I Just Watched...

[Dargo]

 

 

"The Rains of Ranchipur" (1955)--Starring Lana Turner, Richard Burton, and Fred MacMurray.

 

Talky remake of 1939's "The Rains Came" is superficial but entertaining.  Turner plays the predatory Lady Esketh, Burton the saintly Dr. Safti, Michael Rennie is Lord Esketh, MacMurray--seems to have wandered away from the set of "Father Knows Best"--he's not convincing as an alcoholic, and seems entirely too nice for this bunch of people.

 

Ya know fl, because your chosen handle around he isn't "tv sitcom lover 293", I suppose you can be forgiven for your above associating MacMurray with "Father Knows Best" instead of "My Three Sons".

 

[laffite]

Ya know fl, because your chosen handle around he isn't "tv sitcom lover 293", I suppose you can be forgiven for your above associating MacMurray with "Father Knows Best" instead of "My Three Sons".

 

 

I was going to call 293 on that but I was able to refrain because it was such an obvious boo-boo and I was wary of kicking a dead horse. Then you, Dargo, came kicking. But you did so smoothly and entertainingly I am glad to see it.

 

Just thinkin', Fred might have made a good (now, what's his name?) will, you know, father in that show. He coulda done it. I mean he was a pretty good Papa in his regular shew.

 

[film lover 293]

Dargo--But "Father Knows Best" (1954-1960) was on television at that time--"My Three Sons" (1960-1972) wasn't.

[film lover 293]

"Dragonwyck" (1946)--Starring Gene Tierney, Vincent Price, and Walter Huston.

 

Effective, literate Gothic directed and adapted by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.  Main problem is it's overlong;  that dissipates some of the tension, but it's a fun watch nonetheless.

 

Miranda (Tierney) is a girl in 1840's Connecticut who's given a chance to visit her married cousin, Nicholas Van Ryn (Price), a wealthy landowner.  She visits his mansion, Dragonwyck, and discovers all is Not well.  Film goes from there.

 

Tierney is quite good as the damsel in distress, although she tries too hard to register as a teenager in films' first third; all her "Gee!"s and "Golly Moses!" got on my nerves. She has one scene where she and Price dance, and they practically float across the floor; Tierney looks an 1800's Cinderella.

 

Price is good as Van Ryn.  The specificities of Anya Seton's novel had to be toned down for The Code, but there are two mangled quotes from Coleridge that give the game away, if the viewer hasn't already figured things out.

 

Spring Byington as Magda makes an effective appearance.  Her dithery manner covers up something darker,  as she relates the sinister history of Dragonwyck.

 

Alfred Newman contributed a good musical score.  2.8/4

 

Edit;--Source--YouTube.  Click on the one written up,in Spanish.

[Fedya]

The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)

 

Katharine Hepburn plays another in her long line of self-centered blankety-blanks, this time being something like a precursor of The Brady Bunch Movie: she seems to be stuck in fin de siècle Paris, when the rest of the city is going through the student revolts of 1968.

 

Yul Brynner leads a band of Parisians presented as cardboard buffoons, who have learned that there's oil underneath Paris, so they're going to drill for it! Hepburn and her friends don't like this, so they're going to put a stop to it.

 

The movie is an absolute bomb. The plot is tedious and meandering at best; the characters are thoroughly irritating, unfunny cardboard archetypes; and they're all stuck with dialog that's worse than the biggest mistakes Shaw ever set to paper. (I was very much reminded of Caesar and Cleopatra, where the entire cast seemed to act as though it was the funniest thing that one of the characters was named Ftatatita. No, it's not funny.)

 

The music is horrid 60s mood music, and there's some awful cinematography presumably imposed upon the cameramen by the director -- some awful soft-focus photography, and then the freeze-frames when the men are talking about the worst thing they've done in life.

 

-1/10. Awful, awful, awful.

[Dargo]

Dargo--But "Father Knows Best" (1954-1960) was on television at that time--"My Three Sons" (1960-1972) wasn't.

 

Yeah fl, but Robert Young didn't play the alcoholic in The Rains of Ranchipur either, right?!

 

(...and btw laffite...Young's character's name in FKB was Jim Anderson...and thanks for the kind words earlier)

[EricJ]

The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)

 

Katharine Hepburn plays another in her long line of self-centered blankety-blanks, this time being something like a precursor of The Brady Bunch Movie: she seems to be stuck in fin de siècle Paris, when the rest of the city is going through the student revolts of 1968.

 

Yul Brynner leads a band of Parisians presented as cardboard buffoons, who have learned that there's oil underneath Paris, so they're going to drill for it! Hepburn and her friends don't like this, so they're going to put a stop to it.

 

I remember when our high school's Drama Club put on a very, very simplified version of the original play, without the entire second act where Danny Kaye helps Hepburn put the Entire Corrupt Corporate World on mock-trial, and finds them guilty.

