GordonCole
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Posts posted by GordonCole
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12 hours ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
I thank you very much for this info. Very startling. Helen Keller is an American hero, why should awareness of such an inspiring individual be reduced? I don't understand.
When I was in junior high, English class showed classic Hollywood movies to us in conjunction with our reading material. It was fantastic. I recall 'The Miracle Worker' was one of them. And I'm the better for having been exposed to it.
The others were: Great Gatsby, Billy Budd, Huckleberry Finn...and it was GREAT. Supremely educational.
Hey, Sgt. those books weren't bad either.
Now if you go to the library they will have shelved all those classics in the basement archives and put crapola ones in the classic section. -
On 8/26/2005 at 10:43 PM, bhryun said:
Did anyone happen to see "Jeopardy" tonight - Fri 8/26?
The final Jeopardy question was "This woman gave the innagural speech for "X &Z" College" in 1960 by starting with the following word: 'WATER'" - NOT ONE of the 3 contestants got it right! HELEN KELLER!!! See - there is another reason why classic movies are good for you - you have a better shot at "Final Jeopardy!" LOL!
Shaking her head - Madge
Another good source of Helen Keller information came from horrid jokes perpetrated by children on playgrounds that involved scenarios like Helen in a ditch and Helen playing baseball. The punch lines are just in too much bad taste for me to divulge here. Send me an SASE though with a buck and I will reveal the denouement punch lines.
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On 12/21/2018 at 10:14 AM, Det Jim McLeod said:
This is my favorite non English speaking film of all time and one I watch every Christmas season.
I loved every minute of the 3 hour running time (though there is a 5 hour TV version that is great too) and it is part Christmas film, part ghost story, part Dickensian family drama. The first part is the most joyous Christmas celebration I have seen in any film. It takes place in a beautiful home with shimmering Christmas decorations, a sumptuous feast and scenes of running through the house singing a Swedish carol.
What do you think of this one? Anyone else watch it during the Yuletide?
Yes, it is wonderful. A truly breathtaking view of a family's holiday and the interrelationships between its members.
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19 minutes ago, TopBilled said:
Agee and Kael are my favorites. I do read some of Bosley Crowther's reviews, but sometimes he's a bit too sour for my tastes.
Agreed. I like all three. I may be hallucinating but wasn't it Crowther who panned the film 2001: A Space Odyssey but then after reflection wrote another review saying he had not grasped Kubrick's concept originally and later realized what a fine film it was that had cross purposes in casting than what was usually done in an A-List fiilm?
I remember reading the original review when it was in theatres and the aftermath.-
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15 minutes ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
I don't find any of today's starlets worth even a glance. Take a look instead at a young Agnes Moorhead for an example of what they lack. Smart, sultry, self-respecting, full of personality, and talented.
My grandfather would have called Agnes also a very handsome woman. I doubt many young folk today would understand that usage of the word "handsome" and would think it can only refer to the male of the species.
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2 hours ago, TopBilled said:
I found a copy of Paramount's 1942 comedy ARE HUSBANDS NECESSARY? on YouTube this morning. There are only two user reviews for the film on the IMDb, both posted in 2018-- so the picture is not very well known. I had fun watching it.
I had been curious about this one for a long time, ever since I bought a paperback copy of Isabel Rorick's book 'Mr. & Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage.' For those who don't know, Rorick's book was adapted for this screwball comedy and it also served as the basis for Lucille Ball's radio program My Favorite Husband which led into I Love Lucy.
Produced during the early part of the war, it's obvious Paramount was trying to make light entertainment to help audiences (mostly women) get their minds off the war. It was never meant to be a serious think piece. But it has some very funny segments, and I think Betty Field is perfect as the scatterbrained wife, a real departure from her usual dramatic roles. Ray Milland who plays the husband is excellent, and there's a group of distinguished character actors in the cast that are equally charming.
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Anyway, I went to the TCM database page for the film to see if there were any articles or other user reviews (there were none), and I saw Maltin's comment. All he wrote was 'And what about this film?' suggesting the film was not necessary. Maybe his comments are not necessary. I don't get the point of demeaning something. He doesn't have to like the film but can't he respect the fact others might like it and enjoy watching it?
