I Just Watched...

[LornaHansonForbes]

16 minutes ago, King Rat said:

 

 

Rex Reed wrote "If Diane Keaton doesn't win the Oscar for Looking for Mr. Goodbar, there is no God." She did win the Oscar, but for another film, so I'm not sure what that tells us about the existence of God! Quite a few Oscar winners have been helped by another performance the same year.

By the way, we all seem to be on the same page about Looking for Mr. Goodbar.

 

I think the mere fact that Rex Reed was paid for years by a major publication to review films is enough proof that there is no God.

[Bethluvsfilms]

I read somewhere (forgot where) that Reed hated ANNIE HALL. So he got his wish that Keaton won the Oscar, just not for the film that he would have given her the Award for.

I think she was great in both films. 

[CinemaInternational]

18 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

 

I think the mere fact that Rex Reed was paid for years by a major publication to review films is enough proof that there is no God.

Oh, God exists. But Rex Reed is still employed too. 

[LornaHansonForbes]

3 minutes ago, CinemaInternational said:

Oh, God exists. But Rex Reed is still employed too. 

Seriously? She’s still at it? 
(Rex Reed, I mean, not God.)

[EricJ]

32 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

I think the mere fact that Rex Reed was paid for years by a major publication to review films is enough proof that there is no God.

He's from the old days, when the big-city stage critics also had to double as the big-release movie critics, and thought they could play the same make-'em-or-break-'em personal Autocratic Snob style.

[CinemaInternational]

1 hour ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

Seriously? She’s still at it? 
(Rex Reed, I mean, not God.)

Yes.

[LornaHansonForbes]

1 hour ago, CinemaInternational said:

Yes.

I’m not sure if that means there is hope for us all or no hope for us all…

[Fading Fast]

 

Her Highness and the Bellboy from 1945 with Hedy Lamarr, Robert Walker and June Allyson

 

 

Her Highness and the Bellboy is a silly little fairytale of a movie. The plot, which has been recycled since they've been making movies, is about a princess, Hedy Lamarr, from some unnamed European country, who wants to marry a "commoner" for love, as opposed to marrying, as was expected of her, some boring royal guy for the good of her country.

 

Lamarr, trying to escape the pressure to make the "right" marriage, takes a trip to New York City in search of the man, a "commoner," she once loved but gave up. There, she befriends bellhop Robert Walker. Walker, when not working, takes care of his friend, June Allyson, a sickly young woman whose doctor tells Walker that, with enough love, Allyson will get better. 

 

With that set up, the rest of the movie plays out as expected. Walker mildly neglects Allyson as he falls for Lamarr. Lamarr, unintentionally, encourages Walker while she really just wants him to help find her former lover, an everyday newspaper man (just go with it; it doesn't have to make much sense). 

 

After an hour plus of relatively harmless misunderstandings, cringe worthy slapstick and obvious twists and turns, the movie comes to the expected climax. First, it looks like (if you have no insight), Walker will abandon Allyson for the princess, whom he mistakenly thinks wants to marry him, while Lamarr will choose royal responsibility over true love.

 

As in any good fairy tale, though, at the last minute, Walker sees the light and chooses his infirm girlfriend (who is miraculously cured by his love) over the Princess, which encourages Princess Lamarr to choose the commoner newspaper man as she casually abdicates (yup). 

 

Message delivered: it is worth giving anything up - a princess or a country - for true love. Lamarr, Walker and Allyson almost have enough charm to pull this fluff off, but Her Highness and the Bellboy's script lacks enough wit and whimsy to keep you engaged in a story you have all but figured out in the first five minutes. 

 

That said, you can just spend the movie staring at Hedy Lamarr as she does have a fairytale princess' beauty. Plus, it's fun to see an early version of a plot Hollywood is still using to this day.

