CaveGirl
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Posts posted by CaveGirl
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I don't think any film should be banned. I also don't have a problem with films being rated to give a clear indicator if a film is something they should avoid. Whenever I see some new "Parents Council for the Babies and Children" group pop up and demand the cancellation of a TV show or the banning of a film that upsets whatever sensibilities they have, it drives me up a wall. If you don't want to see it, don't watch it. No one is forcing you to buy that ticket or leave your TV on that channel. And in this day and age, with the whole of film and TV history available at your fingertips, there's no reason a sensitive viewer or concerned parent can't research a title before viewing it.
Of course, a great many "controversial" films have been put forth as such by savvy advertising firms to draw attention to a new title.
Obviously I have no problem with a movie that is for adults, not allowing children to be in the viewing audience.
But when adult fare, and I don't mean anything necessarily pornographic, just something that debates topics of that might warrant use of a brain to comprehend, are immediately put in the banning basket by those too obtuse to get the point, yes, I do become a bit flummoxed.
This is like banning "Ulysses" because one thinks stream of consciousness persiflage is confusing to read. Or banning "Wake Up, Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers because you think their being late means they were doing something nasty at the drive-in.
By the way, I recall it might have been banned in Boston!
I bring up this topic, due to reading another post on this site which critiques the movie "Death in Venice" as promoting pedophilia, because of the main character and his secretive watching of the character of Tadzio. I don't even think of DIV as being controversial, but the implication that watching someone can be so indicative of an immoral thought, made me think that TCM needs to remove that tribute promo bit about Ida Lupino, and her directing skills since in it the narrator, Lee Grant makes mention of how she saw Ida on the street one time and followed her for quite some time, noting how pretty she found her to be. Apparently, looking at someone now and noting their attractiveness is anathema.
Thanks, Lawrence!
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I am not Jerry but he is still alive and doing well. Ha ha!
Dang!
Do you look anything like Buddy Love?
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We seem to be reaching a watershed moment here lately, with new posters wherein a film delineating a situation that it not to the liking of some, is thought to be unworthy of viewing and hence should not be seen by any.
Maybe my not so incipient belief that I can withstand viewing thoughts on screen that might not be of my taste, but still do not affect me as a person in my life choices, results in my abhorrence to others trying to ban films they cannot deal with successfully without being overtaken by insidious imitation. It would be similar to all wine being banned, by those who cannot take a drink without overdoing it, whilst I might only want one drink per month and hence do not appreciate being deprived of that possibility. I have heard of the weak taking over the earth but I had not realized it would be happening so soon.Perhaps such personages fear, due to thinking that everyone is like them, that others are so weak in their impulses, that is be necessary to not show fare like a film about Ted Bundy, due to men watching the film who will immediately choose to become serial killers. Or showing "The Man With the Golden Arm" will promote drug addiction, yet I watched and have stayed clean.
There are films of degradation like "Salo" that though I find repugnant in many ways, I also think are interesting fare and have something to say. Often it is necessary to show things in films that are not superficially appealing to make a point.
Am I alone in this, or would one prefer that all films that have any adult content be relegated to the art house theaters and never shown on a network like TCM?
For a list of some of the most controversial films of all time, go here and ask yourself if you were unable to watch these films without faltering in your normal belief system:
http://www.filmsite.org/controversialfilms.html
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For years this Hollywood couple were probably considered about as odd a pairing as any...
...what with Shirley Jones' "girl-next-door" image and Marty Ingels' off-the-wall persona.
(...of course once Shirley would publish her tell-all memoirs a few years ago, this tale of "strange bedfellows" would come a little more into focus)
You'd probably marry Ingels after being married to Jack Cassidy too, Dargo.
I mean, think of the time he would have spent in front of the mirror primping and getting ready for his big glossy 8x10's. I mean he did seem to be a bit of a narcissist.
Oh wait, I forgot...you wouldn't need any upkeep, being so handsome and all.
