therealfuster
-
Posts
914 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Never
Posts posted by therealfuster
-
-
It was so interesting reading about your fabulous collection and the origins of your hobby, with your uncle's expertise guiding you!
I remember that movie"Miss Grant Takes Richmond" as being very funny, but have never seen any memorabilia from it, so you are lucky to have that.
Your poster collection is marvelous. I just was given a box of old film stuff, from some friend of my aunt's who regularly buys up hundreds of old stills at a time from some place in New York, and he wants me to identify all the people in the photos, as they are unmarked. He then resells them, or sends them off for autographs in SASE's.
In return for the favor, he lets me keep any photos that I want, so I am taking all ten of the ones with Grant Williams in his toga, from "The Incredible Shrinking Man" and I really like the one with the giant cat attacking him.
You have some really classic posters and lobby cards, Moviejoe and thanks for sharing!
-
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Don Siegel
-
all the classic renditions of the work of Dickens, by David Lean, who really remains true to the story and characters.
I also like the Kubrick adaption of Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" even though Nabokov may have had concerns. Translating that book to the screen was difficult and the recent Jeremy Irons version was more letter perfect in the casting of the female nymphet, but the older film is rather fascinating.
This is not a ancient classic, like a novel by Victor Hugo, but I think the film of "The Princess Bride" is amazing, since the book was thought to be unfilmable for years.
-
I know they have shown the Edgar Ulmer film, "The Strange Woman" with Louis and Hedy Lamarr.
A few other ones with Hayward that I'd enjoy seeing again are "Ladies In Retirement", "And Then There Were None", and "Repeat Performance" which is a good noir with Joan Leslie.
-
there is misinformation all over the Internet, and even on places like IMDb. Using it to just refresh one's memories is a good tactic, but using it whole cloth and quoting it, can often show up ones who don't know the difference between James Dean, the king of angst and Jimmy Dean, the sausage king, or that Michael Curtiz did not pronounce his name like the surname of Tony Curtis.
Yes, if you find out more about London, let me know.
I do have a really pretty good source book at home, called something like the Encyclopedia of Western Films, and I shall go home and read up on London, so I can fill in my appalling knowledge gap!
-
creates fertile grounds for the birth of anarchy in art....like rock and roll, and TCM shares one of the best films of the r'n'r generation period, with "Go, Johnny, Go" scheduled for this Sunday, June 5th at 10:30pm.
A subgenre to musicals in general, all to itself are the specialized films which fostered the rock and roll movement worldwide and capitalized on them. Many of the films have the real revolutionary rock and rollers of the two most impressive decades, but some 1950's and 1960's films were watered down versions of the real form of expression, much like white cover records by Pat Boone type singers, were little like the Little Richard or doo-**** groups and their original recordings.
"Go, Johnny, Go" stars Alan Freed, the dean of rock disc jockeys and the original Moondog Matinee man [as honored in title by one of the best albums by The Band] as...himself, in search of new talent. Freed, as most here probably know, was the man who played what were known as race records in Cleveland, to a primarily white audience of teens and young adults, eager to escape the Hit Parade of their parents. This film released in 1959, after the first wave of such films was over, has some of the heavyweights of the movement, in Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran [the guy singing on the tv in "The Girl Can't Help It" and the hero of both the Who and Rod Stewart, who died young in a taxi accident while on tour in England with Gene Vincent] Jackie Wilson, the Flamingos, the Cadillacs, Harvey Fuqua and the only screen appearance of a young Richie Valens. If he looks little like Lou Diamond Phillips, don't be dismayed, because his presentation is still revelatory and he presaged the Tex-Mex, and Hispanic music coterie by decades.
This film also stars pop idol Jimmy Clanton ["Venus in Blue Jeans"] and perky songster Jo Ann Campbell, but they are fortunately surrounded by the real rock icons of the period, to dispel the saccharine aftertaste. Though Freed is no actor, it still is interesting to see the true man behind the image, and the fellow who was taken down by the Payola scandals of the 1950's, instead of others like Dick Clark, because he represented the real rock music of the airwaves, and not the prefabricated kind that was beginning to proliferate by the late 1950's. Though he was guilty of Payola practices [as were many who got off free and clear] and was later blacklisted... some music historians see him as the whipping boy and sacrificial victim, of political forces and an industry out to stop the music. None of that backstory should ruin your enjoyment of the great performances in this film, and though the acting in between segments is mostly laughable, just wait for the musical performances to be rewarded. There lies the energy of the rock and roll movement.
