The Essentials: The Brad Bird Era begins May 2

[jakeem]

 "Out of the Past" received no Academy Award nominations for 1947, but "Against All Odds" earned one 37 years later. It was nominated for Best Original Song for the theme "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)," which was written and performed by Phil Collins. It was the first of seven No. 1 songs for Collins on the Billboard pop chart. The Oscar went to Stevie Wonder for "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from "The Woman in Red."

 

[jakeem]

Greer and Mitchum reunited two years after "Out of the Past" for the 1949 film noir " The Big Steal," which also starred William Bendix. Directed by Don Siegel -- who later collaborated with actor Clint Eastwood on "Dirty Harry" (1971) -- the film featured Mitchum as a U.S. Army lieutenant suspected of taking a military payroll. As he tried to find the real culprit in Mexico, he joined forces with an American woman (Greer) linked to a person of interest. Meanwhile, Bendix played Mitchum's superior officer, who was in close pursuit. Three years later, Mitchum and Bendix would have a similar adversarial relationship in "Macao," directed by Josef von Sternberg and Nicholas Ray.

[jakeem]

Twenty years after "Out of the Past,"  Douglas and Mitchum co-starred with Widmark in "The Way West," a Western saga based on the 1950 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by A.B. Guthrie Jr.  The film was the eventful tale of a wagon train expedition from Missouri along the Oregon Trail to the Montana territory. Douglas played a former U.S. senator who spearheaded the trip. Mitchum was the hired guide for the long journey. This was the first feature film for Sally Field, who went on to win two Academy Awards (for "Norma Rae" and "Places in the Heart") and was nominated for a third for her performance as the wife of the 16th U.S. president in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln."

[jakeem]

Film critic Roger Ebert, whose favorite actor was Mitchum, put "Out of the Past" on his Great Movies list. He called it "one of the greatest of all film noirs, the story of a man who tries to break with his past and his weakness and start over again in a town, with a new job and a new girl."

[jakeem]

 

[jakeem]

TCM

@tcm

 

Remembering Dickie Moore today on his birthday.

 

10:00 AM · Sep 12, 2020·Sprinklr

[jakeem]

Not known for his singing, Brando starred as gambler Sky Masterson  in "Guys and Dolls," the 1955 film version of the long-running, Tony Award-winning musical based on two short stories by Damon Runyon and featuring music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. The picture was produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who co-adapted the screenplay with Ben Hecht. 

 

[jakeem]

Frank Sinatra had been hoping to play Brando's character, Masterson. But he acquitted himself well in the role of Nathan Detroit, who ran an illegal floating crap game. The song "Adelaide" was written especially for the movie -- and Sinatra.

Interestingly, the tune "Luck Be a Lady" -- performed in the movie by Brando -- became a staple of The Chairman of the Board's songbook.

 

[jakeem]

In 1954, Brando co-starred with Jean Simmons in the historical drama "Désirée," the story of Napoleon Bonaparte's relationship with the future queen consort of Sweden. The film received Academy Awards nominations for  Best Color Art Direction and Best Costume Design. Meanwhile, Brando earned the cover of Time magazine.

A year later, Brando and Simmons  were reunited in "Guys and Dolls," in which she played Sister Sarah Brown of the Save a Soul Mission. Like Brando, Simmons wasn't known for her singing, but she acquitted herself well on "If I Were a Bell."

 

[txfilmfan]

4 hours ago, jakeem said:

In 1954, Brando co-starred with Jean Simmons in the historical drama "Désirée," the story of Napoleon Bonaparte's relationship with the future queen consort of Sweden. The film received Academy Awards nominations for  Best Color Art Direction and Best Costume Design. Meanwhile, Brando earned the cover of Time magazine.

A year later, Brando and Simmons  were reunited in "Guys and Dolls," in which she played Sister Sarah Brown of the Save a Soul Mission. Like Brando, Simmons wasn't known for her singing, but she acquitted herself well on "If I Were a Bell."

 

Ms. Simmons did do a U.S. tour of A Little Night Music also, shortly after its Broadway run.   She played Desiree Armfeldt, a role originated on Broadway by Glynis Johns (who won a Tony award for the effort).  The character sings the well-known song Send in the Clowns.    The song, however, was written especially for Ms. Johns' limited vocal range, and most actresses who play this role aren't particularly noted for a robust singing voice.