 

It's definitely '69 Counter-Culture, back in the days when movies were brimming with important filmed Symbolist plays about the Establishment, but you're supposed to keep it in mind as an important theatrical adaptation.  (As the intro disclaimers, "it's a story of Good triumphing over Evil, and is thus fiction".)

Not only can Kaye do drama, but Yul knew how to rule cool in anything.

[film lover 293]

"Blood From The Mummy's Tomb" (1971)--Starring Valerie Leon, Andrew Keir,and James Villiers.  Directed by Seth Holt.

 

Good low-budget supernatural chiller from Hammer.  This one is based on Bram Stokers' "Jewel of the Seven Stars".

 

The plot--A woman dreams she is in Ancient Egypt, being ceremonially consigned to the Netherworld and forever cursed by a team of priests.  It turns out the Princess' tomb has been violated by a team of archeologists, with each member of the team taking an object they fancy from the tomb.  The fun begins when a woman is possessed and the princess starts taking objects back.

 

Valerie Leon isn't the greatest actress, but she looks her dual parts, and is very beautiful.  The rest of the cast does well.  Films' script is witty and ironic.  Special Effects are passable.  Read the credits when this one's over.

 

Effective horror movie should be better known.  3/4.

 

Source--YouTube.

[Swithin]

I'm not allowed to say much about it, but this is a great film. Watch for it at theaters later this year and early next:

 

 

I mentioned this film a while back but was literally sworn to secrecy. I had been invited to a screening at which Scorsese was present. I had to sign a document requiring my "silence." They even took my cell phone away, before I entered the auditorium; then returned it after I filled out a form with my opinions. But Silence is soon to be released, and I am released from my silence. Go and see it -- it's an amazing film.

 

 

[cigarjoe]

Silence reminds me of The Mission

[film lover 293]

"Son of Paleface" (1952)--Starring Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Roy Rogers, and Trigger.  Directed by Frank Tashlin.

 

This sequel to "The Paleface" (1948) reunites Hope and Russell to fine comic effect.  Add Rogers, who spoofs his squeaky clean image, and Trigger, who gets some of the films' best gags, and it adds up to one of Hopes' best films of the 1950's.

 

The plot has Painless Potter Jr. inheriting his fathers' fortune.  When he arrives out West, he finds there isn't any fortune, and a lady bandit (Russell) determines to steal his gold.  Multiple complications ensue.

 

Two of the best lines:

 

Hope, to a gunman: "Yeah, leave my yellow liver alone, it matches my spine."

 

Rogers to Hope during an Indian attack: "How big a coward are you?"  Hope: "I was Captain of the Olympic Team.

 

There are multiple shots at The Code, verbal and sight gags.  Watch Hope's pipe when Russell does a decorous striptease and she caresses him.  There are parodies aimed at two different directors.  The scene with Hope and Trigger in bed together is a highlight, as is the Indian attack.  Russell has two numbers to herself, as well as a reprise of "Buttons and Bows".  The cast seemed to be absolutely gleeful at times, especially when sticking it to the Code.  I had just as good a time watching the film.  3.4/4.

 

Source--YouTube.

[Fedya]

The King's Vacation (1933)

 

George Arliss plays Philip, a reluctant king who was about fourth in line, and when the people ahead of him died, he had to leave his wife Helen (Marjorie Gateson) and infant daughter Millicent behind to take the throne and a Queen (George's real-life wife Florence) the people will approve of. So when it seems revolution is coming, His Majesty is more than happy for it to come as long as he can abdicate peacefully.

 

The King and Queen both leave the country and go their separate ways, with Philip going back to Helen and the now grown up Millicent, in the hopes of marrying Helen again. But things have changed: Helen has been living off of Philip's name, and has a suitor in Barstow (Vernon Steele). Millicent, meanwhile, has a boyfriend in non-singing inventor John (Dick Powell) whom Mother doesn't approve of but Dad does. Philip runs into the Queen, and finds that she grew to love him over the years.

 

The story is typical early-30s piffle, but it's piffle starring George Arliss, which makes the movie more than worth watching. Heck, Arliss could make a dramatic reading of the telephone directory worth watching. Most of the rest of the cast handle themselves well, although they're clearly all supporting players to Arliss.

 

7/10. Arliss did do better stuff, but this isn't bad at all.

[LornaHansonForbes]

I watched the netflix GILMORE GIRLS revival, it was alright- pretty good, even- but, I drifted at parts. esp. the musical scenes. 

 

The thing about GILMORE GIRLS that;s always drawn me in- and I KNOW it's a polarizing show- is the Dickensian cast of supporting characters... or that is to say: pretty much everyone besides the mother and daughter, who i have to say i find increasingly annoying, as characters that is, both actresses are in fine form when operating the machine gun dialogue.

