I Just Watched...

Discussion of programming on TCM.
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Bronxgirl48
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by Bronxgirl48 »

I love RAMONA! Young and Ameche are two actors who always give naturalistic, subtle performances and they do deliver here. I love the poignant musical themes and overall Western "quaintness". That ending always leaves me in tears.
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CinemaInternational
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by CinemaInternational »

There are few things more depressing to watch than a misfiring comedy, and they rarely destruct on screen quite as badly as 1941 (1979). This was Steven Spielberg's Edsel, from a script by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and it is remarkable that it didn't kill off their careers right then and there. (For Speilberg, it was sandwiched between two praised hits: Close Encounters and Raiders). The story is of a slapstick war comedy imagining what chaos would have erupted if the Japanese had tried to attack LA after Pearl Harbor and how the Americans would have fought back. The problem is that every single character in the film, American and Japanese alike, is depicted as a total and complete idiot. (No wonder why so many people were offended in 1979, as WWII is still preserved in amber as the bravest moment in American history) It's kind of like watching the biggest, longest, noisiest Three Stooges routine around. These characters bear no resemblance to any recognizable human behavior. The actors are helpless, and I am not going to list their names here because to do so would feel like blackmail at best, revealing a war crime at worst. And the film they appear in is the most cluttered and incoherent major studio production made prior to the Summer "blockbuster" dingalings that Hollywood foisted on unsuspecting audiences beginning in the late 90s.

The film actually begins with a hilarious gag, and the opening scenes show a bit of a spark, but by the time it moves into nighttime and the main attack begins, it becomes a miserable wall of screaming and noise (even the credits feature most of the cast screaming). What little can be said for this is that it is well-photographed and has some handsome sets, but that is little to go on. I'm reminded that Zemeckis and Gale had scripted another noisy comedy the year before, I Wanna Hold Your Hand (many of its cast members have roles in this as well). That film actually was extremely funny and focused; perhaps if they had been in charge of directing this on a smaller budget, it might have worked. But on a mega-budget, with Spielberg, it is muddled, heavy, loud, inept, and virtually unwatchable. The notorious and underrated Ishtar was a far better film than this one. 1941 is a dead zone.
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LawrenceA
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by LawrenceA »

CinemaInternational wrote: February 5th, 2023, 4:23 pm 1941 (1979)
Yeah, that one was considered a colossal unfunny dud even in its day. Just a total trainwreck, although I've read people who love it, somehow.

It really was thought of as being the death knell for Spielberg. Even though Close Encounters was the biggest hit ever for Columbia, it still made quite a bit less than Jaws had, and cost a lot more to make. It wasn't really until the back-to-back successes of Raiders* and E.T. that Spielberg gained the reputation that he still has now**.

*Some questioned how much of the film's success was due to Spielberg and how much to George Lucas, so it wasn't viewed as just a Spielberg homerun.

**Things change, though, as I just saw an article this week lamenting how Spielberg no longer "speaks to current generation."
Watching until the end.
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LawrenceA
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by LawrenceA »

Um...okay.
Last edited by LawrenceA on February 5th, 2023, 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Watching until the end.
MissWonderly
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by MissWonderly »

I've seen a few recent releases lately, all at my little local revue cinema ( I'm so glad it still exists.)

The one probably the least known is a Polish film called EO, all about the adventures and vicissitudes of a sad little donkey. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was oddly engaging.

Another overlooked 2022 film that I don't really expect many to have heard of is a British film called Last Bus, starring the doleful Timothy Spall as an old man who takes a cross-country bus journey from John O'Groats to Land's End. I really liked it, I thought it was interesting and moving, but apparently it got negative reviews. I don't know why, I thought for what it was, it was quite good.

Also saw Tar. I figure most of you have heard of this one, it's getting a lot of attention. And yes, it deserves the critical acclaim it's received. However, be warned, it's 3 hours long ( although it did not seem that long to me) and also very cerebral. You have to pay close attention to get everything that's going on. Cate Blanchett is as good as the critics are saying she is in this. Oh, it's extra-interesting if you like classical music, particularly Mahler.

