laffite

Bladerunner lugubrious

Lady in a Cage walking my baby back home

*4. Marius (1931) -- I found this early-French talkie to be quite fascinating. I loved how we are shown love and how it cannot be truly fulfilled when one person loves more than the other. I liked seeing a female point of view of love and a male point of view, at least from a traditional standpoint. I liked the little port community. Raimu is clearly the dominant figure in the film. He has quite a presence. I'll be curious to see where the "Fanny" trilogy goes next.* I loved the trilogy, I hope you can see the others soon, Scott, it?s more of the same. Fanny (1932) follows fairly hard on the events of the Marius (1931) with Cesar (1936) continuing the story after a lapse of a few years. Your cap and mine are of that same wonderful 10-minute scene between these two young people who grow up in Marseille and who finally get around to saying those things that had remained unsaid during all that growing up. It is a poignant, wonderful scene, totally memorable, and perhaps a little teary. (I admit it.) Yes, *Raimu* (Cesar) is central but there is some fine ensemble playing here, including a comic card game scene that I think is considered some kind of classic bit in French Cinema. *Marcel Pagnol* (1895-1974) wrote the original plays and then made the movies. Pagnol wrote novels that were made into fairly well-known movies, Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring, both 1986 (must be seen in that order) and two memoirs of childhood, My Father?s Glory and My Mother?s Castle, both 1990, (in that order as well) that are wonderful movies. IMO there are affinities in tone and temperament between the two memoirs and the Fanny Trilogy. I know the trilogy has been shone on TCM and at one time was available on Netflix (no more) but now I think these films are hard to find. I have them on VHS. Anyway, wonderful stuff all, and there is something exceptional about the trilogy. I?ve seen only a couple of the films you talked about, unfortunately, but I went through and read the entire post. Thank you for those wonderful caps. I?ve copied your list to my computer and I will use as a guide for making future choices for viewing.

Radio Days glass case

Watched an early one, *Texas* (1941) , a convoluted story line, actually hardly a story at all, a bunch of nonsense really, but it?s still fun to watch because that?s what it is, a raucous romp with some funny bits. *William Holden* looks so young that he does not look like William Holden. *Glenn Ford* looks so young too but he still looks like Glenn Ford. *Edgar Buchanan* looks like Edgar Buchanan because he always looks like Edgar Buchanan, since he always looks to be about the same age. Edgar is star of the show, for me anyway. He wears two or three hats in the town, one of them being that he?s the town dentist. Edgar working on teeth is the funniest part of the movie despite the agonizing screams. Edgar has a way of going about this dutifully all the while muttering funny little things to himself, which made me think a little of *W.C.Fields*. Meanwhile the two stars play drifters, friends to be sure, but often getting on opposite side of things, including one of the objects of their interest, an interest that takes the (pretty) form of *Claire Trevor*. It goes back and forth for awhile ? (spoilers ahead, as if it matters) ? then William seems to get the upper hand because he?s going to get to marry Claire. But then at the last minute, still another shootout occurs whereby William gets killed and then bingo there?s Glenn and Claire riding off in the sunset (sort of). I was curious about this because both characters were sympathetic, but I guess William was the more rebel rouser while Glenn was more the real nice guy, so I guess they decided that he would live and get the girl too. But William wasn?t really a bad guy. I?m sorry I had to write anything at all on this, I wasn?t going to really, but I liked Edgar Buchanan so much in this movie, I felt I had to. Edgar made me do it. ps Lynn, I would like to wish you a Happy Birthday as well.

TCM is getting into the 40s now with Crawford. I've got the following scheduled for the DVR When Ladies Meet (1941) A Woman's Face (1941) Strange Cargo (1940) Susan and God (1940) Above Suspicion (1943) I'm going to try to watch them all in the days ahead. I'm holding a Crawford clinic for myself Catching snippets of Annie Oakley. Barbara is so cute.