 

said dialogue is, as always front and center- I have to say I was quite surprised with how much I really liked Michel the now openly-gay and still openly hostile Hotel Manager his character finally becomes endearing this time out; but- as always- series MVP is Kelly Bishop, who plays- it is oft forget- the third in what is truly a trio of "girls" to which the title refers. I could've watched just her scenes and been delighted, she is a truly gifted actress.

 

the ending seems quite open to suggesting a second season is coming.

 

#TeamEmily

[film lover 293]

"Hidden Hollywood II" (1999)-- A Television documentary, narrated by Joan Collins.

 

Looks like an old AMC documentary.  An attempt at a "That's Entertainment" type film, but featuring  Twentieth Century Fox footage that was deleted from the feature films and with an emphasis on film preservation.

 

Among the clips; A full version of "The Sheik of Araby" from "Tin Pan Alley" (1940) that was deleted by The Code because it showed too much flesh, it features Alice Faye, Betty Grable, and The Nicholas Brothers; Carmen Mirandas' version of "True to the Navy" that was cut from "Dollface" (1945); Danny Kaye lampoons deleted from "On The Riviera" (1951); and the W.C. Fields sequence that was deleted from "Tales of Manhattan" (1942) (the funniest thing in the film).

 

Highly recommended.  Found this on archive.org, catalogued by number instead of title.

[Fedya]

FXM Retro has run prints of Tales of Manhattan with the Fields section back in it the last time they had it out of the vault earlier this year.

[film lover 293]

"Where Do We Go From Here?" (1945)--Starring Fred MacMurray, Joan Leslie, and June Haver.

 

Delightful fantasy operetta romp through American history, with a score by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Ira Gershwin.

 

Bill Morgan (MacMurray) wants to join the Army but is ruled 4F.  Instead, he is put in charge of local scrap recycling.  He breaks a lamp, and frees a genie.  Morgan tell the genie he wants to get into the Army--but doesn't mention which century he wants.  Morgan's girlfriends Sally (Leslie) and Lucilla (Haver) accompany him through the centuries.

 

The fine score carries the film through and past its' sillier moments.  Leslie has the best song "If Love Remains".  The Christopher Columbus segment is done as an opera with MacMurray breaking up the grand opera with a patter song in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan.  Haver is the liveliest of the three, as a born con woman, throughout the centuries.  Watch for Anthony Quinn.  Read the traffic signs--no matter what century they're in.

 

Marvelous little film.  A minor classic.  I loved it.  3.3/4.

 

Source--archivedotorg.

[laffite]

"Where Do We Go From Here?" (1945)--Starring Fred MacMurray, Joan Leslie, and June Haver.

 

Delightful fantasy operetta romp through American history, with a score by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Ira Gershwin.

 

Bill Morgan (MacMurray) wants to join the Army but is ruled 4F.  Instead, he is put in charge of local scrap recycling.  He breaks a lamp, and frees a genie.  Morgan tell the genie he wants to get into the Army--but doesn't mention which century he wants.  Morgan's girlfriends Sally (Leslie) and Lucilla (Haver) accompany him through the centuries.

 

The fine score carries the film through and past its' sillier moments.  Leslie has the best song "If Love Remains".  The Christopher Columbus segment is done as an opera with MacMurray breaking up the grand opera with a patter song in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan.  Haver is the liveliest of the three, as a born con woman, throughout the centuries.  Watch for Anthony Quinn.  Read the traffic signs--no matter what century they're in.

 

Marvelous little film.  A minor classic.  I loved it.  3.3/4.

 

Source--archivedotorg.

 

293, your reviews are consistently good. In many cases I don't know whether I would agree or not because I haven't seen most of them. I would probably LIKE your stuff consistently based on sheer competence alone, but i don't want to contract carpel tunnel syndrome.

 

Gosh, how magnanimous am I this very day . Yes, I seem to be in the vein. (probably because I had nine hours last night)

 

Okay, buddy, that's it. No more accolades from this corner ... I'm already spilling the syrup and drinking from the Weird Sisters caldron.

[film lover 293]

lafitte--Thanks for the compliments.  I do my best with the reviews.  I try to give an idea of the film, not give away all the plot, and just give my overall reaction to the film and payers.  I tend to see things from the silly side, so I sometimes notice what others may not (the various shades of makeup to make Richard Burton seem an Indian in "The Rains of Ranchipur" (1955), for instance--and the eventual total failure of 20th Century Fox's makeup department's  Waterproof makeup--I Think there was waterproof makeup in 1955?).

[film lover 293]

"Fitzcarraldo" (1982)--Starring Klaus Kinski and Claudia Cardinale, written and directed by Werner Herzog.