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That's usually the way it works. RO/Mank or the guest host do the first 3 or 4 films of the night, then the rest are skipped. In some cases I can understand this (Some SOTMs have a dozen films shown in succession) but those are rare occasions. I don't understand why they cant devote a little more time and do the whole group. I assume it's a time/money issue.........
I agree, Hibi but who knows. Maybe she didn't want to do some of them or she was assailed by outside duties.
I mean the life of a nun must be filled with many tasks.
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I do not agree with the "art" form of this film, Death in Venice, no matter what is said. If anyone dies it's the REAL children who can be affected by this mess of a movie!
I don't mean to approach this so hardly but come on....! The man lusts after a child?! Doesn't that bother anyone? At all?
I don't see why a movie or a book had to be made about this except for those who ALSO agree that it's just fine and dandy for some grown man, dying or not, to fall in love with and lust after BOY! It disgusts me! Not just the unnatural ness about it but please TCM, think about the sometimes sick world we live in where adult men lust after boys and end up acting on this and forever destroying a child's life!
Many people are rightfully upset by priests who molested children but not this film? Whether the man touches the boy or not is irrelevant to me. If this film, and I'm sure it does, sparks some weirdo's thoughts about abusing the innocence of young boys, then who of you will be there to take responsibility for the movie that promoted the indecentness of it all? Will TCM? No. Because it's called "art" it's alowed to be aired. But I never thought TCM would stoop to these responsibilities. And responsibilities I call them for that is what they are. Children should be protected not exploited.
I have loads of wonderful things to say about tons of other movies and I look forward to future posts. But I do not and will not promote this one. And I hope others will not promote it further either. For the children.
I don't think that this movie promotes pedophilia in any aspect, shape or form.
The boy represents beauty and youth and is a bit like the theme in Inge's "Splendour in the Grass". It is about a recognition of time passing and your youth fading, and the boy Tadzio reminds the main character of his past and what is lost just as Natalie Wood realizes at the end of the film, when she remeets Beatty and realizes what they have both lost.
I am reminded of a line in the movie "Pollyanna" about what one sees in life, when one spends time assuming another's intentions.
If you look for evil, you will surely find it.
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I'm gonna say "The Day The Earth Stood Still" since I think it began the spate of sci-fi films which has continued unabated for eons.
I know it was not the first, but it set higher standards of technical achievements and being a classy act was seen probably by more adults than the previous sillier type kiddie fare about rockets and space travel.
Plus, it made aliens sexy!
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I will be posting 1951 tomorrow...and then 1952 on the weekend. I'd like to cover two years per week and hopefully reach 1970 by early summertime. Jlewis has promised to help with the post-code years. Right Jlewis??
Only you can find the time, TB to post about a whole year of entertainment in one fell swoop per day.
I thoroughly enjoyed your write-up today and was surprised to learn that Jerry Lewis has the time to help you with your annum reviews since I thought he was working on his new film, "Big Finish".
Thanks also for the making me think about the name Estes Kefauver, which always brings a smile to my face!
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Who didn't love this actress...(except maybe Lucille Ball). Bless her soul.
TB, you are so bad!
But I guess Lucy did not care for her dating her baby, Desi Junior at all.
Nevertheless I must say Patty Duke was an exceptional actress no matter what the material given her. Even in something as silly as "The Patty Duke Show" she is amazingly believable as two distinct personages in the characters of Patty and Cathy.
With good material she is of course superb. I think I remember a fabulous movie, perhaps made for tv, which was called "My Sweet Charlie" perhaps, in which as usual Patty Duke makes even good material be more impressive.
I am so sorry to hear of her passing. I am glad that being on this site, people always inform each other of losses like this, so thanks to all who keep us informed.
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--about how even the most ordinary movies devoid of any notable artistic merit still have the value of being interesting historical documents? The broadcast of ARABESQUE is proof of my affirmation: one of the many 1960s imitations of James Bond--silly frivolous entertainments that portray espionage as a jolly lark and mindless fun.
