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Post by Jasoomian on May 7, 2015 12:21:43 GMT -5
Just watched And Then There Were None (1945) on TCM On Demand and really enjoyed it. It's an excellent 'whodunit' that keeps you guessing until the end and it definitely made me want to read the Agatha Christie novel it's based on. Earlier this year, Ten Little Indians (1965) played on various public television stations. This version is really worth seeing. It's a "mod" take on the story, with a few new wrinkles and the ending changed just enough to keep folks guessing. For instance, it takes place on top of a mountain in a isolated ski chalet rather than an island. The singer Fabian plays one of the ten guests as a young entertainer. And so on. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Little_Indians_%281965_film%29 |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 7, 2015 13:30:34 GMT -5
The Sandpiper (1965)- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Charles Bronson
The voluptuous Liz is a free spirit single mom with a house on the Big Sur, California coastline. She's home schooling her young son but when he shoots a wild deer, the state demands he gets enrolled into a Episcopal boarding school run by Dr. Richard Burton. Liz is a prototype hippie chick, an artist who hangs with other beatniks like Bronson the sculptor. She's devastated that her son is forced to go to a religious school since she is an atheist. But little by little her and Dr. Burton fall in love, even though he's married and a stick-in-the-mud. Is there any hope their relationship will survive?
A good piece of 1960s fluff with the theme song, "Shadow Of Your Smile" constantly played in the background. I do have a few questions:
Mad Magazine did a parody of this film when it was released but for the life of me I can't imagine how they did it
Big Sur, California was a beautiful and desolate beachfront area in the movie 50 years ago. I wonder how developed it is now in comparison
By the way, Rachel Welch supposedly is uncredited as a body double for La Liz. Can't beat that double header
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Post by Jesse on May 9, 2015 7:57:48 GMT -5
Thunderbirds are GO (1966)  I was aware of the TV series growing up but this is the first time I sat through the film and wow it's a lot of fun. The model work in this movie is nothing short of masterful. The attention to detail on the sets and vehicles is insane. I can't even begin to imagine the countless hours that went into creating these marvels. The voice acting is pretty solid, the story itself is entertaining and the action is exciting. The use of close-ups of actual hands throughout the film always makes me laugh for some reason. The bizarre dream sequence with the musical number had me dying of laughter. I absolutely loved the Mars set and the creepy looking rock snake aliens. The scene where one first opens its eye looked fantastic.
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Post by Jesse on May 9, 2015 22:56:36 GMT -5
Island of Terror (1966)  Terence Fisher movie with an awesomely bad monster and Peter Cushing. Just watched it on Svengoolie and thought it was pretty fun. 
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Post by Hoosier X on May 10, 2015 11:46:29 GMT -5
I just watched The Baby from 1973. Geez Louise! It's like the most wrong moment from a Family Guy episode turned into a feature film.
Ruth Roman stars.
If any of this sounds like a good idea, you might want to watch it.
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Post by MDG on May 11, 2015 15:10:17 GMT -5
Island of Terror (1966) Terence Fisher movie with an awesomely bad monster and Peter Cushing. Just watched it on Svengoolie and thought it was pretty fun. This creeped the hell out of me when I was a kid, so it's a --not favorite, but I'll sit through it. |
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Post by MDG on May 11, 2015 15:20:55 GMT -5
I just watched The Baby from 1973. Geez Louise! It's like the most wrong moment from a Family Guy episode turned into a feature film. Ruth Roman stars. If any of this sounds like a good idea, you might want to watch it. My mother would never stop talking about this movie--I think she saw it on TV late night and was never really sure whether or not she dreamed it. (Though the payoff at the end works for me) There are a lot of really weirdo movies from the 70s, where the implied messages seem to be things like "Why don't you just have sex with a dead guy and get it out of your system?" and "Satanism may actually be a viable answer for your problems." |
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Post by Jesse on May 12, 2015 1:51:35 GMT -5
From Beyond (1986)  Stuart Gordon directs this wonderfully bizarre and disturbing adaptation of the H. P. Lovecraft short story. For the most part the specials effects makeups hold up very well (although some not as much as others) and there is a lot brutal gore throughout. I really like the use of color and lighting when The Resonator was turned on. Jeffrey Combs gives a solid albeit over-the-top performance as the protagonist. Ted Sorel is massively creepy as the film's villain and his transformation scenes are mind blowing. Barbara Crampton in a dominatrix outfit plus Ken Foree. I highly recommend checking this out.
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Post by Jesse on May 12, 2015 3:48:26 GMT -5
The Killing (1956)  While it's not my favorite Stanley Kubrick movie he absolutely nails the film noir genre here. With him also writing the screenplay the dialogue is very strong and he applies the cliches of the crime drama genre extremely well. There are some excellent performances throughout particularly Elisha Cook, Sterling Hayden and Marie Windsor. The score by Gerald Fried fits the pacing and suspense perfectly. The heist that is planned out in this is pretty interesting and I found the ending to be very satisfying.
