LornaHansonForbes
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Posts posted by LornaHansonForbes
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TCM has gotten in the habit of trotting out KING'S ROW (1942) quite a bit over the years...
It stands out to me as a notable example of how one fatal flaw can topple an otherwise pretty solidly crafted vehicle. The score- while imposing- is memorable, the cinematography top-notch*, the script a pretty admirable job of paring down a thick and lurid novel into something filmable for 1942, the sets are grand (NO OTHER STUDIO did STAIRCASES like Warner Bros.) and the costumes divine (although I question the sequins during the day on Maria Ouspenskaya, but strictly as an anachronism.)
The fatal flaw of KING'S ROW is the CASTING OF THE LEADS, which is a frustrating mix of potential (Ann Sheridan, were she given someone good to play off of would be fine), amiable, but thorough misfire (ahem, Robert Cummings), possible misdirection (Betty Field) and the usual efforts of Ronald Reagan. This flaw is altogether magnified by the top notch supporting cast- Claude Raines, Charles Coburn, OUSPENSKYA: THE UNCANNY, an underused but nonetheless wonderful Judith Anderson and pretty much everyone else- who are all at the top of their game.
*as frustrating as it was to hook up that digital cable box,
I have to admit that the new picture quality is incredible.
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...to take it back to the topic last week, a RECKLESS MOMENT/ DEEP END double feature on TCM would be marvelous.
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I have heard that the spammers want krt?--)jf76** to be SOTM.
I missed this.
I bump it up because I LOL'd.
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Anyone else think Holden's emphatic approval of the new Canadian Prime minister is because there is an uncanny resemblance between the two?
I GIVE YOU:
and
at the very least, they both have awesome hair.
PS- Your Halloween costume is set.
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I don't usually participate much in the political discussions, but I somehow started this one.
And you sir, are worse than Hitler for it.
(and by that, I mean Gerhardt Hitler, Adolf's younger brother, a plumber in Baden-Baden who used to always overcharge people for just ten seconds of snaking their drain and would go through their medicine cabinets when they weren't looking.)
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"King Richard and the Crusaders" (1954)--Definitely one of the silliest big budget productions I've ever seen. George Sanders is lost in this--which is for the best. Virginia Mayo is notably funny--she takes the Gawd-awful script Much too seriously & what are intended to be dramatic highlights become comic highpoints--Rex Harrison sneers his way through the movie, & thus doesn't have to keep a total deadpan face. Recommended for fans of the silly.
I have not seen the movie, but it is interesting that you mention this.
As per the imdb trivia section for THE FOUNTAINHEAD, Patricia Neal told a story about how no one at the film's premiere would make eye contact with her after the screening until she ran into fellow WB player Virginia Mayo at a party afterwards who remarked to her "my, weren't you awful!"
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I hope the citizens of the US are also, like their neighbor to the north, able to beat fear with hope.
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LornaHansonForbes--You must have missed the one where Bombas' loincloth flew up too high, and revealed--underwear
Have never seen a Dr. Kildare movie.Oh no, I remember it: A shocking reveal of the promised land. (A similar moment happens when Nancy Drew's boyfriend Ned engages in a boxing match at a gym as a way to provide her a cover to search the locker room or question someone or something.)
Aside from the pretty wooden and didactic performances of Lew Ayres and some occasionally heavy-handed comic relief- the KILDARE series have a watchable quality...if it's January and your car is in the shop and you're stranded at home.
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I hope you guys know that my earlier mentioning of those "crappy"(to borrow old man Freddie's word) MAISIE flicks should not in any manner also be taken as my opinion of the wonderfully talented Ann Sothern.
(...'cause you're right...in too many cases, she was MUCH better than the material given to her)
NO. IT IS TOO LATE.
YOU, SIR, HAVE BESMIRCHED THE GOOD NAME OF MAISIE.
AND FOR THIS, YOU WILL BE HER NEXT VICTIM.
(Which is overall kind of a win.)
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Yes, I remember (BETTE SINGING ONE FOR THE ROAD TO JOHNNY). Quite a show.
provided the Mod doesn't pull this clip, here it is (the picture is a little foggy, but the sound is fine.)
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Much like Bela Lugosi in DRACULA defining in the eyes of the public what a vampire looks and sounds like; Robert Newton's Long John Silver in TREASURE ISLAND is where the modern concept of how a pirate should look and sound comes from...only Newton doesn't get the (much deserved) credit for creating the whole mythos that Lugosi does.
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That BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY stuff qualifies as 'filler swill' in my cinematic book.
I also give BOMBA a pass because OMG, he was SMOKING HOT:
seriously, I don't know the plots of any of the BOMBA movies, but I have seen them all at least twice. I meant to start a thread back when they were showing every Saturday about how I imagined Saturday screenings of the BOMBA movies back in the 1950's just HAD TO BE utter hotbeds of homoerotic tension....and the people making them just HAD TO KNOW, every BOMBA movie is rife with scenes of Bomba getting out of the water slowly, climbing trees slowly, bending over to pick up his spear slowly, being tied and gagged by groups of men...
They make the randier poems of Allen Ginsberg look like transcripts from A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION....
