I Just Watched...

[laffite]

King Lear (1910)

 

The famous first scene shows Cordelia apparently rejecting her father's bounty but actually she is unwilling to basely flatter her father as did her two older sisters. Ermete Novelli is quite good at capturing the angst of the old King after being rejected later by his two eldest daughters. He descends onto the moors and we see the hovel but we might be disappointed NOT to see the storm scene. This production can be forgiven for that since the whole story is done in just 16 minutes. The emphasis is on the relationship between the King and Cordelia. The latter is Francesca Bertini, someone who I already knew. There is a documentary of her done just before she died, in the 80s I believe. At one point she and a movie person were sitting and watching one her movies. She would comment here and there. "They didn't move the camera much back then, did they?" She has three scenes and by far the best is the reunion. Lear has been through the wringer and half nuts by this time. Like in later talkie Lears there seems great care of having both on screen without immediately seeing each other, creating a pleasant and anticipatory interlude. In Lear with words, he looks at her without certainty and instead of a instant recognition eureka moment we get a subdued and seemingly dull, "I do believe I see my daughter Cordelia." (approx quote) I do believe we have the suggestion that it's the same here. Full recognition takes its time. One scene follows which I won't speak of. Three are some colors sequences that a startling good. The graphic have scene set ups but very little dialogue titles, maybe a couple.

 

Here it is if you a minute or two (or 16)

 

This review was inspired by Rich, who has been delving lately into the early silents.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXGLIghGeMA

[cigarjoe]

Blood Simple (1984) The Bad Detective

 

 

All I can say is Wow! What a debut film of the Coen Brother's. This film has got STYLE. Directed by Joel Coen, (& Ethan Coen (uncredited)). 

 

P.I.'s are arguably, along with the femme fatale, probably the two top icons of Noir, but in the totality of the Noir/Neo Noir canon there are surprisingly, contrary to popular perception, not very many films that actually do feature your classic hardboiled private detective. Oh don't get me wrong there is sleuthing going on in quite a bit of Film Noir, but it's done by a plethora of characters, newspaper reporters, the falsely accused, the amnesiacs, the framed, cabbies, tabloid photographers, secretaries, taxi dancers, average joe's, even kids.  Out of those films that do actually have P.I.'s, I can only think of four with private detectives that have gone bad, Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) in, Out Of the Past, J.B. MacDonald (Raymond Burr) in Pitfall, Kerric (Raymond Burr) in Abandoned, and hayseed sheetkicker Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) in this film Blood Simple, which takes "The Bad Detective" to a whole new level.

 

Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh are both in top form as the films unforgettable two sleazeballs around which this picaresque universe revolves. The soundtrack and score compliment the action. Review is of 2000 re-release.  9/10

 

Full review in Film Noir/Gangster thread and with more screencaps here http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/11/blood-simple-1984-bad-detective.html

[film lover 293]

"Aguirre, Wrath of God" (1972)--Starring Klaus Kinski; written, produced, and directed by Werner Herzog.

 

Set in South America after the fall of the Inca Empire, film is about an 1560-1561 ill-fated expedition led by Francisco Pizarro to find El Dorado, the City of Gold.  The expedition splits up, and unstable Spanish nobleman Aguirre (Kinski) is chosen to be second-in-command on the part of the group that rafts up the Amazon.

 

The movie was filmed on location in South America.  The dreamlike photography is by Thomas Mauch.  The score by Popol Vuh sets the dreamy, mournful mood.

 

Film veers from social comedy to tragedy to nightmare, and back as the expedition inevitably dwindles in numbers.  I got the distinct impression that director Herzog thought the expedition got what was coming to them.

 

Unforgettable portrait of madmen and the consequences of supreme stupidity.  4/4.

 

Source--YouTube.  I watched the print on "Mountain Springs" channel; it has English subtitles.

[cigarjoe]

"Aguirre, Wrath of God" (1972)--Starring Klaus Kinski; written, produced, and directed by Werner Herzog.

