WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

jdb1 · Post by **jdb1** » July 14th, 2008, 11:35 am

Hello, all. I've been a bit under the weather these last few days, and over the weekend I saw a very nice Swiss movie on Starz that cheered me considerably. It's called Vitus, and it stars the Swiss actor Bruno Ganz (of Wings of Desire and, more recently he played Hitler in The Downfall).

This is the story of a child prodigy, who is brilliant beyond his years and who is also plays the piano at an adult level. His parents make many demands on him: as is often the case with precocious children, they forget that he's just a little boy, and may not be emotionally equipped to handle all they expect of him. They insist that he attend public school (they call schools for the gifted "zoological gardens). They make him practice for hours. Still, they are not bad people - they are generally loving and attentive parents, but they take the boy for granted. It's only his wise and down to earth grandfather (played by Ganz) who treats Vitus as he would like to be treated: sometimes as a child, and sometimes as an adult. That is, he indulges the boy in childhood activities (that his parents frown upon), but he respects the boy's very high intelligence.

Vitus attends a public high school, although he is only 12. The other students are not very nice to him -- in fact, they are downright mean. The school, and his parents, want him to take the university exam, but Vitus is doubtful that he'd like that. To circumvent any more unrealistic expectations from his parents, he fakes an accident, and pretends that his mental capacities are diminished and that he can no longer play the piano. Since he acts only somewhat diminished, doctors and his parents believe him, and he is smart enough to carry it off. The grandfather hears Vitus playing a complicated piano piece while he is visiting, and realizes the boy is faking. However, he promises not to reveal the secret.

The story then turns even more fanciful: the father's tech business is struggling, and Vitus, with his grandfather's money, becomes a computer day trader to make money in the stock market (trading on his father's failing stock, actually). He makes millions, and saves the company, to boot. He also rents his own apartment with the money, so that he can get away from the pressures of his life. Eventually, he gives up the pretense that he isn't the wonder boy he was, and all is well. The movie ends with Vitus giving his debut performance of the Schumann piano concerto.

The real charm of this movie is in the two boys who play Vitus. Fabrizio Borsani plays Vitus at age 6, and Teo Gheorghiu plays him at age 12. Both these boys are terrific actors, and both play the piano for themselves. The older boy is an actual musical prodigy, and his piano work throughout the film is very impressive.

Although I always prefer a subtitled film to a dubbed one, in this case it might be a good idea to dub Vitus (there is a lot of English spoken in this film, actually, as the mother is supposed to be English, and speaks to her son in Swiss German and English). It would be a very nice family film, the kind we don't get much of in this country.

charliechaplinfan · Post by **charliechaplinfan** » July 14th, 2008, 1:19 pm

Last night I watched Song of Love a biopic of Clara Schumann a piano prodigy who married Robert Schumann. Katharine Hepburn plays Clara and Paul Henreid plays Schumann, Robert Walker plays Johannes Brahms.

Katharine Hepburn's performance is very good, her piano playing looked so professional, I've no idea if she could actually play the piano but she could act it out very well.

Clara Schumann is the mother of a brood of young children, I've never seen Kate as a mother type before, she made it believable for me. Clara is loved by both Schumann and Brahms, in some ways she seems better suited to Brahms who isn't as serious minded as her husband.

It's a touching story, not only is it very true to history but it's the story of sacrifices made for love and the different kinds of love that man can feel.

Of course the music that accompanies the film is superb.

Post by **movieman1957** » July 14th, 2008, 3:53 pm

We had a conversation here one time about piano playing. I have no idea where it is but part of it was that if the playing is so obviously fake is it a distraction.

