I Just Watched...

[laffite]

"Daisy Kenyon" (1947)--Starring Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda.

 

Otto Preminger directed this noir version of a "womans picture".  Crawford is a successful magazine illustrator who's old enough to know what she wants in life, but hasn't figured things out.  She is seeing married lawyer Dana Andrews; film implies their relationship is a long standing one.  Henry Fonda plays a WW II veteran who is haunted by the War and earlier events.  Fonda and Crawford marry.  Major complications ensue.

 

Crawford does a fine job of underacting, just using her eyes and voice to convey emotion.  Fonda is excellent as the veteran.  Andrews is likewise excellent as an indecisive, then obsessed man.  Ruth Warrick is very good as Andrews' suspicious, angry wife.

 

Leon Shamroy did the shadowy, stark photography.  Alfred Newman and David Raksin did the moody score. Fred Sersen did the Special Photography Effects, including the credits, which warn the viewer that they are only seeing a facade.

 

Dark film has plot strands that address prejudice, stalking, and child abuse.  Film suggests much more than it shows.  Excellent noirish melodrama.  3.2/4

 

Source--archive.org.  Search "Daisyken".

 

I'm glad you mention the "underacting" thing because I have noticed a lot of that Crawford, surprising in a way for a major star who is especially attached to her fan base. The Stars are like that but JC was more sensitized perhaps more than others (ducking). I see Mildred Pierce, not Joan Crawford. I see a devotion to character and not necessarily to herself (ducking). Not to cast an odious comparison but Bette Davis always seems to be acutely conscious of herself on screen in a way that Crawford does not (ducking). This has something for her

(Bette) unofficial title as Queen of Camp. Joan has her excesses but she is remarkably restrained in a number of her films. I was a Crawford ho-hummer until Jan 2014 when I watched a number of her films. I like her later movies which might not be the norm for others. She's on my the short list for top honors in the movie business.

[Swithin]

I watched Manchester by the Sea. Sad, quiet, thoughtful, beautifully acted and directed. A little bit melodramatic, but that's ok. Casey Affleck is brilliant.

 

For the most part, I didn't think the women in the film came across too well, as characters.

 

[film lover 293]

"Marianne" (1929)--Starring Marion Davies and Lawrence Gray, directed by Robert Z. Leonard.

 

Amusing musical comedy set in 1919 France was Davies' official transition to sound film (She had made a brief appearance in "The Hollywood Revue of 1929").   She plays a French girl who was promised to a  French soldier at the beginning of WW I.  Gray plays Stagg, a soldier in an American platoon which stops at her farm after France's  liberation.  The two instantly dislike each other, then gradually fall in love.

 

Gray and his platoon take care of most of the songs.  Davies gets two songs to herself and a chorus of "Just You, Just Me", the films' hit song.  Her impressions of a French officer, Maurice Chevalier, and Sarah Bernhardt are highlights of the film.  Her speaking and singing voice are surprisingly strong, and her stammer is unnoticeable.  

 

Film is somewhat dated, and the humor centering on misunderstanding of the French/English language got old, but the film is very amusing when Davies is on screen, and the score is good.   One of Davies best sound films.  3/4.

 

Source--YouTube.

[LawrenceA]

No Blade of Grass (1970) - The recent ubiquitous success of the zombie horror genre is, I believe, not due to the zombies as much as the depiction of societal breakdown and collapse, and the struggles of modern man to survive in a once-again savage, primordial world. That struggle is the focus of this environmental catastrophe tale, co-written and directed by Cornel Wilde.

 

In a near-future UK, a family decides to leave London and head north when a spreading virus has decimated the worlds crops, leading to rampant starvation and outbreaks of anarchy. The family hopes to reach the safety and security of an uncle's secluded farm. Along the way they run into the usual apocalyptic obstacles: scarcity of supplies, violent hooligan teens, rape-gangs, motorcycle savages, seemingly normal townsfolk turned murderous in the face of privation. Can the family make it to safety with both mind and body intact? The cast includes Nigel Davenport, Jean Wallace, Anthony May, George Coulouris, and the debut of Lynne Frederick.

 

Even making allowances for the film's age, this is pretty goofy. The acting is passable at best. The script has all of the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the cranium, with repeated scenes of pollution and Nature despoiled. Wilde also made the poor decision to place several flashes of future events throughout the film, which only serves to spoil said events when they eventually occur in the progression of the story. The soundtrack features a corny theme song by Roger Whittaker and a lot of bad acid rock instrumentals. 

