LornaHansonForbes
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Posts posted by LornaHansonForbes
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Let's not forget the lovely Eva Moore:
"No beds! They can't have beds!"
and
"That's fine stuff, but it'll rot. That's finer stuff still, but it'll rot too!"
Everyone in THE OLD DARK HOUSE is top-notch, with the exception of Raymond Massey- who I have only liked once in a film, and ironically it's when he's (more or less) playing DARK HOUSE costar BORIS KARLOFF in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE. I've read he was annoyed to be appearing in a horror movie and complained a lot on the set, thought he was "above it."
Of the sane characters, Laughton and (especially) Melvyn Douglas are superb (this may sound weird, but I think this might actually be Douglas's best performance) of the mixed nuts- all are a delight- I guess if any one deserves a real salute it's the guy who plays SAUL- seriously, that is the most terrifying portrayal of a lunatic I've seen on screen.
THE OLD DARK HOUSE was advetised with the catchphrase BEWARE THE NIGHT!, which I've always thought would maybe be a better title for the film than THE OLD DARK HOUSE (which in itself is a marvelous title.) I've read the JB Priestly novel Benighted, which is the source for DARK HOUSE. I don't remember a thing about it other than I found it mostly dull and (SPOILER)- the Douglas character dies at the end.
If I ever need an alias, I am going to use HORACE FEMM.
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.... apparently the movie showing at 8 o'clock tonight, in a major casting coup, features the one and only Thomas Jefferson- the third president of these great United States. It was made in 1919, so I guess he was a spry 180 or so when it was made.
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Who would you have wanted to play Rocky Graziano, Laurence Olivier?
For the record, i like Paul Newman in SOMEBODY UP THERE.... but i would love to see Larry take a crack at the role... I can imagine: Larry stops mid fight to deliver a heartfelt soliloquy to the camera...
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Have a potato.
Any line of dialogue + Ernest Thesiger = GOLD
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I LOVE THE OLD DARK HOUSE.
(I seriously considered going by "Sir Roderick Femme" as my moniker before i settled on Lorna Hanson Forbes.)
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I have had even brief clips from youtube- not full movies even- I posted here removed by The Moderator.
For the record all you have to do is copy and paste the web address of the YouTube video and it will link quite easily on these boards. Although why they give us the option to do so when they remove 9 out of 10 videos that we post who knows?
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Well, I suppose that DOES sound better than "FUDD ME", huh!
I'm keeping that. The next time I drop my coffee or lose my keys, I guarantee you I'm going to say "FUDD ME!"
Ps- maybe Nina Foch will be a SOTM sometime....
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"LET'S FUDD"
Yeah, I like the sound of that.
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You're implying that we will be Joan Bennetted (I am using it as a verb) very soon. Are you certain that she is on the horizon?.
TCM: LET'S BENNETT.
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Thanks so much for posting that url! She pops up from time to time (like many Hollywood stars) in Murder, She Wrote reruns. She and Teresa Wright play sisters. I saw it on just a few weeks ago, but didn't watch it.
HERESY!
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Yeah, but who wants Zachary Scott when you could have Robert Ryan?
Acting-wise, go with Ryan.
But on pure shagability, I go with Scott.
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copy and pasted from somewhere:
the shortest-ever Best Actor Oscar-winning performance was awarded to David Niven in 1958, having appeared for only 15 minutes and 38 seconds in Separate Tables. The second-shortest winning appearance was made by Anthony Hopkins in 1992, for less than 16 minutes of screen time as Dr Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
(it appears to come down a matter of seconds.)
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Wasn't Sir Anthony Hopkins' 1991 performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs" shorter by two minutes?
I checked on the internet, which we all know is INFALLIBLE AND ALWAYS CORRECT, and according to a couple sources, Niven holds the record.
But yeah- who knows? I think I also read that Patricia Neal in HUD holds the all-around record for shortest performance to win a leading Oscar, and it seemed like she was in HUD for more than 18 minutes.
One thing that does distringuish Hopkins from Niven though is that Hopkins gives a BIG performance, some would say iconic, and it DOMINATES the film to where you remember him more than anything else in it- TABLES is more ensemble.
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. He really didn`t hit his stride until the 1950`s. I am looking forward to watching THE MOON IS BLUE, AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, BONJOUR TRISTESSE, and SEPERATE TABLES. In the meantime, I am reading THE MOON IS A BALLOON. David was a witty fellow on and off the screen.
THE MOON IS BLUE is (IMO) a terrible movie (and I like most of Otto Preminger's stuff.) It's not so much Niven's fault as it is the fault of static stage-bound story, the dated material and the grating (yet Oscar-nominated!) performance by Maggie McNamara.
Speaking of Preminger though, I really like BONJOUR TRISTESSE, I even have it on DVD. It's an intriguing (and lovely) film and an example of David Niven playing David Niven when it's exactly what the film needs. Jean Seberg is not very good, but she's still got STAR quality that is watchable. Not a perfect movie, but an interesting one.
As others have mentioned SEPARATE TABLES is not playing this month (!?!) but the weird thing about that movie is that- while he is definitely making an attempt to play a character other than himself, Niven is in the damn thing for all of 18 minutes- the shortest performance to ever win a leading Oscar. (I have noticed that the film has been available from time to time on youtube though.)
