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 »

I always liked Matthau in the original. (There is also a made-for-tv version.) He looks looks and sounds like any old guy that might be in that job and seems among the least likely to be thrown into that situation. Shaw is good as well as a more normal villain than Travolta's.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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movieman1957
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by movieman1957 »

At last I got to "Make Way For Tomorrow." Beulah Bondi was great. Can't imagine anyone else in that role. I didn't cry but I thought it was really sweet. I am of an age where many of my friends are having to deal with this issue. Luckily, my parents are still in great health at 75.

What do you do with parents that can't live by themselves anymore? It often comes to this. And they can get in the way in more ways than one. When my father -in-law was dying of cancer many years ago he stayed with us awhile and it was tough. You have to rearrange everything. His nights and days got turned around and he put a demand on the family. He didn't mean to anymore than the parents did here but it is just the way it is.

I very much liked their "date" at the end of the movie. There was a great respect for them shown by others. My favorite little bit of that scene was at the bar when they were debating the day they came to that hotel. Love can live a long time.

I thought the ending a bit odd and it was quite unexpected. I wonder if the children had in any way said goodbye before. That's a tough call on George's part.
Chris

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

Post by charliechaplinfan »

It's an unusual film to be made within the Hollywood system, splitting up the parents just seems to cruel and yet the children let it happen. It's a film that should be watched once every ten years or so.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
feaito

Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by feaito »

I watched with my sister -and she loved it- "The Bells of St. Mary's" (1945), a wonderful film for all-the-family which impressed me favorably. Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman are top-notch and so are the kids featured in this film. A beautiful, uplifting film. I had never seen this film in its entirety before, only snippets.
RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

Walter Matthau said he considered plastic surgery early in his career. A friend said, "Have you lost your mind? Handsome actors are a dime a dozen. A face like yours is solid gold!"
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

I watched the second half of DEAD OF NIGHT. Holy mother of doo-doo! That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen! It's Val Lewton on acid. And I've never even seen the whole movie. Needless to say, I'd love to. The ventriloquist sequence is famous for good reason. It's exceptionally well done. William Goldman's MAGIC is an exciting book. The movie is entertaining. But this little skit is better. Much better.

And what is with the creepy scenario that follows? I won't say more; don't want to spoil. But my hair is STILL standing on end! This may be the best movie I haven't seen. And you didn't even see my lips move.
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by CineMaven »

The late Cliff Robertson did a Twilight Zone episode playing a ventriloquist. Eerie. I really enjoyed "MAGIC." I thought Ann-Margret did a great job. And Anthony Hopkins, well, he's just perfectly crazy trying to hold on.

But he can't.
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MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

The ventriloquist story has always been my favorite part of "Dead of Night." It seems to me that British writers usually zero in on the "mirror" story from "Dead of Night" as the high point of the film (and it is indeed creepy), and Americans zero in on the ventriloquist.

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" had two creepy ventriloquist episodes, both available on DVD. From Season One, "And So Died Riabouchinska," with Claude Rains in an outstanding performance as a ventriloquist with a secret. Season Three has "The Glass Eye," with Jessica Tandy as a spinster who falls in love with a ventriloquist and lives to regret it.
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

Personally my favorite is the golfing story, but all of them are great. :D
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

Your responses are fascinating. (Hey! What about me?) I have got to see this entire movie. (Let me out of this trunk!)

Sorry.
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

[youtube][/youtube]

Not the best way to watch, but it's so worth it anyway.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I watched Jaurez today, I was really looking forward to it because of the great cast, along with Paul Muni and Bette Davis there was Brian Aherne, John Garfield, Claude Rains, Gale Sondergaard, Henry Davenport, Joseph Callellia and Gilbert Roland, so I settled down to 2 hours of what I expected to be a rivetting movie, alas I didn't find it that way. Bette Davis was fine, it was only when she was on screen that the movie really caught my interest, apart from Claude Rains as Napoleon III everyone else seemed lost in a script that lumbered along. To be fair, this was 1939, when Europe was covered with the clouds of a threatening war and although the studios couldn't make films to jepardise their German markets, they could make historical epics like these which show parellels with the powers of Europe. The interesting bit, that of the Grand Duke and his wife Carlotta sent to rule Mexico on a false plebiscite, the Grand Duke was a noble man determined to do the best by his people but denied ayt every turn and finally abandoned by Napoleon, the love between the Imperial couple and Carlotta's later madness was somehow sacrified for the story of Jaurez who was played so colourlessly by Paul Muni. I had expected far better from an actor known to deliver great performances but here he must be covered with so much makeup that he can't move his face, he doesn't really emote or give anything in his portrayal of Jaurez and he succeeds in turning what should be sympathetic, noble part of a great leader into a colourless, somewhat unsympathetic part. Gilbert Roland and John Garfield do give us ladies something to gaze at. Brian Aherne too is a victim of his makeup, he wears a surprised expression for most of the film, the beard does not suit him, the style of the Hapsburgs not suiting his usually urbane looks.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

I thought Brian Aherne was very good as Maximilian, but the part is lackluster at best. Oh, how Muni is wasted in this movie! He looks and acts like he's been mummified, underplaying to the point of catatonia. My dear Joseph Calleia acts him off the screen in their two big scenes together. Only Calleia, Roland and Garfield manage any sparks and Bette is very touching. The Maximilian/Carlotta story is the compelling one and unfortunately is second fiddle to Juarez here. If they had switched the two stories, with Juarez getting a third and the couple getting two thirds of the film, it might have played better. I was surprised at how many sparks Roland and Davis struck in their brief exchange - Bette looks as if she would enjoy a tryst with the military.
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

JUAREZ wanders all over the place. It's rarely exciting. The movie Davis made one year earlier, JEZEBEL, is much, much better. Where one film makes some poor choices, the other makes almost all the right ones.

CAN YOU SAY THAT WHILE DRINKING A GLASS OF WATER? (Be quiet.)
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