I Just Watched...

[LornaHansonForbes]

Thanks for bringing up TALES OF MANHATTAN, Kingrat- I also watched this movie on demand after I fell asleep during the original airing months ago (More because I’m an old old man at heart and I fall asleep early than because the film wasn’t good.)

It’s interesting, because I recall that Speedracer really really did not like this movie, where as clearly you do – I found myself somewhere in the middle...The vignettes have varying degrees of success, with the Laughton/Lanchester story being the strongest to me. Although the brief interlude with J Carrol Naish was pretty funny too...

The weakest tale was the opening story with Rita Hayworth, a VERY sinister Thomas Mitchell and Boyer- I was not terribly impressed by Rita’s acting and the story makes NO SENSE (I have to cite my North Carolina upbringings here and let you guys know that if you shoot somebody from about 15 feet away with a shotgun, there is going to be absolutely NO MYSTERY as to whether or not you have shot them. The only mystery is what the hell you’re going to use to be able to get the blood off all the walls and ceiling. Answer: Bon Ami)

I was really really bummed the WC Fields/Dumont story is missing though, The movie needed to go out on a lighter story, not the rather heavy handed one that featured Paul Robeson (Which I have to say I didn’t really find to be the racist, although I did find it to be blatantly communist in its leanings)

We are also so simpatico on Ginger’s hairstyle.

 

note: I am doing this post using voice transcription on my phone so I probably screwed all kinds of stuff up

[EricJ]

11 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

can anyone think of a film LESS DEMANDING for a musical remake than LOST HORIZON? GRAND ILLUSION maybe? MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW? GASLIGHT?

Well, nice to see we've worked out our post-site-revamp bugs and found the site again, Lorna...  

And as for the question, I remember the producer of the "My Favorite Year" Broadway musical (with Tim Curry as Peter O'Toole) saying that the original movie felt like a musical with the songs removed--"You just kept expecting them to break into song."

Applying that standard, Lost Horizon does seem like it would be a good musical.  Just....not...a Burt Bachrach one.

(And I'd go with the joke and say "Rocky", except, um, we actually got one:  

I'll let someone else post the "Carrie" clips.) 

[rosebette]

23 hours ago, TomJH said:

For starters, to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of musicals, though certainly I have enjoyed the best of Astaire and Gene Kelly, and I would rank Singin' in the Rain as one of my favourite films (because it works as a comedy and Hollywood satire as much as it does a musical).

When it comes to Crosby any feelings of affection that I have for him are in regard to the Road comedies. You mention, Rosebette, that he had no chemistry with his screen leading ladies, a statement with which I have no argument. On the other hand, he had, certainly during the '40s, a magical rapport with Bob Hope. Dated as their films may be (sometimes the lines of dialogue are funny, other times not), it is still a pleasure to see those two irreverently bantering off one another.

But Crosby's musicals are a matter of indifference to me, with Holiday Inn probably my favourite by default.

I enjoy Crosby's chemistry with Hope in the Road movies, and sometimes find Crosby more appealing because his humor is so offhand and relaxed, as opposed to Hope who is so obviously a "gag man."  Probably Holiday Inn is my favorite Crosby musical, but Fred might have something to do with that.  However, I can't sit through Blue Skies, which should just have the awful plot excised (the second half is unwatchable), and just leave the numbers.  I also dislike White Christmas --  Crosby and Kaye together are too much for me.  I much preferred the stage version that I saw in Boston, which was just a string of glorious production numbers based on Berlin tunes with almost zero plot.  I am a musical fan, but I love a good script, and my two favorites are Singin' in the Rain and The Bandwagon, which TCM aired last week, and both those musicals work well as satires of their respective genres, movies and the theater.

 

[speedracer5]

1 hour ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

Thanks for bringing up TALES OF MANHATTAN, Kingrat- I also watched this movie on demand after I fell asleep during the original airing months ago (More because I’m an old old man at heart and I fall asleep early than because the film wasn’t good.)

It’s interesting, because I recall that Speedracer really really did not like this movie, where as clearly you do – I found myself somewhere in the middle...The vignettes have varying degrees of success, with the Laughton/Lanchester story being the strongest to me. Although the brief interlude with J Carrol Naish was pretty funny too...