 

4/10 - Only recommended to apocalyptic movie completists. 

[film lover 293]

"The Pleasure of His Company" (1961)--Starring Fred Astaire, Debbie Reynolds, Lilli Palmer, and Tab Hunter.  Directed by George Seaton.

 

Leisurely paced romantic comedy has inveterate traveler Poole (Astaire) returning to San Francisco to give away his daughter Jessica (Reynolds) at her wedding to Roger (Hunter).  Poole stays at the home of his ex-wife Katherine (Palmer).

 

Reynolds holds the film together as the daughter discovering a father she barely knew.  Astaire and Palmer are both delights in the lighter parts of the film.  Hunter is strictly on the sidelines as the main battles are between parents and daughter, but he shows an untapped talent for light comedy and gets one of the best lines in the picture:

 

Reynolds (describing a salad eaten in a French restaurant)--"It had dandelions and wild greens!"

 

Hunter--"That's what I feed my cattle!"

 

Samuel Taylor's script has a tendency to bog down in talk.  Alfred Newman did the score.  Robert Burks and Bud Fraker did the picture postcard photography.

 

Comedy has a thread of melancholy running through it that mutes what should be laughs.  Still, the adroit cast makes this one worth watching.  2.7/4.

 

Source--archive.org.  Search "Debbie Reynolds"; there are two numbered results.  Click on "59".

[Fedya]

Leisurely paced romantic comedy has inveterate traveler Poole (Astaire) returning to San Francisco to give away his daughter Jessica (Reynolds) at her wedding to Roger (Hunter). Poole stays at the home of his ex-wife Katherine (Palmer).

Sounds like the not particularly funny McLintock!.

[film lover 293]

"Two Girls and a Sailor" (1944)--Starring Gloria DeHaven, June Allyson, Jimmy Durante, and Tom Drake.

 

WW II musical has a paper thin plot, but is filled with near constant music.  Film traces the rise of The Deyo Sisters (DeHaven and Allyson), who sing in a nightclub.  One of them gets bouquets of orchids from an unknown admirer every night; they decide to find out who the smitten suitor is.  Film goes from there.

 

Among the notable numbers: Harry James and Allyson doing "Young Man With a Horn", Durante's "Inka Dinka Doo", Gracie Allen doing a concerto with Jose Iturbi and orchestra, Lena Hornes' version of "Paper Doll", and many others.  

 

DeHaven looks radiant and sounds great.  Durante is good in the only semi-serious role.  Ava Gardner is in a bit, and has a breathtaking closeup.  Assuming TCM's filmography for her is correct, this was her last bit part.

 

Well performed musical where the quality and quantity of the music takes precedence over plot.  A time capsule of 40's music. I enjoyed it.  3.2/4. 

 

Source--TCM.

[midwestan]

On Myrna Loy's last night of films, I watched "Midnight Lace" and "Lonelyhearts" (two of which I had never seen before).

 

Overall, I liked them both.  The thing that got me about Midnight Lace was that fashion designer Irene seemed to be the star of the show!  I mean, practically every scene involving Doris Day, she was wearing a different outfit!  Oh well, what girl doesn't like to wear pretty things.  Day gives an interesting performance as she vacillates from charming and intelligible to an outright babbling train wreck of a woman being harassed by a mysterious stranger.  After being emotionally drained playing such a demanding role, Day would finish her film career doing comedies only.  Good supporting cast all the way around, with Rex Harrison, Myrna Loy, John Gavin, Natasha Parry, Roddy McDowell  and John Williams who practically reprised his role as a police inspector from "Dial M for Murder".

 

Lonelyhearts was a tough movie to watch, because of its cynicism and brutal honesty portrayed by the characters.  However, at the end of it, I felt the men and women who worked on the film put forth a very good product.  The underlying moral tones in the film got a little preachy to me, but it was from 1958, and adultery and murder were still pretty big deals back then.  Montgomery Clift has the lead in this one, and while he does his usual good work, I thought his delivery of lines was quite similar to the way he played characters in "Judgment at Nuremburg", "A Place in the Sun", and "From Here to Eternity"--it seemed halted or deliberately tentative.  If that's what the role called for, then he did swell.  If not, well, it just seemed hackneyed (to me anyway).  I much rather like Clift in roles like he had in "The Search".  Robert Ryan was verbally sadistic in this one, and I thought he gave a fine performance, although admittedly, I haven't seen too many of his films.  Myrna Loy played his wife and had a really emotional scene with Ryan in their apartment...and I absolutely loved it...it's not something you see from her all the time!  Jackie Coogan and Dolores Hart provide good supporting roles, as does Maureen Stapleton as a sensuous psycho!  Too bad Hart answered a higher call and later drastically changed her career path.  I thought she was really good in this.

