WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[JackFavell]

Inn of the Sixth Happiness really surprised me, too, kingrat. I put off seeing it for a long time because I thought it would be sentimental, or overbaked. It's about as far from those descriptions as anything I've seen. It was excellent.

[ChiO]

One more possible connection: Some film historians point to Sturges as the writer-director who started to regain some of the power the producers had taken post-Stroheim and, thereby, opening the door for Welles. His THE GREAT McGINTY and CHRISTMAS IN JULY were released in 1940. CITIZEN KANE (as well as THE LADY EVE and SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS) came out in 1941.

[ChiO]

Orson Welles' first film will be Joseph Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS.

That would be first feature film. The shorts HEARTS OF AGE (co-director Wm Vance, 1934) and TOO MUCH JOHNSON (1938) preceded the hoped-for HEART OF DARKNESS. Then, when HEART OF DARKNESS was put on hold, he pitched THE SMILER WITH A KNIFE, which he claimed he could make on the cheap (no salary, just a cut of the profits, and RKO agreed) while the special effects for HEART OF DARKNESS were being prepared.

Dang-it -- then stuck with CITIZEN KANE.

[RedRiver]

Apparently this is not Graham Greene's THE POWER AND THE GLORY...

[feaito]

I bought the Blu Ray edition of "Downton Abbey" (2010) and watched the first episode with my wife...MAGNIFICENT!! Looking forward to watching more episodes!!

[movieman1957]

The Bride loves "Downton Abbey." Though we only have the regular DVD it prompted her to want to see the mother of all those shows "Upstairs, Downstairs."

[feaito]

Hi Chris, I'm also planning to get "Upstairs, Downstairs" which was aired in Chile as "Mundos Individuales" (Individual Worlds) duirng the 1970s, because I was a child back then and I was not able to watch the series.

[movieman1957]

On a side note I just looked up "The Constant Nymph" on imdb and whose review is showing. From June 2005 you share your thoughts grandly as always. How did you get to see it?

BTW, the second disc of "Upstairs, Downstairs" will be here next week so she is just getting started on this show.

[CineMaven]

At TCM's film festival this April, I saw "THE CONSTANT NYMPH." It literally broke my heart. I wept and sobbed uncontrollably during the film. Never a really big fan of Joan Fontaine's, here she totally captivates me. Korngold's music pulled at my heartstrings. It soars, it's melancholy. Boyer doing "Gaslight" and this film again is a reminder for me, the power of Acting. I forgot it was coming on tonite so I missed a whole hour of it. And just seeing only some of it here in my home and not in an audience-filled auditorium...again, I am totally undone. Opposites attract? I don't know about that, now. After having seen this film five months ago, and the 45-mins of it now, I realize...if your heart truly doesn't speak the same language as your lover...

Thanx TCM for showing it.

[RedRiver]

What is THE CONSTANT NYMPH about? (And I'm not being facetious!)

[CineMaven]

"THE CONSTANT NYMPH" is the story of a musician who is creatively blocked. It's believed that since he never suffered, his work lacks a sort of human-ness. He's a good family friend to his mentor who has three daughters who adore him...one in particular. It's through the love that one of the daughters has for the musician, that makes his music have more feeling...humanity. CHARLES BOYER is the Musician, JOAN FONTAINE plays his Muse...or the nymph, ALEXIS SMITH is the Musician's wife.

It was one of the rare screenings at TCM's film festival this past April, that played to a packed house...and TCM aired it last night on its channel.

[JackFavell]

Love Upstairs, Downstairs. I watched it when I was young and cried my eyes out in certain episodes. It's a great show. Cried again, tears of happiness when my dad got me the box set for Christmas a couple of years ago.

ChiO - Wish Orson had made all those movies, and Citizen Kane. sigh