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Yeah, like most of those so-so if not downright "crappy" Ann Sothern "Maisie" movies are real "classics" that TCM has shown....
YOU SHUT YOUR DIRTY MOUTH ABOUT MAISIE!!!!!!!!
(j/k)
I used to really hate the Andy Hardy, Dr. Kildare and Maisie series until I was stranded at home during all-day marathons of the two former and the latter just sort of grew on me during Anne Sothern's SOTM turn back in March...the trick to fully appreciating the MAISIE series is to view her as a proto-Dexter, and see the series as an early study of one of the most prolific female serial killers of our time- in each episode, she selects her new victim, wins the poor sap over, kills and disposes of him once the credits are over, then moves on to a new town, new job and new victim in the next.
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it's strange.
i just looked at the thursday-sunday schedules and for the first time in what seems like a reaaaally long time, there is not even one title that interests me. a lot of repeats.
just saying this out loud....and maybe venting a tad since I only last night discovered how to hook up that ******* ******** digital cable box properly AND spent forty five minutes on the ******* ******** phone using their ******* ********** "simple activation service."
i've been without cable since the "CONVERT OR DIE" date came and went and finally gave in.
I love technology so; especially when it is mandatory and a marginal-at-most improvement on something that already worked fine in the first ******* ******* place.
but anyhow, the next four days are Dullsville for me- SCHEDULE WISE. i COULD'VE SAVED MYSELF THE STRESS FOR the beginning of the next week.
(caps lock oops)
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You know, I've recently been watching a few Powell and Pressburger films, and while I realize that David Lean did some absolutely incredible movies, their whole body of work has a lot more humor and is a bit more easy going and they took more artistic risks than David Lean did in his.
I won't say that they were better, but overall their stuff tends to be more accessible and more fun and- dare i say it?- leaner and meaner machines than Lean's work overall.
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Gad, if I didn't know what an endless bore this movie actually is, this trailer would make me run to the theaters. Gorgeous restoration for sure.
If they edited it down to 2 hours and 5 minutes, it would be great.
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Thank thank you both for the horrifying explanation.
Which of you do I send the bill for a new keyboard to?
I just barfed all over mine.
Ps- I did not know that you were vegetarian, Hibi, way to go. Its one of the best choices you can make to help the environment. I don't eat red meat or pork, but I love poultry and seafood.
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More like liverwurst!
WHAT IS LIVERWURST?
edit- not angry or demanding to know. Just didn't realize caps lock was on.
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Here you go everyone. The 50th anniversary is here and a new restoration is about to hit theatres.
Warning to epileptics: this trailer has those annoying fade to blacks every few seconds that unimaginative editors are in love with these days.
OMG- that music score is SO BANAL too.
I will say this: it looks gorgeous- I actually thought the first few shots were part of a youtube ad, they looked as if they were filmed today.
i'm with you on the fade to black edits, although if I could watch the entire movie boiled down to 20 minutes of scenes fading to black, i'd take over the whole THREE HOUR slog that is ZHIVAGO.
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No cross-dressing in Jack Elam's background?
I didn't know him personally, so I can't say....but there's hope.
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See: today's line up has a great example of the crushing disappointment the new cast billing hierarchy of the schedule brings:
Moonfleet (1955)A British buccaneer is torn between three seductive women.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast: Melville Cooper , Jack Elam , Elspeth Dudgeon .
From this billing system, one would infer that Melville Cooper is the buccaneer and two of the "seductive" trio are played by JACK ELAM and ELSPETH DUDGEON- the latter of who many of you may recall as SIR RODERICK FEMM in James Whale's THE OLD DARK HOUSE and as the heedeeous old gypsy woman who hates life in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. In a just universe, the third of the sirens would be played by UNA O'CONNOR and it would be the GREATEST MOVIE EVER.
(I've always wanted to see MACBETH re-imagined as a romantic farce, and now you dangle the notion in front of me like candy on a string, then yank it away.)
Thanks TCM schedule bot for teasing me with this promise so cruelly.
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I don't believe Tierney caused problems on the sets of her movies, did she?
I don't think so, but I don't think Speedy meant for us to draw that parallel- I think it's safe to say Marilyn and Gene had a lot of insecurities, how they affected their work ethic is different.
The sad thing about Tierney's problems is that they led to her roles growing smaller and smaller, she has a very small part in NIGHT AND THE CITY even though she's second billed, she's in the beginning and end of BLACK WIDOW but sits out most of the film, she has a supporting part in THE EGYPTIAN- it's a shame, apparently Zanuck wanted to keep her working to keep her spirits up, but it had to be in smaller parts so as not to put too much pressure on her.
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Thanks for that recommendation.
I'm a big Faye Dunaway fan so I will look for that movie.
tried to post an image of Her Royal Fayeness in ORDEAL, but couldn't. worth looking up on BING though. (HIGH GLAM.)
Maureen O'Hara has died
in General Discussions
Posted
as sad as it is that Maureen has passed, I have to admit I am thoroughly enjoying all of these posts and am glad to see so many new(?) or at least heretofore quiet voices logging in to pay their respects.