I Just Watched...

[Swithin]

The Post (2017). Excellent dramatization of the life and times of Washington Post owner/publisher Katherine Graham and her editor Ben Bradlee as they struggle to cope with the challenges of the Pentagon Papers crisis. Meryl Streep as Kay Graham has a telephone scene to rival Luise Rainer's in The Great Ziegfeld.

This is sadly a terribly timely movie. An excerpt from Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black's majority opinion, finding for the Post and The New York Times, is read to the Post staff:  "In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors."

 

[speedracer5]

6 minutes ago, Swithin said:

The Post (2017). Excellent dramatization of the life and times of Washington Post owner/publisher Katherine Graham and her editor Ben Bradlee as they struggle to cope with the challenges of the Pentagon Papers crisis. Meryl Streep as Kay Graham has a telephone scene to rival Luise Rainer's in The Great Ziegfeld.

This is sadly a terribly timely movie. An excerpt from Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black's majority opinion, finding for the Post and The New York Times, is read to the Post staff:  "In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors."

 

I'm glad to hear that this film was good.  I want to see this film as well.  While I'm indifferent to Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, I love newspaper movies--I also like that it is a historical film and not contemporary.  

Thanks for the great review! I haven't seen The Great Ziegfeld, but maybe I should give that one a watch as well.

[LawrenceA]

Red Salute (1935) - Anti-communist road movie rom-com from United Artists and director Sidney Lanfield. General's daughter Drue Van Allen (Barbara Stanwyck) keeps making headlines for attending communist rallies on college campuses led by her boyfriend Leonard (Hardie Albright). Drue's dad has her sent to Mexico to get the guy out of her system, but it doesn't take, and she's desperate to get back to Washington D.C. and Leonard's crimson clutches. Drue bumps into AWOL army soldier "Uncle" Sam (Robert Young), and the two make their way from Mexico to the U.S. with the help of bored vacationer Rooney (Cliff Edwards). Also featuring Ruth Donnelly, Gordon Jones, Paul Stanton, Purnell Pratt, Nella Walker, Henry Kolker, and Ferdinand Gottschalk.

Leftist radicalism was in vogue on college campuses in the mid-30's as a response to the Great Depression, and this film does it's darnedest to paint the movement as hypocritical and anti-American. Much of the film is in the vein of It Happened One Night, although with less zing and less chemistry between the leads. Young is enjoyable, vibrant and strong-willed in a way that I'm not used to seeing him. Stanwyck doesn't come off as well, but it's the script more than the performance. Edwards is likable comic support. This was a modest hit, but it was re-released in '48 as anti-Communist sentiment was rising again.  (6/10)

Source: YouTube.

[laffite]

6 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

Rainbow Valley (1935) - John Wayne B-western from Monogram/Lone Star and director Robert N. Bradbury.

101

[TomJH]

8 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

Red Salute (1935) -Drue's dad has her sent to Mexico to get the guy out of her system, but it doesn't take, and she's desperate to get back to Washington D.C. and Leonard's crimson clutches.

[NickAndNora34]

THE JERK (1979) STARRING STEVE MARTIN AND BERNADETTE PETERS 

I have already seen PENNIES FROM HEAVEN (1981) so I was interested in watching this earlier film of Martin's and Peters.' Although, I must admit, I felt the sense of deja vu during some of the movie, so I'm not sure if I had seen this movie a few years back, or if I just saw clips from the movie on YouTube. Either way, I did like it. It's not a major tour de force by any means, but Martin's somewhat naive character of Navin Johnson was certainly likeable. The movie follows Navin going from job to job to earn enough money for himself, as well as to send back home to his family, until he strikes it rich by coming up with a new way for glasses to stay on people's heads/faces. He ultimately meets a young lady named Marie, who he has to see on the sly until he can escape the clutches of his motorcyclist, daredevil, circus girlfriend. All in all, a cute movie, if sometimes a little weird. 

Score: 3/5 

[LawrenceA]

4 minutes ago, NickAndNora34 said:

THE JERK (1979) 

One of my all-time favorite comedies, and Bernadette Peters was gorgeously silly in it. An endlessly quotable movie, for me and my friends.

