Princess of Tap

Miles, aren't you going to tell us?

I think Kagemusha is the most beautiful color film Kurosawa ever made. I remember reading about how he directed the combat scenes like a general of an army.

I'm making no excuses with this list. Some of these films are great and some are simply entertaining, but they are simply my favorite French and Japanese language films. Nothing against other languages, but I have adapted these cultures into my life and I've studied these languages. 1) Nora Inu/ stray dog-- Kurosawa, 1949 2)La Gloire de Mon Père/ my father's Glory--Yves Robert, 1990 3) Jean de Florette et Manon des Sources--Claude Berri, 1986 4) Shall We Dansu?--Masayuki Suo, 1996 5)La Femme d'à côté-- Truffaut, 1981 6) Drunken Angel-- Kurosawa, 1948 7) Colonel Chabert--Yves Angelo, 1994 8) Cyrano de Bergerac--Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1990 9) The High and the Low-- Kurosawa,1963 10) Tokyo Story--Ozu,1953 11) Rampo--Enoki & Okayama 12) Dragnet Girl--Ozu, 1933 ( silent) 13) Madame Bovary--Claude Chabrol, 1991 14) Day for Night-- Truffaut, 1973 15) Shoot the Piano Player-- Truffaut, 1960

Anyway back to the business at hand-- Everybody loves a lover and I love Doris Day!

Dargo, I've never been a particular fan of Kirk Douglas. But I gotta tell you that I absolutely believe everything you say about him and it sounds just like the guy I remember from live television. I'm of the age that I've seen all the old movie stars on The Tonight Show, the Mike Douglas show, the Merv Griffin show, I can go on and on. And every time I would see Kirk Douglas he was an egomaniac, selfish egocentric oh and I don't have enough adjectives to say how much I couldn't stand him. His peers were nothing like that on live TV - - I'm talking about Richard Widmark, Lancaster, Gregory Peck, William Holden, need I go on? I'm surprised he was ever able to get his mind off himself to make a movie. Anyway Michael Douglas seems alright because I know Kirk didn't raise him anyway. The only thing I remember liking that he was in was Martha Ivers and Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin topped him out in that one anyway. Heck, even Darryl Hickman topped him out in that one. But before his fans come after me, I've got to say Minnelli showed another side of him in Lust For Life and it was it was good. But I think Minelli showed the real guy with Bad and the Beautiful. All apologies to his fans - - if it makes them feel better they can say something nasty about Richard Widmark and William Holden. So be it. Or as the French would say Ainsi soit-il!

Tom- - I'll tell you one more thing that Cagney said in his autobiography that really made me think. Being a tap dancer, I thought this was normal; but looking back on what he said maybe it wasn't-- Cagney said that in his retirement he never looked at any of his movies except the musicals where he tap danced.???

GPF-- I want to thank you for listing Charlie Ruggles and Barry Fitzgerald from Bringing Up Baby. It's my favorite lifelong screwball, and I had already listed Walter Catlett and Fritz Feld. I didn't think I should list anymore, but those two were really excellent. Re: The Test Cricket guys--they deserve some kind of a special category don't you think?

Lawrence, I saw St. Martin's Lane more than 20 years ago on some local UHF TV station. The only thing I can compare Charles Laughton's performance to would be the one in the Ruggles of Red Gap. But in St. Martin's he was more vulnerable and honestly pathetic. He really has a remarkable range of Versatility. His relationship on screen with Vivien Leigh was three dimensional. You just couldn't take your eyes off of them. I sure would like to see it again. I've never seen it listed on VHS or dvd.

Tom- as it's been said, a picture is worth a thousand words. Well Done

Yes, Film Lover - - the Queen of Screwball-- you are up!

Them-- James Arness

Samurai 1--Musashi

Firefly with Allan Jones?

With all this talk about Curtiz and Robin Hood-- fellas, give us a break--Curtiz also directed Angels with Dirty Faces in 1938, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award.

Lawrence, that makes two of us. This is where Pat O'Brien wins that supporting actor honorable mention from me. O'Brien tells you all that just in his facial expression. Next to Knute Rockne, it's the best thing O'Brien ever did in the movies.

I always thought John had the cutest freckles. Despite his disability, he grew up to be quite a talented artist for the Disney Studio.

Enough of the Sherwood Forest fairy tale legend. Let's get to the real nitty-gritty. Was Rocky Sullivan a coward ? Did he or did he not walk the last mile as a screaming coward or as a selfless hero. Jimmy Cagney wouldn't reveal this in his autobiography - - Rocky Sullivan is the greatest male performance of 1938, apparently not just my opinion. I thought maybe others would have viewpoint about that last mile walk in Angels with Dirty Faces. A moment of consideration for the boy who couldn't run fast.

In jr. high school I sat through Mackenna's Gold twice just to make sure I didn't miss any of Gregory Peck's scenes. After seeing him as Atticus Finch, he became my real hero for Life. Happy birthday Gregory Peck!

on the waterfront

Clark Gable

No, Marsha-- check out the original question

La Peau Douce

Tom-- Loretta loved clothes so much that she eventually married her costume designer Jean Louis, who had been the head of the costume design department at Columbia Pictures and was nominated 14 times for the Oscar. Besides the Loretta Young Show on TV, he was most famous for designing clothes for the female stars in the following iconic movies: Doris Day in Pillow Talk, Rita Hayworth in Gilda, Judy in A Star Is Born and Lana in all those Ross Hunter movies. Jean Louis' pièce de résistance was Marilyn Monroe's Happy Birthday Mr. President dress, a tight-fitting gown of 2,500 shimmering rhinestones. What's not to love about Jean Louis?

Hint: I was such a big star that my contract always included my cinematographer and costume designer.

Peter Lorre