 

Set in South America after the fall of the Inca Empire, film is about an 1560-1561 ill-fated expedition led by Francisco Pizarro to find El Dorado, the City of Gold.  The expedition splits up, and unstable Spanish nobleman Aguirre (Kinski) is chosen to be second-in-command on the part of the group that rafts up the Amazon.

 

The movie was filmed on location in South America.  The dreamlike photography is by Thomas Mauch.  The score by Popol Vuh sets the dreamy, mournful mood.

 

Film veers from social comedy to tragedy to nightmare, and back as the expedition inevitably dwindles in numbers.  I got the distinct impression that director Herzog thought the expedition got what was coming to them.

 

Unforgettable portrait of madmen and the consequences of supreme stupidity.  4/4.

 

Source--YouTube.  I watched the print on "Mountain Springs" channel; it has English subtitles.

Like it a lot myself, check out "Burden Of Dreams" too, you'll get a kick out of it.

[RipMurdock]

crumb was crummy

[kingrat]

Thank you, TCM, for showing Sherman's March, which I had never heard of, but liked very much. It's funny: I thought I'd like Grey Gardens, but was put off by the exploitation and the shaky camerawork. Grey Gardens seems to have the shaky camerawork = authentic real life equation which I don't believe for a minute. Sherman's March looks like the work of a professional filmmaker.

 

Yes, McElwee is a kind of Southern Woody Allen without the wisecracks, but the film is also a time capsule of the early 1980s in the South, complete with a cameo appearance by Burt Reynolds as the star the women are swooning over. Where else can we find the Easter Bunny, survivalists, Burt Reynolds, and a life-size plastic hippopotamus in the same movie?

 

The appearance of the Easter Bunny, just as a preacher is explaining to one of McElwee's girlfriends about the End of Days, is particularly wonderful.

 

Please, TCM, give us an encore presentation.

[Tikisoo]

I'm on a Peter Bogdanovich kick and am seeing anything the library stocks, just to catch up with his work.

 

I first watched 1981's THEY ALL LAUGHED. It was very well acted with such standouts as Ben Gazzara, Audrey Hepburn & John Ritter. It was a screwball farce involving a detective agency with undercover agents following subjects. It was very well acted & filmed (seemingly exclusively) in NYC. By the end of the movie I was so confused by who was married to whom, who was hired to watch whom, the entire plot escaped me.

A jumbled mess that left me unsatisfied. (not unlike 1992's Bogdanovich's NOISES OFF)

 

In contrast, last night I watched 2014's SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY. I love, love, loved this one. It was an ensamble piece filled with fantastic actors, beautifully shot in NYC, and very well told. It was produced by fave Wes Anderson, and has all the ambiance of an Anderson picture. Strong performances by all, surprisingly so considering the plethora of talent.

 

The lead charactor played by darling Imogen Poots is a classic film buff so there are many many classic film references & songs. She carries this film, surprisingly.

 

Stand out for me was Jennifer Anniston, who played a biotchy therapist. I laughed out loud at almost every line of hers, "Grow up. Realize you're psychotic, it's never going to change, so just get over it!" This was the first time I've ever seen Anniston in anything, I can see why she's so popular, she's adorable.

 

Sadly, the entire film played just like a Woody Allen film, with the quirky charactors and retro music. I'm sad thinking people are going to think this is an "imitation". 

[LornaHansonForbes]

I'm on a Peter Bogdanovich kick and am seeing anything the library stocks, just to catch up with his work.

 

TARGETS, TARGETS, TARGETS!!!!!!

 

No study of Bogdanovich is complete without it.

[LornaHansonForbes]

MY REMARKS IN RED

-LHF

 

Thank you, TCM, for showing Sherman's March, which I had never heard of, but liked very much. It's funny: I thought I'd like Grey Gardens, but was put off by the exploitation and the shaky camerawork. Grey Gardens seems to have the shaky camerawork = authentic real life equation which I don't believe for a minute. Sherman's March looks like the work of a professional filmmaker.

 

OMG, Surrender your Gay License NOW, or else we'll be sending RuPaul to your house personally to confiscate it and possibly bring you in for reprogramming.