[jakeem]

 

[jakeem]

"Guys and Dolls" opens with the colorful Loesser tune "Fugue for Tinhorns," featuring horseracing aficionados Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Stubby Kaye), Rusty Charlie (Danny Dayton) and Benny Southstreet (Johnny Silver). Kaye and Silver were original cast members of the Broadway version that opened on  Nov 24, 1950 and ran for 1,200 performances.

A decade later, Gold Medal Flour used the song for its series of "Can Do" commercials.

 

[jakeem]

Directed by the British team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, "The Red Shoes" -- a visually stunning presentation about the world of ballet -- was Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's tale. The 1948 film won Academy Awards for Best Color Art Direction-Set Decoration (Hein Heckroth, Arthur Lawson) and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Brian Easdale). It also was nominated for Best Picture, Best Writing, Motion Picture Story (Pressburger) and Best  Film Editing (Reginald Mills). And it made the flame-haired Scottish ballerina Shearer (1926-2006) an international star, although she ultimately chose marriage and a family over a sustained film career.

[slaytonf]

And she chose a career in ballet befrore that. 

[jakeem]

19 hours ago, slaytonf said:

And she chose a career in ballet befrore that. 

She retired from ballet five years after appearing in "The Red Shoes." She reunited with Powell and Pressburger for "The Tales of Hoffmann," a 1951 screen version of the unfinished 19th-century opera by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880). The opera was based on three short stories by German author E.T.A. Hoffman (1776-1822). 

[Dargo]

Moira is also extremely enchanting (at least I thought so when TCM showed it recently) in the 1955 British romantic-comedy The Man Who Loved Redheads, in which she plays four different roles.

[jakeem]

Her final collaboration with Powell was a non-dancing role in his controversial 1960 British drama "Peeping Tom." It was her penultimate screen appearance.

[slaytonf]

You can't measure movies.  So you can't say which one is the best, or even which ones are better than others.  But if it were necessary for me to choose one movie, if I had to choose one--

[jakeem]

Jeff Lundenberger

@jlundenberger

 

I've seen pieces of this over the years but I finally watched it start to finish at the #TCMFF '20 Home Edition. I now know what an essential it really is. I need to see it on a big screen one day. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, tonight at 8:00 PM on #TCM. #TCMEssentials #letsmovie

 

9:01 AM · Oct 3, 2020·Hootsuite Inc.

[jakeem]

Sir David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" begins the way most biopics end. It shows the tragic motorcycle accident on May 13, 1935 that resulted in T.E. Lawrence's death six days later at the age of 45. While riding through the countryside of Dorset, England, the World War I hero (portrayed by Peter O'Toole) swerved to avoid two boys on bicycles.

Can you think of other films -- real-life or fictional -- in which the protagonist died at the beginning, literally making the rest of the picture one big flashback?

[txfilmfan]

14 minutes ago, jakeem said:

Sir David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" begins the way most biopics end. It shows the tragic motorcycle accident on May 13, 1935 that resulted in T.E. Lawrence's death six days later at the age of 45. While riding through the countryside of Dorset, England, the World War I hero (portrayed by Peter O'Toole) swerved to avoid two boys on bicycles.

Can you think of other films -- real-life or fictional -- in which the protagonist died at the beginning, literally making the rest of the picture one big flashback?

Citizen Kane

[jakeem]

1 minute ago, txfilmfan said:

Citizen Kane

That's pretty much the Rolls-Royce of long flashbacks!

[txfilmfan]

1 minute ago, jakeem said:

That's pretty much the Rolls-Royce of long flashbacks!

I didn't want to think too hard this morning, so I offered the most obvious answer!

[lavenderblue19]

20 minutes ago, jakeem said:

 

Can you think of other films -- real-life or fictional -- in which the protagonist died at the beginning, literally making the rest of the picture one big flashback?

Sunset Boulevard opens with Joe Gillis' dead body floating in the swimming pool and he's narrating the story in flashback.

[jakeem]

21 minutes ago, lavenderblue19 said:

Sunset Boulevard opens with Joe Gillis' dead body floating in the swimming pool and he's narrating the story in flashback.

Another classic one!