The weakest tale was the opening story with Rita Hayworth, a VERY sinister Thomas Mitchell and Boyer- I was not terribly impressed by Rita’s acting and the story makes NO SENSE (I have to cite my North Carolina upbringings here and let you guys know that if you shoot somebody from about 15 feet away with a shotgun, there is going to be absolutely NO MYSTERY as to whether or not you have shot them. The only mystery is what the hell you’re going to use to be able to get the blood off all the walls and ceiling. Answer: Bon Ami)

I was really really bummed the WC Fields/Dumont story is missing though, The movie needed to go out on a lighter story, not the rather heavy handed one that featured Paul Robeson (Which I have to say I didn’t really find to be the racist, although I did find it to be blatantly communist in its leanings)

We are also so simpatico on Ginger’s hairstyle.

 

note: I am doing this post using voice transcription on my phone so I probably screwed all kinds of stuff up

I did not care for Tales of Manhattan.  I remember being disappointed in the film, because I expected more some how.  Especially since I think it was cited as one of Robert Osborne's favorite films?  I didn't dislike all the vignettes.  If I recall, I agree with Lorna that I didn't like the Rita Hayworth one, which is sad because I really like Hayworth in other films, like Gilda and You Were Never Lovelier.  I think I almost remember laughing that Rita's name was "Ethel" in the film, because if there was ever someone who didn't look like an Ethel, it's Rita Hayworth. I think I remember liking the Ginger Rogers and Caesar Romero segment.  As much as I like Rogers' films, especially during her brunette period in the 1940s, she wore a lot of bizarre hairstyles in those films.  Maybe I'm just out of the loop when it comes to 1940s female hair trends however.  Ginger, however, seemed to favor the semi-pompadour/jelly roll look.  Who does she think she is? Desi Arnaz? Lol. I believe that I also liked the Edward G. Robinson segment as well.  I remember being bored by the Paul Robeson story.  Tales of Manhattan is not a film that I'll need to see again.  I recall watching The Story of Three Loves right afterwards and enjoying it much better.

Re: Shooting someone at a 15 feet range... 

"Must've splattered a lot... Come on! That's what we're all thinkin'!"

[TomJH]

1 hour ago, rosebette said:

I enjoy Crosby's chemistry with Hope in the Road movies, and sometimes find Crosby more appealing because his humor is so offhand and relaxed, as opposed to Hope who is so obviously a "gag man."  Probably Holiday Inn is my favorite Crosby musical, but Fred might have something to do with that.  However, I can't sit through Blue Skies, which should just have the awful plot excised (the second half is unwatchable), and just leave the numbers.  I also dislike White Christmas --  Crosby and Kaye together are too much for me.  I much preferred the stage version that I saw in Boston, which was just a string of glorious production numbers based on Berlin tunes with almost zero plot.  I am a musical fan, but I love a good script, and my two favorites are Singin' in the Rain and The Bandwagon, which TCM aired last week, and both those musicals work well as satires of their respective genres, movies and the theater.

 

Original plans had been for White Christmas to be the third Crosby-Astaire film.

I've never been a fan of this sentimental colour production, much preferring Holiday Inn. But WC was the biggest box office film of 1954 by far, and continues to please a lot of viewers today obviously. I just do a lot of head scratching about it.

[shutoo]

50 minutes ago, TomJH said:

I've never been a fan of this sentimental colour production, much preferring Holiday Inn. But WC was the biggest box office film of 1954 by far, and continues to please a lot of viewers today obviously. I just do a lot of head scratching about it.

I think a lot of people haven't even seen Holiday Inn..they think the song came from the color version (which probably got more tv time..because it was color). 

[shutoo]

2 hours ago, speedracer5 said:

if there was ever someone who didn't look like an Ethel, it's Rita Hayworth.

hehehe..she's no Myrtle either...

I'm not crazy about Tales of Manhatten, but I do think it was an interesting way of telling several stories.  The same technique was used in Paris Model--only this time, it's a designer gown that gets passed around..and it's a lot worse.

[kingrat]

3 hours ago, EricJ said:

Well, nice to see we've worked out our post-site-revamp bugs and found the site again, Lorna...  

And as for the question, I remember the producer of the "My Favorite Year" Broadway musical (with Tim Curry as Peter O'Toole) saying that the original movie felt like a musical with the songs removed--"You just kept expecting them to break into song."

Applying that standard, Lost Horizon does seem like it would be a good musical.  Just....not...a Burt Bachrach one.