The Benny Goodman Story bustling about

A couple weeks I was asking about some music used as end credits to Inglorious Basterds, the film of *Tarantino*, music by *Ennio Morricone*, and that I was certain having heard it before in another movie and could anyone tell me which one. I discovered that this music was used in the *Taviani Bros* film, Allonsanfan, music also (of course) by Morricone, much more extensively than in the more recent Tarentino film. I find it unusual that the same music would be used in two films, so it seems to me, anyway. BTW, I wish Allonsanfan would be put on DVD, it's certainly a good enough film. Here is the music again, it is a captivating little piece, typical Morricone excellence.

Thank you, *Scott*, for your welcome. Very happy to be back here. I had this thought that Reservoir Dogs might work if adapted to the stage. There?s a lot of dialogue, some of it kind of rough of course, but it intrigues me how a tough show like this, with the gun play, the language, etc., might work on a theater stage. It done right it might be quite powerful. I was sort of mesmerized with the movie. You no doubt noticed a few other *Tarantino* films on the list. Normally these would not be necessarily to my taste but he?s a very good filmmaker, what he does, he does well, with the possible exception of the Kill Bill movies which were almost puerile, or so I thought when I tried to watch them. Sometimes a mood at a given time will get in the way of a certain type film. That?s what happened to me with Pulp Fiction. I shut it down quickly when I first tried to watch it. Later, however, I was able to see it in a positive way when I simply got a grip on the violence (and other stuff) and finally seeing what he trying to do with the story with respect to the title and that it was a good movie (though, still, not quite the type of film for laffite, generally). There was something much more going on there in the way of quality than with Kill Bill IMO. I?ve been watching *Joan Crawford* films more than usual since she is being featured this month, and surprisingly, Sudden Fear is the one I like the best so far (not to be shown this month on TCM, however). I agree with you most heartily that it is underrated. I?m thinking about writing more about this shortly (maybe) so I don?t want to repeat myself later, just to say that I responded in a highly positive way to it. And yes, yes, *GG* is so much fun when she is being a bad girl. You characterized The Racket as being on the ?dry side,? and I agree. I felt it was a bit stilted in some way. Nothing like *Robert Ryan* to provide some resistance to this (as you point out), he comes across often in his roles has having a sort of crazy streak within. That will rev up a story all right. *Richard Widmark* has another role (doesn't he?) where he comes across as some kind of demented creep, borderline psycho type. He?s a little over the top here but that works just fine. I like *Victor Mature*, yes he?s a little restrained as you say, but his presence (for me) makes up for it. I have a few nagging reservations about Humoresque, but I like the movie nonetheless. I?m thinking about posting more on this after I see it on TCM this month. There?s a lot to like, and as a classical music person, there are some of things related to that I want to say, mostly positive. As you point out, the pairing of Crawford and Garfield is noteworthy, and I would add that the casting choice of Garfield as a virtuoso violinist is bit interesting (daring?) as well. If I can get a handle on it, I would like to do a little ramble on this one later. I?m looking forward to seeing Possessed again later this month. I?ve seen it recently and Joan is so excellent. It?s a good role for her and she makes the most of it IMO. I liked the movie. Undercurrent was a flop. See some of the comments on the thread down in the Genre Forums. There seems to be a consensus on this one. Regarding *Stephanie Powers*, she was a looker supreme on Hart, but the glamor look that she had there was quite different from the sweet teenager in Experiment of Terror. She looked like a holdover from the 50s.

Yes. You might know this already but it's interesting that Shakespeare did not write that. This was added later by a man named Colley Cibber in a production of the play a long time after Shakespeare's death. And it stuck. Most productions today retain it. Your thread.

