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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 8, 2016 21:09:48 GMT -5
I hope the automatic pilot has been activated while they play
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 8, 2016 23:42:46 GMT -5
The Tyrone Power Box Set Finale
The Luck Of The Irish (1948) Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter, Cecil Kellaway, Lee J. Cobb, Ralph Kramden's sister-in-law Jayne Meadows
While travelling through Ireland, New York newspaper columnist Tyrone happens upon a leprechaun. He catches him but lets him keep his pot of gold. Back in NY, Tyrone begins work for rising politician Cobb and his daughter Meadows. The leprechaun arrives at Tyrone's apartment to work as his manservant and bring good luck to him as well. Tyrone knows he'll get rich by working for Cobb and marrying his daughter but he wistfully misses the charming young Irish lassie (Baxter) he met back in the old country
All the scenes that take place in Ireland have a green tint, otherwise in New York it is all B & W. Affable fantasy comedy. Should have held off watching this until St Paddy's day. Sure and begorrah, tis a wee bit silly but aye laddie it's a fine fine thing
Kellaway is a great leprechaun
That wraps it up and thanks Tyrone. This 10 movie on 5 flipper discs boxset is available on Amazon for less than $40. Each movie has special features including trailers, publicity stills, a few short documentaries and interviews with surviving stars remembering Tyrone and more
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 9, 2016 2:18:40 GMT -5
Eraserhead (1977) Directed by David Lynch Jack Nance
Harold and his wife have a mutant baby who's incessant crying drives the wife back home with her parents
You'll love it or hate it. David Lynch's directorial debut which took 5 years to film. The mutant baby is one of the most grotesque creations in film history and Lynch has refused to reveal how it was done. Jack Nance has a brillo hair style that comes in second place in the ranks of the grotesque. Played at midnight movie theaters for many years ans has made the list of "Most Dangerous Films" and "1000 Films to see Before You Die".
I forgot if I saw it in the theaters or when it debuted on VHS, but my revisit with it still makes my jaw drop. Judge for yourself
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 9, 2016 11:21:13 GMT -5
Ish, knowing of your love for Tyrone Power...have you ever reviewed Crash Dive here? It was just on this morning and I watched it for about the fiftieth time; it was a favorite World War Two movie back in the Pleistocene Era, when they'd show three of them in a row on Sunday afternoons on Channel 5 in NYC.
Won't steal your thunder, but it is notable for the prominnet and (generally) unstereotyped portrayal of a black submariner by Ben Carter. Quite noticeable even when I watched it as a kid. Great cast: Power, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, James Gleason, a bunch of great character actors -- Stanley Andrews, Dame May Whitty, Charley Grapewin, Minor Watson -- and Anne Baxter as the love interest.
One of the early classic submarine films, replete with touches that became standards of the genre.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 9, 2016 15:37:20 GMT -5
Ish, knowing of your love for Tyrone Power...have you ever reviewed Crash Dive here? It was just on this morning and I watched it for about the fiftieth time; it was a favorite World War Two movie back in the Pleistocene Era, when they'd show three of them in a row on Sunday afternoons on Channel 5 in NYC. Won't steal your thunder, but it is notable for the prominnet and (generally) unstereotyped portrayal of a black submariner by Ben Carter. Quite noticeable even when I watched it as a kid. Great cast: Power, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, James Gleason, a bunch of great character actors -- Stanley Andrews, Dame May Whitty, Charley Grapewin, Minor Watson -- and Anne Baxter as the love interest. One of the early classic submarine films, replete with touches that became standards of the genre. Great catch, P.H. I do not own nor have seen Crash Dive. Out of the 52 films Tyrone Power appeared in, even after viewing the box set, I've only seen about half his films. Crash Dive was the last movie he made before he volunteered for the armed forces. In fact they gave him special dispensation to finish it up first. Looks like a good one and I'll keep an eye out for it Until I watched the 10 film box set, I never gave much thought to Tyrone Power. If you asked me to name off the top of my head 20 male actors from Hollywood's golden age thru the 1950s, I would have probably skipped right over him. But the set I watched with him from different stages of his career, playing comedy and drama, hero and heavy, and hearing his bio, certainly catapulted him in my conscious
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 9, 2016 15:58:10 GMT -5
