WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[JackFavell]

I think you are right, red, I seem to remember him producing or something? I think The Naked Prey was one of his first productions?

[ChiO]

According to IMDb, THE NAKED PREY was his fifth as a producer, and THE BIG COMBO was his first and only as an assistant producer (uncredited). Lending further credence to the story that Joseph H. Lewis assigned somebody to keep Wilde off the set during the scene involving his spouse, Jean Wallace.

[JackFavell]

Ahhh. thanks for the clarification.

[moira finnie]

Thanks for putting the freedom we often take for granted in such personal perspective, Masha.

I wonder if you have ever had a chance to read the play The Male Animal. It makes the eloquent points about the need for freedom of thought and speech more pointedly (and it is funnier than the movie), which faced all kinds of censorship from the Production Code at the time. Co-author James Thurber was pretty discouraged about what they had done to the points that he and Elliot Nugent were trying to make at the time. Nugent was much more realistic about the fate of the film since he had been working off and on in Hollywood since the late '20s.

[JackFavell]

Masha, take a look at Abe Books and Alibris for inexpensive individual copies of the original play. They cost about $3.85, plus shipping.

Or do yourself a favor and splurge a whopping 4 1/2 dollars (add shipping) for a prime copy of an entire book of popular plays called The Best Plays of the American Theatre, Second Series, by John Gassner. The Male Animal is included. The Gassner books are incredibly great resources, compiling 15 or 20 popular plays from each decade in the twentieth century. He also published early American plays and various other plays important in their time. Bennett Cerf also did a couple of famous play compilations. I"m pretty sure you'll be able to get them at the library if you don't want to spend the money on them. They are wonderful reads.

I think the TV series is called My World and Welcome To It. I haven't seen it in years but I remember loving it as a kid.

[Professional Tourist]

Two weeks ago I revisited Bigas Luna's (who died recently) very controversial "Las Edades de Lulú" (The Ages of Lulu) (1990) which deals with the first sexual experiences of a young adolescent girl, who later on ends up exploring some very dark corners of life....I had seen it many, many years ago, but the last scenes made a strong effects on me...perhaps, with the years I've become more sensitive.

I'm sorry to hear about Bigas Luna; he has died relatively young. I re-watched one of his pictures a few weeks ago, Son de mar. I enjoyed it, but not as much as when it was first released. I suppose I've changed, too. I recall enjoying Jamón, jamón twenty years ago, but now, who knows.

[feaito]

Hi PT,

I recall watching "Son de Mar", back when it was released in 2001; I liked it but it didn't leave a lasting impression like "Jamón, Jamón", "La Teta y la Luna" and "Huevos de Oro". I have revisited all of those save for "La Teta..." and my fondness for them has diminished; the thing is that I never really enjoyed watching "Las Edades de Lulú", which I always found disturbing, only that it now affected me more. Other films of his I saw but which are not as good as the foregoing are "Bámbola" and "La Camarera del Titanic".

[RedRiver]

Wow. Thank you, Masha, for a fascinating and inspiring perspective most of us have not experienced. The things we take for granted. Your experience was essentially what this play is about. As someone said, MY WELCOME AND WELCOME TO IT was a critically acclaimed, but unsuccessful TV show inspired by Thurber's stories. It featured the talented actor William Windom.

[moira finnie]

Hey, I think I'll get my copy of James Thurber's original book of the same name off the shelf to read tonight!

Episodes and clips of My World and Welcome To It can be seen on youtube at the link below. While nothing quite captures the pleasure of reading Thurber, this comes close, even using his drawings to illustrate some of the tales and simply using their spirit as inspiration for other episodes. Since the show was intelligent & literate, and did not condescend to the audience, it only ran for one season (though it was rebroadcast by NBC in the summer of '74). Reportedly, a complete set of the season is available online from some a variety of sources and private collectors (n.b. our message board will not and does not endorse any off-market retailers, but we urge our members to be cautious when using them). :

http://tinyurl.com/njl5bru

[RedRiver]

Another pleasant offspring of Thurber's work is 1972's THE WAR BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN. Jack Lemmon and the deliciously funny Barbara Harris in a fairly standard romantic entanglement, but presented with commitment and wit. The story is at least a little bit about the real life of the famed humorist. It features a cartoonist whose eyesight is failing. Want to see a pretty good comedy with some first class acting? Try this one!

[RedRiver]

I should stress that I don't know how biographical the story is. It may be that the element of the eyesight is the only parallel to Thurber.

[JackFavell]

I LOVE Barbara Harris so this one is a great recommendation. Talk about unsung actresses...

[Rita Hayworth]

Last Night ... I watch Spies Like Us ... starring Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd. Pretty fun movie to watch and I haven't seen it in years and I completely forgot that Bob Hope did a cameo in this movie.

Here's the 1:11 YouTube ...

[youtube][/youtube]

Pretty Funny Scene ...