[Bethluvsfilms]

20 minutes ago, NickAndNora34 said:

THE JERK (1979) STARRING STEVE MARTIN AND BERNADETTE PETERS 

I have already seen PENNIES FROM HEAVEN (1981) so I was interested in watching this earlier film of Martin's and Peters.' Although, I must admit, I felt the sense of deja vu during some of the movie, so I'm not sure if I had seen this movie a few years back, or if I just saw clips from the movie on YouTube. Either way, I did like it. It's not a major tour de force by any means, but Martin's somewhat naive character of Navin Johnson was certainly likeable. The movie follows Navin going from job to job to earn enough money for himself, as well as to send back home to his family, until he strikes it rich by coming up with a new way for glasses to stay on people's heads/faces. He ultimately meets a young lady named Marie, who he has to see on the sly until he can escape the clutches of his motorcyclist, daredevil, circus girlfriend. All in all, a cute movie, if sometimes a little weird. 

 

 

Score: 3/5 

THE JERK is hilarious, but my personal favorites of Steve's are ALL OF ME and of course, PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES.

Also thought he did a dang fine job in PARENTHOOD, he was both funny and serious in that one.

[ChristineHoard]

35 minutes ago, Bethluvsfilms said:

THE JERK is hilarious, but my personal favorites of Steve's are ALL OF ME and of course, PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES.

Also thought he did a dang fine job in PARENTHOOD, he was both funny and serious in that one.

My favorite of Steve's is ALL OF ME.  His physical comedy in it is so funny, so perfect.

[LawrenceA]

Roberta (1935) - Musical rom-com from RKO and director William A. Seiter. Huck Haines (Fred Astaire) and his big band arrive in France only to learn that their promised gig has fallen through. Huck's best friend John Kent (Randolph Kent) decides to look up his aunt, a dressmaker named Roberta (Helen Westley) to see if she has any advice on work for the band. John ends up inheriting the dressmaking firm, and he falls for lead designer Stephanie (Irene Dunne), while Huck meets up with Lizzie Gatz (Ginger Rogers) a neighborhood gal pretending to be European aristocracy. Also featuring Claire Dodd, Victor Varconi, Luis Alberni, Torben Meyer, Bodil Rosing, and Lucille Ball.

Musical + rom-com + France + haute couture = a formula for a movie that seems designed to not appeal to me to the ultimate degree. And yet I enjoyed it, after all. I was surprised to see Astaire and Rogers as supporting players again, with top-billed Dunne and Scott as the true leads. All four are charming and on top of their game. The costumes are elaborate, and the models are stunning, including a young blonde Lucille Ball. The songs are good, too, including the standard "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". The movie earned an Oscar nomination for Best Music, Original Song ("Lovely to Look At").   (7/10)

Source: Warner DVD, part of the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Astaire & Rogers, Volume Two. 

[Dargo]

1 hour ago, Bethluvsfilms said:

THE JERK is hilarious, but my personal favorites of Steve's are ALL OF ME and of course, PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES.

Also thought he did a dang fine job in PARENTHOOD, he was both funny and serious in that one.

Yes, I remember being extremely impressed with Steve Martin's performance in Parenthood, Beth. 

It's been many years since I've watched this one, but I particularly remember one scene in it where Martin confronts his father played Jason Robards Jr.

(...I think that might have been the first time I began thinking that Martin was or could be more than just a funnyman, and that he could be effective in more than just comedic roles)

[LsDoorMat]

2 hours ago, NickAndNora34 said:

THE JERK (1979) STARRING STEVE MARTIN AND BERNADETTE PETERS 

I have already seen PENNIES FROM HEAVEN (1981) so I was interested in watching this earlier film of Martin's and Peters.' Although, I must admit, I felt the sense of deja vu during some of the movie, so I'm not sure if I had seen this movie a few years back, or if I just saw clips from the movie on YouTube. Either way, I did like it. It's not a major tour de force by any means, but Martin's somewhat naive character of Navin Johnson was certainly likeable. The movie follows Navin going from job to job to earn enough money for himself, as well as to send back home to his family, until he strikes it rich by coming up with a new way for glasses to stay on people's heads/faces. He ultimately meets a young lady named Marie, who he has to see on the sly until he can escape the clutches of his motorcyclist, daredevil, circus girlfriend. All in all, a cute movie, if sometimes a little weird.