One more: Empire of Light. This should be of special interest to all of us, since it's set in an old cinema from the 1920s, and it's all about the people who work there, -- although, sorry, not in the 1920s, but 1980's, (1980-81 to be exact.) It takes place in Margate, a beautiful coastal town in England. There's a lot going on with the two main characters, a young black man who's trying to get into college to study architecture, and a middle-aged woman who has what is commonly called "issues". I recommend this one, if only for the scenes celebrating film-love and old movie theatres. But the story is also very engaging, sometimes disturbing. I won't forget it.

Anyone seen any of these?
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HoldenIsHere
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by HoldenIsHere »

LURED (1947)
directed by Douglas Sirk
screenplay by Leo Rosten*
(adapted from the French movie PIÈGES, written by Jacques Companéez, Simon Gantillon and Ernst Neubach)

This was a first time viewing for me. (I saw it on Watch TCM.)
It stars Lucille Ball a few years before she would begin her work in television that would make her a superstar. Douglas Sirk directed LURED a few years before the 1950s melodramas for which he’s most remembered.

The movie didn’t do well at the box office when it was released under the title PERSONAL COLUMN (the English title used for PIÈGES) or when it was re-released as LURED, but I found it very entertaining.

Lucille Ball plays an American dancer in London working as a taxi dancer (ten cents and dance and all that) after the show she came with from New York folded. (At least she doesn’t end up as hooker like Mae Clarke’s character in WATERLOO BRIDGE.) After her friend and fellow taxi dancer (an English girl named Lucy!) goes missing, Lucille Ball’s character is recruited by the Scotland Yard chief inspector played by Charles Coburn to go undercover to find a serial killer. Her missing friend is believed to be the victim of the killer who’s been luring beautiful girls through personal ads (a precursor of Match.com) and then sending poems about his crimes (in the style of Baudelaire) to the police.

Equipped with a gun and a police ID card, Ball’s character begins answering ads pre-screened by Scotland Yard. An ad placed by a fashion designer (played horror legend Boris Karloff) leads to a bizarre fashion show. Another ad leads to a job as a parlor maid, overseen by a character played by Alan Mowbray, with opportunity for advancement (hmm …). A long the way she meets a show producer and ladies’ man suavely played by George Sanders. Earlier the producer had tried to arrange an interview for Lucille Ball’s character as a dancer in one of his upcoming revues. As romance develops between Ball and Sanders, evidence begins to point to him as the killer.

LURED held my interest from beginning to end, and I highly recommend it to fans of Lucille Ball. There’s a Ginger Rogers quality to her performance, and I think if movies like this one had been more financially successful, Ball could have had a movie career to rival that of Rogers.
Favorite moments:
Lucille Ball saying to one of her taxi dancer clients “Ah, shaddup!” (in the vein of Bugs Bunny)
Lucille Ball hitting a cab driver on the head with her purse exclaiming “Why don’t you help me!”
The “fashion show” directed by Boris Karloff’s character!

For those who’ve seen the movie: Was the name of the boat owned by Dr. Moryani revealed? He snaps at Alan Mowbray’s character: “You idiot! You didn’t tell her the name of the boat?”


* Leo Rosten was the author of THE JOYS OF YIDDISH and the Hyman Kaplan stories


Image

Image
Last edited by HoldenIsHere on February 6th, 2023, 1:26 am, edited 3 times in total.
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LawrenceA
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by LawrenceA »

HoldenIsHere wrote: February 5th, 2023, 8:52 pm LURED (1947)
I liked that one, too. Nice write-up.
Watching until the end.
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laffite
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by laffite »

HoldenIsHere wrote: February 5th, 2023, 8:52 pm LURED (1947)
directed by Douglas Sirk
screenplay by Leo Rosten*
(adapted from the French movie PIÈGES, written by Jacques Companéez, Simon Gantillon and Ernst Neubach)

This was a first time viewing for me. (I saw it on Watch TCM.)
It stars Lucille Ball a few years before she would begin her work in television that would make her a superstar. Douglas Sirk directed LURED a few years before the 1950s melodramas for which he’s most remembered.

