CaveGirl

Though Irving, Updike and Mailer dissed Wolfe I can't say I didn't enjoy reading things like his "Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby". RIP, Tom!

Well, I couldn't agree with you more, Spence! I was just watching a performance of Peggy Ann Garner as an adult the other day, and felt so sorry that she never achieved as much stardom later in life as she did as a child. Really, as much as I love folks like Margaret O'Brien, Sybil Jason and the like, Peggy Ann Garner's performance in ATGIB is one of the finest, if not the finest by a child actress that I have ever seen. The interplay between her and the great James Dunn and the implied less than happy connection between her and the mother as expertly played by Dorothy McQuire, is tangibly impressive. She shoulda won an award but all are lucky to now still have the enjoyment of seeing her at her peak as a kid in films. Thanks, Spence for your salute to her power on film and evocative talents!

Well, I have never been a fan of war films but not for the good reason of hoping wars end, but just because I don't enjoy them. Yet I think there are a lot of people who probably do like them, so I just bide my time and don't watch TCM for a few days each year when they schedule a slew of them. It's odd since I love history and would watch a documentary of Patton, or MacArthur or the Normandy Beach landing, or Eddie Rickenbacker but really can't get into these films. I might not be alone though since a friend of mine had an aunt who was elderly and lived through WWII in Japan. One day in the 1990's the film "Tora Tora Tora" came on tv, and the aunt was watching. After a while they told her it was time for dinner, and she said "I can't leave now, I want to see who wins this war."

Spence, sweetie! You just gave Sepiatone a moniker, with the appellation, "Sepiaton", which sounds like a Japanese film monster, that is fire breathing and will take out Tokyo even if Raymond Burr gets in his way. Sepia will get a big head, and lord it over all of us if you continue this way in your posts. P.S. Love your posts and I dig cryptic comments, but I think you need to slow down a bit while posting and typing, and let's be more stingy with the ALL CAPS comments, since people here will start to think we have Donald Trump as a secret member if you aren't careful.

I can never forgive them for causing Joseph Losey to leave the country! In all seriousness, this is an interesting topic. You have a famous director like Elia Kazan, who aided the blacklistings by HUAC by supplying names of others in the industry, but then defends his position in this instance by creating a great movie to explain his position, with "On the Waterfront". So a fabulous movie is formed, by a director who some would say was antithetical to movie making by turning in some compatriots. Was he right to do so? Was he wrong? Does this act make him less of a fine director or is it not tangential to evaluating his career in toto? The answers to these questions are difficult to ascertain with a black and white certainty for some I'm sure. The Hollywood Ten probably are pretty sure of how they feel but overall what is the conclusion of film buffs? I don't know the answer to this but the questions are worth exploring but probably will never be totally agreed upon.

Ooooh! I like a person who will go out on a limb and risk the wrath of fellow compatriots. That takes some guts, Lawrence. I like both films tremendously. I dislike though trying to rate films, or people, or things and put them into little compact boxes, and make them compete. I've always thought of CK as a primo example of film, and the cinematography and cuts and dialogue is without compare. Yet Vertigo is a more emotionally stunning film in a totally different way. Welles and Mankiewicz combined to make a very important film, but being based on a real life person is somewhat limiting. Not in a bad way, but in a way that makes it very different in comparison to Vertigo, which is about falling, falling in love, falling down stairs, falling into a vortex that is symbolized by a hairdo formed into a French Twist style. Plus all art eventually ends in the death of beauty which is encompassed in the ending of Vertigo and makes it profound. Comparing these two films is like comparing the attributes of Judith Anderson to Brigitte Bardot. Totally impossible and inconceivable, so why try. So sorry, Spence, though still fun to compare each to the other, ultimately it will end in a match that can never end though I still enjoyed reading all the takes on each film, so it was worth putting both horses to the match.

