Bogie56

Monday, February 22 10:30 p.m. East of Eden (1955). I haven’t seen this one in quite a while.

Sunday, February 21/22 3:45 a.m. Countryman (1982). A Jamaican film that might be worth a look.

This foreign language film won the 2020 San Sebastian Film Festival … Beginning (2020) Dea Kutumbegashvili, Georgia

Saturday, February 20/21 midnight. Native Son (1951). Noir Alley with Eddie Muller.

Friday, February 19 8 p.m. Gun Crazy (1950). Seeing this who would have thought Peggy Cummins was from Wales. Note to TCM: We get St. Patrick’s Day every year. How about doing something for St. David’s Day, March 1st and celebrate Welsh actors and stories!

Thursday, February 18 6:15 p.m. The Front Page (1931). Part of the Adolphe Menjou birthday tribute. Pre TCM I recall coming across a public domain VHS copy of this in a Supermarket bin and thinking that I had hit the jackpot.

Orson had a shadow cutting copy of Ambersons with him in Rio. He was cutting it there and cabling Robert Wise who was also making the same edits in California. Welles' version went to out-of-town previews and it didn't go well. Some blame the audience's expectations of the film that they actually came to see and others the film that Welles had made. In any event, Wise was instructed by RKO to recut the film. The original elements were dumped into the Pacific ocean. I guess they did this in LA instead of consigning it to landfill. There has been some hope that the Welles shadow cut of the finished film would turn up in some laboratory in Rio but the thinking is that the print was resold for its silver content long ago. It is doubtful that things may have been different if Orson had stayed in LA. After all they took away several of his other films like Touch of Evil and butchered them. Thankfully Touch of Evil was able to be reassembled to Welles' notes. I don't mind seeing old silents that have portions missing restored using stills. I will be curious to see what they do with Ambersons. At the end of the Peter Bogdanovich book where he interviews Welles', Jonathan Rosenbaum has a section on the deleted scenes from Ambersons with stills. I may be mistaken but I thought the audio may have survived. If so, that would be a bonus. The new ending is just dreadful in every way.

Wednesday, February 17 9:45 p.m. The Pawnbroker (1965). Sidney Lumet film with Rod Steiger.

Well, for me that only added to its humour. Let's not forget Hungarian, Hedy Lamarr as Dolores Rodriguez! This was in the day when if you sounded foreign you could play any ethnicity. Tamiroff played Mexican, Spanish, Asian, etc. I'm just guessing, but Speedy Gonzales' sidekicks may owe something to Pilon's crew.

I didn't know this but the article mentions that there is already a version (or two) of the film with the deleted scenes using stills. They did this with Queen Kelly and other films. Click on the article title to go to the web page. Personally, I think I might have preferred a CGI restoration rather than animation but this filmmaker had his reasons. I'm thinking of what they did with Peter Cushing in one of the later Star Wars.

Mank and the Ghost of Christmas Future Film historian Joseph McBride, who penned “Rough Sledding with Pauline Kael” in 1971, graciously offered to revisit the authorship of Citizen Kane for Wellesnet after screening David Fincher’s new Netflix movie Mank — the latest in a string of unflattering film portrayals of Orson Welles. November 28, 2020

‘Magnificent Ambersons’ reconstruction to use animation for lost scenes An ambitious plan to reconstruct the 132-minute preview version of Orson Welles’ “The Magnificent Ambersons” using animation to replace the cut scenes is underway. January 4, 2021

