johnm001
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Posts posted by johnm001
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I have FIOS, and only get TCM in standard definition. The over the air channel MOVIES broadcasts in better quality. I wish FIOS would carry the TCM HD.
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johnm001, do you a Region 1 (North America) DVD of WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND?
I haven't been able to find one.
My brother found a Region Free DVD in Spain.O VENTO TAMBEIN TEM SEGREDOS.
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I suspect the line up will be Lawrence, Zhivago and Funny Girl. Nothing else.......We'll see.
that would be sad
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In the summer of '73, I spent a rather fun and interesting evening with Omar Sharif in the Half Moon Club, in Salzburg, Austria. He cousin was the head waiter at the Cafe Winkler, and he and I had become friends. He was very nice and very funny. My he rest in peace. My favorite performance of his is as Feodor Sverdlov in THE TAMARIND SEED (which TCM really should show).
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Or for South Pacific (1958)--the singing was good, but those colored filters??!! What was Joshua Logan thinking when he shot a number through orange filters???!! Or brown ones ("You Got to be Carefully Taught", if I remember right).
Right. They go through all the trouble and expense of shipping equipment, cast and crew to breathtaking locations, shooting in 70MM Todd-AO, and he destroys the beauty with garish filters and everyone stands in place and delivers musical numbers as if they were on a stage. That Hollywood producers allowed him 2 more musical films to direct, proves how inept they are at translating Broadway musicals to film.
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HOWEVER, someone brought up Vincente Minelli and I have to say that GIGI is every bit as static as MY FAIR LADY, and without the benefits of a great script- AND (its biggest fault) actors who are treated more as props and set dressing than actual living creations with feelings, thought, and motivations.
I love MY FAIR LADY, but I totally get anyone who doesn't; but, for the life of me, it's really hard to comprehend how anyone could love GIGI, (or as I like to think of it: PROSTITUTION: THE MUSICAL.)
GIGI has at least one MFL rejected song, "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight", which Eliza sang to Higgin's staff, just before the ball. It was cut while the show was still trying out, prior to Broadway opening. Minnelli's ON A CLEAR DAY... is horrible. However, at least he realizes he is making a movie, and not filming a play. He takes his camera outside and goes down a street. He understands he's working in the movies, far more than Cukor. The film needed Charles Walters or Robert Wise, or anyone else (other than Josh Logan), who understood MOTION pictures. Since you love MFL so much, you'll be happy to know they have done a "definitive" (at least from an image and sound perspective), Blu-ray, coming soon. I will not be buying it, just like all the previous home video releases.
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Does doing your own singing as opposed to having it dubbed by another hurt or help your award chances? Both Russ and George Chakeris were nominated for the male supporting actor Oscar that George won. Was that his voice we heard as Bernardo or another's and if his did that give him a edge? I know that was Sissy Spacek rather than Loretta Lynn we heard in Coal Miner's Daughter and she took home the little gold man that year. Rita Moreno needed no dubbing; she has a Tony and Grammy as well as her WWS Oscar to prove it.
I, personally, don't think that had anything to do with the WSS Oscars. Rita, is dubbed in all but, "America".
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........If you hated the film so much, it was good luck that Julie didnt play the part right? Or would you have done a 180 and loved the film then???
I've never made any contention other than I am thrilled Julie Andrews is not in the film version of MY FAIR LADY. It's abysmally directed, imo. Since you seems to know everything I've ever said about the film, I'm surprised you don't recall me saying that, many times.
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She such a favorite of mine. Up until the early 70s, I saw every film she made, in a movie theater. I have excellent Blu-rays of THE MOON-SPINNERS, IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS, SUMMER MAGIC and my favorite THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS. I have DVDs of WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND and many of her other films. She and her sister Juliet are appearing in Australia in the play, LEGENDS. I'd love for them to bring that to the States.
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But what you describe is a common failing with many, many, if not all people. That's a reason I seem to be so skeptical about this brain-play thing.
But I maybe misconstrued the OP. Though I don't think I could watch the same movie over and over as some here do. Not a criticism, I admire it. Those who do that are wonderful movie fans. I can identify doing music this way, music has much less a diminishing return than movies do, for me. I own a few movies that I think are wonderful but they seem to just sit on the shelf. I am not a collector but I like having them here because I like them so much. Maybe I'll pick one off the shelf one day. So much distraction with other things.
