laffite

Blue silver spoon

>laffite, I did try the copy thing, but it was too late, my entire post was completely gone in a matter of seconds. My own fault for not copying it first, or being smart and composing in Word. This type of failure has only happened to me a couple of times, though I know others who have it as standard operating procedures! Silly me, of course you would know all that, sorry for the sermon. The software can be a post-eating monster. I notice since I've been back that it has changed. It doesn't seem to like apostrophes, ellipses, or quotation marks, they don't seem to show up. Or could that be something to do at my end here? I don't seem to notice it elsewhere. And there is no way to preview a post. Occasionally, with a long ramble for instance, it helps to know what it's going to look like. 1, "yes" 2. yes ... yes 3. he's In (1) above, the word should be surrounded by quotation marks In (2) there should be ellipses between the two words In (3) there should be an apostrophe between e and s EDIT: Gosh, everything worked! Sometimes these have not worked in the past. Okay, never mind, I'm confused. It occurs to me now that sometimes a space needs to be present before and after certain things in order for them to work. Maybe that's my problem. Okay, 'nuff said (sigh) Edited by: laffite on Jan 28, 2014 3:54 PM

Thank you for your kind remark, Jackie. One reason the puter is so important right now is that I really enjoy being here. *Cine says:* >Good luck with your computer. It is an absolute necessity in this day and age. A necessary evil. Yup. When VCRs first came out, it was the ultimate bummer when something happened to it. Now it?s the puter. *Cine says*: >Laura Linney?? I love her. She's a fine actress who does good work and doesn't 'seem to be' concerned with big box office. It _was_ Laura Linney who played the whackadoodle neighbor, sorry for not being precise about that, Elizabeth Banks is good too. I may not have the themes precisely correct but I was thinking along those lines afterwards. Strangely enough this crazy movie has been instructive to me regarding an issue in my own life right now. Common sense decrees the obvious knee-jerk reaction to a situation, but wait a minute, who?s going to get hurt? Think again, maybe. The exact title BTW is THE DETAILS. Yeah, Laura Linney, great. After watching the ending to SCARLET STREET, I feel like I?m sobering up a bit. I may even let Fritz Lang off the hook There?s a bit of music there when the painting is carried out of the store, Chris is looking at it to this dark low, ominous tone. It?s Christmas time, everybody is supposed to be happy. Come All Ye Faithful is playing and then we get the shift of tone when the picture appears. A bit of Jingle Bells as the buyers of the painting say something as Chris walks by. Then it?s Melancholy Baby as Chris? eyes follow the painting as it is carries away. And finally, the last shot as we watch Chris walk away to a much more dire and darker tone. I didn?t realize befoe that all the other people in this last shot, pedestrians, simply disappear, Chris is really in his own world, no more music now, just the broken record, Oh Johnnnneeeeeeee. This may have been the trick, surely the idea is that Chris is insane by now. In THE HEIRESS, Olivia de Havilland gets stood up by Montgomery Cllift, she rushes out onto the porch when she hears his car. The car simply drives away and she is left there standing. In previews, the audience laughed at that and the studio was horrified. The viewer is supposed to feel sorry for her, or at least not ridicule her. Aaron Copland was doing the music and they asked him to fix it. He put a quirky, squiggly, modern sound to it and I guess it worked. The full Citizen Kane treatment at the end of ScarletS, my original idea, would not work but I would have liked to see a bit more punch. I don?t think I would change the visual, but working with the music would have been fun. And yet, it seems pretty well thought out as it is. There are several shifts there at the end. If CC had to die I don?t feel at all very creative about it. Probably simply have the picture be too much for him and have him fall to the ground. A close up of a wide-eyed Chris with the broken record echoing in his head. Then have the sound in his head just stop abruptly, let the idea be that means he?s dead. Maybe his eyes could remain open, possibly for a kind of morbid, realistic effect. I was sort of relishing the idea of coming up with an ending but I don?t at all feel up to it. It?s hard, isn?t it? I think I?ll leave the moviemaking business up to the experts, like you, Cine. If MrC, the monster, had nixed the idea of CC remaining alive, what would you do? I don?t mean to just fling it back at you like that, but it is an interesting question. The studios probably had to think this way all the time. I think it?s amazing that Hollywood movies are as good as they are, considering all the restrictions. They had contract players that they had to sometimes pigeon hole into roles that might not have quite correct, they had to come up unrealistic endings to provide some clout, and last but not least, they had to worry about the dreaded Code. Among other things.

