RAMBLES Part II

[CineMaven]

Great shots. Have you ever seen Moreau in "The Bride Wore Black" or "Elevator to the Gallows"?? How 'bout "Repulsion" or "The Mississippi Mermaid" for Deneuve? Perhaps

"The Hunger."

[Arkadin]

I've seen all of the films you mentioned and written about most of them. One thing that's important is both of these women are still working and their names are often enough to garner public interest in a picture. Is that something that happens in Hollywood?

[CineMaven]

Would you say there's a French Garbo, Dietrich or Loren that took hold of the American public like these three, Arkadin? (P.S. Can you send me to your posts about those films? I'd like to read 'em).

Oh...and don't think I've forgotten "Cutter's Way." I haven't.

 

Now where are my consarned notes...

[movieman1957]

Pardon The Interruption....

 

Miss CM:

 

I tired to reply to you but it said your mailbox was full.

 

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled chat.

[CineMaven]

Sir, do try again...I cleaned out many past PMs. Thanxx.

[Arkadin]

The thing about Garbo and Dietrich is they both had directors that helped to mold and shape their personas before they came here, not to mention the way they were photographed and lit. I think this helped them to integrate more smoothly into the system and you had writers and directors looking for specific vehicles that would embody their styles.

 

It could be that many artists chafed under the Hollywood system with no support or backing. There's also The Code and how it affected acting styles. American acting tended to demand that roles be played more "out front", whereas the European style was (and still is) generally more subtle. Some actresses, like Barbara Steele, hated the whole American system of filmaking and simply felt the European style suited them better. All these things surely had some influence, but how much, I couldn't say.

 

 

I'll see if I can dig out some of my posts on those films. I know there's a pretty good thread on *The Bride Wore Black* at SSO in the noir section. I was lucky had a lighter day yesterday, but I need to get back to the grindstone.

[CineMaven]

Thank you soooo much for your thoughtfull answer. My Achilles Heel is Barbara Steele. Aaaah, "BLACK SUNDAY." I'm glad I could pull you away from the grindstone even if for a little while.

 

:-)

[Arkadin]

Steele was actually put under contract with 20th Century Fox in the late fifties, but rebelled against the system (she actually walked off the set and flew to NYC!), finally finding her niche in Italy (although she did come back to work with Corman). She loved the variety of roles and the creative leeway she was given in creating her characters. After all, how many players could jump from *Black Sunday* (1960) to *8 1/2* (1963), to *Young Torless* (1966)?

 

There's a very good interview on the *Nightmare Castle* (1965), DVD where she discusses all these things, but I could not find it on youtube. Here's a very short segment created by a fan, where she discusses the studio briefly and talks about her horror characters.

 

[Arkadin]

Oops. Double post.

 

Edited by: Arkadin on May 11, 2010 7:57 AM

[CineMaven]

"...My ridiculous effluvia torments his very soul, yet he cannot stay away. Wait until he hears about 'THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT'."

 

I wish I knew this was coming on the Fox Movie Channel at 1:00AM. I'd have watched the whole thing. Whew!!! The firing squad!

 

"Here's a very short segment created by a fan, where she discusses the studio briefly and talks about her horror characters."

 

Arkadin, I listened to the Barbara Steele interview. Nice.

[JackFavell]

Last night, I was battling insomnia. I woke up sometime after two for the fourth time, and decided to watch TV. I turned to TCM, but instead of watching a good foreign film I changed the channel and watched

 

*GALAXY QUEST!*

 

This movie is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. It's funny, and has a great cast including Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, Enrico Colontoni, and Alan Rickman.

 

The story line is fantastic. The writers showed great imagination and yes, even some wit in their script.

 

The cast of a long canceled TV space show called GALAXY QUEST are reunited for cult conventions in which their fans dress up as the characters and memorize obscure bits of knowledge from the show. The castmates (an arrogant but heroic captain, a beautiful buxom communications officer, a half human, half alien doctor, etc.) hate each other and end up bickering on stage at convention number 18. They have all just about hit rock bottom, their dreams of stardom or theatrical greatness left in the wake of the show's odd popularity...Just when they are about to cash it in, breaking up the group, "aliens" request their help. The aliens are a race of innocents, who think that the Galaxy Quest TV Show episodes are real historical documents. They have vowed to live their lives as the Galaxy Quest characters do, and have even recreated all the technology on the show including the ship.

 

The cast decides that this may be the only gig they have left, and decide to "help" the "aliens" who they think are just obsessed fans. It turns out to be a real outer space quest, and the fun comes in seeing the snobby cast come unglued and then work together trying to figure out how to deal with real danger. They end up fighting evil aliens bent on wiping out the innocent, good alien population, by using their limited knowledge of their own show to defeat them.

 

One of the funnier scenes toward the end has the captain relying on two teenage fanboys (read trekkies) whose obscure knowledge of the ship (which looks strangely like The Enterprise) could save the entire civilized world. Justin Long is one of the teens, and he is REALLY a riot. I hope he does more comedy, because he is one of the most giftedly funny people I have seen recently. He seemed poised for stardom, then seemed to drift off into obscurity the last few years.....

 

Another thing I like about the film is that it has a little message included - each of the rather obnoxious, self-obsessed characters finds himself choosing to do something nice during their adventures in outer space. They each find a little hero inside, a touch of humanity that they had lost.

 

I hope if you get the chance you will give this 1999 comedy a try. It's worth it.

[CineMaven]

"...Justin Long is one of the teens, and he is REALLY a riot. I hope he does more comedy, because he is one of the most giftedly funny people I have seen recently. He seemed poised for stardom, then seemed to drift off into obscurity the last few years." - < JackFavell >

 

Perhaps now that he broke up with Drew Barrymore, he can concentrate more on his career. Last I saw him (besides the APPLE commercials) he was in the ensemble piece: "HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU."

 

I like him.

[JackFavell]

Ah.... so that's where he's been.

 

Um, I mean.... I'll have to check out *He's Just Not That Into You.*

 

To me, he was the best thing about the series *"Ed"*.

[JackFavell]

Guess what! Galaxy Quest is on youtube:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVAFMrHHoxQ

[CelluloidKid]

*I wish _Letty Lynton_ (1932) would come to DVD! It's about time!*

 

 

film has since become famous due to its unavailability.

 

The film is also remembered for the "Letty Lynton dress", designed by Adrian: a white cotton organdy gown with large ruffled sleeves, puffed at the shoulder. Macy's department store copied the dress in 1932, and it sold over 500,000 replicas nationwide.

 

Letty, the character played by Crawford, also gets away with murder, in a classic example of a Pre-Code Hollywood movie!

 

 

 

*Legal status*

 

 

This film has been unavailable since a US Federal court ruled on January 17, 1936 that the script used by MGM followed too closely the play Dishonored Lady (1930) by Edward Sheldon and Margaret Ayer Barnes without acquiring the rights to the play or giving credit.

 

 

On July 28, 1939, the US Second Court of Appeals awarded one-fifth of the net of Letty Lynton to plaintiffs Sheldon and Ayer Barnes in their plagiarism action against MGM. This case was said to be the first copyright decision ever to direct the apportionment of profits on the relative basis as in patent suits where a patent has been appropriated.

 

 

On November 7, 1939, MGM petitioned the United States Supreme Court to overturn the Court of Appeals ruling, stating that the questions arising in the suit were predicated solely upon the copyright laws of the U.S., and not the patent laws. However, MGM did not prevail in this latter action, and the film is unavailable even to this day save for some bootlegged copies.

 

 

 

[CelluloidKid]

 

 

 

*Galaxy Quest won the 2000 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.*

[cinemafan]

I've seen *Galaxy Quest* many times on the job - it's a movie you can watch with kids when you're watching them. It's funny funny funny. My favorite characters are Guy (Sam Rockwell) and Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman). I love to watch Alan Rickman being funny in spite of himself.

[JackFavell]

Guy (Sam Rockwell) really cracks me up when they visit the planet's surface looking for the barillium sphere to power the ship. His nervousness in being a one name character (in other words forgettable) makes me laugh and feel sorry for him at the same time. Even he knows full well he was only written to be bumped off. I've seen the movie a few times before but I always think he might get blown away this time.

 

I just saw Sam in Iron Man 2 and he was very good in his own weird, funny and smarmy way.

[CineMaven]

"I just saw Sam in Iron Man 2 and he was very good in his own weird, funny and smarmy way."

 

He was excellent in "Iron Man 2" but Robert Downey Jr's fast-talking, glib characterization kills the movie for me. Ugh! I disliked him so much. If it wasn't for Scarlet Johannson as the Black Widow...

[JackFavell]

I liked Downey in IM2.... the glib covering up the fear of dying worked for me..... but he did nothing for me in Sherlock Holmes. Just when I think he is quite overrated, he'll come back and do something really good to reprieve himself. So far I think his best work was in Zodiac.

[CineMaven]

I dunno. I know Downey is accomplished...but I can't get close to him. (Sherlock? No British actor available??) I can't. Charlie Sheen should take a lesson from Downey and get his career back.

[rohanaka]

GALAXY QUEST!

This movie is one of my favorite guilty pleasures

 

Hi there Jackie.... I am glad to hear I am not alone!! (ha)

 

I have always been something of (gasp.. dare I admit it?) a "Next Generation" junkie.. ha. (maybe ONE level short of a true "Trekie" ha) So I enjoyed this movie very much. We have it on VHS and it is a lot of fun. (although we have not really felt too comfortable letting the kidling watch it yet... but she is likely just about old enough now) Anyway.. it has been a while since I saw it last.

 

I love the whole concept of the story line and the characters too. It is a great job by Rickman... I love how he "loathes" his alter ego.. and then comes to embrace it.

 

(Oh.. my favorite part though.... ha. THE ROCK!!) Too funny.

[JackFavell]

>"Find his weak point!"

 

>"He's a ROCK. He doesn't have a weak point!"

 

I love the part when they finally, by the sheerest accident, triumph over the rock guy. The surprised looks on their faces makes me laugh every time.

[rohanaka]

Jackie... with your permission, I just wanted to drop a quick note in here and thank my personal secretaries, Miss G and you too, for keeping me on task and reminding me to watch Drums Along the Mohawk, the other night. OH wowsa. It was so worth the wait. And I truly was glad to get the chance to see it (finally)

 

Oh my sweet Edna May..ha. She stole the show, didn't she?? ha. She was NOT going to get up out of that bed!! ha. I loved it.

 

Thanks again gals. (I will pay you off in chocolate at a later date, but for now.. back to the rock monster.. ha. Rock on!)

[movieman1957]

If only Claudette hadn't cried her way through so much of the movie. And I really like her.

 

Someday we are going to have to a Ford/Fonda - Ford/Wayne discussion on the differences and similarities, if any, on the films.