>I do not know what this list says of my taste and I hope that no person can use it to pigeonhole my likes or dislikes. Hi *SansFin*. You're safe. No one can say anything, not at 99c a shot. At that price, you can buy anything and what you don't want you can use for trade at shoppes . I Love You Again is a charmer all right. I loved the very end. (Spoiler ahead, sort of) I actually thought she was going to do what she looked like she was going to do and then everything would be all right again. But what happened was so much better. I was totally won over. Coo Coo

>"I offered the little pipsqueak a drink, what's so undignified about that?" George Hurstwood (played by Lawrence Olivier) said this to his wife in Carrie (1952) Let's try another, quite easy I think: "So much for Buckingham" (actor and character)

Thanks, *KingR*, glad to be here. Okay, I'm going to do a list. That's right, a list from *Laffite* I never do lists, mainly because there are so many I have not seen, which sometimes invalidates the list because people would wonder why an obviously good movie was not included, something like that. But these are just what I have seen the most recently, an echo, if you will, of *FrankGrimes* most recent list. I hope it's okay that some of them are modern, movies that would NOT be normally shown on TCM. Please indulge the inclusion of such films, thank you. These films are more or less listed in chronological order watched and are NOT by order of preference. And so, FWIW: Humoresque (1946) Wives Under Suspicion (1938) Railroaded (1947) Farewell, My Queen (2012) Sudden Fear (1953) The Dead Girl (2006) The Unfaithful Wife (1969) I shot Jesse James (1949) Our Town (2010) The Racket (1951) Inglourious Basterds (2009) The Maiden Heist (2008) Jackie Brown (1997) Reservoir Dogs (1992) Desperado El Mariachi (1995) Undercurrent (1946) Kiss of Death (1947) I Love You Again (194?) Possessed (1947)

>It ranks very high on the 'looks good on paper but not on film' category. Hey, that might make an interesting thread. Why don't you start it! Not a bad idea at all. I've just watched a movie that probably qualifies, but I'll demure for now. I'll wait for your thread

>The immediate difference would be the budgets. Programmers were A films, with larger budgets. Yes, this sounds right. I recently watched Wives under Suspicion (1938), with Warren William, a mere 72 minutes long, yet it had the look and feel of a main feature with regard with budgeting and production values (up to a certain point, i.e., some A films were more expensive than others). A few years ago, TCM ran a few B films, complete with an intro by Mr O for each one. The idea was to show what a true B film was. Mr O is too much the gentleman to actually laugh at these films but he made us realize what exactly a B film is, much of what we could see for ourselves once they started rolling. Some of them the were by the director William Beaudine, who I think specialized in them. These movies looked they were filmed out in the hallway.

Moscow on the Hudson listening

Hi *FrankGrimes*, how are you? You say "lately," I wonder in what time frame. I have quite a bit of time on my hands now, I should be able to knock down a few films in a timely fashion, but I somehow don't seem to do it. I feel sheepish to say I've only seen a few of those films you listed. I remember The Big Knife as rather fine though it was sometime ago, I think a recall *Rod Steiger* chewing the scenery to tatters. And I remember listening to the Dodger game the night Experiment in Terror was filmed there, *Vince Scully*, saying, "---and they're filming a movie tonight---" then mentioning the title in a creepy way. Great shot of *Don Drysdale* peering in to the plate and showing us that distinctive windup, though, as I recall, *Harvey Kuenn* ripped a double down the left field line. One of the few movies ever (probably) where they show an actual part of a real game, and so well. I developed a crush on sweet *Stefanie Powers*, I was about the same age as she at the time. I wanted to jump in the screen (a la Purple Rose, etc. and protect her) I agree with you, *MissG*, *Lee Remick* was superb in that film, I remember that quite clearly. Boy, if I ever hesitate on what film to watch next, I only need but consult one of your lists, *Frank* (or others around here). I admire greatly not only being able to see that many movies but to be able to actually put them in order of preference. That's amazing to me. I don't think I could keep them that straight in my (so-called) mind, haha.

Clark Gable did his own stunts in The Misfits, demonstrating a talent with horses. Sadly, it was hard work and some have said that the strenuous activity might have contributed to his heart attack shortly after the film was completed.

"I offered the little pipsqueak a drink, what's so undignified about that?"

386 Man (thinking) : Does she know I love her? Woman (thinking): I wonder if it's going to rain tomorrow.

Irene Dunn

Klute

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof next: bail bondsman

Ray Teal has only a short scene in Carrie (1952) (just watched this---again---the other day) but it's a memorable, playing a bail bondsman.

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