TomJH
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Posts posted by TomJH
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I can hardly wait to see how fast Indy can hobble on his crutches when a giant boulder is rolling down upon him.
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14 minutes ago, lavenderblue19 said:
If I had to guess I'd say it was MissW's avatar of Mary Astor, however, whatever this poster meant by the Mary reference, what difference does it make? his/her post was so strange, it probably only makes sense to the snarky poster who started the thread in the first place.
This is all pretty trivial stuff to dwell on, isn't it, especially from a poster we don't even know? The Mary Astor guess gets a "Bingo!" from me. Time for me to move on.
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17 minutes ago, Gershwin fan said:
James, "Mary" is an old-fashioned derogatory slur for homosexuals which is what Hibi is trying to get at.
I didn't know that. But there is no way I can see any kind of homosexual slur in the OP's statement, especially since his posting, with the capital Mary reference, comes right after MissW's comment.
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17 hours ago, misswonderly3 said:
Who's "Mary" ?
My guess is that the poster may be referring to Mary Astor, MissW.
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Akim Tamiroff had a fine history of screen ham but one of my favourite ripe heavily accented performances of his came when he played a Metis fur trapper in De Mille's North West Mounted Police. And he had some ripe dialogue in that film that he really dug into.
My favourite Tamiroff moment in the film is when he is dying after having been shot, his final words, or close to them, being when he drawls, "The Big Trapper got me by the neck."
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59 minutes ago, Det Jim McLeod said:
I was lucky to see her in a great revival of Born Yesterday on Broadway in 1989, she was wonderful as Billie opposite Edward Asner.
Must be a great memory to have, Detective Jim.
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23 hours ago, Dommy said:
Madeline Kahn was the queen of small parts in such great films and she always stole the show. In Paper Moon and Blazing Saddles she received Oscar nominations. In Young Frankenstein she got a Golden Globe nomination. In The Muppet Movie in less than a minute she is dazzling and in Nixon with just 2 short scenes, she gives it all her best. I wonder if she had more scenes that were cut out. She had bigger and starring parts in the rest of her films. But she is a star who cane make such a remarkable and memorable performance in these small roles. Even though she wasn't a superstar, she was a one of a kind original movie star.
I always feel badly when I think of this talented lady. Her comedic brilliance shone brightly in a handful of films (thank you, Mel Brooks) in which she made classic contributions, but there was a sense of a somewhat wasted talent in looking back on her career. Perhaps it was her management or not always having the best connections. She should have been a bigger star with better opportunities, though, apparently, she also had her triumphs on the stage. And then, of course, there is the tragedy of her death at such a relatively young age.
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Last Train From Gun Hill (1959)
A well crafted, at times pensive, western, reuniting Kirk Douglas with director John Sturges, with whom he had enjoyed a solid hit in the genre two years before, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. While not as well known as their earlier collaboration, Last Train From Gun Hill has much to recommend it.
A kind of story reverse on High Noon, this drama features Douglas as a law officer whose Native American wife is brutally raped and murdered at the beginning of the film by two cowboys in the area. From a saddle accidentally left behind by the killers Douglas knows that an old friend (Anthony Quinn) is somehow involved, though he doesn't think the friend himself guilty of such a crime. Douglas takes the saddle to Gun Hill, Quinn's home town where he is a major cattle baron running the town with a small army of men. It soon becomes apparent to Douglas that it was Quinn's son who was one of the two participants in the crime. Quinn refuses to surrender his son, Douglas soon captures him anyway and holds up in a small hotel room with his prisoner waiting for the next train to arrive to transport them away. Quinn and his men surround the hotel as the town watches.
Sturges helps to create a tightly paced western with considerable suspense. The performances are solid and convincing, starting with a well cast Douglas (he is portrayed as a marshall doing his duty rather than as a man out for revenge), as well as Quinn as the macho cattle baron who rules with an iron hand. That dominance includes over his son (Earl Holliman), who is portrayed as weak and immoral, as well as a girlfriend (Carolyn Jones) who is starting to exert her independence from him after he had just placed her in a hospital from a beating.
Last Train From Gun Hill leads to a satisfactory conclusion for western fans. It is also a film whose screenplay makes frequent references to racial prejudice against Native Americans. Douglas' response in one scene is a smash in the jaw to one town resident after the latter had blurted a particularly bigoted statement into the marshall's face. The lout definitely had the punch coming.