Carrie (1952) Eddie Albert's role player piano

>so tell me, if you were Lang, ( or the writer ) how would YOU script out the ending to "Scarlet Street"? I had something in mind before you even asked. I have the gist but there are a couple of details I want to work out. No, I'm not taking this too seriously, I just want give it a little thought, minor details if you will. I will have it in a day or two. I'm glad you asked, this is fun. This ending would be the new ending if MrC (uh, you know, the Code, that monster) had nixed Lang's existing ending and required instead the ultimate fate of Chris Cross. OT Note:I am seriously worried about my computer. It is agonizingly slow and I get error messages that sometimes prevent me from logging in. I sometimes find myself thus in a read-only mode when I am here on the site. So if I read something fascinating, which is the norm with all you wonderful people, then, I will not be able to answer. Right now I am here and writing on Grace, I could go down the rabbit hole at any time. I mention this because If I suddenly fall out of sight, it's not my usual disappearing act, it means that I am indisposed with faulty equipment. If my computer can rally there may be no interruption at all. Thanks for listening I haven't seen THE PROMISE and I see that it not available on Netflix but I'll keep it in mind. A friend of mine gave me DETAILS from Netflix, with Toby McQuire and Laura Linney. It's listed as an Indie, black comedy, that touches a little on morality in general and guilt in particular. It might serve as a sort of what to do when you're tortured by guilt and it doesn't appear that there are any easy answers. Think twice before doing the so-called right thing whether you want to a favor for a friend out of gratitude or make amends for wrong doing and it might be a good idea to forget about those absolutes that your mother and father told you such things. It might just depend on the particular. It's a very odd narrative with all kinds of surprises along the way. The first half is all over the place but settles down after that. There's some good acting, i.e., the whackadoodle neighbor who is annoying as all get out but who is played brilliantly by some actress (I don't think it's Laura, but whoever she is, she's great). I mention this because guilt seems to the issue around here lately, ha. Anyway, it might be worth a try. Now, I gotta go back and check out the ending of Scarlet Street. I gotta make my revisions. Edited by: laffite on Jan 27, 2014 11:52 PM

>I was cutting and pasting just last week.... but then I saw these posts and I just had to reply quickly, I thought. An hour later and I was still working on it, then hit the button and it took too long to load and I knew it was kaput. Jackie, when it's taking long to load, right click on the text and click SELECT ALL, then right click again and hit COPY. This way it will be on your clipboard and you can paste it again if the message does not go through. Also, I have found that when _after_ editing a message and it's taking too long to load, you can do the same as above or hit the BACK button on the browser. That SEEMS to interrupt the loading process but I have found that that the editing went through okay and the changes made are there. This last though may not work for all browsers. The SELECT ALL and COPY is the best method. But I do what Cinnie says, I compose on Word and then copy and paste to TCM, that's the best of all. Oh, BTW, I'll get back to you soon on the JACKIE BROWN question I have for you, thanks. Edited by: laffite on Jan 27, 2014 11:59 PM

>Can I ask a slightly off topic question: Click on the the reply button for the post you want to answer. Scroll down and the post to which you want to answer will be there. Copy what portion of the post you want to cite: Paste it in the body of the area above where you type your message Put the symbol > in front of the text you want to appear in the white box You'll need to put this symbol in front of every paragraph. When you click on Post Message you should see the white boxes

