WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[charliechaplinfan]

Theresa, where are you? I watched A Yank in the RAF, it's one of the earliest Tyrone Power films I've seen and only the second Betty Grable movie, gosh she was a livewire, she looks like a young Marilyn to me, now I know where Marilyn got her early look from. Was I meant to like Reginald Gardiner's character the best because I did? Tyrone is the young American who gets into the Brits war but can't quite say or do the right thing with Betty, he needs to learn to be more British (only teasing ) but I don't know how she could resist him for long, mind you she did have the titled officer with the lovely country house. I shall be watching more of Mr Power

[CineMaven]

Hi Alison...I'm not quite here yet. Reading this on my iPOD Touch at my favorite pizza shop while I get a "slice" before I see my next movie ( "Prometheus" ) after having just seen my last movie ( "Moonrise Kingdom." ) As soon as I get near my computer...and the comfortable keypad, I'll drool with you over Ty Power.

[JackFavell]

Red, I LOVE Alan Arkin, that was the reason I wanted to see Thin Ice. Arkin has a book out on acting called An Improvised Life. I just got it, and the first paragraph talks about how acting was such a love of his and an addiction that it almost ruined his life, and drove away his family, because he was always inside his own head. I can't wait to read the rest of it.

[charliechaplinfan]

Is it a festival Theresa? If so have a lovely time

[MikeBSG]

Today, I tried to watch "Band of Angels" (1957) directed by Raoul Walsh.

I say "tried" because the DVD disc turned out to have some problems and I eventually said enough and quit on the film. To me, the film started out well but then went downhilll once it arrived in New Orleans and (surprisingly) Clark Gable showed up. He just seemed to be phoning it in, and the movie suddenly seemed to turn into an "Indecent Proposal" kind of thing.

[mrsl]

.
Hey, Charliechaplinfan:

You've gotten some cracker-jack suggestions thus far and I always say, 'Better late than never', so here are a couple of my faves. The Long Grey Line (which you hopefully watched last week). . . The Eddy Duchin Story (another one where he was a smidgen old for the beginning of the bio, but his looks overcome that little thing). . . For a few laughs you could try That Wonderful Urge (seeing Ty and Gene Tierney as a couple is probably the closest thing you'll ever get to perfection in looks in a couple). Not so great, but still pretty good is the story of the westward drive to Utah of the original Mormon congregation . . . Brigham Young. Someone else suggested The Luck of the Irish which is usually run on several different channels around St. Patrick's Day, and shows Ty's humorous side.

You're about set for the rest of July. Just about in time for Summer Under the Stars to start
.

[CineMaven]

Maven, I don't know if you like Wes Anderson's quirky movies, but I thought Moonrise Kingdom was just great. The real stars of the pic were the kids - who all, without fail, were fine actors, basically stealing the picture from the likes of Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand. They reminded me of a miniature Sturges stock company, they worked together so well...

I enjoyed "MOONRISE KINGDOM." It was wonderfully delightful...and quirky, to say the least. Wes Anderson definitely creates an entire world. Everyone's just a little off-center. "Social Services." McDormand with that bullhorn. The young girl with her binoculars. The kids were fantastic! Especially the main kid. I loved his commitment to following his own path...and his own heart. He did his thing, and would not be deterred. Yes, I thought of Sturges.

* * * * *

Theresa, where are you? I watched A Yank in the RAF, it's one of the earliest Tyrone Power films I've seen and only the second Betty Grable movie, gosh she was a livewire, she looks like a young Marilyn to me, now I know where Marilyn got her early look from. Was I meant to like Reginald Gardiner's character the best because I did? Tyrone is the young American who gets into the Brits war but can't quite say or do the right thing with Betty, he needs to learn to be more British ( only teasing ) but I don't know how she could resist him for long, mind you she did have the titled officer with the lovely country house. I shall be watching more of Mr Power

Hey Alison, I know this kind of plot was done before with "A Yank At Oxford" "A Yank At Eton" or "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." But Tyrone Power & Betty Grable were extremely popular. So any chance to see the blonde with the gorgeous legs ( insured for a million dollars back then, I think ) and the handsome matineee idol was taken by 1940's audiences. And you can count this baby boomer too. I'm glad you're checking out more of Power's movies. I hope you'll be enjoying them.

