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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 4, 2016 5:19:46 GMT -5
Hilarity allegedly ensues. That line made me laugh out loud!
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 4, 2016 10:59:26 GMT -5
As you may have guessed, I'm not much of a fan of Abbott and Costello. I do have a nostalgic fondness for Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). And I think Africa Screams (1949) is a much under-rated comedy gem. I saw Africa Screams just a few years ago, and I'm a little more inclined to give them more of a chance since then. Boy, their movies are dumb! I find them amusing, and there's usually something worthwhile. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) has Marie Windsor in it. Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) has Boris Karloff and the scenes with the U.K. suffragette movement are very interesting. I did laugh out loud once in Abbott and Costello Go To Mars. When they land on Venus and Orville (Lou Costello) was chased by that giant lap dog! Yeah, I was rolling with laughter and disturbing the cats. Have you seen T he Time of Their Lives? Or Hold That Ghost? Thye have charms that most of the others don't. Thanks for the tip! I'll keep my eyes open. I'm sure they'll be on cable eventually. I actually remember a couple of funny A and C routines that I saw as a kid but I don't remember which movies they were in.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 4, 2016 11:53:56 GMT -5
Have you seen T he Time of Their Lives? Or Hold That Ghost? Thye have charms that most of the others don't. Thanks for the tip! I'll keep my eyes open. I'm sure they'll be on cable eventually. I actually remember a couple of funny A and C routines that I saw as a kid but I don't remember which movies they were in. Time is atypical, a time-travel/costume drama set in Revolutionary times, with Bud one of Lou's antagonists in the 1770's section. Ghost is a bit more formulaic but benefits from having Joan Davis in the cast and a fun storyline.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 4, 2016 12:34:58 GMT -5
I also watched Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) yesterday. It's a musical with Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Esther Williams. It's set about 1900 or so. Sinatra and Kelly are a couple of vaudevillians who play semi-professional baseball in the summer. The owner of the team dies so the team passes to Esther Williams! A girl owning a baseball team?!?!? I love this movie! I've seen it before and I've long been impressed with its madcap energy and how unapologetically corny it is. Plus wall-to-wall great musical numbers! And Betty Garrett is hilarious as the strong-willed girl who falls in love with Frank Sinatra and stalks him mercilessly! I especially love the part where Sinatra is knocked unconscious (fighting with the umpire, no less) and Garrett throws him over her shoulder and takes him to safety in the dugout. One of my top five baseball movies. Also, my favorite Frank Sinatra movie!
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 4, 2016 14:41:25 GMT -5
I'm celebrating Independence Day by watching John Paul Jones (1959) with Robert Stack. I saw Peter Cushing's name in the credits but I haven't seen him yet.
Bette Davis plays Catherine the Great but I haven't gotten to that part yet.
Not bad. A bit by-the-numbers. And I'm assuming a lot of it is Hollywood hogwash. I've been fascinated by the American Revolution for a long time but I've never read too much about John Paul Jones.
Directed by John Farrow! (That's Mia Farrow's father.)
Edited to add: Critic Bosley Crowther had this to say: "Stack performs the knotty little Scotsman as though he were a slightly dull but talkative member of a conservative gentleman's club." Hee hee.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2016 16:49:16 GMT -5
I also watched Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) yesterday. It's a musical with Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Esther Williams. It's set about 1900 or so. Sinatra and Kelly are a couple of vaudevillians who play semi-professional baseball in the summer. The owner of the team dies so the team passes to Esther Williams! A girl owning a baseball team?!?!? I love this movie! I've seen it before and I've long been impressed with its madcap energy and how unapologetically corny it is. Plus wall-to-wall great musical numbers! And Betty Garrett is hilarious as the strong-willed girl who falls in love with Frank Sinatra and stalks him mercilessly! I especially love the part where Sinatra is knocked unconscious (fighting with the umpire, no less) and Garrett throws him over her shoulder and takes him to safety in the dugout. One of my top five baseball movies. Also, my favorite Frank Sinatra movie! The foursome of Sinatra, Kelly, Williams, and Garrett is a perfect mix of musical harmony and I do loved this movie for all the reasons that's you stated for. I just crave this movie and ... Was this movie on TCM?I will scream if it is!
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 4, 2016 17:32:42 GMT -5
I also watched Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) yesterday. It's a musical with Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Esther Williams. It's set about 1900 or so. Sinatra and Kelly are a couple of vaudevillians who play semi-professional baseball in the summer. The owner of the team dies so the team passes to Esther Williams! A girl owning a baseball team?!?!? I love this movie! I've seen it before and I've long been impressed with its madcap energy and how unapologetically corny it is. Plus wall-to-wall great musical numbers! And Betty Garrett is hilarious as the strong-willed girl who falls in love with Frank Sinatra and stalks him mercilessly! I especially love the part where Sinatra is knocked unconscious (fighting with the umpire, no less) and Garrett throws him over her shoulder and takes him to safety in the dugout. One of my top five baseball movies. Also, my favorite Frank Sinatra movie! The foursome of Sinatra, Kelly, Williams, and Garrett is a perfect mix of musical harmony and I do loved this movie for all the reasons that's you stated for. I just crave this movie and ... Was this movie on TCM?I will scream if it is! I DVRed it off TCM. But it's also available from Netflix. Or it used to be anyway.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2016 19:34:17 GMT -5
I just checked out TCM schedule yesterday and it was on and I just can't believe that I've missed it.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 5, 2016 0:35:33 GMT -5
I DVRed On the Town (1949) and I decided to watch it tonight.