Dreams Bill of Lading

>Today I've been watching a marathon of episodes of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Great show! It's been awhile since I've seen an episode of this. One of the first, I believe, sitcoms that had an ensemble cast, several of which could deliver a zinger. Ironically, MTM was not one of them. But she held it all together, she was likeable and she was a great reactor to the rest. Murray wasn't overly funny but he was always fun to watch because he hated Ted. Ted Baxter was one of the funniest characters in all sitcom history IMO. Betty White would only show up only every so often but she was a delight. She had icy sarcasm and/or innuendo all the while with that frozen smile that seemed vaguely erotic. And of course Rhoda. >Last night, I watched "A Touch of Mink" with Cary Grant and Doris Day. I like Doris. I saw this long ago, not one of my favorites of hers. This was one of the few movies where I thought a I detected a sort of off-screen incompatibility. I don't think Cary liked Doris. And this may be the reason that IMO they didn't quite jell in the on-screen story.

Kramer v Kramer puerile

>Tarantino surely isn't for everyone. He definitely has his own style. Sometimes he can be too slick. I've been told by a friend, whose word on film I trust, to give Inglorious Basterds a watch. It's just that I'm too immersed in classic film to do so. And Jackie recommends Pulp Fiction for you. It will happen when it happens. Did either of you see Jackie Brown? I have a question about it. I've asked this question to two persons I know and have gotten two shoulder shrugs. Time to consult the experts, Youse. >I always said that I preferred Bette to Joan, but Joan has been closing that gap. The same with me. I strive to appreciate both, independent of comparisons. I want these two Queens of Camp to be friends in perpetuity, in laffite?s mind anyway. Seriously though, I like Joan much better than before, now that I have seen more of her stuff. *Here's how I have liked Joan, thus far:* *1. Johnny Guitar* *2. Sudden Fear* *3. Grand Hotel* *4. Strange Cargo* *5. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane* *6. Daisy Kenyon* *7. Mildred Pierce* *8. The Last of Mrs. Cheyney* *9. Humoresque* *10. When Ladies Meet* *11. The Unknown* *12. Reunion in France* *13. The Damned Don't Cry* *14. Autumn Leaves* *15. The Women* *16. Possessed (1947)* *17. Dancing Lady* *18. Torch Song* I?ve actually seen nine of these 18 films. That?s really good for me. Normally I am unable to boast anything close to this when I am confronted with lists from the listmakers here. Aside from those nine, I have two others I have seen. Possessed (1) Sudden Fear (2) Grand Hotel (3) Mildred Pierce (4) A Woman?s Face (5) When Ladies Meet (6-9) Susan and God (6-9) Humoresque (6-9) Daisy Kenyon(6-9) Strange Cargo (10) Torch Song (11) I have incomplete memory of Mildred Pierce and Strange Cargo, it?s been awhile. Don?t snicker at Susan and God, please I love the artifice of all that theatricality. I think Joan is quite dazzling at that, especially at the beginning of the film. She is so regular in Grand Hotel, restrained and authentic. I have reservations with Humoresque but nothing really spoils it, it?s entertaining. I enjoyed When Ladies Meet, Joan Crawford vs Greer Garson, with a smashing support from Spring Byington who really excels. A good one. Everybody makes fun of Torch Song and I understand that but I think I liked it more than the average, just a guess. And hooray for Sudden Fear, a sort of dark horse candidate for likeability considering coming relatively late in her career when the good vehicles seem to be harder and harder to get, I was totally surprised by this one, a tightly integrated little noir with a weird story-line trajectory (if that's the word for it) i.e., the bottom falls out halfway through and it becomes something quite different than before. Quite entertaining, good Joan, and good GloriaG as well. I would like to think of this as a minor classic, but as Frank has opined, it's probably not seen quite that way by the Joany aficionados, >A Woman's Face is probably the next Joan that I'll watch. I believe that's a favorite of Jackie's. Oh good, I hope you watch that soon. It?s on my DVR and I?ve seen it twice. No spoilers here, just to say that Mank in his intro told how Joan lobbied heavily for this film because she thought it would reveal her as a serious actress. Not being familiar enough with her filmography, it?s difficult to make a judgment of that after seeing this, but I do know that IMO at least she did things much better in subsequent years. But she is nonetheless very good. She is more restrained than she is in some of her more campier roles. I?m not a collector but I wouldn?t mind owning this one, it has bits here and there that can be often revisited. Her scenes with Conrad Veidt are nothing less than terrific. And much more than this. But for now, nary a word more, pending your plan to make this your next Joan, and when you do we will be looking forward, most readily FrankGrimes, to your comments on same..

