CinemaInternational

yes, sorry about that. Didn't know about Sony. That will sadly mean that Sony Pictures Classics, a wonderful company, would be shuttered if the deal went through.

This might be the start of mass pandemonium when it comes to the future distribution of movies in theatres. According to an article I read, the 1948 degree against the movie companies has a risk of being ruled as outdated in the next few years . Now if this does happen, it could mean that some companies could use deep financial resources to buy or build big chains of theatres and monopolize them to show only their films, thus bleeding the remaining big studios out of their shares and all but crushing the independents. Among the other big studios, this news is the worst for Paramount if it does happen, but Columbia is also very precarious.

Fox did leave us with one last laugh on their release schedule; they had signed on to do Deep Water, an erotic thriller from Adrian Lyne (of Flashdance, 9 1/2 Weeks, Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal, Lolita, and Unfaithful fame) and the movie will end up being distributed by Disney, with the credit "Released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures" on it!

Miss Rose White (1992).... originally a Hallmark Hall of Fame, but I think WB might have the rights now Anyway, Kyra Sedgwick plays a woman who keeps her work life (appearing like your typical WASP working woman at Macy's circa the late 40s) and her personal life (as the daughter of Polish immigrant Maximillian Schell, who brought her with him when they fled from the Nazis) separate. And then she finds out that the sister (Amanda Plummer) she has not seen in 15 years has survived the death camps and is coming to stay. This leads to many of the wounds of the past and the effects of the Holocaust to rise to the surface with a vengence. I feel it deserves to be seen again due not only to good solid performances from Schell and Maureen Stapleton (as an aunt), but also for Amanda Plummer's powerhouse performance. She's brilliant as the sister, and won an Emmy for it.

They were joint partners in the late, lamented Streaming service FilmStruck. But like Disney (they added a Robert Osbourne outro (or was it intro?) to The Great Movie Ride in its last few years of operation before it closed), the partnership has gone on after the original joining element ended.

Back then TCM aired more Paramount titles, so there could have been more....

Putting Ralph Richardson and Christmas together reminds me anew that The Holly and the Ivy is coming to DVd and blu-Ray next week.....

I think it more has to do with them being Fox titles. (AKA means shelling out more money). I haven't seen TCM stop showing films featuring people in make-up playing Asian characters: China Sky, A Majority of One, The Good Earth, Dragon Seed, The Son-Daughter, A Passage to India, all have aired in the last few years.

For what it's worth, Drums Along the Mohawk is currently in the on demand queue via Spectrum TV.....

Say Jonathan Demme and I'm there. And I love his early films which seem overlooked now. Citizens Band, Melvin and Howard, and Married to the Mob are all cinematic gems, and Swing Shift was quite fetching as well, in spite of its troubles.

6 out of 10. Blue Dahlia, Blandings, Tunnel of Love, and (naturally) the final three

Yes, it should have been on earlier, and it is a very entertaining film. And yes, Edna May Oliver steals it. This is really my only problem with TCM that certain intrigung films air at strange hours and are then not on demand afterwards. I was up really late on Friday going into Saturday and caught the first 15 minutes of Making Mr. Right on Underground, and it looked like a nice, snappy comedy, but it was 4:30 AM and it was time to go to bed. No way to see it now.

The omen (1976)

Slipped into 2010s cinema via a trip to the local video store (tempted to write a whole thread about video stores actually) So 3 films seen, one largely praised, one that received good notices, and one that was shunned, but actually all three were very good. The Farewell (2019) was a major critical success earlier in the year and it is the best of the three. Set mostly in China, it deals with a young woman who comes to China (along with other branches of her family around the world) to visit with her dying grandmother, who is completely in the dark about her condition. About 90% of the film is in Mandarin. Its a soulful little film, mostly quiet, very perceptive about human nature and family bonds. it's a gem, and one of the best films of the last 10 years. After the Wedding (2019) was a remake of a Danish film that was up in the foreign film category in 2006. i gather that originally in Denmark the film starred two men and a woman, but here its two women and a man, and it works well. Its truly a chamber piece for 4 players who all have to cope with their pasts after a seeming stranger was invited to a wedding. Julianne Moore is top billed, and is touching, especially toward the end, but its really Michelle Williams' film, and she's wonderful in a very sensitive, moving part. Billy Crudup is good too as Moore's husband, and quite a bit of the drama rests on his sholders as well. Its somber, old-fashioned definitely (minus the language, this could have easily been done at MGM in the early 40s with Greer Garson, Joan Crawford, and Walter Pidgeon), but it works as a moving piece and as a performance showcase. And Tully (2018) was again a performance showcase, this time for Charlize Theron as a woman who loves her husband (Ron Livingstone) and her children but is at the end of her rope emotionally, especially after giving birth for the third time. then suddenly a nanny appears on the scene (played by McKenzie Davis, in a likable performance reminiscent of an earthier Geena Davis) and suddenly theron has a friend to confide in and to help lift her spirits. or is everything OK? The twist doesn't quite work at the end but this is still a moving film sparked by two fine performances and a perceptive script.

