RMeingast Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Couple of comments for TCM related to the Canada portion of films for the 31 Days of Oscar. First, the logo used to represent Canada is certainly handsome (Laurence Olivier carrying Glynis Johns) from "The 49th Parallel," but the 1941 British propaganda film contains many out-dated stereotypes about Canadians, eh... Maybe another logo would be better for next year. Second, how about expanding the films featuring Canada for next year? One example would be "Agnes of God," set in Montreal... Just a few suggestions (and I realize there are only so many Academy Award nominated/winning films about Canada)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfpcc1 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Didn't Jesus Of Montreal get nominated for best foreign film? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuryeaForHollywood Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Howdy, RM. Gee, I thought you were going to say that Olivier and Johns never appear onscreen together in 49th Parallel. (Come to think of it, Johns ain't dressed much like a Hutterite in the luggage label, either!) I suppose we can blame it on dramatic license, or something. I'd enjoy seeing Agnes of God again myself. I have to say, though, stereotypes or no, 49th P is an awfully good film. The Olivier performance is...uh...quite vivid; Walbrook is fascinatingly miscast, perhaps, and L. Howard looks like he's barely interested (one's tempted to say, what else is new?) but the story is compelling and interestingly structured, and Portman is simply fabulous, as is Raymond Massey. For my money, the last sequence is worth the price of admission alone! One doesn't got many opportunities to hear film scores by Ralph Vaughn Williams, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 That logo for Canada is pretty funny, but since it's a still from a movie that is set in this fine country, I suppose we can let it (lo) go. I've never seen *The 49th Parallel*, so will try and catch it this time. Hey, wouldn't it be ironic if there were "no Canadian rights" to the airing of the Canadian films TCM is screening this month? Suggestion for next time there's a focus on Canada: mini-docs from the acclaimed world-famous National Film Board of Canada, and anything by Canadian directors Atom Egoyan and/or Bruce Macdonald. Just for starters. ps - ok, this is ridiculous. I cannot find out when *The 49th Parallel* is playing. When I go to the special page for Canadian Oscar films this month, it lists the film, all right, even the time ( 1:15). But "1:15" when? I thought it looked like Feb. 13th, but when I checked that date, the film was not listed. Alternatively, I also keyed in *The 49th Parallel* in the TCM search base; a description of the movie came up, all right, but no date for when it's scheduled, and they usually provide a date if the film in question is coming up soon. What's going on? Can anyone help me out here? Edited by: misswonderly on Feb 3, 2012 2:45 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Yesterday? YESterday? All my troubles seemed so far away... Well, this makes me look pretty silly. I suppose if I'd been on top of things I'd have known the date this film was to be shown, and not be foolishly asking about something that's already happed. My embarrassment is unparalled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuryeaForHollywood Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Dear Miss Wonderly: Hop a train and cross into the US via Niagra Falls. I'm sure you can buy the Criterion disc of 49th Parallel in New York. One friendly word of advice? Travel first class, not in one of the freight cars. Cordially, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Well, apparently when it comes to my pathetic attempts to get Mr. M's attention, I've got to hide my love away. I'll just have to turn my face to the wall. And Duryea, hopefully I don't need to hop a train to get myself a dvd copy of *The 49th Parallel* - although I kind of like that idea. I think I would make it a freight train, though. Who knows, maybe I'd run into JOEL McCREA. I'll just comb my hair like Veronica Lake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuryeaForHollywood Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 My dear Miss Wonderly: Admittedly, the train may be a bit unnecessary. It was actually an in-joke, which I think will amuse you when you actually see a chance to see the movie. If you actually boarded the train in Niagra Falls, you might bump noses with Ray Massey, instead of Joel McCrea. Based on the tone of arduous obsessiveness that has characterized your past posts regarding Mr McCrea, I'm guessing you would find that substitution a trifle less than sublime. Good luck tracking down 49th Parallel. Cordially, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprocket_Man Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 > :Walbrook is fascinatingly miscast, perhaps... Not necessarily; you haven't seen the long-lost excised part of the film in which his character browbeats Glynis Johns's character into becoming the first-ever Hutterite ballerina. > One doesn't got many opportunities to hear film scores by Ralph Vaughn Williams, either. True, but Williams wasn't the first choice to score the film. Powell and the producers had wanted Miklos Rozsa (who had written the music for Powell's THE SPY IN BLACK -- also about a German U-Boat's grounding in Canadian waters -- four years earlier), but he'd already gone to Hollywood with Alexander Korda's THE THIEF OF BAGDAD company (co-directed by Powell), decided to stay there because of the greater opportunities, and was unavailable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuryeaForHollywood Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Oh, thank you Sprocket Man! You made my night with that quip about Walbrook! First time I've laughed aloud since Gandhi started! I think you have a subtle point there about Anton Walbrook -- there's almost certainly nothing wrong with his performance as the pacificst leader (and he's uncannily good in that scene where he queitly but commandingly tells off vile Nazi Portman), but boy, after seeing The Red Shoes, I just have a hard time looking at that man and seeing anybody but Boris Lermontov! That is extremely interesting, the information you have provided about Ralph Vaughn Williams' score for 49th P -- something I legitimately didn't know. So thanks twice over. Interesting, that Powell an Pressberger provided such a prominant title card for a composer who was the ostensible second choice. Very gracious were those men who were about to become The Archers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprocket_Man Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 >First time I've laughed aloud since Gandhi started! How can you have even found anything funny since Gandhi was assassinated? As for THE 49th PARALLEL, the central section in the Canadian heartland of Alberta is, by far, the best in the movie. Oddly, and rather ironically, it seems to recall (for me, anyway) the tone and rhythms of the "mountain films" of which Germans have always been so fond, especially during the Nazi era. And re Walbrook, I just had a conversation with someone about THE RED SHOES. I stated that I really don't care for it, not because it isn't a wonderful and utterly audacious piece of filmmaking -- which it is -- but because I think the music, including, if not especially, the ballet, itself, is third-rate. Brian Easdale's music is predictable and tedious, not even remotely worthy of the film for which it was written. Though British films frequently drew on home-grown composers of considerable note in the concert hall -- Williams, Arnold Bax, Malcolm Arnold, Arthur Bliss -- I've always found British film music (with the exception of William Walton, a true titan) like British food used to be: substantial but uninspired. Music figures dso prominently in THE RED SHOES that anything less than anything groundbraking in its scoring can only undercut the whole scheme that Powell and Pressburger conceived. It's a great shame... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMeingast Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 Yes, very good film. Well done propaganda during wartime that still works today. But really, it's a British movie that features Canada as a backdrop. Earlier version of "Hollywood North" from a time when Canada was still pretty much a British colony. But a good movie. Obviously. Three Oscar nominations with one win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMeingast Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 "49th Parallel" handsome movie to watch indeed. German "mountain films" were a popular genre in the 1920s and early 1930s before Nazis came to power (first "mountain film" made in 1903): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_film (German here: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergfilm) Nazi connection probably because many, and the most popular, of the "mountain films" starred Leni Riefenstahl, who later made propaganda films for Nazis. "Mountain film" genre continued in late 1940s, 1950s, and continues to this day. German love for "mountain films" akin to American love for westerns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMeingast Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 Canada films have to have been nominated/won an Oscar to be shown during 31 Days of Oscar. A tall order to find them then. Plus this is TCM and you won't see more modern films that have been nominated/won. Many of the older films featuring Canada and that won Oscars were made during World War 2 as propaganda efforts by either the British ("49th Parallel") or Hollywood ("Captains of the Clouds"). "Captains of the Clouds" (also official song of Royal Canadian Air Force) has much to do with Canada and is a very well made movie. Features Canadian air ace Billy Bishop, RCAF, and great Canadian locations. BTW, Jack Warner (of Warner Bros.), was born in London, Ontario, Canada, so a Warner Bros. movie about Canada was going to be authentic. Anyway, finding Oscar nominated/winning films featuring Canada that weren't made as propaganda during World War 2 (or too modern for TCM) is a tough task. Marilyn Monroe made some excellent films in Canada: "Niagara" and "River of No Return" (filmed in Alberta, Canada) but neither was nominated for an Oscar. Montgomery Clift starred in the Alfred Hitchcock film "I Confess" that was made in Quebec City, Canada, but again no Oscar nomination. BTW, Karl Malden does a French-Canadian accent in this film. If any of you dear readers have suggestions for Canada films that were nominated for/won an Oscar, let's see them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Hello, RMeingast: I'm well aware that there are few Canadian Oscar-winners, and that the two film directors I suggested are current filmmakers, definitely not from the "classic" era. Everyone does this, I do it too: we quickly read a post, pick up the gist of it, and sometimes miss a detail or two. What I actually said in the post you refer to, being cognisant that there is indeed little to choose from in terms of Canadian Oscar-winners, was, "Suggestion for next time there's a focus on Canada..." Next time there's a focus on Canada, not next time they plan Oscar month. For some reason Canada seems to excel at film genres from two completely different ends of the movie spectrum - cerebral documentaries and goofy comedies. But Canadian movie-makers have also made a fair number of great films that fall in-between those two poles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMeingast Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 Yes, you are right, MissWonderly, and I agree with you. Read all the comments replying to my post at one time and replied to them all at one time. Yes, next time TCM chooses to focus on Canada they have lots of good films to pick from. Film rights to air those films on TCM Canada is another matter entirely, I guess. It's also rather odd that the 31 Days of Oscar sweepstakes contest is only open to Americans!! Despite the fact they are showing, and doing so much to advertise, films featuring and made in many countries around the world... Oh well... Anyway, mea maxima culpa, MissWonderly... Ciao. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Hey, no problem, RMeingast, mea maxima culpa a lot of the time too. So...are you a fellow Canadian? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMeingast Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 You betcha, Miss Wonderly... Born and bred in the bone, eh... Wonder how many other Canucks post to TCM here... Regards... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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