Though there were stirrings of a musical revolution apparent in other films of the early Fifties regarding the rock and roll phenomenon, the first inkling was to be found in "The Blackboard Jungle" even though Bill Haley was more a country performer, to begin with...yet his anthem "Rock Around the Clock" was heard round the world. The next sign of impending doom for people like Snooky Lanson and Dorothy Collins, was when the Queen asked to see the Sam Katzman film, "Rock Around the Clock" in 1956, instead of the planned movie, "The Caine Mutiny". Other early classics in this new wave were "Don't Knock the Rock", "Rock Pretty Baby" and "The Girl Can't Help It" which was an impressively conceived concoction from Frank Tashlin, starring Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell, and Edmond O'Brien, but the rock greats were not given short shrift, and were an integral part of the clever storyline. This film contains classic performances by Gene Vincent ["Be Bop a Lula"], Fats Domino ["Blue Monday"] Little Richard ["Ready Teddy"] and Eddie Cochran "Twenty Flight Rock"] plus even has songbird Julie London in a bit, just for the adults in the audience.
Elvis films being a thing unto themself, they proliferated during this time, starting with his films with bonafide hit songs, to later soundtracks which bore little resemblance to the musical rock genre which had begun the decade, and were typical drive-in fare. By the time "High School Confidential" came out in 1958, the genre had almost reached its zenith, but the appearance of Jerry Lee Lewis singing on a flatbed truck remains iconic, even though the film about narcs infiltrating a high school dope ring has now become cliched. But watching Russ Tamblyn pretending to be a high school student, living with his "aunt" Mamie Van Doren, and getting to see John Drew Barrymore and a sleazy Jackie Coogan make it worth the price of admission.
By the time the Twist arrived on the scene in 1960, the rock and roll genre had been eroded almost beyond belief. It took the British Invasion groups like the Beatles, the Stones, the Animals, the Yardbirds and the Mersey and Birmingham sound to revitalize the music. Britain had its own spate of rock influenced youth films, like "Expresso Bongo" and "It's Trad Dad" but the American music was only brought back to the USA, in the unadulterated versions of the early music admired by young British fans, who sought import records from their heroes. American performers like Buddy Holly, Berry, Little Richard and Eddie Cochran, were idolized overseas, but had been replaced in the States with plastic people promoted on American Bandstand like Fabian, and Edd Byrnes of "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb" fame. Both are fine actors but have little musical talent or connections to rock music though their widely marketed music sold millions. Nevertheless even during this period described well by Don McLean in the "Day the Music Died" there was still the occasional foray into rock inventiveness , even in movies like the lighthearted "Beach Party" which did feature the sounds of the great Dick Dale and the Del-Tones.
With the dawn of the day of films like "A Hard Day's Night", "Help", and "Catch Us If You Can" and the appearance of the Yardbirds with both Jimmy Page AND Jeff Beck appearing in a crucial part of the film, "Blow-Up", the harmony of shared music between America and Britain had come full circle, and opened up a period in films with the rock soundtrack being dominant, with films like Antonioni's "Zabriskie Point" being more sought after for its soundtrack with Pink Floyd, and for the obligatory concert films, like "Woodstock" and "Monterey Pop". But all things must pass, and by the time of the Altamount concert, called "Gimme Shelter" the flower child generation on film came to a screeching halt, with the deadly force used by Hell's Angels caught on camera trying to intimidate the crowd, and Jagger a mere puppet on stage to their games.
With a few dying gasps like the "Concert for Bangladesh" the rock movie genre took on a political, and sometimes less self indulgent stance, but the time of anarchic rock on film seemed to be passing into the mist. Occasionally there were slight revivals of the form, as in "Let the Good Times Roll" but most were embarrassing exercises in nostalgia.
Some of the best rock and roll related, or rock performance films to look for, besides the above mentioned, are in my opinion:
Alice's Restaurant, Bird on a Wire, Bunny Lake is Missing, Catch My Soul, Celebration at Big Sur, Cream's Last Concert, Don't Look Back, The T.A.M.I. Show, Harlem Rock'n'Roll, Jailhouse Rock, Jamboree, Jimi Plays Berkeley, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Medicine Ball Caravan, O Lucky Man!, Performance, Rock and Roll Circus, Sympathy for the Devil, That'll Be That Day, Tommy, Two Lane Blacktop, Wattstax, Zacariah, and 200 Motels.
What are your favorite rock and roll films from its heyday, of 1955 through the middle 1970's and up to the present, and which films would you appreciate TCM showing on their schedule in the future?
