I Just Watched...

Discussion of programming on TCM.
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LawrenceA
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by LawrenceA »

Here are the others from today:

The Devil on Two Sticks (1910) - Italian short from director Luigi Maggi. A guy pals around with a limping devil. Méliès influence on a lot of these others is very evident.

The Dancing Skeleton (1897) - What the title says. I can't tell if this was by the Lumieres or Biograph.

Faust: Apparition of Mephistopheles (1897) - French short by directors Alexandre Promio & Georges Hatot. Faust was a very popular subject during this period, apparently.

The Cavalier's Dream (1898) - Edwin S. Porter tries his hand at Méliès to middling effect.

Davey Jones' Locker (1900) - Frederick S. Armitage directed this very brief example of multiple exposure cinematography, with a skeleton dancing on the wreck of a ship.

Faust and Marguerite (1900) - Edwin S. Porter again - Faust again - blah again.

How It Feels to Be Run Over (1900) - British sight-gag short from director Cecil Hepworth.

Turn-of-the-Century Surgery (1900) - French comedy short from director Alice Guy-Blache. Is this the first gore film? Maybe.

Uncle Josh's Nightmare (1900) - Edwin Porter with more bargain-basement Méliès.

The Haunted Curiosity Shop (1901) - British Méliès pastiche from director Walter R. Booth.

Faust and Mephistopheles (1903) - Alice Guy-Blache with another Faust short.

The Mistletoe Bough (1904) - I really liked this supernatural short from England directed by Percy Stow.

The Clock-Maker's Secret (1907) - French short by director Gaston Velle. It's another Faust tale, but with a different protagonist.

The Doll's Revenge (1907) - I really enjoyed this demented short from England and directors Cecil Hepworth & Lewin Fitzhamon.

Legend of a Ghost (1908) - French craziness from director Segundo de Chomon. One of my favorites of the day.

The Automatic Motorist (1911) - Another British short, this time about newlyweds who get driven to the moon(!) and under the sea (!!) by their robot (!!!) chauffeur. Walter Booth directed.

Pirates of 1920 (1911) - British look into the future of criminality as a gang of bandits uses a state-of-the-art airship to commit daring robberies at sea. It's up to hero Jack Manley to save the day. Directed by David Aylott & A.E. Coleby.


And I also watched two newer duds between shorts:

The Day the World Ended (2001) - Part of a Showtime series called "Creature Features" that remade several Roger Corman movies, although typically only the title remains the same. This is the most extreme example, as this bares almost no connection to the 1955 original. Nastassja Kinski stars as a child psychologist who moves to a new school in a secluded small town. She befriends a troubled young boy harboring dark secrets. Also featuring Randy Quaid, Harry Groener, and Stephen Tobolowsky. It's not very good, but I've seen worse, and the creatures effects are good, no doubt thanks to producer Stan Winston.

Dragon Storm (2004) - High fantasy stuff with dragons attacking the medieval countryside. It's up to outlaw Maxwell Caulfield and his band of compatriots to slay the beasts. Also with Angel Boris, Tony Amendola, and John Rhys-Davies. Cheap and unremarkable, though a smidge better than some of the other Syfy Channel offerings I've watched lately.
Watching until the end.
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BagelOnAPlate
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by BagelOnAPlate »

I re-watched 12 Angry Men late last night/early this morning ----maybe not the best thing to watch before going to bed! (but I wanted to see it before it left Watch TCM)

Anyway . . . as usual I was impressed at how fantastic the acting is in this one and am amazed that none of the actors received Oscar nominations. In particular the performances of Lee J. Cobb and Ed Begley were mind-blowing and should be studied by anyone who aspires to be an actor. I think Ed Begley's performance in 12 Angry Men was more "Oscar worthy" than the one he actually received the award for (Sweet Bird Of Youth).
Joseph Sweeney is probably my favorite of the jurors. His reactions to Ed Begley are priceless! I also love when John Fiedler (the voice of Piglet in Disney's Winnie the Pooh cartooons!) quietly calls Ed Begley's character "Loudmouth." I had forgotten that Jack Klugman's character was raised in the slums (like the defendant in the murder trial).

This was the first feature film directorial effort by Sidney Lumet, who was known as an actor's director. Boy, did he set the bar high with this one! What an achievement!

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Last edited by BagelOnAPlate on April 3rd, 2023, 7:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
umop apisdn
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by umop apisdn »

LawrenceA wrote: April 1st, 2023, 10:51 pm Today I mainly watched more early silent short films. I won't go into detail on them, but here's a list, starting with the ones directed by George Méliès.
Where are you watching these? I'm interested in watching some more.

Criterion Channel had a collection a few years back and I watched them all and really liked quite few of them especially The Diabolical Tenant, Robinson Crusoe and The Kingdom of Fairies.
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LawrenceA
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by LawrenceA »

umop apisdn wrote: April 2nd, 2023, 10:19 pm Where are you watching these? I'm interested in watching some more.