Wonder Bar (1934) with Al Jolson, Kay Francis, Dick Powell, Dolores Del Rio, Ricardo Cortez and Guy Kibbee and Hugh Herbert thrown in for comic relief. Jolson plays Al Wonder, the manager and headliner of a Parisian cabaret nightclub that hosts lots of intrigue and inter-connecting love and crime stories. Did Warners think that they might have a Grand Hotel (1932) on their hands. If so, what were they smoking? If this doesn't turn up on TCM it is little wonder why. One act has Cortez playing a gaucho and taking a bullwhip to the lovely Del Rio. As in other films the cabaret stage magically becomes the size of a football stadium for some numbers. And then there is the closing act where Al Jolson dons blackface and does a big Mammy, Pearly Gates number that not only has a huge stage with hundreds of black face extras but it keeps changing perspective and location as if we were transported to another land and not in a cabaret. Truly ****ed up which brings to mind the shot of the audience with jaws dropped in Mel Brooks' The Producers (1967). The scene below is also supposed to be part of the cabaret show! Al on his donkey going to the Pearly Gates. And this was "black people's" heaven which made clear that we are segregated in the afterlife. In this heaven pork chops dangled from the branches of trees. I really felt sorry for this "real" black talented tap dancer who magically appears out of a giant watermelon. Every other performer is in black face. It was interesting from a film history perspective but even stripped of its un-PC elements this still would have been a stinker.

Tuesday, February 16/17 John Garfield SOTM 5:45 a.m. Tortilla Flat (1942). With Garfield, Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr. But the real stars are the character actors Frank Morgan, John Qualen, Akim Tamiroff and Allen Jenkins.

I still remember Capote's description of Dick Hickock which paraphrasing went something like, "his face was like an apple that had been cut in half and one side had slid down." That is probably a mutilation of what Capote really wrote. But as far as the casting goes, you couldn't get better.

1974 The Man Who Sleeps (1974) Bernard Queysanne, France This film certainly will not be to all tastes. It is essentially a series of shots about a man in a city who ponders the question ‘what is the point of doing anything.’ The camerawork is very good and it is accompanied by narration such as “to walk down a street, or not to walk down a street.” It might as well be Hamlet. But this film has absolutely no drama. It won the Prix Jean Vigo in 1974. and I’ve also seen … Only Old Men Are Going to Battle (1974) Leonid Bykov, Russia. My main problem with this film is that for tis subject it lacked scope. I suspect it may have been done on a shoestring. It is about a fighter squadron on the Eastern Front. Just about the entire film takes place in a farmhouse and one country field and the characters are tightly shot as to not reveal much background. The battle footage is taken from stock shots. When the planes are not idling in the fields the men are back at the farmhouse singing folk songs with their ensemble band!

Monday, February 15 8 p.m. In Cold Blood (1967). I had the remarkable good fortune of having Conrad Hall do a lecture for our University class and go through a reel of this film.

Sunday, February 14 8 p.m. The Age of Innocence (1993). I know that for some this is the best Scorsese picture.

I agree. Though Trumbo had the benefit of a very large back story which was the McCarthy era which made it a bit more fascinating. They tried to do that by injecting a political angle into Mank but it was not as successful. And maybe watching Trumbo writing in a bathtub was more amusing than watching Mank writing while he was drying out on a motel bed. You can't fault the acting in either movie though. Englishman, Tom Burke did a fantastic job as Orson Welles. The voice was spot on. At the end I wondered if a different actor had done the voice. I'll have to see it again at some point and look closer.

The winners of the 2020 Venice Film Festival included …. The Wasteland (2020) Ahmad Bahrami, Iran

For me - In the end it just wasn't that interesting to merit its length. And that's from a film lover.

Saturday, February 13 12:15 p.m. Gigi (1958). Multi-Oscar winning musical remake of the 1949 French film. For me, Louis Jourdan missed the mark that Frank Villard (below) nailed in the original. In that version, Gaston is comically unaware that he is no match for Gigi.

Friday, February 12 8 p.m. Casablanca (1942). The perfect night and time slot for this classic.

Thursday, February 11 6 a.m. She Had to Say Yes (1933). I haven’t seen this Loretta Young picture. But it also has Hugh Herbert in it whom I’m allergic to.

Wednesday, February 10 Two with Rex Ingram: 8 p.m. Moonrise (1948) 10 p.m. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)