CaveGirl
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Posts posted by CaveGirl
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I forgot to say, Irene Dunne with Melvyn Douglas!
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Last night I stayed up to watch the Bruce Robinson directed film from 1987, "Withnail and I" which I'd been wanting to see since it showed up on the inner list of all Criterion films, as a movie they carried in their catalogue. I would like to own the entire Criterion catalogue because when one sees that name on a film, or the Janus label, one knows they will be seeing something eclectic and usually worth viewing.
Starring Richard Grant, who I first saw in the film by Robert Altman, "The Player", and Paul McCann, I can see why it has cult status. The actor Richard Griffiths is also memorable in it, but I would probably have to watch this film again to get all the dialogue references and in joke bits.
Anyone else watch or a previous fan of this film? -
On 12/11/2017 at 8:05 AM, Sepiatone said:
But then AGAIN Darg, I know many who were born and raised CATHOLIC who when reaching adulthood never bothered with keeping up with all the "trappings", like going to Mass, confession or whatnot. But for SOME strange reason, STILL won't eat meat on Fridays.
Even though(to my understanding) Vatican II did away with that stipulation. Don'tcha remember GEORGE CARLIN havin' fun with that?----
"So it made me wonder. Is it retroactive? I mean, is there still some guy doing time in Hell on a MEAT RAP?"
What I'm basically stating is that while some might give up the religious aspect of their upbringing, they don't necessarily abandon the UPBRINGING.
Sepiatone
Unfortunately no retroactive family planning is around, as that could solve many problems, Sepia.
Who are these Catholics who won't give up not eating meat on Fridays? I know boatloads of Papists and most of them didn't think it made any sense to give up meat on that day, even by the third grade. Personally the biggest day in my grade school was when the pastor decided to buy some tuna hot dogs to serve the kiddies in the lunch room. Hard to believe it took an Ecumenical Convention to get rid of that rule!
I'm not Jewish but I lived in a neighborhood with many kids who were, and my closest connection is having a spot of Mogen David wine on the sly.-
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Irene Dunner with Cary Grant, and Irene Dunne with anyone actually. She works beautifully with any male on screen.
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On 12/9/2017 at 8:04 AM, rayban said:
Hywel Bennett was a very interesting English actor (1944-2017).
In this country, he was known for his work with Hayley Mills -
"The Family Way" (1966)
"Twisted Nerve" (1968)
"Endless Night" (1972)
In this country, he is also remembered for -
"The Virgin Soldiers" (1969)
"Loot" (1970)
"The Buttercup Chain" (1970)
"Percy" (1971)
He is also remembered for the televison series -
"Malice Aforethought" (1979)
RIP, Hywel Bennett, you will be missed.
Aw, that's sad. I loved him in that movie directed by Hayley's hubby, Roy Boulting called "Twisted Nerve'. Thanks for the update.
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3 minutes ago, Dargo said:
Not if they had ever watched that one Everybody Loves Raymond episode where Marie takes up The Arts it wouldn't.
(...they could maybe use her sculpture as inspiration)
That title is a misnomer, as I never loved Raymond or his show. I did like his mother though, since she was great in the cult hit, about Truman Capote's former next door neighbor, Martha Beck, who turned into a serial killer.
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I would think next on the Wine Club agenda would be a wine representing Errol Flynn and possible allegations of things that occurred on his yacht, that led to him hiring famed Hollywood attorney, Jerry Geisler.
They could title the newest wine, "In Like Flynn" and it would be fine with appetizers like prairie oysters and the like.
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On 12/10/2017 at 6:04 PM, Sepiatone said:
Then again Darg, neither of my daughters have Polish first names( Iryna, Matylda, etc.) but it doesn't make them any LESS Polish.
Sepiatone
I thought Matilda was an Australian name, Sepia, as in the song "Waltzing Matilda"?
Now Iryna has to be French, since that was Simone Simone's name in "Cat People" right? -
Are you sure you weren't known for playing "Smoggy Mountain Breakdown" at the Palomino, instead of more mellow hits from the Mel songbook, Dar?
I love Mel's appearance in "Good News" but I also wish he had been in "Best Foot Forward" since then he could have sung a rousing version of "Buckle Down, Winsocki" which I heard is your favorite song?
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On 12/10/2017 at 11:20 AM, limey said:
Definitely an unforgivable injustice! Just like the Hitchcock red's grapes should have only been crushed by the feet of attractive blonde ladies fending off flocks of marauding birds & the Welles wine produced with grapes crushed only by exact, FDA approved, replicas of 'Rosebud'.
