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Post by Prime etc. on Mar 23, 2019 6:58:51 GMT
NIGHT AND THE CITY 1950 - this was quite a movie. The wrestling match between the old Greek guy and Mike Mazurski was more emotionally involving than any of the superhero fights I have seen, and I don't even like wrestling. Herbert Lom--another impressive performance. What an actor. I especially like the surprise waiting for the club guy's wife with the cleaning woman's revelation!
MADIGAN -- The Midtown Beat 1972--it's funny how something considered progressive in 1972 may register differently now. The story has a black youth working as a busboy at a party for a Southern caricature (Charles Durning), a small -time crook who wants to impress a white collar criminal into making a deal-until the kid pulls a gun and robs the guests for $1000. Racist Durning is angry at his humiliation so he hires two black homosexuals to kill the kid. Even after the money is returned (the kid wanted it to hire a lawyer for his brother in jail), the hired thugs refuse to drop the assignment because... the thug leader's romantic advances was rejected by the kid's brother and he suffered a beating and knife wounds because of it so he wants revenge! Also features the poor man's Charles Durning, Kenneth McMillan, unfortunately they are not on screen together.
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Post by Lebowskidoo π¦ on Mar 24, 2019 13:30:31 GMT
The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976) This 70's comedy/western features both Lee Marvin and Oliver Reed. One can only imagine the level of drinking these two got up to off screen together.
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Post by kijii on Mar 25, 2019 1:02:14 GMT
You Only Live Once 1937, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Barton MacLaine, Jean Dixon, William Gargan, Jerome Cowan, Chic Sale, Margaret Hamilton and others. Crime drama "The public defender's (MacLaine) secretary (Sidney) and an ex-convict (Fonda) get married and try to make a life together, but a series of disasters sends their lives spiraling out of control". Sylvia Sidney was listed above Fonda, since she was a bigger star at that date. Sidney was also one of the few stars that had no problems working under Fritz Lang during his Hollywood years. This is a sad and depressing story, but it's very well told, using very much of lightning, shadows and camera angles to great effect One of the few times I've seen Fonda in such an angry role, and it's very effective, He's a career criminal that has gone straight, or tries very hard to go straight, but the "world" is against him, and he's convicted for crime he didn't commit. Sidney is also very effective as Fonda's love, very sweet, but also very loyal. MacLaine, in the movies I've seen him in looks tough, but works for the right side, interesting. Small little detailed scenes are smartley put in on the way to the final doom of the couple. The movie had huge troubles with the Hays Office, cutting nearly 15 minutes. teleadm-- I just saw this movie based on your review. I thought it was a very good movie full of atmosphere (with the fog and all). Although the outcome of the movie was different, it reminded me a bit of Fritz Lang's Fury (1936), also with Sylvia Sidney. Both are about wrongly accused men married to Sylvia Sidney's characters. Do you have any idea what might have been omitted in the 15 minutes that the Hay's Code took away from the movie? Joan Graham (Sylvia Sidney) : Anywhere's our home. On the road. Out there on a cold star. Anywhere's our home.Full Synopsis with SPOILERS: Eddie Taylor, a three-time convict, gets out of prison due to the influence of his fiancΓ©e Joan Graham's boss, public defender Stephen Whitney, who also is in love with Joan. Before he leaves, Eddie is warned by Warden Wheeler that a fourth conviction will result in a life sentence. Eddie and Jo marry, and at their honeymoon inn, they see two frogs next to each other in a pond. Eddie says that with frogs, if one dies, the other dies also, as they cannot live without the other, and Jo suggests that maybe they can see something in the other that no one else can see. That night, Jo and Eddie, who is skeptical that he will be accepted into society, are asked to leave their honeymoon room when the proprietors learn that he is an ex-con. Because of Stephen's influence, Eddie gets a truck driving job, but he is fired for being late after he meets Jo to show her a house they plan to buy. Needing to make the rest of the down payment by the end of the week, Eddie, although he is tempted to join his old bank robbing gang, desperately asks for his job back. When the unsympathetic boss won't even consider writing him a recommendation, Eddie slugs him. After his hat is found at the scene of an armored truck robbery in which six people, overcome with gas, have died, Eddie makes his