The Silver Screen Oasis

Maybe not college professors but two British films worth the time are "The Browning Version" with Michael Redgrave and "Term of Trial" with Laurence Olivier.

It's been some time since I've seen them both but the leads give strong performances in each film.

The Paper Chase - to me ...

It's good, bad, and all around a problem for me to watch it at anytime. The main problem with me is that I don't like the two main stars in this movie Timothy Bottoms and John Houseman. Lindsay Wagner is not the issue here - but to me it's an absolute bore after watching it again after it's brilliant initial take. To me, it's dated and I just have a hard time watching this movie again and having said that this movie won a Oscar for the Best Supporting Actor in John Houseman of whom I find it hard to believe that he won an Oscar for that role.

I think that Award should had gone to Jason Miller in the Exorcist. Because he was more memorable than Houseman in Paper Chase. I maybe bias - but I have a hard time understanding John Houseman on film.

Paper Chase has been a problematic film for years and having said that - the Professor in this film was slightly overrated in a field of of not so good Supporting Actors that year and to me the Academy Awards of 1974 was a lackluster year. That's my educated guess.

To me, I just can't stand John Houseman period.

Ahh Term of Trial, yes! What a terrific choice, Chris! I totally forgot about that one... one of the best little known movies Olivier made. They give George and Martha from Who's Afraid of V. Woolf a run for their money.

The whole point of The Paper Chase is that you NOT like John Houseman. I think it speaks to his excellence in this role that when the topic came up, we ALL thought of him first. He's the ne plus ultra of movie professors.

They give George and Martha from Who's Afraid of V. Woolf a run for their money.

...and that takes some doing.

As far as Houseman goes no one could have been cast better. I don't recall seeing him in anything where you did like him.

JackFavell wrote: The whole point of The Paper Chase is that you NOT like John Houseman. I think it speaks to his excellence in this role that when the topic came up, we ALL thought of him first. He's the ne plus ultra of movie professors.

movieman1957 wrote: As far as Houseman goes no one could have been cast better. I don't recall seeing him in anything where you did like him.

The reason that I don't like John Houseman is that he doesn't speak well on film (Remember, I'm hard of hearing folks) and that's the main reason that I don't like him as an actor. To me, actors/actresses are trained to speak well and sometimes certain "performers" like John Houseman comes along and takes the joy of watching a film and make it bad for me because of his speech. I do not like John Houseman for that and that alone makes this film difficult for me to watch.

You have to walk a mile in my shoes to find out the answers you are looking for ... Sorry Jack Favell and Movieman.

I can't believe I didn't think of Orson Welles in THE STRANGER until just now watching on TCM.

Marriage might be awfully exciting with Welles' character...he' s no milquetoast and he's handsome, but I don't think I'd risk it.

his sympathetic but sleazy character in Hannah and her Sisters, who isn't a college professor, but should be.

He certainly dresses like one. Elbow patches? Seriously?

How about the jingoist professor in All Quiet On the Western Front? who symbolically represents the antiquated, ignorant status quo?

That scene is downright eerie!

Marriage might be awfully exciting with Welles' character...he' s no milquetoast and he's handsome, but I don't think I'd risk it.

It doesn't workout so well for the dog!

A man who'd kill a dog is strictly ewwww! I wouldn't have been as kind to Welles as Loretta was. If he killed my dog I might just have gone after him with that fire poker.

Olivier certainly deserved his reputation. I don't believe he ever gave a really bad performance, even in the get-money-for-the-kids films at the end of his career.

I only got to see him on Broadway once. It was Mar. 25, 1961 (thanks, ibdb) and he was playing Becket to Anthony Quinn's Henry. (No, I don't have an identic memory like Sheldon, it was the last night of the production.) Afterwards, Olivier went to Montreal, switching to Henry to Arthur Kennedy's Becket. They later brought this production back to B''way.

The point I was going to make before I got long-winded, was that the memory of his performance has stuck with me these fifty-plus years.

By pure coincidence, I had planned a re-viewing double-header for this evening:

A Little Romance (1979 Warner Bros.), a sweet, lovely little film from his later years. You haven't lived until you've seen Lord O "trying" to navigate in a bicycle race!

The Prince and the Showgirl (1985 Warner Bros.). It's well known that he considered this the most unpleasant experience of his career, thanks to Marilyn's standard behavior; still, the exchanges between the two of them are wonderful. I'd say, as good as Grant and Russell in His Girl Friday, if a tiny bit slower.

Lucky, A Little Romance remains one of my favorite films - I saw it first as a child the same age as the two stars, and I revisited it recently and still loved it. Olivier reminds me of Albert Bassermann in this film.

I have no idea if this is true. I heard that while shooting Marathon Man, Dustin Hoffman stayed awake for days, didn't eat, didn't bathe; went through hell in preparation for his traumatized scene. He confessed his technique to Olivier, who asked, "Why?"

I've heard that story, but with Olivier saying, "My dear boy. Why don't you just ACT?"

Sounds like Dustin!

Sounds like Lord Larry (Diane Lane said that is what they all called him when he tried to shake off the title, "Call me Larry.")

By the way, there's a current thread about introductions of characters. Lord Larry certainly belongs on that list in this film. He's walking along and is suddenly hit by a large red soccer ball in the - well, he IS a Lord, so I guess we'd better settle for - nether region.