Are you as perplexed as I am about this lightheartedness? Real life espionage is dangerous, brutal, and often tragic, as indicated in the spy movies of WWII time; why, then, this frivolous attitude that shows a total lack of awareness of what espionage is all about--a disdain for reality that is all the more surprising when you consider the real life events affected by espionage that were so abundant during that decade?
Pardon me for forgetting what you had said last year but I might have been drinking too many wine coolers back then.
Your take on espionage being a tough business is apt, but perhaps being so tough it naturally leads to being spoofed?
Kind of like how people enjoy seeing the mighty fall?
Or...maybe not.
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Thanks. I have long wanted to see Rififi, and I am not sure I will ever see it.
We might never know why because I suspect that the final movie of the night which will have Sister Rose actually talk about it will be Strange Cargo.
Well, keep your fingers crossed, GPF since we can all hope and pray that Sister Rose does give us her take on "Strange Cargo". Being that it was found to be so offensive by the LOD, the studio released an expurgated version. The other films which will be spotlighted this Thursday are "The Moon is Blue", "Baby Doll" and "L'Amore".
"Baby Doll", from Tennessee Williams' original play called "27 Wagons Full of Cotton" was called a "meandering social satire" with "stylized violence", "implied marital infidelity" and "leering sexual situations" by the LOD yet some outside their auspices said there was more sensuality in DeMille's "The Ten Commandments".
Some of the other incendiary comments about the above films, came from famed Catholic hierarchy like Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York, who denounced TMIS as an "occasion of sin" and violating "standards of morality and decency" and he asked all Catholics to boycott any theater showing it forever.Rossellini's "L'Amore" caused Cardinal Spellman to be "morally outraged" and he wanted it banned all across the US. And he joined the LOD crowd in denouncing "Strange Cargo" as ridiculing Catholicism and being opposed to the standards of the Encyclical "Divini Illius Magistri" issued in 1939 by Pope Pius XI.
But in view of the fact, that Cardinal Spellman himself had been of aid to the Kennedy family many times, in terms of obtaining annulments for the many marriages of people like Jackie's sister, Lee Bouvier Canfield Radziwill Herbert [after divorces and illicit affairs resulting in pregnancies] and his friendships and defense of the Communist witchhunt tactics of his friends like Roy Cohn and Joe McCarthy, plus other instances of situations that could be occasions of sin with some in the entertainment industry, methinks Cardinal Spellman's condemnation of films was as hypocritical as the beliefs held by the Legion's overzealous archbishops.
I do want to praise Sister Rose for taking on the huge challenge of revisiting these past ratings of films, and giving us her current take on them. Hopefully she will not be excommunicated!
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I hope filmmakers will keep their dirty ape paws off The
Magic Mountain, though the Germans may have already
filmed it. Okay, The Magic Mountain is a pretty long
book, but Death in Venice is only about 75 pages long,
a mere drop in the bucket of prose. I think Mann considered
music to be a kind of universal art with various mystical
overtones that might not have applied to other arts. I
don't know if he ever come into contact with Mahler. It's
certainly a possibility. Doctor Faustus would likely be a
good place to find more on the subject of music as Mann
saw it.
You are probably right, Vautrin. Filmmakers would not understand at all the main character's attraction to that woman's elbows. You know the one he met at the sanatarium. They would want to make it all sensuous and not understand the elbow's allure.
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You know CaveGirl, I wonder if newbie Paul was reading what you said and decided to join up just so he could tell you where you were going to end up after you die........
Clever take, GPF!
Coincidentally, our newbie's name is Paul and Sister Rose is from the Pauline group, and Saint Paul notoriously did not like uppity women, so could he have returned from the grave to taunt me?
I guess miracles can happen?
If I'm gonna have a saint return from death, why couldn't it have been that dishy Saint Sebastian!
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I'm meaning humor-wise.
Sometimes, I'll think of something humorous(at least to ME), while watching some flick I've seen a gazillion times. For instance,
Last night, while watching AGAIN, the ABC presentation of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, two absurd, off the wall things crossed my deviated mind....
