WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

You ever watch a movie and it grabs a hold of you to the extent that you think about said movie and characters for the next couple days?

That's what i'm going through with Monte Walsh (1970). At first I thought the movie was a meandering and boring mess but right about the quarter mark of the film I truly latched onto it. It's very poignant and melancholy in its story. Seeing Lee Marvin looking like he's older then dirt clinging on to the cowboy way of life when the whole world is changing around him was heartbreaking.

The bit players were fantastic and even though he didn't say too much I really liked Jack Palance's support in the film. Even Jim Davis who doesn't have much screen time had an impact and it seemed like his character really sympathized what his hired men were going through as he was forced to let some go.

This is truly one of the greatest westerns i've ever seen and if anyone's a fan of the genre then you're not a true afficionado until you've seen this at least once.
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

You ever watch a movie and it grabs a hold of you to the extent that you think about said movie and characters for the next couple days?

That's what i'm going through with Monte Walsh (1970). At first I thought the movie was a meandering and boring mess but right about the quarter mark of the film I truly latched onto it. It's very poignant and melancholy in its story. Seeing Lee Marvin looking like he's older then dirt clinging on to the cowboy way of life when the whole world is changing around him was heartbreaking.

The bit players were fantastic and even though he didn't say too much I really liked Jack Palance's support in the film. Even Jim Davis who doesn't have much screen time had an impact and it seemed like his character really sympathized what his hired men were going through as he was forced to let some go.

This is truly one of the greatest westerns i've ever seen and if anyone's a fan of the genre then you're not a true afficionado until you've seen this at least once.
feaito

Post by feaito »

Over the weekend I watched two Alice Faye musicals:

"On the Avenue" (1937), which I read was the basis of the plot of Monroe's "Let's Make Love" (1960). Some excellent Irving Berlin songs performed by Alice Faye and Dick Powell. The bewitching, aristocratic beauty of lovely Madeleine Carroll as an heiress who's offended by a sequence of a Broadway show that mocks her and her family, in which Faye and Powell star.

George Barbier as Carroll's dad and especially Cora Witherspoon, playinga a funny, hilarious character for a change, are first rate. Those who like The Ritz Brothers will be pleased by their routines. Faye does not really star, but she has fine moments and sings great tunes.

"That Night in Rio" (1941). A bright musical, in shiny, gaudy Fox Technicolor, which is a remake of Chevalier's "Folies Bergeres" (1935). This musical is Ameche's film all the way, rather than Alice Faye's. He's very good in the double role of the Baron and nightclub performer Larry Martin. Carmen Miranda has a couple of very energetic, vibrant numbers and is very fetching as a Brazilian diva. Very colorful, amusing musical.

I also saw the 2008 film "Definitely, Maybe" which I found quite engrossing. I must admit that I fell in love with Isla Fisher's screen character. She has quite a lot of chemistry with Ryan Reynolds. Abigail Breslin is a an amazing talent. Recommended for those who like non-clichéd love stories.

Last but definitely not least I saw a film which I had long waited to watch again: the 1951 vintage fantasy-romantic remake of "Berkeley Square" (1933), "I'll Never Forget You" (1951). This film had lingered in my mind since a was a small kid and Ann Blyth was just as I remembered her: beautiful, ethereal, magic, perfectly suited for the role of Ty's beloved Helen Pettigrew. She gives a very apt performance and conveys the nature of her dreamy character. Tyrone Power is equally good as the idealistic Peter Standish, a man between two worlds. A very good British supporting cast that includes Beatrice Campell as Blyth's haughty sister and Dennis Price as her foppish brother. No doubt "Somewhere in Time" (1980) must have been insppired in this film's plot.

If you liked "Peter Ibbetson" (1935), "Smilin' Through" (1932) and "Portrait of Jennie" (1948), you will like this film. In my opinion, the latter continues to be the masterpiece of the Genre, followed closely by "Peter Ibbetson".
MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

Yesterday, I watched "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" on DVD.

I liked the movie. It feels very much like a retread of "The African Queen" but has enough differences to keep things interesting. Neither Mitchum nor Kerr are my favorite performers, which is probably why I never saw it before, but they did good work here.

What I found very interesting was the generally humanistic way the Japanese were treated. They were presented as guys just doing their job, who spent their off-time playing "Go" or watching a fighting match. This was a nicely understated part of the film.
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

Mike:

Although Mitchum and Kerr are not two of your favorite performers, I hope you will revisit Heaven Knows Mr. Allison sometime next year or so. In no way does it resemble The African Queen, nor are the Japanese treated as guys just doing their job. They are the so and so's who killed the priest and all the people who lived on that island. Mitchum had no idea what a nun really stood for, and part of the attraction of the film is both the way he fell for her, and the tender way she made him understand without making him feel totally stupid. But the whole movie is him trying to protect her and his faith in the Marine Corp. who he is sure will be back for them.

Mitchums' portrayal of this big dumb cluck who goes through renderings of the heart and heroics without question - simply his duty, and Kerr's sensitive and pure, yet strong and tough nun garnered several award nominations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you have to like it, I just think you missed something at some point. Didn't you sweat with him while he lay all night in that storage tent with the rats crawling around, and them playing their game just under him? The bit with the raw fish was enough to make me gag, and I admit I cheered quietly while he was messing with those guns that were stationed around.

