WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[RedRiver]

Holy doo-doo! I'm not familiar with FAST AND LOOSE. That sounds like a barrel of laughs. I bet it was Thin Man inspired. Roz is dynamite with that kind of stuff.

[Gary J.]

Getting back to Sidney Franklin, Thalberg always treated him as a special case and liked to assign him more prestige productions. He never made more than two films a year during the earlier talkies and as the Thirties went on Franklin would spend a couple of years on a project. When Thalberg died Mayer divided up his production responsibilities among his five loyal lieutenants and so Franklin hung up his directing spurs and concentrated entirely on producing more prestigious productions for MGM until he retired.

He had a long career which started back in the silents in the mid teens earning his stripes cranking out two-reel comedies with his brother Chester. Many of them were kid comedies (Baby Carmen De Rue, anyone?) but eventually he began working with Norma Talmadge, Dorothy Gish and Mary Pickford. By the Twenties he had teamed with Anita Loos and Norma's sister, Constance, to create some of her biggest films of that era. So it was understandable that he began slowing down his workload by the Thirties.

[JackFavell]

Oh dear! What a wealth this thread brings today!

I love most of Franklin's films, that's why I was curious about him.

The Furies did generate a ton of discussion over at the TCM website 2 or so years ago... it's a really good, unsung western with a lot of family saga overtones. Judith Anderson is just great, I hated her on sight but she is also somewhat sympathetic... love those not quite bad not quite good characters! And Gilbert.... really?? really, you're going to turn down GILBERT for WENDELL COREY???????

Red, you had me laughing hard with your description of boxing, MOM and stickball. Warners all the way.

[MikeBSG]

Last night I saw "The Debt" the new spy thriller with Helen Mirren.

Mirren was good, but I was more impressed by several other performances.

Jesper Christensen was outstanding as the suspected Nazi war criminal. He really caught my attention and gave the movie a lot of energy.

Jessica Chastain probably had the other key part in the film, as the younger version of Mirren. She was tough and vulnerable, and most impressive when she was slowly coming apart after the mission. Certainly an actress to watch.

finally, I was impressed with Sam Worthington as the younger Mossad agent. I didn't especially like him in "Avatar," but here he was very interesting, showing vulnerability beneath the toughness, and, like Chastain, was very impressive in the post-mission scenes when he was coming apart.

Do I understand correctly that "The Debt" was filmed before "Avatar"? That doesn't seem right, but I guess "The Debt" has been waiting for a release for one year.

[RedRiver]

Previews for THE DEBT do look good. Now I'm seeing ads for THE IDES OF MARCH. That's one I just might invest in a theatre ticket for. And popcorn. Coke. Some of those...OK, so we're talking twenty dollars!

[Rita Hayworth]

Previews for THE DEBT do look good. Now I'm seeing ads for THE IDES OF MARCH. That's one I just might invest in a theatre ticket for. And popcorn. Coke. Some of those...OK, so we're talking twenty dollars!

If you taking a date/wife/husband and add for parking ... it's goes up to fifty dollars! Being in my 50's; I remember taking my girlfriend to the movies and the same package costs me $8.00 even!

[knitwit45]

Lady of Burlesque is one of my favorite Stany pics. When she does her dances, or the comedy routines, she just rocks. Can you believe those falling splits she did? whoa. I remember reading that she was extremely long waisted, and very hard to find costumes/clothing that complemented her. Well, in this one and in Ball of Fire, her stage clothes were perfect. I love the breezy, light hearted feel of LoB, very much like Ball of Fire and The Lady Eve, my other 2 favorites of her films. Guess I'm just not into the angry, angst ridden Babs.....

[feaito]

I re-watched "The Age of Innocence" (1934), a good film based upon the play based on Edith Wharton's novel. Irene Dunne gives a luminous performance as Countess Ellen Olenska, a woman who has separated from her European husband and has become an outsider within her own family and their very strict NY circle. Julie Haydon is exquisite as her cousin May and Helen Westley utterly delightful as Grandmother Manson-Mingott. A fine little picture which stands its own against Scorsese's lavish 1993 filmization of the story.

[CineMaven]

I had a treat today, for a girl who's not too clued up on Westerns and doesn't always enjoy them The Furies was great fun to watch...Barbara Stanwyck too, I can see why all those years later that she was cast in The Colby's, I think this is her blue print here....A fine film and for a girl who's not really into Westerns, it's a Western I'd watch again.

