Vautrin
-
Posts
21,175 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
4
Posts posted by Vautrin
-
-
11 hours ago, cigarjoe said:
Hard to figure out which are larger--the wolf's eyes or Scarlett's boobs.
-
2 hours ago, laffite said:
Hey Henry, why didn't you just paint a picture?
Maybe he should have asked his contemporary and acquaintance James McNeill Whistler to do it.
-
2 hours ago, misswonderly3 said:
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. He's much less lovable than the great and powerful Oz.
Anyway...so Vautrin, are you saying that we've all been discussing this famous Henry James novel and been naming the wrong title all along? Is it just the lack of the definite article we're doing incorrectly? Ok, so it's "The Portrait of a Lady". Well, I say, Henry James couldn't even get his title right, because I think leaving out the "the" sounds better, sort of scans better. And who's to say it's the portrait of Isabel Archer, there may be others.
I actually think leaving out "the" at the beginning of a title, whether it's a book or a film, often sounds better. I think "Asphalt Jungle" sounds better than "The Asphalt Jungle". However, that may be the only one,now that I think of it. Ok, I take it back as far as film titles go. But I still say "Portrait of a Lady" just resonates better than "The Portrait of a Lady".
Somehow I can't see Henry James as a barker at a Nebraska fair whose balloon
developed a mind of its own. Yes there is a the at the beginning of the title, as there
are in a number of James' novels, though that is not unusual. I'm not sure James
thought about the significance of leaving the the off, but being such a meticulous
craftsman, perhaps he did. There would certainly be a difference between the and a,
the latter signifying this is one portrait among many possible ones, the former that it is
something of a definitive portrait. Since James invented the character I guess he has
some say in the matter. I agree that some titles without the at the beginning "sound"
better, though that's a matter of each person's individual taste. To me the song
Concrete Jungle sounds better than if it was called The Concrete Jungle.
-
If you're looking for lots of explicit nudidity, in my viewing experience Tarantino is not your man,
but I might see it anyway. When I fist heard the title I thought it might be a flick about the
Wonderland murders and Johnny Wadd, though I think that one has already done. Every time
I go to the Bing Image feed I keep seeing this photo of Scarlett Johansson.
-
1
-
-
I've read The Portrait of a Lady, 100 Years of Solitude, and Look Homeward, Angel and liked each,
though to differing degrees. I've also read Moby Dick and, I'm sorry to add, more than once. Even
if one has little interest in whales and whaling Melville's style is so unusual that it's one of the best
things in the book. Okay, I'll throw in Martin Chuzzlewit and The Life of Samuel Johnson just for the
heck of it.
-
I am the great and powerful Henry of James. Who are you? Leave my
presence or I will write a twenty-five page minute psychological analysis
of a supporting character. Just to hew to Jamesian exactitude, the title
of the novel is The Portrait of a Lady.
-
3 hours ago, Dargo said:
And now conjuring up yet another great moment in this film...Al's welcome back from the war banquet speech scene.
(...love it)
That was a good one. As March keeps on talking Ray Collins looks like he thinks a bomb might go
off at any minute. And Myrna Loy counting the drinks Al has had with a fork on the tablecloth.
IRL, Al would likely have gotten his pink slip next morning.
-
1 hour ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
Wait...
as I recall, PORTRAIT IF A LADY takes place almost entirely in Italy...
ps- I’m leaving that last sentence fragment(As a result of my editing) in the quote, kind of makes it a lyric poem.
A large part of it takes place in Italy, though I don't know the ratio of Italian to English scenes.
Maybe I recall the English scenes better because they seem so stereotypically English. Parts of
the Italian plot remind me of the movie My Cousin Rachel. Yes, Isabel Archer is another of
those Americans to be introduced into the older, more manipulative European world.
-
1
-
-
1 hour ago, Dargo said:
Saaay, that's not a bad Ray Collins impression there, Vautrin!
Well, you know what a bleeding heart softie old man Milton was.
You can find his descendants in most banks today.
-
Just as long as no one speaks ill of the Cornbelt Loan and Trust Company. We are a forward
looking progressive institution interested to helping our returning veterans adjust to their new
life. To obtain a loan, we only ask that you undergo a background check only a little more
rigorous than that of an F.B.I. agent.