For me it can be. String instruments are also hard to fake. Being an amateur musician it becomes one of the first things I notice though I wish I wouldn't.

charliechaplinfan · Post by **charliechaplinfan** » July 14th, 2008, 4:21 pm

I'm not an expert in piano playing but it didn't look fake to me. Someone is going to come in here and prove me wrong.

feaito · Post by **feaito** » July 16th, 2008, 10:39 pm

Thanks to Ollie during the weekend I also watched the made for TV Movie "Miracle Mile" (1988). I found it quite interesting and in a way, offbeat -not the kind of end of the world film you'd expect. In this sense it surprised me. I had expected a different film and I did not know it was a TV Movie, so the lack of budget was apparent. I can't believe we wore those clothes and women used those hairstyles, only a couple of decades ago! And what about those huge cell phones! Talk about "mobile" He He he. On the other hand I must admit that Anthony Edwards' character unnerved and annoyed me quite a bit. But then, how would some of us would react to such events as those experienced by Tony? Interesting film if not altogether satisfying.

Yesterday I finished re-watching "Captains Courageous" (1937). This is what I call first-class family entertainment from the Golden Era. Superb film with an outstanding performance by Bartholomew. How can a kid give such a nuanced portrayal? Spencer Tracy is also superb and so is the rest of the marvelous cast ensembled for this venture: Charley Grapewin, Melvyn Douglas, Mickey Rooney, Lionel Barrymore, John Carradine et al.

Last but definitely not least, today in the evening I experienced another Borzage (thanks to Christine!!): "I've Always Loved You" (1946).

Maybe it's not a perfect, flawless Borzage, like "Man's Castle" (1933) or "Little Man What Now?" (1934) but it was nevertheless an engrossing experience. This is the kind of film that may affect you deeply in an emotional level, so you are not able to "dissect" it in an objective way afterwards. And this is all thanks to the master Borzage, who with his talent can overcome certain drawbacks as the insufficient acting ability of some of the members of the cast.

Philip Dorn, Maria Ouspenskaya, Felix Bressart and Catherine McLeod (in some sequences) shine in this wonderful technicolor romance. And the music duel between McLeod and Dorn at Carnegie Hall is priceless! Not to talk about the climatic final scenes!

McLeod plays a young pianist who becomes the protegé of famed pianist and conductor Goronoff (Dorn). Their relationship builds through music. And they speak to each other by means of playing the piano. McLeod's infatuation with Dorn is fantastically illustrated by Borzage. I was watching this film alone (it has no Spanish subtitles, so I thought my wife would rather not watch it, because she's not very fluent in English), but my 25 year old sister paid a visit to us and she and my wife were taken by the film, little by little and were trapped by it.

At times there was some slight criticism of certain particular aspects or issues about the story, the characters and performances, but in the end they were completely caught under the spell of Borzage's work. I told them that they were witnessing one the works of the master of Romance himself. And the film kept on building into a final, ever increasing crescendo until it ended, with both of them absolutelly moved and crying. My sister told me to please let her know when I would watch another film of this type. She loved it. And my wife was also very moved.

And I am so grateful of having had the chance of witnessing this wonderful film which is not available at least in the USA and in Latin America. Now I need to re-read the passage that analyzes this film in Dumont's book!

Ann Harding · Post by **Ann Harding** » July 17th, 2008, 2:39 am

I'm really pleased you enjoyed it so much, Fernando!!!

Did you notice one of the little boys who comes for an audition at the beginning? It's no other than André Previn!
This Borzage is certainly not his best, but, still, like you say, it's got such a marvellous use of music throughout that you can get caught easily.

jdb1 · Post by **jdb1** » July 17th, 2008, 8:58 am

charliechaplinfan wrote:I'm not an expert in piano playing but it didn't look fake to me. Someone is going to come in here and prove me wrong.

I remember that in her memoirs, Hepburn mentioned that for a play she did, "Westside Waltz," she was required to play the piano, or at least look like she was. She said she took some lessons to "brush up," but that she didn't "really" play. The playing may have been done by someone else, or by a recording, but she wanted it to look realistic. Or maybe she actually plunked out a few tunes - I'm not sure. So I guess she was familiar with the keyboard even back as far as the Clara Schumann movie, but certainly wasn't concert-caliber. She did play the guitar, and considering the accomplished and ecclectic nature of the Hepburn family, it wouldn't be at all surprising if she was able to manage several other instruments as well.