Ish, knowing of your love for Tyrone Power...have you ever reviewed Crash Dive here? It was just on this morning and I watched it for about the fiftieth time; it was a favorite World War Two movie back in the Pleistocene Era, when they'd show three of them in a row on Sunday afternoons on Channel 5 in NYC. Won't steal your thunder, but it is notable for the prominnet and (generally) unstereotyped portrayal of a black submariner by Ben Carter. Quite noticeable even when I watched it as a kid. Great cast: Power, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, James Gleason, a bunch of great character actors -- Stanley Andrews, Dame May Whitty, Charley Grapewin, Minor Watson -- and Anne Baxter as the love interest. One of the early classic submarine films, replete with touches that became standards of the genre. Great catch, P.H. I do not own nor have seen Crash Dive. Out of the 52 films Tyrone Power appeared in, even after viewing the box set, I've only seen about half his films. Crash Dive was the last movie he made before he volunteered for the armed forces. In fact they gave him special dispensation to finish it up first. Looks like a good one and I'll keep an eye out for it Until I watched the 10 film box set, I never gave much thought to Tyrone Power. If you asked me to name off the top of my head 20 male actors from Hollywood's golden age thru the 1950s, I would have probably skipped right over him. But the set I watched with him from different stages of his career, playing comedy and drama, hero and heavy, and hearing his bio, certainly catapulted him in my conscious Yeah, I think you'll enjoy it. Another performance of his I like is in The Long Gray Line, a film undercut by john Ford's penchant for Irish sentimentalism, of which a little goes a long way. In general, I love Ford movies, but you'd think he'd've gotten the Hibernian stuff out of his system in The Quiet Man, where it is charming and well suited for the fairy-tale aspects of that film. Still, I have a soft spot for the story, which is a bit like Goodbye Mr. Chips Goes to West Point, especially for Power's performance, which spans many years of his character's life. BTW, Power was a Marine pilot, considered too old to fly, so he volunteeered to fly cargo planes ferrying wounded soldiers. He flew throughout the Paciifc. During one mission, he executed a perfect landing on the water in a thick fog, and his crew and he emerged unscathed... until they were picked up by a rescue ship. Leaving the cockpit, Power broke his leg!
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 9, 2016 16:32:18 GMT -5
Great catch, P.H. I do not own nor have seen Crash Dive. Out of the 52 films Tyrone Power appeared in, even after viewing the box set, I've only seen about half his films. Crash Dive was the last movie he made before he volunteered for the armed forces. In fact they gave him special dispensation to finish it up first. Looks like a good one and I'll keep an eye out for it Until I watched the 10 film box set, I never gave much thought to Tyrone Power. If you asked me to name off the top of my head 20 male actors from Hollywood's golden age thru the 1950s, I would have probably skipped right over him. But the set I watched with him from different stages of his career, playing comedy and drama, hero and heavy, and hearing his bio, certainly catapulted him in my conscious Yeah, I think you'll enjoy it. Another performance of his I like is in The Long Gray Line, a film undercut by john Ford's penchant for Irish sentimentalism, of which a little goes a long way. In general, I love Ford movies, but you'd think he'd've gotten the Hibernian stuff out of his system in The Quiet Man, where it is charming and well suited for the fairy-tale aspects of that film. Still, I have a soft spot for the story, which is a bit like Goodbye Mr. Chips Goes to West Point, especially for Power's performance, which spans many years of his character's life. BTW, Power was a Marine pilot, considered too old to fly, so he volunteeered to fly cargo planes ferrying wounded soldiers. He flew throughout the Paciifc. During one mission, he executed a perfect landing on the water in a thick fog, and his crew and he emerged unscathed... until they were picked up by a rescue ship. Leaving the cockpit, Power broke his leg! Thanks for the tip. I'll be looking for more Power (like a low rate Marvel villain). I mentioned before that he was one of the earliest U.S. ground troops to enter Hiroshima after the Bomb dropped and he never spoke about the experience. But there was most certainly a visible change in Tyrone on screen after the war. The natural boyish plucky look seemed gone and there was more of an intensity in his eyes. He certainly looked to have aged more than the 2-3 years he was in service
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 9, 2016 17:36:08 GMT -5
Great catch, P.H. I do not own nor have seen Crash Dive. Out of the 52 films Tyrone Power appeared in, even after viewing the box set, I've only seen about half his films. Crash Dive was the last movie he made before he volunteered for the armed forces. In fact they gave him special dispensation to finish it up first. Looks like a good one and I'll keep an eye out for it Until I watched the 10 film box set, I never gave much thought to Tyrone Power. If you asked me to name off the top of my head 20 male actors from Hollywood's golden age thru the 1950s, I would have probably skipped right over him. But the set I watched with him from different stages of his career, playing comedy and drama, hero and heavy, and hearing his bio, certainly catapulted him in my conscious Yeah, I think you'll enjoy it. Another performance of his I like is in The Long Gray Line, a film undercut by john Ford's penchant for Irish sentimentalism, of which a little goes a long way. In general, I love Ford movies, but you'd think he'd've gotten the Hibernian stuff out of his system in The Quiet Man, where it is charming and well suited for the fairy-tale aspects of that film. Still, I have a soft spot for the story, which is a bit like Goodbye Mr. Chips Goes to West Point, especially for Power's performance, which spans many years of his character's life. BTW, Power was a Marine pilot, considered too old to fly, so he volunteeered to fly cargo planes ferrying wounded soldiers. He flew throughout the Paciifc. During one mission, he executed a perfect landing on the water in a thick fog, and his crew and he emerged unscathed... until they were picked up by a rescue ship. Leaving the cockpit, Power broke his leg! Ford was a first generation American. I tend to give him a pass on the Irish sentimentality.
