I Just Watched...

[Allhallowsday]

...Wow really? I must be a real puddinhead- I didn't get this movie at ALL!

Shirley Jones is one of my very favorite actor/singers, as is Gordon MacRae & Cameron Mitchell...and as many of you know, my job is restoring carousels -why WOULDN'T I love this?
When I saw it for the first time maybe 10 years ago, was dumbfounded by the plot; a womanizer's spirit haunts his daughter to warn her from men like himself? Oy.
I usually love fantasies with ghosts/spirits/angels, but no heart strings were pulled, I only found it weird. Sure, Shirley Jones is gorgeous & I love her performance, but just hated this story.

The only redeeming factor (for me) was the revelation of seeing the ride operator singing along with the band organ. I never imagined that, but bet it's historically correct- working on the ride for hours upon hours, you can't help singing along when hearing a familiar song play. Luckily, I work when the ride is closed ...

I myself generally don't care for Musicals, and CAROUSEL is not an exception. I also dislike the story. However, when music is great, I can always listen to it and I've owned the soundtrack on CD for a very long time. Best recording of that beautiful musical I've heard.

[txfilmfan]

Carousel's story problem aside, it's one of my favorite scores. The "bench scene" which weaves in and out of dialogue and song is something that hasn't really been equaled since (it's the scene with If I Loved You) in musicals. South Pacific's Twin Soliloquies comes close, but is much shorter and leads into Some Enchanted Evening. The opening scene with the Carousel Waltz is also something to see, especially the 93/94 West End/Broadway production, where a telescoping/umbrella-like carousel top appears on stage just as the song climaxes.

A lot of Americans don't know that a Carousel song was adopted by an English football (soccer) club (Liverpool FC) and the fans sing it in unison. The song? You'll Never Walk Alone.

Here's the 1993 West End opening. The video is 90s era, and was surreptitiously (and illegally) shot by an audience member. Patti Lupone wasn't around to snatch the camcorder out of their hands! The carousel appears right around the 5 minute mark.



The production transferred to New York in 1994, and here is that production (entire production). Once again this was shot by audience members, but someone has taken the time to edit pieces from different performances/audience members. This tempo is closer to what I'm used to. The London tempo seemed a bit fast. The carousel shows up here around the 5:30 mark.

The NY production introduced the world to Audra McDonald. It wasn't her first Broadway show (she was a replacement in a show a couple years earlier), but she shines in this production and won the first of her six Tonys (so far) with it.

[Masha]

How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town (2015)

A young woman attempting to express physical love with the young man whom she loves deeply is caught mid-debauchery, publicly shamed and forced to flee in her undies. She returns to the town years later only to attend her mother's funeral.

I have loved Jewel Staite since she was the genius airheaded pixie on: Firefly (2002). She was quite perfect also in her role as a very serious, no-nonsense and conscientious doctor on: Stargate: Atlantis (2005). She is the reason I watched this movie. I had hoped to see that her range extended to nearly normal characters.

I believe that this movie is in tone, production values and complexity of plot identical to: Lifetime and: Hallmark movies. I can not state this categorically because I have never watched one of those in full but I feel it is a safe assumption based on the reputation of those movies and accidently tuning in to one by chance. The only difference between this movie and those is frequent use of the: f-word and a parade of men's derrières.

This movie would have been a fun little sex comedy if it had been given a decent script, more attractive men and a director with wit and insight.

5.2/10

It is available for viewing for free with commercials on: TubiTV.

[Belle]

Carousel's story problem aside, it's one of my favorite scores. The "bench scene" which weaves in and out of dialogue and song is something that hasn't really been equaled since (it's the scene with If I Loved You) in musicals. South Pacific's Twin Soliloquies comes close, but is much shorter and leads into Some Enchanted Evening. The opening scene with the Carousel Waltz is also something to see, especially the 93/94 West End/Broadway production, where a telescoping/umbrella-like carousel top appears on stage just as the song climaxes.

A lot of Americans don't know that a Carousel song was adopted by an English football (soccer) club (Liverpool FC) and the fans sing it in unison. The song? You'll Never Walk Alone.

Here's the 1993 West End opening. The video is 90s era, and was surreptitiously (and illegally) shot by an audience member. Patti Lupone wasn't around to snatch the camcorder out of their hands! The carousel appears right around the 5 minute mark.



The production transferred to New York in 1994, and here is that production (entire production). Once again this was shot by audience members, but someone has taken the time to edit pieces from different performances/audience members. This tempo is closer to what I'm used to. The London tempo seemed a bit fast. The carousel shows up here around the 5:30 mark.

The NY production introduced the world to Audra McDonald. It wasn't her first Broadway show (she was a replacement in a show a couple years earlier), but she shines in this production and won the first of her six Tonys (so far) with it.

Interesting to hear about those stage productions and I love Audra McDonald; just wonderful. I don't have a problem with the story at all since, as I said, it's based on a pre-existing text. The score is exquisite and I think it stands alongside "Oklahoma", as their two finest works. Not so fussed on "The King and I", except for the outstanding Jerome Robbins ballet sequence. "South Pacific" was too eclectic for me; I didn't know whether I was watching musical comedy ("Honey Bun") or Opera ("Some Enchanted Evening"/Twin Soliloquies) or Stephen Sondheim ("You've got to be taught") or operetta ('Bali Hai') or Meredith Wilson ("There is Nothing Like a Dame").