The film's musical score (effective but perhaps a little too busy on the soundtrack, at times) is by Dimitri Tiomkin, who had also previously scored, among other westerns, both Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and, most famously, High Noon.
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7 hours ago, laffite said:
No, no, that would be ridicule and I don't really mean to do that. That's a part of a ghost story and I liked those sequences. The comical part was, if I understand rightly, the attempt by the two guys to move the glass to the NO position in order to convince the young lady not to visit Windward (or something like that) only to be roundly rebuked by the machinations of the ghost. The presence of the ghost had to represented in some way and you seem to be saying that the actual white glimmering was too much. Yes? I'm not sure I even remember it at that moment. What the glass did to end the scene seemed enough to leave no doubt.
Actually, I like that part of the seance. Even though it may be predictable that the ghost would move the glass to show us of its existence the surprised reaction of the participants adds to the eeriness of the moment. I think it's a scene that works. I certainly don't think the scene is "comical."
I'm a little surprised, though, that no one has commented upon my photos posted earlier here to identify the character actress who I think played the ghost in the film. Did nobody pick up on that, or perhaps you just don't care?
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Death on the Nile (1978)
For Agatha Christie fans, the first of six occasions in which Peter Ustinov would play celebrated Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
A stylish, slowly paced thriller, it takes its time (too much time) before the mystery finally starts to take hold with a murder occurring. Anyone familiar with light hearted mysteries of this nature will know well in advance who the victim will be and that Poirot at the end will gather all the suspects in one room and, with remarkable logic and clarity, as well as cat and mouse teasing, finally reveal the killer.
The film boasts an impressive all star cast of suspects and, partially shot on location in Egypt by cinematographer Jack Cardiff, boasts some truly spectacular colour photography of the pyramids, Great Sphinx and various ruins. The photography alone makes this cinematic trip a worthwhile one, albeit an overlong one at 140 minutes.
Of the cast Peter Ustinov stands out with his amusing and subtle characterization of Poirot. Unlike some other paper thin portrayals here, he never makes the detective seem like a caricature. Mia Farrow, though, is chilling with her creepy portrayal of a spurned lover who pursues her former fiancee and friend on their Egyptian honeymoon. In contrast to Farrow, though, Angela Lansbury is a shameless ham as a novelist in her cups much of the time.
Other cast members include David Niven, bringing his usual effortless debonair cool to the production as Poirot's friend helping in the investigation (Niven and Ustinov were lifelong friends from their first encounter during WWII), Lois Chiles as a beautiful spoiled heiress, Simon MacCorkindale as her new husband, Bette Davis as a rich dowager envious of Chiles' pearl necklace, Maggie Smith as Davis' servant resentful of her lowly status, George Kennedy as Chiles' duplicitous attorney and Jack Warden as a physician.
Christie fans will probably love this film, which drips in handsome production values, while others may find much of it a bit of a tedious affair. I enjoyed Death in the Nile for a couple of the performances and, certainly, its stunning photography.
2.5 out of 4
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13 minutes ago, Sepiatone said:
Not able to see Ham's first image, I'll have to add this.....
Surprised it took this long to get to the obvious.
Sepiatone
Yawn. I was hoping no one would do the obvious, especially with my first line in the OP.
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Dorothy Kilgallen's final appearance on the show. She would go to bed that evening and be found dead the following morning from an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol. The circumstances of the lady's death have always remained a mystery.
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On 2/28/2020 at 3:50 AM, laffite said:
The UnInvited (1943) was going good until bam, it just ran out of gas. During the first hour the plot is clean and interesting. For a ghost story it seemed to have a long exposition, with only sparse clues about ghost and no really spooky moments. Inevitably, the backstory fill-ins defeated me. Newer characters entering the story with all the backstory and I just got bored. It lasted about 70 minutes. I don't care for horror but I still like a good ghost story if I can find one. Gail Russell certainly impressed me favorably.
I'm a fan of The Uninvited. I love the smooth elegance of its black and white photography, its Cornish cliff setting with those angry waves splashing down below, the lovely theme song "Stella by Starlight," as well as the sweet, vulnerable performance of Gail Russell as Stella. I think the film also has Ray Milland at the peak of his charm, and the always underappreciated Ruth Hussey is engaging, too.
As for the ghost, which I think is effectively eerie (without CGI!!!) . . .