way through the rain to the new house to see Jo before running away. She convinces him to remain and try to beat the rap, but he is found guilty and sentenced to die in the electric chair. When Jo visits him in prison shortly before he is scheduled to die, Eddie coldly asks her to get him a gun. Her attempt to bring him one sets off an alarm when she passed an "electric eye," and Father Dolan, the prison priest who had befriended Eddie during his earlier incarceration, gently takes the gun away. Jo asks Father Dolan to tell Eddie that she hasn't forgotten about the frogs. After Eddie finds a note hidden on the tray of his last supper stating that there is a gun hidden in the mattress of the isolation ward, he slashes his wrist with a tin cup and later causes a disturbance so that he will be put in that ward. Doctor Hill enters the ward with a guard, and Eddie, after finding the gun, takes Hill hostage. Using him as a shield, Eddie makes his way to the truck gate of the prison. Just then, a teletype message arrives for the warden ordering Eddie's pardon because his innocence has been established by federal agents. Eddie does not believe the warden when he tells him the news, and Father Dolan implores the warden not to open the gates for Eddie while he is carrying a gun, because he worries that Eddie will kill anyone on the outside who gets in his way. Dolan himself goes into the foggy yard with the teletype message. When Dolan refuses to give the order to open the gates unless Eddie hands over the gun, Eddie, no longer trusting anybody, shoots Dolan, whereupon Dolan, seeing that Eddie is about to shoot Hill, gives the order for the gates to be opened and dies. After he is wounded outside the gates, Eddie telephones Jo, who is just about to drink poison at the scheduled time of the execution. Stephen gives her money and his car, and she meets Eddie on a freight car. She steals medical supplies from a drugstore and, blaming herself for their predicament, refuses Eddie's plea that she leave him. After the couple is falsely blamed for robberies throughout the country, Jo has a baby and they travel North. At an auto court, Jo gives the baby to Stephen and her sister Bonnie to take care of until she sends for him and refuses Stephen's offer to send her to Havana while he tries to clear her name. A man at the auto court sees Jo buying cigarettes and calls the police. Near the border, Eddie and Jo come upon a roadblock, and officers wound both of them. They drive off the road, and Eddie carries Jo toward the border. Just after she dies in his arms, Eddie is shot. He kisses Jo and hears Father Dolan say, "You're free, Eddie; the gates are open," before he dies.
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Post by teleadm on Mar 25, 2019 18:15:53 GMT
kijiiAbout You Only Live Once 1937, about what was cut: The only part I know that was heavily edited down was the bank robbery scene. // PCA director Joseph I. Breen objected to the robbery scene details which were against the production code. Specifically, he listed "no flash of a man's face contorted with agony, no showing of a woman lying on the sidewalk, no hurling of bombs, no cop lying on the street, his face contorted with pain, no truck crushing out the life of a cop, no terrible screaming, no shots of bodies lying around, no figure of a little girl huddled in death, no shrieks." The print received by the PCA ran 100 minutes, and it is clear from the released print that some of these items and other scenes were cut, and the PCA finally gave it an approved certificate. //
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Post by kijii on Mar 26, 2019 5:49:44 GMT
Child's Play (1972) / Sidney Lumet Rented and streamed from Amazon Prime
This movie is based on the successful Broadway play by Robert Marasco (with the screenplay by Leon Prochnik). This eerie drama takes place in a Catholic prep high school for boys. Most of the faculty members are priests, but the main story here revolves around the three lay members of the faculty: The dreaded Latin teacher, Jerome Malley (James Mason); the popular English teacher, Joseph Dobbs (Robert Preston); and the new gym (physical education) teacher, Paul Reis (Beau Bridges), who is returning to teach at the school where he had once been a student under Malley and Dobbs. Now, he is a part of the faculty that had once taught him. But, he finds the school quite different than the one he had left 10 years earlier.... It is clear from the beginning of the movie that there is something sinister going on among the students. There have been an increasing number unexplained incidents in which one student is singled out and violently attacked by an established group of students with strange zombie-like stares. But why? Who, or what, is affecting these evil-looking boys to engage in these attacks--attacks that threaten to close down the school unless they are stopped?
