movieman1957

Jack Lemmon was a pretty good pianist.

I saw "The Tall Target" when it was on and I thought it a pretty good picture. Dick Powell was good and they did a good thing leaving Lincoln himself nearly out of the story. It's covers a little known story regarding Abe. I don't know how accurate the details are but it makes for a good story.

Good morning all. After another typical Chris day and after waking up in the middle of the night I decided to watch "The Secret of Convict Lake." I think I saw it years ago and frankly I didn't like it as well as I remember it. (Maybe the day colored it badly for me.) I found the whole thing a little too far fetched and didn't care much for the characters. Mostly, I was upset with the women. Jeanette Nolan's character was kind of a format for the whole group. She looked tough and sounded tough but give her a minute and she caves with hardly a push. The idea that the men could overcome the conditions without provisions and stumble into a village that just happens to know Glenn Ford's nemesis is the first stretch. The women start out tough enough and if they had stayed that way I would have liked it better. But the conflict wears out about half way through. But Rachel (Ann Dvorak) starts a fire, who would be that dumb, and because the men help out things ease up. She's lonely and before long the main weasel, Zachary Scott, is all over her and that's okay with her. The young Barbara is infatuated because the youngest convict smiles at her and the lovely Gene Tierney eases up on Glenn Ford pretty quickly. And she does this despite the fact Ford has sworn to kill her fiance. Another problem is that all the men go off in winter leaving all the women and children behind to fend for themselves. I would have thought someone would stay behind to help. That is not to say that they couldn't take care of themselves but they almost couldn't. And it turns out no to matter because none of them could shoot worth anything, At the end the wonderful Ethel Barrymore says "We ain't without sin." Well, she did her best to hold them together but she couldn't quite make it work. She's right though. If the women had been true to their standing it would have been a different movie. They gave in too easy because a few men paid attention to them. Too bad. I'd like to think if they remade it today it would be grittier and the women would have remained tough through. They might have come to the same conclusion for Ford but it would have been a harder road.

Speaking of Rudy Vallee I saw him in "I Remember Mama" yesterday and I wondered how could they possibly make that film today. Well, they wouldn't but I can't imagine the characters like that in a movie now.

Wayne and Hepburn together are about the only reason to watch it. They are great. The rest of the movie, fair. It's hardly "The African Queen." Sir Francis is thinking in the time he watches "Bridge" he could watch two other movies. He'll get to it.

It's great because there is nothing ordinary about it. I Am The Walrus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG73Pk1yUj8

*and partly because of all the movies that are sent to me by a mutual friend.* Must be a nice guy.

I do kind of the sane thing with my recorded DVDs. I put them by genre in colored envelopes but then file them alphabetically by title. The only exceptions to that are the group of films by Harold Lloyd or Keaton because I have several short films on each DVD. On my bought DVDs I do those aphabetically by title unless they are part of a series and then I'll group them all together. I'm not in the stratosphere you and Sir Francis are in with totals so mine are pretty easy to keep up.

I saw it a long time ago but thought it was Dana Andrews instead of Ford. Glad you liked it. I'll get to it in the next few days.

"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"

Good evening Sir Francis: I love being talked about. It's rare. I've not seen "The Tamirand Seed." I don't mind a well thought out dialog but we don't need to be talked to death. I do love John Barry. His late music calms me. Two of Miss G's films, "Somewhere In Time" and "Out of Africa" have lovely scores that, for me, are better than the films. Now, back to you.

He mentions Buddy Ebsen's work and at the time I wasn't familiar with his movie history but knowing him as Jed Clampett and then following him on to Barnaby Jones was surprise enough, In "I Dream of Jeannie" think of the people we know that made appearances there. I remember Barton MacLane played one of the bigshots. Whit Bissell had a role in "The Time Tunnel." George Tobias in "Bewtiched." And other supporting players scattered about the TV land (especially westerns.) It was the reverse for me. It was watching old movies where I would say "I've seen that guy on TV." I certainly had no idea of their movie work.

Okay, for pure fun these are the films I like to watch. In no particular order - Gunfight At The OK Corral Babe My Man Godfrey Easy Living Angel and The Badman To Kill A Mockingbird Born Yesterday I Remembe Mama Silverado Sleeper And like The Divine Miss G anything by Stan and Ollie and the Marx Brothers and I'll throw in any silent from Keaton. There could be more, many more.

*Any Marx Bros. movie* *Any Laurel & Hardy movie* Be still my heart.

You and Eugenia already beat me to some great tunes. About half of your list could easily go on mine. Eugenia pinched my favorite Harrison tune with "If I Needed Someone." "Two of Us," (Sorry, the video and audio aren't quite in sync.) Edited by: movieman1957 on Jun 9, 2012 10:04 AM Edited by: movieman1957 on Jun 9, 2012 10:11 AM

know it's technically not a Western but I'd recommend Kevin Kostner's Hatfields and McCoys that's running now on Lifetime East this week. They seem to have gone to great lengths to make it look like 1800s Kentucky and West Virginia and it's as wild and violent as anywhere on the other side of the Mississippi. I read it was shot in Romania.

I saw "Wells Fargo" with Joel McCrea. It's a big western from 1937. McCrea stars with his wife Frances Dee. They make a fine pair. It's obvious their chemistry carries over to the screen. At least it does for me. It's a story about McCrea who plays the main set up man for Wells Fargo. It follows him from New York to San Francisco and the many years it took to make it work. McCrea ages quite a bit in the film and succeeds best as the energetic young star of the company. As the years go he has married Dee who is a Southerner and an interesting part of the film revolves around the time of the Civil War. It's a big story told in a big way. I enjoyed it. It was the 97 minute version.

From the unusual first chord to the way they trade verse and bridge it's a grand song with an equally grand finish. "A Hard Day's Night."

And with any version of this story there is one of the great, long saloon fights in westerns.

And they carried it out into the street where they were immediately run over.

And another..... Fine work on the drums and bass. "Rain" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPjDMZiuhbQ

A rather mature lyric from McCartney. And a lovely French Horn. For No One. BTW, you and Eugenia already hit on several. I'll mention those when I post some more. Edited by: movieman1957 on Jun 3, 2012 1:12 AM

Be careful when reading, too fast and instead of *Beautiful gypsy girl is loved by a dashing squire and a simple country parson.* You see - *beautiful gypsy girl is loved by a dashing squirrel....* And I don't even drink.

Good Evening Sir Francis: Unusual list. Having relatively few to compare the two biggest surprises that I am familiar with are your rankings of "The Big Store" and "Mr. Blandings." For me "The Big Store" is the weakest of the brothers films. There are a couple of good gags and some of the music early on is fine. Then comes "Tenement Symphony." Oh my. I'm not one to usually criticize music but there's a proper time and place for it. My biggest problem is that it goes on and on and on. "Mr. Blandings" is not a great comedy but I always thought it pleasant and in some ways that somebody probably went through that hell. I thought it a nice bookend to "Bachelor and The Bobby Soxer." "Remember The Night" is a lovely film. It's warm and funny. When they get to Fred's old home for Christmas I melt. It is what Christmas with family should be - gentle, unhurried, accepting and full of love. I came to it just several years ago and it's a favorite. "True Grit" sounds about right. Wayne is great but Darby and Campbell couldn't be more annoying. I don't remember much about "What Price Glory" except that Dailey and Cagney yelled at each other most of the film.

Favorite Beatles recording - "Strawberry Fields Forever." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTXyoPVOUso A song that has a back story as interesting as the recording itself. A testament to their ingenuity and collaboration with themselves and George Martin.