King Rat

Amen, Lawrence. Like Lorna, I don't understand the dude's media saturation. Is it a plot by aliens who can't be satisfied with the fact that Carrot Top is worth $70 million?

I'm a great fan of Iris Murdoch, although this might not be the first one I'd recommend. I did like it.

And people say the American public doesn't have good taste. Hah!

Add Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing. That's quite a few for a 50s leading man. As for the kiss and fadeout, I didn't have much doubt about what happened next, but if a 1950s audience wanted to believe that not much more happened, the movie left that possibility open.

That's what I was guessing, too, Dargo. It was a real "Say what???" moment.

I know that The Long Day Closes is a favorite of our own Swithin, but it wasn't my cuppa tea. It's the kind of film that if you like it, you call it "poetic," and if you don't, you call it "arty." It's very much like the Eisenstein experiment where he showed an expressionless actor, then cut to a bowl of soup, and people thought he was hungry, etc., but with sound instead of montage. We get a lot of an expressionless kid staring out at the rain on a soundstage while various songs and occasional lines from movies can be heard on the soundtrack. I kept thinking of other films about rainy English towns I'd rather be seeing: It Always Rains on Sunday or So Well Remembered or Room at the Top, movies with plots and fleshed-out characters. The major events of the boy's life are the music he hears and the movies he sees. Otherwise, his childhood is not particularly interesting. The boy's mother is lovingly portrayed; perhaps the emotional reserve of the film works in that case. There was also one very beautiful moment as the camera pans over a movie audience as Debbie Reynolds sings "Tammy." The song continues over a similar pan of a congregation at church and then the boys in a classroom. The longing so well expressed in the song thus has a religious significance for the boy, and is something he learns from.

Look for Manon on YouTube or on one of those websites that show films they don't actually have the rights to. I saw Manon on a website that no longer exists. It's as dark as The Wages of Fear, and I thought it was great. I liked The Turning Point a lot, too, and was also very impressed by Tom Tully's scenes. An even better performance than the one he got an Oscar nom for (The Caine Mutiny). Lots of location shots in 1950s LA, and I was not prepared for the ending. Excellent set designs, in addition to all the other fine qualities.

Ooh, what a perfect project for the late Chantal Akerman.

If Down Three Dark Streets is on the app, I recommend it to fans of docu-noir or those who like scenes shot on location in 50s LA, including a big scene at the Hollywood sign, or fans of Broderick Crawford, Ruth Roman, Marisa Pavan, Claude Akins, Casey Adams (anyone need a little helping of smarm and sleaze?) or anyone wanting to see Martha Hyer in a laugh-out-loud outfit with pouffy fur sleeves. Capably directed by Arnold Laven, with stylish cinematography by Joseph Biroc. Some good character actors, too.

If Down Three Dark Streets is on the app, I recommend it to fans of docu-noir or those who like scenes shot on location in 50s LA, including a big scene at the Hollywood sign, or fans of Broderick Crawford, Ruth Roman, Marisa Pavan, Claude Akins, Casey Adams (anyone need a little helping of smarm and sleaze?) or anyone wanting to see Martha Hyer in a laugh-out-loud outfit with pouffy fur sleeves. Capably directed by Arnold Laven, with stylish cinematography by Joseph Biroc. Some good character actors, too.

TCM should re-create a couple of actual double features. A drive-in in my hometown showed Antonioni's Blow-Up on a double bill with Elvis in Double Trouble. In New York, I saw Ingmar Bergman's Shame on the lower half of a double bill with Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell. What the rhyme or reason was for these pairings, I have no idea!

Like the Dark Shadows and Lylah Clare threads, the Go-rilla thread has strange and unusual life-enhancing properties.

Anyone up for filming a reaction video of me discovering who Alyssa Edwards and Jinkx Monsoon are, possibly followed by another reaction video of me discovering I'm sorry I found out who they are? I'm way behind on YouTube Trivia!

In the later years some of the nominated songs have only been heard over the credits.

Kay's Roman garb in I Found Stella Parish suggests that she was about as flat-chested as Constance Bennett, another top star of the same era. Was this the desired silhouette of the time, or is it simply that before Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe a woman need not be buxom to be a star?

What a lovely picture of Andy (or Andrew) Robinson. A very good actor.

Glad you got to see The Blue Veil, very difficult to find, and White Banners. I also liked The Blue Veil. Where else could you find Charles Laughton and Vivian Vance as a couple? I also liked Agnes Moorehead's performance as a rich woman who deftly breaks up Jane Wyman's romance because it isn't convenient for Agnes. It's nice that Joan Blondell got an Oscar nomination, but she has larger and better parts in other films.

Gorilla at Large has my vote, partly because it has Anne Bancroft in her pre-Oscar winner phase, and mostly because of this story, set in our beloved South, circa 1970s: A local TV station was showing Gorilla at Large and in some kind of promotion was passing out 3-D glasses to all who wanted them. A friend was at the bank one morning and heard one female customer said to another, "You goin' to watch that GO-rilla?" So Lawrence, I'm hopin' you get to watch that GO-rilla.

I like this one, too. It's a solid western (or home invasion story) with good work from everyone concerned.

Come to think of it, Dargo, DITS is a great abbreviation for Duel in the Sun, which has always struck me as an Italian opera minus, you know, the singing and the Italian. Not that it isn't enjoyable. And Gregory Peck is a great example of a movie good guy cast as a villain. He's much sexier than usual, too.

While we're on the subject of Valley of the Dolls: A co-worker of mine once said in all seriousness that she didn't think Jackie Collins was as good a stylist as Jacqueline Susann. Proof positive that these distinctions can be made at an infinitely low level.

Angela would certainly have had fun playing Jenny Lamour, but I don't think she has Suzy Delair's earthy warmth and sex appeal.

Excellent review, Lorna. If you can accept The Damned as decadent trash, a superior Legend of Lylah Clare, granted that almost anything is superior to Lylah Clare, parts of it are fun. Some critics have tried to take The Damned as a serious statement about Nazism. News flash: it isn't. In fact, its suggestion that homosexuality = decadence = fascism is false, offensive, and unhistorical. The SA was indeed led by an open homosexual, and look where that got him. Nazism reacted against the sexual openness of the 1920s. But this is to take Visconti seriously as a thinker, and that is precisely what he is not. As a gay Italian Douglas Sirk, Visconti takes the drapes and the costumes seriously, but not the ideas. Sirk is actually more intelligent and thoughtful than Visconti, but the comparison stands.

MissW, I agree with every word. I thought Bernard Blier (Maurice) looked so much like Bob Newhart. This was the second time I had seen the film, and the second time was the charm, in more ways than one. If you can accept the film on its own terms and not try to put it in a certain genre, it's wonderful. Great script, great directing, great visual style. Suzy Delair has so much charm and sex appeal. No wonder everyone is after her! And she sings well, too. In the days of CGI you can't help noticing how many extras, real people, are in the theater scenes. Louis Jouvet is great as the inspector. Eddie's intro and outro were excellent, packed with information. He did struggle pronouncing Quai des Orfevres, as would anyone but a native French speaker. "Keh dehz or-FEV" would be close, with a slight emphasis on the last syllable.

Even leaving the body on the railroad tracks didn't work out in Double Indemnity.