WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[movieman1957]

Today I watched Samuel Fuller's Naked Kiss, I found the music too jarring at the beginning but I think I was meant to, this was a bald prostitute beating a man to a pulp andthen we flash forward a couple of years and Kelly the prostitute appears in Grantville where she turns her last trick with the police officer. Soon she finds a job in a handicap children's hospital, a job she's obviously born for and has a loating of her past life. We are only gradually let in to what has happened to Kelly, we see her to be a woman of moral courage and a caring nurse who catches the eye of the doctor. A new life opens up for her, she comes clean about her past but learns a terrible truth about her fiance. I'm unsure about this movie, in some part I really quite enjoyed it, the cinematography, the soundtrack, the knowledge being only revealed gradually and the fact that it treated it's audience like adults who could read behind the lines. Yet I wasn't completely won over although I don't know why, perhaps it was the male stars who just failed to shine for me or the slightly saccaharine portrayal of Kelly as a nurse. I would watch again though.

I can't say I enjoyed it. I nearly stopped it. For a while it didn't make any sense. Odd characters with odd stories caught up in sordid situations make for a very confusing hour only to have it blessedly tied up along the way. "Kelly" is an interesting character. She is prostitute, protector, tough minded and a tender hearted woman who has such trouble trying to start over. It's a dirty world that occupies this film. I found it a hard film to watch but I'm glad I finished it so that the end brought some closure to it all.

[charliechaplinfan]

I think we agree Chris on Naked Kiss, an interesting movie but I was filled with uncertainty about what I was seeing, glad I stuck with it though.

Don't Bother to Knock was one of the later Marilyn movies I watched and being more acquainted with her light comedies I was really taken with her unstable babysitter in DBTK. She was more of an actress than I realised. I still haven't seen Niagra though, something I plan to remedy.

[CineMaven]

Let us know what you think of it. I really enjoyed Marilyn's turn in it. She wasn't given enough credit in her career.

[JackFavell]

I saw The Muppets yesterday and just want to add my appreciation of Jason Segal... I had no idea he produced and wrote the movie as well as starred in it. I've always liked him, ever since he got up and sang Lady by Styx in Freaks and Geeks....now I love him.

I have always loved the Muppets and Jim Henson, and this movie really retains a lot of the Henson feel of the first movie.

It was worth the money just to hear Chris Cooper rap!

[RedRiver]

My thoughts on the last few posts. DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK: Too much talk. Not a bad film. It just never gets off the ground. NAKED KISS: Too much in Samuel Fuller's dark and cerebral head. Is this a psych class or a story? NIAGARA: Exciting and visual. Lust, murder and scenery, this is the big winner of the three.

Jason Segel: Put some clothes on. Please! I don't mind him. Rather not see...it.

[charliechaplinfan]

We saw The Smurfs yesterday, the only saving grace there was that Joe loved it, he's 6 the rest of us were bored to tears. They did run a trailer for The Muppets, I love the muppets, the kids are not going to miss this movie. I'm going to dig out Niagra and watch it, I'm interested having seen her other early films.

[CineMaven]

My thoughts on the next to the last post. "DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK." Good film, psychological breakdown of a young woman. "NAKED KISS" would have to see it again to refresh my memory...but where do you go after a bald headed prostitute beats you to hell with her stilettos? "NIAGARA" Marilyn AND Niagara Falls. Oh, and the scene where she brings out a record for the kids to play...and when she...well, see the movie.

Jason Segal: He can answer the door any way he wants to!

[MikeBSG]

I only saw "Niagara" for the first time earlier this year, and I have to say that I really liked it. Splendid use of color, and Monroe and Cotten were very interesting characters.

What surprises me about "Niagara" and "Don't Bother to Knock" is that we see Monroe playing a bad person. (Evil in "Niagara," and screwed up in "Don't Bother to Knock.") That isn't how we remember her. Her on-screen image now is the almost parody sex goddess in "Seven Year Itch" and "Some Like It Hot" and her off-screen image is one of woman as victim (of either Hollywood or America or some bad men.) Seeing Monroe as "bad" is something of a shock to me.

[CineMaven]

The public will (almost) take what you give 'em. Brother Rat, did you see "NIAGARA" at the festival this year? I missed the beginning and the commentator at the beginning, but I saw 2/3 of the film and his talk at the end about 20th Century Fox and her image. (I'm so sorry I forgot the gentleman's name).