Please don't bring up the pet name W.R. Hearst had for shall we say, unmentionable parts of Marion Davies, in any connection with grapes, Limey as it will make me have to give up wine for good.
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On 12/10/2017 at 8:43 AM, Sepiatone said:
Recently saw the "wine club" promo for the new MARX BROTHERS wine. And noticed they said everything about it EXCEPT that it was KOSHER.
I think that does the brothers an injustice.
Sepiatone
I wonder if one should have the rabbi make a visit to one's house to bless it before you down it during a movie, Sepia?
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On 12/10/2017 at 1:36 PM, Dargo said:
Yep, and I've always had a little "theory" about why some people do that, Mozart.
For some reason they seem unable to place themselves within the scenario which is being presented them and/or seem unable to identify with any of the characters being presented to them within those scenarios. And thus, they always seem to be "on the outside looking in" when they're watching a movie, and so from that frame of reference they're prone to see all those little things contained in almost every movie ever made which do not mirror "real life".
Now, luckily I've never had this problem at all, and so whenever viewing a movie, I tend to "inhabit" it and almost feel as if I'm in the movie, myself.
Nope, I've never had THIS problem at all.
(...nope, whenever I tick-off others, there's usually a whole manner of DIFFERENT ways I do THAT!)
One good way I've found to inhabit the movie totally, Dargo is to sit in the very first row. And if the movie in question is the 3-D version of "House of Wax" with Vincent Price, you really will feel as if you are part of the action running around the rain-soaked streets of London, or dodging all those paddle ball shots at the audience, during the opening ceremony at the Wax Museum.
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On 12/10/2017 at 1:05 PM, Mozart1791 said:
My mother was friends for a while with a guy with whom her crew would go to the movies. This guy soon acquired a rotten reputation because he had no ability to suspend disbelief, with the result that he could never get into the spirit of an story. A war story?: don't fret; it's not real ammunition. The protagonist is in danger?: don't worry; they are not going to kill the star. The leads are in peril?: don't be concerned; these stories always have a happy inspiring ending.
Needless to say, my mother and her posse got so fed up with that guy's rotten attitude that they cut off all dealings with him. He could never understand why that estrangement happened, as he did not ruin their movie watching out of deliberate malice, but simply because of a lack of imagination of which he was never aware.
Has your movie enjoyment ever been sabotaged by boorish jerks such as this one?
Well, yes...of course. There are some people who just seem to unwittingly have the ability to ruin everything they touch or are around. Nothing worse than someone who not only will question how Grant Williams could actually start decreasing in size in "The Incredible Shrinking Man" but also ask if that cat looking in his doll house window, would really have eaten him, or convinced his dumb wife that Grant [or Scott Carey] would be catnip for the pussycat. They also will wonder how Scott was able to immediately find a girl from the carnival to date, as he found himself shrinking, when some men can't find a girl that cute, even at regulation size.
Boorish people, who have no imagination, were probably the bain of fans of Jules Verne also, so I guess that's life and will never change. We just must learn to live with it, and endure, as Natalie Wood said to Warren Beatty at the end of "Splendour in the Grass". -
On 12/10/2017 at 1:29 AM, EricJ said:
Also, because Sim was a comic actor, he plays Scrooge as sardonically bitter, frustrated by the "foolishness" of everyone around him--Every time he's being besieged by Cratchit or do-gooders, his sarcasm is always with a disbelieving mirthless chuckle: "The whole day off? (huh-huh!) You ask that every year!" Even Michael Hordern's Marley-Ghost at first elicits more frustration than terror, as Scrooge has to deal with an unmanageable "hallucination".
But he brings out Dickens' Scrooge as basically having a fear-loathing of society--Just watch Sim flinch back when the poor customer asks him on the street for a loan extension, as if he thinks he's being mugged.
In fact, one featurette on the Sim-Scrooge Blu-ray points out that the '51 movie would have been right on the heels of Britain's debate about the welfare class--
It's on display in the scene with the two charity gentlemen, when Scrooge complains that his taxes do enough to support the prisons and workhouses, adds, "Anyway, it's none of my business", and Noel Howlett as the First gentleman delivers a withering "...Isn't it, sir?"And one name that never gets mentioned: Screenwriter Noel Langley (who also made sense out of MGM's crazy ideas for the Wizard of Oz). Langley went on to direct 1952's "Pickwick Papers", and he has almost an innate instinct for writing Artificial Dickens. Most of the Christmas Past scenes of young Scrooge tempted into business, and his partnership with Marley as they blackmail their way into the company, are complete improvisations, but have an absolutely organic Dickens feel to them.
