GordonCole
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Posts posted by GordonCole
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On 1/8/2019 at 5:49 PM, Swithin said:
(I'm afraid I haven't read any Fritz Leiber, though I've enjoyed his father's performances as an actor in classic films.)
I saw Valentine Dyall on stage once, at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1975. Dyall played Dr. Rance (much less dignified than Jethrow Keane) in the first revival of Joe Orton's farce, What the Butler Saw. He was great, playing one of the great comedy characters, a mad, over-the-top psychiatrist. Dr. Rance is investigating a psychiatric clinic. Here's a description of the character of Dr. Rance in the play, from Wikipedia. Imagine Dyall playing this role:
"Dr. Prentice's clinic is also faced with a government inspection, led by Dr. Rance, which reveals the chaos in the clinic. Dr. Rance talks about how he will use the situation to develop a new book: "The final chapters of my book are knitting together: incest, bug gery, outrageous women and strange love-cults catering for depraved appetites. All the fashionable bric-a-brac."
Swithin, I must say that while reading your posts I often wish I were Professor Monserrat as played by Boris Karloff in the Michael Reeves' film, The Sorcerers, for then I could enter your mind with his apparatus and vicariously enjoy all the amazing cultural experiences to which you have been privy. I so envy so many of them but I also so want to thank you for sharing them with us. Would love to have seen Valentine Dyall in that Joe Orton play. Thanks for your insights.
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1 hour ago, BillyBobJoeJim said:
I an not running or hiding. Perhaps I change my name so other things fit as well. In a different thread, I mentioned doing so and now I have. Everything I've ever posted in this account is still here with the new name and current avatar. Perhaps you should ask a moderator why I'm even allowed to do so.
Here is the status of my profile:
You have made 2 of 3 display name changes since 12/22/2018. You are permitted to make 3 changes in a 30-day period.
EDIT: I find it frustrating, and know some others do to, when an entire post (including images) is quoted. Doesn't stop anyone from doing it. Until now, I've said nothing.
Dear BBJJ, why not give all your TCM detractors something to really post about and assume the mantle of all four of your names of Billy, Bob, Joe and Jim singly or mayhaps even a whole family of Waltons or at least Duggars and post under each name once every hour. It will keep some people busy and off the streets as they whine about it intermittently and that is always a good thing.
Before the snarks arrive, I will say "Yes, that is such a good idea I might do it myself or probably have and I'm sure I enjoyed doing it myself.
I find it amusing your name changes have created such a ruckus yet the same movie fans would probably have no problem with actors changing their names from things like Tula Finklea and Spangler Arlington Brugh as often as they wished. Such is irony... -
38 minutes ago, Vautrin said:
One of my favorite Bierce definitions is Egotist, n. A person of low taste,
more interested in himself than in me.
Glad to see a fan of Bierce is also a movie fan. I do wonder what he would have to say if he was alive now coming up with definitions about people on the internet, movie fan posters and let's not even go into politics. A sage wit he was, and still relevant at least to a selected audience. Thanx.
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3 minutes ago, NipkowDisc said:
I like the way valentine dyall handled the snotty Julie harris in The Haunting.
Good one and you know the guy was operating with only one eye too, so he probably couldn't see the ghosts either.
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30 minutes ago, Swithin said:
Yes, I've seen and liked Night of the Eagle. It used to be on television a lot when I was a kid. As you probably know, it was re-titled Burn, Witch, Burn in America. Based on the story The Conjure Wife, which also inspired Weird Woman and another film as well.