Score: 3/5 

You know, I actually went to the theatre to see this film back in 79, and I felt somewhat embarrassed for Steve Martin, because I loved his live comedy. I don't think he really had a film that was worthy of his talent until "All of Me". I remember when he first became well known in 1977, and to show how times have changed, do you know what the press was abuzz with in reference to him, besides his talent and premature gray hair? The fact that he was a 32 year old bachelor, like that was such a weird thing back then!

I always thought Steve Martin and Robin Williams had parallel struggles in the early 80s - great stand up comics who were having a hard time getting good roles in movies.

[NickAndNora34]

1 hour ago, ChristineHoard said:

My favorite of Steve's is ALL OF ME.  His physical comedy in it is so funny, so perfect.

I LOVE All of Me. It was not my first exposure to Steve Martin, but the first thing I ever saw with Lily Tomlin, who is a comedy favorite of mine. 

[LawrenceA]

She (1935) - Romantic science fiction fantasy from RKO, producer Merian C. Cooper, and directors Irving Pichel & Lansing C. Holden. Randolph Scott stars as Leo Vincey, a man who is told a fantastic tale about his ancestors finding a fabulous hidden kingdom in the frozen wastes of Arctic Russia that holds the secret to an unknown form of radiation that can grant extended life. He sets out to find it with the aid of loyal friend Horace Holly (Nigel Bruce) and local guide Tanya (Helen Mack). What they discover is a strange world from a forgotten time, ruled over by the seemingly immortal "She Who Must Be Obeyed" (Helen Gahagan). "She" believes that Leo is the reincarnation of her long-dead lover, and she hopes to pick up with him where she left off with the other. Also featuring Gustav von Seyffertitz, Noble Johnson, Lumsden Hare, Samuel S. Hinds, and Jim Thorpe.

After watching every other film version, I finally get around to the most famous adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's series of novels. This is also the best, with terrific production design, exciting action sequences, and a pulp sensibility. The performances are all delivered straight-faced, despite the outlandish situations. This is one of the biggest roles for character actor Gustav von Seyffertitz, he of the wonderful name and hawk-like visage. Gahagan of course was married to Melvyn Douglas and later got into politics.

This was considered a disappointment on its initial release, but was re-released in the late 40's. After most prints were misplaced or destroyed, the movie was considered lost for many years before an extant print was found in the personal vault of Buster Keaton. Cooper had planned to make the film in color, but RKO canceled those plans at the last minute, even though the production design had been done with color in mind. Many decades later, a colorized print was made under the supervision of Ray Harryhausen as a tribute to Cooper. I watched the black & white version, but I've heard that the colorized one was well done, as far as that goes. The movie earned an Oscar nomination for Best Dance Direction (Benjamin Zemach).  (7/10)

Source: YouTube.

[laffite]

24 minutes ago, LawrenceA said:

This is one of the biggest roles for character actor Gustav von Seyffertitz,

He had a tiny role as Neri in Don Juan ('26). Alice Terry captures Mary Astor and sentences her to the rack. "Neri will be delighted." So we know who Neri was. Most unpleasant.

He should get an honorary Academy Award for having the Name of the Century.

[cigarjoe]

Zero Effect (1998)

A sort of riff on Sherlock Holmes/Nero Wolf type eccentric detectives where their sidekicks do a lot of the legwork. Daryl Zero (Bill Pullman) is the "worlds greatest detective" his assistant is Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller), Arlo functions as the Dr. Watson/Archie Goodwin partner in sleuthing. 

Daryl Zero is a bit of a recluse with no social skills and similar to Sherlock Holmes and his fiddle plays the electric guitar badly. In this case Daryl actually becomes emotionally involved with a woman. entertaining 8/10.

