Movie Rambles

[MissGoddess]

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

> Madame Bovary? Which one? I do not know the Jennifer Jones version...

 

Happily, this movie from 1949 and directed by Vincente Minelli IS available on dvd and I highly recommend it as the best version I have seen (so far) of the classic story:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Madame-Bovary-Jennifer-Jones/dp/B000KJU132/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1215201514&sr=1-1

[MissGoddess]

And how could I forget Rod Taylor in The Birds? Though he's not really "loud" either, he is confident and assertive and loves to tease Melanie. How I love his "Mitch Brenner"!

 

I'd even put "Melanie Daniels" in the "Assertive/Chatty Women" category.

[MissGoddess]

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

> In the Talkarive/Assertive category I would add George Sanders in any one of the following: Rebecca, All About Eve, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and Winess to Murder....that type was his specialty, along with being an urbane cad.

 

Absolutely! I love that guy...what an incorrigible scoundrel.

[AnnieLaurie]

Elwood P. Dowd is one of my favorite characters...I like the part where he explains _why_ he is so polite, need that attitude today...the message of the film is beautiful and a first rate cast. I think his "sister" is also in Arsenic and Old Lace...another great film about "crazy" people. The Cary Grant role (Mortimer) could be a talkative/assertive, if he is not already on the list : )

[MissGoddess]

Hi Annie,

 

How can anyone fail to find Elwood likable. And he really possesses more common sense than the people who think he's batty. I love the film's theme and ideas. Konway pointed out some of its riches in a thread in this forum dedicated to the film. It may be a page back.

 

I think Butterscotch may have had "Mortimer" on her list of Talky Characters. He's hilarious.

 

And Jack Carson, just about every character he played was a motor mouth.

[laffite]

I can?t get over how good you folks are with lists! It?s one thing to list ?favorite movies,? or ?favorite actors,? but to break it down by ?talkative? and ?soft-spoken? and all that takes a mental virtuosity that I find totally impressive not to mention a gifted faculty for recall. When I try to surf my brain in an attempt to do this I feel as if I am lost in space. Better maybe to run one?s finger down a list of movies seen and then rummage memory banks for characters in that movie? I don?t know how you do it, but kudos!

 

And BTW---important!---this is not another everybody-knows-more-than-I-do or everybody-has-seen-more-movies-than-I grumble and I don?t want whatever I?m saying here to go into that direction---please!. We?ve been all through that. (although I feel like a damn fool )

 

I?m thinking of making a list of 100 movies that I have not seen and that by golly it?s about time that I did, to be seen within 5 months time. Does this sound like a good idea or am I just being desperate .

 

Just noticed this thread a couple days ago. Good idea. I approve of catch-all threads like this as opposed to starting a new for every little thing (as some are wont to do).

 

Happy Fourth!!!!

[MissGoddess]

Bonjour, Lafitte!

 

I wish you all the best with your 100 Movies Project! Have you a "seed" group to start with or are you just beginning to compile it?

 

Making the list of characters was easy for me because I am drawn to characters more than anything else in a movie. And many of the films I listed in the "Movies You Watch Over and Over" thread are constant favorites because of the character(s) and not necessarily the movie as a whole.

 

If you do decide to share some of your favorite Assertive vs. Reserved characters, I would love to see what you come up with. I think I can guess which category most pirates fall into.

[laffite]

Bonjour *MissG*

 

*Have you a "seed" group to start with or are you just beginning to compile it?*

 

Like a category to concentrate on, something like that? Or an already established list? No, just the opposite, any title that I think should be on the list, from whatever genre. I have four films selected already and was going to list them but thought best not so to avoid a withering attack from the gallery for not having seen them. Just kidding, you're all to nice for that ('cept *Frank* )

 

*If you do decide to share some of your favorite Assertive vs. Reserved characters, I would love to see what you come up with. I think I can guess which category most pirates fall into.*

 

I shall, I shall, and thank you. As to the preferance of pirates, I have to be a little careful (Are there any pirates listening?) since I have an appreciation for soft-spoken, reserved types, not exactly the stereotypical buccaneer. Not to be a wishy-washy swashy but until I have my own ship I have to worry about the plank

[MissGoddess]

I'm sure you won't have to walk any planks, just so long as you keep the preference for long haired music under wraps. Besides, you don't look as though anyone would dare try.