I knew too it was from the story, Conjure Wife but thanks for mentioning it since now I know you know it too, and I'm wondering if you are also a fan of writer Fritz Leiber? During my teen years I loved reading his tales along with those of Robert Howard and others, and if I see his name on any tv episode I know I am in for a good ride. It's funny that The Night of the Eagle is a classy film being that good old Sam Arkoff produced it. Great cast with Peter Wyngarde, Margaret Johnston, and as I said Kathleen Byron. The one surprise I had when I first saw it, was I could not imagine the perky, clean cut and wholesome Janet Blair in anything dealing with the occult, but she performed admirably and using her a bit reminded me of the concept of Hitchcock when he put Cary Grant out in the open in daylight in danger in North by Northwest, instead of using the typical darkly shot night scene to instill fear in the audience. In some ways, using Blair instead of someone like Barbara Steele or a more cerebrally dark actress was genius. Thank goodness they did not have Sid Caesar though play the professor. Thanks, Swithin.
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49 minutes ago, TikiSoo said:
Who cares...they're all the same poseur, er I meant poster.
What about this NOIR argument? It certainly brings out the wide range of opinions.
Musicals? You know one when you see one, haha.
I must congratulate you on your as usual most astute comments, Tiki in using the word "poseur" for in my career of having been in the world of fine arts for many years, you would not believe how many poseurs I have met who lack the credentials to be called an artist, but persist in using this designation. More correctly, they are craft people, being that they create nothing intrinsically themselves but perhaps work on rehabbing furniture and repainting it or restoring minor details to an already built edifice, which itself is worthy work, just not on the level of a true artist. Taking an old building and restoring it to its past glory is admirable even if the people working on it are not true artists in the common way or lingo meant by such in the field. Even Michelangelo occasionally worked on a ceiling or wall, as did Raphael.
Oh, and there are poseuses in this quasi-arts category also, but as I respect their fine craft work I always make sure we give posies to the poseuses, since all honest work improving our world should be respected. Thanks for bringing up such a great word even though I doubt in the world of movie knowledge criteria, it is not as apt.
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48 minutes ago, Dargo said:
Well in MY case Gordie, I first heard that from my father the night we all sat around the TV set and watched 'em the first time they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.
(...if that counts for anything here)
It counts if your dad was Kay Kyser.
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8 minutes ago, Gershwin fan said:
"Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, give me a story with a Happy Birthday."
The happiest movie ending for Elvis were with Gladys in the audience clapping for her Satin and Elvis singing to his Satin [their pet nicknames for each other supposedly].
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3 minutes ago, Lost In Space said:
Happy Birthday Elvis!
You forgot to mention Jesse Garon's birthday also but you are forgiven by me, Gladys and Fester Presley.
Don't forget to wish Sal Mineo birthday greetings coming up soon. -
16 minutes ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
Cole Man, you don't think nuns like Joan Collins, Audrey Hepburn, Jennifer Jones, or Celeste Holm are realistic?
That's a bad habit!
Your favorite noir movie is probably "Change of Habit" with that nun and Elvis as a doctor treating autism, I bet, Markoff!
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2 hours ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
But it's not a matter of I.Q. or cognitive skill. To make the assumption that 'a lot of' people today are familiar with a radio show from 1930? That would be preposterous. I must stand behind my under-estimate
I think Tiki's miffed that you said she would have to squeeze into a restroom at the men's room in the Waldorf Astoria to prove she knew about Stoopnagle.
Please apologize for this flagrant sexist remark, Markoff as I'm sure we all find it offensive in this day and age, plus kind of creepy too!
Your original comment below causing all the trouble:
"The number of people in the world today who know Frederick Chase Taylor ('Colonel Stoopnagle') and Wilbur ('Budd') Hulick could probably squeeze comfortably into a men's room at the old Waldorf-Astoria..." -
2 hours ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
But it's not a matter of I.Q. or cognitive skill. To make the assumption that 'a lot of' people today are familiar with a radio show from 1930? That would be preposterous. I must stand behind my under-estimate
Why it was de rigueur in my house to watch the film International House once a year with the whole family assembled in the rec room, and we all knew the Colonel from his appearance in same. So glad to be in the under-estimated group graduates from the College of Trivia Knowledge.
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2 hours ago, TikiSoo said:
Please don't underestimate the knowledge of others...people may be smarter than you think.