 

(kidding)

 

Yes, McElwee is a kind of Southern Woody Allen without the wisecracks, but the film is also a time capsule of the early 1980s in the South, complete with a cameo appearance by Burt Reynolds as the star the women are swooning over. Where else can we find the Easter Bunny, survivalists, Burt Reynolds, and a life-size plastic hippopotamus in the same movie?

 

At the right time of year- Myrtle Beach, SC. But really, that is one EPIC WRITE-UP. I am genuinely sorry I missed this.

.

 

Please, TCM, give us an encore presentation.

 

+1

[film lover 293]

"Five" (1951)--Produced, written, and directed by Arch Oboler.

 

Good film about the aftermath of WW III , with a cast of unknowns.  Movie is about how five random survivors eventually meet, and what happens to them, in the years after the bombs fall.

 

Oboler does wonders with a low budget and a good script.  He uses stock footage for the beginning effects, and thereafter depends upon sparse dialogue, eerie silence, and shots of empty cities and countryside.  The minimal Special effects are judiciously used only to further the plot. 

 

The cliff house is credited to Frank Lloyd Wright.

 

The ending is ambiguous.  This is the earliest anti-nuclear film I'm aware of.  Very well done.  This is scheduled to be shown December 26th (?), in the early morning hours.  Definitely a film to stay up for or record.  3.3/4

 

Source--archivedotorg.  Search "Fve1951".

[Tikisoo]

I said: I'm on a Peter Bogdanovich kick and am seeing anything the library stocks, just to catch up with his work.

 

LHF said: TARGETS, TARGETS, TARGETS!!!!!! No study of Bogdanovich is complete without it.

 

TARGETS is an old TCM chestnut and been shown regularly for years. I'm seeking movies that are either more recent or ones that have slipped through the cracks.

Typically, I find if they've "slipped through the cracks" it's because they were forgettable anyway.

[Sepiatone]

 

I said: I'm on a Peter Bogdanovich kick and am seeing anything the library stocks, just to catch up with his work.

 

LHF said: TARGETS, TARGETS, TARGETS!!!!!! No study of Bogdanovich is complete without it.

 

TARGETS is an old TCM chestnut and been shown regularly for years. I'm seeking movies that are either more recent or ones that have slipped through the cracks.

Typically, I find if they've "slipped through the cracks" it's because they were forgettable anyway.

 

 

Yeah.  It's just like those "Previously unreleased tracks"  that CD reissues of well known LPs the labels would brag about including on the CDs.   Takes only a half minute to realize WHY they were "previously unreleased". 

 

 

@Filmlover:

 

If "Five" isn't scheduled to be shown until the 26h of this month, how IS it that you've JUST WATCHED it?  Got it on a disc?

 

 

Sepiatone

[Hibi]

I'm on a Peter Bogdanovich kick and am seeing anything the library stocks, just to catch up with his work.

 

I first watched 1981's THEY ALL LAUGHED. It was very well acted with such standouts as Ben Gazzara, Audrey Hepburn & John Ritter. It was a screwball farce involving a detective agency with undercover agents following subjects. It was very well acted & filmed (seemingly exclusively) in NYC. By the end of the movie I was so confused by who was married to whom, who was hired to watch whom, the entire plot escaped me.

A jumbled mess that left me unsatisfied. (not unlike 1992's Bogdanovich's NOISES OFF)

 

In contrast, last night I watched 2014's SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY. I love, love, loved this one. It was an ensamble piece filled with fantastic actors, beautifully shot in NYC, and very well told. It was produced by fave Wes Anderson, and has all the ambiance of an Anderson picture. Strong performances by all, surprisingly so considering the plethora of talent.

 

The lead charactor played by darling Imogen Poots is a classic film buff so there are many many classic film references & songs. She carries this film, surprisingly.

 

Stand out for me was Jennifer Anniston, who played a biotchy therapist. I laughed out loud at almost every line of hers, "Grow up. Realize you're psychotic, it's never going to change, so just get over it!" This was the first time I've ever seen Anniston in anything, I can see why she's so popular, she's adorable.

