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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 21, 2016 21:12:02 GMT -5
Just saw Missing (1982) by Costa Gavras for the first time... Man, what a great movie and great performances. Jack Lemon and Sissy Spacek really felt close to home today A great third party view on the chilean coup and how the US and Kissinger more than helped it and the tens of thousands of murders that occured under the scrutiny of department of state and CIA monitoring. I hope the world has changed... Speaking of Costa Gavras, I saw Z a few nights ago. I was very impressed with it. I've never been much of an Yves Montand fan but he's very good. But Irene Pappas and Jean-Louis Tringtinant are two of my favorite European actors from that era. It was great to see them again. I've never seen Missing but now that I know it's Costa Gravas, I'll keep an eye open for next time it's on cable.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 21, 2016 21:35:20 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2016 0:39:27 GMT -5
I need to keep an eagle eye on Missing ... sounds like a winner!
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 22, 2016 3:19:09 GMT -5
Dragonwyck -1946- starring Vincent Price, Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Jessica Tandy and Harry Morgan Price had said that this was his favorite film that he starred in. Highly recommended. I own and watched it a few years back. Agreed about Vincent Price that he was an excellent actor before being typecast for horror pictures only during the second half of his career. He was never happy about that situation but at least he got plenty of work from it
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 22, 2016 12:24:24 GMT -5
Dragonwyck -1946- starring Vincent Price, Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Jessica Tandy and Harry Morgan Creepy and compelling at times. What I love about so many movies of this era is that they had to be subtle about what was really going on, inevitably the sexual and social undercurrents. Tierney is so clearly a woman struggling with the restrictions of the era, just as were post-war American women. Her horrible family life makes any change, no matter how potentially dangerous, more than worth it. The social element is obvious, with the corruption, political an moral of the upper class represented by Price's character. Might even have been regarded as subversive by some. Plus it co-stars Glenn Langan as the noble doctor. I always knew him for his starring role as this guy:
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 23, 2016 2:21:11 GMT -5
Sherlock Homes and the Voice Of Terror (1942) Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, Reginald Denny
A Nazi radio broadcaster code-named The Voice Of Terror interrupts the British airwaves with announcements of German sabotage against England
Excellent WWII Holmes entry. Very atmospheric. Evelyn Ankers is marvelous to behold although she does not have an opportunity for her ear-piercing screams. This is the first Rathbone Holmes movie time-shifted into the then modern-age. Henry Daniell also co-stars and will later play Prof. Moriarty in The Woman In Green. Good show, by jove.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 23, 2016 2:38:38 GMT -5
The Good Earth (1937) Paul Muni, Louise Ranier, Walter Connolly, Keye Luke
The story of a Chinese peasant (Muni), his arranged marriage, the famine that comes to his region, the trek southward tom the cities for food and work, the Chinese revolution in the early 20th century, his good fortune in becoming prosperous, his taking of a second wife, his son screwing around with his second wife, a plague of locust- an eventful saga to be sure
I kept seeing parallels between this and the classic The Grapes Of Wrath. A captivating and engrossing film. It was the pet project of producer Irving Thalberg who championed it despite objections from MGM boss Louis Mayer who did not think the American audience would care about a movie dealing with Chinese farmers. It took 3 years to film. Thalberg wanted an all-Chinese cast and to film it in China. MGM insisted on Paul Muni to be the star and the Chinese government wanted final say on the film if it was to be shot there. So it was filmed in California and Thalberg could not find enough experienced Chinese-American actors besides a small handful. Anna Wong desperately wanted to play Paul Muni's wife but the Hayes censor board opposed it since their guidelines called for no mixed racial marriages in any movies. Instead Louis Ranier got the plum role and won an Oscar for it. In fact . it was the 2nd of consecutive Oscars for her and the 1st time that happened in Oscar history. Her career plummeted right afterward. Charlie Chan's number one son, Keye Luke , played one of Muni's sons.
The locust scene is spectacular. This is certainly one of the more important films of the 1930s
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 12:09:40 GMT -5
Sherlock Homes and the Voice Of Terror (1942) Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, Reginald Denny A Nazi radio broadcaster code-named The Voice Of Terror interrupts the British airwaves with announcements of German sabotage against England Excellent WWII Holmes entry. Very atmospheric. Evelyn Ankers is marvelous to behold although she does not have an opportunity for her ear-piercing screams. This is the first Rathbone Holmes movie time-shifted into the then modern-age. Henry Daniell also co-stars and will later play Prof. Moriarty in The Woman In Green. Good show, by jove. That movie Ish, is the one that I wanted to see for years and years and never been able to see it. Thanks for jarring my memory.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 23, 2016 21:37:54 GMT -5
Don't Look Now (1973) Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie Directed by Nicolas Roeg
Laura and John Baxter had lost their young daughter in an accidental drowning. They are now in Venice where John, as an architect, is working on a church renovation. His wife encounters 2 elderly sisters-one of them is a blind psychic. The pyshic tells Laura Baxter that she sees the spirit of her dead daughter following her mom, and warns the couple to leave Venice immediately
Good news is it's a film recently re-released via Criterion with many supplements. I'm kind of conflicted with this movie
The Good-beautiful direction from Roeg, evocative location shots of Venice. These are not the typical tourist scenes I've seen of the city but rather what seems as the back streets (or rather back canals), the oldest, grimiest sections of Venice and hence, the spookiest. Sutherland and Christie perform an infamous, long , explicit sex scene.