[LornaHansonForbes]

On Myrna Loy's last night of films, I watched "Midnight Lace" and "Lonelyhearts" (two of which I had never seen before).

 

Overall, I liked them both.  The thing that got me about Midnight Lace was that fashion designer Irene seemed to be the star of the show!

 

This is true. Although Doris wore this number from MIDNIGHT LACE to the Oscars the year she was nominated for PILLOW TALK and you cannot deny, the look is flawless:

 

[Sepiatone]

Well, in her PRIME, it was hard for Doris to NOT look flawless in ANYTHING!

 

 

Sepiatone

[film lover 293]

"Untamed Frontier" (1952)--Starring Joseph Cotten, Shelley Winters, and Scott Brady.

 

Predictable Universal western that's made watchable by an above average cast.

 

Brothers Kirk and Glenn Denbow (Cotten and Brady) are against opening up their cattle range to homesteaders.  Glenn murders an unarmed man.  Jane Stevens (Winters) is the only eyewitness.  To make certain she can't testify against him, Glenn marries her.  Film goes from there.

 

Cotten and Winters are as good as the abrupt, thinly motivated script allows.  The only acting surprise is Suzan Ball as Lottie.  She plays a blackmailing saloon girl for comedy, and makes her scenes enjoyable.  

 

Film has no surprises, but is watchable.

 

The print I saw had Spanish(?) subtitles, but was in English. 

 

An ok western that runs 72 minutes, perfect for a double bill.  2.3/4.

 

Source--archive.org.  Search "Homens Em Revolta 1952". 

[cigarjoe]

I watched Manchester by the Sea. Sad, quiet, thoughtful, beautifully acted and directed. A little bit melodramatic, but that's ok. Casey Affleck is brilliant.

 

For the most part, I didn't think the women in the film came across too well, as characters.

Watched it a few days ago, a watchable dysfunctional family melodrama, starring Casey Affleck and Ben O'Brien, a 7/10, but nothing I'd ever watch again.

[LsDoorMat]

Stagestruck (1936) directed by Busby Berkeley  (2/10)

 

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen from a major studio, and I really like the leading players - (at that time) comic songbird Dick Powell, feisty Joan Blondell, that schemin' demon Warren William after the production code took his fangs away, and always reliable and likable comic support Frank McHugh round out the cast. What gums up the works is the completely predictable script which I could have written by just watching the first ten minutes, and the fact that this is supposed to be a back stage musical at 1930's Warner's where the payoff is usually in the finale where you get to see the stars work out their personal problems and perform some great numbers - but not here. Instead you have a complete unknown (Jeanne Madden as Ruth) laying on a couch singing the film's one catchy tune - "In Your Own Quiet Way", and that is it. There are no finished polished production numbers on display.

So what is good about it? The leading and reliable WB players whom I have already mentioned, and in particular Joan Blondell hamming it up playing a star who is only a star because she tends to commit violent acts against her boyfriends, but can't act, sing, or dance - a triple threat. You'd have to be a good actress to satirize one that is so bad and yet so egotistical at the same time.

What is really bad? The Yacht Club Boys for one. There are four of them, one more than the Three Stooges, and apparently they are going for that kind of humor but they are not funny. Worse, they are dull when they aren't being inane. Then there is ingénue Jeanne Madden as Dick Powell's love interest. She simpers around and projects zero personality, and we never get to see her dance either. So it's rather ironic that Blondell is playing what Ms. Madden actually is here - a flash in the pan (minus the violence I'm assuming) who is out of WB after two mediocre performances, this being her first.

I don't know if the studio thought they could get by with this just because Powell and Blondell were two of their stars who had recently married, but I'd only recommend it to completists and to film history buffs like myself who feel they have to see every film they can get their hands on.

 

If you can't find something better to do with your time I'd join the Peace Corps.

[Fedya]

What is really bad? The Yacht Club Boys for one. There are four of them, one more than the Three Stooges, and apparently they are going for that kind of humor but they are not funny.

Worse than the Ritz Brothers?

[LsDoorMat]

Worse than the Ritz Brothers?

In this case about equal. They really were terrible.

[LornaHansonForbes]

In this case about equal. They really were terrible.