 

[laffite]

Haha, very good, *MissG*

 

Uh, I want you to know that I had to do a lot of practicing to develop that steely gaze. Intimidation is very important to a pirate as we must at all times never let anyone suspect that we anything other than one tough SOB. I wanted to have a machete between my teeth but the artist said no because I looked ridiculous. I said, "Oh, Okay."

 

Thanks for posting that. I love it.

[AnnieLaurie]

To me, Elwood embodies "stop and smell the roses" love of life which is lacking today. He has plenty of time to listen, chat, compliment, drink martinis or gaze at the stars. He lives in the present, while the rest of the characters are running around hysterical and behaving far more crazy than he could ever be. I will look for the comments about the film. I would love to know who wrote the screenplay too, because it is very clever.

[AnnieLaurie]

I looked up the Sanders bio on TCM and it is so sad. I won't give it away but, I had to post a comment about him after reading it. Poor dear man...

[MissGoddess]

Hi Annie Laurie!

 

Mary Chase wrote the play Harvey was based on, and adapted it to a screenplay along with a couple of other screenwriters.

 

Yes, Georgie didn't end up his life in a bed of roses, but he had his moments. If you can find "Memoirs of a Professional Cad" by George Sanders in your library, you might enjoy it. I haven't found a copy myself yet, but I can recommend "A Dreadful Man" written by his friend, actor Brian Aherne. It's more widely available.

[AnnieLaurie]

Thank you Goodess, good info. There is a great used book store near my home. I have found some out-of-print books there for little $. You have to be patient and pick through the stacks.

[AnnieLaurie]

Oh, forgot to mention it is _fascinating__ he married two Gabor sisters... But I won't speculate on why he did that! I will look for these once I get through Book Club book In the Light of the Evening and Woody Allen screenplay for class. I believe Ahern was also pals with Errol Flynn another favorite of mine. His autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways is first rate, brutally honest. It was a huge scandal when it came out shortly after he died.

[MissGoddess]

Georgie got around, that's for sure!

 

My Wicked, Wicked Ways was one of the most enjoyable reads I ever had. The man was quite unique, led an extraordinary life before even coming to Hollywood and he's a favorite of mine, too. I would like to read his novels.

[laffite]

_*Here are some fussbudgets*_

 

Mary Boland in Pride and Prejudice

Billie Burke in Dinner At Eight

Charles Coburn in The Devil and Miss Jones

Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage

Judy Davis in Where Angels Fear To Tread

Sandy Dennis in The Fox

Edith Evans in The Importance of Being Earnest

Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind

Joan Plowright in Enchanted April

George C Scott in Dr Strangelove?

Elizabeth Taylor in The Taming of the Shrew

Clifton Webb in The Razor?s Edge

 

I like fussbudgets. There are a pain in the neck in real life but they can be very entertaining in movies. It's fun to see how they are depicted by various actors and often they can be quite comical. Here is a modest list of them. A couple of these might be iffy. This category is a spinoff from the "talkative." Fussbudgets are usually (if not always) talkative but talkative ones are not always fussbudgets, something for which we can be very greatful. I tried not to use any of the the "talkatives" from earlier lists on this thread but in the case of Scarlet, well, I just had to include her because she may be the Queen of the Fussbudgets. I will be an eager reader of a more complete lists of fussbudgets if anyone would care to add a few. I fully realize that I have barely scratched the surface. I know that "loud" people have been covered below but I hope that fussbudgets can have a category of their own because I think they deserve one.