Anne
Anne


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MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

The scene in which Mitchum slipped into the Japanese base to steal food and had to spend the night there because the two guys were playing their game was very effective. "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" is a very well-made movie, but it just struck me as something of a "run for cover" movie for Huston, much as "Dial M for Murder" was for Hitchcock. Both "Heaven" and "Dial" are good, enjoyable movies, but I think they are both attempts by their makers to show they still have the knack of attracting an audience despite the low box office of some of their recent movies.
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Ann Harding
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Post by Ann Harding »

Heaven Knows, Mr Allison is one of my favourite Huston pictures. I love the relationship between Mitchum & Kerr. The film is very special with its handling of the subject. I think it's not just a 'standard picture'. I also like Georges Auric's score. :wink:
feaito

Post by feaito »

Count me in as another fan of Huston's film ("Heaven Knows Mr. Allison" (1957)). When I watched it many, many years ago it surpassed my expectations. I wouldn't have thought at that time that a movie with only two characters would be so engrossing.

This weekend I watched three films:

"Penelope" (2008). A very good fairy-tale style of film starring Christina Ricci as an heiress born with a pig's nose due to a 200 year old curse. Only a good, charismatic actress like Ricci could have made a success out of her character. Ever since I saw her impersonate Wednesday Addams I liked her right away! And she performs very well opposite James McAvoy. Imaginative film. Above the average of the regular stuff that's coming from out of Hollywood. I think it was made in England.

"The Gang's All Here!" (1943). One of the gaudiest, happiest, more optimistic musical extravaganzas made by Fox during the WWII Era, with a couple of the more Surrealistic Busby Berkeley numbers, which are the real "stars" of the picture, especially the impossibly kistchy "The Lady With the Tutti-Frutti Hat" number performed by a larger than life Carmen Miranda. The plot is thin, but the numbers and the charm of some of the supporting characters is impossible to resist: such pros as Eugene Pallette, Charlotte Greenwood and Edward Everett Horton. Benny Goodman and Phil Baker are also featured. Alice Faye gives a sincere performance as chorus girl who makes good an sings a couple of songs. 100% escapist entertainment.

"Girl's Dormitory" (1936). Thanks heaven that Ty Power had a small role in this now forgotten film, because otherwise I think that hardly it would had been released on DVD. I hadn't much expectations, since I hadn't read much positive things about this film. I was totally surprised by this film and my wife and I enjoyed it thoroughly from the beginning to the end. It's Simone Simon's first American film and in spite that she was well past 25 or 26, she was believable as an infatuated schoolgirl with her schoolmaster (Herbert Marshall, who is always being criticized for her "dull" man portrayals of this time....but why everyone has to be dashing or vivacious? I bet that there were and are many men like Marshall's Dr. Dominick, who are immersed in their own world and work and do not realize about the fellings of the women who surround him. I think it has happened to more than one man. Hasn't it?). I did not ring false that Ms. Simon could fall in love with a man of his type, not at all. And I liked Marshall's performance and I'm sorry to read so many derogative comments re. his "dull" persona in such enjoyable films like "Angel", "The Little Foxes" or "The Letter"; after all there are many men like him in real life. In this film he plays a kind of idealistic character and a perennial bachelor, who does not realize neither Simon's feelings nor Ruth Chatterton's (who plays beautifully a teacher whos' been devoted to him for a long time). It's commendable that Chatterton portrayed this role which wasn't very favorable to her star status and although her star had waned by this time, one realizes she was an actress first and star in second place. She gives a subtle, nuanced performance as the devoted teacher. I won't give away more of the plot, but I was surprised at the film's ending and how things worked out. It's not a masterpiece but it is a very good, small film with very human aspects. Simone Simon is very good in her role and is better than in "Josette", because the material is of higher quality here. The film is set in an Austrian or German Private School and has that European flavour to it. Constance Collier plays a vindictive, resentful, bitter woman who teaches at the School and who is loathed by the girls, although you can feel sorry for her, realizing her miserable life. I cannot say the same for J. Edward Bromberg's utterly despicable Maths Teacher character. I laughed out loud in most of the scenes Collier was in. She was a real pro. Especially funny due to the other professor's remarks towards Collier's and Bromberg's disagreable characters was a scene during a professors' meeting in which Simone Simon's "situation" was being discussed. Frank Reicher and George Hassell are so very wise and human as two professors who are the total opposites of Collier and Bromberg. Nice bits by John Qualen and Christian Rub, whom I remembered fondly from "Little Man What Now?"(1934), "Maytime" (1937) and "The Great Waltz" (1938), among others. He's the kind of character actor I love! A film that at least deserves to be seen, other than for Ty's debut in a small role.

Something similar happened to me with Raft's "Night after Night" (1932), which has been largely dismissed, save for West's debut, but which I discovered had many merits of its own.
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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

I too love Heaven Knows Mr Allison I think both performances are amongst their best.

