Bogie56

Thursday, July 2 10:45 a.m. Day of Wrath (1943) Time to replace my vhs copy of this Dreyer film. 1:45 p.m. The Seventh Victim (1943) with Tom Conway and Kim Hunter. Directed by Mark Robson. Have to catch this one. 3 p.m. Bell, Book and Candle (1958) I didn’t really care for this one too much. But Novak does look great. And with all the talk of Bewitched lately it might be good to see for conversational purposes. 11 p.m. The Living Desert (1953) Disney Oscar winning documentary.

My two favourite David Cronenberg films are Dead Ringers (1988) and Spider (2005). Jeremy Irons was quite good in Reversal of Fortune (1990) but he really should have won the Oscar for Dead Ringers in 1988. He actually thanked Cronenberg in his Oscar speech for Reversal of Fortune so I gather he thought so too. Hard to win in 1988 though if you aren't even nominated. As most of you must know he played twin brothers in Dead Rigners. But if you think of it, he also played twin brothers who impersonated each other so it was really like playing four people. And boy did he pull it off. Genevieve Bujold was pretty good in that one too. Miranda Richardson really deserved an Oscar nomination for Spider. Like Irons, she played several versions of the same character and did so brilliantly. I like Spider because it is layered with so much symbolism. The gas works and the spider's web are a big clue!

It just occurred to me that LOTS of Americans have seen parodies of Canadian films with SCTV. John Candy and Joe Flaherty did a great send up of Goin Down the Road. I remember Flaherty saying with great exuberance "We're Going to Yonge Street!" And Candy did a pretty good parody of Paperback Hero. I recall that he had an Eastern European name on the back of his hockey jersey that went from elbow to elbow.

I think Norman Jewison is without a doubt the best film director ever to come out of Canada. Parts of his latter films were done in Canada. TCM could certainly do a Canada Day tribute to him sometime in the future. He isn't getting any younger. The Cincinnati Kid (1965) The Russians Are Coming, the Russians are Coming (1966) In the Heat of the Night (1967) The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) Fiddler on the Roof (1971) Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) Rollerball (1975) ...And Justice For All (1979) A Soldier's Story (1984) Agnes of God (1985) Moonstruck (1987) He makes pretty good Maple Syrup too.

Threshold (1981) is an underrated Canadian gem by American director, Richard Pearce. It stars Donald Sutherland as a heart surgeon and Jeff Goldblum as a research scientist who team up to develop the world's first artificial heart. This film is so ahead of its time and Sutherland's portrayal of a Doctor is one of the finest in film. John Marley, Mare Winningham and Michael Lerner co-star. Stuart Gillard even has a bit part. The early 80's were really the best of times for the English Canadian film industry.

Murder by Decree (1979). A pretty good Sherlock Holmes movie by Bob Clark with lots of cameos by stars such as Donald Sutherland, David Hemmings, John Gielgud and Genevieve Bujold. Christopher Plummer makes a fine Holmes but James Mason steals the show as Dr. Watson. If the film had been a little bit better, Mason's Watson may have gained the attention it deserved.

Well, like Christmas, Canada Day comes but once a year. But stick around. You might gather a few pointers on some good films. For instance, all fans of Alan Arkin should see Joshua Then and Now.

Outrageous! (1977) features a great performance by Craig Russell. This was Canada's Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - Goin' Down the Road style. Russell (1948-1990) was once Mae West's personal secretary! He was running her fan club and wrote to her and went to see her in Los Angeles and they hit it off. West and Carol Channing were two of Russell's best drag impersonations. He went to the same high school as I did but quite a few years earlier.

I heartily agree. Ticket to Heaven was one of the best Canadian features and I wish R.L. Thomas had stuck around and made more of them. I obtained a dvd copy of it earlier this year from Germany of all places. Though I suspect it was just a vhs dub or transfer from a television master with some legitimate distributor artwork as the quality wasn't that great. The German subtitles were removable. I did some extra voices in Ticket in post-production on the chanting sequences. I'm in there somewhere.

Les Flintstones (1981) by Jean Jacques Annaud wasn't too bad either. Of course most people would know this film as Quest For Fire.

Auntie Mame, or just plain Mame. I don't want to spoil that other thread with what would only be a mercy rule request to stop with the examination of the various nuances of Mame. It's Chinese water torture! Mame doesn't work on any level. Ros Russell, Bea Arthur, broad or restrained ... nothing could save these films. But I suppose it is amusing to examine a train wreck now and then.

Producer Budge Crawley gave us some good 'uns. The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964) with Robert Shaw, Mary Ure and Liam Redmond. It is on dvd. The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975). Academy award winner for Best Documentary. and Janis (1974) about Janis Joplin. I finally caught up with the NFB short Universe (1960) by Roman Kroiter and Colin Low. I posted something in the I Just Watched thread about it yesterday. It was said to be somewhat of an inspiration for Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey. It was narrated by Douglas Rain, our own HAL 9000 voice. And speaking of Kroiter and Low we should all hail the Canadian development of IMAX which is now a world wide concern.