Full TCM Synopsis with SPOILERS: Nearly ten years after graduating from St. Charles Catholic School for Boys, Paul Reis returns to the school as the new physical education teacher. After meeting with headmaster Father Frank Mozian, Paul is welcomed in the faculty lounge by his former English teacher, Joseph Dobbs. When Father Bill Griffin observes with concern that thirty-five students are on detention, Father George Penny cynically calls the boys "little killers." Dobbs dismisses Father Griffin's apprehension, reminding them that the students are always restless before winter holidays. When Latin teacher Jerome Malley comes into the lounge, Dobbs asks him to reconsider reporting student Jennings for a prank phone call to Malley's home. Malley refuses, asserting that he will bring the issue up with Father Mozian. Later, Paul accompanies Dobbs to his classroom and they reminisce about Paul's days as a student. After Paul admits the stern Malley still frightens him, Dobbs confides that he looks forward to assuming responsibility for the senior class once Malley retires. The men visit the gym but upon hearing a noise from the locker room, Paul goes to investigate and is horrified to find several students forcibly slamming the arm of another boy, Travis, in a locker door. After the students flee, Paul questions the injured Travis about the incident, but the boy refuses to comment. When Paul returns to the lounge and mentions the disturbing assault, Father Penny relates that students have seriously injured six boys at the school and wonders what is causing the malevolence among them. That evening, Malley, who lives with his elderly, infirm mother, is angered when Dobbs telephones him to discuss Jennings. The next day in Malley's class, only Fred Banks successfully translates the assigned text correctly. Later in gym class, Paul asks Banks to supervise the class momentarily while he returns to the lounge for his stopwatch. Paul finds Malley and Dobbs quarrelling, with Malley accusing Dobbs of going to extremes to win the students' affections. When the men hear muffled cheering from the gym, Paul hastens back to find several boys striking a prostrate Banks. After his cries to stop the attack fail, Paul strikes two students to reach the strangely submissive Banks, whose eye is shockingly bloodied. At a staff meeting later, Paul relates the incidents surrounding the assault, ending with his stunned conclusion that Banks seemed to want to be hurt. Uncertain how to respond, Father Mozian declares that the school cannot suspend all eleven of the boys who attacked Banks. Afterward, Father Mozian meets privately with Malley to request that he drop his accusation against Jennings in light of the far more serious Banks incident. When Malley refuses, insisting that despite his rigid expectations he cares about the students, Father Mozian points out that the students despise him, reflected by the crude graffiti about Malley scrawled in the boys' lavatory. Mozian then gives Malley an ugly note being passed among the students and is startled when Malley accuses Dobbs of writing it. Later, Paul and Dobbs visit Banks in the infirmary, where the injured boy refuses to discuss the assault but hints there is some pact among the boys. In the chapel that afternoon, Malley finds Dobbs, who expresses his concern that Malley's inflexible manner has alienated the students. Malley criticizes Dobbs for taking all his complaints to Father Mozian and acknowledges his awareness of Dobbs's hatred for him, but implores Dobbs to stop tormenting his ailing mother with phone calls to their home. After the men depart the chapel from opposite ends of the church, several boys gather in the gloom and move the altar's life-size Christ statue. Later, when Father Griffin arrives to set up mass, he is mortified to find a dazed student, stripped and bound, hanging over the altar. After the incident, Dobbs learns that Father Mozian has instituted a cessation of all mass services and ordered the students to leave the building directly after classes. Soon after, Malley's mother's condition worsens and upon the advice of the live-in nurse, Malley has her hospitalized. Father Griffin contacts Malley to inform him that he may take time off, but Malley refuses and instead of going to the hospital, returns to St. Charles. Malley finds only Paul in the lounge and angrily begins searching Dobbs's desk. When Paul expresses concern over Malley's agitation, Malley accuses him of joining in Dobbs's plan to harass him and force his retirement. Sensing Paul's sincere confusion, however, Malley reveals he is searching for a magazine that he claims Dobbs sent him. Not finding the magazine, Malley sits at his desk and reflects that he knows he was unpopular with even Paul's class, but believes his blunt honesty is best for students. Soon after, when the hospital telephones to report Mrs. Malley has died, Malley laments that Dobbs's actions have kept him from his mother's side. Late in the afternoon, while alone in the lounge, Paul discovers a framed picture of Jesus with the eyes gouged out lying on the floor outside the door. When Dobbs arrives, Paul express his fears that the students are prowling about, then mentions Malley's accusations and distress. Angered, Dobbs complains that he has endured years of Malley's warped allegations