AddisonDeWitless

The Great Moment, 1944. dir- Preston Sturges. st: Joel Mcrae (sp?), Betty Field, Porter Hall, Harry Carey, Grady Sutton and (of course) William Demarest. aka Triumph Over Pain. - which kinda woulda made more sense as a title, but whatevs. Anyone catch this? Wow, there is a looooooooooooong and torturous entry for it on wikipedia- it looks like it had a similarly laborious story in the making of...Feel free to check it out. As far as the final, released product goes: I *actually liked it* and think maybekindasorta Illeana was a leetle hard on its faults (aside: Illeana is fantastique, there is a thread praising her in hot topics, feel free to add your opinion if you want her to be a regular presence on the network, which *I know I do*.) Anyhow: aside from the twisted flashback structure (which, I dunno, didn't really detract that much from the story to me, but I got that it was a little muddled and confusing) it has the standard (seemingly) effortless performance by Joel Mcrae (and I mean that as praise), the standard dour performance from Harry Carey (which was really good too) and the standard "don't **** me off more than I already am" performance by William Demarest (who kind of saved the movie.) The one weak link in the cast was, I felt, Betty Field- who did not have the greatest role, and maybe some of her better scenes hit the floor. I felt like she fumbled her dramatic speech in the beginning and I also kind of felt like she came off as a bit of a pain in the rest. Nonetheless- it was moving and *compelling* (and as long as a film is compelling, even compellingly bad- which this wasn't- it's worth something ), great production values and a nice eschewing of the standard forties biopic touches which could be a touch on the trite side. Kind of an odd- but nonetheless effective- ending. I'd rate it a solid *three stars out of four,* how's about you? ps- also, it was kind of cool to watch a film about people gettin' high made right in the middle of the forties. pss- The Great Moment is cited by some as the pivotal moment when Sturges' career began its downturn.

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}Yeah, I remember For the Boys, but I didnt find the make up convincing. More like grotesque. > > Yes, Angela was pitched the tv series but nixed it. It was filmed (and shown once) with Joan Plowright in the role. > > > It was called Peace, Love and Misunderstanding and WAS directed by Beresford! (just looked it up) It was listed as "Coming Soon" at one of our theaters, but it never did come! I guess they pulled it from release after a few engagements......... > > Edited by: Hibi on May 10, 2013 11:58 AM > Yeah: Midler in the old-age make-up reminded me of one of the velociraptors (sp?) from Jurassic Park...Still, as an aside, I'm glad she got nominated for the role and I was sorry For the Boys (for all its faults) was such a bomb. I am hard-pressed to think of a movie with less potential for a TV Series than Driving Miss Daisy. I mean, what would the plotline be? THRILL this week as Miss Daisy and Hoke have to wait at a detour on the way to the Piggly-Wiggly! Damn, that Fonda film was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay below radar, in imdbing Beresford, I saw the title- but it totally didn't ring a bell...then again I was kind of surprised by how many films he'd directed since the mid-nineties that were *here today, gone today.* ps- yeah, Tandy was a terrific actress. I miss her, but I'm grateful she got an unexpected career lift so late in life. pss- wasn't Jessica Tandy British? Or at least born in England?

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote} Communication is a two way street. Amen. And that would've made a more apt- but less fanciful- title for the film than There's Always Tomorrow.

> {quote:title=clore wrote:}{quote} > Sirk's original ending was to have the film end when we saw Fred in the toy factory with the robot walking off the table, breaking, but still moving its arms and flashing its lights. > > Oddly enough, I did think at that point in the film that it was over, *I expected to see "The End" superimposed over the Universal-International globe.* > YES! Me too. Would've been effective but a total bummer.

> andym108 wrote: Nixon had just unseated Melvyn Douglas's wife two years earlier in a highly publicized California Senate race,. Ah yes, *The Pink Lady. * Funny, I thought the Checkers thing happened when he ran for prez. against JFK in 1960 (I trust you though.) Nixon's daughter married Ike's (grand?)son, and I think they are still married.

