WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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movieman1957
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by movieman1957 »

There have been a few comments back last fall in this thread but it seems nothing too detailed. I've had taped for some time and I still haven't come around to see it.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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Fossy
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Fossy »

Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
by moirafinnie » Sat Jul 09, 2011 1:59 am
Fossy, unfortunately the movie, Nancy Wake aka True Colors (1987) appears to be totally unknown in the States, but I have heard and read a bit about the SOE forces and the incredible bravery of the women and men involved. After a search I found out some more details about this remarkable person here.

Could this film on youtube be the same one that you are referring to?:

No Moirafinnie this is not the same.
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

Casablanca - 1942 Film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman

Internet Movie Database Link
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/

I watched this movie for the first time in a long time and this is definitely a romance movie with some high drama built right in. In the past, I wasn't much of a Humphrey Bogart fan because he plays too many tough characters that I sometimes have some difficulty relating to. I have watched 3-5 movies (this month alone) that he starred in and I'm beginning to understand his style and mannerisms better than ever. When I was 20 to 30 ... I couldn't stand him at all. Now, I'm in my 50's and I'm beginning to find him more and more enjoyable to watch. This movie has never has a dull moment and has a nice pace of which I felt it was perfectly wonderful to see. I loved Conrad Veidt, Claude Rains, and Paul Henried's performances in this enduring film.

Peter Lorre's as Ugarte was excellent too! He is such a great character actor ... so is Veidt, Rains, and Henried :!:

Man, this is one slick film to watch and one of Hollywood's most beloved films of all times. I wished Hollywood made more films like this today. That's why I love watching Hollywood Classics from mid-1930's to mid-1960's. Thanks TCM for making August 2011 ONE memorable month of movie watching!

Off Topic Again ... Ingrid Bergman sure looks lovely ... I love Hollywood Starlets from 1930's to 1950's. She is so lovely in this movie.

Bogie and Bergman in Casablanca
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

If you're rediscovering Humphrey Bogart Kingme you might want to check out In A Lonely Place, The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep just 3 of my personal favorites. I think you would like The Barefoot Contessa too, Ava Gardner looks ravishing and Bogie takes more of a narrators role, I love this movie.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

I had a platonic friendship with a woman. She asked me to to take her to see CASABLANCA. I said, "Wait a minute. You insist we're 'just firends', and I'm taking you to the most romantic movie ever made?" Clearly, we're doing something wrong!

Was anybody up at 4:00 A.M. today? I couldn't sleep, so I watched DARK JOURNEY on TCM. Not bad at all. Vivien Leigh, as lovely as any human has ever been, a French spy posing as a German spy. Conrad Veidt (what a surprise) a real German agent. With a monacle. Their feelings for each other conflict with their patriotic duties.

Not a movie to miss the first five minutes of (I did), the story is confusing. Who's working for who? What's real and what's subterfuge? But it's exciting, dramatic and elegant. Had it been made ten years later, I would have sworn it was a Powell and Pressberger film. The dialogue is sharp and pointed. The visuals of war at sea are intense and impressive.

I just read a comment on IMDB that slammed this movie as dull and ridiculous. I found it quite the opposite. Perhaps it was dull POSING as ridiculous!
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

charliechaplinfan wrote:If you're rediscovering Humphrey Bogart Kingme you might want to check out In A Lonely Place, The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep just 3 of my personal favorites. I think you would like The Barefoot Contessa too, Ava Gardner looks ravishing and Bogie takes more of a narrators role, I love this movie.
I seen Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep already ... I haven't seen In A Lonely Place and the The Barefoot Contessa too. I'm planning on seeing In A Lonely Place sometimes in the near future. The Barefoot Contessa is one movie been eluding me all these years and I heard it is was good movie to see.

BTW ... I love Maltese Falcon and the The Big Sleep ... both were good from start to finish!
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

Last night I caught the second half of THE STAND-IN. I wish I'd seen the whole thing, because what I saw was delightful. Witty and wacky. Fast and flighty. A clever, well written comedy about the film industry. Joan Blondell so young she's hardly recognizable. Very funny!

This was followed by CRY HAVOC, a WW2 nurse drama obviously derived from a play. Not a good movie, but not offensive either. Strong characters, clearly defined; a common goal in the face of a threatening antagonist: War. Blondell again, Ann Sothern (I'm not the only one who finds them strikingly similar. Ben Mankiewicz commented on it), Margaret Sullavan. Painless if you're bored.

I like this thread. I feel comfortable commenting on just about any movie I watch, regardless of other considerations.
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movieman1957
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by movieman1957 »

Good. I'm glad you feel that way. We are calm, aren't we?
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by CineMaven »

LESLIE HOWARD, FUNNY?!!!! WOW! WHO KNEW...