I agree that fake playing of any instrument is distracting. Some actors are better than others at making it look realistic. Sometimes the actor is supposedly playing some really complicated passage, and his/her fingers scarely move. It looks ridiculous. When a non-player is supposed to be playing the piano, and flails his/her shoulders and arms around (generally in the wrong places to account for the music being produced), it's pretty funny.

Post by **movieman1957** » July 17th, 2008, 11:22 am

I suspect they use kind of a matte shot for want of a better term. If you think of the scene in "The Bishop's Wife when Grant is "playing" the harp you see the hands but they look sort of disjointed. You can't make it that real when your splicing a shot. There was also a similar technique used somewhere else. I'm not sure if it was "Golden Boy" or "Humoresque" or what but I don't really remember.

jdb1 · Post by **jdb1** » July 17th, 2008, 1:19 pm

movieman1957 wrote:I suspect they use kind of a matte shot for want of a better term. If you think of the scene in "The Bishop's Wife when Grant is "playing" the harp you see the hands but they look sort of disjointed. You can't make it that real when your splicing a shot. There was also a similar technique used somewhere else. I'm not sure if it was "Golden Boy" or "Humoresque" or what but I don't really remember.

Wasn't it Humoresque where Isaac Stern stood behind Garfield in some shots and reached his arms around to manipulate the violin and bow? That must have been a larf to shoot.

feaito · Post by **feaito** » July 17th, 2008, 9:57 pm

Ann Harding wrote:I'm really pleased you enjoyed it so much, Fernando!!!
Did you notice one of the little boys who comes for an audition at the beginning? It's no other than André Previn!
This Borzage is certainly not his best, but, still, like you say, it's got such a marvellous use of music throughout that you can get caught easily.

The film could be described, as Dumont stated, as the dialogue of two souls via music. And I read about Previn being one of the boys, last night when I revisited Dumont's Borzage Biography. What a book! It's totally different to read the passage devoted to "I've Always Loved You" after having watched the film. I prefer reading essays or reviews after watching a film. I enjoy it much more. Does it sound strange?

A propós, I forgot to say that I found this film reminiscent, in a way, of "The Red Shoes" (1948).

By the way, I had forgotten that on Wednesday I watched with my wife the very entertaining 1942 film "Orchestra Wives" (1942), the best of which is Glenn Miller's music. Another high point is lovely Lynn Bari, who's so beautiful and so talented that I can't believe she did not become a first magnitude star. It's the second time I've seen her play a singer (the first time was in "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941)) and did she actually sang or was she dubbed? John Payne and George Montgomery must have been blind for having chosen Sonja Henie and Ann Rutherford instead of gorgeous, sexy Lynn

There are some enjoyable catty remarks between Rutherford, Virginia Gilmore, Lynn, Carole Landis and Mary Beth Hughes and even some physical fights.

Enjoyable Fox musical.

mrsl · Post by **mrsl** » July 18th, 2008, 11:14 pm

I thoroughly enjoyed today's schedule from early morning to The Clown. I did skip that one because I've seen it, and after all those wonderful comedies, I didn't want to put a dent in my happy feeling. The great thing is my little dolly was with me today, and giggling right along with Red and all of his various leading ladies.

The thing about Red Skelton is, if you can put yourself into a happy frame of mind, then sit down and watch, you can't help but let out a giggle now and then. He is silly, foolish, and dismally telegraphic, but he's so darn goofy about it, he just makes you feel good, if you let him. Even his ridiculous facial expressions can be funny if you let them, so I hope a few people who have not had much exposure to him until today hung in there and gave him a chance.

,

,

Anne

feaito · Post by **feaito** » July 19th, 2008, 9:05 am

Yesterday I watched the enjoyable De Mille adventure romp "Reap the Wild Wind" (1942), which is a very special film for me, because it was the movie that -by chance- helped me to overcome my fear of earthquakes in 1985, when I was 17 years old. But that's another story and I think I already told it somewhere at SSO.

Paulette Goddard is very lively as Loxie, the tomboyish Southern Belle tangled in between John Wayne and Ray Milland.