I first became aware of this technique in college during my "Theology in Film" class. We were assigned the film "The Night of the Hunter" book by Davis Grubb and the film, by Charles Laughton. Though I'd seen the film quite a few times, our research into it encompassed all sorts of trivia, resulting in deep background into the forced perspective techniques of master cinematographer, Stanley Cortez. As we all know, he supposedly used a pony with a diminutive actor aboard for the scene that was to appear to be Mitchum in the distance. Such optical tricks not only can be effective for cost reasons but also serve as semaphores for other hidden meanings in the tapestry of a film. Forced perspective is ostensibly used to make objects appear larger or smaller than their true size, to increase distances being viewed or a panoply of other possiblities. Films can use optical illusion for many purposes, but I've not seen such things as Anamorphosis, like that of Hans Holbein's painting "The Ambassadors" and its skull, but that's not to say such a trick could not be in a film. The origins of forced perspective can probably be traced back in films to German silents and of course through masterpieces like "Citizen Kane" and "Casablanca". I found the delving into the construction of the film, TNOTH to be an enjoyable enterprise, and am always interested and intriqued when I see possible instances of forced perspective in other films, be it, B-potboilers trying to save a few cents or highbrow films that perhaps are looking for a unique visual style. I could name my other favorite instances of forced perspective on film, but would prefer to hear the favorites of other posters first and I might learn of some examples of which I am not aware. Thanks for any contributions you make to this thread.

Gosh, is there any movie with Bogarde in it that isn't worth watching, TB? I loved "The Spanish Gardener" so much!

Stephan, contrast this film with the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" version of Cheever's short story, "Oh Youth and Beauty" and you will see similar insights, if you've not seen it. Bizarrely I also always think of Newman in Tennessee's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" with his broken leg in a cast, and the attempt to return to the past. Just my off the wall take on Cheever's ideas about marriage and relationships in the 1950's.

Anyone who has read the story by John Cheever or a biography of Cheever, will probably have a take on the meaning of this tale. The first time I saw it, my mother watched also and kept saying how much she hated it, as Burt would swim his way through the neighborhood pool by pool. I thought she was going to lose her mind. It is really a movie with a message, but one most people probably would prefer not to get. I kind of have gotten to the point of loving its absurdity after all these years. Cheever was really a man out of tune with the life he had chosen for himself, as opposed to the life with other romantic figures he might have preferred, instead of his typical life in suburbia. I will say, Burt looked quite fetching in his swim trunks plus that is the movie where Joan Rivers said he hit on her, which made her day. Of course he hit on almost everyone but I digress...

I so agree, but it makes me sad that Billy Chapin supposedly was quite jealous of his sister's longer lasting fame on the "Father Knows Best" show, as Lauren Chapin. He was a fine little actor in everything but particularly in this masterpiece from Laughton's hand.

I think she is quite glamoUrous too, doncha think, Dargo? Does the "narrator" resemble at all your own uxoUrial distaff half?

Let's just be honest here. Maybe she was referring to Cheetah's "sexual freedom" since I have seen footage where Maureen O'Sullivan noted that Cheetah had to be chained down in any publicity photos Maureen was in, since Cheetah would often look like he was going to attack her and he did NOT seemingly like her. Yet Maureen said Cheetah had a real affinity for Tarzan, as played by Johnny Weismuller and would try to get close to him. Perhaps Cheetah was gay and this restriction for his desired object of lust, was in antipathy towards a male vis a vis male relationship? Just a thought and by the way, I knew from the topic title that I would find Dargo in this thread!

I totally enjoy the most fakey background footage also!

So wonderful to have a self-proclaimed "film snob" here. And any film snob would love Ozu. First became aware of him when I was a teenager and saw "Tokyo Story" which was so enlightening and profound. I remember buying "A Story of Floating Weeds" and being enthralled. When I saw "Good Morning" which I think TCM has shown, it showed Ozu's mastery of a current culture and was inspiring and funny too, which let's face it not all directors from his place of birth can muster up. I look forward to your future posts, FS and so enjoyed reading your exegesis of this amazing director's oeuvre! Thanks for joining and posting.

