I Just Watched...

[Lorna]

it's been over ten years, but I am still GALLED by the fact that THE CRITERION DVD of THE SCARLET EMPRESS (1935) has NO TRAILER or PRODUCTION STILLS or MAKING OF or BIO of the makers, but it DOES HAVE A COLOR TEST PATTERN INCLUDED AS A BONUS!!!!!



A "BONUS" COLOR TEST PATTERN ON. A. BLACK AND WHITE. MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Allhallowsday]

AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999) Kind of wonderful, kind of clueless, hadn't looked at it for years. Everyone knows the abusive father nazi collector is a closet case... (Trope.) Uhm... nevermind.

[Lorna]

Clouzot's LE CORBEAU is indeed a good film, and to me it improved on a second viewing. The Nazis approved it because they thought it showed how awful the French people were. The French saw it as a film about France under the Occupation. Truffaut thought it captured the feeling of life under the Nazis very well, with everyone suspicious of each other and people denouncing each other to the authorities.

Thank you, and- in retrospect- I'm sorry I let my rant about CRITERION get in the way of commenting on the film, which is really good and which I started rewatching this morning before I headed in to work and which I will watch again.

note- by coincidence, I looked down and saw I had laid the DVD case for LE CORBEAU beside the DVD case for THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (1935) and it occured to me that they are interesting companion films.

the really great thing about LE CORBEAU (no spoilers, I promise)- is that the ending delivers approximately four "revelations"-
one- the resolution to the anti-romantic subplot
two- involving the identity of LE CORBEAU is a big surprise
three- another involving the identity of LE CORBEAU is brilliantly OBVIOUS thoughout the ENTIRE MOVIE, it's just that the makers of LE CORBEAU don't give the audience time to sit and think about it- they keep throwing us into a series of interesting and lurid subplots.
four- the fate of LE CORBEAU is deliberately obvious in a CHEKHOVIAN way by hints laid quite cleverly throughout, and not in an obvious or heavy-handed way...

so, in the end, CLOUZOUT and CO. give us a sort of a chocolate box of different solutions, each stirred and tempered in their own meticulous way.

[Lorna]

I don't often says this, but it would be intriguing to see a well-done remake of LE CORBEAU, maybe even as a limited series, that does the same story but ALSO WORKS IN the NAZI OCCUPATION AND VICHY GOVERNMENT, maybe it even gets SUPER META and involves a FILM COMPANY working with the occupiers to produce a suspense thriller when the town is infested by the MYSTERIOUS POISON PEN LETTERS.

it should also be BLACK AND WHITE and GOTHIC AS F***, I want ARCHES and GARGOYLES and COLD, HARD, SLOPING FRENCH-CHATEAU STYLE ROOFTOPS!!!!!!!!!!

And AS A COMPROMISE, I'll allow for some FULL FRONTAL NUDITY since I know 21st century audiences demand it.

[Allhallowsday]

SPOORLOOS (1988) I stayed up late to revisit this one. There's nothing like it. The Hollywood version is junk.

[Masha]

I have been taking advantage of the multitude of new offerings on: TubiTV

Hopscotch (1980)
Red (2010)
Red2 (2013)
Kiss Me Kate (1953)
The Great Race (1953)
Libeled Lady (1936)

I have watched also all twenty-six seasons of: Doctor Who.

[Dargo]

SPOORLOOS (1988) I stayed up late to revisit this one. There's nothing like it. The Hollywood version is junk.

Did the same last night, Allhallows. Enjoyed it immensely. And as you noted here and as Alicia also mentioned in her wraparound comments last night, the Hollywood version made five years later (but which I've never watched) is generally considered to be far inferior to the Dutch original version. Alicia noting the tacked-on happier ending (explained in the final paragraph within that film's Wiki plot synopsis, btw) being a major reason for this. As it says in this same Wiki page for the American remake, with one film critic commenting: "The original was about the banality of evil, but the remake became about the evil of banality. It was a mess."

My only complaint with the Dutch version being that considering Rex was a fairly smart guy, what kind of outcome did he expect to happen after Raymond told him in order "to experience what Saskia had" years earlier, he'd have to drink the drugged coffee???!!! Couldn't believe he couldn't have put two and two together and figured out Raymond's plan for him beforehand and regardless how inquisitive he was.

(...I know I wouldn't have drank it, anyway...but yes if he hadn't, that very memorable ending to this film wouldn't have happened, of course)

[Allhallowsday]

...SPOORLOOS (1988) I stayed up late to revisit this one. There's nothing like it. The Hollywood version is junk.
...My only complaint with the Dutch version being that considering Rex was a fairly smart guy, what kind of outcome did he expect to happen after Raymond told him in order "to experience what Saskia had" years earlier, he'd have to drink the drugged coffee???!!! Couldn't believe he couldn't have put two and two together and figured out Raymond's plan for him beforehand and regardless how inquisitive he was.
(...I know I wouldn't have drank it, anyway...but yes if he hadn't, that very memorable ending to this film wouldn't have happened, of course)

Uhm, I think the film is about obsession...and Rex has a death-wish. Implausible, and indeed "banal".

[Bronxgirl48]

CROSSING DELANCEY (1988) Again.

One thing I never understand -- why didn't Izzy use some of the $500 Bubbe gave her to purchase that evening dress? Instead, she tells a co-worker who asks what's in the bag "My lunch for the next three months".

What is Izzy saving the money for anyway? She's got a rent-controlled apartment "people would die for"

[Allhallowsday]

...One thing I never understand -- why didn't Izzy use some of the $500 Bubbe gave her to purchase that evening dress? Instead, she tells a co-worker who asks what's in the bag "My lunch for the next three months".

What is Izzy saving the money for anyway? She's got a rent-controlled apartment "people would die for"

Saving? She'll be buying her lunch. One thing I will point out: Izzy is a liar.

[Bronxgirl48]

Ha!

But she certainly didn't splurge with her birthday dinner. (although I can personally attest that Papaya King frankfurters were terrific. 50 cents back in the day (1980's) Two of those dogs slathered with mustard and topped with loads of sauerkraut, washed down with their signature papaya drink, was New Yawk food of the gods.

But then of course that job at New Day Bookshop certainly didn't pay much.

[Allhallowsday]

Ha!

But she certainly didn't splurge with her birthday dinner. (although I can personally attest that Papaya King frankfurters were terrific. 50 cents back in the day (1980's) Two of those dogs slathered with mustard and topped with loads of sauerkraut, washed down with their signature papaya drink, was New Yawk food of the gods.

But then of course that job at New Day Bookshop certainly didn't pay much.

A favorite movie moment with lie:

[Bronxgirl48]

I am personally obsessed with pickles and believe they are not only delicious and satisfying, but good for one's health.

So of course I am in love with Peter Riegert as Sam.