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Post by Pharozonk on May 12, 2015 11:09:17 GMT -5
House on Haunted Hill (1959)  Great acting on the part of Vincent Price and a very haunting atmosphere.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 12, 2015 15:46:31 GMT -5
Green Mansions (1959)- Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins, LJ Cobb
Abel (Perkins) is in the jungles of South America in search of a legendary treasure of gold. He is befriended by a tribe of savages who are frightened by a jungle goddess who lives nearby. They ask Abel to go into the danger zone and kill her to prove his bravery. Abel feels her presence but can't find her. Suddenly a snake bites him and his life begins to ebb away. He then perceives the jungle goddess hovering over him and when he awakes he finds he's been saved from the deadly venom. Rima the Goddess (Hepburn) stands before him along with her grandfather (Cobb). Abel can no longer kill the goddess and instead falls in love. He goes back to the savage tribe to plead her case. Instead the tribe turns on him and makes plans to finally destroy Rima
If this sounds familiar to classic comics fans, this is the same adaptation that DC Comics published in the 70s. Nice technicolor and some beautiful jungle scenery. But Hepburn is woefully miscast. Pretty face, of course, but so, so pale and so, so thin. A 20 mph gust of wind could knock her over. She's totally unable to do any action or physical stunts befitting a jungle queen. Besides hiding behind a jungle frond and smiling she's good for nothing. She can barely run. Why on earth was the savage tribe ever afraid of her. She can't even talk to the animals. Get her out of the jungle and send her to Tiffany's for breakfast pronto |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 12, 2015 15:52:12 GMT -5
Panic In Needle Park (1971) -Al Pacino
Al's 1st starring movie role. He plays a junkie street hustler on Manhattan's upper west side. An innocent girl falls for him and eventually starts shooting dope as well. That's about it. Lots of close up scenes of heroin injections and folks nodding out. Lots of petty crimes to help pay for Al and his friend's habits. They eat French fries and rat each other out to the cops to avoid jail. But that's where they eventually go for a short time. And then resume shooting up after release
For over 40 years I always wanted to see this film and now that I finally did, it depressed the hell out of me
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 14, 2015 9:02:28 GMT -5
Watership Down (1978)
I got this with my Netflix DVD subscription and enjoyed it. My son, 12, watched it with me too. He missed maybe the first 15 minutes coming into it but he stayed for the rest of the movie. While he wasn't scared or offended he was surprised that it was a kid's movie, or at least intended to be so. I kind of expected it to be what it was, as the reason I had heard of the movie was comments in a youtube video about scary things in Disney movies. A lot of people commented that seeing this movie as children had scared them, or at least wasn't what most of the movies for kids at that time were. But I thought it was great, and like Secret of NIHM, still an appropriate kid's movie even if it did deal with death, violence and tragedy. I am glad I watched it.
I only knew two of the voice actors, and only one by name, Jon Hurt. The other one I looked on wikipedia and realized I knew him, just not by name. Denholm Elliott, who I know as Marcus Brody from Indiana Jones.
I also read up on the book too and found out that it stirred up some controversy at the time. While most of the complaints about the book regarded the writer's use of females in the book as demeaning, I didn't see that in the film at least. Or maybe it's not even there in the source material. Who knows. But I think I would like to read it at some point.
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Post by Hoosier X on May 14, 2015 10:26:45 GMT -5
Watership Down (1978)I got this with my Netflix DVD subscription and enjoyed it. My son, 12, watched it with me too. He missed maybe the first 15 minutes coming into it but he stayed for the rest of the movie. While he wasn't scared or offended he was surprised that it was a kid's movie, or at least intended to be so. I kind of expected it to be what it was, as the reason I had heard of the movie was comments in a youtube video about scary things in Disney movies. A lot of people commented that seeing this movie as children had scared them, or at least wasn't what most of the movies for kids at that time were. But I thought it was great, and like Secret of NIHM, still an appropriate kid's movie even if it did deal with death, violence and tragedy. I am glad I watched it. I only knew two of the voice actors, and only one by name, Jon Hurt. The other one I looked on wikipedia and realized I knew him, just not by name. Denholm Elliott, who I know as Marcus Brody from Indiana Jones. I also read up on the book too and found out that it stirred up some controversy at the time. While most of the complaints about the book regarded the writer's use of females in the book as demeaning, I didn't see that in the film at least. Or maybe it's not even there in the source material. Who knows. But I think I would like to read it at some point. Zero Mostel is the sea gull!
I saw this in the theater when it first came out. It was OK. I might have liked it better if I hadn't been such a big fan of the book. I read it three or four times before I was 14. I always used it for book reports. Every year, when book reports would be assigned for English class, I would read Watership Down and write a new book report. I did that three times.
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Post by Farrar on May 14, 2015 17:32:53 GMT -5
Green Mansions (1959)- Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins, LJ Cobb ... But Hepburn is woefully miscast. Pretty face, of course, but so, so pale and so, so thin. A 20 mph gust of wind could knock her over. She's totally unable to do any action or physical stunts befitting a jungle queen. Besides hiding behind a jungle frond and smiling she's good for nothing. She can barely run. Why on earth was the savage tribe ever afraid of her. She can't even talk to the animals. Get her out of the jungle and send her to Tiffany's for breakfast pronto. Sounds like a mess of a movie, thanks for the insights. I've never seen it, but she was directed by her then-husband Mel Ferrer, with whom she was having problems at the time. And from what I've read, reportedly there was no on-or-offscreen chemistry between her and leading man Anthony Perkins. Had the film been made 10 or so years earlier, I can picture a less "Hollywood-sophisticated" Hepburn (as in her Ondine role), or her contemporary Jean Simmons (during her Black Narcissus phase), in it. |
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