Character actress Elizabeth Russell plays an unbilled role, I suspect
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Since we're discussing the ladies of Tom Jones, I'd like to give a nod to the earthy turn in that film of Diane Cilento, who I always found to be a very sexy lady (I suspect one of the James Bond actors did too).
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Maria Montez in Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
Maybe not a bathtub but close enough. Montez taking a dip in Cobra Woman.
Ironically Montez would die in her bathtub.
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55 minutes ago, Dargo said:
Have loved this film for many years too Jim, however one correction here. Widmark was nominated but didn't win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year.
(...Edmund Gwenn did for his turn as Kris Kringle)
"So ya voted for Kris Kringle over me, did ya? Well, I got a little Christmas gift for you, lady!"
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22 minutes ago, Dargo said:
Well, not to turn your thread here into some kind'a "crush-fest" Tom, but coincidentally, a very similar kind'a character who has many of the same attributes you've just described Ann Sheridan having in those pictures came to my mind immediately somehow.
Eloise Kelly in Mogambo, and played by Ava Gardner here...
(...OH yeah...spendin' a little time with Kelly out in the bush wouldn't be such a bad thing at all)
Yeh, Gardner's character was down to earth and gutsy. Never quite understood Gable's character ovelooking her in that film for a lady whose personality looked like it was formed in a freezer, no matter how good looking she was.
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1 hour ago, Det Jim McLeod said:
Kiss Of Death (1947) TCM 10/10
A thief is captured and becomes an informer for the Assistant DA, a psychopathic gangster seeks revenge.
I have seen this many times, it is my favorite gangster/noir film. Seeing it again last night just confirmed my opinion, I was totally riveted from beginning to end. Richard Widmark's Oscar winning debut as the psycho is still very frightening to this day. His skull like face and sinister giggle is still unnerving. I would like to talk also of Victor Mature, who has been underrated by critics (even by himself) but I have seen several of his films and I don't think he ever gave a bad performance. Actually in this one and a few others (like My Darling Clementine and Cry Of The City) he was excellent. My favorite scene in this one was the extremely tense one where Mature is waiting in a restaurant for Widmark to come from behind a curtain in the back. Mature sits nervously smoking while we see a small opening with Widmark's maniacal eyes staring through it.
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4 minutes ago, Det Jim McLeod said:
I never saw this but it sounds like a western version of Needham's later Cannonball Run movies. It does have some of my favorite comedians like Foster Brooks and Paul Lynde, I tend to start laughing the minute they appear on screen.
You may like this one then, Detective Jim. I found it painless to watch because I like the people involved more so than being impressed by the material. Sometimes that's all it takes to have a good time. This couldn't be a more contrasting Kirk Douglas to watch than the intense one you saw in Detective Story, showing us the actor's range.
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The Villain (1979)
Combination western spoof and Road Runner cartoon, directed by former stuntman Hal Needham.
Kirk Douglas plays the Wile E. Coyote equivalent as Cactus Jack Slade, a dressed in black western bad man hired to steal the money being carried in a strong box across country. The box is on a buck board being driven by Handsome Stranger (yes, that's his name), played by a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, accompanied by Charming Jones (a voluptuous Ann-Margret).
That's pretty well the entire plot as the film indulges in a series of very broad cartoony misadventures of Cactus Jack as he tries in vain to rob the couple. His plans are simple: steal the money, shoot Handsome Stranger and ravish Charming Jones. Easier said than done, as it turns out.
Humour is very subjective, of course, and I should say that I have never been a fan of the Road Runner cartoons which, to me, are one joke efforts that run 7 minutes. The difference here is that this is essentially a one joke film that runs for 88 minutes. That's not to say that it doesn't have a gag or two that might make you smile or chuckle. A few of the gags are literally taken right out of the cartoons themselves.
Early in the film Cactus Jack tries to hold up a bank at night. The place has only one bank clerk (Foster Brooks) and once Cactus Jack has gotten into the place he waves a gun in the clerk's face and gives him three orders, 1. close the door (to the bank), 2. open the bank safe, 3. lie on the floor. Brooks closes the door and gets down on the floor. When Cactus Jack tells him he forgot number 2, the clerk responds, "Oh no I didn't. I did that when you stuck that gun in my face."
This gives you an idea of the sophistication of the humour in the film and if you like that (I briefly chuckled) you may like the film or, at least, parts of it.
