johnnyweekes70
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Posts posted by johnnyweekes70
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I can't figure out how Robert Taylor ever became a big star. A wooden as the nails in the wall in front of me. For me, the only redeeming value Ivanhoe has to offer (other than a few striking images of Elizabeth Taylor) is George Sanders. Whenever that man is on screen in anything I just can't stop smiling; I enjoy his screen persona (not too far removed from his off-screen self) SO much! Guess it's the cad in me.
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I don't know about its belonging to the Turner library but my VHS of it is a Turner Entertainment release and it is definitely preceded with the old rousing Turner logo.
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It sounds like both of you had similar experiences to myself. In Canada, in early-to-mid-80s, CBC aired the old Warner Bros. catalogue (or what they picked from it) and it was that package that shaped what I still like, but have long since expand upon. I'd be so tired at school coz I just had to stay up and catch Torrid Zone or The Oklahoma Kid. I always hoped they'd show more of Cagney's early film, which they never did, other than Public Enemy. They switched to Paramount/Universal films when their contract ran out and then I got to see Madame Butterfly, The Phantom President, His Woman, Law and Order, Air Mail, and other obscure early titles from those two studios. Terrific stuff when I only had 15 channels to choose from.
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"In the days before TV I can see where remakes were sound business as you weren't likely to see the original. Now, with so many available ways to get a movie it doesn't make sense. It appears to me a lack of originality by Hollywood."
You're right, I don't get it either. That's probably why I could care less about remakes except that the constant devaluation of the past for kids is HUGELY alarming but that's a diatribe in itself.
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According to their website awhile ago, MGM (Sony) has prepared a David Lean Collection that includes Blithe Spirit, Madeleine and other new-to-DVD films. Release dates are not fixed and who knows when they'll come out. The covers looked nice, though.
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Can I Do It Til I Need Glasses may not be the worst it's certainly one of the stupidist.
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I got some DVD+RWs so qualitiy control and approvable content will be up to me!
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I commented on Golden Dawn below but I thought no one else caught it. You're bang on with your comments and I couldn't stop watching it either. An utterly ridiculous film that is certainly up there with Plan 9 From Outer Space as one of the worst films ever, and it might even top that one being a product of a major studio utilizing (wasted) decent talent. As I mentioned previously, Noah Beery's performance is pretty tough thing to swallow...
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Did anyone see Golden Dawn the other day? You want to talk about strange musical moments! Practically everything about the film is bizarre, if not downright absurd. I read a fantastically written review for the film on imdB that really made me want to see, though I didn't need as many stimulants to get through it as the reviewer suggested would be necessary. I'm sure the absurdity would be increased if the original Technicolor version were around to give it an unhealthy, faded-painting look. And what was with Noah Beery?!? Ouch!
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Did I see Eddie Albert in there, or did I miss him? Or Constance Cummings, June Haver, Simone Simon, Ruth Hussey, John Fowles, Frank Gorshin, Maria Schell, Geoffrey Keen, Bob Denver, Dan O'Herlihy, Don Adams, Porky, Lloyd Bochner and Jimmy Doohan? Did I miss Sandra Dee, or was she in there too?
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that should read: "..enjoyable piece and extremely..."
Can't stand when I send errors off into cyberspace.
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It's a very enjoyable piece and I extremely well edited. The clips are excellent and the sepia wash really draws you in. Like stargzn, the song has grown on me, but I certainly heard worse, and it does fit the images. Well done.
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Thanks for the info! I've noticed the release dates in the weekly schedule but will they and the run times also be in the monthly schedule?
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I have no problem with any of the changes except the absence of the release date and running times. I don't have the time to check the imdB or Leonard Maltin (who's often wrong and doesn't list every film) to find out how long a film is. Very necessary information, I think.
I find the new look smooth and easier to navigate. Smart new graphics, too. But I gotta have those running times.
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Apparantly, the restoration of Beyond the Rocks is going to be premiered the Association of Moving Image Archivists? (AMIA) convention in Austin, Texas on the 1st of December. Don't think I'm going to be there; I'll wait for the DVD release next year.
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I like Five Star Final because the daughter's beau's name is Weeks, and I don't often see that (even if the spelling's off).
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As I've noted in other threads, my favourite Valentino film is Cobra. The print available on DVD, from Image Entertainment, is absolutely gorgeous. Menzies' sets look staggeringly beautiful and Valentino's performance is graceful, elegant, slyly humourous and a testament to his real acting ability, often slagged by those who've only seen The Shiek, which Valentino hated doing. I'm really surprised the film isn't better known. It's a real treasure.
