Movie Rambles

[MissGoddess]

The Tracy-day was great. I had to record *Fury* because I didn't have it and it's one of my favorite Tracy films. It's very powerful and I admire it's brutal honesty but it's hard to watch. In fact, I don't watch about 1/3 of it because it's too graphic (emotionally, I mean). How TCM rated this "G" boggles my brains out.

 

I just watched an Elia Kazan movie I hadn't seen in a while, *Wild River*. I never liked it from before but I love Lee Remick and she was good as always and so was Jo Van Fleet but my original feelings stand. Kazan is just so humorless at times and it gets on my nerves. Especially if you're depicting country people---you have to have humor because that's what they have even when they don't have much else. They can be really funny sometimes even when they don't mean to be.

 

Anyway, a movie that is MUCH more up my cat-alley is coming on now, SOLDIER OF FORTUNE. So much better because it's not going to try to be anything but a reminder of why I will always love Clark Gable. :x :x :x

 

[JackFavell]

I always liked Wild River, though I think it is flawed. It strikes me as way more relaxed Kazan, so it's funny that you would say that the lack of humor bugs you. Montgomery Clift is also more, I don't know, likeable? in it which is nice for a change.

 

I didn't get to see much of Tracy Day, but They Gave me a Gun really hit the spot with me. I am a big Gladys George fan, so this may be why I kept coming back to watch bits of this movie all morning. Tracy was splendid and natural I thought. I would love to see the whole thing sometime.

 

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[MissGoddess]

Hi Jackie! I thought *Wild River* had a good story to tell.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by They Gave Me a Gun---I liked it a lot and am just

happy that TCM showed a couple of Tracy films we don't often get to see.

[rohanaka]

Fury

 

I missed most of the Tracy films yesterday--but I did end up staying up WAY too late and watching this one...wow! The end could have been a bit stronger--( I feel like it was too quick of a "wrap up") but still a very powerful story.

 

And wasn't Syliva gorgeous!! Walter Brennan was a surprise.. he was so young and "un-codgerly" I almost did not recognize him. Do you think that was TOTO in there??? (It was made about the same time as TWOO)

 

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[rohanaka]

April--didn't I see you mention something on here about The Seventh Cross?? Can't find it. But I tried watching this last night and it was so late, I fell asleep--I woke up in time to hear the great conversation with Felix B. talking to Tracy about the "ants". That was very moving--and thought provoking too. I tried my best to wake back up--but alas--missed the ending. Someday I want to see this again and maybe will try watching a little earlier in the day. You know, I would not classify myself as a huge Tracy fan, but both these (Fury and 7th Cross) were something I'd never seen or heard of before. Great stories...lots of emotion with powerful themes. A nice surprise for me...even if I have the "bleary eyes" to show for it today. :-)

[MissGoddess]

Hi Kathy,

 

I recorded *The Seventh Cross* last night but didn't stay awake to watch it. I've seen it before,

but it's been a while so I don't recall the ending. It's a very grim film. It was Fred Zinemann's

first big picture. I remember it being very imaginatively photographed and very moving.

[Film_Fatale]

*Fury* is one of the best of Tracy's 30's pictures. Great and unforgettable.

[Bronxgirl48]

Loretta Young is so radiant in MAN'S CASTLE; I'm loving her more and more with every film I see -- she is so understated, so down-to-earth and natural, yet ethereal. I adore her "Trina". Restless, uncommitted "Bill" sees the blue heaven in her eyes....Tracy's character is gruff and even cruel at times, but underneath he's got a heart of gold.

 

Lovely and even haunting Depression-era pre-code; however, I couldn't buy gin-soaked Marjorie's final act.

 

I always enjoy Glenda Farrell, but not only wasn't she used enough here, but she couldn't sing a note, and she was supposed to be this successful vocalist!

 

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[Bronxgirl48]

By the by, I'm getting the apartment painted next weekend.