Why Sgt. Markoff is just a piker in this type of debate, when one can go find remarks like the following from H.L. Mencken to ban first, so seek bigger fish to admonish, Tiki:
"“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” H. L. Mencken-
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3 hours ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
'nother one of mine: movies about 'priests concealing guilty secrets'
(Hitchcock's) "I Confess", or, "Diary of a Country Priest", or "Monsignor"
somewhat yawn-inducing
and for good measure I'll include "The Shoes of the Fisherman", "The Thorn Birds", "Keys to the Kingdom", or really any Vatican-based movie in general. Priests in general not my favorite type of movie protagonist.
p.s. ..."noir actor"!
Yeah, those films where priests protect the sanctity of the confessional are bunk. We used to love to go to confession on Saturday when the adults were there, since just because the sliding wood piece was closed on your side of the confessional, did not mean you could not totally hear what was being confessed on the other side as in, "Bless me, Father for I have sinned" which was followed by many impure thoughts, and other dastardly deeds that needed way more than Hail Marys and Our Fathers to correct morally, probably more like a penicillin shot and maybe even some tetanus injections. Also, nuns in real life don't look like Loretta Young and Ingrid Bergman but more like Beulah Bondi and Ernest Borgnine, so putting them in cute roller skates on-screen driving a pink Volkswagen is not amusing to me, unless they are carrying that deadly pointer and can crack a noggin with their wooden beads around their waist.
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On 1/7/2019 at 8:18 AM, Sepiatone said:
Much as I've always liked him, I never considered PERCY HELTON a "Noir" actor. Any more than I would ISH KABIBBLE.
Sepiatone
Who was it said the Beatles stole their hair styles from Ish?
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On 1/6/2019 at 6:10 PM, cigarjoe said:
Agree with H. Macy/Elisha Cook too that's why I listed it first.
The others are the equivalent of say Noir actors like Sonny Tufts, Percy Helton, John Doucette, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Nick Dennis, Jack Lambert good supporting actors.
Great list of small and tall character icons.
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On 1/2/2019 at 9:07 PM, Gershwin fan said:
I hate the family pictures like Life With Father where it's just a family sitting around being gooey-gooey and lovey to one another. It makes me want to vomit.
Do you smell rubber burning? That may be why you want to vomit since I recall when George had that happen, it was the precursor to his diagnosis. Having read his biography given to me as a teen since my mother made me learn many of his songs for my recital, I still worry about smelling rubber someday myself, as a Gershwin fan.
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14 hours ago, Swithin said:
I didn't see the negative review here. I think The City of the Dead (Horror Hotel) is one of the great horror films. Captivating, literate story, creepy, moody atmosphere, great music, brilliant performances, particularly by Patricia Jessel and Valentine Dyall.
I used to know a guy in London -- Terry Sartain -- who had a very small part in the film. He was in the opening sequence. Boy, was I impressed by that credential, when I met him back in the late 1970s!
Valentine Dyall, Patricia Jessel in The City of the Dead
How wonderful that you personally knew someone who was a part of this film. So glad to see there are other fans of this film also.
The review to which I referred, as I recall was detailing how "boring" the film was and that the performances were "hammy". Since I often believe that what one gets out of film might be dependent on what one brings to the film I felt compelled to give the film an alternative review. Thank you for mentioning Valentine Dyall, who was marvelous also and one can only regret that Patricia Jessel died at a young age, as I found her incredibly talented and a kind of satanic Cloris Leachman on steroids. If you liked this film I'm wondering if you also have seen "The Night of the Eagle" which has a similar theme of a professor, a college setting and evil supernatural forces at work and stars also the Mad Nun from Black Narcissus. -
On 7/6/2017 at 11:49 PM, slaytonf said:
The bias cut gown, along with such things as the mute button, cruise control, and Technicolor, is one of the great accomplishments of human ingenuity. It had its heyday in the movies in the early to mid thirties when designers like Orry-Kelly, Irene, and Adrian, among others taught America how to dress. Or would, that is, if they had the money. The style persists even to today, but I guess its currency began flagging as the decade ended and the world began ramping up its militarism. These gowns, clingy and revealing, especially if worn without undergarments, were undeniably sexy and erotic. But they would not be remarkable if they were only that. Just as much, they were designed to complement the wearer's beauty, and add gracefulness and elegance to her appearance.