(And I'd go with the joke and say "Rocky", except, um, we actually got one:  

I'll let someone else post the "Carrie" clips.) 

There's also a Bonnie and Clyde musical. A friend of mine sings a song from it called "How 'Bout a Dance?" which is actually a rather nice song. But I still have trouble imagining someone sitting down one day and saying, "You know what would make a great musical? Bonnie and Clyde!"

[JamesStewartFan95]

On 2018-01-24 at 5:19 PM, RosieSayer said:

I watched Horse Feathers today. I vaguely remembered there was some nice harp playing by Harpo in it, and I wanted to see that again. I ended up laughing out loud at the end (the ridiculous football game with banana peels and a chariot). I don't watch the Marx Brothers very often, but I'm tempted to go through this whole movie again, noting all the jokes. There was one that I remembered but not clearly, and I didn't remember which Marx Brothers film it was in, so I was happy to come across it again. It's the one about Chico having a chauffeur, but he had to sell his car. He explains he couldn't afford both. Groucho says he would have gotten rid of the chauffeur and kept the car. Chico says that's no good, he needs the chauffeur to drive him to work. Groucho asks how he can drive him to work without a car, and Chico says it's ok, because he doesn't have a job. There were several other jokes of this type in the movie.

I don't know which Marx Brothers movie is my favorite, but I really enjoyed this one.

I love Horse Feathers too. It's probably my favorite Marx Brothers film!

[EricJ]

4 hours ago, TomJH said:

Original plans had been for White Christmas to be the third Crosby-Astaire film.

I've never been a fan of this sentimental colour production, much preferring Holiday Inn. But WC was the biggest box office film of 1954 by far, and continues to please a lot of viewers today obviously. I just do a lot of head scratching about it.

 

4 hours ago, shutoo said:

I think a lot of people haven't even seen Holiday Inn..they think the song came from the color version (which probably got more tv time..because it was color). 

OH, has that been my teeth-grinding grumble every Christmas:  "Well, the song must have come from WC, it's in the title!"    That, and "It's a real movie 'cause it's in Technicolor!"

While Holiday Inn was a 40's musical about nightclub entertainment, White Christmas came from the waning 50's days when original studio musicals were reaching their end, and so were nightclub shows--The Big Show now has to be a Big TV Broadcast, as most were by that point.  And the writing-on-the-wall jokes about changing tastes in mid-50's entertainment, as Danny Kaye gets to make fun of those new beatniks and their "alternative" dance.  And what roots WC squarely in the post-Korea 50's is that it spends more time on sentimental GI reunions than on sentimental plots about inns or snow, or even Christmas...We don't even get a White Christmas at all until the very end of the movie.  So why is the song in the title?  Because, with the death of Tin Pan Alley, it was harder and harder to get songwriters to write new songs for movie musicals, and studios assembled "jukebox" musicals out of songwriters' old collections of hits.  Like, Irving Berlin songs he'd written twenty or thirty years earlier, with the best already known song in the title.

Fortunately, Paramount's been bringing Holiday Inn back for "equal time" marketing this year (and trying to plug the Broadway-show revival) so we can help the educate the dim.

[LornaHansonForbes]

I admit that I asked my musical question somewhat hoping many people would submit their ideas. Thank you all.

 

ps- I would be ejected sometime during the previews of BEYOND THE FOREST! THE MUSICAL! for loudly and incessantly screaming “YAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!” throughout. Can you imagine what a showstopper the WHAT A DUMP! number would be?

[LornaHansonForbes]

Pss- Also, your submissions do not negate the fact that LOST HORIZON did not merit a musical remake. Hell, it didn’t even merit a straight remake. To be honest with you, I don’t even see the point of the 1937 version. Had I been reading manuscript submissions, I would’ve taken a hard pass on James Hilton’s original book.

it just...I dunno. There’s no “there” there.

[RosieSayer]

37 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

I admit that I asked my musical question somewhat hoping many people would submit their ideas. Thank you all.

 

ps- I would be ejected sometime during the previews of BEYOND THE FOREST! THE MUSICAL! for loudly and incessantly screaming “YAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!” throughout. Can you imagine what a showstopper the WHAT A DUMP! number would be?

You're hilarious! I was holding back, but:

1) Peter Ibbetsen (all the numbers but two would be flashbacks or dream sequences)

2) M (The "I Can't Help Myself" number would be so touching...)

