traceyk65
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Posts posted by traceyk65
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Just in case anyone wants to know, you can get a version of this movie with subtitles on Amazon. It's a region 2, but it has subtitles!
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I'm always amazed at the salaries the stars recieved in real life in the 20's and 30's (and in the 20's there was no income tax!). Some of the biggest made $5000 or more a week and even beginners often made $75 a week. (Katharine Hepburn asked for and got a salary of something like $1400/week to come to Hollywood) It's no wonder people would put up with all the hassles that went along with being a starlet or bit-part player to get a chance at making the big money--even the "little" money was more than most people were making (I think WPA work was paying about $14/week in the 30's)
Does anyone know how much extras made back then?
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If a film has a downbeat ending...
If its nominal protagonist is morally ambiguous...
If its nominal villain is particularly distinctive and dark (think Laird Cregar or Robert Ryan)...
If there's a treacherous dame who leads everyone astray...
If the stock villains are particularly sadistic, but in an old-fashioned, thuggish way...
If contract killers adjust their hats and ties before heading off to work...
Then you've got a 200 proof film noir to go along with that bootleg gin you're probably drinking while you're watching.
It should probably have snappy dialogue, as in Double Indemnity :
hyllis Dietrichson: "There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour."
Walter Neff: "How fast was I going, officer?"
Dietrichson: "I'd say around 90."
Neff: "Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket."
Dietrichson: "Suppose I let you off with a warning this time"
Neff: "Suppose it doesn't take."
Phyllis: "Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles."
Neff: "Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder."
Phyllis: "Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder."
Neff: "That tears it."
...and dark, shadowy, vaguely threatening sets, as in The Third Man:
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I've always liked the James Bond soundtracks. And John Williams' soundtracks for the Harry Potter movies, especially The Prisoner of Azkaban.
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The Trouble with Harry. I loaned my dvd to...someone and I can;t remember who. But it's been at least 4 years since I have seen it.
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The Trouble with Harry --how many times do they bury and unbury him? 3? 4? More? Someone steals his shoes and someone else trips over him a couple of times and then he ends up in the bath tub. And even though it's not a human body, but that kid is pretty casual with the dead rabbit, lugging it around and then trading it for a muffin! (I love this movie...)
Bucket of Blood and House of Wax both feature corpses that end up as artwork...ick.
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I saw that The Mad Woman of Chaillot is showing in August. Kinda looking forward to that one because its one of the few Hepburn films I haven't seen. And please, nobody tell me how bad it is...I have read reveiws, but I want to judge for myself.
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Who saw SITR last night? I did and it was wonderful! There is nothing like seeing a classic on the big screen with a bunch of other fans--it just creates this amazing energy! Everyone was clapping after each musical number and laughing and, well, d*mn. Just amazing. Saw Casablanca a while back and it was just as fanatastic!
(I live in an area where seeing classics on the big screen is a rarity, so it was real treat--I am SOOO jealous of people who live in cities do.)
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Jackfavell--
Good to be back--I just wish there was a way to sort of summarize everything Ive missed these past months.
Seven Sinners may be in the John Wayne collection, but it's Marlene's movie without a doubt! They are great together, kind of like she and Gary Cooper, but he is definitely her love interest, instead of the other way around. The Spoilers sort of reverses that--it's more Wayne's movie, but as obviously as Seven Sinners belongs to Marlene. Mischa and Marlene have good chemistry, just not sexually. They did, what? 3 movies together? Sinners, Destry and Flame of New Orleans? Very funny in all three.
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I'm glad to see that more of Dietrich's films are becoming available on R1. Just a few years ago, Destry and Witness were about all you could find for R1. Now you can get nearly all of them.
I even finally found my Holy Grail--a version of Martin Roumagnac with English subtitles. Yes!
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Seven Sinners is a very fun movie. Dietrich wears some outrageous clothes, gets some great lines "I'm a baaaad influence!" and sings "This Man's in the Navy" It also contains two of the craziest fight scenes ever. Wayne and Dietrich have great chemistry and Mischa Auer is hilarious (as always) as the pick-pocket sidekick.
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double post. I'm back 5 minutes and laready I'm having technical difficulties...figures.
Edited by: traceyk65 on Jun 8, 2012 12:43 AM
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Wow. The song currently playing on my ipod is "Bayou Bumpin" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers! LOL
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1950--it has Spencer Tracy. That's enough for me...
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*Birthdays*
*Marty Feldman*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oes5IMmaKAk&feature=fvst
*Anjelica Huston*
*Vittorio De Sica*
The Bicycle Theif
Umberto D
*George Cukor*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH5vMUDtBFI
*Movies of George Cukor*
Holiday
The Philadelphia Story
Camille
The Women
Gaslight
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he did devil is a woman and blue angel and a few others with marlena. i've heard rumors of such prints existing with his commentary (in german accent) i've never seen tho
Well, it would be fantastic if they ever came to light! I've been looking for a copy of his autobiography for a while because it would be interesting to get his take on that time period. Honestly, though the films are visually beautiful, I'm not sure Marlene is at her best, acting-wise. Sometimes it just seems he has her walk around posing...