It's great! It lives up to its reputation better than some of the other musicals of the era. (I saw Guys and Dolls a few weeks ago and I was disappointed. It has its moments but a lot of it is kinda stupid.)
On the Town has a lot of the same people as Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin and Betty Garrett. And Ann Miller in place of Esther Williams. I love them both, but Ann Miller in the mix gives you a very different kind of CRAZY ENERGY!
And you also get Vera-Ellen, who I don't think I've ever seen in a movie before. She's great!
Yeah, On the Town really kicks butt and shows no mercy to the unwitting spectator who gets caught in its web. We are all prisoners of Manhattan.
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Post by DE Sinclair on Jul 5, 2016 10:11:53 GMT -5
And you also get Vera-Ellen, who I don't think I've ever seen in a movie before. She's great! Haven't you seen White Christmas? She's the other half of the sister act with Rosemary Clooney and does a great job, especially in the dance numbers. It's required December viewing in my household.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 5, 2016 10:22:20 GMT -5
And you also get Vera-Ellen, who I don't think I've ever seen in a movie before. She's great! Haven't you seen White Christmas? She's the other half of the sister act with Rosemary Clooney and does a great job, especially in the dance numbers. It's required December viewing in my household. I've seen Holiday Inn but if I've seen White Christmas, it's been a very very long time. Rosemary Clooney is so awesome, I should probably see it. But I'm not really that big a fan of Holiday Inn. Except for Marjorie Reynolds! She's one of my favorites! Also, blackface is always hilarious!
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 5, 2016 10:31:48 GMT -5
And you also get Vera-Ellen, who I don't think I've ever seen in a movie before. She's great! White Christmas. She is great as Kaye's dance partner early on, even saving the number when Kaye missteps with a graceful move. Always felt bad for her. Supposedly she suffered so from anorexia or bulimia, or both, that her costumes (not sure when this began) were designed with a turtleneck to cover the early aging effects (wrinkles and sagging skin) related to her condition. There is debate about this, so I don't want to assert her eating disorder as incontrovertible fact, but I do think the evidence is strong that she struggled with an eating disorder at least off and on. She also suffered from terrible arthritis. Her career was much shorter than it could have/ should have been. When her daughter died of SIDS in 1963, she essentially withdrew from the world and lived the life of a recluse. Died in 1981 of cancer, only 60 years old.
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Post by DE Sinclair on Jul 5, 2016 10:32:41 GMT -5
Haven't you seen White Christmas? She's the other half of the sister act with Rosemary Clooney and does a great job, especially in the dance numbers. It's required December viewing in my household. I've seen Holiday Inn but if I've seen White Christmas, it's been a very very long time. Rosemary Clooney is so awesome, I should probably see it. But I'm not really that big a fan of Holiday Inn. Except for Marjorie Reynolds! She's one of my favorites! Also, blackface is always hilarious! Definitely should see White Christmas, all of the main four (Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen) turn in great performances. The comedic banter between Crosby and Kaye is always funny. As to Holiday Inn, it really is the lesser of the two, though still not bad (mostly). Except for the tribute to Lincoln's birthday as you mention. Painful. After the first time viewing it, we usually fast forward through it.
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Post by DE Sinclair on Jul 5, 2016 10:36:16 GMT -5
And you also get Vera-Ellen, who I don't think I've ever seen in a movie before. She's great! White Christmas. She is great as Kaye's dance partner early on, even saving the number when Kaye missteps with a graceful move. Always felt bad for her. Supposedly she suffered so from anorexia or bulimia, or both, that her costumes (not sure when this began) were designed with a turtleneck to cover the early aging effects (wrinkles and sagging skin) related to her condition. There is debate about this, so I don't want to assert her eating disorder as incontrivertible fact, but I do think the evidence is strong that she struggled with an eating disorder at least off and on. She also suffered from terrible arthritis. Her career was much shorter than it could have/ should have been. When her daughter died of SIDS in 1963, she essentially withdrew from the world and lived the life of a recluse. Died in 1981 of cancer, only 60 years old. That is truly sad if true about the eating disorders. It certainly is believable though looking at her in White Christmas. She's extremely thin and her waist is just ridiculously small.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jul 5, 2016 10:55:22 GMT -5
Smoke from 1995. Really, really interesting movie of redemption and self discovery that centers around a local cigar store and it's clientele. Kind of has the feeling of Kevin Smith's Clerks about it, but with a little bit more insightful thoughtfulness to it. For example, the film opens with a question, "How do you measure the weight of smoke? That's like trying to weigh a man's soul"
Really stellar performances from Stockard Channing and Forest Whitaker, which isn't to discount the other actors/actresses, because they're equally as good
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