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Post by BATouttaheck on Jun 9, 2017 15:04:33 GMT
Nalkarj
"Bat, I looked again and still couldn't find it listed here. Unless it's right in front of my face and I'm not seeing it...?"
Guess you get the points for posting it first ! Terrific movie. I even sprang for an "in the celephane" copy of it and did not wait for a bag sale or thrift store find !
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Post by Nalkarj on Jun 9, 2017 15:06:31 GMT
Congrats on landing "the one that got away." One of the most remarkable things about Sullivan's Travels is its deft gear-shifting from antic and manic to grimly dramatic by way of weighty social messaging, for which Sturges craftily prepares viewers early on with Robert Greig's dire lecture on poverty. And it's also rich in classic Sturges dialogue, delivered with expert drollery by McCrea, Robert Warwick, Porter Hall and others. A favorite exchange: SULLY: "What do they know in Pittsburgh?"
LE BRAND: "They know what they like."
SULLY: "If they knew what they liked, they wouldn't live in Pittsburgh!"
I've got nothing against the Steel City, but that kills me every time. Thanks, Doghouse. It's a favorite of mine, and that "deft gear-shifting" is indeed excellent: if I'm not mistaken (I don't have my copy of The American Cinema on hand), Sarris called it a "poetic pirouette" and compared it to The Winter's Tale. That exchange is delightful--and I've got nothing against Pittsburgh either--but my favorite bit is still about Ants in Your Pants of 1941!
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Post by teleadm on Jun 9, 2017 15:28:03 GMT
Which brings to mind another I don't think has been listed: The Party, which engages Peter Sellars in similar on-set clumsiness in the extended pre-title "Gunga Din" sequence (my apologies if it has and I missed it). Always look twice where you place your foot when your shoelaces are loose! I thought of this one too, but thought, surely someone must have brought it up before. but maybe not.
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Post by london777 on Jun 9, 2017 15:40:56 GMT
I looked again and still couldn't find it listed here. Unless it's right in front of my face and I'm not seeing it...? Sorry guys. I took a day off from curating this thread to fight an election in the UK. Once I include all your suggestions in alphabetical order in the original post it should be easier to check if a title has already been suggested. (Unless, of course, you find the word "The" an impediment). But need a siesta right now. It is 95 Fahrenheit and I was up most of the night.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jun 9, 2017 16:39:46 GMT
london777 (Unless, of course, you find the word "The" an impediment).
"The" isn't so much an "impediment" as it is an error in traditional sorting technique that results in having to do a "work around". One must look for a title and then back track to make sure that it isn't listed with the "the" titles. Wouldn't be so bad but there tends to be fussing if a duplicate is suggested. Whole thing is rather like the "new way" of sorting names by first name which results in all of the Roberts or Toms or Marys being together and the last names still a jumble.
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Post by london777 on Jun 9, 2017 18:38:14 GMT
Whole thing is rather like the "new way" of sorting names by first name which results in all of the Roberts or Toms or Marys being together and the last names still a jumble. The Hungarian and Haitian way is best. Surnames first.
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Post by london777 on Jun 9, 2017 21:53:26 GMT
Once I include all your suggestions in alphabetical order in the original post it should be easier to check if a title has already been suggested. I think I have now done this. If I have missed any, I am sure you will let me know. Just noticed I still have not included all your contributions. Some I know I edited in. I must not have saved them correctly. I will update tonight (Wed 14 June).OK, who is going to write the book on "Movies in the Movies"?
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Post by london777 on Sept 6, 2018 18:54:01 GMT
Revisiting this thread after 15 months (wow, where did the time go?) I am in awe at the collective knowledge of the members here. Thanks for all your efforts and keep them coming. The next film is more about "not making" movies than "making" them but a couple of brief scenes qualify it for inclusion. It is a fine and relatively recent film of which I was ignorant and I would recommend it for viewing: Don't Come Knocking (2005) dir: Wim Wenders and starring (and largely written by) Sam Shepard. Shepard plays a burnt-out cowboy-movie star who is supposed to making a last hurrah "The Ghost of the West". He has always been a hell-raiser and a nightmare to work with, but now, at the start of the film, he flees the set through a kind of existential crisis and heads off to visit his mother for the first time for 30 years. Of course this provokes a financial emergency and Tim Roth sets out to find him and return him to the set before production is shut down. He eventually succeeds, so we get to see the film being completed, with enough footage to qualify it for this thread. It is obvious this is open to lots of "meta" interpretations about the death of the western and of the Old West itself. Roth makes a great corporate zombie bounty hunter, for example. I am sure you western enthusiasts will spot a lot more "hidden messages" than me. In many ways the themes are similar to "Paris, Texas" (1984) by the same director. An anti-hero who has cut himself off from human warmth and embarked on a self-destructive course, and the desert settings are initially similar, though mercifully Shepard ends up in Montana and, being English, I do like to see a bit of greenery around (although the town of Butte, Montana looks like the asshole of the USA). It is also a sort of road movie, in that the hero heals himself through a journey. Actually, two journeys: one to his mother in Elko, Nevada, then another to Butte to find two children he did not know he had. This aspect is like "Wild Strawberries", where someone facing the end of his life belatedly comes to realize what he has missed though his selfish and blinkered life and starts to make amends. There is great acting from a starry cast, although I thought Gabriel Mann (a new name to me) was OTT as Shepard's disturbed son. But perhaps that was necessary to make his eventual quietening down and acceptance of his father more moving (which it was). In fact the whole movie is teetering on the brink of sentimentality (not something of which one could could accuse "Paris, Texas") but this grumpy old cynic gives it a pass. Another resemblance is to the work of Jim Jarmusch. Like Jarmusch, Wenders has an eye for the eccentricities of Middle America and for beauty in the tawdry squalor of small-town America. Must also mention the award-winning score by T Bone Burnett. Normally I despise C & W music, but this was perfect. And the award-winning camerawork of Franz Lustig. Each shot is composed like a work of art. An easier film to watch than "Paris, Texas" and with something like a Hollywood Ending (perhaps deliberately and ironically so) as the on-screen Shepard gallops off into the sunset. My favorite scene - The Englishman cuffs the American:
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Sept 6, 2018 22:19:53 GMT
Their Finest (2016).
