I Just Watched...

[Dargo]

1 hour ago, LawrenceA said:

Pony Express (1953) -

...The movie also fails to establish a worthy villain, as odds are Heston and/or Tucker are not going to get into a shoot-out with Rhonda Fleming.   (5/10)

Source: Encore Westerns.

 

Yeah, good point, Lawrence.

(...perhaps if they would've cast either Joan Crawford or Mercedes McCambridge in the Tucker role instead, this wouldn't have been a problem, huh!)  

[scsu1975]

2 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

Pony Express (1953) -

IMDb claims this is a remake of the 1925 film The Pony Express. Trust me, it's not.

[LawrenceA]

Ride, Vaquero! (1953) - Another Technicolor western, this time from MGM and director John Farrow. Rio (Robert Taylor) is a gunman working for bandit leader Esqueda (Anthony Quinn), the terror of the towns within his territory. When settlers begin moving west after the Civil War, they try to set up ranches in Esqueda's domain. One such would-be rancher is King Cameron (Howard Keel) and his wife Cordelia (Ava Gardner). Esqueda orders their houses burned and livestock slaughtered, but Rio falls for Cordelia, and a showdown between Esqueda and his favorite gunman is inevitable. Also featuring Jack Elam, Kurt Kasznar, Ted de Corsia, Walter Baldwin, Frank McGrath, Stanley Andrews, Movita, and Charlita.

Taylor does his typical ambulatory wooden plank persona, although the script mentions that he's supposed to be passionless. Howard Keel doesn't bring much to the table when songs aren't involved. Ava Gardner looks good, but her character is underwritten. Anthony Quinn is the highlight, giving an unhinged performance as the raging, drunken bandit leader. To call it hammy would be an understatement - this is more like a whole roasted wild boar. The ending is pretty violent for the era.   (6/10)

Source: TCM.

[Fedya]

Buffalo Bill was four years old when California became a state.

[Sukhov]

The Strike - I saw this one earlier today. Workers plan to throw a strike and the factory owners send spies to report on their plans and try to stop them. This one was really good. It has Eisenstein's montages and clever camera framing. I also liked how the spies were often shown behaving like the animal that was their code name. That seemed pretty clever to me. The factory owners get the police to spray the workers with water and then beat and kill them all. This was a very well shot film with beautiful cinematography. I can see how this was probably powerful to people in theaters at the time who had never seen such camera tricks, montages or cinematography before. This early Eisenstein movie was well ahead of its time. 

[rayban]

"Wanda" - Barbara Loden - 1970 -

this film has a strange fascination for me - and it is easy to write it off - and the leading character is a total turn-off - and, yet, there must be lots of women like this one - who are not intelligent, have no education - and think that "putting out" will somehow get them somewhere - Barbara Loden, who wrote the film and directed it, too, gives a highly persuasive performance of a woman who doesn't know her life from one day to the next and Michael Higgins as her abusive lover is a strange kind of man who seems incapable of any emotion - the freeze frame at the end of Wanda herself says it all - the woman has hit rock bottom! 

[cigarjoe]

I liked it the last time I watched it. How did you catch it.

23 minutes ago, rayban said:

"Wanda" - Barbara Loden - 1970 -

this film has a strange fascination for me - and it is easy to write it off - and the leading character is a total turn-off - and, yet, there must be lots of women like this one - who are not intelligent, have no education - and think that "putting out" will somehow get them somewhere - Barbara Loden, who wrote the film and directed it, too, gives a highly persuasive performance of a woman who doesn't know her life from one day to the next and Michael Higgins as her abusive lover is a strange kind of man who seems incapable of any emotion - the freeze frame at the end of Wanda herself says it all - the woman has hit rock bottom! 

 

[LawrenceA]

4 minutes ago, cigarjoe said:

I liked it the last time I watched it. How did you catch it.

It was on TCM this morning.

[LawrenceA]

Saadia (1953) - Exotic Technicolor romantic drama, from MGM and writer-director Albert Lewin. In Morocco, regional ruler Si Lahssen (Cornel Wilde) enlists French doctor Henrik (Mel Ferrer) into helping the scattered villages on the edge of the desert. Henrik performs emergency surgery on a beautiful young woman named Saadia (Rita Gam) said to be accursed. Afterwards, both Henrik and Si Lahssen find themselves falling in love with her, drawing the ire of the witch Fatima (Wanda Rotha). Further complicating matters is the advance of the army of bandit leader Bou Rezza (Michel Simon). Also featuring Cyril Cusack, Marcel Poncin, Anthony Marlowe, Peter Copley, Peter Bull, and Richard Johnson.

