I Just Watched...

[scsu1975]

The Lost Squadron

Entertaining and unintentionally hilarious flick, with Erich von Stroheim as a lunatic director:

 

"This is a war picture, not a musical comedy! Haven’t you any brains? This is supposed to be war … death … hell … destruction … not a Sunday school picnic!  I’m making this picture for the theater … not for the ashcan!"

 

Robert Armstrong flips the bird to Richard Dix:

 

[Bogie56]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME - (6/10) - Slasher suspense with a unique pedigree. The genre was often a starting place for young talent, but this entry was directed by Hollywood veteran J. Lee Thompson. A group of prep school students are stalked and murdered in a variety of inventive ways by a mysterious killer. Melissa Sue Anderson stars, with Lisa Langlois, Tracey Bregman, Matt Craven, Sharon Acker, Frances Hyland, Lawrence Dane, and Glenn Ford (in a slasher movie?!?) as a doctor. There's some original staging for the death scenes, and a particularly unpleasant surgery scene. There's also some clever camerawork, and the performances are a bit better than the usual found in these films. The protagonists, though, are underdeveloped, and therefore some suspense is lost when you don't care what happens to them. Regardless, it's not a complete waste of time.

 

Glenn Ford was probably Canadian content for tax reasons in those days.  Lawrence, of late you are watching lot of genre B's that were made in Canada.

[LawrenceA]

Glenn Ford was probably Canadian content for tax reasons in those days. Lawrence, of late you are watching lot of genre B's that were made in Canada.

I kinda figured that last one was Canadian. A lot of the performers, like Lawrence Dane and Frances Hyland, I recognize from other Canadian things. I saw most of these slasher films when they were new, but I missed HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME somehow.

[LawrenceA]

HEARTBEEPS - (4/10) - Expensive comedy that forgot to be funny proved to be a huge flop upon release. Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters star as robots in a future time when domestic robotic servants are commonplace. They run away from a repair warehouse and wander the countryside, falling in love along the way. The cast includes Randy Quaid, Kenneth McMillan, Christopher Guest, Melanie Mayron, Dick Miller, Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, and the voice of Jack Carter. The elaborate robots, a mix of costume and makeup, were made by Stan Winston. The partially electronic score is by John Williams. Despite all that talent, it's pretty awful, with no real story, and the attempted jokes just land flatly. The failure of this ended whatever big screen chances controversial comedian Kaufman had.

[cigarjoe]

Trapped (1949) "The only thing better than money are the plates that make it"

 

 

 

 

 

Trapped has one of those dreary quasi documentary style, stentorian narrated intros with US Treasury Department stock footage showing the printing and inspection of money. Once the propaganda sequence is over we segue nicely to a vignette between a bank teller and a matronly woman who is trying to transact with a $20 dollar bill. The vigilant teller spots the fake bill and confiscates it from the protesting woman stamping it with a large "Counterfeit". He tells her something to the effect that "if you are handling a lot of cash it's your duty to make sure it's good". I guess she goes without the groceries for a week. 

 

The tale is similar to T Men, but  it's a good 78 minute film noir from Contemporary Productions, by RKO contract director Richard Fleischer, who later filmed The Narrow Margin (1952). The film was written by Earl Felton and, George Zuckerman. Cinematography was by Guy Roe (Armored Car Robbery, The Sound of Fury) The film stars Lloyd Bridges, Barbara Payton, John Hoyt, Douglas Spencer, James Todd, and Russ Conway. The finale at the Los Angeles Trolley Car barn is a classic. It's a second tier Noir but still a good one, need a restoration. 7/10 

 

 

[LawrenceA]

HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1 - (6/10) - Hit-or-miss comedy from Mel Brooks tackles the biggest subject possible. Starting with the dawn of man and meandering through time, the film is a series of vignettes set in various locales with a very wide assortment of comedy stars both new and old. Mel himself gets the most screen time, with Sid Caesar, Gregory Hines (in his debut), Madeline Kahn, Dom DeLuise, John Hurt as Jesus, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman, and scores of cameos. The jokes only work about half the time, but with so many tossed in, you're bound to laugh some. The sets and costumes are very good.

[Movie Collector OH]

HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1 - (6/10) - Hit-or-miss comedy from Mel Brooks tackles the biggest subject possible. Starting with the dawn of man and meandering through time, the film is a series of vignettes set in various locales with a very wide assortment of comedy stars both new and old. Mel himself gets the most screen time, with Sid Caesar, Gregory Hines (in his debut), Madeline Kahn, Dom DeLuise, John Hurt as Jesus, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman, and scores of cameos. The jokes only work about half the time, but with so many tossed in, you're bound to laugh some. The sets and costumes are very good.

 

Your reviews make me chuckle.  They are concise, informative, and to the point.  A bit OT, but I usually copy and paste the Tribune descriptions from my PC DVR scheduler into my database (the descriptions most often used for the Guide on DVRs) - along with some IMDB comments and some of my own opinion thrown in.   I think I might just use some of yours instead...