3) Lifeboat (the choreography would be a challenge, but the shark act has real potential)

[LornaHansonForbes]

Isn’t there a PETER IBBETSON opera or ballet?

anyhow, in the right hands, IBBETSON!: THE MUSICAL could actually be amazing.

 

ps- for LIFEBOAT! THE MUSICAL They could borrow the shark costumes from Katy Perrys Super Bowl performance.

[rosebette]

10 hours ago, EricJ said:

 

OH, has that been my teeth-grinding grumble every Christmas:  "Well, the song must have come from WC, it's in the title!"    That, and "It's a real movie 'cause it's in Technicolor!"

While Holiday Inn was a 40's musical about nightclub entertainment, White Christmas came from the waning 50's days when original studio musicals were reaching their end, and so were nightclub shows--The Big Show now has to be a Big TV Broadcast, as most were by that point.  And the writing-on-the-wall jokes about changing tastes in mid-50's entertainment, as Danny Kaye gets to make fun of those new beatniks and their "alternative" dance.  And what roots WC squarely in the post-Korea 50's is that it spends more time on sentimental GI reunions than on sentimental plots about inns or snow, or even Christmas...We don't even get a White Christmas at all until the very end of the movie.  So why is the song in the title?  Because, with the death of Tin Pan Alley, it was harder and harder to get songwriters to write new songs for movie musicals, and studios assembled "jukebox" musicals out of songwriters' old collections of hits.  Like, Irving Berlin songs he'd written twenty or thirty years earlier, with the best already known song in the title.

Fortunately, Paramount's been bringing Holiday Inn back for "equal time" marketing this year (and trying to plug the Broadway-show revival) so we can help the educate the dim.

The satire/critique of 50s culture -- TV, rock n roll -- are done so much more skillfully in Silk Stockings (Stereophonic Sound with Janis Paige and the Ritz Rock and Roll number with Astaire) and It's Always Fair Weather ( ITAFW also features some bitter satire on GI friendships and "adjustment" to civilian life, not the sentimental schlock of WC; Dolores Gray is also a hoot in this).  Both of these are well-written musicals from MGM, which was of course at its peak.  Apparently ITAWF  was a commercial failure on its release, but holds up much better now, and I feel strikes a much more honest and authentic tone.  

[EricJ]

12 minutes ago, rosebette said:

The satire/critique of 50s culture -- TV, rock n roll -- are done so much more skillfully in Silk Stockings (Stereophonic Sound with Janis Paige and the Ritz Rock and Roll number with Astaire) and It's Always Fair Weather ( ITAFW also features some bitter satire on GI friendships and "adjustment" to civilian life, not the sentimental schlock of WC; Dolores Gray is also a hoot in this).  Both of these are well-written musicals from MGM, which was of course at its peak.  Apparently ITAWF  was a commercial failure on its release, but holds up much better now, and I feel strikes a much more honest and authentic tone.  

While OTOH, all the way into 1960's Let's Make Love, with Yves Montand and Marilyn Monroe, there's a last-days musical that fairly drips with passive-hostility at changing 50's entertainment:  The "nightclub" musical now has to be one of those new struggling-actor Off-Broadway theaters (where all the shows were now), the show in question is a "Parody of today's trends", with wacky jokes about Elvis, Frankie Laine, television, and songs about what happened to old fashioned entertainment--And Montand, playing the older-Astaire character, tries to get into the show for Marilyn, and has to go back to study with Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby and Milton Berle cameos to learn how to be an "old-school" entertainer.

...Nope, no one's bitter.    That one's generally the yardstick standard to apply when you want to talk about WHAT factors killed off the 50's original-studio musical by the early 60's.

[Fedya]

Death of a Scoundrel (1956).

Delightfully trashy guilty pleasure movie stars George Sanders as a refugee from Czechoslovakia who makes his way to America by ratting out his brother (played by real-life brother Tom Conway) to the Reds after said brother steals his wife.  Sanders, in America, proceeds to climb his way to the top financially by committing one fraud and blackmail after another.  He gets his just desserts at the end, though.  Well, and in the beginning too since the movie is told in flashback from the point of view of Sanders' assistant (Yvonne De Carlo).  Zsa Zsa Gabor (the ex-Mrs. Sanders) plays a widow whom Sanders uses at various points.