 

[considers defending The Ritz Bros.; decides against.]

[JamesJazGuitar]

Watched the Decades marathon of Our Miss Brooks the 50s T.V. series with Eve Arden.     Simple,  silly plots but Arden is a complete joy to watch.

 

 

[speedracer5]

I saw a few movies over the past week or so (two weeks? I don't know.  The whole holiday season has been a blur):

 

THE UGLY DACHSHUND (1966) This wasn't a movie that I was planning on watching, but the movie I was watching ended and the TV switched back to TCM.  I watched the end of one of the cartoons and suddenly this started.  "Meh," I thought, "this looks like some mindless entertainment and I don't have to think about what to watch next."  Anyway, this film featured Suzanne Pleshette and Disney stalwart, Dean Jones as a newlywed couple who clash after Jones brings home a Great Dane puppy.  The beginning of the film starts with Pleshette and Jones racing to the veterinarian office when their dog goes into labor.  Pleshette's beloved Dachshund has given birth to three puppies.  Pleshette hopes to groom the puppies into being show dogs.  While at the veterinarian office, Jones is talked into bringing home a Great Dane puppy whose mother has shunned him.  She's given birth to a large litter and there is not enough milk to go around.  Not wanting the puppy to starve, the vet asks Jones if their dog could possibly be a wet nurse for this Great Dane.  Jones is hesitant at first, but when he hears of the dog's plight, he's suckered in and takes the Great Dane home.  The house is absolute chaos as the Great Dane grows up thinking he's a Dachshund.  

 

There are some funny scenes of the Dachshunds running amok and destroying everything and then managing to pin the destruction on the Great Dane.  There's also a funny scene where the Great Dane inadvertently ruins a Garden Party while chasing one of the Dachshunds who stole his bone! 

 

This was Disney fluff and the sight gags were easy to predict (if anyone is standing near a body of water, like a pond (for example), you can be sure that they'll fall in.  I probably wouldn't watch this film again (I feel like I've gotten everything I can from this film) but it was an amusing distraction for a couple hours.  

 

Look for Charles Ruggles as the veterinarian and a quick scene of Bobby the bellboy (from I Love Lucy) in the Garden Party scene.

 

---

 

Midnight Lace.  I watched this movie yesterday and loved it.  It features Doris Day as a woman who has a creepy encounter in a park.  Later, she receives a threatening phone call from the same voice who had scared her in the park.  She continues to receive these scary phone calls when she's alone in the house. She keeps trying to explain her plight to her husband, her best friend, Scotland Yard, everyone, but since nobody ever seems to be around when she receives these messages, nobody believes her.  Day is driven mad by the scary incidents that keep happening and at some point is in the sanitarium.  

 

It was interesting to see Doris Day in this type of role and I thought she did a great job in such an intense role.  I loved her clothes in this movie, especially the "Midnight Lace" outfit she wears at the end.  The opulent surroundings made the picture a visual treat.  I also loved the balcony on their apartment.  The twist ending was unexpected (I thought for sure it was Roddy McDowell, he always strikes me as a bit of a creeper). Myrna Loy was excellent as the fun and trustworthy aunt.  I had only seen Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady and it was nice to see him in a different type of role.  

 

I'm glad TCM finally aired this film.  It was excellent and I would watch it again.  

 

---

 

The Shop Around the Corner.  At first, I was a bit skeptical, but as I settled into the story, it grew on me.  Frank Morgan was excellent as the stressed out boss. He served as a nice compliment to the calmer, but frustrated, James Stewart.  This was the first movie I had seen with Margaret Sullavan.  She was fine and a fine counterpart to Stewart, but I don't see myself going out of the way to seek out her films to see her.  I thought that the pen pal angle would have had a bigger spotlight in the story, but it almost seemed a subplot to the main conflict in the film.  The main conflict seemingly being the drama between Morgan and Stewart.  This isn't my favorite Ernst Lubitsch film that I've seen (I think Heaven Can Wait is my favorite), but I liked it and would watch it again.  I watched the musical remake, The Good Old Summertime right before it and enjoyed it as well.   

[LornaHansonForbes]

you didn't feel kinda underwhelmed by the lack of ACTION! at the end of MIDNIGHT LACE? I've always felt a little let-down by it, especially since the same guy who directed SUDDEN FEAR directed LACE as well.

 

(and say what you will about SUDDEN FEAR, its climax does not lack style and action.)