I've got Village of the Damned coming from Netflix. I see it's not one my favorite genres so there might be a problem. John, if I don't like it I won't come back here and excoriate it or anything, that's not why I'm getting it, just curious because someone (you, in this case) is so keen on it.. I'm open-minded about trying out what others like.
laffite
I certainly hope you ordered the original and not the remake!
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It's been a long time since TCM showed 'Suspiria' (1977).
That'd be a terrific October treat.
I love SUSPIRIA beyond all reason.
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If she owned it she would've played it on the screen..........
If the "public" was so angry, why was My Fair Lady such a huge hit and a winner of 8 Academy Awards??? If they were angry, you'd think they would have stayed away. I've no doubt people who saw the original show weren't happy, but then again I'm sure many people who didn't see it, didnt care. I know a certain poster here hates everything about the film and never misses a chance to state the fact, 50 years later. Obviously not everyone did or does. Few Broadway stars ever got the chance to repeat their roles. But MFL for some reason is a special case. (Of course, I know the reason why..........)
Actually, the public did sort of stay away. MY FAIR LADY was a phenomenon on stage, and its cast album was the biggest selling album (any genre) of all-time, at the time the film was made. Jack Warner predicted that his film would be the biggest movie of all-time, and considering the success of the stage show and the cast album, it should have been. It wasn't even the biggest film of the year, and it's cost was high, so it's box-office net wasn't all the tremendous. Yes, it was a hit film, by any standard, just nowhere near what they anticipated. People definitely stayed away. As for Oscars, they aren't an indication of anything real. The real issue with MY FAIR LADY is not its cast, but its direction, which, despite what the Academy says, is abysmal.
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I think one notable difference between Lucille Ball in MAME, and Audrey Hepburn in MY FAIR LADY is that, at least Hepburn excels in her non singing scenes. I know it was easy for her to play the lady elegant, and she's terrific in those scenes, but where Audrey sparkles is in playing Eliza at her grubbiest and cockniest: she is terrific and does as good a job as any great actress could in a role that is a 180 from pretty much everything she had done before. Even in the non singing parts of MAME (at least the ones I saw) Ball just seems listless stilted and uncomfortable.
Audrey is good enough in her own right that you can at least kinda sorta overlook the Julie Andrews thing. (if not entirely forgiving it)
...Vanessa Redgrave in CAMELOT is another story.
We'll have to agree to disagree on this one!
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I dont get that station, unfortunately...........
It's an over-the-air channel, so it is available via cable or without. You should check to make sure.
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Originally, the film was going to be cast without any "stars". Then, the Mirisches got cold feet and said that one of the leads needed to be an established star. Thus Wood. Robert Wise's original choices for Tony and Maria were Keir Dullea and Barbara Luna. Dullea, refused to cut his hair for the role, and Luna was out when Wood was in. Years later, I sat next to Keir Dullea at a charity dinner, and asked him about the hair business. He confirmed, saying he was terrified of actually doing the role and used it as an excuse to get out of it. He didn't appear to regret it, though I don't know that, for sure. Beymer was cast, because Wise liked his audition. He was slated to be dubbed, from the beginning.
I quoted myself to add that they also dubbed Russ Tamblyn in "The Jet Song", after the fact. Tamblyn recorded it and sang to his own track when they filmed the number, but Tucker Smith who is also is in the film and sings, "Cool", dubbed him. Saul Chaplin (associate producer and in charge of all the music choices), was funny that way. He had an expectation of how something should sound, and would choose to dub to get it. Although, accordingly to Tamblyn, he never heard that anyone was unhappy with his take on the song, and would have, gladly redone it, to give them what they wanted. Chaplin did the same thing to Rita Moreno, who is only singing in "America".
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okay, I get why they choose actors like Wood or Hepburn for their 'star power' rather than singing talent, but then why choose Richard Beymer, who was unknown, not terribly handsome and ALSO couldn't sing??