[LawrenceA]

THE LOVELESS - (5/10) - Willem DaFoe gets his first major role starring as a paroled greasy-haired, leather-clad biker in the 1950's, on his way south to Daytona for a motorcycle rally. He and other 50's stereotypes hang around a small-town diner and around a gas-station/garage, taking turns posing and mumbling bad pulp dialogue. The film, first for director Kathryn Bigelow, plays more like a series of overly staged photographs or music video clips than a traditional narrative film, and it treats the assembly of leather bikers with a fetishistic worship. This is included in the "500 Essential Cult Films" book, so some people like it.

[CaveGirl]

"Fando and Lis" by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
 

I'm now more confused than I was when I saw "El Topo".

[LawrenceA]

"Fando and Lis" by Alejandro Jodorowsky.

 

I'm now more confused than I was when I saw "El Topo".

Lol...I enjoyed FANDO AND LIS! It was a simple tale of simple people, just trying to make their way in the world.

[AndreaDoria]

I just watched the Bette Davis version of The Letter.  Fantastic from the opening scene, where Bette manages to shoot someone six times while still doing that famous pelvis-forward walk of hers. The entire cast was good, particularly Gale Sondergaard ,the Minnesota girl, who played the "Eurasian" woman.  She is compelling  in every role. 

 

Now I'm sorry I missed the 1929 version that came on just before it.

[LawrenceA]

I just watched the Bette Davis version of The Letter.  Fantastic from the opening scene, where Bette manages to shoot someone six times while still doing that famous pelvis-forward walk of hers. The entire cast was good, particularly Gale Sondergaard ,the Minnesota girl, who played the "Eurasian" woman.  She is compelling  in every role. 

 

Now I'm sorry I missed the 1929 version that came on just before it.

That is a terrific movie, and I really love that opening. The 29 version is excellent, as well.

[CaveGirl]

Lol...I enjoyed FANDO AND LIS! It was a simple tale of simple people, just trying to make their way in the world.

Lawrence, I think I was so busy looking for the "scorpions hidden under white rocks" that I got distracted.

 

I bought the dvd so I shall watch again.

[CaveGirl]

I just watched the Bette Davis version of The Letter.  Fantastic from the opening scene, where Bette manages to shoot someone six times while still doing that famous pelvis-forward walk of hers. The entire cast was good, particularly Gale Sondergaard ,the Minnesota girl, who played the "Eurasian" woman.  She is compelling  in every role. 

 

Now I'm sorry I missed the 1929 version that came on just before it.

AD, I still wish in some ways that Gale could have played the witch in "The Wizard of Oz". She is so scary even when she just smiles!

[LawrenceA]

Lawrence, I think I was so busy looking for the "scorpions hidden under white rocks" that I got distracted.[/size]

 

I bought the dvd so I shall watch again.[/size]

I was kidding. I watched it but have no idea what the point was. I just remember a wagon being pushed around some rocky terrain.

[JamesJazGuitar]

AD, I still wish in some ways that Gale could have played the witch in "The Wizard of Oz". She is so scary even when she just smiles!

 

Funny you mention how scary Gale is.    Two days ago I was watching Appointment in Berlin with George Sanders for the first time.

Gale is in this pre-American entry into WWII espionage film.    It was clear Gale was a spy of some sort and as soon as I saw her I assume she was a Nazi one.    My wife asked me why I would assume she that and I said that Gale is always up to no good!     But I was wrong since in this film Gale was on the side of Britain and our man George. 

[LawrenceA]

MODERN PROBLEMS - (6/10) - Uneven sci-fi comedy starring Chevy Chase as an air-traffick controller with relationship troubles who gets doused with nuclear waste and develops telekinetic powers. He uses his abilities to try and reconnect with his ex. Co-starring Patti D'Arbanville, Mary Kay Place, Brian Doyle-Murray, and, in terrific scene-stealing roles, Dabney Coleman and Nell Carter. The filmmakers have fun with the goofy premise, and there's a handful of gags that really cracked me up, including one involving a nosebleed. I give it a hesitant recommendation.

[LawrenceA]

MY BLOODY VALENTINE - (6/10) - Very Canadian slasher film about a killer, decked out in full miner gear including gas mask and flashlight helmet, who has returned after a long absence to terrorize a small mining town on the weekend of the big Valentine's Day dance. Suspenseful, and with some grisly effects work. I didn't know most of the cast except Don Francks, a regular in Canadian productions, as the town sheriff. Most Canadian films of the era put in an effort to disguise their origins, but not this movie. They let the accents run thick, and I particularly enjoyed all the crates of Moosehead beer.

[LonesomePolecat]

A LETTER FOR EVIE -- saw this a few years ago on TCM and have been waiting for it to come back. Loved the movie from the get go--sort of a Cyrano/Most Happy Fella story, but in a more screwball comedy vein. Loved it even more the 2nd time around-- funnier than you'd think it would be, never gets sappy, and the ending is so satisfying. Hume Cronyn is SO good in this--very nuanced performance. Very different character for Norman Lloyd, too--who knew he could be funny!