We've seen a lot of bad Carols when adaptations take the easy populist road that Scrooge was a bad man that had to be "punished" by good people before he could be allowed to rejoin the holiday status quo (anyone see that crazy rightwing "American Carol" where Michael Moore had to be Scrooged?), but Langley gets to the Dickens heart of Scrooge saying "I'm too old to reform, go find some other man!"
Fabulous psychological profiling of the Ebenezer character, Eric! I don't think Quantico could have done such a great exegesis of his personality and persona. Your take makes me want to reread the original story. I had looked up the IMDB site before rewatching just to remind myself who the production team was and was interested in Noel Langley's contributions. I'd also forgotten who was the director, so it was nice to review all the participants and even the special contributions for antiques, dolls and mechanical figures. Thanks!
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I remember it like it was yesterday. I was watching something on the tv that I found mesmerizing. And why not, since I was only about three or maybe even younger, and might not have ever watched before. My mother says she could not pull me away from the set, and thinks I was around that age. My earliest memory of anything is being in a crib, and supposedly I was out of it by the age of two.
My mother says I never had before seemed interested in the television and would mostly play with toys and ignore the set. My memory is that of a black and white film, that I think was probably from around the 1940's war years. This may sound silly but this is my vision formed after many years of what I saw from years of watching 1940's films and comparing them in my mind to my first film because I can still see scenes from this movie distinctly in my memory bank. I have only visuals, since I would not have had the words at that age, but what I remember most was a man falling off a bridge. I also remember that the film had something about an oil painting as a plotline, and there was another more famous painting underneath the newly over-painted one, and people were trying to smuggle it or hide it from the authorities. Even at this early age, the film was full of suspense and mystery.
I think the part with the man falling off the bridge, who maybe had been pushed, impressed me and also maybe was so dramatic that it stuck in my mind forever. My mother says I would constantly ask again and again, to see the show with the man on the bridge. To this day I've never seen it again, and you'd think with all the films I have seen that I would have encountered this scene at least once, but alas, no not ever as yet. Which still gives me hope that before I shed this coil, I will see it one more time and find if the film lives up to what I remember as being totally wonderful.I think most film fans and buffs of any major intensity, might have a fond feeling for the first film they ever saw so if you do, please share as it is fun to hear of other's beginnings with watching movies, as not just a sometimes sport, but as a real avocation for those who are addicted to the medium!
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On 12/9/2017 at 3:52 PM, Ray Faiola said:
The Sims film is the best hands-down. I like the Hicks version because it wreaks of Dickensian London, old and creaky. My next favorite is the Magoo. I have prints of two tv versions with Fredric March and Basil Rathbone, their roles reversed in each.
The Campbell Playhouse broadcasts are the best. I think I have three from different years. And I have Barrymore's MGM Records version, narrated by Richard Hale. Barrymore was the ultimate Scrooge. As grasping, conniving and covetous as any Scrooge could possibly be.
Thanks, Ray for your thoughts. I love Sim not only in ACC, but in films like "Green for Danger", "Laughter in Paradise", "School for Scoundrels" and of course George Bernard Shaw's "The Doctor's Dilemma" which is so witty with Sim trading barbs with all and specifically people like Dirk Bogarde.
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On 12/9/2017 at 3:21 PM, limey said:
You do realize that both the Hicks and Sim versions were British productions, right? Both used UK locations, UK studios (Twickenham for the former, Nettlefold for the latter) and were produced by UK companies.
I have to agree that having a British actor play the part with also a cast that is British, certainly helps sell the story. Even the settings and the use of the antique toys and other articles in the Sim version make the film seem so genuine.
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On 12/8/2017 at 4:10 PM, Stephan55 said:
Great little thread CaveGirl, thanks!
At some time early in my life I became fascinated by the etiology of words.
So many words seem to start out as colloquial slang. Someone comes up with an expression that sort of fits, and bears repeating. The word spreads until, for a while, it becomes almost universally used (or at least known).
Every generation (including my own) has (had) their own special "vocabulary" of expressions that were common in their day. Often those days are limited and the words eventually vanish from common use, replaced by those of succeeding generations. However every now and then some words stand the test of time, and certain attributes become defined by those expressions. Certainly "scrooge" is one of them.
I have not been able to find a single use of the word before Dickens' coined it in 1843. And as you have so aptly expressed, it appears to be the perfect noun for such a "mean spirited and miserly person."I had the same teacher in the 3rd and 5th grade. She was a real sweetheart and sincerely loved mentoring and molding little minds in the best ways possible.
