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LawrenceA
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Days Won
246
Posts posted by LawrenceA
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Champagne (1928) - 5/10
Another Hitchcock rom-com, this time starring Betty Balfour (the "British Mary Pickford") as a spoiled rich girl whose father (Gordon Harker) claims that the family fortune has been lost in a stock market crash. Betty is forced to look for a job, as her persistent boyfriend (Jean Bradin) attempts to get her to marry him. Also featuring Ferdinand von Alten as "The Man".
This is nearly as bad as Easy Virtue, but some fancy camerawork makes it a tiny bit more memorable. Harker, making his third and final appearance in a Hitchcock film, isn't bad as the scheming father.
Source: Mill Creek DVD
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Easy Virtue (1928) - 5/10
Drama based on a Noel Coward play, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Isabel Jeans stars as a woman with a scandalous past (divorce! accusations of adultery!) who meets a nice young man (Robin Irvine), only to have her happiness threatened by the revelations of her sordid secrets. With Franklin Dyall, Eric Bransby Williams, Violet Farebrother, Frank Elliott, Enid Stamp-Taylor, and Ian Hunter.
I've always considered this Hitchcock's worst, and that opinion hasn't changed with another re-watch. Dialogue-based stage plays tended to make for poor silent films, in my experience, unless the script and/or director found ways to open things up and translate the auditory to the purely visual. Hitchcock uses shadows, double exposure, and some expressive framing, but not enough interest is generated by the material.
Source: Mill Creek DVD
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The Farmer's Wife (1928) - 6/10
Hitchcock tries his hand at the rom-com with this British silent featuring Jameson Thomas as a farmer named Sweetland whose wife passes away. After a proper mourning period, Sweetland decides to try and get remarried, so he enlists the aid of his housekeeper Minta (Lillian Hall-Davis) in compiling a list of local eligible ladies. Featuring Gordon Harker, Gibb McLaughlin, Maud Gill, Louie Pounds, Olga Slade, and Ruth Maitland.
I liked this a bit more than the last time I watched it. Still, it displays little of Hitchcock's style, the story's destination is evident from the first few moments, and the end result certainly ranks as one of his lesser (least?) efforts. I did like the servant's name, played by Harker - "Churdles Ash".
Source: Mill Creek DVD
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1970 Favorites (169 titles seen) - Probably my least favorite film year of that decade.
- Woodstock
- The Conformist
- Gimme Shelter
- Little Big Man
- Performance
- Patton
- El Topo
- Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
- Brewster McCloud
- Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival
- White Sun of the Desert
- Dodes'ka-den
- Soldier Blue
- Five Easy Pieces
- Tristana
- The Honeymoon Killers
- MASH
- Zabriskie Point
- Joe
- Catch-22
- Start the Revolution Without Me
- The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
- The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
- The Vampire Lovers
- Colossus: The Forbin Project
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I'll get notifications of a "Like" sometimes, and then when I click on the notice see what post it was, there's no "Like" there. I guess they realized who they clicked on and decided to remove it.
I'm not sure anyone has said that they care about this "contest" or any of that "Top Member" nonsense, although TheCid did start a thread about all this, so what do I know?
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Just now, Hibi said:
Did anyone watch this? Surprised there's no thread about it. I loved it!
http://forums.tcm.com/topic/261717-image-makers/
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Downhill aka When Boys Leave Home (1927) - 6/10
Hitchcock-directed melodrama with Ivor Novello as Roddy, a boarding school student accused of knocking up a waitress named Mabel (Annette Benson). Roddy's best friend is the actual culprit, but he takes the blame to save his friend from expulsion. Roddy ends up becoming an actor ("gasp!") and falling into even more ill-repute. Also featuring Ian Hunter, Robin Irvine, Isabel Jeans, Norman McKinnel, and Lilian Braithwaite.
This was another BFI restoration, so it looks great, and I really liked the shot-on-location scenes, and the fashions of the day. The story is hokey and dated, but an interesting glimpse at English moral outrage.
Source: Criterion Blu-ray, included as a bonus feature with The Lodger.
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The Ring (1927) - 6/10
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Sports melodrama about boxers Jack Sander (Carl Brisson) and Bob Corby (Ian Hunter) vying for the love of the same woman, Mabel (Lillian Hall-Davis). With Forrester Harvey, Harry Terry, and Gordon Harker. This forgettable British effort from writer-director Alfred Hitchcock has a few interesting shots, and it's odd seeing Hunter, a later frequently seen presence in many American features, playing a boxer.
Source: Mill Creek DVD
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1 hour ago, Casey06 said:
Criterion sale.?!?! Where is the sale happening??