-
this thread on grand character actors, and noted the discussion on Jack Elam and his "glass" eye.
Unless he lied about this, I don't think Elam had a glass eye. As I recall when seeing him interviewed back many years ago, he said his eye was injured when he was a kid in a fight, by something like a pen or pencil, and the eye was blind, but it had never been replaced with a glass eye. I never thought it looked like a glass eye, but just one that was similar to that lazy eye condition, which seems to move around independently in the socket and gave him that eerie, frozen stare.
This reminds me of the Sandy Duncan glass eye rumor, which finally made it on to some Urban Legend websites. Just like Jack, she was blind in the eye which a tumor had been found behind, but did not have a glass eye, though many thought she did.
We could move on to the Urban Legend about Jayne Mansfield being decapitated...but maybe its best to drop this topic now.
As for your choices like Agnes Moorehead, I just saw her in that silly film on TCM with Virginia Weidler the other day about autograph hunters, and even in that Agnes shined!
I would add to your fine list some of my favorites like Tom Tully, Walter Connolly, and Franklin Pangborn.
-
If you had your druthers, who would you pick as the best male and female hosts for a movie channel, to introduce the films?
And how did you feel about Nick Clooney, when he was on AMC? Too much nepotism, or did you like him? I know many people who loved Dorian but did not like Clooney, but maybe they just disliked George or did not enjoy Nick when he was on the news on Cincinnati.
-
about an edit button.
Which is an influence for Scorsese...the Powell film or Jeanne D'Arc? I would have thought the latter, being that he reflects so much in interviews about his Jesuit days and schooling, but it is probably the former.
MIS, your Movie Museum/Studio sounds wonderful. And no, I did not get any of the TCM merch, but it sounds like you picked up some great items!
"Golden Age Shower Curtains"? Well, that makes me think that someone should produce a Golden Age Table Cloth, and it should have all the MGM stars that were filmed eating at that giant luncheon, that one sees on TCM occasionally. I bet that would sell real good...
Thanks for movie poster website info!
-
IMDb says London did NOT appear on "The Great Train Robbery" but other sources say he did.
What do you believe?
-
to say...that while I am a big fan of your choices of Zucco, Atwill, Gabby and Brennan, all of whom I've seen loads of times...I had to go look up Tom London to get a handle on his career.
What I read makes me realize I have a major gap in my knowledge of Western films, which obviously is as big as the Grand Canyon. Tom London...I read, died in 1963 in his 80's, and as you state, acted in more movies than any other player according to my source. Started in "The Great Train Robbery" in 1903 and then never lost any steam, appearing in hundreds of cowboy oaters, and also starred for Universal under his real name, Leonard Clapham! Sure are a lot of movie cowboys named Leonard, what with Leonard Slye also. He also starred at Pathe, and did supports as badmen and sheriffs to numerous cowboy stars and in serials too. This says that High Noon" was his last big western but that he did finish his career in 1959 in "The Lone Texan".
You're the expert, so if any of this data on London is wrong...please correct it, and thanks so much for bringing him to my attention!
-
all the way!
I was amazed the first time I saw "Rebel Without a Cause" many years ago in widescreen, because after seeing it a million times in the cropped version on tv, I could never see what Jim Stark was kicking, after the fight with his dad and mom, and the chickie run. Finally I noted in glorious widescreen that it was a portrait of his granny, since it had been chopped off in the non-widescreen versions and was unviewable.
I guess some people don't like the bands at top and bottom, but I just get used to them and like the more panoramic view, and some films just look so much better that way. I will admit that though most widescreen films really utilized the concept well, there are a few in which it does not seem to make much difference.
Just as there are good, well thought out 3-D films with effective 3-D, and some films which just cashed in on the novelty, but the actual effects are minimal.
-
Mickey Gubitosi is looking for work.
Imagine the intros that he could do, about working with Bogey, Alfalfa and others. What do you think about having him and what set would you use for his intros?
And don't say the one from "I Was a Fugitive from a Chain Gang"...
I always enjoyed watching him on talk shows, discussing his career and old stuff about the Red Ryder films et cetera, so you know they would not have to write any intros for him.
Even if they'd want him to use them and not speak extemporaneously.
-
I'm guessing that what you saw was not a movie, but a television show from the 1980's, which was based on the old "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" format.