[speedracer5]

you didn't feel kinda underwhelmed by the lack of ACTION! at the end of MIDNIGHT LACE? I've always felt a little let-down by it, especially since the same guy who directed SUDDEN FEAR directed LACE as well.

 

(and say what you will about SUDDEN FEAR, its climax does not lack style and action.)

 

I haven't watched Sudden Fear yet, so I cannot make a fair comparison between the two films.

 

I didn't have any issues with the ending, I figured the scaffolding would come into the picture eventually.  Perhaps if I watch Sudden Fear, I'll have a different opinion.

[LornaHansonForbes]

hold the phone!

 

just found this recording of the LUX RADIO THEATER PRESENTS DAISY KENYON starring DANA ANDREWS AND IDA LUPINO!

 

 

[speedracer5]

I haven't watched Sudden Fear yet, so I cannot make a fair comparison between the two films.

 

I didn't have any issues with the ending, I figured the scaffolding would come into the picture eventually.  Perhaps if I watch Sudden Fear, I'll have a different opinion.

 

I'm not quoting myself... just adding on...

 

Perhaps if Doris Day were being chased through the scaffolding instead of everyone standing in the apartment watching her escape.  That would have been more interesting.  

[scsu1975]

First Man Into Space (1959) youtube

 

Marshall Thompson plays a naval officer whose brother, a hot shot test pilot, manages to get about 250 miles above the earth. Said brother then returns looking like something that crawled out of the La Brea Tar Pits. This creature goes on a rampage, seeking blood from humans and cows. It returns to its senses, somewhat, at the finale, and explains what happened in space.

 

But getting to the finale is a chore, because there is mostly talk, and too many people acting like morons. For one example, the creature breaks into a blood bank at night, tears off a door, and creates a lot of noise. A nurse goes to investigate, and walks calmly past the smashed-in door, without bothering to get help first. Some people deserve to have their blood drained.

 

Supposedly set in New Mexico, the mostly British cast do a decent job disguising their accents, but their uniforms and spelling (“authorised”) give them away.

 

The pilot begins the film flying in the Y-12, and has a successful flight. His next flight, which turns him into a tootsie roll, is in the Y-13. At the climax, scientists discuss what might happen with the Y-14. My suggestion is for everyone to get on another flight, the Y-bother.

 

 

 

An advertisement for the upcoming bio flick The Dennis Hopper Story.

[film lover 293]

"Attack of the Crab Monsters" (1957)--Starring Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, and Russell Johnson.  Directed by Roger Corman.

 

  There are several interesting ideas in this sci-fi/horror movie, nuclear blasts causing aberrations of nature just to name one.  Too bad Corman did this movie on next to no budget, because he decided to show the monsters--to less than frightening effect.

 

The plot--A group of scientists are dropped off on an island that received radiation from the Hiroshima bomb in WW II.  They are there to study any effects radiation may have had on the island, and to try to find out what happened to an earlier group of scientists, who disappeared without explanation.  

 

I saw this on archive.org, which has a British print of the film, one that says " Associated British Pathe is distributing this film".  The print and sound is the clearest I've ever seen or heard for this movie--beats the **** out of any print of AotCM on YouTube.  The movies' good and Bad ideas are very clear.

 

Scripts' ideas are undone by budget limitations and the Bad idea to show the monsters.  It's more interesting to think what could have been done.  2/4.  

 

Source--archive.org.  Search "AoftCrbMs1957".

[cigarjoe]

"Attack of the Crab Monsters" (1957)--Starring Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, and Russell Johnson.  Directed by Roger Corman.

 

  There are several interesting ideas in this sci-fi/horror movie, nuclear blasts causing aberrations of nature just to name one.  Too bad Corman did this movie on next to no budget, because he decided to show the monsters--to less than frightening effect.

 

The plot--A group of scientists are dropped off on an island that received radiation from the Hiroshima bomb in WW II.  They are there to study any effects radiation may have had on the island, and to try to find out what happened to an earlier group of scientists, who disappeared without explanation.  

 

I saw this on archive.org, which has a British print of the film, one that says " Associated British Pathe is distributing this film".  The print and sound is the clearest I've ever seen or heard for this movie--beats the **** out of any print of AotCM on YouTube.  The movies' good and Bad ideas are very clear.

 

Scripts' ideas are undone by budget limitations and the Bad idea to show the monsters.  It's more interesting to think what could have been done.  2/4.  

 

Source--archive.org.  Search "AoftCrbMs1957".

I always liked this one it was creepy to me as a kid.