 

Last night i watched the 1935 version of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. You can keep your Hamlets--I consider this to be the greatest Shakespeare movie, and my favorite production of this play (I've seen SO many productions of this I couldn't begin to count). Hilarious and entertaining, I remember understanding it and laughing at it as a very little kid, and the more I watch it the more things I notice. Incredible cinematography/lighting/art direction--one of the most gorgeous films ever shot in B&W. This story also teaches us that teenagers in love and community theater remain unchanged.

[Swithin]

There is a Jewish Film Festival at my local theater -- the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater. I went to see Art and the Heart: The World of Isaiah Sheffer, about the man who founded Symphony Space, a theater on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Participants in the film included Stephen Colbert, Morgan Freeman, Fritz Weaver, and Leonard Nimoy, who funded the restoration of the Thalia Cinema, which is now named for Mr. Nimoy. As part of his reminiscences, Mr. Nimoy recited part of the "To be or not to be" speech in Yiddish.

 

The film was preceded by a fascinating short: The Man Who Shot Hollywood, about Yasha Pashkovsky,  whose photographed Hollywood stars for his own pleasure and art, storing the prints under his bed.

 

http://nyjff.org/film-detail/?film_id=563

 

[LawrenceA]

MY YOUNG AUNTIE - (7/10) - Good kung fu comedy from the Shaw Brothers. In a rather convoluted plan, a young kung fu fighter is married to an elderly landowner so that when he dies, she will inherit his property instead of her new brother-in-law. She moves into her new estate, where her deceased husband's old nephew and his grown son live. She gets into various scrapes with her new grand-nephew and his friends, before having to directly face her brother-in-law's evil forces.

 

Star Kara Hui is terrific, and she won the Hong Kong Film Award for best actress for this film. Hsiao Ho is fine as well as the mischievous grand nephew, while director Lau Kar Leung also appears as the old nephew, and Gordon Liu has a small role as a school friend. The fights are very well done, and there's a real standout sequence at a costume party. Recommended.

[LawrenceA]

THE OTHER HELL - (6/10) - Gonzo Italian horror is a late entry in that peculiar subgenre known as Nunsploitation. Inspired by THE DEVILS, European exploitation producers turned out many films in the 70's about evil, depraved, or crazed nuns. This film comes in at the end of the cycle. A series of murders and sacrileges are occurring at a convent, so an investigator priest arrives to get to the bottom of things. Is it demonic or diabolic possession, or just old-fashioned homicidal insanity?

 

There's lots of weirdness in this one, some shocking, some stupid. As was the fashion in Italian shock films of the period, a real animal killing is shown (a chicken), so the film loses a few points for that. The music is from Goblin. I particularly liked the part where the grounds keeper is menaced by a housecat with a Hitler moustache.

 

"Who is it? Who's there?!?"

 

"THE DEVIIIILLLLLL!"

[film lover 293]

"The Abominable Doctor Phibes" (1971): 8/10 stars  And:

 

"Doctor Phibes Rises Again" (1973); 8/10 stars.

 

TADB is a late Hammer film, starring Vincent Price and weaving music into the goings-on.  Fun horror mystery which mixes humor and horror very effectively.

 

DPRA is humor with some horror mixed in.  Example: (which happens 5 minutes into the film), Phibes rises, goes to his orchestra (is explained in TADP), checks the pipe organ, and does a "white glove" test on it.  It fails, so Phibes grabs a handy feather duster, goes over the keyboard, Then sits down to play ominous music.  Bad guy is pitted against bad guy, with the police following behind (a Long way behind).  Films' ending is a wonderful joke.

[LawrenceA]

THE PROWLER - (5/10) - Not the terrific noir with Van Heflin, but instead it's slasher movie #237 from 1981. This dull and generic entry starts with a double murder outside of the small town Graduation Dance of 1945. The dance has henceforth been cancelled, until 1980, when the townsfolk decide enough time has passed and the Graduation Dance can once again be held. But wouldn't you know, ole hack'n'slash comes back and starts moidering the thinly-drawn characters. Featuring classic stars Lawrence Tierney and Farley Granger in small roles. Tom Savini did the exceptional gore fx work, which is why this doesn't get a lower score.

[film lover 293]

"A Boy and His Dog"--(1975).  Despite the title, it is Not a sweet film.  It's after WW IV--which lasted five days--just long enough for politicians to drop multiple bombs and destroy the planet.  An opening title says (I'm paraphrasing): "Politicians have finally solved the problem of Urban Blight."  Don Johnson and his telepathic dog, Blood, are among the survivors.  Picture is deeply cynical; not for all viewers.  Film has hilarious  back-and-forth dialogue between Johnson and Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire).  I've read ABAHD was done on a budget of $20,000 dollars: film is a sci-fi classic, or near to it.  8/10 stars.