Are you the only classic movie buff in your family?

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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

ChiO wrote:charliechaplinfan said:
I've also developed a big love of foreign films particularly French, Italian and Japanese.
One of the many trivial matters that occupies my diminishing brain cells: Do folks outside of the U.S. refer to U.S. movies as "foreign films"?
I have a feeling they call them "Hollywood Films" just like how we note Indian cinema by using the catch all phrase Bollywood films.
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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

I don't don't refer to American films as foreign films. Maybe I should have been more accurate with my wording. I should have said foreign language films :D

Actually in my mind I don't really think of anything American or Canada as foreign. How strange is that. It must be a language thing. France which is very close is foreign.

What a thing to ponder :)
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

Eleanor Powell Fan:

What is your answer?

Feaito:
How do you refer to American films? As foreign language, or just as films, and the others of you who have recently joined our little group from Norway, and other places?

Anne
Anne


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EleanorPowellFan
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Post by EleanorPowellFan »

No I just generally call the American Movies 'films'. Here in Australia most of the American films are the only films we have here besides our own countrys productions and Foreign Film Festivals from France, Germany, China, Mexico, Spain and England.
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ChiO
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Post by ChiO »

On a somewhat related note, at the TCM board, there was a thread that asked for folks' favorite foreign films and I wrote THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC.

My response was called into question because "it is a silent." That caused me to think that some (many or most?) people probably do not think of silent movies in terms of "foreign" or "domestic" -- as long as the title cards are translated into the viewer's language, silence is universal.
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Synnove
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Post by Synnove »

One of the many trivial matters that occupies my diminishing brain cells: Do folks outside of the U.S. refer to U.S. movies as "foreign films"?
Nope, we don't, even though they are technically foreign language here as well. I guess English is so familiar now that it isn't 'foreign', because I've never heard anyone refer to British cinema as foreign either.

The countries refered to as foreign are the ones whose cinema we don't get exposed to so much, whose language we don't speak.

Anyhoo, the term 'foreign' is pretty meaningless on the internet, isn't it? :wink:

Re. The topic of this post, I have an uncle who is a film buff. Sadly, he lives at the other end of the country and I have virtually no contact with him. I haven't seen him in years. The last time we met we talked a bit about Nosferatu, though.

I'm the only buff in my family, but we all love cinema, and my parents take a vague interest in silents too. They watch them with me sometimes. The last time was when we all saw The Phantom Carriage, and I was disappointed with my dad because he thought Gösta Berling was better. Pfft.

Even my brother might watch a silent with me if it's German and has a connection to fantasy. He didn't like Faust though, since he's a little atheist and can't appreciate any film with a religious theme at the moment. I told him it was really no different from Harry Potter, but he refused to see that.
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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

Synnove wrote:
The last time was when we all saw The Phantom Carriage, and I was disappointed with my dad because he thought Gösta Berling was better. Pfft. .
:) We can't win them all :wink:
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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silentscreen
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Post by silentscreen »

I am the only hard core classic movie buff in my family in that I like silents. My parents are elderly and don't want to go to the bother of reading title cards, but they do get TCM and enjoy movies from the 40's, 50's and 60's. I usually take a couple of classic movies with me when I go for a visit. Sometimes I sneak a silent in there and make them watch. 8)
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Mr. O'Brady
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Post by Mr. O'Brady »

Absolutely the only one. My dad, eldest brother, and I loved them, and we would never miss an opportunity during my teen years to watch late-night movies until we fell asleep. They're both deceased, so I'm alone in my love for oldies.
Hollis
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Post by Hollis »

Good afternoon,

Yes. Yes I am. I'm the only anything in my family. I'm all there is for all intents and purposes. But if my folks were still alive there would be three of us. Born in 1913 and 1918 respectively, mom and dad grew up with what we now call classic films. Mom had a huge crush on Robert Alda as I recall, and dad had a thing for Barbara Stanwyck (can you blame him?) I've got a thing for Greer Garson and Jean Arthur.

As always,

Hollis
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

Hollis wrote:Good afternoon,

Yes. Yes I am. I'm the only anything in my family. I'm all there is for all intents and purposes. But if my folks were still alive there would be three of us. Born in 1913 and 1918 respectively, mom and dad grew up with what we now call classic films. Mom had a huge crush on Robert Alda as I recall, and dad had a thing for Barbara Stanwyck (can you blame him?) I've got a thing for Greer Garson and Jean Arthur.

As always,

Hollis
You know, Hollis, this opens up another avenue - namely, our older generation and their favorites. My father was even older than your parents, having been born in 1911. My mother was 12 years younger. My father loved Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Douglas Fairbanks and Colleen Moore in the silents. In the talkies, he liked Bogart, Joan Blondell and Irene Dunne. He was a big fan of Gary Cooper and Jean Hersholt as well. He also liked singers in movies who sang in that old-fashioned, quivery-voiced style, a style I can't stand. In later years he became an enthusiastic fan of Joanne Woodward.

My mother told me that when she was young she was very fond of Zachary Scott, and then fell for George Montgomery. I think her favorite actress was Rosalind Russell, and she liked Claudette Colbert, too. My mother also liked Marilyn Monroe, but for some reason didn't like to admit it. Both of my parents liked Lucille Ball - in films and on TV.

My father was also a knowledgeable and loyal fan of Laurel & Hardy, a tradition I'm proud to carry on and impart to my own daughter.
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

My parents, both 72, have different stories to tell about movies and almost none of them together.

My father loves westerns. Typical story of saving a dime and going to the movies on Saturday and staying through the films several times. His older sister would pick him up on her way home from work. My mother talked of seeing "Bad Day At Black Rock" as a school outing. She loved "Back Street" with Susan Hayward.

My dad tells a joke that he and mom are at a drive-in theater in his truck (1955 or so) and says to my mother, "Want to get in the back?" She replies, "No, I'd rather stay up here with you." (Never happened but that is so my mother.)

Judith, I had to start our family L&H traditions and my daughter seems intent on carrying on.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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Ayres
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Post by Ayres »

My husband is one, too, though he has this quirk of not being willing to watch anything more than once. Oh well, gets me out of too much repeating...

My parents both think I'm nuts (on this score), and they always have.

It was my grandmother who started it all--we'd sit up watching them half the night on the late late show, and she'd tell me about living through the '30s and '40s. I still miss her.
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

Ayres wrote:My husband is one, too, though he has this quirk of not being willing to watch anything more than once. Oh well, gets me out of too much repeating...
.
I'm like this too, except for certain movies which i'll watch over and over (mostly Bogie movies)
Hollis
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Post by Hollis »

Hi Judith,

I don't know about you, but when I watch a film from the 30's or 40's that my parents might just have seen themselves, it somehow makes me feel more connected to them. I find myself wondering what they thought about the same film. I only wish that I had discovered classic movies long ago while they were still alive, but by the time TCM debuted in 1994? Mom had already been gone for 7 years and dad for 5. I wonder what they would have thought of the current spate of films that Hollywood is producing. I know my mother would have decried the abundance of "colorful" language that abounds because back in her time, a greater emphasis seemed to be placed on the proper use of the language both in print and in spoken form. A look at her high school yearbook from 1933 bears that out. It's every bit the equal of any college yearbook I've seen and light years ahead of what I've seen coming out of our high schools these days. When I find myself thinking or speaking along the lines my parents might have, I actually take a certain comfort in it. After all, they were "Ther Greatest Generation."

AS always,

Hollis
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