The Bad-languidly paced and no real chills during the story.Sutherland for some reason wears a curly brown toupee that looks real bad and wears an ugly long purple overcoat through the whole film.
This film landed on many lists as a great film (The British Film Institute, The London Times etc). I just can't agree with that assessment. Originally released in the UK as a double feature paired with The Wicker Man- that one I truly enjoyed
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 22:22:33 GMT -5
Don't Look Now (1973) Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie Directed by Nicolas Roeg Laura and John Baxter had lost their young daughter in an accidental drowning. They are now in Venice where John, as an architect, is working on a church renovation. His wife encounters 2 elderly sisters-one of them is a blind psychic. The pyshic tells Laura Baxter that she sees the spirit of her dead daughter following her mom, and warns the couple to leave Venice immediately Good news is it's a film recently re-released via Criterion with many supplements. I'm kind of conflicted with this movie The Good-beautiful direction from Roeg, evocative location shots of Venice. These are not the typical tourist scenes I've seen of the city but rather what seems as the back streets (or rather back canals), the oldest, grimiest sections of Venice and hence, the spookiest. Sutherland and Christie perform an infamous, long , explicit sex scene. The Bad-languidly paced and no real chills during the story.Sutherland for some reason wears a curly brown toupee that looks real bad and wears an ugly long purple overcoat through the whole film. This film landed on many lists as a great film (The British Film Institute, The London Times etc). I just can't agree with that assessment. Originally released in the UK as a double feature paired with The Wicker Man- that one I truly enjoyed I recently bought Don't Look Now as a blind buy when Criterion had their 50% off sale...was really looking forward to seeing it...hopefully going to watch it soon. Love the Wicker Man...one of Christopher Lee's best performances. Hopefully you have seen one of the longer versions and not the chopped up crappy 83 minute version or however long it was.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 23, 2016 22:27:12 GMT -5
Love the Wicker Man...one of Christopher Lee's best performances. Hopefully you have seen one of the longer versions and not the chopped up crappy 83 minute version or however long it was. Yes, I have the restored version of the Wicker Man on DVD-runs close to 100 minutes. Avoid the remake from a few years back at all costs
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 22:31:34 GMT -5
Love the Wicker Man...one of Christopher Lee's best performances. Hopefully you have seen one of the longer versions and not the chopped up crappy 83 minute version or however long it was. Yes, I have the restored version of the Wicker Man on DVD-runs close to 100 minutes. Avoid the remake from a few years back at all costs Oh I am avoiding the remake like the plague...I hate and avoid most remakes. Plus it has Nicolas Cage so that's a big no-no too. Wicker Tree which came out a few years ago is supposed to be pretty bad too from what I heard.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 24, 2016 0:42:18 GMT -5
The Grifters (1990) John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Benning, Pat Hingle, Henry Jones
The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree. Cusack is a low level scam artist. He finds out that his new girlfriend is a pro at that game but used to run bigger, Wall Street level scams. She wants to partner with him now for big game action. Cusack's mother makes a surprise appearence-he hasn't seen her in 8 years. She works with the mob, scamming the race tracks. Who can trust who?
Novel by Jim Thompson, screenplay by Donald Westlake. That's a great literary pedigree. A fine noirish character drama with stellar performances all around. Nominated for many awards but didn't quite take any home. Nevertheless, a quality piece of cinema. Henry Jones' final role.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 24, 2016 2:40:28 GMT -5
The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958) Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, Torwin Thatcher Special effects by Ray Harryhausen
Sinbad's girlfriend is reduced to Shrinking-Violet size and the only way to restore her is to take an evil Lex Luthor-looking magician (who did the dastardly deed) back to his island home where he lost his magic lamp and the genie it contained. The island is inhabited by a giant cyclops, big 2-headed dodo birds and animated skeletons
The first and best of Harryhausen Sinbad films. The first in color and the first using the term Dynamation for its special effects. Its loaded with fantasy battles , thrills and chills that enthralled the young baby-boomer generation. It has lost some of special appeal due to modern-age computer effects but given the context of its time, it's a true classic of cinema imagination
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 24, 2016 6:38:14 GMT -5
The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958) Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, Torwin Thatcher Special effects by Ray Harryhausen Sinbad's girlfriend And the second Mrs. Bing Crosby, doncha know.
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