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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 18, 2015 10:49:12 GMT -5
And I also saw Nightmare Alley, a 1947 film with Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Colleen Gray and Helen Walker. Yeah, wow, this is another one I don't want to say too much about. I don't think any other film has ever tried to combine film noir with a psychological thriller and set most of it at the circus. This film makes it look easy. I'm not really much of a Tyrone Power fan, but between Nightmare Alley and The Mark of Zorro, I'm starting to chance my mind about him. I saw Nightmare Alley many years ago and it was a damn great movie. A fantastic movie
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 18, 2015 11:44:05 GMT -5
I noticed Topper Returns on TCM On Demand and I decided to watch it his morning. I saw it 20 years ago and I remember it being very good. I'm about a half-hour into it. It's as good as I remember. I think I like it better than the original Topper film.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2015 11:57:01 GMT -5
I noticed Topper Returns on TCM On Demand and I decided to watch it his morning. I saw it 20 years ago and I remember it being very good. I'm about a half-hour into it. It's as good as I remember. I think I like it better than the original Topper film. I liked both films equally well and I'm more impartial of the original one that starred Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. They did a better job than Joan Blondell and Roland Young. I was very disappointed in not seeing Cary Grant and Constance Bennett in this sequel and that's why I felt that it was a grave injustice at the time that they made Topper Returns and I felt it wasn't a sequel at all. It's appears to be two separate films that's not related each other and that's bothers me today.
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 18, 2015 13:48:00 GMT -5
And I also saw Nightmare Alley, a 1947 film with Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Colleen Gray and Helen Walker. Yeah, wow, this is another one I don't want to say too much about. I don't think any other film has ever tried to combine film noir with a psychological thriller and set most of it at the circus. This film makes it look easy. I'm not really much of a Tyrone Power fan, but between Nightmare Alley and The Mark of Zorro, I'm starting to chance my mind about him. I saw Nightmare Alley many years ago and it was a damn great movie. A fantastic movie Agreed. Love that movie. So many things going on. Just caught the last few minutes of it the other day and decided to read the novel. I'm just a few chapter sin, but I'm liking it. So far it's film noir, hardboiled, naturalistic, great description and dialogue. Already somewhat different form the movie, but not in a bad way.
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 18, 2015 13:50:42 GMT -5
The Bitter Tea of General Yen is one of the best films I've seen for a while. It was made in 1933, directed by Frank Capra and stars Barbara Stanwyck. I don't want to say too much about it because I think one of the things that made it so enjoyable was that I didn't know that much about it. I've heard it was one of Stanwyck's better films, so I've wanted to see it for some time. It's set in China in the 1930s and there's a "General Yen" in the title. Since it's not "General Tso," it's not about food, so you can probably guess that it's one of those movies Hollywood made in the 1930s about what an awful place China is. But that can't possibly prepare you for The Bitter Tea of General Yen. I would never have guessed it was a Frank Capra film. Yes! So different. Stanwyck is great in it (as usual). Dated in its attitudes, but maybe not. Transgression is transgression, after all.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 18, 2015 14:16:03 GMT -5
The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) Elizabeth Taylor, Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Donna Reed, Roger Moore, Eva Gabor, George Dolenz
During the celebration of the Paris Liberation in WWII, Van Johnson meets the Ellswirth sisters-Donna Reed and Elizabeth Taylor. They both make a move on him. He chooses Elisabeth (Donna was foxy back then but, c'mon, we're talking La Liz, at that time the most beautiful actress in Hollywood. Van is no idiot). They stay and get married in France. She's a party girl, he's a frustrated author and they both hit the bottle big time. Van begins to flirt with society girl Eva Gabor (Van-what the hell you doing. Eva's foxy but c'mon, we're talking La Liz, at that time the most beautiful actress in Hollywood. Van is an idiot). Liz begins to flirt with young tennis pro Roger Moore (holy crap he was once young). Walter Pidgeon is the father of the Ellswirth sisters and when not betting on the ponies, he's chewing up the scenery-my favorite hammy actor)
It's a great soap opera due to the wonderful cast. Very impressive roster. And to top it off, George Dolenz is the father of The Monkee's Mickey Dolenz. Beware though. the film fell into public domain so there are many fly by night DVD companies that have released this film in subpar quality. Also MGM tried to save money by filming most of this in fake Paris locations that were really in their Hollywood backlots. Shame, shame.
Be that as it may, Elizabeth is stunning, Walter is a great ham, Roger Moore is young, Eva Gabor hasn't been on a farm yet and Donna is a cutey. And a monkey papa. You might need a hanky to towards the end
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 18, 2015 14:18:21 GMT -5
Hamburger Hill (1987) Don Cheadle
Tried watching this Vietnam war flick but the DVD had developed some rot and kept freezing and pixelating. To be replaced and viewed later
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 19, 2015 13:24:19 GMT -5
Gandhi (1982) Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Martin Sheen
Life story of Gandhi from his early days as a lawyer in South Africa to the granting of independence to India and it's aftermath
Sweeping epic, magnificent in scope, fantastic location shots, role of a lifetime for Ben Kingsley. Swept all the major Oscars for 1982 and well deserving of them. Directed by Richard Attenborough. Movie making at its best. I've run out of superlatives. The Gandhi Man can cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good.