The movie didn’t do well at the box office when it was released under the title PERSONAL COLUMN (English for PIÈGES) or when it was re-released as LURED), but I found it very entertaining.
[ ... ]
Pieges is French for "traps" , i.e. for small animals, like a mousetrap ; or large animals like a bear trap. Personal Columns or Ads is the figurative extension of the French word, then. FYI in case you were not aware of le mot Francias. Thanks Holden, I enjoyed your rap on the film.
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TikiSoo
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by TikiSoo »

MissWonderly wrote: February 5th, 2023, 6:35 pm I've seen a few recent releases lately, all at my little local revue cinema ( I'm so glad it still exists.)

The one probably the least known is a Polish film called EO, all about the adventures and vicissitudes of a sad little donkey. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was oddly engaging.

A British film called Last Bus, starring the doleful Timothy Spall as an old man who takes a cross-country bus journey from John O'Groats to Land's End.

Also saw Tar. And yes, it deserves the critical acclaim it's received. However, be warned, it's 3 hours long ( although it did not seem that long to me) and also very cerebral.

Empire of Light. This should be of special interest to all of us, since it's set in an old cinema from the 1920s, and it's all about the people who work there
Thank you so much for your post! You describe your filmgoing experience with exactly the right points to discern if it's "up my alley" or to be avoided without telling too much of the story.
Your posts were very missed while you were "transitioning".

And Holden, your comments make me want to see LURED again- a Trifecta of Fave Film Personalities.
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Detective Jim McLeod
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by Detective Jim McLeod »

MissWonderly wrote: February 5th, 2023, 6:35 pm

Also saw Tar. I figure most of you have heard of this one, it's getting a lot of attention. And yes, it deserves the critical acclaim it's received. However, be warned, it's 3 hours long ( although it did not seem that long to me) and also very cerebral. You have to pay close attention to get everything that's going on. Cate Blanchett is as good as the critics are saying she is in this. Oh, it's extra-interesting if you like classical music, particularly Mahler.



Anyone seen any of these?
I saw this one, one of of my favorites of the year. Cate Blanchett gives her best performance yet, which is saying something because she has been great many times before. This made her character seem very real, I actually went to Wikipedia to find out she was fictional. It also a comment on the way people of today react to certain things, but it doesn't beat you over the head or preach to you, they just show how it is. The most striking moment was Blanchett's scene arguing about Bach with a student who she says got his soul from social media.
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CinemaInternational
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by CinemaInternational »

just quick notes....

Wise Blood (1979) is a flavorful Deep South Dark Comedy from the work of Flannery O'Conner involving Brad Dourif as an angry young men who tries to stat a church build around nothing. It's quite scathing and it captures a feeling for the land very well. A good late career offering from director John Huston....

The black Hole (1979) was Disney's big attemt at a sci-fi blockbuster, and it was their first ever PG. it's a mixed bag, let down by thin characterizations, but it does still look fantastic, with visual effects, production design, and cinematography that still look great after 4 decades. And the ending sequences are pretty bold for Disney, even if for the first two-thirds, it plays like an outer space version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The Bell Jar (1979) is only a middling adaptation of the Sylvia Plath book. Good performances can only go so far to aid what feels like a cut-rate production.

bedazzled (19670 is crisp and funny half of the time (when Dudley Moore and Peter Cook are interacting), but it goes a bit flat during the fantasy sequences with Eleanor Bron. Still worth a look. And Raquel Welsh's cameo are the personification of lust is extremely funny.
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Masha
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by Masha »

Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963)


This is Jack Lemmon as a man who was born a virgin and has been ever since over-compensating for it. Complications in his life include a feminist professor he had comforted and supported through her nasty divorce but who no longer needs him, her niece whose head has been filled with impractical and illogical attitudes towards natural human relationships and his maid who despises him.