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Post by petrolino on Sept 6, 2018 22:30:26 GMT
For your consideration :
Hollywood Boulevard (1976) Silent Movie (1976)
Sexbomb (1989)
The Independent (2000) Slaughter Studios (2002)
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Post by london777 on Sept 17, 2018 4:44:24 GMT
Tonight I re-watched another in my DVD collection that I managed to forget first time round: Where's Marlowe? (1998) directed and co-written by Daniel Pyne. Two basement-level aspiring film-makers attempt to make a documentary about the work of Jose Ferrer's private detective agency. It turns into a documentary about two basement-level aspiring film-makers attempting ... etc, so lots of "meta" comments. Plus lots of movie references and technical allusions, most of which went over my head, but you guys will pick up more. Even after a second viewing I did not fully understand their resolution of the principal case, handled as a "noir" mockumentary, but that was no doubt intentional satire, as so many classic noirs end with hastily garbled explanations of what has gone on.
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spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
Posts: 2,519
Likes: 9,318
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 17, 2018 5:30:11 GMT
Hard to keep up, but here are a few I don't think have been mentioned: INSERTS (1975) THE DAY OF THE LOCUST (1975) HEARTS OF THE WEST (1975)
THE ARTIST (2011) BIRDMAN (2014)
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Sept 17, 2018 5:41:20 GMT
THE WOMAN CHASER (1999)
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Post by london777 on Sept 17, 2018 13:38:05 GMT
Thanks. I have never heard of this movie, but it seems worth looking out for.
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Sept 17, 2018 14:12:18 GMT
Thanks. I have never heard of this movie, but it seems worth looking out for. trust me, its awesome. one of a kind. the novel is great too.
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Post by london777 on Nov 4, 2018 22:27:02 GMT
Kaagaz Ke Phool Paper Flowers (1959) directed by and starring Guru Dutt. I have to cite this one by repute, because I have not been able to locate a watchable copy with English sub-titles. A director makes a star of a newcomer, but suffers total critical and financial failure himself, so we may think of "A Star is Born", though it is also called the Indian "Citizen Kane" or "Fellini's 8 1/2". Many Indian reviewers rate Dutt as the father of Indian (serious) cinema. Life imitated art here as this film was a financial disaster and Dutt never directed another, although he continued in the industry as a producer for a few more years before committing suicide. The penultimate film he directed, "Pyaasa" (1957), is about a struggling poet who is only appreciated after his (assumed) death, so both pictures are strongly autobiographical and considered his best work. Of course Satjayit Ray was making his first movies about the same time, and I wonder if "Pyaasa" influenced "The World Of Apu" which dealt with a similar theme. Although Ray's movies were soon known and lauded worldwide they did not greatly impact the Indian market or industry outside his native Bengal. India is a vast nation, second only to China in population, and even forty years ago its film industry was said to be greater than that of the USA, so it must have extended its lead by now, although I do not know how that is measured, possibly by number of titles released rather than money invested? But whereas the rest of the world is now enjoying an ever-increasing number of Chinese movies of the highest quality (as witness the BBC survey discussed in another thread), very few Indian movies are known (other than those of Satjayit Ray). Why is that? Any ideas? Clearly I know nothing about these matters, so if any other members can post more about Guru Dutt's movies, I would be grateful (especially if they point me to decent copies).
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Post by london777 on Dec 14, 2018 23:29:11 GMT
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Post by london777 on Dec 28, 2018 22:45:40 GMT
Frances (1982) dir: Graeme Clifford Irresponsibly fictionalized biography of 1930s Hollywood star Frances Farmer which earned a Best Actress nomination for Jessica Lange in the lead role. I have just added this to my shopping list and have yet to see it. If it contains little or nothing about film-making I will delete it.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Dec 29, 2018 2:15:43 GMT
Reconstituirea (1968) Lucian Pintilie directed this excellent highly acclaimed Romanian film. The story is based on the authors personal recollection, adapted for the screen the film is a sharp and subversive political satire. Reconstituirea is structured as a film within a film, a film about making a film, there are many layers with much to say a highly recommended classic European film. Two minor delinquents are in custody for drunken brawling, they come up before the authorities who hand down their punishment , the youths must recreate their debauched scene for an educational film, an anti-alcohol film warning youths about the perils of alcoholism Overseeing the project the prosecutor, the militiaman and a filmmaking crew, who are following closely instructions from the authoritarian Romanian government...
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Post by london777 on Feb 24, 2019 23:20:35 GMT
Modern Romance (1981) directed by and starring Albert Brooks is about a film editor, so adds a touch of variety to our list. There are a couple of scenes showing the editing process, and paying homage to the "backstage" work of film editors in "saving the movie". My pic shows Bruno Kirby as the protagonist's sidekick and about the only decent person in the film. Brooks is a monster, but is shown to be a resourceful film editor.
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