The Silver Screen Oasis

I'm not sure she ever took a wrong step, I've never been disappointed with a Deborah Kerr movie, I always admire both her performances and her demeanour, I know very little about the lady in real life, I don't even know if she had any children. I can't even work out if she had a limited range and I like her because she always delivers what I expect or was it a broad range that always taps into the characters she portrays perfectly. Whichever way it is, I admire her work and wish we could have a day of her films here.

I almost forgot. I watched the entertaining MAID OF SALEM a few days ago. Claudette Colbert the accused, Fred MacMurray the impetuous hero in this tale of 17th century witch hunting based on the same historic incidents as THE CRUCIBLE. I've always liked this film. It's adventurous as well as philosophical. It has a dark, moody look to it. A political slant? In 1937, they couldn't have been addressing the McCarthyism issues that inspired Arthur Miller's play, but speeches are made with stark frankness, as if a point is being made. Fascism? I'm not sure.

Frank Lloyd directed this dramatic, sincere account of fear dictated policy that never seems to become obsolete. Colbert is fine as always. MacMurray's role is kind of generic. But the actor spices it up, as he usually does. The quirky supporting cast includes Sterling Holloway, Donald Meek, young Bonita Granville and the wonderful Beulah Bondi. This is a movie worth watching more than once. Especially if you're a member of congress!

Gosh, I don't think I've ever seen MAID OF SALEM, though I can remember pictures from it in a book I had. Now I really want to see it! Claudette looks particularly fetching in period garb.

Scottish born actress Deborah Kerr Is one of my favourites. She was Oscar nominated six times before being given an honorary Oscar. With her first husband she had two daughters. Her first marriage lasted fourteen years, and her second forty seven years until her death . Her husband survived her by just a few weeks . She had been typecast as a prim and proper Englishwoman until her role as an adulteress in From Here To Eternity.

A couple of her quotes

[about her famous romantic beach scene with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity (1953)] It had to have rocks in the distance, so the water could strike the boulders and shoot upward -- all very symbolic. The scene turned out to be deeply affecting on film, but, God, it was no fun to shoot. We had to time it for the waves, so that at just the right moment a big one would come up and wash over us. Most of the waves came up only to our feet, but we needed one that would come up all the way. We were like surfers, waiting for the perfect waves. Between each take, we had to do a total cleanup. When it was all over, we had four tons of grit in our mouths--and other places.
[about her work in From Here to Eternity (1953)] I don't think anyone knew I could act until I put on a bathing suit.

She was one of only four Scots to be Oscar nominated, the only successful one being Sean Connery (The Untouchables (1987)).

I love that quote, I love that movie, I can imagine that that scene would have been uncomfortable to film, still she had Burt Lancaster, it had some concillation.

i just watched Each Dawn I Die, I'd never seen this movie before despite watching many of Cagney's early movies, this one not released here had always passed me by, what a movie with James cagney and George Raft, what a duo. The plot is a little unbelieveable but if you take it at face value it's great entertainment. I've always liked Jimmy's angry little guy roles and he gets plenty of chance here, plus he really does go through a rollercoaster of emotions. This has got to be one of George Raft's best films too, one of his first at Warners and it fits him like a glove. I've written more on our George Raft thread, this does deserve a viewing.

I watched the Ealing comedy The Maggie this weekend, and just loved it.

For the life of me, I can't imagine why this film has been overlooked, it's just marvelous. I think it was unpopular at the time, but it deserves another look. If you are a fan of Bill Forsyth, you will most definitely like The Maggie, it's a spiritual forefather to Local Hero. I cannot even describe it, suffice it to say it's a great movie, with Alexander MacKendrick directing, and excellent performances by Tommy Kearins as Dougie, the wee boy, Paul Douglas as Marshall, the American businessman, and Alex MacKenzie as McTaggart the skipper of The Maggie. The bones of the plot are that McTaggart is about to lose his boat, The Maggie, but a circuitous series of circumstances and a bit of conniving get him one last haul, which might save the boat from the scrap heap. We see the contrast of big business with the slow, old ways of the sea and the communities that lived by it. In the end, a small change happens in one of the businessmen for whom time is money, he no longer sees time as the enemy.

MacKendrick is one of my very top directors, his wry, knowing style and crisp camera work are exciting to me, and his stories really speak to me. He goes places that other directors rarely go, and his plots are deceptively simple treatises on modern life and mores. There are moments of great beauty in his films, but they always serve the story. The balance of sympathies changes throughout this film, and I find that the most beautiful part of the story, without it ever becoming in the least sentimental or maudlin. Quite the contrary.

Paul Douglas is very likely my favorite actor from the 50's, he does it all here and more, I'm convinced he could do anything. He takes an unpleasant character and gives him depth, far beyond what another actor might do,and with astounding economy. I just can't get enough of him, I want to reach back in time and hug him for his wonderful performances. This may be his best.

is the maggie on dvd?

Pardon my butting in but - yes. I'm getting it from Netflix.

thank you.

Yesterday I watched "One Hour With You" (1932) directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

I really liked this movie. Utterly delightful. I thought of it mostly as a comedy, because the songs (while funny) didn't stick with me at all. Still, I loved this film about marriage, suspicion and adultery in Paris. Chevalier was extremely charming, and he seemed so natural in the scene in which he had to talk to the camera. Unlike "The Love Parade," "One Hour With You" moved like greased lightning. One of Lubitsch's best; better, in my book, than "Trouble in Paradise."

Wendy, "Salem" is like THE CRUCIBLE without the sermons. Same themes, presented with a little more zest. It reminds me of the early DeMille adventures; exciting, romantic, but requiring some brain power too. To be honest, I like it better than Miller's play. Where his characters analyse the situation for three acts, Claudette and Fred make better time and have fun doing it!

I saw this movie on AMC a long time ago. I'd never heard of it before or since. The DVD also featured Colbert in a stage bound comedy called THREE CORNERED MOON. Let's just say Side One is the selling point of this video!

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY is one of the few movies I like more than the book. James Jones' dark, disturbing epic depressed me. The movie wisely excised most of the offenses, leaving a more exciting and linear story. I've wanted to see THE MAGGIE for a long time. Yes, it sounds very much like the Forsyth film, with even a touch of I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING.

This is the best thread ever! Anything goes. I hardly bother to search anymore.

That's funny. I've wanted to see THREE CORNERED MOON for a long time too. I'll have to look into that dvd. Thanks for the info on Maid of Salem - I like The Crucible, better to read than to watch it, it's a bit of an ordeal, and the hero's mistakes and wavering always make me want to scream! That being said it does move me and I think Miller was saying something important.

That's exactly what bothers me about THE CRUCIBLE! "I'll confess. But I won't sign anything. OK, I'll sign it. But I'll tear it up." AHHH!!! I like the old guy who refuses to name names.

It's very much like Dreyer's Day of Wrath, that film frightened me and is very similar to The Crucible, I like Arthur Miller's writing, I've yet to see a film version of Death of the Salesman, I liked the play so much when I read it I've never got around to watching it.

It has been a while since I've seen it, but I really like/admire "Day of Wrath." To me it is an extremely powerful film, far more impressive than "Vampyr."