> {quote:title=slaytonf wrote:}{quote} > > ADW: > > it's like the filmakers on (a Midsummer Night's Dream- 1935) learned from Paramount's mistakes (making Alice in Wonderland). > That, and the fact that it had a better director. well, according to imdb: two better directors: William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt both get credit. But yeah- agreed. Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on May 9, 2013 10:03 PM

> {quote:title=twinkeee wrote:}{quote}...You mean Twin Beds pushed together....how Unromantic is that ? No wonder the marriage was in trouble... Hey, at least they were pushed together. But yeah: I bet someone was always rolling over and falling into the space between. *Had* to be a real romance-killer. FYI- The very first movie (filmed during the production code) to show the bedroom of a husband and wife with a single bed was 1946's My Reputation with, yes, Barbara Stanwyck. (Or course, in that one her husband is dead, but still, it was a milestone of a sort...) (at least according to imdb.)

*very nice (and perceptive) write-up!* ps- you are so right about Bennett needing the lecture too. pss- only other issue I had besides what you pointed out is that Jane Darwell was tragically wasted as the housekeeper. Poor thing, she just about ties with Hattie McDaniell when it came to not getting the follow-ups to her Oscar win that she deserved.

I missed that- but I did notice *windows* were a motif throughout the film- MacMurray looking at his kids (and life) through the window, Stanwyck and MacMurray gazing out of the big bay window in his office, Stanwyck peering out the window of the plane, the young lovers framed by the window-like hole in the trellis, the final scene of the kids watching their parents through the window-like design that seperated the living room from the hall. windows windows windows.

a nice, well-done and compelling movie- very smart, and a five-star perf from Stanwyck at the end.

love how it always rains frequently (and heavily) in Los Angeles in the movies...

I am pretty sure at the time Joan was known as "the sexiest grandma in HOLLYWOOD" (she became a grandmother at something like 38- eek!) Barbara is doing a *terrific* job so far (natch.)

it's also interesting to see the very handsome William Reynolds playing MacMurray's son, he was also Jane Wyman's son in All that Heaven Allows and was in Has Anybody Seen My Gal?- both by Sirk. Other than his Sirk films, his credits are kindasorta iffy- he did a bunch of TV and a dreadful B-movie called The Thing that Couldn't Die! Wonder if he and Sirk were, um, tight....?

it's almost lit like a film noir, lots of shadows... I love getting a glimpse of Palm Springs-like resorts in films from the 40's and 50's.

*REALLY* could've done *without* the ham-fisted, completely UNFUNNY and (shock!) overly generalized and dismissive assessment of HOLLYWOOD's product of yesterday and today with the condescending and REALLY SEXIST swipe at "single women in their thirties" who like teen vampire movies by *ManksiewanksieBooBoo.* God, he must play a mean raquetball or have negatives of someone burying a body or something to still be here, what, ten years now....? ps- Really WHO writes this stuff? Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on May 9, 2013 8:04 PM Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on May 9, 2013 8:05 PM

Many of the comments on the imdb page for Driving Miss Daisy are astoundingly negative. Among them (and I paraphrase from memory): "this thing actually won Best Picture?!" "Dan Aykroyd is community theater bad in this" and- not as bad, but still not exactly radiant praise: "why do so many people have such a hard time believing this won Best Picture?" Ouch.

WEIRDNESS. Just did research and saw Lansbury and Jones did the play this year, in AUSTRALIA. h3. Australian tour (2013) The Broadway production of Driving Miss Daisy toured Australia early in 2013, starring [Angela Lansbury|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Lansbury|Angela Lansbury], James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines.

O...M...G!

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}Why did he pick him for VP? Hell, I don't know- like I was there? Maybe he threw a dart and it landed on Nixon's name...(I think Nixon had made quite a name for himself as a senator....maybe?)

> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}BETTE MIDLER??? ****! I cant believe that one. Way too young for one. .... > > *Lansbury was pitched the role as a tv series,* but turned it down. Are you thinking of Vanessa Redgrave on Broadway? That was last season or a few seasons back? > > > > > > Didnt Beresford direct Jane Fonda's last movie that bombed? (I cant remember) I wanted to see it, but it never played locally......... > I think the Midler/Murphy idea was born when the script was pitched to Disney. And have you seen the end of For the Boys ? They hagged her out quite convincingly in that one. Lansbury was pitched the role as a TV series? Where'd you hear that? Again, kinda' a head scratcher as she was right in the middle of Murder She Wrote's 13-season run and had a contract with Universal when it woulda' been pitched her way. I kind of feel like she might've been too associated with Murder... for her to click with audiences in such a different part; I also have to say I think she is too physically imposing (5'11) to make it work.- but that's maybe a quibble. *I know I read somewhere* that Lansbury and James Earl Jones were doing the play on B-way or off b-way in 2013, maybe it had a limited run (they're both in their 80s; and I know Lansbury was recently on b-way in the revival of The Best Man in 2012), but *I know* I read it- on gawker.com maybe?- because I remember scratching me head at the casting while thinking "good for them!" I don't think Beresford has ever worked with Fonda- and actually, Jane has been in some pretty good-sized hits since ending her self-imposed retirement with Monster-in-Law. She's playing Nancy Reagan next in the Oprah-starring film The Butler directed by the dude who did Precious. Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on May 9, 2013 7:05 PM Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on May 9, 2013 7:07 PM

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}But Zanuck's biggest duds were the money-losing musicals of the late '60s which got him fired from his position at Fox---DOCTOR DOOLITTLE, STAR!, HELLO DOLLY, etc. I don't think he produced those though, at least *he had no producer credits on imdb for them*. Maybe he was in charge of production when Fox released those (more or less the same thing, I guess.)

they like to sometimes invent those "so and so was considered for the role" stories around pre- and post-production to drum up inn-terest for the film. as per imdb: [Katharine Hepburn|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/], [bette Davis|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000012/], [Lucille Ball|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000840/], and [Angela Lansbury|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001450/] all were interested in playing Miss Daisy. Studio executives also considered a [bette Midler|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000541/]/[Eddie Murphy|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000552/] pairing. The Midler/Murray story I've heard numerous times. Bette Davis was- at the time- was too ill for me to believe she had a shot or really thought she could do it- she also would've been hard to swallow as a demure southern lady. Hepburn maybe could've done it...maybe...Ball (who also died in 1989 if I recall correctly) and Lansbury would've been wrong for the role (although it's worth noting that Lansbury is actually currrently (?) appearing in Driving Miss Daisy on Broadway with James Earl Jones as Hoke- sounds like a double miscast to me, but whaddo I know?) It's hard to imagine anyone but Jessica Tandy in the role, and it's nice that she was able to parlay her Oscar win into a nice little run of films thereafter, wherein she earned another nomination for Fried Green Tomatoes and really should have gotten a third nod for Nobody's Fool. It's also also worth noting that the unnominated Bruce Beresford who directed Miss Daisy- the first film without a director nod to win Best Picture since Grand Hotel- went on to do some TURKEYS afterwards: among them Last Dance, Silent Fall, A Good Man in Africa, Paradise Road, and the successful but critically despised Double Jeopardy. He also directed an Oscar-winning performance from Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies. Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on May 9, 2013 5:47 PM

just caught the TCM Remembers trib to Harryhausen. The tender music kinda clashed with the images of skeleton warriors, the hideous medusa and all the reptile beasts, but the sentiment was there.

...and Miss Daisy does have a lovely score- which I was shocked to read was done entirely using synthesizers with no orchestra! ps- equally surprised to have just perused the awards info for the film and discovered the score and the (lovely) cinematography were not even nominated. oddly enough, Dan Aykroyd was. Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on May 9, 2013 4:10 PM

i did stick around to watch Driving Miss Daisy afterwards, a film I have seen numerous times and a film that- as a southerner- I have to say does capture the south well (although it appears to be a south perpetually bathed in sepia tones and spring-blossoming trees.) it's also one of those films that deals with subtle changes and occurances in everyday life over a long span of time, which is something I always find compelling when done well. it's a lovely film and a simple film and a well-acted film, but I get that it's a film that **** people off and- yeah- I *totally* get the irony that it won Best Picture while films that made BOLD, UNMEASURED STATEMENTS about race- Glory and Do the Right Thing! didn't even get nominated. It's a film that kind of wants to say something but never quite does. It implies plenty, but what does that get you?