, a sensitive man. I can't see how Harry will not be haunted by his responsibility for his friend's death, especially every time he looks into the eyes of Wesley's son.
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Another aspect of The Breaking Point: the knowledge that Harry Morgan will be forever haunted by the death of Wesley. He couldn't have foreseen the shooting, of course, but if he hadn't made the decision to work with criminals his friend would still be alive and a little boy would not be without a father.
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The Breaking Point works far better for me than To Have and Have Not (a film I like) because, unlike the Hawks film, it touches me emotionally.
The Hawks film works well as a slick, rather superficial entertainment, clearly Casablanca derived, more memorable for its place in Hollywood history as the beginning of the romance between Bogie and Baby and for the sexually bantering dialogue between them than for its story, superficially derived from the Hemingway novella. Bogart is in Super Hero form, and its audience never has any doubts that, in the end, he will be triumphant.
That is not the case at all with The Breaking Point. Aside from this film's realistic and moving portrait of a family man so desperate for money to support that family that he puts his life on the line, the Harry Morgan of this film is highly uncertain that he will succeed. His emotional vulnerability, as performed by John Garfield in what I think may well have been the performance of his career, is palpable and pulls me into the film, even upon repeat viewings. As masterfully directed by Michael Curtiz, the entire cast is excellent and very real in their portrayals. Phyllis Thaxter's finest hour as Morgan's wife, particularly in her final scene in which she pleads with her proud husband to let his injured arm be amputated.
"A man alone ain't got no chance" Morgan says, a theme in this film never more clear than that final scene when the former war hero, now feeling helpless, begs his wife to never leave him.
A special note to the performance of Juano Hernandez and his character's relationship with Morgan. The love these two men have for one another, without a single reference in the screenplay to their different skin colours, makes this film, in its own modest way, a poignant plea for racial harmony. One more thing, that final crane shot of the little boy alone on the wharf as he looks for his father. I've yet to see this film without that scene leaving me blubbering like a baby.
The Breaking Point is a great film.
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"I always hoped I'd see you again, Errol. Have you been a good boy?"
"Well, of course I have, darling. I've been waiting all this time only for you."
"Liar . . ."
"Well, old girl, it's only been 50 years. You can't expect me to have completely changed."
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We knew it would come one day but when I saw Jakeem's thread title just now I still said, "Aw, NO!"
One of the great stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, who appeared in a larger number of my favourite films than most, Olivia de Havilland was an intelligent, sensitive artist who enhanced so many films with her presence. She also had the courage to challenge Jack Warner and the studio system when she took Warner Brothers to court and won in 1944, in what became known as the "De Havilland Decision" for challenging the studios that would place stars under extended contracts whenever they went on strike. As a sign of Hollywood's respect for her she soon afterward won two Academy Awards as best actress in a four year span in the late 1940s.
While many of her obituaries will undoubtedly mourn her as the last cast member of Gone With The Wind to leave us, I will always primarily think of her as the perfect leading lady to Errol Flynn in a series of costume dramas and westerns in which they were memorably teamed. In Captain Blood and Robin Hood Olivia and Errol complimented one another beautifully to bring a fairy tale like quality to their screen adventures.
Of course, Olivia's ambition and determination to break away from those films (much as she liked Flynn) allowed her opportunities for greater dramatic depth as an actress, not only with her two Oscar winning performances (To Each His Own, The Heiress) but in one of her most challenging roles as a mental patient in The Snake Pit. Later she had the opportunity to bring charm and ambiguity to the role of a woman suspected of being a murderess in My Cousin Rachel.
Olivia de Havilland lived her final decades in a Parisian townhouse, living an enviable lifestyle of grace and refinement, as befits one of the last of the Hollywood film legends.
RIP Miss de Havilland, and thank you for being a cherished part of movie history.
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9 hours ago, slaytonf said:
I don't think it would be likely in the America of that date.
Yeh, I thought of that, too.
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It's interesting how in this 1954 TV drama, like the movie three years later, all eleven of the jurors in the room turn their backs on the racist on the jury (Edward Arnold on TV, Ed Begley in the film) because they are offended by his blatant bigotry.
In today's America, how likely do you think that would happen?
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On 7/23/2020 at 4:59 AM, Bogie56 said:
Friday, July 24/25
2:30 a.m. The Big Doll House (1971). With Pam Grier. If these women weren't behind bars they could probably all get jobs as models.
