I Just Watched...

[Bronxgirl48]

I started with a low opinion of Robards by seeing him first as Brutus in JULIUS CAESAR, where he is 1) miscast, 2) dreadful, 3) looks hungover, and 4) sometimes seems to be reading his lines off cue cards. Fortunately, he is better in other films.

Now you make me want to see JULIUS CAESAR. Haven't seen all of Jason's work but from what I have he's never given a bad performance. I think probably every great actor has one, lol. (check out if you dare Paul Muni in A SONG TO REMEMBER)

[Bronxgirl48]

I saw THE DISEMBODIED with Allison Hayes yesterday. Allison is a sexually restless, frustrated sexpot with a trashy past unhappily hitched to a stodgy but rich jungle doctor. Periodically she is unexplainably transformed into a writhing voodoo queen making life and death decisions over the local native population and of course hubby.”

(Sigh)
Another MADAME BOVARY REMAKE?
Almost as done to death as JANE EYRE…

lol, Jennifer Jones would have been terrific in THE DISEMBODIED -- just as hammy but with more class.

[Allhallowsday]

...The divine Divine!

Wish they had included PINK FLAMINGOS and FEMALE TROUBLE.

I think they've broadcast both, I know I saw MULTIPLE MANIACS at TCM.

[Bronxgirl48]

kingrat, unfortunately I think I have but get it confused with that similiar Lana Turner one where she's confronting crazed murderous hippies -- I think the title is THE BIG CUBE or something along those lines.

[Bronxgirl48]

...The divine Divine!

Wish they had included PINK FLAMINGOS and FEMALE TROUBLE.

I think they've broadcast both, I know I saw MULTIPLE MANIACS at TCM.

They have? Wow, I give the station credit! Never saw MULTIPLE MANIACS but would love to. Is that the one where Divine is violated by an oversized crustacean?

[Lorna]

kingrat, unfortunately I think I have but get it confused with that similiar Lana Turner one where she's confronting crazed murderous hippies -- I think the title is THE BIG CUBE or something along those lines.

ANGEL ANGEL DOWN WE GO (which is also known by another name that I can’t recall and I’m too lazy to look up) makes THE BIG CUBE look like a masterfully constructed piece of genuine social commentary with great acting to boot.

It’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.

It was also the first film I saw on YouTube.

[I Love Melvin]

...The divine Divine!

Wish they had included PINK FLAMINGOS and FEMALE TROUBLE.

I think they've broadcast both, I know I saw MULTIPLE MANIACS at TCM.

They have? Wow, I give the station credit! Never saw MULTIPLE MANIACS but would love to. Is that the one where Divine is violated by an oversized crustacean?

And then Divine is gunned down on the streets of Baltimore by the National Guard. (John's friends in army fatigues, but it's the thought that counts.)

[TikiSoo]

Almost as done to death as JANE EYRE…

Funny you mention JANE EYRE...we heard a synopsis of the book and were intrigued as we enjoy Gothic mystery romances. So I thought catching Jane Eyre as a movie would be worthwhile, aren't there several versions?

My library has the Orson Welles version and I'm always up for seeing the pompous brute overacting, but Maltin reviews that attempt as "dull & plodding", not a good introduction.

Anyone have an opinion of the best version of JANE EYRE that's out there?

[Lorna]

Almost as done to death as JANE EYRE…

Funny you mention JANE EYRE...we heard a synopsis of the book and were intrigued as we enjoy Gothic mystery romances. So I thought catching Jane Eyre as a movie would be worthwhile, aren't there several versions?

My library has the Orson Welles version and I'm always up for seeing the pompous brute overacting, but Maltin reviews that attempt as "dull & plodding", not a good introduction.

Anyone have an opinion of the best version of JANE EYRE that's out there?

My personal recommendation is kind of out of left field, but Orson Welles did a radio version in 1938 for, I think the Campbell playhouse, starring – I kid you not – Miss Loretta Young as JANE EYRE. It’s only an hour long, but it condenses the story really well and I actually think Loretta is pretty good on the part. It’s available on YouTube and archive.org for free and you can listen to it while you put her about the house doing things, which I love about old radio.

Leonard Maltin has always been a total dipshit. The Orson Welles/Joan Fontaine version is perfectly fine, and worth noting is a really strong performance from a very very very young Elizabeth Taylor.

There was also a version just a few years ago, which I think features the kid from BILLY ELLIOT as JANE’s love interest who isn’t Mr ROCHESTER- people often want to focus on the wife in the attic and Jane/Rochester dynamic of the story, but that’s actually only part of the book. The whole third act involves Jane running away and finding romance with a young clergyman, and it seems as if the most recent big screen adaptation focused more on tha, it actually made at the start of the movie and then has Jane flashback to what happened to her in Rochester’s house.

[Lorna]

I am posting using voice transcription on my phone, so I apologize for all the misspellings and such, but also, I would recommend you listen to Jane Eyre on audiobook which I’m sure you can also find on YouTube. I reread it recently, skipping the first bummer part set at the orphanage school, and focusing more on the third act and Ending.

I had read it 20 years earlier for college, but I had forgotten a lot about it, especially the authors use of birds metaphors, which is really notable.

[Allhallowsday]

...They have? Wow, I give the station credit! Never saw MULTIPLE MANIACS but would love to. Is that the one where Divine is violated by an oversized crustacean?

Yes, a lobster.

[TikiSoo]

It’s available on YouTube and archive.org for free and you can listen to it while you put her about the house doing things, which I love about old radio.

Thanks! I've actually heard that version. I too love radio shows and listen to locally produced "Tuned To Yesterday" where each night offers 2 hours of radio genres: comedy, drama, adventure, true history, variety shows (like Alice Faye/Phil Harris) game shows (often Groucho) and sitcoms (often My Favorite Husband or Burns & Allen)

Leonard Maltin has always been a total dipshit. The Orson Welles/Joan Fontaine version is perfectly fine, and worth noting is a really strong performance from a very very very young Elizabeth Taylor.

Be careful....Leonard Maltin is a personal friend of mine.
Often the 2 sentence reviews in the Movie Guide are geared towards the average viewer, not classic film fans like us.
Leonard Maltin's Classic Film Movie Guide is geared more towards people like us. I also often consult the Psychotronic Encyclopedia for cult type movie fans.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

[


Leonard Maltin's Classic Film Movie Guide is geared more towards people like us. I also often consult the Psychotronic Encyclopedia for cult type movie fans.

Both of those books sit proudly on my coffee table. Well, I have the 2000 Leonard Maltin Movie Guide which contains all the classic films as well as modern ones up to 2000. I also have the 2015 version since I heard that would be the final one.

I liked the way Maltin called Plan 9 From Outer Space so mesmerizingly awful that it improves with each viewing!

The Psychotronic Encyclopedia is used so much, the pages are coming apart from the binding.

[Lorna]

OH lORD, i'M SORRY. Didn't mean to start drama already.