[LawrenceA]

Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) - Folksy comedy from Fox and director John Ford. Will Rogers stars at Dr. John Pearly, a snake-oil salesman and steamship owner on the Mississippi, circa 1890. He's got a race coming up against rival boat captain Eli (Irvin S. Cobb) that could result in the doctor losing his ship. And if that wasn't enough, his nephew Duke (John McGuire) is wrongfully convicted of murder and leaves his young swamp urchin girlfriend Fleety Belle (Anne Shirley) in the doctor's care. Also featuring Berton Churchill, Francis Ford, Stepin Fetchit, Eugene Pallette, Roger Imhof, Raymond Hatton, Charles Middleton, and Hobart Bosworth.

This is low-key, sentimental, unchallenging, and pleasantly enjoyable. Rogers, in his next-to-last film, is his usual persona, and his interplay with Shirley is good. Churchill, as a wandering revival preacher, and director John's brother Francis, as a drunken ship's engineer, are both humorous highlights.   (7/10)

Source: Fox DVD, part of the Ford at Fox box set.

[Bethluvsfilms]

6 hours ago, ChristineHoard said:

My favorite of Steve's is ALL OF ME.  His physical comedy in it is so funny, so perfect.

Yes, he certainly was at his absolute physical peak in this. 

[LawrenceA]

The Tunnel (1935) aka Transatlantic Tunnel - British science fiction drama from Gaumont and director Maurice Elvey which had previously been filmed 3 times in France and Germany. American engineer Richard "Mac" McAllan (Richard Dix) proposes an audacious undertaking: the construction of an underground tunnel beneath the sea bed that will connect London to New York. The massive undertaking involves multiple investors and years of construction time. Mac neglects his wife Ruth (Madge Evans) who seeks comfort with Mac's best friend Frederick (Leslie Banks), while chief investor Lloyd (C. Aubrey Smith) struggles to secure the funds necessary to keep going, and his own daughter Varlia (Helen Vinson) falls in love with Mac. Also featuring Basil Sydney, Henry Oscar, Hilda Trevelyan, Cyril Hammond, Jimmy Hanley, and in brief cameos, George Arliss as the British Prime Minister, and Walter Huston as the US President.

The science fiction elements are largely kept in the background via set design, the "futuristic" appearance of automobiles, the use of video phones, etc. I would have liked the film more if it had concentrated on the engineering aspects of the construction, or even more on the backroom dealing and politicking of keeping the undertaking afloat. But unfortunately more time is spent on the emotional toil caused by Mac's overwork, and the weak and tedious love triangle. The performances are perfunctory, with the wild-eyed yet still wooden Dix contrasting with Banks, whose facial paralysis often makes it hard to tell what his expression is supposed to convey from scene to scene. I wanted to like this more than I did, but there's still some worthwhile moments among the cliches.  (6/10)

Source: TCM.

[TomJH]

Body and Soul (1947).

Hailed at the time of its release by many critics as the first great boxing film, Body and Soul's screenplay today seems as much a polemic condemning the American fast buck pursuit of success and, with it, the corruption of the soul, as much as it does anything else.

A huge hit in 1947, bringing John Garfield his only Oscar nomination as best actor (he had previously been nominated in the supporting actor category), its Abraham Polonsky story today seems familiar. A young man, eager to make money to free himself from poverty, battles his way to the top of the fight racket, along with the support of a good woman, only to be corrupted by gangsters, partying, gambling and a sinful woman.

Lili Palmer plays the girlfriend, Anne Revere is in a patented role as the boxer's mother, with an effective turn, too, by Canada Lee as a has been boxer who becomes Garfield's assistant and friend (Garfield and Lee would become friends in real life, too, dying less than two weeks apart from one another).

Wisely the film incorporates the popular 1930 Johnny Green song standard, Body and Soul, as its musical score, performed with a lush, romantic orchestral sound. Robert Rossen directed but it's James Wong Howe's photography which is really outstanding, Howe famously shooting the film's climactic fight sequence on roller skates with a hand held camera.

This film ranks, along with Postman Always Rings Twice, Force of Evil, Breaking Point and He Ran All The Way, as one of five films towards the end of Garfield's career that have helped to revitalize interest in this actor as a film noir anti-hero. The role of the boxer in this film seems familiar and is not much of a stretch for the actor (he had previously played a pugilist in They Made Me A Criminal), but he delivers a strong, winning performance here that remains, without question, one of the most memorable of his career.