 

Sadly, the entire film played just like a Woody Allen film, with the quirky charactors and retro music. I'm sad thinking people are going to think this is an "imitation". 

 

 

Although it has it's fans, I found They All Laughed a HUGE disappointment. A movie in search of a script. And Audrey Hepburn was just wasted. She probably had less screen time than anyone in the film despite getting top billing.

[film lover 293]

Sepiatone--at the end of my post, I said I saw "Five" (1951) on archivedotorg and said to search "Fve1951" on that website to get the link for the film.

[EricJ]

I first watched 1981's THEY ALL LAUGHED. It was very well acted with such standouts as Ben Gazzara, Audrey Hepburn & John Ritter. It was a screwball farce involving a detective agency with undercover agents following subjects. It was very well acted & filmed (seemingly exclusively) in NYC. By the end of the movie I was so confused by who was married to whom, who was hired to watch whom, the entire plot escaped me.

A jumbled mess that left me unsatisfied. (not unlike 1992's Bogdanovich's NOISES OFF)

 

 

Noises Off at least had a solid stage background to work from--Bogdanovich's version is a nice serviceable transcript of the original play, but having seen our local theater group do the backstage Act 2, it's definitely a play you have to see live.

Fortunately, it's revived on Broadway fairly frequently, whenever they don't happen to have any other hit comedy plays.

[scsu1975]

It Couldn’t Have Happened But It Did (1936) youtube

 

No, this is not about the 2016 election.

 

It’s a silly semi-entertaining flick with Reginald Denny as a playwright reluctantly trying to solve a double murder. Since he writes murder plays, everyone seems to expect him to be able to solve the murder of two producers, one found tied up in a closet, another shot in the head without a gunshot being heard.

 

Jack LaRue, as a gangster trying to help Denny, steals every scene he’s in. Inez Courtney plays the producers’ secretary, and naturally she’s nuts about Denny – but he’s too dumb to notice.  The big surprise was seeing Hugh Marlowe (billed as John Marlowe) in one of his earliest roles. The not-so-big surprise is that he was obnoxious even that far back.

 

The climax is preposterous. Denny pens a quickie play which is performed in front of the police and all the suspects, and the murderer is revealed. He couldn’t have just said “So and so did it.” No, that would have only taken five seconds.

 

One scene I especially enjoyed is when Denny is in his apartment at night getting ready to take a bath. He is interrupted by a constant parade of people begging him to solve the murder. Then four cops show up as well, and search the place. The only thing missing was Margaret Dumont opening the apartment door and everyone tumbling out.

 

 

 

 

I’ve heard of smoking after sex, but when your underpants actually catch on fire, that must have been one helluva night.

[film lover 293]

"A Study in Terror" (1965)--Starring James Neville, Donald Houston, and Robert Morley.  Directed by James Hill.

 

Marvelous British production of Sherlock Holmes produced by an company called Sir Nigel Films, distributed in the U.S. by Columbia.  This time, it's Holmes (Neville) and Watson (Houston) against Jack The Ripper.  Will they stop The Ripper and his confederate(s)?

 

Neville is a sterling Holmes. Whether he's analyzing the contents of a package sent through the mail and determining who, where, and why it was sent, or doing verbal battle with his brother Mycroft (Morley), Neville is logical and amusing.  Houston is ok as Watson.  Morley plays another pompous ***; he is a delight, whether smarting off at the Minister or arguing with his brother.

 

Desmond Dickinson (1960's "Horror Hotel" and 1965's "Murder Most Foul) did the atmospheric cinematography.

 

1979 saw an unofficial remake,  "Murder By Decree".  The original is better.  3.4/4.

 

Source--I saw the film on YouTube.

[LornaHansonForbes]

HITLERS MADMAN, which really I cannot thank you enough for showing TCM. One hell of a film. More on that later.

[LsDoorMat]

"Five" (1951)--Produced, written, and directed by Arch Oboler.