and knows Malley believes that Dobbs hounded Mrs. Malley to her death. Insisting that the students despise Malley's bitter destructiveness and want him to leave the school, Dobbs declares he will always support "his" boys. The day after Mrs. Malley's funeral, Malley returns to the school, although his classes have been reassigned to a substitute. At a staff meeting, Father Mozian reads a letter from the Archdiocese stating that the next incident at the school will result in its closure for the term. Father Mozian then meets with Malley, but when the teacher refuses to take a leave-of-absence, the priest shows him a lewd magazine and asks him if it belongs to him. Malley admits he received it in the mail at home, but never brought it to school and insists that Dobbs sent him the magazine. Malley refuses to sign resignation papers and attempts to return to his classroom, but Paul intercepts him. As Paul guides him away from the classroom, Malley relates Father Mozian's attempt to force him to resign, prompting Paul to visit the headmaster to plead for the Latin teacher. When Father Mozian admits that Dobbs gave him the magazine, Paul realizes Malley has been telling the truth about Dobbs's machinations. In the faculty lounge Paul finds a silent Malley and Dobbs. Confronted by Paul's accusation, Dobbs admits he gave Father Mozian the magazine to protect the students. Malley lashes out at Dobbs for poisoning the school against him and rushes from the room to the top of the building, where he throws himself to his death as students watch implacably. Later, as St. Charles prepares to close down, Paul finds a grade book and then goes to Dobbs's office, where he overhears the professor accepting a new job at another boys' school. Paul confronts Dobbs with the fact that all the students who had high grades in Malley's class were the ones attacked and injured. Dobbs insists the students love him and takes Paul to a classroom full of students. Paul tells the boys not to trust Dobbs and reveals that he has already taken a job elsewhere, but several boys recite a Latin quote about trust, then as Dobbs departs, attack Paul. Later in the chapel, Dobbs sits quietly, only to be surrounded by a group of threatening students.
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Post by teleadm on Mar 26, 2019 18:53:47 GMT
A Clockwork Orange 1971, directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on a novel by Anthony Burgess, starring Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, Adrienne Corri, Aubrey Morris, Godfrey Quigley and others. Science-Fiction Crime Drama, "In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned" Stylish and stylistic, but what's it all about? I didn't understand this movie at all. The violence I've heard so much about was only in the first 30 minutes or so, after that it was just strange, filled with characters that seemed to come direct from some old British sit-coms and prison dramas. Was it a satire or a black comedy? According to this movie we have gone back to listen to music from cassette-tapes and vinyl records in the future, we also use typrewriters again. Sorry fans of this movie, but this one was not for me.
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Post by Lebowskidoo π¦ on Mar 26, 2019 18:59:53 GMT
In a Valley of Violence (2016) A western starring Ethan Hawke and John Travolta. Imagine if John Wick (2014) had been a western instead. Loved the Sergio Leone homage in the opening credits to his spaghetti westerns.
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Post by kijii on Mar 27, 2019 14:25:04 GMT
Odd Man Out (1947) / Carol Reed DVD'd from TCM
This is such a wonderful movie that I have saved it on my disc. Though I have seen it a couple times before, I saw it again and thought I should list it here. Yet, as good as it is, I would only rank it as my fourth favorite Carol Reed movie.
Rather than trying to do justice to the movie on my own, I thought I would just re-post a couple IMDb reviews from two of my old friends from the old IMDb user reviews.
First, is Howard Schumann's review which closely captures some of my feelings for the theme of the movie as well as its possible meaning:
Kafkaesque allegory about the limits of man's compassion howard.schumann25 August 2003
It is the winter of 1946-47. Johnny McQueen (James Mason) is a revered leader of the Irish Republican Army in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Recently escaped from prison, he plans to rob a mill to provide funds for the organization though his colleagues urge him not to be involved. Awarded Best British Film at the British Academy Awards and nominated for an Oscar for Best Editing, Odd Man Out, directed by Carol Reed (The Third Man), is the story of a botched robbery that leads to murder and the attempt of a seriously wounded man to elude capture. Pursued by "The Inspector" (Dennis O'Dea), Johnny is helped by Kathleen Sullivan (Kathleen Ryan), a young IRA woman who loves him and tries to smuggle him out of the city. He wanders helplessly in the dark streets and alleys of Belfast, buffeted by rain and snow, living in cellars with derelicts, constantly exposed to danger, looking more like a walking zombie than a revolutionary. The tone of the film is dark and Kafkaesque with its thin line between reality and nightmare.