I recall my grandmother who worked in the theatre creating costumes, saying that her favorite Hollywood designer was Travis Banton. I would often see grandmama cutting out patterns although she often made up her own and was partial to cutting on the bias for many as Banton did for people like Lombard and Colbert.
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2 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
A LETTER TO THREE WIVES is not entirely unlike RASHOMAN (only not as well constructed)- we all see the same thing, but interpret it differently.
and in the end everyone ends up arguing about what really happened.
A quite brilliant take and the film also sports the female triumvirate symbolism too.
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On 1/4/2019 at 6:26 PM, misswonderly3 said:
Here is the Oxford Dictionary definition of the word "pedantic" (Oxford is the best dictionary, don't you agree?):
"adjective. Excessively concerned with minor details or rules; overscrupulous. 'his analyses are careful and even painstaking, but never pedantic'Nowhere does it say, "the use of words that most people do not recognize". So first, GordonCole, that is not what I meant when I said Sergeant's posts were "pedantic": I meant exactly what the Oxford Dictionary says "pedantic" is. I do actually know what the word means.
Second: What makes you think I don't know the meaning of many of the words the Sergeant uses in his posts? I have a reasonably respectable vocabulary myself, and have had no need to look up any of Sergeant's lexical choices.
Dear and charming Miss Wonderly, surely a woman of your breeding and sophistication would be aware I was parodying the style of Ambrose Bierce in his famous "The Devil's Dictionary" [that he wrote with tongue planted firmly in cheek] when I submitted an alternative take for the word "pedantic" at this forum in jest?
Surely you would not go chiding Ambrose, and berate him saying that the Oxford Dictionary should have been checked first, when Bierce compiled witty definitions like:
Harangue, n. A speech by an opponent who is known as an harangue-outang.
Love, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage.
It is appealing when you copy the style of Brigid O'Shaughnessy mostly, but being that her fatal flaw was a total lack of humor, I would desist in that quality since it is probably why the humorous Spade let her be sent up to Tehachapi. I expect so much more from you, being that you are my favorite female poster at TCM.
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6 hours ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
Ha. Too true!
I don't want to keep dwelling on the philosophical disjunct, except briefly and 'in passing' (I promised the Cid Man I'd keep 'theory' out of this sanctum, as much as possible). But yeah now that I find myself back on a film forum I have to watch it. Watch my step I mean. I've been on film sites where uproar broke out. Many movie-buffs hate to have their favorite movies evaluated, debated, or questioned...or even hear the way they think about their favorite movies criticized, or deconstructed. And naturally so. Its a normal human reaction. Who wouldn't feel that way? Movies are as personal as the music one grows up with. I need to button-my-lip-more and not carelessly tread so much on people's corns.
There's also that tendency for the anti-intellectualism pundits to rear their heads in decrying unison, when one goes beyond the fray in their posts with abstruse facts and deep issues galvanized by reading Frazer's The Golden Bough, that your detractors may only find soporific, so try to keep your elite opinions to a few per hour, Sarge or the ghost of Clifton Webb might start to haunt you in your sleep. A word to the wise...
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4 minutes ago, Lost In Space said:
Update: I do know Bad Day At Black Rock. So why wouldn't Casablanca be Noir? In doing a search, some say yes, some say almost, but no.
Do like Eddie Muller and just say it is noir with conviction, and the masses will follow.
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If you were watching TCM way back in the Stone Age, you would have been able to see the trilogy, though as I recall the prints were a bit murky. Maybe a request for a repeat viewing is due, since they probably still have the films in their vaults.
Noir Alley
in General Discussions
Posted
Agreed.
Times may change but intrinsically people often don't.