Clark, what are you doing in that stupid looking outfit? I thought you were over this nonsense.

The Blackout a bad mistake

*CineMaven writes:* >As a filmmaker, I totally get what you're saying. And what director doesn't want to make a big statement and go out with a Korngold bang. But you know what I've learned on my travels in filmmaking: less is more. I don't think Fritz Lang needed to conk us over the head with Kitty's painting. That sad walk down the street shows the depths of Hell poor little Chris Cross has sunk to with his experience. The quiet torment he is going to endure with Kitty's voice whispering in his ear is enough. He won't last too much longer anyway. I don?t think I quite mean that, I don?t think a director necessarily wants to make a big statement if no statement is needed. I do mean that IMO something more could have been done with that. Too bad Lang didn?t feel the same way, he no doubt would have done something quite good. But I concede on the less is more theory, I may have been asking too much, maybe Lang need not ?conk us over the head? with the painting, but I wish he would have at least given us a swift kick or something. *FrankGrimes writes*: >It's my favorite classic film of all. I still cannot believe the Code allowed a murderer to walk free with the guilty conscience as being the punishment. *CineMaven writes:* > I think the Code might have felt satisfied that Chris was going to be bedevilled by a guilty conscience and that was enough. But I can't help thinking Lang might've tricked the code into thinking this was enough, when the story just let a man get away with murder Lots of folks carry a guilty conscience with them through life and function quite well. The Code knew that Chris was far beyond that. They could see he was bordering on insanity, if not already insane. I don?t think Lang needed to trick the Code, he knew, just as a lawyer does, that insanity works. Unless the trick was to make Chris appear to be insane, if so, then it worked. Look at Joanie in Possessed. Look how the movie loves her at the end. True, she was more certifiably insane than Chris, but look at the fuss they made. The doctor telling the husband, she?s got a long haul to load but hold her hand through it all and she?ll be all right, etc.. It was sickening. She killed this guy (after driving him half crazy to boot). In all fairness, I think the very purpose of Possessed was to bring the idea of mental illness to public awareness. Nevertheless, poor Chris didn?t get a break like that. But even if it is argued that Chris was not insane, but just suffering from guilt, that might be enough if it can be shown to be an extreme case. The Code wants you to pay for your crime, and Chris was doing that either because the Code considered him insane (or nearly so) or because It could see that the intensity of his suffering was far beyond what we normally think of as a guilty conscience, per se. I wonder, if the Code had said no to Lang, how would he have ended the film.