 

[nakano]

The Lost Moment 1947 Produced by Walter Wanger dist by Universal  .Directed by Martin Gabel . Robert Cummings Susan Hayward Agnes Moorehead. Great gothic type mystery  drama about a publisher going to Venice to try to obtain the lost letters of an ancient poet,Moorehead is the sole surviving relative-she is a 105 years old, you will not recognize her under a ton of make-up, Hayward is excellent in her almost surnatural role,as for Cummings i personnally never liked him as a leading man but he is ok.89 minutes 7/10

[King Rat]

28 minutes ago, nakano said:

The Lost Moment 1947 Produced by Walter Wanger dist by Universal  .Directed by Martin Gabel . Robert Cummings Susan Hayward Agnes Moorehead. Great gothic type mystery  drama about a publisher going to Venice to try to obtain the lost letters of an ancient poet,Moorehead is the sole surviving relative-she is a 105 years old, you will not recognize her under a ton of make-up, Hayward is excellent in her almost surnatural role,as for Cummings i personnally never liked him as a leading man but he is ok.89 minutes 7/10

This sounds like a version or imitation of Henry James' novella The Aspern Papers. I have never heard of this film. Did you see it online?

[nakano]

R UTHLESS 1948  Produced Arthur S. Lyons  distributed by Eagle Lion .Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer  .Zachary Scott Louis Hayward Sidney Greenstreet Diana Lynn ( i do not know if it is me but this is the second time i notice that Lynn's voice is very similar to Gloria Grahame's i close my eyes ,it sounds like Gloria 's imo )Martha Vickers and Raymond Burr. Very good film about a rags to riches financier told with flashbacks,very good cast and easy to watch,it is captivating.excellent print.104 minutes 7.25 /10

[nakano]

30 minutes ago, King Rat said:

This sounds like a version or imitation of Henry James' novella The Aspern Papers. I have never heard of this film. Did you see it online?

i forgot to add this,it is based on the Henry James novel,no i watched on tv  .

[JamesJazGuitar]

1 minute ago, nakano said:

R UTHLESS 1948  Produced Arthur S. Lyons  distributed by Eagle Lion .Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer  .Zachary Scott Louis Hayward Sidney Greenstreet Diana Lynn Martha Vickers and Raymond Burr. Very good film about a rags to riches financier told with flashbacks,very good cast and easy to watch,it is captivating.excellent print.104 minutes 7.25 /10

I wish TCM would show this film.       I also wish I could find out more about the film's production.    It is a Eagle-Lion film but actors Scott,  Greenstreet and Vickers were under contact with Warner Bros.     

[nakano]

25 minutes ago, JamesJazGuitar said:

I wish TCM would show this film.       I also wish I could find out more about the film's production.    It is a Eagle-Lion film but actors Scott,  Greenstreet and Vickers were under contact with Warner Bros.   

 

      I'am just guessing  but Greenstreet started in 41 so 1948 could technically be his final year with Warners as for Scott he was probably on loan out as he was going to various studios at the time or maybe he was dropped,Ihave not started my Greenstreet bio yet so i do not know.

 

[LornaHansonForbes]

I have to be careful with this one.

I watched and then rewatched most of (with some skipping of the OJ scenes) THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974)- which is a film that reminds of the YOGI BERRA quote about PIZZA and SEX, both being pretty good even when they're bad...but while this film is entertainingly bad at (MANY) moments, there is an undeniable something to it, it compels you, it drags you in- it's a brilliant premise and there are genuinely affecting scenes.

sad that STERLING SILLIPHANT (and I imagine any number of others) came up with such a dumb script, where even intelligent moments of obvious research on the part of the makers are shoehorned in clumsily (STEVE McQUEEN'S speech about TENNIS BALLS to OJ comes immediately to mind.)

i still bet this was ONE HELL OF A GOOD TIME at THEATERS in 1974.

and i tell you what, if I had the chance, I'd remake this baby in a hot minute and every time i see it, my mind becomes fevered with how much better this movie needs to be.

also, I have said this before but, the interior decoration is SO TACKY, that it is HARD NOT TO ROOT FOR THE FIRE. **seriously, what THE HELL was UP WITH THE 1970'S??? The trellising and the lime green and the urns filled with sea oats and RUBBER ****ING TULIPS!!!!!

I'm not a STEVE McQUEEN fan, but I like him in this, and I enjoy his scenes with PAUL NEWMAN, which are structured well within the story, which is such a hopscotch from GENUINELY SOLID MOMENTS OF THRILL to LAUGH OUT LOUD idiocy.