[CineMaven]

...And if you want pizza, here is a place in the West Village that offers up the best pizza in Manhattan. Vegetarian, and they make it on the spot...for you!

[charliechaplinfan]

Now you're making me hungry.

It didn't matter that it was a hackneyed plot, I enjoyed the leads although I was surprised at how often Tyrone was away from the action on screen.

Anne, alas I can't get to watch your TV channels but I'll rent everything I can, thanks for the recommendations, I would love to watch the movie with Gene Tierney, she was beautiful. Theresa did leave a youtube clip a couple of pages back that whet my appetite for that one.

[Robert Regan]

Hello, Friends. Comments on John Huston on the Raoul Walsh thread, particularly Kingrat's mention of We Were Strangers, led me to take another look at that film for the first time in many years.

True, it is not one of Anjelica's daddy's best movies, but it is quite fascinating, particularly considering when it was made. It's hard to believe that a story of revolutionary assassains got off the ground in 1949 when Hollywood's Red scare had been brewing and stewing for two years already. Of course, as usual in American films, there was not even a hint of political views beyond the desire for freedom from tyranny, and the lead was played by Saint Bernadette, so they couldn't possibly have been, dare I say it, Communists.

Now Jennifer Jones, for whom I have been developing in recent years much more admiration and respect than I had when I was younger, had started to break away from her "nice girl" image in Duel in the Sun, and We Were Strangers was part of her apparent wish in the late forties and early fifties to "get more serious" and international, as in Gone to Earth with Michael Powell, Indiscretion of an American Wife with Vittorio De Sica, and Beat the Devil with Huston. None of these movies were popular at the time, and she reverted to more "conventional" filmmaking, but they all showed an adventurous and ambitious spirit not generally seen among her contemporaries. In We Were Strangers, she was burdened, as was the entire cast of Anglos and Latinos with the stilted speech patterns American movies always seemed to give to Spanish-speaking people, but she did an admirable job of totally avoiding the "cutes" which appeared to be second nature to her.

During this same period, Huston was also experimenting with European production and, more importantly, with different styles of cinematography. The Red Badge of Courage took its visual cue from Matthew Brady's Civil War photographs, Moulin Rouge's look was based on the colors and shapes of Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings and prints, and Moby Dick emulated the nineteenth-century lithographs of sea-faring men. At first, We Were Strangers appears to have a noir look about it, but after a while it becomes clear that its lighting, framing, and cutting are inspired by the "foreign" movies the US was seeing in the post-War era in greater numbers than ever before. If it had been in Spanish, French, or Italian with subtitles, it might have been an art house hit here.

I know some of you saw this odd film when TCM saluted Jennifer a while back. Any thoughts?

[JackFavell]

First of all, I love the look of We Were Strangers, and I think you are spot on about why it looks the way it does.

I love Jennifer Jones so I am glad you have found her strengths as you have watched more and more of her films. This one is difficult because of those speech patterns you mentioned. But she and Garfield have a great rapport by the end of the film, with the gun scene, and I really find the movie has some very strong things about it, despite being less accessible than some of his other films. I had to laugh when you said that the movie was political without being political.

[RedRiver]

And if you want pizza

Do not tell me they serve it BY THE SLICE! Pizza by the slice is the single greatest thing ever. Sometimes you don't want a whole one.

[Robert Regan]

Thanks, Wendy. You're right about We Were Strangers and Jennifer Jones. She handled that machine gun naturally.

And thanks, kingrat, for bringing this film into the mix. And you're right about Jones. She managed to get beyond her "cutes", but still be able to use the in a more womanly manner in Cluny Brown. Of course, practically everyone was at their best with Lubitsch. And, yes, hindsight shows us that Selznick was not in the long run good for her career. Like Hearst with Marion Davies. What a career she could have had if W.R. hadn't been so overprotective of his image of her. And thanks for mentioning A Generation. It's been eons since I've seen that. It's on my queue!

[charliechaplinfan]

I was a slow burn with Jennifer Jones, Robert but I came to love her, here's a thread devoted to her, I think my mind change comes across. I've never watched We Were Strangers, I'd love to see the pairing of her and John Garfield. She was an adventurous actress when Selznick allowed her to be, Beat The Devil, Gone To Earth and Cluny Brown show what a range she had.