(always wondered)
Originally, the film was going to be cast without any "stars". Then, the Mirisches got cold feet and said that one of the leads needed to be an established star. Thus Wood. Robert Wise's original choices for Tony and Maria were Keir Dullea and Barbara Luna. Dullea, refused to cut his hair for the role, and Luna was out when Wood was in. Years later, I sat next to Keir Dullea at a charity dinner, and asked him about the hair business. He confirmed, saying he was terrified of actually doing the role and used it as an excuse to get out of it. He didn't appear to regret it, though I don't know that, for sure. Beymer was cast, because Wise liked his audition. He was slated to be dubbed, from the beginning.
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Would love to see The Chalk Garden again. Havent seen it on tv in many years.
Saw it on MOVIES channel, not too long ago.
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In what films did Natalie do her own singing?
She did her own signing for WEST SIDE STORY, then was dubbed by Marni Nixon. I'm talking about her voice on the songs in WSS. Nixon's voice is better, with better intonation, but, I actually believe that all they needed to do was "sweeten" her voice, not completely replace it.
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Why is it so hard to believe that people could recite all the dialog from a movie? In the case of VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED, for example, I had already seen it, 16 times while it was in theaters in 1960/61. I've seen it, countless times, since. Why shouldn't I be able to recite the dialog? Also, from 1959 until 1983 (and a couple of times, since), I was a regional stage actor. So, it was my job to memorize and recite lines. Still, I think anyone who has seen a film enough times should be able to recite the dialog. I can do that with several stage plays and musicals, as well.
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Credit should be given to Ball for wanting to create an appealing piece of family entertainment at a time when more adult fare dominated cinema.
That naturally leads to the question of why so much family entertainment of the time, such as Fleischer's DOCTOR DOLITTLE, was so bad. It seems family entertainment did not get back on its feet until 1977, when STAR WARS came along. I personally suspect it was because so much of it was addressed to a kindergarten mentality, whereas SW appealed to a more developed mentality
It did????!!!!
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LOL. I hadnt heard about the Ball taking notes story, but I did know most of the other stuff. Ball had Kahn fired. Some said she thought Kahn would upstage her. Unsure if Kahn ever went public as to what the reasons were. Didnt a bio on her just come out? Maybe some reader could comment (Kahn, I mean)
I had heard they had to piece together Ball's singing. She couldnt sustain a phrase or hit the right key. For that reason they couldnt release the soundtrack in stereo as planned.........Wonder why she wasnt dubbed? Did she have it in her contract they had to use her voice? (LOL) Am sure they regretted that if so........
There was such an enormous backlash when Audrey Hepburn got the role of Eliza, that from that point forward, women stars were very apprehensive to be dubbed in movie musicals. People, today, would find it difficult to believe how major a news item Hepburn's casting was. None of it positive. I am sure that is what was behind Lucy's not allowing herself to be dubbed. I even recall her addressing it on talk show, prior to MAME's release. I think it was THE MERV GRIFFIN SHOW. I also remember her stating that Lansbury had, in effect, turned the movie role down, stating that she preferred to work on the stage. Which, of course, was not true. I don't believe the bit about Lucy taking notes in the wings.
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ps- it's crazy it cost so much money to make, there's just no reason for it, it's a pretty intimate story told on mostly one set, you could've done it for half as much as they did.
Still, as good as it might now look on home video, it looked cheap when it was released in theaters, at the end of the roadshow era, where we were used to seeing films projected in 70MM and 6-track stereophonic sound. 35MM mono, just didn't cut it.
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I tried to find it on youtube and could not, but there is a scene deleted from the theatrical release of JAWS where a gaggle of idiot fishermen in about a dozen boats are fighting one another to try and catch the shark and collect the bounty. It's funny and well-edited and an ironic musing on just who exactly should be regarded as the real destructive force of the story: the shark or man.
I saw JAWS during its original theatrical release, about a dozen times, starting with a real, surprise sneak preview during a February evening showing of EARTHQUAKE (JAWS didn't open until the following summer). I never saw it on television, or any video release of the film. However, there definitely was a scene where all the bounty hunters were piled into various boats and Hooper is trying to reason with them. In fact, it is the scene when Hooper arrives. There is dialog between the men, in short snippets. Are you saying that this scene was not shown at the TCM theatrical showing, or that there is an extended version of this scene?
Name The Film Favourites Of Which You Can Do A Brain Re-Play Any Time
in General Discussions
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Not that I think the remake is a bad film. Just not in the same league as the original.