 

Good film about the aftermath of WW III , with a cast of unknowns.  Movie is about how five random survivors eventually meet, and what happens to them, in the years after the bombs fall.

 

Oboler does wonders with a low budget and a good script.  He uses stock footage for the beginning effects, and thereafter depends upon sparse dialogue, eerie silence, and shots of empty cities and countryside.  The minimal Special effects are judiciously used only to further the plot. 

 

The cliff house is credited to Frank Lloyd Wright.

 

The ending is ambiguous.  This is the earliest anti-nuclear film I'm aware of.  Very well done.  This is scheduled to be shown December 26th (?), in the early morning hours.  Definitely a film to stay up for or record.  3.3/4

 

Source--archivedotorg.  Search "Fve1951".

I remember this film from the third grade in the 1960s. It really moved me. The next time I saw it was when the DVD came out and I bought it immediately.  Ordinary people didn't have a clue as to what awaited them after a nuclear blast in 1951. It was the first time the survivors of a bomb attack would envy the dead.  People were accustomed to conventional bomb attacks where, if you were not injured in the initial blast, you were OK. Another head scratcher is the ending of Split Second, directed by Dick Powell. The "good guys" run to a mine and hide out during the actual blast, but then RIGHT AFTER the blast wander around outside like the fallout is a cleansing snow on Christmas morning.  Yikes!

[film lover 293]

"The Corpse Vanishes" (1942)--Starring Bela Lugosi, Elizabeth Russell, and Luana Walters.

 

Fast paced Monogram programmer that is unintentionally funny, but manages to sneak in a few intended scares.

 

Something is causing brides to die at the altar.  Bored Society reporter Patricia Hunter (Walters) makes the story a sensation.  Scientist Dr. Lorenz (Lugosi) and his eccentric wife (Russell) are mixed up with the killings.

 

Lugosi overacts in his role.  He's not subtle.  If he had a mustache, he'd twirl it.  Russell is actively irritating and I was delighted with the ending.  Walters is at least somewhat smart, and gets off a couple of one-liners in between screaming and fainting on cue.

 

This is the sort of film that Invites talking back to the characters.  2.1 on a regular scale--2.4 on a "So Bad It's Good" scale.

 

Source--Multiple copies are on YouTube.

[EricJ]

"The Corpse Vanishes" (1942)--Starring Bela Lugosi, Elizabeth Russell, and Luana Walters.

This is the sort of film that Invites talking back to the characters.

 

And so it did--But it was back during the first season of MST3K, when they were still ad-libbing, so the results weren't much of note:

[scsu1975]

Atlas (1961)

 

As sword-and-sandal flicks go, this one isn’t all that bad, which was a surprise. Michael Forest stars as the title character, a strongman who beats an Olympian at wrestling, and then agrees to help out “Proximates the Tyrant” in taking over a city. Of course, Atlas eventually sees the error of his ways, leads the inevitable revolt against the tyrant, and then goes to work for Rand McNally.

 

Frank Wolff as Proximates steals the show, and has the best lines. He slyly refers to one character’s possible bisexuality. In another scene, a soldier appears and says “did you want me?” “No!” Wolff screams sarcastically. “I wanted your Great Aunt Helen from Lesbos!”

 

Barboura Morris plays the love interest. A staple of Roger Corman films, this is the first time I’ve seen her in color. Director Corman has a bit as a messenger, while the stalwart Dick Miller appears in the climax as one of the rebels and kicks some serious a**.

 

The score by Ronald Stein is quite good. The print on TCM was quite bad, cropped, and there were obvious jumps in edits. In one embarrassing scene, Atlas is supposed to square off against another muscular opponent as soon as the trumpets sound. Two guys blow into their trumpets, but no sound can be heard … although I think I saw several dogs covering up their ears.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih7IzpBBqp4

[TomJH]

Die Hard (1988).

 

I recall the adrenaline rush of excitement I felt at the show when I first watched this major action hero hit in 1988.