[Allhallowsday]

...
A lot of Americans don't know that a Carousel song was adopted by an English football (soccer) club (Liverpool FC) and the fans sing it in unison. The song? You'll Never Walk Alone...

And recording of such is included on PINK FLOYD's album Meddle ...

[Detective Jim McLeod]

Journey Into Fear (1975) Youtube-4/10

An American engineer (Sam Waterston) doing a job in Turkey finds his life in danger.

A slow paced disappointing thriller with a good cast. I saw it for Vincent Price but it also has Zero Mostel, Yvette Mimieux, Shelley Winters, Stanley Holloway, Ian McShane and two former Bond villains in Joseph Wiseman (Dr. No) and Donald Pleasence (You Only Live Twice). Most are wasted but Price has a great death scene, almost worth seeing for that but not quite.

[Allhallowsday]

Maybe the best episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents starring CLAUDE RAINS ...The Death of Riabouchinska

[Bronxgirl48]

THE SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953)



Starring RHONDA FLEMING WILLIAM LUNDIGAN RAYMOND BURR MICHAEL ANSARA ...and JULIE NEWMAR !!! When Julie was brought into the "throne room" (she has no lines) painted GOLD ...I recognized her right away! As described in WONG FOO - truly statuesque!!!

WILLIAM CASTLE directed... (uh-oh) and it is LOW RENT. Deepo cheapo. REEL GAH - BAJ. Can't wait to see it again (with long term planning).

Did they show this on Rhonda Fleming Day? If so I missed it, darn! William Castle! Was Rhonda Cleopatra?

[Allhallowsday]

...THE SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953)


...
Did they show this on Rhonda Fleming Day? If so I missed it, darn! William Castle! Was Rhonda Cleopatra?

Yes. Late, in the wee hours, sheer luck. It was so spectacularly B with good acting from the male leads, implausible and dead-scripted as it is, and RHONDA was featured in one off the rack Halloween costume Cleopatra after another. Spectookular! A treasure trove of Bad.

[laffite]

Father of My Children (2009) After watching I read the Netflix blurb. The first line is the Mother of all Spoilers. A crucial scene is given away, a scene that does not appear until halfway through the movie. An unconscionable reveal, totally unacceptable to any reasonable person. Luckily I did not read it first, the scene turned out to be one of the most jarring WTF scenes I have ever seen but it in a good sense. I had to put on pause to collect myself. Nothing sensational, in fact just the opposite, that's the beauty of it. The whole movie is like that. A family drama fraught with those elements hat make the genre so compelling. But in this case, a bit differently rendered. Any more detail than that is to say too much. IMO. Spoiler alerts are ignored for the most part anyway.

In the same vein (not in content but in form) is Celine (1992), not about the singer nor the 20th Century French author, rather about a young woman who is being treated by a nurse after suffering multiple traumas in a relative short time span. Conventional relaxation exercises and subsequent meditation help stave off suicidal tendencies and go far beyond the usual benefits, going where all meditators yearn to go while seeming to be out of reach from our Celine. These events are rendered in a way that would make Hollywood wince. Such a great opportunity to sensationalize, to really grab the audience. Not so here, to see the opposite of that is a breath of fresh air.

Both films seem to be intent on simple storytelling, bringing the extraordinary down to the mundane but not in a self-conscious way. There is nothing "experimental" by this. Just simple understatement that strives not for immediate effect but comes scintillatingly as afterthought.

//

[Bronxgirl48]

...THE SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953)


...
Did they show this on Rhonda Fleming Day? If so I missed it, darn! William Castle! Was Rhonda Cleopatra?

Yes. Late, in the wee hours, sheer luck. It was so spectacularly B with good acting from the male leads, implausible and dead-scripted as it is, and RHONDA was featured in one off the rack Halloween costume Cleopatra after another. Spectookular! A treasure trove of Bad.

Oh my gosh, allhallowsday, you make it sound positively irresistible! I'm crazy for the schlock! Drat, they'll never show this again I fear....

[scsu1975]

...THE SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953)


...
Did they show this on Rhonda Fleming Day? If so I missed it, darn! William Castle! Was Rhonda Cleopatra?

Yes. Late, in the wee hours, sheer luck. It was so spectacularly B with good acting from the male leads, implausible and dead-scripted as it is, and RHONDA was featured in one off the rack Halloween costume Cleopatra after another. Spectookular! A treasure trove of Bad.

Oh my gosh, allhallowsday, you make it sound positively irresistible! I'm crazy for the schlock! Drat, they'll never show this again I fear....

You can watch it on YouTube.

[Allhallowsday]

...THE SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953)



Oh my gosh, allhallowsday, you make it sound positively irresistible! I'm crazy for the schlock! Drat, they'll never show this again I fear....

The best bad movie I've looked at maybe this year.
If you have a sweet-tooth for crap, it ranks... switch the "s"...pun intended!

[Belle]

"Count Five and Die", B&W, 1957 starring Jeffrey Hunter and Nigel Patrick.

The quality isn't very good and it didn't look Cinemascope to me; the aspect ratio was obviously squeezed for TV. It's a good film about WW2 and the Normandy landings - based on true events - with more twists than a small intestine!!

[Allhallowsday]

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1940) One of Hollywood's greatest achievements.