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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2017 3:15:55 GMT -5
Watched ... North by Northwest again on TCM and enjoyed of the performance of Cary Grant and Eva Saint Marie in this Hitchcock's Thriller. I've always watch it on TCM when they show it. Loved this movie so much!
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 26, 2017 12:26:41 GMT -5
Watched ... North by Northwest again on TCM and enjoyed of the performance of Cary Grant and Eva Saint Marie in this Hitchcock's Thriller. I've always watch it on TCM when they show it. Loved this movie so much! I like North by Northwest a lot, but it's not one of the Hitchcocks that I've seen over and over. My favorite is The Birds, which I watched over Thanksgiving weekend for the zillionth time. I've also been kind of obsessed over Dial M for Murder for the last five years or so. I DVRed it during TCM's Hitchcock marathon and I'm going to watch it - along with Horse Feathers and The Barkleys of Broadway - for a New Year marathon.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2017 14:38:32 GMT -5
Watched ... North by Northwest again on TCM and enjoyed of the performance of Cary Grant and Eva Saint Marie in this Hitchcock's Thriller. I've always watch it on TCM when they show it. Loved this movie so much! I like North by Northwest a lot, but it's not one of the Hitchcocks that I've seen over and over. My favorite is The Birds, which I watched over Thanksgiving weekend for the zillionth time. I've also been kind of obsessed over Dial M for Murder for the last five years or so. I DVRed it during TCM's Hitchcock marathon and I'm going to watch it - along with Horse Feathers and The Barkleys of Broadway - for a New Year marathon. I'm like Dial M for Murder ... but, I don't watch it all the time; maybe once every 4 years or so; but I do love the The Birds and I did watch it on Thanksgiving weekend and Tippi Hedren that made her screen debut and instantly found her an instant favorite of mine. I've also a fan of Horse Feathers and I've a hard time enjoying The Barkleys of Broadway in some unknown reasons.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 26, 2017 16:08:52 GMT -5
I like North by Northwest a lot, but it's not one of the Hitchcocks that I've seen over and over. My favorite is The Birds, which I watched over Thanksgiving weekend for the zillionth time. I've also been kind of obsessed over Dial M for Murder for the last five years or so. I DVRed it during TCM's Hitchcock marathon and I'm going to watch it - along with Horse Feathers and The Barkleys of Broadway - for a New Year marathon. I'm like Dial M for Murder ... but, I don't watch it all the time; maybe once every 4 years or so; but I do love the The Birds and I did watch it on Thanksgiving weekend and Tippi Hedren that made her screen debut and instantly found her an instant favorite of mine. I've also a fan of Horse Feathers and I've a hard time enjoying The Barkleys of Broadway in some unknown reasons. I'm trying to make Astaire and Rogers a New Year's tradition around here. I started last year with Shall We Dance, one of my favorite movies EVER. I picked Barkleys of Broadway this year just because TCM is showing it very late in December. It's not one of their best but it has a few great moments I love. Especially Ginger's character playing Sarah Bernhardt onstage. I think it's called "Young Sarah." I love that scene. I think it's my favorite non-dancing Ginger Rogers moment from all her films.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 26, 2017 18:51:23 GMT -5
So I just happened to be browsing Amazon when The Best of Warner Bros. 100 Film Collection popped up for 90% off. I'm buying my own presents from Santa this year, and yet this might be the most excited I've ever been for a present! So "Santa" arrived, and now I have 100 classic films to check out! I'm bravely attempting to watch them in order (which should take several years to complete), but I'm having a blast. Thoughts so far: The Jazz Singer (1927)This film didn't get any better upon a second viewing. I last saw it when I was 17 and had hoped that maturity and a deeper appreciation of classic film would make this more enjoyable for me. It didn't. In fact, I was so bored that I was on my phone for long stretches. I get that so much of the appeal of this film is a sort of "You had to be there" sentiment what with this