Co-incidentally, I've just finished reading a 1951 classic SF short story from Eric Frank Russell named "And Then There Were None" regarding a world that adopted Gandhi's philosophy of life and how it dealt with Earth trying to reclaim it's colony. Years ago I also read an alternate-history tale of Gandhi dealing with an India that had been taken over by Nazi Germany, another interesting take.
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Post by berkley on Dec 19, 2015 17:45:44 GMT -5
I should check to make sure of this but I think Ghandi might have been the last "Best Film" Oscar winner I ever saw, unless Tarantino won for Pulp Fiction.
[edit:] just checked wiki and PF didn't win but I'm wrong anyway: there are a bunch I've seen since then that I never knew were Oscar winners, or just forgot some reason. I must have gotten the idea Ghandi was the last one because it was around that time that I started losing interest in the Academy Awards, which I used to watch every year for a long time until then.
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 20, 2015 11:55:40 GMT -5
How are Ghandi and Dr. Suess similar?
(Desperately trying not to be snarky...)
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 20, 2015 15:15:46 GMT -5
Montana (1950) Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith
It's cattlemen vs. sheepmen in the great big outdoors of the late 1800s. Errol Flynn is riding a herd of his favorite sheep through a cattle town and the mistress of meat, Alexis Smith, although smitten by Errol's looks, will not abide for it. Errol even sings a song on guitar and wonders aloud "What's so wrong about sheep?". The town bully declares "You speak like a sheepherder". Errol spits the fluff of wool out of his mouth and sounds better
Well, its technicolor. Alexis has nice red hair to take advantage of it. Some really bad rear-screen projection shots but loads of chuckles even though its played straight.
Its too bad they didn't stick to the original script where Errol moved to Montana to raise himself a flock of dental floss. The theme song for that movie was recorded
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 20, 2015 15:27:24 GMT -5
The Fog (1980) Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman Directed by John Carpenter
A 100 year old curse comes to life as a fog containing century-dead lepers approach a small California coastal town. The dead zombie lepers are in search of gold stolen from them and need to kill 6 people to complete the curse
Remade in 2005. Movie starts off for the first 20 minutes or so fine with the curse activating and things in the town going crazy. The final 20 minutes is just as good. But the movie studio thought the 1st version was to short and demanded Carpenter to pad it. So John Houseman was hired for a brief prelude and the middle section of the film crawls along. Adrienne Barbeau plays an overnight sexy voiced DJ transmitting from a lighthouse. To keep the film at a lower budget, god-awful somnabulent and anonymous lite FM music is used since its cheaper than anthing else.
Curiously mother/daughter team Curtiss and Leigh hardly interact. Cinematic debut for Adrienne Barbeau. This was given a very low budget but Carpenter's deft handling keeps the filmic quality high. Its decent and could have been better
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 21, 2015 14:28:04 GMT -5
I watched Sunset Blvd. last night. I know the film pretty well because I watched it 3 or 4 times in the 1990s but I haven't seen it for quite a while. Great great great movie!
Something I never noticed before that I found interesting ... When Joe (William Holden) goes to his friend's party, the friend (Jack Webb) jokingly introduces him as a "geranium salesman and Black Dahlia suspect."
!950 was a tough year to pick a Best Actress for the Oscars, and I don't want to put down Judy Holliday (who won) or Bette Davis, Anne Baxter or Eleanor Parker (who didn't win, but they all could have). But that Oscar should have gone to Gloria Swanson.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 21, 2015 14:34:39 GMT -5
WOW! 1950 was a great year for the movies. In addition to those already mentioned in my previous post, there's also In a Lonely Place, Gun Crazy and The Asphalt Jungle.
In a slightly different vein, Harvey!
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 21, 2015 16:00:56 GMT -5
The Road To Hong Kong (1962) Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Joan Collins, Robert Morley, Dorothy Lamour & A Bunch Of Surprise Guest Stars
Bob takes a drug that gives him a photographic memory of secret rocket ship plans. An evil spy organization headed by Morley with Collins as a seductive agent try to coerce the info from Hope.
The final Road film. They talk Crosby to temporarily stop abusing his son and talk Lamour into appearing just for a few minutes towards the end for this final round-up with a spy and SF theme but still in glorious Black & White. Its getting extremely silly by this point and the boys, still playing pattycakes, are getting long in the tooth, but WAIT A MINUTE....
So we have an evil spy organization with a secret underground lair and secret plans to be seduced from the heroes by a beautiful enemy agent. Sounds like one of those thousands of James Bond-like spy films that deluged the theaters throughout the 1960s from all different countries. BUT THE ROAD TO HONG KONG CAME OUT MONTHS BEFORE DR. NO. It actually set the template for all that was to follow. So this film is actually ground zero for one of the all-time biggest trends in cinematic history. And never gets credit for it. Even if it is a silly movie
Oh, and there is a horific scene of Bob and Bing strapped to a device that automatically stuffs bananas in their mouths for minutes on end in ever-increasing speed. Long enough to send a few members here insane from the spectacle of the mashed fruit and a big slope nose sticking out from it
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