-
Yep, get used to the sound of croquet balls being hit and servings of various beverages.
At least that's how I recall it, though I can't say for sure how many separate scenes there are
like this in the novel.
-
I have mixed feelings about VTTBOTS. It was on Sunday night just as the haven't done
my homework for Monday blues set in. Sunday nights have been so much better since.
-
I read One Hundred Years of Solitude a long time ago, though not 100 years ago. I give it a
thumbs up and nothing more because I don't remember much of the details of the book. I
should get a new copy because I have a cheap paperback copy complete with the slightly
erotic cover drawing. It's been a while since I've read The Portrait of a Lady. It is one of the
easier to read novels of the master. Lots of discussions taking place on expansive, well
maintained English lawns. I remember that my mother used to make me go on shopping
trips with her and while she was shopping I would read a book. Portrait was one of the
books I recall reading this way, another was a volume of The Gulag Archipelago. Some
of those shopping trips definitely had echoes of the latter.
-
7 hours ago, misswonderly3 said:
Well, I suspect Eddie is sensitive to criticism from viewers and his social media followers (since he seems to pay more attention to that then to this thread) about some of his picks not being "noir" enough. So he seems to feel a need to justify certain selections if they don't fit the somewhat narrow definition of noir many people hold. What a lot of neophyte noir fans don't seem to realize is that a lot of film noir movies actually have happy -or happyish- endings. This seems to annoy them, and I imagine they fill their Noir Alley Twitter comments with complaints about how some of the films Eddie chooses to show on Noir Alley aren't true noirs, probably citing all sorts of reasons that fit with their own definition of the term.
I know Eddie's mentioned something about this before, I forget what he said, but I do know that whenever he shows a noir that doesn't fit the "standard" idea (usually held by newcomers to this sort of film) he seems to feel a need to 'splain why he has scheduled the title in Noir Alley.
By the way, ways in which I think one could argue that While the City Sleeps is a noir: there's a crime story (although it's not the main story), a few scenes of urban streets at night, complete with wet sidewalks and dark alleys (maybe not as many as some would like), a lot of cynical dialogue, and a lot of drinking. Everyone in the film, with the possible exception of Nancy, seems to see the world as a tough unfair place. Oh, and back to the drinking: I love that bar where they all hang out. I really like all those bars you see in old movies, the ones where you have to go down a few steps to get to them. Those kinds of bars seem to have been all over the place back then.
I've never been bothered by the fact that a noir has a happy ending. I would say most
don't, but the few that do are okay. Of course sometimes the endings are ambiguous,
hard to classify as a happy or a sad ending. I would say WTCS is a noir, though a fairly
middling example of one with a lot of soap operish elements in it too. I certainly wouldn't
put it on my list of top noirs though it's entertaining enough. The good old
neighborhood bar where dad can go and get a little tipsy with no one the worse
for wear. Hopefully the steps are few, making them easier to navigate on the way out.
-
15 hours ago, Dargo said:
You might have forgotten here Vautrin that during Eddie's out-tro he also "confessed" one of the reasons for his pick of this film was that his father was a good friend of fellow San Francisco newspaperman Charles Einstein, the writer of the novel The Bloody Spur upon which this Fritz Lang film was based.
Eddie went on to relay the story of family dinners which would occasionally include a very entertaining Einstein, and then also mentioned that Einstein was the older half-brother of comedian/actor/film maker Albert Brooks (real name, Albert Einstein) and comedian Bob Einstein (aka "Super Dave Osborne").
There was so much to unpack it's hard to remember everything. Yeah, daddy was a sportswriter.
For the umpteenth time, we get it.
-
3 hours ago, misswonderly3 said:
I dunno, Vautrin. I think you're being a little harsh on Eddie. It wasn't quite as random as you're making out. And anyway, I like the Mr. Muller's forthrightness when it comes to that kind of thing. Hey, it's his show, and if he wants to screen a film because it's got some kind of personal connection for him, as long as the film's good anyway, I don't mind.
In one way it wasn't random at all since he said one of the reasons, maybe the main
one, he showed it was because it included two of his favorite subjects--newspapers and
comic books. While it's no big deal, it is kind of silly. What if he also likes Silly Putty and
Snuffy Smith? Not that it matters that much, but most people could likely make the case
for WTCS being a film noir, comic books or not.