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 9, 2016 19:04:43 GMT -5
Yeah, I think you'll enjoy it. Another performance of his I like is in The Long Gray Line, a film undercut by john Ford's penchant for Irish sentimentalism, of which a little goes a long way. In general, I love Ford movies, but you'd think he'd've gotten the Hibernian stuff out of his system in The Quiet Man, where it is charming and well suited for the fairy-tale aspects of that film. Still, I have a soft spot for the story, which is a bit like Goodbye Mr. Chips Goes to West Point, especially for Power's performance, which spans many years of his character's life. BTW, Power was a Marine pilot, considered too old to fly, so he volunteeered to fly cargo planes ferrying wounded soldiers. He flew throughout the Paciifc. During one mission, he executed a perfect landing on the water in a thick fog, and his crew and he emerged unscathed... until they were picked up by a rescue ship. Leaving the cockpit, Power broke his leg! Ford was a first generation American. I tend to give him a pass on the Irish sentimentality. I know what you mean, being of Irish ancestry myself. I just think that he tended to indulge in it at times to the point that it took an artistic toll on his films. On the other hand, I can watch Victor McLaglen call everybody "darlin'" till the leprechauns come home, and I'd watch Maureen O'Hara read the Killarney phone book.
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 9, 2016 19:11:39 GMT -5
I had missed this bit of info. Power most certainly looked changed in post-war movies. (Think Nightmare Alley.) Makes sense that seeing Hiroshima in the aftermath of the bomb contributed to that change.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 10, 2016 16:54:29 GMT -5
La Grande Illusion (1937) Directed by Jean Renoir Jean Gabin, Erich Von Stroheim
During WWI some French officers are captured and taken to a German POW camp. After some escape attempts, they are transferred to an impenetrable mountain fortress
The grand daddy for films such as Stalag-17 and The Great Escape. You will see now familiar scenes of prisoners tunneling to get past the barb wire fences and the schemes of how to hide the dirt that the tunneling exposes. What strikes the viewer with the film is that the Germans behalf civilized with their prisoners. Its a "gentleman's" war so to speak. The POWS are an international assortment with English, Russian, Jews and North Africans although the central characters are French. Very little violence and no wartime scenes, this is about character and the human drama of yearning for freedom and the attempts to gain it
When the Nazis occupied France in WWII, they were under orders to round up all prints of this film and destroy them. The only prints existing immediately after WWII were muddy, chopped up versions. Fortunately it seemed, one German film connoisseur smuggled an original negative of the film into Germany which was finally discovered. This pristine and complete version is the one used for this Criterion release.
Did I say Criterion? This is Criterion #1 or in other words, the first DVD Criterion produced and since their releases all have numbers on their spine (I think they are up to the 700s by now) This has a #1 and if Ulty Jez knew about she would have slabbed this baby long ago
Another item-this was one of the first movies ever telecast in the USA. In 1939, an experimental telecast from a NYC TV station broadcast this film
Jean Gabin was at the time the #1 French movie star. Erich Von Stroheim had hoped this film would act as his big comeback. He was allowed to use his own dialogue and interpretation for the role of the aristocratic German camp commandant. He came up with his own backstory that the German officer was severely wounded in battle and had to always wear a neck brace. At times I thought Michael Myer's Dr. Evil might have been a parody of Stroheim's character.