The original episode called "Final Escape" was shown on the "Alfred Hitchcock Hour" in the early 1960's and starred tv alumnus from "77 Sunset Strip" and later the movie "Grease", Edd Byrnes as a convicted bank robber named John, who is sentenced to many years behind bars. He befriends an alcoholic inmate named Doc [Robert Keith, father of Brian Keith] who is in charge of the infirmary AND the burials for the dead inmates. Doc offers John a deal, if he will finance an operation for Doc's granddaughter, then Doc will hide John inside the coffin of the next inmate that dies, and after it is buried....Doc will go dig it up after the guards leave, and John can escape.
Unfortunately, when John wakes up in the coffin after taking some medication to keep him still during burial, he removes the shroud and realizes that after getting in the coffin that was prearranged, that it was Doc in the coffin, who will no NOT be coming to dig him up!
This episode was recreated in the 1980's for the new show based on Hitchcock's original series, and starred Season Hubley as a female inmate, using the basically same plan to escape.
This idea may have been used on other shows, but I definitely saw this first used on the AHP show from the 1960's. Hope this helps!
-
from the early 1950's, has lots of European scenery set in rural France, as does just about any Fellini film, that is set in modern day Italy. You could also look for "Roman Holiday" with Peck and Hepburn as that has some nice scenes in Rome, as does "Three Coins in the Fountain".
Even that recent Matt Damon/Jude Law film of the Patricia Highsmith novel, "The Talented Mr. Ripley" has some wonderful European vistas on view.
Good luck!
-
for all the fascinating information and the movie poster book title.
You have a marvelous collection, and even more so with the wonderful autographed posters.
I've seen "Letty Linton" but have never seen even a repro of a poster. I did think Joan looked fabulous in that film, even though the clothing was not as typical of her, as that of her later films. Yes, I hope I will get to see more European posters or from Belgium, before I croak and end up with Frederic March and Lionel Barrymore.
-
unwept, unhonored and unsung.... may I salute some of Hollywood's finest character actors!
Excuse my paraphrasing of the lines by Sir Walter Scott, but I come to bring tribute to those actors, whose names are often unknown to the general public, but who movie fans here will know.
First up...my nomination for the best impersonation of a Brit by an American, goes to veritable giant of character parts, Ian Wolfe...who was in oodles of films from the early 1930's up to 1990, when he appeared in "Dick Tracy". Who can forget his winning bits in big films like "Mutiny on the Bounty" [as the stool pigeon, Maggs] "Foreign Correspondent", "Mrs. Miniver", or "Random Harvest" and parts in smaller budget films like the Sherlock Holmes series, where he played the antique shop owner in "SH in Washington" and Amos in "The Pearl of Death" with Rondo Hatton as The Creeper.
Born in 1896, in Illinois Ian Wolfe, who played so many priests and clergymen onscreen, offscreen was a scholar in Comparitive Religion and Philosophy and was quite the outdoorsman, even tacking scaling Mt. Whitney, though his film persona never portrayed him as so athletically inclined. Married for most of his career to Aussie born actress, Elizabeth Schroder, Ian Wolfe personified the unsung actor who contributes so much to the films in which he appears, but who is not given the acclaim or awards due to his non-starring roles, magnificent though they be.
Often playing butlers [as in the Falcon series] or librarians, undertakers, doctors, ministers, clerks, justices of the peace, or professors in films, due to his incipient intelligence and demeanor...he was equally adept at playing comedy in films and in countless tv sitcoms like "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Barney Miller", "Soap" and "All in the Family" and even "Cheers" in his later years.
Quite adept at playing passive-aggressive type individuals on film, who can later show their cruel, merciless or just nasty, diabolical side with one glinty stare of his piercing eyes, Ian Wolfe was usually employed in five to six movies yearly during his heyday, an attestation to how in demand he was at the big studios, to provide believable background characterizations. Other films in which he appeared are "The Song of Bernadette", "The White Cliffs of Dover", "The Scarlet Claw", "Love Letters", "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House", "Johnny Belinda", "They Live By Night", "Julius Caesar", "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", "Rebel Without a Cause" [who can forget the planetarium scene!] and his great turn in "Witness for the Prosecution" and these are but a few of the major films which were graced by Ian Wolfe.
The floor is now open for nominations for your favorite "unwept, unhonored and unsung" actors or actresses that you think deserve some attention, even if belatedly....
-
that an autographed pic of Old Blue Eyes is quite collectible.
How did you get it, if you don't mind me asking?
-
I did try to go to that website but at the time could not get to it, as I recall.
A Tinseltown Mount Rushmore? Great idea, and I look forward to seeing people's nominations for the heads they'd like to see carved in stone. One who is a natural, is the Old Stoneface himself.....Keaton. Another great stoneface would be Virginia O'Brien who was so hilarious singing deadpan in all those war years movies.