There are a lot of beautiful location shots, and the usual fantastic cinematography to be found in one of Albert Lewin's films. The cast all look good, but the characters are rather thin, and the dialogue uninspired. The big finale, involving an awkwardly choreographed battle on a rocky hillside, is a bore.    (6/10)

Source: TCM.

 

[rayban]

Wasn't "Saadia" released as the bottom half of double bills?

[TomJH]

Rita Gam . . . a beautiful model and actress who failed to ever make a really big impression in the movies. Her off screen life may have been more eventful. Married for a few years to director Sidney Lumet, she later gave interviews about her long time friendship with Grace Kelly (she was a bridesmaid at Kelly's legendary Monaco wedding to Prince Rainier).

Yet I recall her film debut in Ray Milland's THE THIEF. Her character is only identified as "the girl." The gimmick of this film is that no one speaks in it but Gam makes an impression as the mysterious, highly sensual neighbour, with the come hither glances, who lives just down the hall from Milland.

[LawrenceA]

Sawdust and Tinsel (1953) - Swedish drama from Sandrews Film and writer-director Ingmar Bergman. A flea-bitten traveling circus makes its way to a small coastal town. The ringmaster (Ake Gronberg) has grown tired of the nomadic and impoverished life of the circus, and as this was his hometown, he hopes to reconnect with the wife and children that he abandoned years earlier. Meanwhile, the ringmaster's young lover Anne (Harriet Andersson) feels rejected and considers joining a theater troupe, hoping to find comfort in the arms of handsome actor Frans (Hasse Ekman). Also featuring Anders Ek, Gudrun Brost, Annika Tretow, Erik Strandmark, and Gunnar Bjornstrand.

This early triumph from Bergman marked his first teaming with cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Their collaborations would go on to become one of the greatest between director and cinematographer in film history. This film already exhibits the Bergman/Nykvist look, with striking close-ups, atmospheric B&W compositions, and almost unearthly landscapes. The performances are good, particularly from Andersson. There's an anarchic, almost grotesque quality about the way both the circus folk and the theater troupe are presented that reminded me a bit of Fellini. Recommended.   (8/10)

Source: TCM.

 

[LawrenceA]

The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) - Yet another Technicolor western originally released in 3-D, from Columbia Pictures and director Andre De Toth. Randolph Scott stars as Jeff Travis, a former spy who ran with Quantrill during the Civil War. He heads west when the fighting ends, where he runs into fellow former raider Mourret (George Macready). Mourret leads a gang of bandits, and Travis decides to join up, only it's really so he can undermine things from within. Also featuring Claire Trevor, Joan Weldon, Lee Marvin, Alfonso Bedoya, Ernest Borgnine, Pierre Watkin, Joseph Vitale, Clem Bevans, Francis McDonald, James Millican, and Roscoe Ates.

This is prime 50's 3-D, with all sorts of stuff thrown at the camera, including torches, chairs, and lots & lots of bullets. The film itself is typical Scott fare. It's fun seeing Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine together again as mean henchmen. Alfonso Bedoya has one of his bigger roles, and while he's amusing, his acting is atrocious.    (6/10)

Source: Encore Westerns.

[TomJH]

6 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953)

Alfonso Bedoya has one of his bigger roles, and while he's amusing, his acting is atrocious.   

 

 

"Acting? I don't need no stinking acting lessons!"

[cigarjoe]

11 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

It was on TCM this morning.

cool, maybe it's on demand, thanks

[sagebrush]

Replied to wrong thread ?

[LornaHansonForbes]

I came about 15 minutes late to THE FOXES OF HARROW (1947), but I ended up staying til the end. It was well-made, but such an obvious point-for-point attempt to replicate GONE WITH THE WIND- although more moodily shot (the end scenes in a windy field of sugarcane as a storm approaches seemed to have a Val Lewton touch.)

my eyes were already a little tired from rolling at all the affirmation of the patriarchy that by the time I got to the torrid, tawdry TAMANGO (1958) i had the feeling i wouldn't make it all the way through, and i didn't, but it's one i would definitely try to watch again and I mainly turned it off because I was tired and because (again) my tolerance was tapped.

DOROTHY DANDRIDGE was gorgeous and such a movie star and gave (from what I saw), a pretty damned interesting performance in spite of the material; CURD JURGENS looked like a Vienna Sausage in a bad hat. The surprising frankness of their love scenes was muted by his really, really offensive repeated intoning of "I own you, I own you" to Dorothy.

again tho, if TAMANGO had been the first part of the night's programming, i would definitely have made it all the way thru and i will still look for it on TCM OnDemand- in spite of its decidedly lascivious hue, it was an interesting film in many ways.