This movie has been widely panned and even Jack Lemmon considered it his worst movie. I find it a playful bit of fluff. It is of its era but some of the situations are timeless.

Hogan: "I always feel sorry for people who don't drink, because when they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel all day."

I found: Carol Lynley a bit stilted for comedy and she did not have the body to portray a supersexy young thing. Dean Jones was quite over-the-hill for the role of a college frat boy.

Edie Adams is credible in her role but seeing her in that furry motorcycle helmet of a hairstyle was quite off-putting.

Paul Lynde is great as the handyman caught between his jealousy of his employer's lifestyle and his wife's mean-spirited disapproval of it.

Imogene Coca is an absolute gem! Every facial expression, every nuance in her voice, every flash of her eyes is pure perfection. This movie worth watching simply for her.

6.2/10

This movie is available for viewing for free with commercials on: TubiTV
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CinemaInternational
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by CinemaInternational »

Masha wrote: February 6th, 2023, 4:27 pm Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963)


This is Jack Lemmon as a man who was born a virgin and has been ever since over-compensating for it. Complications in his life include a feminist professor he had comforted and supported through her nasty divorce but who no longer needs him, her niece whose head has been filled with impractical and illogical attitudes towards natural human relationships and his maid who despises him.

This movie has been widely panned and even Jack Lemmon considered it his worst movie. I find it a playful bit of fluff. It is of its era but some of the situations are timeless.

Hogan: "I always feel sorry for people who don't drink, because when they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel all day."

I found: Carol Lynley a bit stilted for comedy and she did not have the body to portray a supersexy young thing. Dean Jones was quite over-the-hill for the role of a college frat boy.

Edie Adams is credible in her role but seeing her in that furry motorcycle helmet of a hairstyle was quite off-putting.

Paul Lynde is great as the handyman caught between his jealousy of his employer's lifestyle and his wife's mean-spirited disapproval of it.

Imogene Coca is an absolute gem! Every facial expression, every nuance in her voice, every flash of her eyes is pure perfection. This movie worth watching simply for her.

6.2/10

This movie is available for viewing for free with commercials on: TubiTV
I loved Imogene in this film, definitely the best element about it. I only wish she had appeared in more over the years. She was a comic jewel.
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EP Millstone
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by EP Millstone »

HoldenIsHere wrote: February 5th, 2023, 8:52 pm LURED (1947)
. . . An ad placed by a fashion designer (played horror legend Boris Karloff) leads to a bizarre fashion show . . .
I love the rock 'em, sock 'em, knock-down-drag-out brawl between Boris Karloff and George Zucco (in a rare good guy role)* -- rather a kind of payback from George, who three years earlier got murdered by Karloff (employing hunchback-strangler J. Carrol Naish) in House of Frankenstein.


* More accurately, between their stunt doubles.
Last edited by EP Millstone on February 7th, 2023, 5:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Swithin
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by Swithin »

CinemaInternational wrote: February 6th, 2023, 3:05 pm just quick notes....

Wise Blood (1979) is a flavorful Deep South Dark Comedy from the work of Flannery O'Conner involving Brad Dourif as an angry young men who tries to stat a church build around nothing. It's quite scathing and it captures a feeling for the land very well. A good late career offering from director John Huston....
I think Wise Blood is one of Huston's best films. Late in his career, he seemed to emulate John Ford. The opening of Wise Blood is quite similar to the opening of The Grapes of Wrath, and the "feeling for the land" which you mention is certainly more characteristic of Ford's work than it ever was with Huston's earlier work. I think Huston's greatest film is his last: The Dead, in which he emulates Ford even more.
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