ARE HUSBANDS NECESSARY? made back twice its budget for Paramount in 1942, proving it was a bonafide hit. Audiences of the era certainly loved it. Can't that be enough? It's unrealistic to expect every film to be a classic for the ages. Maybe it was a classic in its own time and that's all it ever needed to be. At any rate, when someone like Maltin publishes such a flippant comment, it tells me he is not really looking at the overall history of film and how each motion picture counts for something in its own way.
Thoughts...?
Maltin is to film criticism what Mother Teresa is to sex appeal. I would probably only use Maltin as a source for going to see the movies he pans.
I was introduced to film criticism early with the works of James Agee. Maltin is no Agee hence I ignore him and his off the top of his head thoughts.-
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On 12/20/2018 at 5:52 PM, Vautrin said:
Took a quick trip over to YT and the print or whatever you want to call it of Christmas
Holiday is very good. Will watch it when I have some time. I don't mind watching movies
on YT if it is likely they won't be showing up anywhere else. My monitor died a few months
back and I got a new, larger one. That definitely helped.
What I liked best about Christmas Holiday was seeing Kelly as a heel. That Pal Joey type persona fit him well for obvious reasons but just like Fred MacMurray not wanting to be villainous on film, Kelly didn't play parts like that again much since he had a more likable persona he wanted to portray ostensibly.
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He shoulda gone with a Liberace piece which was always entertaining as long as there was a candelabra in the scene.
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I wish.
I'd never seen this name before here since they seem to have left TCM before I joined up in 2015.
I noticed that this OP hasn't been here since around 2005. Anyone know what happened to them? Maybe they are Hal Croves lol? -
19 hours ago, slaytonf said:
Traven is a great writer. I haven't read his work in a long time, so I can only provisionally say he'd have to go a long way to out-do Conrad or Melville on the wide open.
Reading Conrad is always fascinating, since one can actually feel the determination of the author in utilizing his mastery of a few languages in getting his point across. His own life, prowling around ports and living an adventure daily aided so much to his depth of knowledge of the human psyche in conflict with nature and other beings.
What happened to the OP called There Al Fuster?
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21 hours ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
I'm an ardent fan of the mysterious and enigmatic author B. Traven. His prose skills are formidable. A colossally-talented author who should be as famed as any of the more-known names like Steinbeck or Hemingway.
Traven is acidic, searing and scorching on the page.
Although his style is the opposite, he's more Hemingway than Hemingway in that he writes about jungles, deserts, and ocean adventures. With a will and a vigor. And apparently he delivers from personal experience, from actually having been there. It's poetic that he wound up vanishing there.
I'll call Traven out even further for a specific knack that even the uppermost tier of authors usually fail at: sea writing. B. Traven is in elite company as far as that goes. One of the top five that I've ever read, anyway.
I'd go so far as to put him ahead of the top three best I know of (Joe Conrad, Herman Melville, and HM Tomlinson). In other words, he is supreme in this regard.
Its no wonder that 'Sierra Madre' wound up being one of the most beloved fan favorites of moviegoers for generations down to this day.
The Traven story would make a good movie in itself.
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20 hours ago, jamesjazzguitar said:
The L.A. Times today in their review, didn't praise the film, mainly saying it was a missed opportunity.
It looks like the best part of the film is the very short Dick Van Dyke cameo.
Good to know, since when Dick Van Dyke did his supposed tribute special to the talents of Stan Laurel, Stan basically abhorred it, rolling over in his grave and was slightly sarcastic about Dick's quasi-honoring of Laurel. Most critics also saw it as more of a tribute to Dick.
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9 hours ago, cigarjoe said:
Yea I thought so too, now you confirmed it. I checked before I PM'ed Cid about it, and I didn't see it so I though I may have been imagining it.
Read that book by Maugham years ago and would swear I saw it play once on TCM in years past which is the only time I've ever seen it, from being on tv. Is it not supposed to have ever played there?
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On 12/16/2018 at 11:31 PM, Vautrin said:
And it's a story without any villains. I didn't think the kid was
that bad. He was greatly disappointed that his dog was killed and he went overboard in his
reaction, but I can understand that. He was just a kid. There was one close up where he looks
like he is possessed, but all's well that ends well. I saw a couple of episdoes of Father Knows
Best today, so maybe I'm prejudiced. Not a bad movie, but I just don't see it as a noir.
Trying to push this film into a noir mold, is just a waste of time. But as a showcase of a very talented little actor, like Billy Gray it was marvelous. That kid had real talent and brought the story home. You nailed it with your remarks about its mish-mash of genres.