Sanders is hissable throughout the absolutely ludicrous plot.  Best scene is when he's horrified at the thought of actually having made people money honestly.  8/10

[shutoo]

5 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

Can you imagine what a showstopper the WHAT A DUMP! number would be?

 A 'What a Dump!' number would fit in nicely with a musical adaptation of My Man Godfrey as well   I'm surprised there never was a musical Gone With the Wind..big dance number with Atlanta burning in the background, a blues song for field workers, a catchy little 'Fiddle de de' tune

[LornaHansonForbes]

You would HAVE to put the WHAT A DUMP! number right before intermission.

The audience is gonna need at least fifteen minutes to recover.

[rosebette]

2 hours ago, shutoo said:

 A 'What a Dump!' number would fit in nicely with a musical adaptation of My Man Godfrey as well   I'm surprised there never was a musical Gone With the Wind..big dance number with Atlanta burning in the background, a blues song for field workers, a catchy little 'Fiddle de de' tune

Actually, there was a stage musical based on Gone with the Wind - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind_(musical)

[RosieSayer]

I watched Stand-In tonight for the umpteenth time. It's not a great movie, but it's the kind of movie I like. It stars Leslie Howard and Joan Blondell, and one sort of unique feature is the appearance of Humphrey Bogart in a supporting role (in a comedy, too).

 

[JamesJazGuitar]

8 minutes ago, RosieSayer said:

I watched Stand-In tonight for the umpteenth time. It's not a great movie, but it's the kind of movie I like. It stars Leslie Howard and Joan Blondell, and one sort of unique feature is the appearance of Humphrey Bogart in a supporting role (in a comedy, too).

 

Well said;    Howard and Blondell have good chemistry and it is interesting to see Bogie as a director in this comedy.     Howard and Bogie were close friends and enjoyed making this film together.   

[TomJH]

10 minutes ago, jamesjazzguitar said:

Well said;    Howard and Blondell have good chemistry and it is interesting to see Bogie as a director in this comedy.     Howard and Bogie were close friends and enjoyed making this film together.   

Are you sure that Bogart and Howard were close friends, James? I never heard that before.

There's a difference between Bogart being grateful for getting a role thanks to Howard and naming a daughter Leslie after him because of it, as opposed to actually being close friends.

[JamesJazGuitar]

1 minute ago, TomJH said:

Are you sure that Bogart and Howard were close friends, James? I never heard that before.

There's a difference between Bogart being grateful for getting a role thanks to Howard and naming a daughter Leslie after him because of it, as opposed to actually being close friends.

Busted!  (ha ha).  Yea,  as soon as I posted that I realized I was overstating the nature of their relationship.   Bogie really respected Howard so I assume they did like working together but, yea,  I have never heard they were close friends.

Thanks for keeping me honest.   

[shutoo]

The Post (2017):  Everyone who says this is a movie about politics hasn't seen the movie.  It's a movie about business, choices, the law, egos, journalism..and the 'place' of women.  You don't have to know the history of the Pentagon papers to enjoy the film, but it might help in sorting out the characters.  This is a film that revolves around the decisions of Kay Graham, a woman who was raised to attend teas and schmooze with the D.C. power brokers - not call them out,  and how she grapples with every aspect of running a business. When the film opens, her main concern is why the Post isn't covering the President's daughter's wedding..at the end, she has put everything she holds dear on the line to uphold the 1st amendment. It's an uncomfortable trip for her, but she finds her voice.  As Graham, Meryl Streep is a wonder..I know people get tired of her name being included in so many Oscar lists, but, hey..if they truly are the best performances of the year, it's a sham if she's left off and in my opinion, this is one of her finest. Tom Hanks, as Ben Bradlee, is, I think, a more honest take on the man than Jason Robard's 'bigger than life' portrayal.  He is seen as a good journalist, but with a big ego who likes to 'hold court' and is jealous of the NY Times 'scoops'.  I think people who weren't around at the time forget the Post was primarily just a D.C. local paper then..not quoted or followed by too many. The film is good on details..the 'old' press rooms full of men in white shirts, linotypes, the boardrooms full of old white men and smoke (while their secretaries stand waiting, outside)  the obvious nervousness of Ben Bagdikian trying to track down Daniel Elsberg.  I really did like the film more than I expected to..it's great story telling--no bombs, monsters, showy graphics or screaming matches--just a well paced human look at the people inside a little piece of history.  source: terrarium