*FrankGrimes wrote:* >I'd say Dan wasn't too innocent. He was robbing all over the place. Tod (Glenn Ford) was always the guy looking to do the right thing. He's the one who wanted to return the stolen money. Dan wasn't going to. Your right. I confess, I did some serious skimming with this movie and you have made me pay for it. I meant to limit my remarks to Edgar, but I strayed. Embarrassed Laffite who shall nonetheless overcome. But I did watch all of this one, *Jesse James* (1939), with *Tyrone Power* and *Henry Fonda* as Jesse and Frank respectively. I am not a Tyrone fan---at all. I don?t think he is a good actor, just me. But here, he was just fine. These two could have switched roles and the movie would have been just as good, I?m sure. But Ty did good here. Maybe they thought Tyrone should get the lead because he was more the pretty-boy type, who knows, but he was excellent (as was Fonda, as usual). An actress named *Nancy Kelley* played Zerelda and she was excellent as well. She harped on Jesse and lamented her plight as an outlaw?s husband but she didn?t come across as nagger nor complainer. She spoke slowly with a great deal of earnestness and feeling, and was persuasive, so much so that she talked Jesse into surrendering to the authorities on a leniency deal. As to her lamentations, she actually made me feel her pain, this actress was extremely effective, seriously. I was surprised at Jesse?s surrender, I doubt this really happened and I don?t think any of the other several and then some Jesse James? movies had a surrender either, but no matter. It provided an opportunity for Frank to get him out of jail when the deal was reneged upon, which was eventful in a way we like in such a film. Popping up suddenly was a marshal played by none other that *Randolph Scott* (great cast, eh?) who was sympathetic to the James boys. He didn?t abet any wrongdoing but he wanted to see the James boys go straight and he brokered the surrender deal. He had nothing to do with the double cross, if memory serves. James and Zee have a marriage ceremony and this minister had a funny bit just prior to the actual ceremony---a little comic relief, if you will---but I couldn?t help but feel that, hey, *Edgar Buchanan* could have done this. I mean where?s Edgar when you really need him, a cry that is, I must admit, unfair to whoever this actor was who played the minister because he did a pretty good job. More comic relief from an actor who I cannot identify but who I?ve seen elsewhere (I consulted IMBd and failed to identify him) playing a newspaper man who wrote scathing editorials and who swore lustily (if ?dad-blast? and ?gol-dern? qualify as lusty) at whatever the object of his wrath might have been at the moment, which might be anything from lawyers to Sunday school teachers. John Carradine makes a late appearance as one of the West?s most infamous cowards whose hand shook like a feather in a windstorm while doing the dastardly deed. Actually that was quite realistic. Ty did a fine swoon as he whirled and fell to the floor, quite realistic as well, in fact nearly disturbingly so. Filmed in color and with great (almost sadistic) sound effects (I mean, you can hear everything), 1939 comes through with still another, if not great, at least a more-than-solid movie. Seriously, this is a pretty good film, no Western fan should ignore it.

Fatso I love you

>I watched "SCARLETT STREET" yesterday and what a nasty grim little movie this is. Maybe because I wasn't facing the tv while watching, I was more listening to the story and could really feel the sordidness. JOAN BENNETT and DAN DURYEA were pigs. Yeah, I hate to put it like that but there's just no other way. He used her...and she lapped up every debasing minute of it. EDWARD G. ROBINSON got all mangled up in their shenanigans. Plus he had a shrewish wife, a gold watch for working at the same company for the last thirty years, ( a jolly good fellow! and did you see my Sammykins? ) and he never pursued his real dream, of being an artist. He gets used and used and perhaps he might really have to take responsibility for that. Guess it would take a man of steel to walk away from Joan Bennett. But I can't help feel sorry for him. Bennett toys with his emotions like a cat with a mouse. No one really wins at the end of this dark Fritz Lang film. After reading your cogent summary, I was seized with a notion and set my VCR to the end of the film, I needed a fix. The hotel room and the flashing lights across the street. And every time I see him walking forlornly down the street and with that portrait bobbing up and down in front of his eyes, I can't help but wish that this might have been milked a bit more, some lurid in-your-face, perhaps even a bit screeching, music, something akin to the end of Citizen Kane when we see the sled. Such excess can be very much in keeping with the genre, you know. I don't think they made of most of that truly horrible moment with that painting suddenly appearing before his eyes. Still a great moment (for film, for us, but not for him).

Time of the Gypsies lair

Lovely! Thank you for sharing that. I bet you could do a great Noir. That's what your little montage here made me think of, especially the beginning. So it's snowing in NYC, eh? There's going to be a Super Bowl near you in a couple of weeks, will it snow then, I wonder, hmm. Please share more of your work with us, I hope anyway Thank you, T.