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On 12/7/2018 at 2:59 PM, cigarjoe said:
A Paramount Film Noir that's never played on TCM. Directed by John Farrow. The screenplay was by Barré Lyndon and Jonathan Latimer. Based on the novel of the same name by Cornell Woolrich.
Stars: Edward G. Robinson as John Triton 'The Mental Wizard', Gail Russell as Jean Courtland, John Lund as Elliott Carson, Virginia Bruce as Jenny Courtland, William Demarest as Lt. Shawn, Richard Webb as Peter Vinson, Jerome Cowan as Whitney Courtland.
It would be a nice one for Noir Alley.
Anybody ever see it?
I've seen it quite a few times and would have sworn it has played on TCM, but may be wrong. I only think that because I know when I've seen it it was on my tv, and who else but TCM would be showing it. Okay, maybe AMC I guess. Really great movie and Robinson is marvelous as usual with a great concept in the plot also.
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3 minutes ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
some time ago I don't know when, Fedya stated:I saw this epic on the big screen; can't recall if I left halfway through or not? Although I would bet that I did. It's difficult viewing which requires real persistence to endure.
Basically I felt that I got my money's worth with the Assyrian battle scenes. They were truly colossal. Staggering feats of early special effects, far more interesting than those of today. When those walls come tumblin' down it was some serious bidness.
Someone here once said the movie Brother Sun Sister Moon was in the Top Ten of movies one really needs to remove one's carcass from the seat for as it is abysmal viewing. Personally I enjoyed all DW's efforts unless it is being touted by Lillian whose ardor does rub me a bit the wrong way.
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Fred Allen was a wit whose quips were apt and sometimes prescient, like the following.
All the sincerity in Hollywood you could stuff in a flea's navel and still have room left to conceal eight caraway seeds and an agent's heart.
Everything is for the eyes these days-TV, Life, Look, the movies. Nothing is just for the mind. The next generation will have eyeballs as big as cantaloupes with no brain at all.
Any others by others you like will be appreciated.
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Good to see Pontecorvo's Battle of Algiers is playing in February. That is the last movie on my friend's film want list to see before he leaves this world with his raft on the Styx.
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On 12/12/2018 at 7:11 AM, TikiSoo said:
Ew, I found him to be so icky even a man starved nun could easily resist him:
Shorts do nothing for him. If he didn't wrap his legs around the teeny pony's butt, his feet would drag on the ground....he outweighs that poor pony!
Sabu on the other hand...wow!
Yeah, Sabu could satisfy if his cologne didn't knock you out.
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On 12/14/2018 at 2:41 PM, LornaHansonForbes said:
At 8:00 pm (eastern) tonight- THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE (1955)
I think I am the only person here who doesn't like this movie.
Apparently you don't know that Clare Booth Luce frequently posts here.
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If I'm going to be at a party I want it to be one filmed by Fellini like from something like La Dolce Vita.
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On 12/12/2018 at 9:15 PM, slaytonf said:
People who are afraid of Metropolis' (1927) vision flee to the conventional dialectic of communism/capitalism to find justification for facile dismissals. They studiously ignore the real message of the movie, the human message of the movie. The message stated at the beginning and the end of the movie: The mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart! Whatever politics, economics, or class struggles are brought into the story are there as devices used in exemplifying that premise. Lang and his wife, Thea von Harbou, who wrote the screenplay/novel, were alarmed, along with many others, at the effects of industrialization on human society, and foresaw an impending dystopian Armageddon. They argue in the movie exactly what its detractors criticize it for, that economic, or political theories can't cope with our greatest challenges. The only real possibility to overcome discord, division and upheaval is through humanity, the heart.
Advocates of traditional social norms can take heart the Mediator is of the patrician class--though he loves a lassie of the prols.
The people who talk only about the technical sides of movies or the box office returns, probably would miss that humanistically poetic vision of the film or any film of its calibre. They probably also don't get Lubitsch films or the humor but that's another story. Thanks for such a well articulated post.
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1 hour ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
Hard to see how serious antipathy could arise between any two lovers of classic cinema, which is the unifying thread between everyone here. Sure, I have a couple topics I get 'het up about' (presentism & technology) and I have one topic I'm adamantly against ('hybrid noir-izations') but that's not very many sins to lay at my door. Pretty wide expanse of other subjects to chat about, without touching off any powderkegs.