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It's not scheduled this month, which is surprising since it provided Niven with an Academy Award-winning role. Then again, "The Guns of Navarone" (1961) and "The Pink Panther" (1963) are missing from the schedule, too. But stick around, they'll all show up in the TCM lineup sooner or later.
Um, that is WEIRD. Because those two are staples on the network.
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Will Joan Bennett be SOTM in March? I hope so. That would be nice. She really deserves it, I always enjoy a movie with Joan in it.
Of course she was in lots of films besides the two Fritz Lang noirs, Scarlet Street and Woman in the Window, but it's those two I love the best, Joan-Bennettly speaking. But she was good in just about everything I've seen her in. She had a down-to-earth quality that I like - she could deliver a put-down line with just the right amount of salt. Sometimes she reminds me, both in looks and style, of Myrna Loy. A little, anyway.
Best "use of star name as adverb" of the day.
The defining Joan Bennett "moment" for me comes in the very beginning of FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950) when Elizabeth Taylor tells Joan and Spencer Tracy that she is getting married and he goes ballistic at the dinner table and the maid is in the next room. Joan admonishes them both and in a whisper/snarl informs them both (and I paraphrase here) "NOT IN FRONT OF THE HELP!"
I know it's a little,l almost inconsequential moment, but Joan does it so well- and in the process totally reminds me of how my grandmother and mother would handle the situation.
* and lest anyone assume the scene has racist undertones, I steer them towards the relationship Joan has with her black housekeeper in the previous year's THE RECKLESS MOMENT- the most intriguing facet of that film is how she and her maid end up on equal terms at the end as a result of weathering the storm together.
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I've noticed at times when I am typing that the little red Moderator will be on the list as "reading the same topic" to which I am addressing at that moment.
+1
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Back to the primary subject of this thread for a moment,
and the silly extremes of censorship on these boards,
check out a particular post in
http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/55312-we-have-been-visited-by-the-spam-fairy/
in re: that very topic
I'm at the point where I've got one foot out the door of this place. If it keeps up, I'm gone.
(much to the delight of any number of you, I am sure.)
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In regards to 'FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH' don't forget there's another version of the film out there that's still circulating on some channels. The "TV version" may be missing all the bad words and other 'dirty stuff', but because the movie only runs 90 minutes the version prepared for television has extra scenes -- several of them -- that pad out the running time to fill a 2-hour time slot. I recorded the Tv version years ago from TBS as I'd not seen any homevideo release editions with the extra footage.
If I were in charge and had notions of airing "Fast Times" again I'd show both versions so viewers could see the differences: The prepared-for-television version @ 8 PM and the [R]-rated theatrical version @ 10 PM.
I try not to get my shorts in a wad about such things, and I realize it's there and there's no changing it, but Sean Penn's character (pretty much The Hero of the film) says a couple of really offensive things with relation to "gentlemen who prefer the company of gentlemen"** in FAST TIMES and Donald Faison- as Stacey Dash's boyfriend in CLUELESS- has a long cliche'-filled diatribe describing a young man who is gay ("candy boy"), and in both cases- try as I might to not get bugged by it- I am bugged by it. Especially in CLUELESS.)
It's worth noting, I think, to point these things out when they show up in a director's work more than once; and in both cases it bothered me because these were films geared towards teens.
**- thanks so, Moderator. really appreciate the edit.
***- ps
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(...btw, and speaking of her being "easy on the eyes"...doncha think she looks as if she could be Marie Windsor's daughter?)
YES!
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I saw Black Widow once, (the TCM premiere) but I cant remember much about it now. I remember enjoying it, but that's about it!
I'd to say you were one of the few who did. It seemed to me like the general consensus was 10-2 agin' it. Dobbsey started one of the longer-lived (and at times contentious) threads we've had here about it.
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I seem to remember they did show Nana (maybe once) during some tribute to Sten many years ago. I remember watching it.
Yes, I do too.
I don't remember a thing about it other than thinking "Hoo-Boy! I can see why Sten didn't go over with audiences."
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LOL. It's funny, but I dont even remember her in Black Widow!
she plays Peggy Ann Garner's roommate, it's only a couple of scenes- but she has one with Van Heflin (playing "the good guy") where he gets really physical with her- choking her while trying to get her to confess that she knows he didn't have a romance with the dead girl.
it's really very disturbing.
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I know Lorna will disagree, but I liked VIRGINIA LEITH in that film as well..........
Maybe* I'd like her better if she had appeared in BLACK WIDOW and A KISS BEFORE DYING in character as JAN IN THE PAN. The scene where Van Heflin tries to choke her into admitting the truth about her roommate would've really been something to see: just him shaking her bandaged head like a magic 8 ball, screaming "TELL ME! TELL ME!"
*Actually, I take that back, there's no "maybe" about it.
Marilyn Monroe for [Insert month here] SOTM!
in General Discussions
Posted
You definitely need to see ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE (1984?), it's basically a British neo-noir about a troubled youth who is convicted for murdering his adopted, wealthy foster mother at their remote Devon estate. FAYE DUNAWAY is the stepmom- Christopher Plummer is the stepdad, Sutherland is the male lead, investigating the death years after the boy has been executed. . It was reportedly Christie's favorite of all her novels, and it's one that used to show on HBO a lot when I was growing up, so I've seen it a lot.
edit- just went and couldn't find a single scene or even the trailer on youtube.