I think PAULINE KAEL describes FAYE DUNAWAY in this film as A GODDESS STRUTTING ABOUT THE WRECKAGE IN PUCE** CHIFFON, I LOVE EVERY MINUTE FAYE DUNAWAY IS ON SCREEN IN THIS FILM. it's hard for me not to stand up and wave my claw in the air GLORIA SWANSON STYLE while screaming out "THAT IS WHAT A GOD DAMNED MOVIE STAR LOOKED LIKE!!!!!"

**- note, I cannot find the color PUCE in the color palette here.

[LornaHansonForbes]

JENNIFER JONES always reminds me of DIANE KEATON in this movie.

 

[LornaHansonForbes]

and RICHARD CHAMBERLIN reminds me of BEA ARTHUR.

[LornaHansonForbes]

ALSO, i'm sorry, but if I could cover OJ'S face in the above photo with a MR. YUCK EMOJI, I would.

[Fedya]

The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969).

Stanley Kramer is best known for his Important Social Message® pictures, such as Judgment at Nuremberg or Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.  He had made one comedy, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and apparently decided he wanted to produce and direct another one.

Anthony Quinn plays the town drunk in the northern Italian town of Santa Vittoria.  When Mussolini is overthrown in 1943 during World War II, Quinn is named the town's mayor.  The town is known for having a whole bunch of wine which is supposed to be sent for use by Cinzano.  The townsfolk are worried that the Nazis, in the form of the recently-deceased Hardy Krüger, are going to requisition the wine, so they hide it in a long, long, looooooooong bucket brigade scene, putting it in the town's Roman caves.

The source material has a lot of potential, but it's stuff that really needed to be directed by somebody -- anybody -- other than Stanley Kramer.  (Well, maybe not Otto Preminger either; that too would have been a disaster.)  It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World works in part because there are so many subplots that are going on that it never lingers on anything too long.  Here, though, the comedy and the drama elements are awkwardly mixed; somebody who had a more sprightly hand for comedy could have done a much better job with it and made it come in at something shorter than a bloated 138 minutes.  The "funny" parts aren't funny, and the drama doesn't quite work either.

6/10.

[speedracer5]

52 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

ALSO, i'm sorry, but if I could cover OJ'S face in the above photo with a MR. YUCK EMOJI, I would.

Here you go! 

[nakano]

Untamed 1955   20th Century Fox . Directed by  Henry King. Tyrone Power  Susan Hayward Richard Egan  Agnes Moorehead. Story set around 1890 ,over several years, in South Africa during or just before the Boers War.I say before because Power is a Dutch rebel leading. a guerilla against  England.Nice cinematography filmed at different places in South Africa,Hayward had to stay in the USA because of her first divorce battle was going on,she did not want to lose  a possible custody of her twins. Power is not present all the time, reappearing each time after several months or years,I guess he had to do  another film or something. The story is good  somewhat reminds me of Out of Africa 30 years before not only the location but the relationship of the two leads. Good  battle scenes against the Zulus,Could have inspired Stanley Baker for the sixties movie,Zulu.Last film after 18 years for Power at Fox,he became a free agent. 111 minutes 7/10

[Bethluvsfilms]

1 hour ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

I have to be careful with this one.

I watched and then rewatched most of (with some skipping of the OJ scenes) THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974)- which is a film that reminds of the YOGI BERRA quote about PIZZA and SEX, both being pretty good even when they're bad...but while this film is entertainingly bad at (MANY) moments, there is an undeniable something to it, it compels you, it drags you in- it's a brilliant premise and there are genuinely affecting scenes.

sad that STERLING SILLIPHANT (and I imagine any number of others) came up with such a dumb script, where even intelligent moments of obvious research on the part of the makers are shoehorned in clumsily (STEVE McQUEEN'S speech about TENNIS BALLS to OJ comes immediately to mind.)

i still bet this was ONE HELL OF A GOOD TIME at THEATERS in 1974.

and i tell you what, if I had the chance, I'd remake this baby in a hot minute and every time i see it, my mind becomes fevered with how much better this movie needs to be.

also, I have said this before but, the interior decoration is SO TACKY, that it is HARD NOT TO ROOT FOR THE FIRE. **seriously, what THE HELL was UP WITH THE 1970'S??? The trellising and the lime green and the urns filled with sea oats and RUBBER ****ING TULIPS!!!!!