I've been watching "STAND-IN" and I find it to be marvelous. I'm wondering if Gary Cooper channeled Leslie Howard's performance in this movie for his role as one of the professors in his and Stanwyck's "BALL OF FIRE." Leslie Howard is such a fish out of water. And he's so charmingly good. I'm surprised at myself b'cuz Leslie Howard is not on my "A" list of faves. "Stand-In" has just enough screwball slapstick to not get me nervous. (Over the top screwball is not my cup o' tea...but I will be doing the Marx Bros.). Bogie's diction was a reminder to me that he was to the manor born on the Upper West Side (of Manhattan). I believe him as a producer, and he's quite attractive. I loved the poking fun at the movie industry. I loved Howard learning to dance with diagrams on the floor( and I love dissolves). Jack Carson...big lug; Alan Mowbray playing the foreign film director wanting real Edelweiss. The fact that Howard's character never heard of Shirley Temple or Clark Gable (who he would work with in that big film of 1939) makes me chuckle; how she chucks him over her shoulder with ju-jitsu (or Howard's double). And he tosses her back. Awmigawd. And that faux movie: "Sex and Satan." Hilarious. There's so many touches and moments in this movie for me, that just killed me; and it's so fast and furious. This was a movie I wouldn't have ordinarily picked out to see.

But the most surprising thing for me was the pairing of Leslie Howard and Joan Blondell. They're such an odd pairing that I wouldn't have thought of casting. He's so British, high-tone; Blondell is brassy...and urban, round-the-way girl. They mesh and match perfectly. Another shocker to me.

NOTE TO MYSELF: Don't dislike a movie unless I've seen the movie.

* * * * * * *

I enjoy "CRY HAVOC." I put no conditions on it. I enjoy "Cry Havoc." A group of nurses serving in the military in the Pacific. ("So Proudly We Hail"). We have the heart of gold, Southern belle, man-crazy...etc. etc. etc. Me? I don't mind even if these types weren't new back in '44. I was invested in each of the leads. This time around I don't mind how Actress-y Margaret Sullavan is. Joan Sothern...I mean Ann Blondell...I mean, well you know who I mean...these two are just plain ol' pros. I'm lovin' Ella Raines and I don't give a hoot if her hair hasn't frizzed up from the humidity of the jungle. I was saddened by her death in the film. Frances Gifford...my unjustly neglected Ms. Gifford tossing off lines with ease. Fay Bainter...the Rock of Gibraltar...Marsha Hunt, so pretty and regular...common sense. You've seen all this before, but that's okay. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Again.
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RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

Indeed. Howard's bookish demeanor is classic screwball. The look worn by Cooper, Grant, and attempted by Ryan O'Neal four decades later! This is how Clark Kent would look if he were in a situation and unable to change costumes. Howard and Blondell square off beautifully. It's their effect on one another that carries the movie.

Not that this well written comedy needs to be propped up. SEX AND SATAN? This just might be the funniest thing I've ever seen! Imagine Joel McCrea's Sullivan reacting to that assignment! Even the overused "common man vs. big money" theme is played with a smile. You can think about it later.

Was there a similar comedy about the film industry from this era? It seems I saw one a lot like this one. I'm not thinking of BOMBSHELL. Not "Sullivan." Maybe not. Maybe I saw this one years ago and forgot about it. At any rate, I've seen it now. At least half of it! I hope others will treat themselves.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

In A Lonely Place I think is Bogie's best performance, I felt like he really understood the man he is portraying.

I watched The Pumpkineater a few days ago, I was blown away by the story and performances. Does anyone know the book this film was based on? Was it a bestseller at the time? I felt the character portrayed by Anne Bancroft at odds with her image, surely a mother of so many could not look so coiffured and styled? Perhaps it's part of the point, her father had some money and her husband led the kind of life that could give her a relief from her brood. Yet she didn't want it, it made her unhappy yet she sees a psychiatrist at her husbands behest. I was puzzled as to whether she wanted to constantly reproduce or was it some crazy hormones at play. What a terrible betrayal by her husband who encouraged her to abort and be sterlised then got someone else pregnant. Or was the James Mason character just imagining an affair? I forgot what great actor Peter Finch was, James Mason in a small but memorable part, Yoothe Joyce, the woman in the hairdressers later to find fame in George and Mildred, as a woman also struggling with a metal illness, a frightening mirror image? Anne Bancroft gave a believable performance as a woman on the edge of despair, madness, sadness at one minute to normality, happiness and joyful motherhood.

I think I'll start a thread on this film if there isn't one already as I feel the film has so much depth to it.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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Birdy
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Birdy »

Chris,
When you watch Make Way for Tomorrow just have your box of tissues ready. I can't really say I liked it, but the acting was superb, the scenes were beautiful and I can't stop thinking about it. I guess that makes it a pretty good film no matter how I'm feeling or if I ever intend to watch it again.

B
MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

I watched the 1943 "Heaven Can Wait" a few days ago and liked it a lot.

I don't especially like the Devil scenes with Laird Cregar. Maybe he's a little too obvious? I really only started enjoying the movie when Charles Cogburn showed up as the rascally grandfather. This is one of his best peformances. I loved Eugene Palette as the ill-tempered father in law. Gene Tierney has never been one of my favorites, but I loved her throughout this film. While there are Lubitsch films I prefer to "Heaven Can Wait," I have to say that (apart from the Devil scenes) this is really a superb work from the old master.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Yesterday I watched Victor/Victoria, I really like Julie Andrews but unfortunately it was a miss for me. The idea was quite a good one, of her passing herself off as a female impersonator. Perhaps the idea is dated now and we can be more direct about the themes but I found the story with James Garner just silly and beneath either's talents. I'm sorry if this is someone's favourite it just didn't gel for me.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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