 

I wound up finally picking not shades of green or what I thought would be "nautical" blues (they invariably had lavender tints unfortunately) but what is named -- get this -- "Belgian Waffle" -- a mellow, light amber-honey (Forever Amber!) that I hope will impart antiqueness, coziness, understated class, and will also in its own way compliment my coastal New England-ish decor.

 

I just hope I'm not getting maple syrup and butter over the walls as well.

[MissGoddess]

Hiya Lady B!

 

I thought the ending with Marjorie Rambeau over the top, too and yes, Loretta was a remarkable

beauty and a good actress. I didn't know he was the love of her life, how romantic.

 

I personaly prefer warmer, yellower colors because they can be so flattering in the evenings with just occasional lighting on (or even better, candlelight). What kind of floors do you have? Wood?

[JackFavell]

I watched most of Man's Castle, and thought it was quite interesting. I really should go back and watch it again before I say anything. Although I enjoyed the performances and the movie, I couldn't quite get my head around the Loretta Young - Spencer Tracy combination. I thought they were an odd couple, which is really strange, because apparently (according to Robert O) they were having an affair and Loretta said later that Spencer was the love of her life. Maybe I couldn't appreciate the movie because Osborne dropped this bombshell right before the movie started and I was still reeling from the shock..... and besides, I thought Clark Gable was the love of her life (?).....

[MissGoddess]

Loretta seems to have had quite a few "loves" but Robert must have heard Spence was head of the class!

 

The real "bombshell" for me was learning she'd been married to Grant Withers. I couldn't

imagine that little thing with IKE CLANTON. She sure went through a period of going for the

brawny type! And her last husband was a dress designer. And one of the best! Jean Louis.

[JackFavell]

I have always heard that she was very religious, but man, she got around.....

[JackFavell]

Bronxie - Belgian Waffle sounds deliciou...uh....I mean beautiful! It will cast a nice warm glow over everything.

[laffite]

*...thought they were an odd couple, which is really strange, because apparently (according to Robert O) they were having an affair and Loretta said later that Spencer was the love of her life.*

 

That really surprised me too. The (supposedly) nice, Catholic girl, and the (supposedly) free-drinking libertine, they do sound like odd bedfellows. I read a story (it was in a book either by or about one of the Manks) where on the set, Loretta was always carrying around a little can and made anyone put a quarter in it if they took the Lord's name in vain. Spencer called her over and made a motion towards the can and then put a quarter in it. "What's that for?," asked Loretta. "It's for you, " said Spencer, "Now, go ____ yourself."

[JackFavell]

Laffite- That really made me laugh!

[JackFavell]

OK. Get ready to ramble.....

 

*M and the Third Man*

 

I just recently rewatched *M* and discovered that, at least to me, there were many connections between it and *The Third Man*. Many people compare *Citizen Kane* and TTM, but I think a case could be made that M and TTM are closer cinematically.

 

*SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT*

 

First of all, they have in common a lead character who is a reprehensible criminal. Throughout each movie, our feelings about these criminals change. In The Third Man, we go from thinking *Harry Lime* is just a sort of kindly black marketeer, to realizing that he considers his victims less than human. He becomes a monster before our eyes. As M starts, we see *Hans Beckart* as a monster, but by the end we have begun to see that he is a victim, and almost sympathetic (thanks to an incredibly strong performance by *Peter Lorre* ).

 

In M, there are significant, long sections of the film in which there is total silence.Then the silence is suddenly punctuated by sounds, eerily coming out of the dark, or off screen, or even rising over a totally black screen. These noises consist of crowd noises, children playing, agitated talking, singing, whistles, bells and tapping. In TTM, there are significant, long sections in which the zither music is playing, sequences of Holly running down a street, or scrambling over rocks or down stairs. When the music stops, we hear an amazing series of sounds - of footsteps echoing, crowd noises, children's voices, agitated talking, tapping, gun shots, and dripping water. The sounds eerily come out of the dark, sometimes coming from different directions, we don't know where they are coming from....Both movies are quite amazing in their use of sound.