I'm not a STEVE McQUEEN fan, but I like him in this, and I enjoy his scenes with PAUL NEWMAN, which are structured well within the story, which is such a hopscotch from GENUINELY SOLID MOMENTS OF THRILL to LAUGH OUT LOUD idiocy.

I think PAULINE KAEL describes FAYE DUNAWAY in this film as A GODDESS STRUTTING ABOUT THE WRECKAGE IN PUCE** CHIFFON, I LOVE EVERY MINUTE FAYE DUNAWAY IS ON SCREEN IN THIS FILM. it's hard for me not to stand up and wave my claw in the air GLORIA SWANSON STYLE while screaming out "THAT IS WHAT A GOD DAMNED MOVIE STAR LOOKED LIKE!!!!!"

**- note, I cannot find the color PUCE in the color palette here.

THE TOWERING INFERNO is a pretty good film, and one of my mom's favorite movies. I am surprised that no one has thought to remake it as of yet. 

I also agree with you on O.J....no matter how many times I have to remind myself that this was made 2 decades before the murders, I still want to puke every time he's on screen.

[nakano]

Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe 1978   Lorimar Warner Bros . Directed by  Ted Kotcheff .George Segal Jacqueline Bisset Robert Morley and three top French Actors: Philippe Noiret Jean Rochefort and Jean Pierre Cassel. Good comedy with a great cast,a whodunit,with nice cinematography of France,the real star of the film is Morley as the acid tongued food critic,he is simply hilarious,one of his best performances,a performance for the ages. 7/ 10  10/10  for Morley. 112 minutes 

[CinemaInternational]

4 minutes ago, nakano said:

Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe 1978   Lorimar Warner Bros . Directed by  Ted Kotcheff .George Segal Jacqueline Bisset Robert Morley and three top French Actors: Philippe Noiret Jean Rochefort and Jean Pierre Cassel. Good comedy with a great cast,a whodunit,with nice cinematography of France,the real star of the film is Morley as the acid tongued food critic,he is simply hilarious,one of his best performance,a performance for the ages. 7/ 10  10/10  for Morley. 112 minutes 

I grew up with this one. Morley has one of the best supporting turns of anybody in any film here. The rest is pretty good too, with a nifty Peter Stone script

[CinemaInternational]

1 hour ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

I have to be careful with this one.

I watched and then rewatched most of (with some skipping of the OJ scenes) THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974)- which is a film that reminds of the YOGI BERRA quote about PIZZA and SEX, both being pretty good even when they're bad...but while this film is entertainingly bad at (MANY) moments, there is an undeniable something to it, it compels you, it drags you in- it's a brilliant premise and there are genuinely affecting scenes.

sad that STERLING SILLIPHANT (and I imagine any number of others) came up with such a dumb script, where even intelligent moments of obvious research on the part of the makers are shoehorned in clumsily (STEVE McQUEEN'S speech about TENNIS BALLS to OJ comes immediately to mind.)

i still bet this was ONE HELL OF A GOOD TIME at THEATERS in 1974.

and i tell you what, if I had the chance, I'd remake this baby in a hot minute and every time i see it, my mind becomes fevered with how much better this movie needs to be.

also, I have said this before but, the interior decoration is SO TACKY, that it is HARD NOT TO ROOT FOR THE FIRE. **seriously, what THE HELL was UP WITH THE 1970'S??? The trellising and the lime green and the urns filled with sea oats and RUBBER ****ING TULIPS!!!!!

I'm not a STEVE McQUEEN fan, but I like him in this, and I enjoy his scenes with PAUL NEWMAN, which are structured well within the story, which is such a hopscotch from GENUINELY SOLID MOMENTS OF THRILL to LAUGH OUT LOUD idiocy.

I think PAULINE KAEL describes FAYE DUNAWAY in this film as A GODDESS STRUTTING ABOUT THE WRECKAGE IN PUCE** CHIFFON, I LOVE EVERY MINUTE FAYE DUNAWAY IS ON SCREEN IN THIS FILM. it's hard for me not to stand up and wave my claw in the air GLORIA SWANSON STYLE while screaming out "THAT IS WHAT A GOD DAMNED MOVIE STAR LOOKED LIKE!!!!!"

**- note, I cannot find the color PUCE in the color palette here.

My grandmother loves it, but it was too sadistic for me. I liked Jones and Astaire, Faye is extremely glamourous here