One is how history can be cruel....as in, well,
Even today, most people, despite absolutely NO bible school history or maybe even among the many who NEVER go to church regularily, ALL seem to know the rudimentary history of Moses. The man who led the exodus of hebrews he helped free from the bondage of slavery from the Egyptian Pharoh, and lead them for 40 years through the desert wilderness to settle them in the ONLY spot in the Middle East WITHOUT OIL! AND the one who brought down THE LAW from Mount Sinai.
But as for poor RAMSES, HE'S only known by the last three generations or so as it being the name of a latex sheath guys have rolled over their rigid staffs in the backseats of their cars!
And also at one point, I mentioned to my wife (causing what looked like a VERY painful roll of her eyes) that "Ramses better stop messin' with Moses 'cause he's the CHOSEN one! In other words, he's HOLY MOSES!"
Anyone else have their mind warp this way? would LOVE to know some of those!
Sepiatone
Sepia, I wonder if when Charlton played Moses in the movie they kept showing him the rushes?
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spence, I visited Ireland a few months ago, and I can tell you, it's not prohibitively expensive. At least, it doesn't have to be. Depends how you do it. There are lots of "package deals", including air fare, car rental, and bed and breakfast accommodation. I absolutely loved every moment I was there, best trip of my life. Planning to go again soon; there's just too much fascinating, historic, fun, and beautiful stuff to see and do to pack it all into one 2-week trip.
I am unencumbered by an excess of monetary substance (in fact, my former screen slogan was Fred C.Dobbs' "I need dough, and plenty of it." ) So if I could figure out a way to afford such a trip, I figure almost anyone can.
By the way, I'm embarrassed to say I did the predictable touristy thing and went to Blarney Castle and stood in line with all the other predictable tourists for the Blarney Stone. And I can tell you, I do not know what colour it originally was, but it is now a nondescript brownish grey, like most stones. Didn't see any shade of green in it.
If you ever go there - I mean, if you ever get to Ireland and do the predictable touristy thing and visit Blarney Castle, the best thing about this extremely touristy Irish place is not Blarney Castle and its Stone, it's the grounds surrounding the castle. Expansive and beautiful, it's a lovely place to take a walk and delight in the Irish landscape. Plus, adjacent to the Castle is the Poison Garden. This was the most fun part of the visit.
Miss W., we went to the top of Blarney Castle also and wasn't it fun when they would have to hold you upside down so you did not fall through the grating while you were kissing the stone.
My friend's necklace fell off and went down the hole!
You are right, the setting is beautiful and I took pics from the top and love looking at them.
Did you drink any warm Guinness while you were there?
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Yes, I remember years ago (when I was a child) There was Condemned and Morally Objectionable In Part (which werent considered as "bad" as the condemned films) Seems unfair to the In Part films to lump them later with the condemned ones (which today hardly seem objectionable in part!)
Yeah, it is kind of like confusing mortal sin with venial sin, Hibi.
I remember how they had those milk bottles with black spots on them in old Baltimore catechisms, which meant the bottle owner had some sins but had not gone totally to pot yet.
A few Hail Marys and Our Fathers in the confessional and those black spots were wiped away!
Oh, by the way I keep forgetting to say this, that trying to find out exactly who was in the Legion of Decency and what qualified them to be rating films, is impossible to find apparently as I have looked and looked. It must have been a secret committee. I wonder if it was composed of cardinals, archbishops, bishops or all three?
I don't think those men should have been watching all those condemned films, as it might have led them to an occasion of sin or bad thoughts.
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Each of them was turned on by the other's voice.
Uh, but June had that awful squeaking and syrupy simpering voice while Dino's was more soothing.
To each his own though I guess.
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Not enough night scenes.
Put a grey translucent piece of plastic over your tv screen?
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Yes, I've seen most of these Mondo type films. Something Weird Video did a good job of putting a lot of the lesser-known 60's titles on disc, such as Ecco, Mondo Mod, Mondo Bizzaro, Mondo Freudo.