Every Christmas she would read us "A Christmas Carol." She read a chapter to us a day, and started early enough so that she would finish the story the day before Christmas vacation.
I still love being read to and I think it stems from listening to her.
My elementary school would rent the Alistair Sim version of "Scrooge" and show it to us in the cafeteria/auditorium.
That was the first time that I ever saw the story on film, and so I always thought of Sim as the definitive Scrooge.
It wasn't until later that I realized that there were other and earlier film adaptations out there!
Of the two from the 1930's, I am most familiar with the oft repeated "A Christmas Carol" (1938) with Reginald Owen as the iconic "Scrooge." I know that I have seen the 1935 Seymour Hicks' "Scrooge," but am having difficulty distinguishing it this moment, which means it must be time for me to see it again.A big fan of the Twilight Zone, I remember watching Rod Serling's televised (contemporary and controversial) adaptation, "A Carol For Another Christmas" back in 1964. TCM has re-aired it the last few years, and I think that was the first time that I had seen it since. It featured an ensemble cast, with Sterling Hayden playing the "Scrooge" character renamed "Grudge."
Going back to the 60's, "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" became a perennial favorite of mine. I remember tearing up when Magoo's quavering voice sang along with his child self "Alone In The World." In fact the last time I saw it I still found my eyes welling up.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4GA7DBFdwU
Regarding musical renditions, my favorite would be 1970's "Scrooge" with Albert Finney.
I first saw it with a friend, and he loved it so much that he memorized most of the songs.
At certain apropos situations he used to bust out, regaling me (and anyone within earshot) with lyrics from his personal favorite, "I Hate People!"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU6WXCvNGmsThanks for the kind words, Stephan! I too love finding out about word derivations and the origins of sayings, and Dickens' ability to coin words with such apt onomatopoeia [I shall look up the correct spelling after I post!] in his creations, was amazing.
I most certainly have seen the TZ episode, and though I am more attuned to the episodes with fantastic sci-fi type scenarios, did enjoy Hayden's performance. The role of Scrooge seems to be one many people would like to try to play, as it affords the actor a very wide spectrum of emotional play. The one person I did not really enjoy seeing as Scrooge was Reginald Owen who seemed rather wooden to me, but maybe only in comparison to the Sim version. I'd enjoy seeing the Jim Backus, Magoo take again soon too!
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You nailed it, Sepia! A thoroughly enchanting film with O'Toole as usual giving a superlative performance in both its mostly comedic moments and in the more human emotionally dramatic bits too.
Great casting with people like Kazan and a plethora of great character actors bring the piece alive. I've seen it multiple times but did tune in a bit to watch some of the choice scenes.-
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On 12/8/2017 at 3:24 PM, BingFan said:
Here's Lionel Barrymore playing Scrooge on The Campbell Playhouse from 12/24/39, produced and narrated by Orson Welles:
https://archive.org/details/CampbellPlayhouseAChristmasCarol12241939
And here's another version of A Christmas Carol on Barrymore's own show, Mayor of the Town, on 12/24/42:
https://archive.org/details/MayorOfTheTown/MayorOfTheTown-42.12.24-13-AChristmasCarol.mp3
It's a shame that Barrymore wasn't able to translate his outstanding performance of Scrooge to the screen -- I assume because he wasn't able to walk. If you've ever seen the trailer for the MGM Christmas Carol, however, you'll remember that Lionel promotes the performance of his friend Reginald Owen in the role; I recall reading somewhere that Barrymore was so identified with the role from the radio version that MGM thought the public would expect him in the role but would be persuaded by his endorsement of the movie with Owen. And, as folks have mentioned, Barrymore's Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life is, in many ways, an updated version of Scrooge.
Although I might have had a different opinion if Lionel Barrymore had actually played Scrooge on the screen, I have to say that Alistair Sim is my favorite Scrooge by far, even though others also did a good job with the role. I love Sim in everything I've seen him in -- he's one of those actors who makes any movie he's in worth watching.
By the way, tonight (12/8/17), TCM is showing the Sim version of A Christmas Carol followed by the Seymour Hicks version, if I remember correctly.
Thanks so much for these other Scrooge performances, Bing Fan! I watched again Sim and for the second time, the Seymour Hicks' take on the role, which I enjoyed.
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On 12/8/2017 at 6:05 PM, Sepiatone said:
GAWD! Gotta do a lot of scrolling 'cause I can't get the "multi-quote" to work right. Ok here goes....