 

I can't really say that I'm a huge fan of the genre so popular for its fast edits, CGI effects, exploding soundtracks and over-the-top fantasy heroics. Yet this one hits all the right spots for me, having just seen it again for the first time in some years.

 

Aside from the brilliance of the action scenes under John McTiernan's direction, the film is probably fondly remembered by many for its sense of humour sprinkled throughout. The screenplay is also deliberately anti-establishment, which undoubtedly adds to the appeal. All authority figures in this film are made out to be pompous or buffoons, whether it be the head of the L.A.P.D., the FBI or the media.

 

It's the "little" guys that are the heroes of this film, which is, I guess, part of the film's proletariat appeal. Of course, Bruce Willis's John McClane is a super hero, performing all kinds of impossible stunts and only looking a little damaged at the end of it all, bleeding feet and all. But Willis still plays him as a person who cares about his wife and family (he's hoping to repair an estranged marriage at the film's beginning), and he is allowed one touching scene in which he expresses his regrets about that marriage.

 

And when it comes to relatable characterizations from a "little" guy perhaps few would be so effective as Reginald VelJohnson, as the pastry eating LA police sergeant with whom McClane communicates throughout his ordeal on a walkie talkie. VelJohnson has an everyman appeal here that makes him most engaging. (The absence of cell phones in this film is a reminder that it was made almost three decades ago).

 

Of course, all super heroes need a super villain, and Die Hard certainly provides that in the form of Alan Rickman's memorable calculatingly intelligent, cool under pressure and totally cold blooded portrayal of Hans Gruber, the German head of the terrorists/robbers who take over a 35 storey LA highrise, holding 30 people captive. Rickman has about as many memorable moments in this film as does Willis, including a climactic slow motion finale for his character.

 

It was a pleasure to once again watch Willis, perfectly cast in the film that really put him in the front rank as a film star. He has become largely branded an "action star" since though he has been in a variety of other film roles, as well. The actor really got himself into terrific condition for this film, his charm is apparent throughout, as well as his physical credibility in action scenes, and his ability to bring some leveling humour to a moment of action or suspense.

 

What I've seen of Willis in the past ten years or so seems to be an actor largely walking through his roles, with a minimum effort as he collects the pay cheque in largely second rate films. Die Hard is a reminder of what an excellent actor he could be in the right role.

 

His insolent cry of "Yipppee Ki Yah, mother*****" to the villain will remain one of the indelible line deliveries of action movies, one for which he will always be associated. It was a statement of McClane's defiance against overwhelming odds that will make an audience laugh and cheer at the same time. It was also a brief tribute to old time cowboy stars. Bravo, Bruce!

 

There have been four sequels to Die Hard (so far). The first two were serviceable action films, while the fourth and fifth entries in the series were fairly negligible efforts. No surprise, I suppose, that the 1988 original is the sole one in the series that deserves to be ranked as a classic of its kind.

 

 

3.5 out of 4

[LornaHansonForbes]

Lugosi overacts in his role.  He's not subtle. 

 

What? Noooo. Really? I...I, I dunno, I struggle to believe this.**

 

 

**said in the flattest possible,

least surprised ever tone of voice.

[scsu1975]

Today I Hang (1942) youtube

 

Ultra low-budget snoozer stars Walter Woolf King as an innocent man convicted of murder and facing the hangman’s (or is it hangperson's) noose. Appearing in this film should have been punishment enough.

 

There are no surprises, and the killer’s identity is obvious from the start, so there is no suspense. Mona Barrie plays the dead man’s wife, who also happens to be King’s former squeeze. She helps solve the murder, but does not solve the mystery of why she would act in this film. The aging William Farnum plays the prison warden; he looks like somebody propped him up for his scenes. The inept musical score is ripped off from the East Side Kids movies.

 

King is okay in his part, but I can’t watch him without picturing him singing an aria while Harpo Marx destroys the scenery behind him.

 

Everyone associated with this bomb should have been sent to the gallows.

 

 

In this riveting scene, Inspector Clouseau gives the third degree to Cleopatra.