I Just Watched...

[BagelOnAPlate]

Surprisingly, Hepburn isn't wearing Givenchy in Green Mansions.

I wonder how this costume would have looked if it had been designed by Givenchy.

But someone did design it. Dorothy Jeakins.

Yes, Dorothy Jeakins had a distinguished career.
Her costumes for Young Frankenstein are among my favorites.

[laffite]

By coincidence, I just watched two movies featuring Nick and Nora Charles -- NOT!

Star of Midnight (1935)
A year after making The Thin Man, William Powell starred as a hard-drinking playboy/detective who gets roped into trying to solve a murder that took place in his apartment. Ginger Rogers (between Roberta and Top Hat) stars as the woman who has loved him since she was a little girl. Ginger helps him with the case. Gene Lockhart is Powell's valet. There are other characters who flesh out this thin and at times confusing plot. J. Farrell McDonald is the best of the bunch, as Police Inspector Doremus, a name surely stolen (perhaps an homage) to the exasperated coroner of the Philo Vance stories (of which this is not one). Star of Midnight is light fun, but unlike The Thin Man, the supporting characters are not very well drawn.


William Powell, Ginger Rogers

Stamboul Quest (1934) is unusual in that the story is about espionage and counter espionage (and perhaps counter counter espionage) among the Germans during World War I, at a time before America entered the war. Myrna Loy plays a German spy, sent by her spy boss (Lionel Atwill) to find out whether the head of the Turkish forces (very well played by C. Henry Gordon) is a double agent, spying for the British. The Dardanelles are involved, and military secrets. Myrna's life and mission are complicated by the fact that George Brent, an American studying medicine in Germany, is accidentally arrested in a dentist's office, during the ambush of Leo G. Carroll, who is also a double agent. Rudolph Amendt (who would play the mad doctor in She Demons nearly 25 years later) has a small role. There are nuns in this movie, and a convent, at the opening and closing. Myrna, having outed Mata Hari as a double agent, herself falls in love, jeopardizing her work. There is some very clever dialogue in this film, as well as a little bit of well placed humour, and a great scene in which C. Henry Gordon writes secrets in invisible ink on Myrna Loy's naked back.

(I've just read on Wikipedia that Loy's character -- Fraulein Doktor -- was based on a real person!)


George Brent, Myrna Loy, C. Henry Gordon

It has been said (and as I have read) that "Hollywood did not know what to do with her," prior to 1934 when they I guess found out, as Nora. The Barbarian (1932), and Stamboul Quest (1934) apparently did not faze them. Myrna is excellent in both films. Everybody loves her as Nora, as I do, but preferring drama to comedies (I still like comedies, when they click) I would have liked to have seen more with her in dramatic roles a this stage.

[laffite]

Some more things seen recently....





Australia (2008) contains the paradox of almost all films directed by Baz Luhrmann; it starts in a choppy, aggressive, rather goofy style, and then removes its brittle shell to reveal something far more deep and emotional underneath. This extremely long (165 minutes) and astoundingly expensive ($130 million) film found few takers in 2008, but if you get past those early passages (which do contain a very misguided brief moment of kangaroo poaching), you end up with something that feels floridly rich, like a Golden Age Hollywood melodrama. The episodic story finds Nicole Kidman as an English woman who comes to Australia in 1939 on reports that her estranged husband, who lives there, has been stepping out on her. She arrives to find out that he has been murdered, and that she now owns his ramshackle property much coveted by her
ality of some in the Old West, but the sequence is formless and stops the film dead cold. Still, much of the rest is quite powerful, and Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker and Dolores Del Rio stand out in the ensemble cast. Its not perfect, but it is worth a look.

I started this but watched only a bit of it. She is in Australia and discovered the death of her husband ... but not much later than that. It might have been when that particular sequence you describe as "stops the film cold." But I did not go away mad or especially disappointed, can't remember why, perhaps "the goofy" style because I remember thinking as a bit quirky. I may have another look after reading your fine review, and another inducement might be the "disturbing" plane crash, as i am fond of disturbing plane crashes (not morbidly so), an offshoot of my lifelong fascination with airplanes in general.

[LostHorizons]

Okay, I'm done.

I thought it just meant he was done for THAT day (?)

Nah, he’s gone for good it looks. His letterbox is still active however.

https://letterboxd.com/lawrencea/

[LostHorizons]

I too thought he had meant he was "done for the day" after completely watching all those silent shorts.

I thought the same. Hope we're right.

I didn't see any detrimental comment towards Lawrence except the "why not go outside?" comment. While that was just a little challenging, it doesn't fall into "bullying/harassment", does it?

Actually I thought it was an attempt at a humor about the amazing amount of time spent finding the shorts, creating a logical sequence plan to see them, then actually view each AND post his individual evaluations here. It has been a fun journey to share.

No, it was clearly a catty and bitter attempt at tearing Larry down from Sepia as he often did on the old forums. I doubt Larry is gone for good and he might even be reading this. He claimed he deleted his account on Topbilled’s forum and never looked back so I could imagine him trying to do the same here but it is unlikely he isn’t still reading at least. He knows he is missed here.

[LostHorizons]

No. I don't get that feeling at all.

