CinemaInternational

One think I was a bit baffled by (and no I didn't see most of the film) was the decision to use Julie Andrews' voice in one scene but to partially disguise it.... That is a voice that does not deserve to be disguised.......

I remember that this was actually a remake of a 1940s film of the same title from Paramount. That version was much admired, but it has not been seen for decades or so it seems.

It's unforgettable..... The Barkwell dog food commercial, the thick German accent that comes and goes at whim, the catty scenes involving Coral Browne.....

Coming in August... Jean Renoir's Toni Paul Schraeder's The Comfort of Strangers (1990) starring Christopher Walken, Helen Mirren, Natasha Richardson, and Rupert Everett. The documentary Town Bloody Hall The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum And a complete Blu-Ray boxed set of the films of Agnes Varda

9 as well. Strong film with a shocking finale. The whole film is made with verve. It's one of the 5 best of the Best picture Oscar winners in the last 20 years. I have it down as #7 for 2019......

Sorry that it has been close to 9 months in coming but I am going to finish off the scrapbook series for UA.... I think I'll do the other companies I was planning to dovetail with this at a later time, just to streamline this process..... The year started with a German import, Court Martial, that was actually made in 1959. The nun and the Sergent was a B-drama with Robert Webber and Anna Sten that tried to traverse over some of the same territory as the earlier Heaven Knows Mr Allison The core members of the Rat Pack headed the bill in Robert Aldrich's Sergents 3, a comic western remake of Gunga Din Saintly Sinners mixed religious uplift with a touch of crime film. Ellen Corby is the most easily recognized cast member. Elvis came to UA for the first time for another of his bubble gum musicals, Follow That Dream Ursus was a gladiator film brought in dubbed from Europe Meanwhile, Italy was the setting for a charming little film, Jessica, starring Angie Dickinson and Maurice Chevalier, under the direction of Jean Negulesco The Magic Sword was loosely inspired by the legend of St George and the Dragon. Gary Lockwood had the lead, supported by Estelle Winwood and Basil Rathbone. Then Chuck Conners tried to play Geronimo (!). Doctor Blood's Coffin was a Brit horror import, but not of the Hammer variety Dr no started the series that would become one of the most lasting trademarks of UA: the Bond series. This original was famed for introducing people to Sean Connery's legendary portrayal as well as for Ursula Andress' Venus-like ascent from the water Incident in an Alley involved a teen delinquent in trouble..... Bing Crosby and Bob Hope finished off their Road to series on a muted note with Road to Hong Kong which teamed them with Joan Collins instead of Dorothy Lamour, who was stuck with only a cameo. War Hunt was made on a miniscule budget, but it was a much acclaimed combat film, and its cast: John Saxon, Sydney ****, Gavin McLeod, and especially Robert Redford would have big things in their future..... and yes Francis Ford Coppola was a bit player Jack the Giant Killer was a version of the famous fairy tale for children John Mills topped the bill in The Valiant as the commander of a submarine that had suffered torpedo damage The Important Man was a Mexican film up for the foreign film Oscar that starred Toshiro Mifune Burt Lancaster had one of his most famous parts in John Frankenheimer's Birdman of Alcatraz, featuring other nominated portrayals from Thelma Ritter and Telly Savales. The film was a bit long, but still kept up great power to to Lancaster's presence and fine Black and white photography. The Miracle Worker turned out to be another effective quality, black and white release. Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke won Oscars for their indelible performances in the striking and stirring tale of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller Elvis came back for Kid Galahad, a remake of the 1937 film. In place of Edward G Robinson and Bette Davis, there was Gig Young and Lola Albright..... the more things change..... James Mason starred in Hero's Island an adventure tale involving pirates Sword of the Conqueror took Jack Palance to Italy for an adventure film UA turned up another towering, defining film of 1962 with John Frankheimer's third film of 1962, The Manchurian Candidate, a gripping political thriller with unforgettable work from Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury Tower of London was a horror film with Vincent Price under the direction of Roger Corman The Vampire and the Ballerina was Horror from Italy Electra was another Foreign-Film Oscar nominee with Irene Papas in the famed Greek tragedy Beauty and the beast was UA's second spin at a fairy tale film for 1962 Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine had great chemistry in the downbeat romantic drama Two for the Seesaw involving a relationship with more than its share of ups and downs. Robert Wise directed. Sidney Potier was pitted against Bobby Darin in Pressure Point, the saga of a Psychatrist working to break the neo-Nazi behavior of his patient. Peter Falk co-starred And finally there was Yul Brynner and Tony Curtis in the sprawling adventure Tarus Bulba, most famed for its musical score

This was Robert Mitchum's final film..... Regarding Jaramusch, I did like his Paterson from 2016. It's a simple, gentle tale of a few ordinary days in the life of a bus driver and his wife. He writes poetry on the side, she wishes to become a country singer. It's a quiet film, and nothing "major" or "earth-shattering" happens but its a gentle sweet picture of marriage and ordinary life.

True. And I will confess (it makes me sound like a cinema philistine, but here goes), I fould it to be a funkier, livelier, and more entertaining film than his later Lord of the Rings trilogy (sorry, not sorry)

Saw it via HBO recently and yeah his death scene was something else. The filmmakers actually decided to make it more shocking after they heard that the MPAA wasn't going to give them the PG-13 they wanted..... it will be hard to think of Dee Wallace Stone as the sweet mother from ET for a while.... she bit into her role with gusto and glee.