Criterion Channel had a collection a few years back and I watched them all and really liked quite few of them especially The Diabolical Tenant, Robinson Crusoe and The Kingdom of Fairies.
All on YouTube.
Watching until the end.
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LawrenceA
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by LawrenceA »

Today I started out with a few more shorts, then some silent features, then some newer stuff:

Love and Science (1912) - French short about a worked-obsessed scientist who develops a TV/telephone combo. His dejected girlfriend uses it to prank him. There's no credited director for this slight sci-fi trifle.

Onesime, Clockmaker (1912) - France again, this time an installment in a short series featuring the character Onesime, played by Ernest Bourbon. He gets news of an inheritance, but there's a stipulation that he must wait 20 years to receive it. So he builds a clock that speeds up time, resulting in many visual gags. Directed by Jean Durand.

The Skeleton (1912) - A professor receives a papier-mâché skeleton, and two bratty kids steal it and prank a bunch of the citizenry. One of the kids is "Baby Early Gorman". A very early child star? Oh, and there's some blackface.

The Double Incarnation of William Sleep (1913) - A man who gambles at chess has a nightmare that an opponent has the ability to change his appearance to match the protagonist. This 15 minute French film from director Georges-Andre Lacroix seems inspired by The Student of Prague.

The Devil's Assistant (1917) - This is a strange American short from director Harry A. Pollard. An evil doctor uses drugs to drive a woman who spurned him into madness. We see her hallucinations as she descends into a literal hell.

Straight Shooting (1917) - Early Western feature from director John Ford features Harry Carey in his popular role of "Cheyenne Harry". He gets caught up in a war between ranchers and homesteaders. Also featuring Molly Malone and Hoot Gibson. Carey apparently played the Cheyenne character in dozens of films, but this was the first one for me. I thought it was enjoyable, and shows a lot of polish compared to others' output of the time. My favorite of the day.

Tepeyac (1917) - Very early Mexican from directors Carlos E. Gonzalez, Jose Manuel Ramos, and Fernando Sayago. A modern day woman worried about the fate of her beloved on sea voyage takes solace in the tale of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This is more Catholic Church propaganda than anything else, and the filmmaking is turgid, but I still enjoyed seeing a Mexican film from this far back.

The Blue Bird (1918) - Children's fantasy from director Maurice Tourneur. Two kids get a magic hat and travel to the land of the fairies in search of the Blue Bird of Happiness. I thought the story was daft, but the costumes and settings are very good.

Fabiola (1918) - Italian historical fiction feature from director Enrico Guazzoni. It's the Romans versus the early Christians. The film was notable for the time for its "excessive" violence, with bloody massacres. Otherwise it's imminently forgettable.

The Tattooed Stranger (1950) - Solid B-level police procedural. This was shown on Noir Alley.

Shark Attack 2 (2000) - Quickie follow-up to the 1999 original (they were filmed back-to-back), this time featuring Thorsten Kaye as a heroic marine biologist out to stop a school of genetically-altered great white sharks. These South African-produced shark movies seem quaint after a couple of decades of ever-more outrageous shark-themed flicks on the Syfy channel.

Arachnia (2003) - Dreadful Big Bug movie. A bunch of people are stranded in the wilderness when their plane is brought down by meteors (?!?), the impact of which opens up the underground lair of a long-dormant species of enormous spider-like creatures. The effects work is stop-motion Harryhausen stuff, without the skill or charm.
Watching until the end.
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TikiSoo
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Re: I Just Watched...

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Last night I watched ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT 1942 prompted by TCMs Warner Brothers salute. I had never seen this movie before (!) and it seemed like the quintessential Bogart movie.

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It's a twisty plot involving a ring of evil Nazi spies that Bogart "Gloves Donahue" gets tangled in and resolves in 107 minutes. This movie was taut, well written & beautifully photographed providing a great base for the actors to shine, in true WB fashion.

Gloves hangs around with other marginal charactors and his favorite baker, an elderly gentleman, is murdered. Jane Darwell is comic relief delivering her repeated line with flourish, "I've got a feeling..."
Gloves & buddies played by William Demerest & Frank McHugh (also bring some light heartedness to the grim story) track them down to a warehouse near the docks. Only WB could take this trope and make it exciting with an unforgettable fight on freight elevator.

Of course in contrast is finding "the girl" involved in the plot singing in a swanky nightclub and snooping around a snobby art auction helmed by Conrad Veit & Judith Anderson who are both great villains. Smarmy Peter Lorre's charactor is the glue holding this all together and unfortunately, all three give pretty cliché performances.
My fave Edward Brophy has a few scenes in the nightclub and Jackie Gleason-who is so young & adorable- only has a few lines in between taking drags off his cigarette, but they both add flavor.