[Looney]

55 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

I came about 15 minutes late to THE FOXES OF HARROW (1947), but I ended up staying til the end. It was well-made, but such an obvious point-for-point attempt to replicate GONE WITH THE WIND- although more moodily shot (the end scenes in a windy field of sugarcane as a storm approaches seemed to have a Val Lewton touch.)

my eyes were already a little tired from rolling at all the affirmation of the patriarchy that by the time I got to the torrid, tawdry TAMANGO (1958) i had the feeling i wouldn't make it all the way through, and i didn't, but it's one i would definitely try to watch again and I mainly turned it off because I was tired and because (again) my tolerance was tapped.

DOROTHY DANDRIDGE was gorgeous and such a movie star and gave (from what I saw), a pretty damned interesting performance in spite of the material; CURD JURGENS looked like a Vienna Sausage in a bad hat. The surprising frankness of their love scenes was muted by his really, really offensive repeated intoning of "I own you, I own you" to Dorothy.

again tho, if TAMANGO had been the first part of the night's programming, i would definitely have made it all the way thru and i will still look for it on TCM OnDemand- in spite of its decidedly lascivious hue, it was an interesting film in many ways.

I only caught five minutes of TAMANGO (1958).  It looked interesting.

[LawrenceA]

Summer with Monika (1953) - Swedish drama from Svensk Filmindustri and director Ingmar Bergman. The film follows the romance of 19-year-old Harry (Lars Ekborg) and 18-year-old Monika (Harriet Andersson) from their first meeting, through a torrid and adventurous summer idyll in the countryside, and back to the city to face the realities of adulthood. Also featuring Dagmar Ebbesen, Ake Fridell, John Harryson, Sigge Furst, and Ake Gronberg.

Ingmar Bergman's international breakthrough made a huge splash thanks to a very short scene of innocent nudity. Any nudity was taboo-smashing, though, and exploitation distributor Kroger Babb bought up the U.S. rights, edited the movie down to an hour, and made a killing marketing it as sleazy titillation. Some sources state that because of this, Summer with Monika is the most widely seen Bergman movie in America. 

There's a lot more to it than just Harriet Andersson's bare bum, though, as it's a mature, thoughtful examination of young love and the consequences of "growing up". Ekborg and Andersson both turn in superior performances, multi-layered and complicated enough to disallow any labeling of their characters as "good" or "bad", although the viewer is tempted to call each one that at different points in the film. The film also holds some real surprises, although I won't get into them to avoid spoilers, only to ask...what was the deal with the guy in the teepee? This film is one of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Recommended.    (8/10)

Source: FilmStruck.

[LornaHansonForbes]

I am watching ONE FATAL HOUR (1936)

apparently Warner Bros. decided to remake FIVE STAR FINAL (1931) five years after the original, only set this version in the radio world and make it terrible.

it's like they sat down, watched the original, took painstaking notes on everything that worked, and then made it a point to do the exact opposite. 

Even Bogart seems lost. 

Ps- TWO suicides! Someone brought up suicide in another thread and now this is the second film I've seen on TCM in about 12 hours to feature a suicide.

[LawrenceA]

Titanic (1953) - Familiar disaster tale, from 20th Century Fox and director Jean Negulesco. The story follows a handful of characters, most fictional but a few real ones, on the ill-fated transatlantic sea voyage in 1912 that ended in tragedy. Wife Julia (Barbara Stanwyck) and husband Richard Ward Sturges (Clifton Webb) are squabbling over the upbringing of their two children, daughter Annette (Audrey Dalton) and son Norman (Harper Carter), while drunkard George Healey (Richard Basehart) staggers around on deck, nouveau riche Maude Young (Thelma Ritter) tries to relax, and ship's captain Smith (Brian Aherne) is oblivious to the impending danger. Also featuring Robert Wagner, Edmund Purdom, Allyn Joslyn, James Todd, Frances Bergen, William Johnstone, Hamilton Camp, and Nicolas Coster.

The setting and situation are familiar to most by now, but I still enjoyed this disaster effort that resembles the future disaster "epics" of the 1970's. It follows the usual formula of establishing the characters and their petty troubles before casting them into harm's way, many of them to their doom. I thought Stanwyck and Webb were an odd couple on paper, but it works out fine in the movie, and Webb is very good, especially during the last 20 minutes or so. I was also impressed with Edmund Purdom as a ship's officer with a suspicion of the dangers ahead. The movie won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch & Richard L. Breen), and was also nominated for Best B&W Art Direction.    (7/10)

Source: TCM.