Yes, I did but currently my brain is scrambled from watching too much tv news! Thanks for being my official proofreader, Jakeem!

I totally appreciate your post about DownGoesFrazier, Miss Wonderly, who I always enjoyed bantering with at this site. I loved having fake fights with DGF over things like if Dick Clark and Philadelphia were rock and roll legends or not, and other things. He had a great sense of humor and I am going to hope he is just taking a very long breather, but if you are right about his demise, his contributions are and will be eternally missed. I don't want anyone here to die since I refuse to die. I feel it would make too many people online and in my orbit happy, and I never try to be that pleasing. Hopefully just like Mark Twain, the reports of DGF's demise are greatly exaggerated...

You are so right about the Sardonicus film, but don't forget Guy Rolfe. Just recently watched him in the incredible "Thriller" episode called "Terror in Teakwood" which I highly recommend.

Though I can definitely see the good points, TB makes I probably am more the cynic that you are, Yancy. And the lines crossed seem a bit murky. Kind of like Doctor Phil not telling people for ages that all the books he pushed on his show were done by his son's publishing house. That's different, but has a similar feel. I bet you might be one like me who always reads the small print on tv ads, that say things like "Actor portrayal" or "This stunt was not really performed with a monkey driving the car!" Being that your moniker is "Cravat" my guess too is that you are an aethete sartorially, which brings me to my distaste for the authenticity or even style of some of the noirish apparel being hawked. Let's just be honest, no clotheshorse like the alluring Gloria Grahame would have been caught dead in TCM's chapeau section, with the "Smoky Fascinator" or the "Fatale Hat". She would have preferred something classy made by Oleg Cassini and not these tired imitations of Forties fashion. Get a designer who knows the era next time, TCM. Those repro cufflinks also make even inexpensive ones by Swank, look like they are personally made by Pierre Cardin or even Cartier.

I'm partial to any sounds from the Acme Sound Effects Compendium. I also like any sounds created by Juan Esquivel like his Screen Gems signature ending coda.

I couldn't say it better, CJ. Go with the original to anyone who's seen neither.

I try not to use the term "stupid" to denigrate anything, not because I am nice [we all know I'm not] or for any other humanitarian reason, but just because using the word "stupid" seems to show a lack of depth in one's vocabulary and lexicon of life experiences. Gee, if you are going to insult something ya really need to up the ante and use words that are so much more expressive, like saying "This film has the most desultory and nescient denouement of any film I've ever viewed!" Only someone like a Kardashian would be limited to insulting something by using a first grade word like "stupid". Ergo, it might make one look "stupid" to try to insult anything with the word "stupid".

What song came on when your alarm clock rang the next morning, Dargo?

Was watching the Peter Graves' classic, "The Killers from Space" the other day and was just feeling so sad for the poor monsters! Not only were they not scary with the giant golf ball eyes, they looked a lot like Marty Feldman clones. It's hard to work up a sweat with monsters that look like they were designed by Marie Osmond. Though some like these bug-eyed creatures are pathetic, I do have a soft spot in my heart for them. So much that I feel like Greta Garbo who said "Bring back the beast" when Cocteau's film ended, even though her reason was that she hated the candy box prince character who had been transmogrified into a handsome lad. Name your favorite facially challenged sci-fi monster on film.

Saw this film many years ago and watched it again the other night. For those who've seen it, I only need mention...shrimp, plastic containers and navels! A lot funnier than "In The Realm of the Senses" but still with the dichotomy of food and sex. Must be where George on "Seinfeld" got the idea to combine his two favorite things, by putting a sandwich in the drawer of his bedside table, for intermittent gnoshing. I also watched "The Funeral" which I'd never seen and thoroughly enjoyed its very realistic take on rituals concerning the moribundus.