I'm not sure about W.C.Fields as Scrooge. Can't imagine old Eb saying, "Ah, YAAAASSSS....Humbug!"
Patrick Stewart wasn't that great of a Scrooge I'll agree. But not as bad as ALBERT FINNEY IMHO.
And too, I always thought REGINALD OWEN set the bar kinda low.
GEORGE C. SCOTT wasn't all that bad I thought.
Now, y'all will ROTFL, but I thought for a lark, that with proper make-up, HUGH GRANT might have found the chops somehow to pull it off as the older Scrooge. His eyes WOULD have had that ALISTAIR SIM look to them, and would have, sans make up, been one of the FEW times the young Scrooge bore some trait of the elder Scrooge in film adaptations.
And JOHN CLEESE, in his prime, would have made a FANTASTIC ghost of Christmas present, with ANTHONY HOPKINS as the ghost of Christmas past. You know, at that time Hopkins was sporting that longish white hair?
With RICKY GERVAIS as Bob Cratchit. As you can see, I sometimes get a kick out of casting some people against "type".
Sepiatone
These are great ruminations, Sepia! Grant and Cleese might have made a great pair. And Ricky Gervais as Cratchit is just inspired.
Not sure Grant is our time's version of Sim, though while watching the Alastair version over the weekend, I realized there is quite a resemblance between Sim and the resident noir TCM guy, Eddie Muller, who seems to have similar bulgey eyes and grey hair.
Thanks for your thoughts, Sepia! -
13 hours ago, Dargo said:
Hey CG! I've got one these for ya here, and JUST for you, I'll even SING my answer to ya here, and 'cause I know you'll will get what I'm doin' here.
Okay, here goes...ahem...
♪♪ There's a lady who's sure, all that glitters is gold, and she's buying A Matter of Life and Death ♪♪
(...uh-huh, see?!...I knew you'd get this one)
Always was a fan of Zoso's, Dargo! I particularly like his solo version of the song at the ARM's Concert, when Jeff Beck let him down in accompanying him on stage. Probably still mad about who got the most press when they played for the Yardbirds. That "Stairway to Heaven" original version is tantalizing but not sure the Golden God would want you to be singing along with him, though I'm sure your voice is just as good as Mel Torme's in his prime!
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Gee, I would have done it just the opposite way. Tony Robbins would say we have differing modes of thought, not that I follow him. I have a friend though who talks about anchoring and walking on coals and all that other stuff of his continually so excuse me for losing contact with reality, Limey.
Now I get it and I think 4:4 is Liz also with 3:2 definitively Garbo. I'm gonna print this and work on it tonight. Thanks!-
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On 6/13/2015 at 5:04 PM, laffite said:
Well, it's about time. Where you've been, man. I don't even watch movies any more. I used to read once in awhile and have sex with girls, but hey, why waste time with dull activities like that when you can treat yourself to the exhilarating experience of consulting the top ten most searched TCM database. I no longer engage in unworthily activities such as watching films on that august list when I could be watching the actual list itself. Hey man, time to get your priorities in order.
laffite
Don't watch only film that are on the Top Ten Most Searched Lists because then you'd never get to see something like "Liquid Sky".
Even though(to my understanding) Vatican II did away with that stipulation. Don'tcha remember GEORGE CARLIN havin' fun with that?----
The Postman or Ossessione?
in General Discussions
Posted
Though I've always enjoyed Garfield and Turner in "TPART" and think it is a very enjoyable film, it was not till I saw the version of the James M. Cain novel, "Ossessione" that I really thought I'd seen the definitive edition.
Tay Garnett as director of the former, does a credible job with his cast and story, but for me, seeing what Italian Neo-Realism directing giant, Luchino Visconti did with the latter, is amazing. Starring no actors that are really international stars who came later like Giancarlo Giannini or Mastroanni, but Clara Calamai in the Turner role and Massimo Girotti in the Garfield one, the film is magnificently staged and as gritty and foul as the original Cain book. Though Lana and John sizzle in their scenes, there is more verisimilitude and earthy realism in the Visconti take for my taste, which makes it lead the pack.
Of course, Visconti as a director, was known for film classics like his "Senso", "Ludwig", "The Damned", "The Leopard" and "Death in Venice". I still enjoy seeing the Hollywood version and I know that the Visconti one was unavailable for years due to the appropriation of material that was not legally allowable as I recall to Visconti, but even if his version is taboo rightfully, I still think it is the superior filming of the tale.
Which version do you prefer, since they both have their merits and it is all a personal choice anyway?