There a funny book called Rudolph Valentino--The Man Behind the Myth by Robert Oberfirst from 1962 that I like. There's a lot of dialogue involved in it that makes me wonder how Oberfirst can quote it all with zero citation but that was the fashion then. There's a lot interesting stuff in it, even if it's taken with a grain of salt. A lot of people don't like movie-star biographies of this sort but when I need to take a break from academic articles on Sir Philip Sidney (which I'm currently involved with but can't resist checking out what's going on here), I like to peruse those kinds of books. They're quite relaxing and not without interest.
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"It is only 90 minutes or so, but so intense, you couldn't stand it for much longer than that!"
Isn't the print TCM shows only 50 minutes? I wish it was 90 minutes; it's such a fantastic film. And dig those shots of Kerry and Crawford filmed through gauze! Reminds me of kitshy paintings you'd see in your grandmother's house, circa 1965, though much better.
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I guess my memory isn't as bad I thought. One of the greatest things about those early Italian films was the location work. Even those Shakespeare films used exterior streets and countrysides and they're fantastic to look at today. You're right about those lengthy articles appearing forty years ago; they were written by Arthur Knight and Hollis Alpert and began in the mid-60s. I remember a particularly striking picture of Carole Lombard I haven't seen since. My late father had a subscription then and after my parents passed on I cleaned their house out and wasn't thinking clearly and pitched 'em all. I didn't know about ebay then!!
I know I ripped off the Bertini and Borelli info for an article of my own in the mid 80s, so I'll have to look for it. I'd absolutely forgotten about that until now.
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I caught most of the Warren William birthday celebration last week, though the only film I hadn't previously seen was Upperworld, which I was looking forward to immensely. I wasn't let down. William's performance was SO smooth. His sequences with Dickie Moore were a pleasure to watch; very gentle and sweet. Other nice touches: his reaction when Mary Astor finds the gift he was intending to give Ginger Rogers; another reaction, when Andy Devine finds lipstick in his car, and his volcanic intensity his return home after the altercation with Rogers and Naish when he was sitting in front of the fireplace with Mary Astor. Needless to add, but I will, I was hugely impressed with his work. I don't know if Roy Del Ruth was responsible, because I've seen William overact before (and loved it), but Upperworld features William at his cool best and, as one of his last pre-codes, I think is absolutely essential viewing (along with the pictures mentioned here) to understand what the cinema lost when it no longer had a place for William's unique personality. What a shame to relegate this man to secondary leads and character parts in B movies. Airing The Secret Bride (at least, in Canada) after it was a great chance to see how the presentation of the man could be altered in just a year.
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And I don't seem to recall seeing her in Cinema Europe. A complete episode on Italian cinema of the period would have been nice but you can't have everything! I've got the DVD and, if she's in it and I've forgotten, it would probably be in the introductory episode. It's worth a look just to watch it again, it's such a superb documentary.
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Once upon a time, Playboy ran a series of articles called "The History of Sex in the Cinema." Included in these articles was a lengthy piece on Bertini and Borelli and which constituted my introduction to these ladies. At the same time, I'd just watched Bertolucci's 1900 and had to revisit it when I found out Bertolucci had convinced Bertini to appear in it. Years later, when Kino put out the video edition of The Last Diva, I found her a magnetic, fiesty personality of great interest and entirely warranting of the lauditory comments bestowed upon her in the Playboy articles. Her appearances in the two Italian Shakespeare films included on the Milestone compilation, which I think is soon to air on TCM (though not in Canada), are further evidence of Bertini's unique sexy persona. I've yet to see Assunta Spina but I can't get around to everything!
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I've always loved this film. It was actually one of the first films I ever bought on VHS when public domain product was first introduced. The sequence in which Barrymore hypnotizes Marsh across the rooftops is certainly one of the most spectacular of early sound films combining wind, creaky floorboards, the bells, culminizing in an fantastic low-angle shot of Barrymore in his chair with a cat in his lap. Wow! And whoever said Archie Mayo was a hack!
Anyone ever seen the remake with Peter O'Toole? Yikes, a great lesson in how to turn a decent, if dated, film into a piece of junk.
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It's sometimes so hard to see the films we would like to see. The lengths I had to go to get people I know in America to record films for me before we finally got TCM at the beginning of the month was ridiculous. I suppose we should be grateful for any that do come our way. Tiger Shark's a good one, so are the rest. Keep your fingers crossed they'll come your way.
Winnie The Pooh
in Family Films
Posted
I read "The Tao of Pooh" and its sequel, "The Te of Piglet." Super stuff, but not something my kids would appreciate at their ages! Too bad. I love seeing Holloway in films; he always makes me laugh and I expect him to exclaim, "Oh, bother!" at any given moment.