I'm not a Western gal myself, Charlie...but some of my pals are, so I've been getting myself acclimated to being in the West from time to time with my infrequent forays into the frontier. It took a couple of viewings of "THE FURIES" to come to like it. And my recent attraction...hmmm...healthy respect for Wendell Corey will send me to visit "The Furies" in the future. It's interesting to me that you draw a line from "The Furies" to "The Colbys" where I would draw that line from "The Furies" to "Forty Guns" to tv's "The Big Valley." (P.S. "The Big Valley" is being made into a movie starring Jessica Lange as Victoria Barkley...)
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...Blanche Yurka, as Gilbert Roland's mother, once again scares the willies out of me. How would you like to have her for a mother-in-law? The ending doesn't quite work for me. Maybe if Richard Widmark, or even Glenn Ford, were playing the Wendell Corey role. Nonetheless, for me this is one of Anthony Mann's very best films.

Say King...would you rather have Katina Paxinou as a mother-in-law? I think Katina would scare Blanche. As for Widmark or Ford as Stanwyck's leading man...I would have tended to agree with you...but (and it took me years) I've finally settled into Corey being her guy. They fit. Look, don't confuse me with Widmark and Ford. Besides, if she's going to be crazy enough to turn down Gilbert Roland......

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Last night I saw "The Debt" the new spy thriller with Helen Mirren. Mirren was good, but I was more impressed by several other performances. Jesper Christensen was outstanding as the suspected Nazi war criminal...Jessica Chastain...was tough and vulnerable, and most impressive when she was slowly coming apart after the mission. Certainly an actress to watch...Sam Worthington...was very interesting, showing vulnerability beneath the toughness, and, like Chastain, was very impressive in the post-mission scenes when he was coming apart.

Hi Mike. I saw "THE DEBT" last week and enjoyed it. I feel pretty grown up when I watch (and even understand) an espionage thriller. They're one of the hardest genres for me. At first I thought it was your standard fare...but the turn of events had me riveted. What happens when a plan falls apart. Jesper Christensen gave a stand out performance and could be as Oscar-worthy as Christoph Waltz's Nazi portrayal in "Inglorious Basterds." You know the credo in movies...have a smart & cunning villain. Hannibal Lecter would be proud of him. Both young actors were very good. I haven't been crazy about Sam Worthington ("Avatar" "Clash of the Titan") but his character's struggles with what he did in this movie is changing my mind about him. But my whole reason for seeing the movie is purely...Helen Mirren. She is just amazing.

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Previews for "THE DEBT" do look good. Now I'm seeing ads for THE IDES OF MARCH. That's one I just might invest in a theatre ticket for. And popcorn. Coke. Some of those...OK, so we're talking twenty dollars!

"THE IDES OF MARCH" looked really good and has a great cast: Paul Giamatti...Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Two great character actors. Ryan Gosling is the new up & comer to be on the lookout for. But twenty bucks? C'mon Red...you can't take it with you.

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Did anyone else see Cher's pick "LADY OF BURLESQUE", with Barbara Stanwyck? This was a hoot and a half.

Lady of Burlesque is one of my favorite Stany pics. When she does her dances, or the comedy routines, she just rocks. Can you believe those falling splits she did? whoa.

I love the breezy, light hearted feel of LoB, very much like Ball of Fire and The Lady Eve, my other 2 favorites of her films. Guess I'm just not into the angry, angst ridden Babs.....

I can take an angry angst-ridden Babs...when she starts with the quivering chin and the tears and that break in her voice...I'm right there. If she shoots someone...all the better. But when she's being easy breezy...that's great too. It's her riding a horse...and doing those splits, that separate her from Bette Davis. It's part of my constant struggle of Actress Supremacy (in my own head) between Babsy and Bette.

[RedRiver]

If you taking a date/wife/husband and add for parking

That's one good thing about a small town. We don't pay for parking. Ever!

[RedRiver]

I didn't know about THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. The fabulous Ms. Dunne is in it? I imagine she's good. She always is.

[feaito]

It's a very worthwhile picture RedRiver and it has beautiful cinematography. Irene Dunne is also a favorite of mine.

[Gary J.]

She is very good in the 1934 version, but unfortunately she is paired with John Boles and consequently has no one to play off of. Which is rather important in a story of repression. I find Scorsese's version heartbreaking thanks to the playing of the two lead, Pfeiffer and Day-Lewis. It is all very understated and unspoken....and quite sad.