Alison, don't forget to come back and tell us what you thought of "Niagara."

And nobody saw "The Tattered Dress"??? I'm shocked and chagrined!!! ...And also flummoxed!

[charliechaplinfan]

I have no idea who Jason Segal is, guess I'll have to watch The Muppets to find out.

I will have to watch Niagra shortly. I have been catching up on another recommend, The Asphalt Jungle after watching The Killing last week I was axious to revisit this heist movie. I like John Huston as a director although I don't always think he's the most easily accessible, you have to give something to the viewing to get the best out of a Huston film, with this in mind, I was glued to The Asphalt Jungle so I didn't miss anything. Two people really stand out, no four, Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe and Marilyn Monroe, Monroe because she almost overplays the role of Angela determined to be noticed in this small role and Huston indulged her and her audience. I really like Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen and Sam Jaffe, I've not seen them in enough films, Jaffe I remember best from the Scarlett Empress and seeing him again here just makes me see what an impressive film actor he is. Huston makes us sympathise with all the criminals, including Sterling Hayden who is ready with his gun and Louis Calhern, ready to double cross and a coward to boot. Some of the scenes so memorable, Marilyn and Louis,the police busting into a wake, the train passing as Hayden collapses at the wheel and finally, Hayden dead surrounded by horses. How does it compare to The Killing, I think the crime in The Killing is easier to follow, I still think I've missed some of Huston's film but both had good pacing and are worth watching again.

[JackFavell]

I really liked Marc Lawrence in The Asphalt Jungle, too, it was a pleasure to see him in a largish role. I agree that TAJ forces you to give your full attention, like many of Huston's films, and I liked it, but one has to be in the mood to really work at watching it. The pacing was very deliberate, and at times toward the beginning frustrated me. However, I wouldn't have it any other way. I loved the spin which made the criminals turn out to be people with hopes and dreams just like you and me.

The Tattered Dress had a super beginning, then veered a different, more talky direction than I was expecting, but I did enjoy it anyway. That final speech that Jeff Chandler gave was marvelous. I never knew he was such a good actor, though I am not sure it would have made me believe he was innocent had I been on the jury. All in all, I thought the film was well done, and better than I thought it was going to be. I would have loved to return to that gorgeous house of Elaine Stewart's, and seen what she and her husband were really like - they were by far the most interesting characters in the movie, and it would have been fun to see more steamy twisted stuff happening. Only poor George Tobias was predictable, I knew he was a goner from the first moment he showed up.

I watched Angel Face this morning, and really liked it. I am not a huge Jean Simmons fan, or Mitchum, but they hit all the right notes for me here.

[RedRiver]

Jason Segal: He can answer the door any way he wants to!

Without even using his hands!

[charliechaplinfan]

I finally watched Niagra after years of being a Monroe fan I don't know why I'd never seen this movie. I didn't realise that I'd be in for such a treat as all the stunning location work, they give Marilyn a run for her money, I've never been to Niagra and I assume that if I ever did it would be absolutely crawling with tourists in only a way that the huge tourists sites can be but here the shots are uninterrupted, give the impression of almost being a sleepy little place with an impressive waterfall, technicolour certainly did it's job and the film crew no doubt were up at the crack of dawn getting their shots. The opening is very impressive, Joseph Cotten goes to see the waterfall at 5 in the morning, Cotten for a me is an actor who is always reliable, never really a romantic figure, the closest he got for me is in Since You Went Away, even in Portrait of Jennie he failed to ignite for me but he's a dependable, good solid actor who makes it look easy and is superb here as George. Marilyn, her sexiness is almost overplayed in some parts, singing to the record almost panting, that's a bit too much for me because she is such a sexy girl that it takes it almost to parody. She is allowed to move away from the parody and then becomes a good actress, I'd say after the breaking record she finally is able to get her teeth into the character of Rose and I forgot I was watching Monroe and I was watching Rose. I loved the twist which I wouldn't have guessed at and I loved Jean Peters who had to take the less glamourous role but still looked very lovely. I wish all bosses were like the Shredded Wheat boss, it seems to me we'd all have an easier time of it and the end scenes are very dramatic and a real pleasure to watch. One thing about the people wh osets the trends for today, have they never seen Monroe in that dress, I'd much rather encourage womanly curves that toned muscle. I think everyone would be happier for it.