The Silver Screen Oasis

Tonight's PBS classic in my area is COOL HAND LUKE. This has nothing to do with the conversation, except that's the format in which I watched Tracy and Hepburn last week! I'd hate to make waffles for a guy who can eat fifty eggs!

I almost forgot. COOL HAND LUKE is Sugar's favorite movie! It was the first movie we watched together when she lived with my mom.

Thank you Theresa.

No. Thank YOU!!

Just wrote a paragraphs long response to this fun thread, and it disappeared.

Suffice it to say that what I learned about marriage the first time I saw this film is that the quality of compromise always positively affects the strength of the marriage ties. Juggling everything isn't easy, but picking what to juggle and when is.

The funniest scene I've ever enjoyed of Katharine Hepburn's is the scene while she is fixing breakfast. And I cry every time somewhere along the way for that little Greek boy.

Just wrote a paragraphs long response to this fun thread, and it disappeared

Lord help us! This has happened to me so many times I've stopped writing lengthy posts. I hit the high points and move on! In my case, it's the library computers. I'm not watching the clock and my time runs out!

[u][color=#0080BF]Sue Sue Applegate[/color][/u] wrote:Just wrote a paragraphs long response to this fun thread, and it disappeared.

Aaaargh! Hate when that happens. Avoid that by writing your response in a Word program and then cut and paste it into the Message Board. Your pearls of wisdom will be saved every time.

That little Greek boy ... yeah, a sad scene. I like the way Tracy watches him run up the stairs to his pals and softly says his line.

Sue Sue...I'm lovin' that new avatar you have of Ginger Rogers. Nice!

Thanks, Cinemaven! Just made me a great cup of Starbuck's Pike's State, and I didn't use that glass globe contraption from the Woman of the Year kitchen. Just a Melitta filter!

Just watched "Torn Curtain" (1965) for the first time.

Interesting. Not the best outing for Paul Newman. I know he and Hitchcock didn't get along, but he seems to sleepwalk through much of the film. Julie Andrews' role seemed to be an afterthought.

What made the movie for me were the German characters. The guy who played Gromek (the guy who gets killed in the long sequence that everyone knows about) was the most Peter Lorre-like character I've seen that wasn't played by Lorre himself. I could almost imagine Lorre speaking his dialogue.

And I loved the eccentric professor Lindt. If you had told me that a scene in which two guys write equations on the blackboard could be gripping, I wouldn't have believed you, but this guy sold me on the scene and made me believe it was a contest of wills.

Finally, I liked the Countess who wanted to go to the USA and needed a sponsor. She was funny and she came to a sad end, and it reminded me that Hitchcock himself needed a sponsor to get to the USA.

Not a great Hitchcock, but an interesting one (more so for me, by far, than "Marnie.")

One last point-- I was interested that there were African and Asian students shown in the Karl Marx University scenes. The movie doesn't make a big deal out of it, but they are there in a matter of fact way (and not an "evil global reach of Communism" way.) Made me wonder how 1965 American audiences would react to that.

I love the Countess... Lila Kedrova makes the movie for me, Mike, and is almost the only reason I ever watch Torn Curtain, though it's nice to see Julie Andrews in a sexy role for a change. I suddenly realized a year or so ago that Kedrova was also the pathetic Madame Hortense in Zorba the Greek. She was very very good at doing those kind of roles. Your heart just goes out to her.

Hi Wendy & David,

Lila Kedrova is the best thing about "Torn Curtain" as you've both stated; and she had just won an Oscar for "Zorba the Greek" the year or so before, so that is why she got this role.
Pola Negri had been approached to do it by Alma Hitchcock, after her somewhat triumphal role in "The Moonspinners", but she staunchly remained retired.

Another delightful surprise for me was Tamara Toumanova, who played the enemy ballerina. Not much of a stretch for her, as she was a ballerina in real life, and a friend of Pola Negri.

Larry

Watched FIDDLER ON THE ROOF on PBS last night. Not my favorite movie. Not my favorite play. But Saturday night? No commercials? I'll take it!

Watched one of the classic BOB HOPE and HEDY LAMARR in My Favorite Spy; a cute story about Peanuts (Hope) White who played Eric Augustine a classy International Spy in a rousing caper to purchase a couple rolls of microfilm in charming Comedy/Crime film in 1951. LAMARR played Lily Dalbray and she was fabulous in this role. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie on RETROPLEX last night and I just wanted to share this with all of you here. HOPE was true in his comedic form and he was delightful in playing two roles in this 1951 film.



HOPE and LAMARR in MY FAVORITE SPY

Cute movie. My favorite "favorite" is MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE. That's a terrible sentence, but there's nothing objectionable about the movie!