At least he has a better haircut there than the quarantine-horror style haircut he had in the 1996 horror-comedy The Frighteners as a pain-freak FBI agent who has a grisly fate.

Probably Redford gets the boot. These were hard lists to create. Actresses especially are hard to narrow down.

During the time I was away, I can't believe I forgot William Holden......

The Ladies: Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Doris Day, Irene Dunne, Goldie Hawn, Katharine Hepburn, Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Myrna Loy, Shirley MacLaine, Ginger Rogers, Rosalind Russell, Barbara Stanwyck, Barbra Streisand, Meryl Streep The Gentlemen: Jeff Bridges, Montgomery Clift, Robert Duvall, Glenn Ford, Gene Hackman, Rock Hudson, Burt Lancaster, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Steve McQueen, Robert Mitchum, Robert Redford, Jimmy Stewart, Al Pacino, William Powell

When I saw the headline of this thread, I thought am the ambitious Invitation at the Dance. Along with The Red Shoes, they are the ultimate ballet films.

Had a noir marathon last night from the Film Noir Collection Volume 5. Wonderful night, five very entertaining thrillers, where even the least was still fascinating (1950's Backfire) and the others were a crackling good time (Dial 1119 [1950], Deadline at Dawn [1946], Desperate [1947], and The Phenix City Story [1955])

Typo on my part.... Just a rental service

Some 70s Columbia films have turned up on Amazon Prime.... Aloha, Bobby and Rose (1975) California Split (1974) Casey's Shadow (1978) The Cheap Detective (1978) Cromwell (1970) For Pete's Sake (1974) 40 Carats (1973) the Front (1976) I Walk the Line (1970) The Liberation of LB Jones (1970) The Lords of Flatbush (1974) 10 Rillington Place (1971)

Two rentals, one from the mail-renal service Facets, one from the local video store, today.... The mail service one was the 1958 film by Sanjait Ray, The music Room, which was a pretty interesting elegiac look at the waning days of a formerly wealthy Indian man and the crumbling of his life. Its ending is a bit abrupt, but it is still deeply moving and fascinating in its look at another culture..... The one from the rental store is 2019's Motherless Brooklyn, and to cut directly to the chase, it is the return of Chinatown. it is almost as though, almost 30 years down the road from The Two Jakes, we finally got the third part of the JJ Gittes trilogy. Of course though, instead of Nicholson, we have Edward Norton as our lead, playing a detective who has a sharp interior mind, but is crippled by Tourette's and nervous tics. But that does not stop him from investigating this twisty, turny case involving murder and reckless land development. This has been Norton's passion project for 20 years, and the neglect and indifference it received from audiences and movie critics is simply appalling. Yes, it is probably a bit too indebted to Chinatown, and the copious amounts of swearing feel out of place for a film set in 1957. But it is also so incredibly well acted by everyone, so deeply affecting, such a gorgeous looking production, with such a great jazz score, and in a rich noir tradition that any complaint feels trivial.... In short not just one of the best of 2019, but also one of the best of its decade. Highly recommended. -------- I'm also finishing up one on Amazon prime I started the other day, the charming 40 Carats (1973) and I had started looking at another so-far-glorious rental, Diary of a Country Priest (1950), which i am eagerly looking forward to continuing when I get home. Seems like a masterpiece so far......

Now, I think I remember reading once where Elaine May conceived Ishtar as being a variant on a Hope and Crosby Road To comedy, yet also, underneath the slapstick, it was to be at the same time a social comedy critique of American involvement in the Middle East at the time

Defenses for Heaven's Gate are out there too. They started quickly multiplying after a brief cinema re-release of the director's cut in 2012, which was followed by a Criterion Collection release. I remember not just one but two glowing articles about it in The New York Times within a few months, and I see that on Letterboxd (a fascinating film review and logging website that has been invaluable to me in helping to keep track of what I've seen) it holds an average rating of 3.62 out of 5 or converted to a 10 point scale, 7.24, very commendable and a big turn around from what the original audience reaction was.

I wouldn't call Ishtar a masterpiece, but it certainly isn't the debacle claimed either. It's actually a pretty wry satirical comedy . There are some longeurs, but there are other things in it that are tremendously funny (the lyrics on the hapless songs in the finale are very amusing). it's been making the rounds on Showtime recently (still is on there actually), and that's how I saw it last year. Richard Brody at the New Yorker is a huge defender of it as well. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/movie-of-the-week-ishtar

I'd say the one commendable thing in films in the last few years is that there are more mainstream films involving Black, Hispanic, and Asian characters in leading parts. It's long overdue. But at the same time, things aren't quite so open right now for an original film (read as non-sequel) to reach a mass audience.

Just borrowed it from the newly reopened video store, and I agree, film got a bum rap. Its a very fine twisty thriller with two wonderful pros.

It was a record low temperature in my area yesterday.... so kind of alike where we are.

I've been seeing a lot of Steve Martin for the first time this year in the form of the overstretched The Lonely Guy, the amusing Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the surprisingly elegant Housesitter, and the ethereal LA Story, which he wrote himself, and I have to say that's a pretty special film. (The scene toward the end with the use of the Enya song "Exile" is a perfect scene, deeply emotional and entrancing)