being the first "talkie," but that's no reason to call it a classic. And what was the point of the black face scenes? He sings songs that don't seem particularly indicative of African Americans (in a stereotypical/offensive way or otherwise). It's so...arbitrary. The Broadway Melody of 1929 (1929)Another "you had to be there" film. It was the first movie musical, but it's a really really poor one in comparison to virtually any of its successors. The only charm I found in it (certainly not the tunes, the dancing, nor the directing) was the sort of dark turn it takes late in the film, where it's clear we aren't going to get a simple happy ending. Bessie Love really turns on the acting here and brings out a compelling tragedy amidst all the daft merriment and noise. Cimarron (1931)An odd film I was expecting to dislike that ended up somehow enamoring me. It's a confused tale centered on a character we are asked to adore while he makes some truly questionable moral decisions and the actor playing him comes off as a drunken armchair cowboy/Conway Twitty look-alike, but I like the scope of this film, the directing is compelling, and in the moments where I agree with the protagonist's vision, it's a powerful viewing experience. The only film of the first three that I intend to return to again.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 26, 2017 19:26:17 GMT -5
So I just happened to be browsing Amazon when The Best of Warner Bros. 100 Film Collection popped up for 90% off. I'm buying my own presents from Santa this year, and yet this might be the most excited I've ever been for a present! So "Santa" arrived, and now I have 100 classic films to check out! I'm bravely attempting to watch them in order (which should take several years to complete), but I'm having a blast. Thoughts so far: The Jazz Singer (1927)And what was the point of the black face scenes? He sings songs that don't seem particularly indicative of African Americans (in a stereotypical/offensive way or otherwise). It's so...arbitrary. Because it was a standard vaudeville thing at the time. Jolson did a lot of singing in blackface in his stage-shows. Minstrel singing usually wasn't particularly evocative of actual black music. That wasn't the point. Keep in mind that Jolson was decidedly Jewish and was also the top-paid entertainer in the U.S. in the 30s. This was at a time when Jews were not considered white. For Jolson himself, appearing in blackface was viewed as a metaphor for the shared sufferings of Blacks and Jews.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2017 21:01:05 GMT -5
shaxper ... I like all three films that you've watched recently and I'm a big fan of Cimarron (1931) and I'm thinking of watching it next month/year at a friend's place. The Broadway Melody of 1929 is a great showcase of Bessie Love and Anita Page. I have problems with this film because so many actresses had uncredited roles and they should be applauded for their performances. Charles King as Eddie Kearns was good; but not as good as Love and Page. I enjoyed the dancing and the visual impact of this film brings.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 26, 2017 21:17:28 GMT -5
Because it was a standard vaudeville thing at the time. I guess that's what I'm not understanding, then. Why?
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Post by shaxper on Dec 26, 2017 21:22:32 GMT -5
The Public Enemy (1931)I suspect that the problem with using Academy Award nominees and winners as the standard for selecting films in a boxed set is that historical context and the zeitgeist of the time are more responsible for these films' "greatness" than enduring cinematic craftsmanship. You'll get no argument from me that Cagney is a masterful actor who is a pleasure to watch in every scene, but pretty much everything else about this film is...meh. It's not bad, and that's the best I can say because I've seen so many films influenced by this one do it better, most directly Angels with Dirty Faces, which is so similar to this film that it hurts, except that's a great film and this one isn't. This one, I suppose, had street credit in its favor -- part of the reason the script is so all over the place is that it's based on true stories -- but I'd prefer a film that tells a complete narrative with a theme or two running throughout. This is just "kid gets corrupted and goes down a bad path even though he still loves his mother."