That performance, combined with the Howe photography and Johnny Green score, still makes Body and Soul well worth viewing today.

3 out of 4

[Bethluvsfilms]

BODY AND SOUL is indeed one of Garfield's most powerful performances during his last years. It really demonstrated his power as an actor. 

A curse and hex on McCarthy and the members of the HUAC for ruining his career and depriving audiences of many more fine performances he no doubt would have turned in for many years to come had he not been blacklisted.

 

[TomJH]

11 minutes ago, Bethluvsfilms said:

BODY AND SOUL is indeed one of Garfield's most powerful performances during his last years. It really demonstrated his power as an actor. 

A curse and hex on McCarthy and the members of the HUAC for ruining his career and depriving audiences of many more fine performances he no doubt would have turned in for many years to come had he not been blacklisted.

 

Garfield was handcuffed for many years by Warner Brothers with stereotyped parts in often second rate material. There was only a handful of good films during his contract years there.

Freed from that studio the actor did much of the best work of his career in his last seven years (five actually, as he couldn't get employment in the last year and a half). Clearly he was maturing as a performer, too, as evidenced, in particular, by his great performance in The Breaking Point. Garfield is truly one of the most tragic figures in Hollywood history, a victim of the political climate of the time and thrown to the wolves by the studios who cravenly turned their backs on him.

The screen's final image of John Garfield in He Ran All The Way

As his character Harry Morgan repeatedly said towards the end of The Breaking Point:

"A man alone ain't got no chance."

[scsu1975]

38 minutes ago, Bethluvsfilms said:

 

A curse and hex on McCarthy and the members of the HUAC for ruining his career and depriving audiences of many more fine performances he no doubt would have turned in for many years to come had he not been blacklisted.

 

Just to clarify, McCarthy was in the Senate, and was not involved in the HUAC. But if you mean the "climate" created by him and the House ruined many a career, then I certainly agree.

[LawrenceA]

It Comes at Night (2017) - Divisive psychological thriller from A24 and writer-director Trey Edward Shults. Some undefined plague has decimated humanity (or at least it appears that way), and one family has developed a regimented lifestyle deep in the woods to stay alive. Father Paul (Joel Edgerton), mother Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), and teenage son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) wear gas masks outside and always keep guns at the ready in case strangers show up. Which one does, of course, in the form of Will (Christopher Abbott), and after a period of uncertainty, Paul allows Will and his wife Kim (Riley Keough) and young son Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner) to move into their home, where they all slowly start to build a future together. But things can't last, can they? 

This was marketed as a horror film, deliberately vague, but definitely a horror thriller, with possibly zombies or other infected people/creatures terrorizing this group isolated out in the woods. I mean, the title is IT Comes at Night, so audiences can be forgiven for expecting some sort of "IT" to arrive at some point. It may be a spoiler, but it's a public service spoiler, to announce that there is no "IT" in this film, and this isn't a horror film except in the vaguest sense of moments of emotional horror. This isn't an action film, or a thriller, and barely a character piece, as some uncertainty is needed to maintain the film's low level of off-balance, and thus character depth is very shallow. Critics seem to have liked this approach, but audience reaction was muted, to put it kindly. 

Some films seem like novels come to life, others like short stories. This film is much more the latter, and maybe even just the first draft outline of a short story. It's a mood piece more than a narrative, and as such will leave many viewers frustrated and unfulfilled. Others may like it. I fall somewhere in the middle.  (6/10)

Source: Lionsgate Blu-Ray

[hamradio]

"Christmas Oranges" (2012) on TCT channel.  Spanish flu change the course for children at an orphanage.  Didn't know any during the 1900's accapted both boys and girls.  

Golden rule, obey the rules.  Can see why that place is called Irongate, it's run with an iron glove.  Has the usual big kid bully.

Never look at John Boy's lame tablet as a Christmas gift  in the same light again.

 

Someone posted a movie goof on IMDb...

When Rose Is Left As A baby At Mrs. Hartley's Home, The Screen Door On The Front Of The House is Clearly From Modern Times.

Well that is a goof, it's a storm door from modern times.