It's the Barnes & Noble Criterion sale. Either check your local B&N (if you have one...I don't anymore, as the closest store closed a few years ago), or use Barnes & Noble's website. It's safe and efficient to use I've ordered several films from them over the last few years of sales.
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These films have recently been restored and are due out on Blu-ray on December 10th.
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Fritz-Langs-Indian-Epic-Blu-ray/255370/
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The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) - 7/10
Hitchcock's breakthrough hit, a thriller based on the book by Marie Belloc Lowndes. A mysterious killer known as "the Avenger" is terrorizing the streets of London. He targets women with blonde, curly hair, and the police are at a loss to stop him. Meanwhile, a sketchy new lodger (Ivor Novello) takes up residence in the rooming house of a landlady (Marie Ault) and her husband (Arthur Chesney). The landlady becomes convinced that the lodger is really the Avenger, which proves problematic as the lodger has caught the attention of the landlady's daughter, Daisy (June Tripp). Also featuring Malcolm Keen as Daisy's policeman boyfriend.
Inspired by the Jack the Ripper case, this was Hitchcock's first suspense picture, and was an immediate success, with one critic at the time even calling this the "best British film ever made". This is my second time watching it, and the first time watching the beautiful BFI restoration. The quality of the print is outstanding, and the commissioned score is excellent. Hitchcock uses a number of visually impressive double exposure shots, and I also liked the stylized intertitles. I still find the movie a tad too long, and Novello, who looks striking, is a silent-era-style ham, but it's still worth checking out for silent film fans. Arthur Chesney, playing the landlord, was the lookalike younger brother of Edmund Gwenn, and the former husband of Estelle Winwood.
Source: Criterion Blu-ray
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The Pleasure Garden (1925) - 6/10
Silent British melodrama that marked Alfred Hitchcock's feature directing debut. Showgirl Patsy (Virginia Valli) looks out for newcomer Jill (Carmelita Geraghty). However, it isn't long until Jill starts meeting wealthy suitors, including Prince Ivan (Karl Falkenberg), after which Jill has little time for her former flame Hugh (John Stuart) or the concerned Patsy. Meanwhile, Patsy meets Hugh's coworker Levet (Miles Mander) and they get married, which ends up being a mistake. Also featuring Ferdinand Martini, Florence Helminger, Georg H. Schnell, and Elizabeth Pappritz as "the Native Girl".
One of the film's first shots is of a corpulent older man gazing lasciviously at a performing blonde, setting the stage for much of the director's future output. The version I watched was heavily truncated, but there was still enough to see to illustrate Hitchcock's genuine talent behind the camera, even at this early stage. The material is strictly cornball melodrama, but I liked the European locations (Italy and Germany), and some of the transitional edits were nice. The film's last act gets darker than many of its contemporaries.
Source: YouTube
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I'll leave the thread open, although if inspiration strikes I'll post some new ones later.
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5 hours ago, Gershwin fan said:
So I finally bought a new DVD player and put in my Criterion DVD of the Lodger and it wouldn't let me access the documentaries and interviews under 'supplements'.
I hope I don't have to go buy a new DVD player. The Criterion sale is this month and I plan on getting Ugetsu Monogatari. I really hope I don't have the same problem with that. That would be annoying.
That sounds strange. I'm guessing you checked for scratches, scuffs or blemishes on the disc. Even a single speck can cause issues. It seems odd that it would play the film fine but not the extras. It's also possible that the disc is simply defective. It's rare, but it happens. Have you tried any other discs?
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I've been watching some older sci-fi TV shows. I re-watched seasons two and three of the original Star Trek, which I hadn't watched since buying the complete series on Blu-ray. I recalled most of the episodes, but there were a few that I didn't remember at all, like one with a pregnant Julie Newmar. Anyway, I liked seeing them again, and they looked great in HD.
I also watched two Doctor Who serials, 1967's "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and 1968's "The Mind Robber", both starring Patrick Troughton as the second Doctor. The former serial was very enjoyable, as I enjoy stories that deal with alien archaeology, and I've always liked the Cybermen. "The Mind Robber" wasn't as good, but it had some interesting touches. The Doctor and his two current companions end up stranded in an alternate dimension where fictional beings come to life, including the Minotaur and Medusa. These were the first serials with Troughton that I've ever seen. He was quite a contrast to William Hartnell's grouchy original Doctor, with Troughton playing him as a bit of a goof, dressed in over-sized clothing and with a shaggy mop of dark hair.
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DAYS WON - 237
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- "I'm a winner!