 

Both movies have a balloon, and a balloon man. Both balloons hold our attention uncomfortably, stealing the scenes they are in from the actors.... In M, the balloon floats crazily in the phone wires in the Elsie Beckmann scene. It is a horrible image, making us think of a body jerking in the throes of death. At the end of the film, the same balloon flies up above and behind Peter Lorre's frightened face, taking our attention, and reminding us that he is always being followed, shadowed by his crime.

The balloon (and balloon man) in The Third Man literally fills the frame, obscuring our view, just as it possibly ruins the stake-out for Calloway, blocking his view of Lime....It isn't quite as uncomfortable an image as in M, but it is distracting. For some time, I have thought that it was meant to be a kind of red herring, making the audience think, "Is that Harry in disguise? Is he making his getaway?"

 

Both films have a double chase setup, a desperate search that turns awry. Both also deal with mistaken identity - the mob at the beginning of M mistakenly accuses one then another innocent (or not so innocent) person of being the murderer; whereas in TTM, the dead body is a double - the never seen and unfortunate Harbin, mistakenly assumed to be Harry.

 

Both movies have many other things in common - the use of flashlights directed at the camera, wet city streets, stairs, doorways, verticals.... an expressionistic use of lighting. But the movies differ from each other as well. M uses the theme of concentric circles and clock imagery to make it's main points. TTM uses crumbling ruins, odd craggy unnatural faces, the idea of falling, and theatrical imagery to make it's main points. But they feel the same, and the underlying ideas are so similar. I don't know if *Carol Reed* ever saw the *Fritz Lang* movie. I can imagine Reed seeing M, then years later making TTM, never even realizing that the other movie might have been buried in his subconscious. I also think it's possible that Reed may never have seen M. It may have been his favorite film. It's taken me years of watching both movies to realize how connected they are, at least in my mind.....

[JackFavell]

And now I'm off to bed. I'm plum tuckered out.

[Film_Fatale]

> {quote:title=Bronxgirl48 wrote:}{quote}

> By the by, I'm getting the apartment painted next weekend.

>

> I wound up finally picking not shades of green or what I thought would be "nautical" blues (they invariably had lavender tints unfortunately) but what is named -- get this -- "Belgian Waffle" -- a mellow, light amber-honey (Forever Amber!) that I hope will impart antiqueness, coziness, understated class, and will also in its own way compliment my coastal New England-ish decor.

>

> I just hope I'm not getting maple syrup and butter over the walls as well.

 

Well, that does it. I'm having some waffles for breakfast.

[MissGoddess]

Very interesting observations, Jackie. I think you have something there. It's very likely Reed

saw M, very likely indeed. The first thing that popped into my mind when I read just the title

of your post was that the victims of both criminals were (mostly) children, were they not?

[JackFavell]

Yes, MissG, you're right. Add another similarity to the list!

[rohanaka]

Hi Jack. If I were to add both of these to my list....which would you recommend I see first??

[CineMaven]

BRONXGIRL: " 'Belgian Waffle ' -- a mellow, light amber-honey (Forever Amber!) that I hope will impart antiqueness, coziness, understated class, and will also in its own way compliment my coastal New England-ish decor. I just hope I'm not getting maple syrup and butter over the walls as well."

 

FILM FATALE: "Well, that does it. I'm having some waffles for breakfast."

 

Heck, never mind the breakfast...I need to see "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" again!!

[JackFavell]

Ro- With most movies I say watch in chronological order, but in this case I guess I would say watch *The Third Man* first. It's more humorous, more accessible. There is always something to keep you entertained in the Reed production - yes, yes, that's it....it's an entertainment as well as a classic.

 

*M* is way more heavy duty, and the beginning can be a bit disturbing, especially if you have kids....

[CineMaven]

If you watched the first five hours of TCM this morning (starting at 6:00AM) you got a nice overview of five of the great Hollywood directors on TCM's "The Men Who Made the Movies" series. Did anyone catch the documentaries on:

(1.) King Vidor

(2.) Howard Hawks

(3.) Raoul Walsh

(4.) Samuel Fuller and

(5.) William Wellman