Tom, I concur that Why Rock the Boat is going to be quite hard to find. In fact most Canadian films from the 70's and 80's before the advent of dvd's are very hard to find. The distributors just don't see any money in making new dvd copies of these films and the government won't spend anything to preserve the films either. We should be going cap in hand to Martin Scorsese to preserve our film heritage! It worked for the Polish. Here are a few that I am trying got get copies of: Amanita Pestilens (1963). A Wonderfully funny film by Paul Almond who only just passed away. It features Genevieve Bujold's first film appearance. It was shot in both English and French. Les Plouffe (1981) by Gilles Carle. It was based on the French Canadian tv and radio series. Unfortunately the dvd copy doesn't have English subtitles. Neither does the sequel Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe. Les Plouffe features some great performances. One is by Emile Genest. Some may remember him as the French Canadian dog lover in both The Incredible Journey and Big Red. He had quite a little career going in Hollywood before doing Les Plouffe. The Hounds of Notre Dame (1980) featuring a great performance by Thomas Peacocke. Who Has Seen the Wind (1977) with one of Jose Ferrer's best career performances. Heartaches (1980). Another Don Shebib film. This one made it as far a laser disc. Nice performances by Margot Kidder and Annie Potts. It Can't be Winter, We Haven't Had Summer Yet (1980) with a good performance by Celine Lomez. J.A. Martin Photographe (1977) with Monique Mercure. I wish I had recorded this one the last time it was on the MoviePix channel. Les Beaux Souvenirs (1981) with Monique Spaziani. Mr. Patman (1980) with fine performances by James Coburn, Kate Nelligan and especially Fionnulla Flanagan. Perfectly Normal (1989) with Robbie Coltrane. The Rowdyman (1972) with Gordon Pinsent and Stuart Gillard. Will Geer is very good in this one too. The Grey Fox (1982) with Richard Farnsworth. This still has not been released on dvd. South of Wawa (1991). Not a great film but Rebecca Jenkins and Catherine Fitch are very good in it. Tribute (1980). Notable for the Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick performances. and The Terry Fox Story (1983). A really good bio-pix by Ralph Thomas with Eric Fryer and Robert Duvall.

Okay, my favourite French Canadian film is Le Declin de l'empire Americain (1988) by Denys Arcand.

Yes, I have seen Barney's Version as well. A triple bill of Mordecei Richler films should also include Joshua Then and Now (1985) also directed by Kotcheff who was an old London pal of Richler's. Joshua has the finest performance ever given by Alan Arkin IMHO. Duddy Kravitz has Denholm Elliott's all time best performance. And quite possibly Dreyfuss' too. *Gee, otto censor wouldn't let be put in c h u m.

I'm not sure if this is my favourite French Canadian film, but I did like Les Bons Debarras (1979) which was directed by Francis Mankiewicz (1944-1993). Mankiewicz was a distant relative of Ben's, though I'm not sure if Ben knows this or not. I have recommended the film a few times in Suggest a Movie.

I once met Danny Elfman and was just about to tell him how much I admired one of his Tim Burton scores and then something stopped me. i remembered that the score that I was thinking of wasn't done by Elfman but by Howard Shore. What a faux pas that would have been. The music for Ed Wood (1994) certainly captured the cheap ambience of the period and all credit to Howard Shore. Shore's Hudsucker Proxy from the same year was equally impressive.

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) by Ted Kotcheff. With Richard Dreyfuss.

My favourite de Havilland performances are: The Heiress (1949) To Each His Own (1946) The Snake Pit (1948) My Cousin Rachel (1952) Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) Princess O'Rourke (1943) The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) Anthony Adverse (1936) Gone With the Wind (1939) The Strawberry Blonde (1941) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Hold Back the Dawn (1941)

Andrew Dickson's score for Mike Leigh's Naked (1993) was another great one from the 1990's.

Le Petit Theatre de Jean Renoir (1974). Made for French television.

Wojciech Kilar's great score for Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) is arguably the best thing about that film along with the in-camera special effects.

We don't even have pennies in Canada any longer.

Wednesday, July 1 6 a.m. Payment Deferred (1932) with Charles Laughton and Maureen O’Sullivan. Looks intriguing. 3 p.m. Passport to Destiny (1944) with Elsa Lanchester. Looks like Man Hunt with a female lead. 5:45 p.m. Young Bess (1953) I’ve always wanted to see this Jean Simmons film.

Ralph Vaughn Williams' score for Scott of the Antarctic (1948) was awesome.