That's what he meant. Leaving the Board. I have not communicated with him but he has threatened this before.

Are you saying he's a drama queen? Threatens to quit repeatedly?

That seems like odd behavior for an adult.

Okay, I just gotta say it. He is or “was” a drama queen. That isn’t the first time he threatened to quit over someone’s stupid remarks instead of ignoring it and blocking it like a rational adult. Then others come alone and tell him how great he is and how much he brings to the table of movie discussion to calm him down, except this time it didn’t work. All sides are wrong. Mr “wit” shouldn’t leave his failed stand up bits to a serious post someone put effort in and Lawrence should have known better to just ignore Sepiatone when he is acting that way. There, I said what we all were thinking.

[Swithin]

I too thought he had meant he was "done for the day" after completely watching all those silent shorts.

I thought the same. Hope we're right.

I didn't see any detrimental comment towards Lawrence except the "why not go outside?" comment. While that was just a little challenging, it doesn't fall into "bullying/harassment", does it?

Actually I thought it was an attempt at a humor about the amazing amount of time spent finding the shorts, creating a logical sequence plan to see them, then actually view each AND post his individual evaluations here. It has been a fun journey to share.

No, it was clearly a catty and bitter attempt at tearing Larry down from Sepia as he often did on the old forums. I doubt Larry is gone for good and he might even be reading this. He claimed he deleted his account on Topbilled’s forum and never looked back so I could imagine him trying to do the same here but it is unlikely he isn’t still reading at least. He knows he is missed here.

Lawrence has always been cagey about his "whereabouts", meaning because of his settings, you can't tell when he was "last active." But as I recall, he posted here after he said "Okay I'm done." I hope he comes back and that he's well.

[Intrepid37]

Sepiatone's quip seemed pretty mild to me.

I still can't quite believe that Lawrence took that so badly that he hasn't posted since. Weird.

[Sepiatone]

Man. Had to do some searching to find which quip Intrepid was referring to.

And sure. It was pretty mild. And never intended to seriously offend. He just made it sound that he had sequestered himself indoors for hours to watch all that footage I couldn't resist the rib. All meant with a wink and a nudge. Just as in the other forum Intrepid, I made a somewhat sardonic reference to your "Jukebox" postings as being from the "Land of Bazooka Joe!" Just having fun.

Sepiatone

[Intrepid37]

Man. Had to do some searching to find which quip Intrepid was referring to.

And sure. It was pretty mild. And never intended to seriously offend. He just made it sound that he had sequestered himself indoors for hours to watch all that footage I couldn't resist the rib. All meant with a wink and a nudge. Just as in the other forum Intrepid, I made a somewhat sardonic reference to your "Jukebox" postings as being from the "Land of Bazooka Joe!" Just having fun.

It's astonishing how sensitive some people can be. If some here had experienced the volume of hatred and vindictive insults that I've had to face in times passed, they'd melt like Margaret Hamilton.

[Allhallowsday]

Did anyone look at last week's SILENT SUNDAY NIGHT ? The film was a restored film that had been considered lost, I think the year was 1923 perhaps 1922. I am fairly certain that WILLIAM POWELL had a very early part in the film as a villain. Also making an appearance was HARPO MARX! The principals were actors whose names I was not familiar with... I poked around IMDB but found nothing.

[Swithin]

Sepiatone's quip seemed pretty mild to me.

I still can't quite believe that Lawrence took that so badly that he hasn't posted since. Weird.

I was able to check Lawrence's posts. He said "Okay, I'm done" on April 7. He posted four times on April 12.

search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&author_id=349014

There are a lot of new names around here, maybe he's one of them.

[Masha]

Did anyone look at last week's SILENT SUNDAY NIGHT ? The film was a restored film that had been considered lost, I think the year was 1923 perhaps 1922. I am fairly certain that WILLIAM POWELL had a very early part in the film as a villain. Also making an appearance was HARPO MARX! The principals were actors whose names I was not familiar with... I poked around IMDB but found nothing.

Could it have been: Too Many Kisses (1925)?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016439/?r ... 2520(1925)

[Detective Jim McLeod]

The Whispering Shadow (1933) Youtube 3/10

The Whispering Shadow is a criminal genius who seems to be able to teleport himself anywhere and uses electrical power to commit murder and other crimes.

This is a 12 chapter serial made by cheap studio Mascot. Bela Lugosi plays a mysterious owner of a wax museum and one of many suspected of being the Shadow. The entire serial runs about 3 hours and 45 minutes and it is chore to sit through even if you break it up over a few days like I did.
Still there are some good action with some outstanding stunt work. Lugosi is always fun to watch but he doesn't have too much to do. The picture on Youtube is pretty bad, scratchy, faded and the actors faces look like they are glowing. Bela probably did this for the money, since he received over 3 times what he got for Dracula (1931). For Lugosi completists only.

[LostHorizons]

Sepiatone's quip seemed pretty mild to me.

I still can't quite believe that Lawrence took that so badly that he hasn't posted since. Weird.

I was able to check Lawrence's posts. He said "Okay, I'm done" on April 7. He posted four times on April 12.

search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&author_id=349014

There are a lot of new names around here, maybe he's one of them.

Highly unlikely. Lawrence isn’t a multi-account poster.