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I think Dietrich should have at least been nominated for Witness for the Prosecution.Power deserved more recognition for his role too--both he and Dietrich give amazing performances, playing the roles of people who are playing a role.
(If you haven't seen the movie and don't want to be spoiled, stop reading here)
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Power has to balance between being charming and sort of empty-headed (the kind of man who needs a Keeper) and sliding completely over into sliminess. At the beginning he has to make us believe he might be some poor innocent **** who's caught in a web of circumstancial evidence and a scheming wife. Then at the end, he has to slip inot his real persona and make us believe that he was indeed capable of first seducing a rather sad and lonely older woman out of her estate,then bashing her on the head...and he manages it.
Dietrich's performance is amazing. She's totally holding herself in check, knowing that pretending to be a cold, heartless ***** is the only way she can save her man. When the verdict is read, Wilder shows us 3 reaction shots--Power, Laughton and Dietrich. The only one that really mattered was Dietrich's, because in that moment, she reveals who she really is--a woman desperately in love with a man who has gambled everything (including her freedom--she's going to have to go to jail for perjury) to save him. (And though it was a bit over-the-top, her performance in disguise as the Cockney woman was pretty good too.)
Just my two cents worth...and don't think I'm dismissing Laughton and Lanchester. They have amazing chemistry and provided much needed comic relief (I've seen the play, which has no nurse character and virtually no humor) Not sure they deserved Oscar nominations, though...
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nice! wish they could show the version with Eric Von Stroeheim directors commentary
That would be amazing! I didn;t even know such a thing existed. (Wait--are we thinking about the same movie? Josef van Sternberg directed The Devil is a Woman...)
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She was very entertaing in this one.. so full of herself, ha. And yet even when she is being just SO bad.. ha.. she is so good! And boy, wasn't she stunning??? Hibi has it right... she looked so much younger than her age.. ha. (if ONLY I could say the same.. alas.. ha)
But I also thought Jane was truly lovely in this one too. (that "garden party" dress she wore near the end of the film.. with the big hat..beautiful!)
Even though Jane Wyman actually more or less keeps up with her, I feel Dietrich sort of stole the show in this movie. She's the key link to the entire story--the hub around which everything turns--did she or didn't she kill her husband? And can Jane make her slip up and confess? She even manages to "end" the film 5 minutes early with the speech about the dog and the enigmatic blowing of smoke...
( I love the line about Jane's garden party dress--something like, "Whatever you spent on that dress was worth it; it does wonders for you.")
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She gets a whole day in August...including The Devil is a Woman.
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johnbabe...please stop yelling, ok? (I've heard blues are soothing colors)
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I for one am waaaay excited (to borrow a phrase from my teenaged daughter) fot the SUTS line-up! There are at least two stars whose work Im not too familiar with (Paulette Goddard and Joanne Woodward) A Jean Gabin day (including Touchez pas au grisbi, which has to be the silliest name for a gangster film ever-- Hands off the loot! really? LOL) plus a whole day of Lon Chaney in iconic performances and some Ronald Coleman silents (including two w/ the Talmadge sisters, Kiki and Her Night of Romance, which I have been wanting to see) The Gazebo with Debbie Reynolds, all the usual suspects for Bogart, Grant(including a Mae West and Grant's first film) and Bette, plus Torch Song and Flamingo Road w/ Joan; a Conrad Veidt day; lots of fun precodes w/ Joan Blondell and Ann Dvorak; a Carole Lombard Day (woot!)and of course, an entire day of Dietrich, featuring Shanghai Express, The Devil is a Woman and The Scarlet Empress (the only thing better would have been Desire or Angel )!!
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*Birthdays*
*Janet Leigh*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV5WBOZ0yz8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iCRz7RlfNE
Psycho
*Nancy Davis Reagan*
The Next Voice You Hear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox7wCAJYKog
Living better with electricity and Ronnie
*Playing Chess in the Movies*
*Playing the Piano in movies*
*Classic Stars on the phone*
(same song, different montage)
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*Birthdays*
*Jean Cocteau*
La Belle et le Bete
Le Testament d'Orphee
*In honor of the intro of the bikini on this date in 1946*
*Beach Movies!*
*Hollywood fashion:*
Startlets in swimwear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SO2741Ybpw&feature=related
Everyone looks good in black
Hats
Shoes
Gowns
Underwhelmed With TCM Classic Screenings
in Hot Topics
Posted
Honestly, I jump at opportunities to see classics on the big screen no matter what the venue! I do agree that it adds to the experience to see a film in a movie palace setting (the Victoria Theatre in Dayton does run some classics in the summer, and it is gorgeous) but what's more fun for me is the way the crowd responds to these films. When you're used to watching them at home, often alone or with one or two other people, to see a favorite film in an auditorium full of people who also love that film is simply fantastic. (D*mn, I'm getting goose bumps just thinking about it)