Johnny is one of Mason's best roles especially during the early part of the film but he is submerged in the second half by a string of exaggerated supporting characters that include a demented painter Lukey (Robert Newton) who wants to paint his death mask, a priest (W.G. Fay) who wants to save his soul, sisters Rosie and Maudie (Fay Compton and Beryl Measor) who give him shelter but force him out, and con man Shell (F.J. McCormick) who wants to use him to make money. Odd Man Out is not a political film or even a suspense thriller but a surreal allegory of the limits of man's compassion. When Lukey looks at Johnny and says, "I understand what I see in him. The truth about us all", we can see ourselves -- running for our life, scared and alone, awaiting the encroaching night. Next, is telegonus' user review that presents some of the more detailed feeling for the movie: Johnny McQueen (Johnny McQueen): I remember. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child. But when I became a man, I put way childish things. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a inkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faiths so that I could remove mountains and have not charity... I am nothing.
This monologue occurs fairly late in the movie after Johnny had been thrown from pillar to post and used by many people. Since it comes from Christ's words in the scripture, it somewhat validates my thoughts that Johnny might be thought of as a "Christ figure," in the literary sense.
Lukey (Robert Newton): [about painting a portrait of the wounded Johnny McQueen] There's something to be said about him before he dies. Tober (Elwyn Brook-Jones) : And about all of us. Lukey : I understand what I see in him. Tober : What is it? Lukey : It's the truth about us all. Tober : Is that all? Lukey : He's doomed. Tober : So are we all.
Inspector (Denis O'Dea): In my profession there is neither good nor bad. There is innocence and guilt. That's all. Inspector : I'm sorry father but it's my duty to bring this man to justice. Father Tom (W.G. Fay): That's the duty of all of us.
This clearly brings out the difference between law and justice: one should not be confused with the other.
IMDb Synopsis with SPOILERS: The film's opening intertitle reads:
"This story is told against a background of political unrest in a city of Northern Ireland. It is not concerned with the struggle between the law and an illegal organisation, but only with the conflict in the hearts of the people when they become unexpectedly involved."
The city and the organisation are never explicitly named, but the protagonist, Johnny McQueen (James Mason), is the IRA-like group's leader in the city (presumably Belfast). Johnny has been hiding the past six months since his escape from prison in a house occupied by Kathleen Sullivan (Kathleen Ryan) - who loves him - and her grandmother.
Johnny has been ordered to rob a mill to obtain funds for his nationalist IRA group. His men, however, are a bit uneasy about his fitness for the task, having noticed a change in him since his escape; he has expressed his new belief that negotiation might achieve their goals more effectively than violence. Dennis (Robert Beatty) offers to take his place, but Johnny turns him down.
The next day, Johnny, Nolan (Dan O'Herlihy) and Murphy break into the mill office and hold the clerks at gunpoint to demand the money. As they leave with the money, Johnny is confronted by an armed cashier. Johnny is shot in his upper left arm before he returns fire and kills the cashier. The getaway driver, Pat (Cyril Cusack), drives off at high speed before Johnny is fully inside the getaway car. Johnny falls off. While his confederates argue about what to do, Johnny gets up and dashes away.
Upon arrival back at Kathleen's house, Dennis orders the others to report to their headquarters. Along the way that evening, however, the trio arouse the suspicion of the local police, out in force on a manhunt for the robbers. They are pursued, but get away. Pat and Nolan stop off at Theresa O'Brien's place; Murphy does not trust her and goes elsewhere. She betrays the pair to the authorities. As they leave, they are both gunned down after they start shooting.
Dennis finds Johnny wounded in the street, but the police show up nearby. Dennis is captured after drawing them away.
Now alone, