I Just Watched...

[LornaHansonForbes]

John Gielgud is so great in this.  Much mores than in his Oscar winning film, Arthur.

I can't recall any other film where a character's fondest dream is of having a regular bowel movement.  Very funny.

 

Little known fact- that was initially the main plot of Shakespeare's RICHARD III.

In fact, his famous last line was originally  "my kingdom for a...."

 

(The Bard decided it just wouldn't be commercial enough though.)

[kingrat]

Lorna, thank you for your write-up on Gladys George. I'm a huge fan of THE CRYSTAL BALL, and Gladys is first-rate in THE HARD WAY and THE ROARING TWENTIES.

 

Lawrence, thanks for writing about PROVIDENCE, which I will have to look for. Resnais tends to be what I call a "neck-up" director, and I tend to admire (somewhat coolly) rather than love LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD and HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR, but I really enjoyed MON ONCLE D'AMERIQUE and would recommend it if you haven't seen it. I didn't make it all the way through LA GUERRE EST FINIE (not bad, if I remember correctly, just not engaging).

[Swithin]

GLADYS GEORGE is the best, she often reminds me of a saucy little Ewok.

 

Although she does not remind me of an Ewok (saucy or otherwise), I love Gladys George as well. I think my favorite of her performances is in The Roaring Twenties but I also love the other films you mention as well as her Oscar-nominated performance in Valiant Is the Word for Carrie, and her enjoyable performance as Madame du Barry in Marie Antoinette.

[wouldbestar]

I finished watching all the movies I taped during the 31 Days of Oscar ending with The Informer.  This was one I wanted to see for years and put a perfect cap on one of the best months of the festival in years.

I'm used to seeing Victor McLaghlen as the comic relief in Ford/Wayne movies and this was a revelation.  Yes, he deserved his Oscar; he had me feeling every emotion from anger to sympathy to hope he would find mercy.  The ending was both a letdown and comforting.  The rest of the movie was thought provoking and well made for 1932.

That "Condemned Festival" got a head start today with all those Jean Harlow films.  I watched Red Headed Woman which would have probably made the list had it been around then.  I've never been that big a fan of hers but she was good here even if she gave us who were once beet or carrot tops a bad name.  I liked here in The Public Enemy too.

[speedracer5]

I finished watching all the movies I taped during the 31 Days of Oscar ending with The Informer.  This was one I wanted to see for years and put a perfect cap on one of the best months of the festival in years.

 

I'm used to seeing Victor McLaughlin as the comic relief in Ford/Wayne movies and this was a revelation.  Yes, he deserved his Oscar; he had me feeling every emotion from anger to sympathy to hope he would find mercy.  The ending was both a letdown and comforting.  The rest of the movie was thought provoking and well made for 1932.

 

That "Condemned Festival" got a head start today with all those Jean Harlow films.  I watched Red Headed Woman which would have probably made the list had it been around then.  I've never been that big a fan of hers but she was good here even if she gave us who were once beet or carrot tops a bad name.  I liked here in The Public Enemy too.

I watched Red Headed Woman too.  This was the second time I had seen the film.  I think Harlow looked nicer with the darker (presumably, red) hair.  It looked better than the peroxide blonde.  This movie is quite scandalous for 1932.  I enjoyed it very much.  It would make a great double bill with Baby Face which is airing later tonight.

[Fedya]

GLADYS GEORGE is the best, she often reminds me of a saucy little Ewok.

She and Roman Bohnen get a great scene in The Best Years of Our Lives as Dana Andrews' parents when Dad reads his son's service record that got him all those citations.

[GregoryPeckfan]

She and Roman Bohnen get a great scene in The Best Years of Our Lives as Dana Andrews' parents when Dad reads his son's service record that got him all those citations.

Yes, they do have a great scene in The Best Years of Our Lives.  That movie is full of great performances and scenes.

[wouldbestar]

I watched Red Headed Woman too.  This was the second time I had seen the film.  I think Harlow looked nicer with the darker (presumably, red) hair.  It looked better than the peroxide blonde.  This movie is quite scandalous for 1932.  I enjoyed it very much.  It would make a great double bill with Baby Face which is airing later tonight.

 

I second that.  She looked phony and cheap with that white hair almost nobody under 60 really has.  I think she had the same color in Wife Vs. Secretary and she looked like a real woman.

 

Another movie that I finally got to see all of last night was Spartacus.  Again, I don't like Laurence Olivier all that much but when he was on screen there, I couldn't turn away.  No wonder Kirk Douglas is so proud of that movie!  I can't believe this was a U-I picture; who knew they could make an epic after all those low budget treats we'd been getting from them all these years.

 

Besides the action, this was one of the most beautiful love stories of any movie.  Kirk Douglas and Jean Simmons were perfect together; the reversal of roles-the man the virgin, the woman who had to teach him-was unexpected but normal under the circumstances and combined Alex North's love theme had me in tears.  The ending left me speechless.  What a month I had!          

[GregoryPeckfan]

THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE - first time seen as it aired tonight.

 

It had been recommended to me on a Favourite Performance thread Bogie started and of course, this was the first movie in the March spotlight.

 

 

It is an excellent film.  All the performances were  top-notch.

 

 

 

I look forward to being able to see movies this month that I previously had not seen before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I only wish Temple had killed Trigger earlier.  I would like to see all rapists put into cells with convicted murderers.

[kingrat]

I watched the intro to BLACK NARCISSUS to hear what Sister Rose had to say, started watching the first few minutes of the film yet again, and of course could not stop watching the whole movie. There may never have been more deserving Oscars than the one Jack Cardiff won for cinematography and the one Alfred Junge won for art direction for this film.

 

What Powell and Cardiff get, and what most contemporary directors and cinematographers do not, is that it is absolutely possible to have a shot of overwhelming beauty which nonetheless does not deflect our attention in the least from story, character, plot, theme, movement.

 

This time through, I particularly admired the music by Brian Easdale, which is full of excellent motifs and orchestral scoring. I loved the little bits of vocal shading Deborah Kerr used to give us the emotions behind the words. BLACK NARCISSUS repays as much attention as we want to give it. To mention only one small detail, we first see Sister Clodagh from the back as she is teaching her class. We don't see much of the Reverend Mother's face, either. Then when Sister Clodagh opens the door to the Reverend Mother's office, we see that Sister Clodagh is a young woman. Only then is there a cut to a close-up of the Reverend Mother so that we see that she is a very old woman.

 

Sister Rose's comment in the outro was priceless, mentioning that the Legion of Decency objected to Clodagh as a girl riding horseback with her boyfriend, and that one of the censors wrote that she should have been shown in an apron in the kitchen, helping her mother.

[film lover 293]

"Baby Face" (1933)--To answer a question GGGGerald brought up in this thread, or another, YES! this was the "Condemned" version;  It named the philosopher (Nietzche--sp?), it had several shots of Stanwyck leading her respectable(?) employers on, and one priceless scene that had Stanwyck "persuading" a railway guard not to throw them off the train while her maid (Theresa Harris) sang a spiritual as background accompaniment: wonderful, keen edged drama mixed with satire.  9/10 stars.

 

SPOILER SPOILER FOR CENSORED VERSION OF "BABY FACE" (1933)--There was no Nonsense at the end about Stanwyck & hubby being happy "mill workers" at the End!

 

 

"Let's Face It" (1943)--Bob Hope and Betty Hutton star in this shredded Paramount musical that dropped some of the music, and is the worse for doing so.  But Eve Arden saves the film during its music-less middle.  Somehow, she gets laughs out of Every line--the lady deserved an Academy Award nomination for her acting job.  Phyllis Povah (1939's "The Women") and Zasu Pitts also get laugh lines across well. "Dance of Love" and "Let's Not Talk About Love" are worth waiting for.  6/10 stars.

[GregoryPeckfan]

SAN ANTONIO:

 

Fun colour western I recorded from last month to watch again starring Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, "Cuddles," and PAUL KELLY (not Dan Duryea who looks like him and I get them confused sometimes, thanks Jamesjazzguitar)

 

Fun fun fun on a dreary weather day.

[cigarjoe]

To Live And Die In L.A. (1985) Smog Noir in the City Of Angels

 

 

 

Directed by William Friedkin (The French Connection (1971)), written by former U.S. Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich (novel), screenplay by William Friedkin and Gerald Petievich. Outstanding cinematography by Robby Müller (Paris, Texas (1984), Barfly (1987)) the film stars quite the cast, William Petersen (Thief(1981), Manhunter (1986)) , Willem Dafoe (Wild at Heart (1990)), John Pankow, Michael Greene, John Turturro (Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998)), Darlanne Fluegel (Once Upon a Time in America (1984)), Dean Stockwell (The Arnelo Affair (1947), (Compulsion(1959), (Paris, Texas (1984), (Blue Velvet (1986)), Robert Downey Sr., and Jack Hoar.

 

Beautifully bleak and highly stylistic. This film actually makes a lethally smoggy industrial West Coast/LA sunrise jaw droppingly gorgeous, perverting the normal aesthetic. Palm trees compete with power poles and high tension lines that diffuse into a yellowish soup. Rail yards and wrecking yards are bathed in golden light. All this segues into a montage of a series of varied illegal counterfeit $20 bill transactions.

 

The film has a 80's techno Wang Chung pounding beat. The cast at that time (save for Dean Stockwell) where pretty much all unknowns. The mayhem ratchets up nicely and unpredictably throughout the film. It's an anti buddy cop film.

 

Gritty, flamboyant, caustic, beautifully bleak 9/10

 

Fuller review on Film Noir/Gangster Board and again with many screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/03/to-live-and-die-in-la-1985-smog-noir-in.html

[LawrenceA]

 

To Live And Die In L.A. (1985) 

 

Love this movie. Nice write-up, Joe.

[GregoryPeckfan]

BELOVED ENEMY (1936)

 

I watched this movie for the first time as it aired tonight as part of the Star of the Month look at Merle Oberon.

 

It is about the Ireland/England history about a real life person, but the ending is not what really happened.  I won't say what it is.  But I will say that viewers learned that there were two endings filmed - as was often the case during and prior to the European war against Nazis even though USA didn't join the war until 1941.  Canada joined in 1939 when England did.  In this case, the other version of the movie's footage is lost.

 

Compare that to the Clark Gable/Norma Shearer movie Idiot's Delight, which shot one ending for American audiences and another for European audiences and where both endings exist and were shown on TCM.

 

I'm not sure which version of these movies aired in Canada the first time they were shown in theatres.

 

 

This movie was another pairing of Oberon with David Niven, who co-starred with her in Wuthering Heights and who did not like his character in that movie..  Her leading man her is Brian Aherne  .

 

Regarding another real life movie, Sgt. York -it wasn't until I saw that movie that I realized that USA was not in WWI until 1917.  Canada of course joined when England did.  That is just a comment about my own knowledge of WWI compared to WII which I know more about.

 

Why am I talking about a different war than the one in the film I just watched.  Well, movie studios liked to make movies about previous wars when trying to comment on current world conditions to the time the films were made. 

 

 

Another movie crossed off my list of David Niven movies.

[GregoryPeckfan]

FOLIES-BEGERE DE PARIS  - first time viewed as it aired on TCM tonight

 

 

What a contrast between this movie and Beloved Enemy!

 

I am taping The Dark Angel to watch at another time, although I did watch the introduction.

 

 

This musical paired Oberon with the great Maurice Chevalier in duel roles.

 

I love Chevalier musicals.  Beautiful music, beautiful dancing, people being happy.

 

Lots of fun.

[AndreaDoria]

I'm just now becoming familiar with Merle Oberon.  I saw her a few months ago in "Wuthering Heights," and was blown away by her performance. I waited so long to see the movie because, as an English Lit major, I've had to read it  many times and I always get to a point where I want to take Heathcliff and Cathy and knock their heads together.  Crazy emo kids.  But Merle was wonderful, with those huge, dark expressive eyes. 

 

Last night it was "We Three," and Merle, Joel McCrae and Miriam Hopkins were great together.  Bonita Granville was excellent as the evil young girl, but she  didn't make me hate her quite as much as the girl in "The Children's Hour."

[tallhair]

Last night I watched The Shining with one of the twins in the kitchen while she was baking cookies and fudge.

 

She gave it a 10.  She also said Jack was really creepy looking.