[JamesJazGuitar]

40 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

I am watching ONE FATAL HOUR (1936)

apparently Warner Bros. decided to remake FIVE STAR FINAL (1931) five years after the original, only set this version in the radio world and make it terrible.

it's like they sat down, watched the original, took painstaking notes on everything that worked, and then made it a point to do the exact opposite. 

Even Bogart seems lost. 

Ps- TWO suicides! Someone brought up suicide in another thread and now this is the second film I've seen on TCM in about 12 hours to feature a suicide.

Yea,  two suicides,  both off camera.     I know I'm like the tin-man but I really had no compassion for the mother.  Just tell the young couple and be done with it.   She acted in self-defense so BFD.    Supposedly she didn't wish to tell them to spare her daughter's feelings. 

So instead she kills herself, making her daughter feel much, much worst????    Sorry but she was a selfish women and so was the dad.   

[LawrenceA]

We Go to Monte Carlo aka Monte Carlo Baby aka Baby Beats the Band aka Nous irons a Monte Carlo (1951/1953) - French/British musical comedy, from Les Films Corona and director Jean Boyer. When a baby is left with his grandfather, the child gets taken to Monte Carlo, where a jazz festival is set to occur, and in which his grandfather is set to perform. The infant wins the hearts of the various musicians, who rain gifts and attention on him, causing chaos throughout the resort city. Featuring Ray Ventura, Henri Genes, Georges Lannes, Philippe Lemaire, Danielle Godet, John Van Dreelen, Marcel Dalio, and Audrey Hepburn.

This is goofy light entertainment, French-style. I quickly grew bored. I watched this for Hepburn, who has a small role as a temperamental actress. This was filmed in English, with Jules Munshin and Cara Williams starring, and then in a French language version. Hepburn played the same role in both versions. TCM showed the French version, so that's what I've seen. The French version was released in late 1951, while the English version wasn't out until 1953.     (5/10)

Source: TCM.

[LawrenceA]

Arrowhead (1953) - Technicolor cavalry vs Indians western, from Paramount Pictures and director Charles Marquis Warren. Charlton Heston stars as Indian fighter and scout Ed Bannon. He tries to warn the local cavalry troop led by Capt. North (Brian Keith) that the Apaches can't be trusted, but Bannon's warnings are dismissed. When charismatic Apache Toriano (Jack Palance) arrives back in the area after attending the "white man's school", he convinces the natives that he's a prophesied leader who will lead them to victory in war against the whites. Also featuring Katy Jurado, Mary Sinclair, Milburn Stone, Robert J. Wilke, James Anderson, Pat Hogan, Richard Shannon, Lewis Martin, Frank DeKova, Peter Coe, John Pickard, Kathryn Grant, and Richard Farnsworth.

Some will view this movie as more than a little racist, as Heston's character never has a nice thing to say about any Apaches, and he doesn't hesitate to tell any and everyone about it. Heston also lays on the gritted-teeth, self-assured arrogance really thickly. Thankfully Jack Palance shows up and shows him how to really chew the scenery. This was the film debut of both Kathryn Grant and Brian Keith.    (6/10)

Source: Amazon Prime video.

[LawrenceA]

About Mrs. Leslie (1954) - Romantic melodrama from Paramount Pictures and director Daniel Mann. Boardinghouse proprietor Vivien Leslie (Shirley Booth) flashes back on her romance years earlier with George Leslie (Robert Ryan), a military adviser struggling with personal demons. Mrs. Leslie also tries to help out the various tenants at her residence. Also featuring Marjie Millar, Alex Nicol, Sammy White, James Bell, Philip Ober, Eilene Janssen, Harry Morgan, Gale Page, Virginia Brissac, Ellen Corby, Ray Teal, Maidie Norman, Amanda Blake, Kasey Rogers, Percy Helton, Jack Larson, Pierre Watkin, Nana Bryant, and Ian Wolfe.

I can only tolerate Shirley Booth for a short while, and then the timbre of her voice starts to drive me up a wall. It happened earlier than usual here, as soon as her singing nightclub act started. Was that supposed to be bad, or was it just bad? I can't imagine the audience reaction upon being "treated" with that "singing" after paying a cover charge. It certainly ranks as one of the lousiest nightclub acts that I've seen in a movie. However, despite the displeasure of that sequence, I slowly found the movie growing on me. Even Booth regained my sympathy, and I was moved by her various plights. I also liked Harry Morgan in a small role as a sleazy talent manager with a pencil mustache.     (7/10)

Source: TCM.