The print aired by Cinecanal Classics is beautiful and pristine, with all its Technicolor glory intact. The only drawbacks are the channel's bug and the fixed subtitles, but then I live in a Spanish speaking country

I saw a Poster Art of the reissue of this film from 1948 and Susan Hayward, who has a secondary role, is featured prominently in detriment of Goddard who's the true female star of the film, because in 1948 Goddard's star had waned and Hayward was on the rise. Also, John Wayne is more prominently featured than Ray Milland, who was the leading male star, due to Wayne's bigger status in 1948.

I also watched the 1947 star-studded "Variety Girl" (1947), full of cameos by most of Paramount's stars of that year, including Barbara Stanwyck, Lizabeth Scott, Burt Lancaster, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Dorothy Lamour, Gary Cooper, the aforementioned miss Goddard (who was filming "Unconquered" that year -she was a De Mille favorite), Bob Hope, Bing Crosby et al. It tells the story of adopted orphan Mary Hatcher (a very beautiful and classy girl) trying to make good in Hollywood where she meets Olga San Juan, who's quite reminiscent of Jane Powell from a physical point of view and who's mildly funny as a phony wannabe star -her scene with William Bendix which "recreates" the Cagney-Clarke Grapefruit scene is quite amusing. Mary Hatcher's voice and poise reminded me of Kathryn Grayson. Mainly interesting due to its stellar cast.

feaito · Post by **feaito** » July 20th, 2008, 10:35 pm

Yesterday I watched with my wife and two nephews who came to stay with us for the afternoon, two modern films which I thought would be of their taste: the sci-fi flick "The Invasion" (2007), an OK remake of the classic "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" which by no means matches the original, but which made for good entertainment. and "Cloverfield" (2008), which really impressed me and had me biting my nails. Excellent horror-thriller-alien film.

Today I watched "Daddy Long Legs" (1955), a lavish, expensive looking FOX musical which introduced the powerful Johnny Mercer song "Something's Gotta Give", one of my favorite tunes. The film was beautifully restored and the Color by De Luxe is superb. It has classy and elegant sets and Astaire finds his match in Caron, when it comes to finesse and delicacy. They make an excellent couple.

Each time I watch Fred Astaire in a film I never ceaseto be impressed by how effortlessly, casual and natural he makes his dancing flow... If I hadn't read about his tremendous discipline, perseverance and how he rehearsed his numbers to achieve perfection, I'd thought he was supernatural, because he makes him appear his dancing so easy; like walking. And that's Astaire's greatest achievement. A natural talent worked to perfection, when you get to see so many professional dancers nowadays of whom you can tell the technique, the un-naturalness of their movements and dancing. Astaire was THE master. Thelma Ritter is featured in this film and she's always a pleasure to watch. Fred Clark plays Fred's assistant, very funnily. Johnny Mercer's "Dream" is also in the score.

I just finished watching a pleasant comedy with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey, "Failure to Launch" (2006). Entertaining.

MikeBSG · Post by **MikeBSG** » July 21st, 2008, 1:47 pm

I'm glad that someone else knows and likes "Miracle Mile," which may be the last Cold War/nuclear war film. I didn't think it was made for TV. I think it got made and the Berlin Wall came down and the studio realized that hardly anyone would want to see the movie given the suddenly changing nature of global affairs.

I watched Jean-Pierre Melville's "Army of Shadows" today and was very unimpressed. It isn't a bad movie, but it never came to life for me. The various episodes never added up to anything for me. Perhaps it was shocking in 1970, but since then we have had "Secret Army" BBC series, the Dutch films "Soldier of Orange," "Girl With the Red Hair" and "Black Book" which all seemed to have stronger narratives to me. Before "Army of Shadows," there was the Dutch "The Spitting Image" which turned anti-Nazi resistance into a black-and-white psychological nightmare. I couldn't believe I had read as many rave reviews of "Army of Shadows" as I had. It just didn't seem remarkable in any way.

charliechaplinfan · Post by **charliechaplinfan** » July 21st, 2008, 1:52 pm

I watched Fools for Scandal with Carole Lombard last night. It wasn't a standout screwball comedy but it did romp along quite nicely. I'm a huge Carole fan, it's nice to see her in anything.

The Silver Screen Oasis

The Silver Screen Oasis

WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?