 

Based on a real incident in the late 19th century, film set in Peru, and is about opera obsessed Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (Kinski), his lover Molly (Cardinale), and Fitzgerald's insane plan to bring opera to the natives of the Peruvian rainforest.  To realize this dream, Fitzgerald will have to overcome a  lack of funds, Jivaro headhunters, a fickle ships' crew, and geography.

 

The madness of the main character and director Herzog merged in my mind while I watched the film. Both had to have been crazy and arrogant to attempt what the film showed.

 

That said, the cinematography (by Thomas Mauch) is stunning and evocative, the story kept my attention despite the films' slow pace (it runs over two and a half hours), and the actors are beyond reproach.  Unbelievable that all obstacles were overcome and this film was actually finished and released.

 

Film is in German, with translatable subtitles.  

 

Fascinating film.  3.7/4.

 

Source--YouTube (there are multiple copies).

[Sepiatone]

DID you just watch this film recently?  If yes, then WHEN?

 

Or do you just like picking flicks out of a hat( or somewhere ELSE?) and posting YOUR reviews of them?

 

 

Sepiatone

[kingrat]

I saw a little of Grey Gardens last night. Interesting, though it certainly exploited the two women. Like a Tennessee Williams play but without Southern accents. Speaking of accents, I eventually turned off the TV because I just couldn't take any more of Little Edie's gosh-awful accent. Maybe the most unpleasant regional/class accent in the English-speaking world?

[film lover 293]

Sepiatone--I watched "Fitzcarraldo" this morning on YouTube--as noted, there are multiple copies on there.

[scsu1975]

Carmen (1915)

 

Hard to imagine trying to make a silent film out of an opera, but DeMille manages to pull it off, more or less. Opera star Geraldine Farrar plays the title role; she leads a young officer (Wallace Reid) to ruin. Of course, she gets hers in the end ... or in the chest, in this case.

 

Farrar is okay in her part, but really excels when she is in beyotch mode. Reid seems little more than window dressing at the start, but he gets more interesting as he gets more ticked off. Farrar plays him like a cheap drum.

 

A mid-thirties Pedro de Cordoba plays a bullfighter; it's interesting to see him this young. There is also a good catfight between Farrar and another gypsy.

 

All the famous musical themes are on the soundtrack. The version on youtube has been restored and tinted.

 

 

 

Here, Farrar makes Reid an offer he can't refuse.

[film lover 293]

"The Pleasure Garden" (1925)--Starring Virginia Valli and Carmelita Geraghty

 

Alfred Hitchcock's first film is more interesting for the themes Hitchcock establishes than for its' melodramatic plot.

 

The plot:  Chorus girl Patsy (Valli) meets Jill (Geraghty), who has just been robbed and gets her a job as a chorus girl.  Jill becomes a headliner and gets engaged.  Her fiancee leaves the country, and Jill begins to play around.

 

In the films' first shot, chorus girls are seen running down a curving set of stairs to a stage.  The camera pans over the audience--everyone in the front row is paying attention except for the only woman, who is asleep.  One of the men in the audience gets a pair of binoculars, adjusts them, then the viewer sees through the binoculars--the viewer as voyeur.  The binoculars pick out a blonde member of the chorus.

 

Film is fascinating for Hitchcock completists like me; others will find this an antique melodrama somewhat redeemed by touches of humor and a plot that is unintentionally funny, especially near the end.

 

Source--archivedotorg. Film is also on YouTube.

[LawrenceA]

Killer Party (1986) - 4/10 - Substandard slasher film that manages to go in a few unexpected directions, although it never rises above the camp level of entertainment. A trio of college girls who don't look a day over 30 are pledging a sorority, which leads to the usual hazing humiliations. The sorority decides to throw its annual April Fool's dance in a condemned former Greek house that's been closed for 20 years, ever since a pledge was accidentally killed. Eventually the bodies start piling up at the costume party (I guess it's normal for there to be costumes at such an event; I've never actually heard of an April Fool's party before), leading to a "shocking" conclusion. 

 

This has the pluses and minuses of many early to mid 80's slasher flicks: on the plus side, you have terrible yet fascinating fashions, a bit of gratuitous nudity, and some truly awful bargain basement music to enjoy. On the minus side, you have to wait for the movie to be 3/4 over before anything really happens, and most of the dialogue and characters are rote and dull. I will give the film some credit though: SPOILER: This does features a rare double fake-out beginning.

 

Martin Hewitt of Endless Love "fame" gets top billing, although he isn't in it much. The main stars are Elaine Wilkes, Sherry Willis-Burch, and "Introducing" Joanna Johnson, who apparently went on the next year to start a nearly 30 year off-and-on run on TV's The Bold & the Beautiful. Paul Bartel also shows up for a few minutes as a professor. Directed by William Fruet, made in Toronto, and released by MGM.

 

Source: TCM Underground

 

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