 

Vive les fussbudgets!

[CineMaven]

Well, I think the queens of fussbudgetdom are DONALD MEEK and FRANKLIN PANGBORN. Think about it. You know I'm right.

 

Fussbudgets UNITE!! (Though they're not really my favorite character type. I'll take the Hope Emersons any day).

[laffite]

Oh, Cine, you hit a home run with Mr Pangborn. I like to think in terms of particular roles but Franklin's whole career is practically defined by it. (Disclosure: I had to google to see what he looked like. Another one of those nameless character actors but with an unforgettable face. 'Course I should probably be whipped for not recognizing this one but such as it is with us, meaning me, amateurs). Donald Meek seems less so to me but I have seen precious few of his movies.

[MissGoddess]

Bon soiree, M. Lafitte,

 

Can you define what your idea of a "fussbudget" is? Becuase I'm a little confused, I can't think of Scarlett or Bette in Of Human Bondage in the same terms as Franklyn Pangborn...lol. Is it just someone who wastes energy on unimportant things? I'm unsure. When I think of the term, yes, Franklyn Pangborn and Mary Boland do come to mind, or Donald Meek types.

[MissGoddess]

I watched the "extras" and listened to the commentary to the new Criterion dvd of THE FURIES.

The extras include an interview with director Anthony Mann from 1967 and a recent one of his

daughter, Nina. It was interesting to learn of Mann's unusual, and apparently painful, childhood

and how it influenced his movie tastes and style. The commentary, by Jim Kitses, is a bit

exhausting (you were right, Ken) but the gentleman does have enthusiasm for Mann's westerns

in general and The Furies especially. However, his tiresome overuse of one suggestive term

in particular almost made me climb the walls. Someone must have hit him with a volume Freud

when he was a child.

 

Message was edited by: MissGoddess

[laffite]

*Can you define what your idea of a "fussbudget" is?*

 

Anyone who fusses, whether about important things or not. Or anyone who is subject to a hissy fit, maybe. Or people who want to control and are bustling about and arranges things to that end, but who are decidedly fussy. Something like that. It's not enough just to cite an actor, it has to be that actor in a specific movie. You might be right about Pangborn, when I googled him and saw that face, I recognized him as that fastidious and persnickety type who I've seen in movies and he seemed to fit the bill but if he is fussy, it's not in the same vein as Scarlet or Mildred (Bette) so I think you have a point there. But I didn't think too much about it (probably obvious), I was just trying to make a list

[FrankGrimes]

Oh, don't pay any attention to Miss G, Laffite. She's just being a fussbudget. But, then again, she's not one to fuss over a budget. She's merely a fuss.

[butterscotchgreer]

oh my goodness frankie!!! what a list you just shoveled out there!! i rather like it, and i thought i would hate it t first. heehee! what is it with you and Forty Guns? i never saw what was so good about that movie. i mean its got a good plot, but too much violence for my innocent little self. heehee!

 

i noticed angela lansbury's role in anchurian Candidate made your list...barely.

 

well at least you thought of her, but come on, didnt you think it was mean of them to do that to sweet angela? they made her so mean in that movie! although she did a bang up job playing it i must admit.

 

i forgot to add mark mcpherson to my list! oh goodness, i will just have to makre a second list like april did. heehee!

 

i rather liked your female lists to! well it seems i cant complain too much then.

 

*some of it wonderfully wasteful.*

 

yougot that right...wasteful is the key word right there! especially with your Forty Guns character. honestly! i didnt especially like spencer tracy's character in Inherit the Wind either. okay im done analyzing your list now!

[butterscotchgreer]

my wonderful pirate of penzance, leffite!!

 

can you tell me about Where the angels Fear to Tread? it has my helen mirren in it, but i havent seen it yet. i cant find it anywhere. can you tell me about it? is it extraordinarily great enough for me to see? is she great in it?