I eagerly anticipate what appears to be a fine, realistic portrait of prison life. And I can hardly wait to see if there is a prison guard who looks like Barton MacLane in drag.
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2 hours ago, Davehat said:
Considering this is pre-silicone implants (pre-1960), the poster artist REALLY exaggerated. The lady in white has impossibly-large brea
"I hope we're both thinking about the same thing here, because if what your sentence failed to complete is that the lady has impossibly large breath, that's really weird and not what I'm interested in."
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I first noticed Janis Carter when watching Framed, with Glenn Ford. It was a painful experience, as I immediately turned into a Tex Avery cartoon character, with my eye balls crashing into the television set. The lady was a real beauty. I just wish she had had better roles in better films. Them's the breaks, as they say.
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3 hours ago, Sukhov said:
I just rewatched this one on the Criterion channel with the commentary. Great film all around. What really makes Zaroff a bastard is trying to kill Rainsfeld at the end. Rainsfeld won even by your crooked rules. Just accept defeat.
Well even if he had adhered to his rules of the hunt, I'd still say Zaroff qualified as a bit of a bastard.
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On 7/16/2020 at 6:28 AM, Bogie56 said:
Friday, July 17/18
John Ford day.
12:30 a.m. The Long Voyage Home (1940). Great cast in this Eugene O'Neill tale.
One of the very few films in which Wayne, as "Ole," attempted an accent and he's quite winning in his role. The film, for my money, belongs to Thomas Mitchell. However, everyone's effective in this lyrical drama.
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4 hours ago, Dargo said:
After checking for some additional Google images of Summer Storm, it appears Darnell was at least in one scene dressed as provocatively as in that poster, Tom...
And, ya gotta wonder if perhaps they got the idea for this from another movie that had been released just a year earlier. YOU know, that one which first brought Jane Russell into the public eye...
Very perceptive of you, Dargo. Unfortunately, that photo appears to be an Outlaw inspired publicity pose for Summer Storm. There are no barns nor even a single strand of hay to be found in the film nor, alas, provocative poses like this by Linda Darnell. This film does have bits of humour in it, though, as Edward Everett Horton has a key role as a count (who also takes an interest in Darnell), and then you have grizzly Sig Ruman, looking like soap is clearly a foreign substance to him, getting a high society matron a little freaky when he leans over towards her to ask her if she is married.
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14 hours ago, cigarjoe said:
Anybody ever hear of this film ?. Its been called a Noir by some.
Yes, I saw it. Set in the turn of the century Russia, Darnell plays a peasant girl who uses her good looks to try to get ahead, while George Sanders plays a respected judge who hates himself for becoming obsessed with her. In the "You've Got To Be Kidding Me" category Sig Ruman (with scruffy beard and badly in need of a bath) plays Darnell's father. It's an okay film, the first time that Darnell played a schemer, I believe. I don't recall Darnell ever dressing as provocatively in the film as she does in the poster.
Is it "noir?" Well there's a murder and an innocent person convicted so I guess some might say this costume drama has elements of it. Interestingly this is the one time I know of in which Sanders played a Russian, his real nationality.
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Yeh, if I had the chance, I guess I would have given Ruth Roman a break and let her have a smooch or two or three (maybe four, if I was in a really generous mood).
Afterward, of course, I'd be my usual cool self.
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Universal horror films of the '30s and '40s. I grew up with them on late night television. Some are better than others but, no matter how silly and weak some of them may be, these atmospheric horror treats, which really aren't so horrifying, continue to entertain me. Karloff, Lugosi and Chaney will always have a special place in my child's heart.
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Anything with Maria Montez. Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, Cobra Woman, Gypsy Wildcat - all hokum, all fun.
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17 minutes ago, Bethluvsfilms said:
I would love to see this film. It's no secret that James Cagney has always been my favorite classic era actor and I adore Art Carney as well.
That is one terrific pic that Cagney did too, I must say.
I saw it again through this DVD off Amazon.
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Terrible Joe Moran (1984)
The final film of James Cagney, a made-for-TV production in which he plays an aged wheelchair-bound boxer (and former welterweight champion) living by himself in a townhouse. His constant companion and housekeeper, played by Art Carney, is the old man's one friend. Soon showing up at his residence, however, will be his granddaughter, whom he hasn't seen since she was a child. As played by Ellen Barkin she moves in with him, her purpose in being there the hope of getting money from him for her boyfriend, who owes big dollars to street gangsters.