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21 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:
Making the actors look like themselves 30 years ago seems to be the new thing in movies. Marvel used the same technology on Michael Douglas in the Ant Man movies. He looks like a Wall Street-era Michael Douglas. I think this technology was also used on Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel so that he looked like 90s Samuel L. Jackson. I believe that this technology was also used in the recent Gemini Man with Will Smith playing against a younger version of himself.
With this and the hologram technology, I'm surprised we haven't gotten a new Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney film.
I think I read that with Gemini Man, the "young Will Smith" was mostly another actor with Smith's face CGI'd on the body.
They used that CGI de-aging on Robert Downey Jr. in another of those Marvel movies, but I don't recall which one, and Kurt Russell in one, as well.
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Just now, John Louis Gerdes said:
CGI ???
Here's an excerpt from a review that mentions the CGI:
"If I have any real quibble with this adaptation, it’s the CGI. Christie’s stories would not be the same without their exotic locations, from Egypt to Iraq, which she described from first-hand experience. The Murder on the Orient Express is no exception. The opening scene is set in Jerusalem, where Poirot solves a minor case before deciding to go on a train journey by way of a vacation. Next, he sails across the Mediterranean and travels to Istanbul, where he boards the famous luxury train. Later on, the train journey takes him through the snow-covered mountainous regions of the Balkans.
There is only one problem with these places: they’re all fake, and it shows. Early scenes of the Mediterranean Sea appear more suited to a tourism advertisement than a feature film. When Poirot arrives to Istanbul, we are treated to an aerial view that resembles nothing so much as a cut scene from a video game. When the train reaches the Balkans, locals in the audience cannot fail to notice that the mountains are taller, the buildings more ornate, and everything a good deal prettier than it should be. Personally, I would have preferred to see that brilliant cast stay inside the lavish train interior from start to finish. "-
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2 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:
Road House (1989)
"I'll get all the sleep I need when I'm dead." - Sam Elliott
"Pain don't hurt." - Patrick Swayze
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1 minute ago, Casey06 said:
Maybe it’s just that one all time classic that I can’t get super behind.
That's the way I feel about both Citizen Kane and Gone with the Wind. I respect their skill and artistry, and liked them both, but would never count either among my favorites. I like Casablanca a bit more than you did, but don't feel the need to re-visit it very often.
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"We're gonna need a bigger boat" from Jaws. Or a variation dependent on the situation - "We're gonna need a bigger _____."
"Badges? BADGES?!? We don't need no stinkin' badges!", with the "badges" often swapped out for a relevant word.
"And how can this be? For he is the Kwisatz Haderach!" from Dune. I'll often shout this out at the store.
"I hate 'em when they ain't been shaved." I'll growl out this line from Near Dark to any customer service worker with a beard.
"If it bleeds, we can kill it." I'll whisper this line from Predator to any fellow customer nearby the meat aisle while I'm in the store.
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- #2 = Rondo Hatton
- #3 = Tor Johnson
- #7 = Vincent Schiavelli
- #8 = Jack Elam
- #9 = Anne Ramsey
- #10 = Richard Kiel
- #11 = Danny Trejo
- #12 = Lon Chaney Sr.
- #13 = Hugh Griffith
- #14 = Michael J. Pollard
- #15 = Abe Vigoda
- #16 = Charles Middleton
- #17 = Michael Berryman
- #18 = Marty Feldman
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21 hours ago, John Louis Gerdes said:
Please, do let me know if I missed any great ones!
- Akira Kurosawa
- Luis Bunuel
- Fritz Lang
- Nicholas Ray
- Yasujiro Ozu
- Satyajit Ray
- Jean-Pierre Melville
- Robert Bresson
- Howard Hawks
- Robert Altman
- Frank Capra
- Orson Welles
- George Cukor
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Michael Powell
I hope I don't have to go buy a new DVD player. The Criterion sale is this month and I plan on getting Ugetsu Monogatari. I really hope I don't have the same problem with that. That would be annoying. 
I Just Watched...
in General Discussions
Posted
The Manxman (1929) - 6/10
Hitchcock's last full silent film was this melodrama about two friends, Pete (Carl Brisson, from The Ring) and Philip (Malcolm Keen, from The Lodger), who both pine for the same gal, Kate (Anny Ondra). Pete proposes to Kate, but her father disapproves of the union due to Pete's low financial prospects. Pete heads to Africa to make his fortune, and while he's away, Philip makes time with Kate, leading to trouble. Also featuring Randle Ayrton and Clare Greet.
There are some unusual touches that elevate this a bit above the dross, such as the unexpected ending. Ondra, a Polish singer and film actress, makes for a fetching lead, and Hitchcock used her again in his next film.
Source: Mill Creek DVD