Unlike yourself, I do not take people's web-activities as any indication of how I really might judge them face-to-face. The web is not reality. It is barely 'the shadow and the shape' (quoting Deborah Kerr here, 'Chalk Garden') of real life.
In person, I am soft-spoken, mild-mannered, polite, and affable. Nothing like my Foreign Legion namesake!
Speaking of actors I get confused, your avatar, Brian Donlevy used to be confused by me with Neil Hamilton but that might be because they both were Arrow Collar male models as someone here once wrote. They both had rather attractively structured male facial physiognomies though Donlevy was more masculine overall.
I also get Alan Curtis and Robert Sterling confused sometimes. -
15 hours ago, Sgt_Markoff said:
Jackie Coogan and Jackie Cooper
Frances Langford and Frances Farmer
Virginia Bruce and Virginia Mayo
Anne Todd and Anne Shirley
Ann Dvorak and Ann Harding
John Glover and Danny Glover
Glenda Farrell and Glenda Jackson
Donald Meek and Donald Crisp
Frank Finlay and Frank Faylen
Edward Binns and Bert Freed
Arthur Freed, Alan Freed, and Alan Freed Jr
Steve Cochran and John Payne and someone else
Ed Wynn and Keenan Wynne
Geraldine Fitzgerald, Geraldine Page, Geraldine Chaplin, and Jean Stapleton
Lillian Hellman, Lillian Gish, Helen Hayes, Mary Pickford
Douglas Fairbanks and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr
Mabel Norman and Norma Shearing
William Boyd and Francis X. Bushman
Ramon Navarro, Ivor Novello, and Rod LaRocq
Johnny Weismuller and Buster Crabbe
Alan Hale and Alan Hale Jr
Wallace Beery, Noah Beery, and Noah Beery Jr
The Barrymores
John Gilbert and Gilbert Roland
Erich Von Stroheim and Eric Von Sternberg
Don Ameche and Richard Farnsworth
Gabby Hayes and Arthur Hunnicutt
William Windom and Robert Webber
Richard Attenborough and David Attenborough
Sam Sheppard and Tom Stoppard
Beulah Bondie, Billie Burke, Billie Whitelaw, and Spring Byington
Carrie Snodgrass and Cloris Leachman
Ella Raines, Lizbeth Scott, Elaine Stewart, and Kim Novak
The Van Dorens
Verna Lissi and Monica Vitti
Diana Dors, Jayne Mansfield, Anita Ekberg
Gene Raymond, Barry Sullivan, Gene Barry
Hugh Beaumont, Gary Merrill, Hugh O'Brian, Hugh Marlowe
Arthur Kennedy and Edmond O'Brian
Edmund Gwenn and Fred Gwynne
Peter Weller and Ed Harris
Hume Cronyn and Lloyd Nolan
Wendy Barry and Wendy Hiller
June Lockhart and Christine Lockhart
William Conrad and Robert Conrad
Mel Ferrer and Jose Ferrer
Jane Meadows and Audrey Meadows
Mitzi Gaynor, Janet Gaynor, and Edie Adams
June Allison and Jane Wyman
Art Linkletter and David Brinkley
David Birney and Meredith Baxter-Birney
Fess Parker and Clint Walker
Troy Donahue and Tab Hunter and Ron Ely
Jack Elam and John MacIntyre
Margaret Sullavan and Miriam Hopkins
Margaret Rutherford, Marjorie Main, Jane Darwell, Marie Dressler, Margaret Hamilton
Ruth Hussey, Barbara Hale, and Anne Rutherford
David Wayne and Norman Lloyd
David Wayne (John Wayne's son) and the sons of Robert Mitchum
David Wayne (John Wayne's son) and Jeffrey Hunter
Sylvia Sidney and Sylvia Sims
Sam Levine, Jay Novello, Akim Takimiroff
Joan Bennett and Constance Bennett
Kay Francis and Eleanor Powell
Kay Lenz and Lee Purcell
Gig Young, Robert Young, Robert Vaughn, Robert Montgomery
Only a real movie fan would even know who Kay Lenz and Lee Purcell are, Sgt. Markoff. I bow to your movie knowlege but visual disfunction.
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When Maltin demeans a classic film
in General Discussions
Posted
Yes, I remember that also. I don't think he revised his opinion of that one but I think he did on Kubrick's film.
As I recall there was a tendency to deride the two main actors in Kubrick's epic for being, shall we say, a bit boring but later revisionism decided that there may have been method in this madness.