You may be absolutely right about Renoir crying at "The Searchers" and I had not heard that, but I find it interesting and thanks for reporting it. The person I was recalling was a critic I think, and I'm sort of remembering the name Bosley Crowther.
Give me that Keaton website again if you are able...and thanks!
-
to find another Beryl Mercer fan!
I think I first saw her when I was little, watching that Shirley Temple pic, "The Little Princess" which cemented my admiration for her and the great Sybil Jason.
Along with Beryl and the apoplectic Brophy, could you persuade TCM to add in a documentary on Maude Eburne, who was so great in "Poppy" and other films. I'd also enjoy seeing something on Edna May Oliver, whose life has always intrigued me. TCM did do that nice in between movie slots bit on her, with some fine commentary. And Una O'Connor would be a fine subject along with any other Abbey Theatre graduates who got in films in the US.
A person who I think would be a great subject for a documentary would be Jack Oakie, who was in movies for such a long time, always supplying laughs and amiable support for the stars, as the world's oldest freshman.
But let's face it, for a documentary they probably look for more heavyweights, so I'd nominate Jack Lemmon. Talented beyond belief, with dramatic acting chops to rival his comedic acting abilities, he could also sing, compose and play the piano beautifully, and was just wonderful in so many movies. I think his film contributions are legendary and he is deserving of a documentary.
Another person who I'd love to see an entire bio on, would be Gloria Grahame. From her humble early appearances in films like "It's a Wonderful Life" as Violet, to major pivotal and quintessential performances as the femme fatale in noirs like "Human Desire", along with her married life to Nick Ray, and later marriage to her stepson, she lived an incredible life. They could go into depth about her lip obsession, and exactly what kind of face tissues or cotton balls, she used to stuff in her upper lip in films, that would come out when she was kissing costarring men, to their dismay. All in all, her story would be one worth seeing...in my opinion.
I've enjoyed other documentaries I've seen on TCM, and particularly the one on Marlena Dietrich.
Your suggestions of Burt Lancaster is a good one, because of his smarts in getting his own production company and taking control of his career. I'd also enjoy seeing one on John Gilbert.
-
and speaking of Clifton Webb, had you heard that some people says his ghost still makes appearances at his old abode?
I'm hoping it is not in the shower, with that time saving and efficiency expert routine that he taught his children in "Cheaper By the Dozen", but perhaps more of a dance routine from his old musicals.
If one is going to be haunted by anyone, I think having it be Astaire would be nice though, as Clifton could be rather caustic and might give one a tongue lashing nightly.
-
and he's really grown on me.
I like his very straightforward intros, and think he does a great job, and I really like that set, with that glass wall with the shadowed bottles behind it, or whatever it is.
I did like Bob Dorian a lot, on AMC. He was great and I enjoyed listening to him. No matter who does these things, it is obvious that there is some script that is used by the hosting participants, although it would be really fun to see some people just wing it, and talk about a film without having any preparatory notes, or any research done on it...and just hear their off the cuff thoughts about a film that they like or admire.
-
your other post about how your father..I think it was, showed you "Casablanca" and ignited your interest in classic films.
That's great that they even got you a poster to celebrat the movie. Sometimes I think it is better to just have the reproduction, as I would be so upset if I had an original and anything happened to it. I do have a few Brigitte Bardot posters from France, and one fell off the wall once during a slight earthquake, and I was so worried it might be damaged. Luckily it wasn't but having rare collectibles that can get damaged, can be unnerving.
Thanks and I look forward to reading more of your posts!
-
I'd suggest like the say in the Wizard of Oz, it is always best to begin at the beginning.
Or close to it...so get the silent with Lon Chaney called "The Unknown". It is scary as all get out, and TCM shows it occasionally, and it is on the Lon Chaney collection dvd. Joan plays the daughter of the carnival, who has an aversion to men pawing her, and Chaney plays Alonzo the Armless, who is in love with Joan.
She looks very little like the later day Joan, with the big eyebrows and "Rain" inspired lips of Sadie Thompson.
All Joan's films are fun to watch, and I also would recommend for a real Joan fix, the film called "Queen Bee" and perhaps "Autumn Leaves" with Cliff Robertson.
Paintings in movies
in Information, Please!
Posted
Watson-Guptill always makes such great books!
I am now off to look up this artist named Robert Brackman, that you were so kind to mention...and see if that book is still in print or on Ebay maybe.
I'm wondering if the same man painted all the work in the film....