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 26, 2017 22:42:22 GMT -5
Because it was a standard vaudeville thing at the time. I guess that's what I'm not understanding, then. Why? Tradition. Vaudeville borrowed blackface from the minstrel shows of the previous century. Minstrel shows had a long tradition of white performers in blackface acting clownishly and singing "darkie music." Keep in mind that the term Jim Crow, which came to mean the system of racial segregation laws, evolved from the minstrel song Jump Jim Crow. Blackface certainly wasn't alone in minstrelsy or later vaudeville as a nasty portrayal of ethnic folk. The big nosed miserly Jew, the drunken brawling Irishman, the dumb Pole, the oily crooked Italian...all were standard characters in Vaudeville. Also, keep in mind that it was not unusual for blacks to not be allowed to perform for white audiences or to be relegated to the most minor roles. Certainly you weren't going to get blacks starring on Broadway...not in the 1910s and 20s. Keep in mind that Paul Robeson was the first black actor to play Othello with an otherwise white cast in 1943. Also keep in mind there was separation of venue. While black entertainers could cross over to a white audience the audiences were very definitely segregated. The Cotton Club is a rightfully famed venue known for the amazing black performers to played there, including Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, the list goes on and on. It was also a whites only venue. Blacks could play there, but they couldn't watch other black performing. I'm not sure that really answers your question. Basically there was a long tradition of blackface that ran from minstrel shows to vaudeville to movies and on into radio. I'm not even going to go into white co-option of early jazz or "coon songs".
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 27, 2017 2:10:18 GMT -5
Because it was a standard vaudeville thing at the time. I guess that's what I'm not understanding, then. Why? It might have something to do with America's deeply deeply racist past. The minstrel show was a MAJOR form of entertainment in the US staring in the early 1800s. It wasn't just white people in blackface; many black blackface entertainers made themselves even blacker and drew on the big white lips because they knew the audience would expect it ... even from black entertainers! I'm not an expert by any means, but I used to be very interested in the blackface phenomenon. There's a very strange set of paintings from Japan depicting a "cultural exchange" between a Japanese delegation and sailors from the US navy "visiting" Japan circa 1860s. The Japanese must have been quite baffled by all the white sailors putting on a minstrel show.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 27, 2017 2:13:44 GMT -5
The Public Enemy (1931)I suspect that the problem with using Academy Award nominees and winners as the standard for selecting films in a boxed set is that historical context and the zeitgeist of the time are more responsible for these films' "greatness" than enduring cinematic craftsmanship. You'll get no argument from me that Cagney is a masterful actor who is a pleasure to watch in every scene, but pretty much everything else about this film is...meh. It's not bad, and that's the best I can say because I've seen so many films influenced by this one do it better, most directly Angels with Dirty Faces, which is so similar to this film that it hurts, except that's a great film and this one isn't. This one, I suppose, had street credit in its favor -- part of the reason the script is so all over the place is that it's based on true stories -- but I'd prefer a film that tells a complete narrative with a theme or two running throughout. This is just "kid gets corrupted and goes down a bad path even though he still loves his mother." But you gotta love the scene where he shoves the grapefruit in Mae Clarke's face! Other than that scene, I've always liked Little Caesar quite a bit better than Public Enemy.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 27, 2017 2:21:02 GMT -5
Did you catch Myrna Loy's cameo in The Jazz Singer? I think she even has a "line." I rather like The Jazz Singer. I've seen it more than once even if it's not really one of my favorite silents.
I don't remember The Broadway Melody that well, but I do remember liking it well enough. And I especially like Anita Page! I watch enough silents that I see her from time to time. She's quite good in Our Dancing Daughters.
It's been a while since I saw Cimarron but I remember it was a bit of a chore, despite Irene Dunne and Richard Dix. I love them both but this one just didn't work for me.
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Post by shaxper on Dec 27, 2017 9:21:39 GMT -5
But you gotta love the scene where he shoves the grapefruit in Mae Clarke's face! Supposedly, the director wanted that scene added because he'd always been tempted to do it to his own wife...
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Post by shaxper on Dec 27, 2017 9:22:51 GMT -5
Did you catch Myrna Loy's cameo in The Jazz Singer? I think she even has a "line." I rather like The Jazz Singer. I've seen it more than once even if it's not really one of my favorite silents. I don't remember The Broadway Melody that well, but I do remember liking it well enough. And I especially like Anita Page! I watch enough silents that I see her from time to time. She's quite good in Our Dancing Daughters. It's been a while since I saw Cimarron but I remember it was a bit of a chore, despite Irene Dunne and Richard Dix. I love them both but this one just didn't work for me. Sounds like our tastes couldn't be more opposite. For me, Broadway Melody was a chore, Cimmaron was thoroughly engaging, and Richard Dix was the worst part
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