Known as 'Terrible" Joe Moran from his fighting prime years a half century earlier the film appropriately opens with Cagney in a wheelchair watching clips of himself in a television tribute to him on his birthday. Clips of scenes of Cagney boxing from The Irish in Us and City for Conquest are shown in the tribute, with an older Cagney amused and commenting on the images.
While the trajectory of the story is predictable (the old man is lonely and a bit hostile and the granddaughter initially has little liking of him, just biding her time to ask for the money) the TV drama fortunately avoids excessive sentimentality. This is largely achieved through Cagney's gruff performance, as well as the solid support he receives from Carney, almost as gruff as Cagney, and a fine, sensitive portrayal from Barkin. Brief cameo appearances are also made by Floyd Patterson as himself, Ed Koch as a fight manager and Lawrence Tierney as an old time fighter who had battled Joe Moran three times.
I saw this film when it was originally broadcast on television and was taken aback by Cagney's frail health and his confinement to a wheelchair. It was not the way I wanted to remember an actor who had been such a physical dynamo during his prime years. However, in seeing the film now for the first time since then I didn't find it to be the depressing experience I thought it might be. Cagney is likable as the cantankerous old man and there's a directness and honesty about his portrayal. In addition to that he gets fine support from his co-stars, particularly Barkin, whose scenes with Cagney seem real.
Unfortunately Cagney had suffered a stroke before this film was made and, according to various sources, either some or all of his dialogue was dubbed over by Rich Little. There are times when Cagney's speech is still a little slurred.
Terrible Joe Moran can be found on DVD from a small company in a serviceable image. Aside from that, along with Come Fill the Cup and Never Steal Anything Small, this is one of the tougher Cagney titles to find. Some will undoubtedly dislike seeing the former Yankee Doodle Dandy in this kind of frail health but his final performance is all the gutsier because of that. One more thing. In his later years Cagney painted and one of his favourite works, that of a punched up fighter called The Victor, can be seen hanging on Joe Moran's den wall.
2.5 out of 4
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Anyone interested?
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1 hour ago, Dargo said:
LOL
Isn't this what Gloria Grahame reportedly would've killed for to have her lips look like?
I have to admit that this was a pretty cheap shot on my part. I don't even know who this actress is but she is clearly the victim of a terrible cosmetic procedure. I just wasn't big enough to resist and, yes, Gloria Grahame did have a thing about her lips, too, didn't she?
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Well, it would be different anyway. I figure I could write a book about survival afterwards.
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I'm looking forward to when Eddie presents Young Frankenstein as "slapstick bedroom noir."
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Appointment With Death (1988)
Peter Ustinov's sixth and final portrayal of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, this time with on location shooting in Israel, the setting of the story. It's the same formula, as always, as a rich cantankerous individual is murdered, and it's up to Poirot to use his deductive reasoning (along with a strong tendency to eavesdrop a lot prior to the crime) to find the killer amidst an all star cast.
This final effort is watchable but feels awfully familiar if you've already seen any of the previous efforts. It lacks the sumptuous photography and lush settings of Ustinov's first two films, Death on the Nile and Evil Under The Sun, and the cast of stars doesn't seem quite as impressive either. Piper Laurie plays the domineering harridan who inherits a fortune (after secretly having a second will, not so kind to her, destroyed) then decides to take her grumbling family of disinherited sons and daughters on a tour of Europe and Palestine. Among the star suspects for Poirot to investigate will be Lauren Bacall, Carrie Fisher, Hayley Mills and David Soul. John Gielgud also appears as a colonel in charge of the investigation who lets Poirot take over.
I will admit that I did not identify the killer but I like to think that's because the film's screenplay doesn't play fair with the audience. Poirot only points out the killer's motive (previously kept secret) at the same time as making the identification. Well, even if the screenplay had provided a few more clues in advance I still might not have gotten it anyway but at least there would have been more of a sporting chance.
Between the filming of this film and Evil Under the Sun six years before Ustinov had also played the detective in three made-for-TV dramas of middling quality. Ustinov remained fun to watch as Poirot in all six efforts.
2.5 out of 4
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Noir Alley
in General Discussions
Posted
I don't see how. Morgan's wife pleads with him to quit the boat in the film. I'm just saying that following up on her suggestion and going to Salinas could have been one of his options rather than working with criminals.