Blue Underground put out some nice discs of Mondo Cane and Mondo Cane 2, as well as Africa Blood & Guts (a.k.a. Africa Addio) and the incredible Goodbye Uncle Tom, both by the same directors. Women of the World was another title by them.
Faces of Death was mostly fabricated. There is some real newsreel footage from war zones, and a lot of the animal slaughtering is real, but most is fake, and that's true for the multiple sequels as well. I actually saw Faces of Death V at a midnight showing in a theater by the University of Florida back in the early 1990's. Everyone in attendance received a "certificate of survival" after the movie. i still have mine. In the late 80's/early 90's, there were a glut of copycat videos released, and a lot of those contained real footage. The most notorious were the Traces of Death films, which were crudely edited clips of all-too-real carnage, such as the on-screen suicide by gunshot of R. Budd Dwyer, the aftermath of terrorist bombings and skyscraper jump suicides, auto accidents, and a lot more. I saw the first couple of these (not sure how many there ended up being) but it was some strong stuff, full of things you can't "un-see".
About all I remember from the original FOD was the monkey footage which looked real and it seems like there was some footage of a newsman on tv killing himself on air.
Am I on the money or hallucinating, Lawrence and congrats of achieving survival status amongst your peers.
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...such as "How to repair a Mercedes" and "Having sex in a GTO".
For some people, a sex drive is the distance from their house to their paramour's house, Down.
Now don't think I approve of such behaviour as I would not want our newbie, Paul to say I will need many prayers to get out of purgatory when I croak, and that I will be relegated to the seventh circle of the inferno till Elvis returns.
Your book titles remind me of the wonderful book "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". One of the most insightful tomes I have ever read on life and its vagaries.
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Don't you love when Little Edie talks about the Marble Faun continually in the film, Holden?
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My first thought is that Gregory peck was not in a single film noir movie. Am I wrong?
"Cape Fear" might qualify if there are enough venetian blinds in it, Down.
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Why can't we talk about Dogma? That 1999 film staring Matt Damon and Ben Afllect and the recently departed Alan Rickman (who was a hoot). Come on, any film that has Alanis Morissette as God is a winner.
I don't know if it is better to be dogmatic than pedantic, but I'm totally for your suggestion, James.
Either that or we could discuss the stigmata in films, and why has the life of Therese Neumann never been committed to celluloid.
I had given up arguing with nuns and priests, in high school I thought. My mother said once just to humor them since they are very subjugated and don't know any better plus are not allowed much leeway in thinking.
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I'll explain my header for all those who need Cliff Notes later, but right now I want to talk about the movie I saw last night, "The Maids".
I have wanted to see this film for eons. Written by the infamous Jean Genet, he of the petty criminal past, who became a noted poet and playwright in France due to interventions by Jean Cocteau and later by praise in print from Jean-Paul Sartre.
So I'm watching the film which starred Susannah York and Glenda Jackson, and all of a sudden a woman enters the scene and she is playing Madame. She is mesmerizing, and doing in my opinion her best Joan Greenwood impression and I keep thinking, who is this? She looks a bit familiar but who is this?
Finally I look at the DVD box and realize it is Vivien Merchant. Now her name is very familiar since I first saw her in "Alfie" and I think she was the wife of Harold Pinter, but what is so incredible is that I would never have thought the woman who played that mousy lady in "Alfie" that gets used by Michael Caine could have played this part in "The Maids".
From frowsy to sophisticated lady of leisure, this is what I would call real acting. Sure we all love Brando and others who are great in parts, but to be able to totally transform oneself into an entirely different person is genius. Sadly I'm sure not many people know Vivien Merchant but this thread is devoted to others like her who are not so famous but do deserve fame.Next?
Golden age: Roll call
in General Discussions
Posted
Wow, TB you pulled one out of your hat this time that I shall have to go look up in my "History of the American Film" book since I do not know her at all.
Good work! And love the picture of Spanky and Alfalfa.