No, I haven't actually! I think its in one of the Columbia Noir sets so I should see if I can get around to it sometime. (ditto some of her other early titles, as I only saw one she was in in the 50s) The Bancroft films I have seen are: Don't Bother to Knock (1952) The Miracle Worker (1962) The Pumpkin Eater (1964) The Slender Thread (1965) The Graduate (1967) The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) Silent Movie (1976) [cameo] The Turning Point (1977) Fatso (1980) The Elephant Man (1980) To Be or Not To Be (1983) Garbo Talks (1984) Agnes of God (1985) 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) [cameo] How to Make an American Quilt (1995)

It was too much for my taste, but Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange were quite good in it.

Bancroft could light up any film, and she did.... The only thing i wish looking back is how I wish she had had more leading roles and that she had lived longer. As for movies about people, they still make them, it just takes a very watchful eye to find them. Yesterday I went to the town's remaining video store, and rented out 5 films made either this year or last year. 4 were definitely people oriented films (and having seen 3 of them they were all very good films). the 5th was an old-fashioned heist comedy and I rented that because the cast was irresistible.

Late night, the final day November 27th on all but the west coast. 2:30 AM ET/1:30 AM CT/12:30 AM MT/11:30 PM November 26th PT.

Quick schedule change; The 1971 oddity Bunny O'Hare is on the schedule now.....

The Fountainhead (1949) --- AKA The Valley of the Dolls of its day...... So this is what you get when you mix together a great looking film, superior performances, a sweeping musical score.... and a completely cuckoo script! I had definitely heard of Ayn Rand before this film, but never knew really about what her controversial views were until this, and to put it this way, the film is bonkers. The whole idea that you must only look after your own interests without bothering to help anybody in your life time, that's demented. And much of the dialogue does not even sound like things normal people would ever say. So why am I still passing this film, largely because Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal are so good in this and because King Vidor directs with a steady hand.... but also in part for the unintentional hoots and hollers of laughter it brought me at times that reminded me of the later sections of Valley of the Dolls. It's a real hot mess of a film, but if you are in the mood for a rare example of deranged craziness in the classic era, it will work.

It's a sweet little film, and I do have a copy of it. Anne Bancroft's long monologue near the end is such a touching scene, and one of the best movie scenes in 1984. While she was up for a Golden Globe for it, she never really got her due for the film (or for that matter for To Be or Not to Be or 84 Charing Cross Road around the same time). Regarding the music, I too remember Leonard Maltin's quip, but the only thing i thought about it was that it was "borrowed" for a TV movie with Angela Lansbury, The Shell Seekers (also seen on DVD), just a few years later. So it bred and multiplied.

Dirty Harriet The saga of a tough female cop, Harriet Withers (Barbra Streisand) and her dogged attempts to clean up crime and corruption in San Francisco, especially to catch the notorious "Single Bars Killer" who has killed off many a swinger. Working intently, she discovers that the killer's name is Dwayne McPheeters (Rod Steiger) who has one weakness, he hates Broadway show tunes. He leads her on a crazy chase through San Fran, culminating on the Golden Gate Bridge where she corners him by singing the chorus of "Don't Rain on My Parade" 6 times in a row, whereupon he jumps into the bay and closes the whole case.

Brief moment of thought here. A twisty film from South Korea called Parasite is a lock for International film this year and will be likely be up for best picture...... but I'm still surprised that on one film website, Letterboxd, they have it listed as the second best film ever made, only 1/100 of an average point behind #1, The Godfather.

Did you ever see it or not prior to this film club? Just curious.

Paramount would have been ripping their hair out over this one but it would have been more entertaining than the actual film: Marty Feldman and Anne Ramsey in Love Story!