 

 

 

Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Scat Man

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tallhair]

Going to watch Hail, Caesar! today with Mrs Tallhair.  I'm really looking forward to it thanks to all the positive comments from TCM viewers like you.

 

 

Watching Young Frankenstein at the moment (just started) on TCM.  What a classic!  I love Terri Garr, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Kenneth Mars, Peter Boyle, and of course Gene Wilder.

 

 

 

And

 

[Swithin]

Going to watch Hail, Caesar! today with Mrs Tallhair.  I'm really looking forward to it thanks to all the positive comments from TCM viewers like you.

 

Well I hope it's as good as Carry On Cleo, which I just watched (again). Here's a short clip, featuring one of the best lines in cinema history:

 

[Casablanca100views]

The latest re-telling of Cinderella by Disney.  Live action version with Kenneth Branaugh directing.  

 

Lovely titled role actress,Lily James, was charming, though she did not look uniquely identifiable as a star.  Funny, I had also seen her frequently in season #5 of Downton Abbey and she didn't stand out in mind there either.  Cate Blanchett does stand out as the Evil Stepmother.  Also Sophie McShera is perfect as one of the Idiot stepsisters and I DID recognize her from her role of Daisy in Downton Abbey.   

 

 

 

Helena Bonham Carter is the fairy godmother and her moment is not very good in the flow of the story.  I thought her character went from creepy to doltish and her fairy godmother didn't seemed to fit the sympathetic perspective of earlier versions of the fairy tale.  

 

 

In spite of my misgivings, I still recommend it for the story does have a longer plot about how Ella ends up being a servant within her own home.  Branaugh goes back to the original feature length cartoon to display Cinderella's interaction with the farmyard animals and I think that's a nod to the original animated feature.

[LawrenceA]

A Blade in the Dark - (6/10) - Italian slasher-mystery about a young film composer hired to score a new thriller. He sets up in an old, creepy villa to try and get inspired by his surroundings. Soon, though, a series of murders commence, and the composer and his friend try and get to the bottom of things. 

 

From director Lamberto (son of Mario) Bava, this is a fairly pedestrian Giallo thriller, with a few well-choreographed moments, and a scene or two grisly mayhem. The dubbing renders most of the performances standard at best, but watch for future horror director Michele Soavi as the sketchy landlord. 

 

 

First time watched.   Source: DVD

[LawrenceA]

Champ Against Champ -(6/10)- Goofy costume kung fu film starring North Korean Dragon Lee as a young fighter who runs afoul of some bad guys who beat him and poison him, necessitating the amputation of one of his legs. After a long period recuperating, and some encouragement from his lady love, he forges a metal prosthetic leg and trains himself back into fighting condition. Then his mission of vengeance can commence.

 

When this film started and I saw the name Godfrey Ho as director, I expected the worst. Ho was the Hong Kong Ed Wood, responsible for a large number of mind-shattering exercises in bad editing, bad dubbing, and the randomly placed ninja. However, this film manages to be at least competent, and has a few fun touches. I liked one bit when our hero concentrates his kung-fu chi into the palms of his hands, causing them to smoke.

 

The best part of watching this, though, was the fact that the DVD used the old print that was made for the Sho Kosugi Ninja Theater line of VHS releases from the mid-80's. Kosugi, the most prominent star of ninja films during their 1980's heyday (he starred in Revenge of the Ninja, 9 Deaths of the Ninja, Rage of Honor, and many more), used his cult-status to release a bunch of older, lesser quality martial arts films featuring newly filmed wraparounds (sort of like a kung-fu Elvira) where he demonstrated the use of a different ninja weapon for each film. The Kosugi bits are awkward, stupid, and hilarious. I had completely forgotten about them in the intervening years, but I recall my store having most, if not all, of those tapes on the shelf back in the day.

 

 

First time watched.   Source: DVD, on a cheap martial arts box set from Mill Creek.

[kingrat]

The thought of a "kung-fu Elvira" puts a big smile on my face!

[cigarjoe]

Last night I watched The Shining with one of the twins in the kitchen while she was baking cookies and fudge.

 

She gave it a 10.  She also said Jack was really creepy looking.

 

 

I got a funny story I watched this with my kids after it came out on VHS back in the day, my son said the scariest person in the film was Shelley Duvall