Criterion picked an excellent film to kick off its DVD collection
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 11, 2016 13:15:02 GMT -5
Swing Time (1936) Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Betty Furness, Helen Broderick
Fred is engaged to Betty but first he arrives in NYC to earn enough money. He didn't count on meeting Ginger and being in step with her
Until quite recently I never watched any Fred and Ginger films but had purchased a few thinking no classic film collection should be without it. And lo and behold, I'm enjoying them more than I had imagined. It seems fans are divided over whether Swing Time or Top Hat is the best of the duo. Having seen both now, I'll vote for Swing Time. Its a simple boy-meets-girl storyline but I prefer that more than the clichéd mistaken identity plot. The songs her are classics including Pick Yourself Up and The Way You Look Tonight. Ginger looks magnificent, the comedy is spot on and of course the dancing is top notch. On the downside is too much Victor Moore and some black-face on Fred. But the black-face number, Bojangles Of Harlem, with the choreography played in front of shadow figures, is iconic
AFI has this among the top 100 all-time movies. I can understand that
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 11, 2016 13:31:06 GMT -5
Moving on to a small boxset produced by an offshoot of Criterion: The Eclipse series are collections featuring a particular director or actor. In this case its a 3 movie collection featuring the early films of director Sam Fuller. There's been plenty of Sam Fuller flicks I have enjoyed. A short list would include
Pickup On South Street The Naked Kiss Shock Corridor White Dog
Sam writes many of the films he directs as well. He specializes in crime, war and the western genres. Starting with the 2nd film he directed and its a doozy
The Baron Of Arizona (1950) Vincent Price
Based on a true and fascinating piece of American history. Before Arizona achieved statehood in 1912, master con man/swindler James Reavis hatched a plan to own the territory. He spent many years forging documents, planting fake physical evidence and grooming a poor young girl into making people believe that she was the last heir to her family's claim of holding a land grant to the entire territory of Arizona bequeathed by King Ferdinand of Spain in the 1500s. Reavis has the young orphan girl believe this scam, then marries her when she is of age. Reavis forged legal papers and planted them within the libraries of Spain itself. This scam was decades in the making, all culminating to Reavis declaring himself the Baron Of Arizona and suing the United States government into recognizing this claim
All true and very compelling. Vincent Price is quite impressive as the master swindler and you might begin to root for his scheme to work. Also fascinating is that Sam Fuller shot the entire film within 15 days. Roger Corman would have been impressed
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 11, 2016 20:02:00 GMT -5
Swing Time (1936) Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Betty Furness, Helen Broderick Fred is engaged to Betty but first he arrives in NYC to earn enough money. He didn't count on meeting Ginger and being in step with her Until quite recently I never watched any Fred and Ginger films but had purchased a few thinking no classic film collection should be without it. And lo and behold, I'm enjoying them more than I had imagined. It seems fans are divided over whether Swing Time or Top Hat is the best of the duo. Having seen both now, I'll vote for Swing Time. Its a simple boy-meets-girl storyline but I prefer that more than the clichéd mistaken identity plot. The songs her are classics including Pick Yourself Up and The Way You Look Tonight. Ginger looks magnificent, the comedy is spot on and of course the dancing is top notch. On the downside is too much Victor Moore and some black-face on Fred. But the black-face number, Bojangles Of Harlem, with the choreography played in front of shadow figures, is iconic AFI has this among the top 100 all-time movies. I can understand that I've seen all ten of the Astaire-Rogers films and though I like Swing Time and Top Hat just fine, my favorite - by far! - is Shall We Dance! Just wait until you see Astaire trying to pass himself off the great Russian dancer Petrov.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 12, 2016 14:46:19 GMT -5
The Steel Helmet (1951) Gene Evans, Robert Hutton, Steve Brodie, Sid Melton, Richard Loo
The Korean War and grizzled, cigar chomping Sgt Zack is the only survivor of a deadly skirmish. A young South Korean boy helps guide him through the murky fields until they hook up with a small Allied patrol consisting of a black medic, a mute private, a conscientious objector, a Japanese-American and a young bald kid who lost his hair due to Scarlet Fever. They hold up in a Buddhist Temple and have orders to capture a prisoner alive
The 3rd film directed by Samuel Fuller who also wrote and produced it. Sgt Zack will remind you of Nick Fury, needing a shave and having served in WWII as well, he's seen all that war has to offer. And what a rag-tag group too. Very grim and gritty, this is a film that would not/ could not be made during the 1940s but instead is very non-sentimental, non-patriotic, and stripped down real
Sam Fuller was probably Roger Corman's idol. He shot this film in 12 days and under a budget of $100,000 which was miniscule for a major film studio. Some very interesting notes:
This is the first American film about the Korean War
A scene where Sgt Zack shoots an unarmed prisoner and some dialogue where the Japanese -American soldier spoke of his family being sent to American interment camps with others led to controversy and charges that Sam Fuller was a commie.Yes, the FBI opened a file on him and Fuller had to answer to accusations of being Un-American in front of the HUAC committee
Battle scenes were filmed at Los Angeles' Griffith Park
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