-
Rhonda Fleming always looked hot. She would look hot in a Hazmat suit. Whereas Ida was helped
by that somewhat low cut dress. I wouldn't consider this a star studded film. Outside of Dana
Andrews and Ida and to a lesser degree Price, most of the actors were second leads or character
actors. They handle their roles well, but I wouldn't call them major stars. Why was Junior such a
ham? Ask Mommy? He didn't get much help from what was a stereotypical role and with
a script that doesn't give him much to do except skulk around the big city during the
day. I've seen Junior on a few TV shows where he gave a much better performance in
part because he had a developed character and a better script. Here's a way to solve the
Vincent Price Herbert Marshall cuckold question. Divide it into wood leg actors and non-
wood leg actors. Price wins the latter and ol' Herb wins the former. Just because
someone likes newspapers and old comic books doesn't seem enough of a reason to
screen a particular movie. What if someone liked asparagus and Felix the
Cat? C'mon, man.
-
4 hours ago, laffite said:
I did read it and was not particularly overwhelmed. It just occurs to me that I LISTENED to it, not read it. The book's narrator was so-so. Hmmm, I wonder. There is a lot of casual dialogue (a lot!) and I kept rolling my eyes at the inflections. The narrator was no actor.
Interesting. I'll have to take a look at it one of these days when I have some spare time.
Of course lists like this one are somewhat subjective, though there is likely a general
consensus among the list makers.
-
2 hours ago, laffite said:
See link below:
There is no date but I don't see anyone super recent. Either Vonnegut or Naipaul, perhaps. Appointment in Samara is #22, really? Is it that good? And I might take exception to The Maltese Falcon being on that list at all (but I don't want to argue with anyone about it.)
Never read Appointment in Samara, but whenever I've seen the title mentioned it is in a very
laudatory way. Guess there's only one way to find out. I notice that Hammett and Cain made
the list but Chandler didn't. I can't go for that.
-
1 hour ago, laffite said:
It's not. My mistake. The list is for English-language novels.
There are a lot of these best of lists out there so it's easy to get confused. The book I have which
has the list is at least fifteen years old so there may have been some changes of position in the
hit parade.
-
I was reminded a bit of The Last Hurrah with an old, near the end of his career attorney taking
the place of an old, near the end of his career politician. And I couldn't believe Spence would be
dumb enough to write a check to bribe a witness. Of course it was easier for Hodiak to
tear up a check than a big roll of bills.
-
7 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
I tried to read NOSTROMO.
It EATS.
I'll keep that in mind if I ever get around to reading it. In laffite's original post I skimmed
over the part that said Nostromo is number 47 on the Modern Library's list of American
novels, but how is Nostromo an American novel? I have a Modern Library edition of The
Magnificent Ambersons that has the list of the Hundred Best Novels of the Twentieth
Century where Nostromo is number 46. Whatever. I made it through Molloy, Malone
Dies, and The Unnamable by Beckett, so I can make it through just about anything. The
Penguin Classics edition of Moby Dick has a commentary that is almost as half as long as
the novel itself. Talk about a great white whale.
-
1
-
-
I haven't read Nostromo, but I have read some of Conrad's other novels. I find
that for the most part the prose is relatively straightforward and easy to read.
-
16 hours ago, sewhite2000 said:
I've been suffering from a lot of insomnia recently and have watched some three dozen studio era movies on YouTube in the middle of the night the last six weeks or so. And they ALL have the same comments! It's uncanny. I don't pay any attention to user names. I almost feel like the same person has been running around posting the same comments on all them, because they're all so similar.
So true. I usually watch one or two studio era films a week on YT and you can depend that each
one will have one or more of those were the good old days comments. Back then they knew how
to make movies without cussing or nudity not like the garbage they put out now. And they all do
sound like the same person, though I think it's just the same mindset. I've also noticed that films
that are okay but nothing special are often lauded as some of the greatest movies that were
ever made. The comments are certainly an entertaining part of the YT experience.
-
1
-
1
-
Somewhat Off-Topic: What have you been reading lately?
in General Discussions
Posted
Yeah, but Whistler's mother was no lady.