Neither Schwarzenegger nor Ann-Margret get the opportunity to do much in the film outside of ride the buck board together, usually oblivious to something like a boulder Cactus Jack just rolled down the hill towards their carriage which just missed (only to bounce back and get him somehow). Awwwnold is playing a naive good natured guy and the shtick gets old pretty fast as Ann-Margret bats her eyes at him and heaves her chest but he doesn't do anything except fetch more firewood at night, much to her exasperation.
Kirk Douglas looks like he's having fun as Cactus Jack. He spends much of the film talking to his horse and congratulating himself on his own genius in yet another robbery attempt that will go wrong. But, like Wile E. Coyote, he never gives up no matter how many times he's flattened by a giant boulder, gets his boots stuck on some glue on train tracks as a locomotive in is almost on him or has a branch break that he's clinging to on the edge of a cliff plunging him into a lake below.
Acknowledging the fact that stuntmen obviously do most of Douglas's work in the film, you do see the actor leaping onto his horse from the ground on numerous occasions, do some fancy gun twirling (he drops the gun on the ground at the end, of course) and give a generally physical performance. Considering Douglas's age at the time (62), it's very impressive no matter what you may think of the film itself.
Other appearances in the film are made by Mel Tillis as a stuttering telegraph clerk, Ruth Buzzi as a "lady in distress" whom Handsome Stranger guides across a crowded street even though she didn't want to go there, Jack Elam as a sleazy politician who hires Cactus Jack, Strother Martin as Charming's father and Paul Lynde, in some particularly lame scenes, as Indian Chief Nervous Elk. The Villain was also released under the title Cactus Jack.
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Watching the movies can be like slipping into another world and in that experience we get to know or, at least, feel like we know, some of the characters living there. And some of them we re-visit over the years simply because we either like their company so much or, at least, are stimulated by their characters. Can you think of any film characters that you wish could step off the screen and visit you, sort of the reverse of what happened in Sherlock Jr. and The Purple Rose of Cairo, I suppose.
There are a pair of film characters played by Ann Sheridan that fall into that category for me, Randy Monaghan in Kings Row and waitress Cassie Hartley in They Drive By Night.
Both characters are down to earth and unaffected. Randy naturally laughs a lot and is fun to be with but, in the crunch, also turns out to be fiercely loyal. She's direct and honest and can be a little blunt, at times, in that honesty but you always know where you stand with her. Cassie, on the other hand, has a cynical shell that initially may spawn fast wise cracks but, once she has learned to trust you, that shell dissolves and you see the warmth of a loyal, honest friend.
Randy
Cassie
Yeh, I had a crush on Ann Sheridan as a kid, a crush that still lingers.
So any characters of the movies that you wish could step off the screen and be in your life, if only for a little while?
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Walk A Tightrope (1964)
A tight "B" British crime drama with an intriguing story.
SPOILER ALERT: A down and out American living in London (Dan Duryea) follows a woman (Patricia Owens) from a cinema to a pub where she passes out after unexpectedly encountering her husband there with a friend. Against her will, she is taken home by the husband and within a few minutes Duryea bursts through their door and shoots the husband dead. He then demands that the woman pay him the money she had promised him before he leaves her place, promising to contact her again. But her grieving for her husband is not consistent with a planned hit. Something here is amiss.
This is a minor little drama but the interest in its story remains right to the twist ending, with fine work by Duryea as a street hard case and a subtle turn by Owens.
2.5 out of 4
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1 hour ago, TheCid said:
Scarlett had a child by each husband = three. As with most books, there is way too much in them for the movies, even a long movie.
The first time I read GWTW was in high school for a book report for American History. Guess only in the Deep South could you do that. Had to be on over 1,000 pages of book(s). I borrowed my mother's edition that had been printed in the mid-40's and it was the full text, but only about 600+ pages the way it was printed. Other people used newer versions of GWTW that were over 1,000 pages. I had to do two books to their one.
I would have been looking for it on Coles Notes.
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Is Anybody Going to See the New Invisible Man?
Well, if he's really invisible I guess we won't be able to.
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
Carry on.
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There's Nothing Like A Good Ham
in General Discussions
Posted
This is an illustration of how the same ham to one man is a delicious feast while to another it is something to gag on, Dargo. I like Little Big Man but Mulligan (who could be a fine rubber faced comic actor) annoys me with his lunatic cartoony Custer ranting on the battlefield bit. I think it may be the film's biggest weakness.