Merlin imposition

Happy Birthday, CineM!! I saw the beautiful picture of you and Mr O somewhere here, just wonderful. I bet you treasure that, and so you should. You are a treasure around here, and I should know, we pirates know treasure when we see it. I hope you had a wonderful day whenever it was, and that all your days will be just as wonderful. Laffite

>M. Pirate, it takes a strong man to admit that he weeps. >I bought the set instead of copying them from TCM, which shows how much I love them and how influential they have been on my life. Ah well, it takes a strong man to be a pirate, ha My confession is no longer a matter of record since it got thrown out by an edit. I wanted to post more on the two childhood memoirs but then decided that I would probably need to see them again. And I wanted to avoid spoilers. There is a thread here asking to name movies where you 'choked up.' I am compiling a list. I have come up with six so far. Some of the Trilogy is murky. You mention Marius and his staying. This would be after he returned, yes? His first decision was a no brainer for him, that was a long time obsession. But he was urged not to stay when he returned because the situation would have too awkward for him and others. I think that's the reference if I understand correctly. I remember really feeling sorry for Marius. What a terrible thing to come back to! Decisions would have been hard to make amid such trauma, he could not think clearly. And yet he cannot reproach himself for leaving in the first place. That was inbred. He would not have been happy, he would have always wondered about the sea had he not left that first time. I would like to look at those movies again. I envy you owning the trilogy, I just checked Amazon at the cost is $197. Maybe I should check TCM too, I don't think I realized that you could buy movies from them. Netflix had them at one time and I have a few best scenes that I crudely recorded by taking a digital camera and making a video of my computer screen. So I have some of the highlights anyway in case I need a little fix here and there. Edited by: laffite on Jan 21, 2014 1:18 PM Edited by: laffite on Jan 21, 2014 1:30 PM

*Guy* : Vroooom! Zeeeeeehhh! Swiiiiishhh, Ka-Poweeeee.... *Girl* : Jake, please, now start over again---Four Score and ...

Jackie, you write: *It's something about the tone of all the Pagnol films that is so special, so understanding of human nature and foibles. Pagnol is so gentle with his characters, just when you expect someone to throw a fit or even beat someone up, they react with love and understanding. They are unique and make me feel it's good to be alive ---(snip)--- For laboring folks, they are surprisingly frank and open-minded people, even sophisticated in their way ---(snip)--- I'd like to live in one of these films and meet the people.* The above and all the rest you say about Pagnol is so spot on, you make me recognize what I know to be true about these people and yet what I cannot with the same precision as you put down in my own words. Jackie, you certainly do understand Pagnol! You were surprised by Honorine. I think I was a surprised at Cesar?s not taking Marius? side regarding the ( *spoiler word omitted* ) despite perhaps expecting the contrary with small-town provincial-like people such as these might be expected to be. I would have thought him to defend his son (?my boy?) no matter what in a situation like that---that what someone like him might consider family honor and solidarity might trump all other, and yet no, he thinks more of the ( *spoiler word omitted* ) than his son, per se, There is a degree of sophistication (as you mention) in his stance on the matter---not sophistication in the uppity aristocratic sense, rather just an earthy recognition of knowing what?s morally correct in that most difficult of situations, despite the bitter disappointment it causes someone so close to him, his very son.. He is quite firm with his son but his love never wavers, as your screen cap indicates in your post. And just a word about *Cesar*, the third movie in the trilogy, no real spoiler here, but just to mention that we see several examples of the idea of mensonge (deceit), it?s quite striking how this idea is punched so often and early, and yet we can see that these are not bad people. This ?gentleness? (your word, and so apt) in Pagnol?s treatment make us realize that many of the little transgressions we do are not indicative of true malevolence but can be seen as just being human. I love your *I?d like to live in one of these films and meet the people* Actually I feel like that with a lot of films, ha. But it certainly applies here. (I might even agree to sit down to a game of cards with these characters, but not without a degree of trepidation I believe as early as the late 60s, I checked out LPs from my local library that were actual and complete soundtracks of the movies, *Marius*, *Fanny*, and *Cesar*, with a voice over to fill in what we could not see. I had thought at the time that they were done in a studio with realistic sound effects, but realized only much later than they were from actual movies. I was studying French in college at the time and listened to them often. You can imagine my delight years later when I discovered that they were from actual films and to be able to view them. Edited by: laffite on Jan 21, 2014 6:22 AM

Elmer Gantry idea