I'm glad TCM is celebrating WB films. They may not have been the artiest or most spectacular movies, but they definitely found a successful formula & perfected it. This movie perfectly represents Warner's consistency in making great movies that were/are enjoyed by the masses.
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Allhallowsday
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by Allhallowsday »

BABY FACE (1933)

The beginning is SO lewd.

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Fedya
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by Fedya »

Allhallowsday wrote: April 3rd, 2023, 12:25 pm BABY FACE (1933)

The beginning is SO lewd.
What's the rest of it, chopped liver?

I love how the establishing shot of the skyscraper pans up a few more stories after each conquest.
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Allhallowsday
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by Allhallowsday »

Fedya wrote: April 3rd, 2023, 4:00 pm
Allhallowsday wrote: April 3rd, 2023, 12:25 pm BABY FACE (1933)

The beginning is SO lewd.
What's the rest of it, chopped liver...?
Once GEORGE BRENT is in the picture, it's corny creakiness begins to show. I still love it.
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LawrenceA
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by LawrenceA »

Today's roster:

A Florida Enchantment (1914) - Very odd comedy about a young woman from a Northern family who comes to Florida to visit an aunt. She acquires a vial of strange seeds that, when ingested, swap the gender of the consumer for a period of time. Both she and her maid take the seeds and cause chaos and confusion. There's a lot to like here - I enjoyed seeing local places referenced a lot, and the women in drag were amusing. But there's also much to disdain, like heavy use of blackface. This movie was considered offensive and in poor taste at the time, but due to the gender fluidity rather than the racism.

Broadway Love (1918) - Two chorus girls (Dorothy Phillips & Juanita Hansen) have romantic ups and downs. I watched it for Lon Chaney, who appears as a small town creep stalking one of the girls. Directed by Ida May Park.

The Ghost of Rosy Taylor (1918) - Mary Miles Minter stars as a young woman who impersonates a housekeeper. Directed by Henry King & Edward Sloman. Meh.

Hell Bent (1918) - Another John Ford-directed Harry Carey western. It was okay, but not much to write home about.

The Master Mystery (1918) - Serial starring Harry Houdini as an investigator looking into a crooked patent baron. Featuring a crazy robot-type guy and a lot of escape artistry, naturally. This was the first of five starring roles in films for Houdini. The villain is a very thinly-veiled swipe at Thomas Edison.

Urashima Taro (1918) - Japanese animated short, one of the oldest surviving examples of such. A fisherman rescues a sea turtle, who in turn takes the fisherman on a trip through the sea.

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945) - I think most people around here have seen this one, and I may have many, many years ago, as some of it seemed familiar. I still liked it, despite the compromised conclusion. My favorite of the day.

Fear (1946) - Monogram adapts Crime & Punishment as a cheap noir. This was better than I expected, and I enjoyed seeing Warren William, Anne Gwynne, and an extremely young Darren McGavin with what looked like platinum blond hair.
Watching until the end.
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Intrepid37
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by Intrepid37 »

Last night I watched the British film Kill List (2011).

A disturbing, relentlessly dark, crime picture that veers from family dysfunction to brutal killing to foreboding mystery and ultimately to unthinkable horror. The closest genre I can think of that carries the viewer to the place of realization of what it's been about is the British classic from 1973, The Wicker Man.

It's a pretty solid viewing experience, although it does contain hints of incredible evil and some actual intense violence. Really intense violence. So, not everyone's cup of tea.

But for fans of oppressive horror, pretty good.
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LawrenceA
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by LawrenceA »

Intrepid37 wrote: April 4th, 2023, 10:07 am Last night I watched the British film Kill List (2011).
I liked that one. The writer-director Ben Wheatley has gone on to a well-regarded career. I've also seen Sightseers (2012), A Field in England (2013), High-Rise (2015), Free Fire (2016), Rebecca (2020), and In the Earth (2021), but I still liked Kill List the most.
Watching until the end.
Cinemaspeak59
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by Cinemaspeak59 »

The Lost King (2022) Sally Hawkins plays a frustrated office worker, divorced, and dealing with health issues. After seeing a performance of Richard III, she finds herself rejuvenated, with a new calling: finding King Richard’s remains & rehabilitating the reputation of Shakespeare’s legendary villain. Whimsical, informative feel-good movie directed by Stephen Frears in his goes-down-easy style.
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TikiSoo
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Re: I Just Watched...

Post by TikiSoo »

Intrepid37 wrote: April 4th, 2023, 10:07 am A disturbing, relentlessly dark, crime picture that veers from family dysfunction to brutal killing to foreboding mystery and ultimately to unthinkable horror. The closest genre I can think of that carries the viewer to the place of realization of what it's been about is the British classic from 1973, The Wicker Man
Some of you may know I prefer my horror tending towards fantasy rather than violence.
For some reason, I was completely underwhelmed by The Wicker Man '73. Especially since it seems so many find it scary/horrible.

Wonder what I had missed? :smiley_chinrub:
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