Yesterday I saw both The Snake Pit and A Woman's Face both impressed me more than I imagined they would.

The Snake Pit is a brave choice for an actress nowadays it would probably mean the Oscar but she didn't win for this role. I'm only fimiliar with her from GWTW and as Errol Flynn's leading lady but she was far more capable than as a love interest to Flynn. One uncredited role on the imdb was played by Betsy Blair, I thought she really stood out as Esther. It was very convenient how her problems worked themselves out in the end. I can't help wondering what happned to the other inmates, perhaps that's just me. As a movie, I enjoyed it very much

A Woman's Face
wasn't what I expected at all, Joan is a baddie with a disfigured face, she is a bad 'un because she has never known the love of another, she attempts to extort moneyfrom a doctor's wife and is caught but he mends her face making her the beautiful Joan that we know. This is all very simplified, she gets caught in a love triangle with Conrad Veidt playing a bigger rogue than herself and Melvyn Douglas playing the doctor. What make this film so good isn't the story but the direction. It's just a compelling watch. I've never really been hot or cold for Joan Crawford but I feel that George Cukor made the absolute best of her beauty and the script.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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MichiganJ
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Post by MichiganJ »

This weekend, after discovering that my shed is infested with termites, I was inspired to watch Them!, the greatest of Hollywood’s giant insect movies. Interestingly, when having dinner on our deck and whining about the termites to my ever-patient wife, we paused to listen to the cicadas (lots of bugs at Casa Kevin). They sound suspiciously like the giant ants in Them! Having not seen the film, my wife didn’t understand the reference but was able to share some wisdom: Giant ants eating humans certainly puts termites chowing on my shed into some perspective. (Now I worry about what the potent chemical I need to use on the termites will do to me? I’m cueing up The Thing With Two Heads even as I write....)
"Let's be independent together." Dr. Hermey DDS
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knitwit45
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Post by knitwit45 »

Hey Termite Man, there's a great discussion about the movie "Them" here:http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis/viewtopic.php?t=1517

Hope I did that right, I'm quite technically challenged. But the thread is found under Sci-Fi and Horror. Enjoy!
"Life is not the way it's supposed to be.. It's the way it is..
The way we cope with it, is what makes the difference." ~ Virginia Satir
""Most people pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it." ~ Soren Kierkegaard
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MichiganJ
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Post by MichiganJ »

Thanks Knitwit , for the heads-up.

You’d think that after a few months here, I would start to get the hang of things, and maybe even look before I leap. Color me embarrassed. :oops: (I did just figure out that the “emoticons” have actual meanings, which is “cool” 8), and, of course, makes sense. Something, which my wife will tell you, I sometimes lack... :wink: )
"Let's be independent together." Dr. Hermey DDS
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knitwit45
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Post by knitwit45 »

hey, we all need a helping hand now and then, and for heavens sake, I'm the neediest of the bunch! Just happy to direct you to that thread. Hope you don't grow toooo many extra fingers when you're done with the extermination... :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

Nancy
"Life is not the way it's supposed to be.. It's the way it is..
The way we cope with it, is what makes the difference." ~ Virginia Satir
""Most people pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it." ~ Soren Kierkegaard
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Ann Harding
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Post by Ann Harding »

Yesterday I watched two early films made by the late Jules Dassin who died recently. First Young Ideas (1943) with Susan Peters, Mary Astor & Herbert Marshall. It was a very fluffy MGM comedy where best-selling author Mary Astor marries University professor Marshall to the great despair of her kids who try their best to seperate them... The film didn't have much to command it. The script was just too lame in spite of its cast.
But after, I saw a short The Tell-Tale Heart (1941) with Joseph Schildkraut based on Edgar Allan Poe. This little film had bags of atmosphere and showed already the potential of the future author of Night and the City. Very interesting!
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

I've been sick for the better part of a week but am better now. I watched a good chunk of the Laurel and Hardy SOTS day and they were truly fantastic. I swear those guys are the standard which every comedy duo should be measured against.

I was a bit worried though at times as Ollie really got quite obese during his career. No wonder he had a closet full of clothes from every phase of his career that can be worn according to his waistline.

Oh and here's something I wrote at another site about a movie I watched yesterday.

I just watched a pretty good movie that i've been meaning to see for years now. It's The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) starring Jason Robards. I thought Robards did a pretty good job as Al Capone though at times he went just a little over the top.

The movie had a very straightforward faux documentary style to it and I especially liked the parts where the narrator gives the rundown on the various players in the movie. If you haven't seen it i'd suggest checking it out.


Just to add a little more to this since that was written on a message board frequented by younger people not really into the older movies. George Segal's first scene was alternatively charming and hinted at real violence. I just love it when subtlety can be used that effectively. I also kinda felt sorry for the old Italian immigrant who was a pawn of the gang war. If that's 100% as its presented in the film then it's interesting how plain ol' regular folks can get sucked into such shady dealings. I just wonder how common it was?

Again, great little movie and gets my highest recommendations. 4 out of 5 stars. I'd have given it 5 stars but the straightforwardness of the story was just a little TOO apparent.
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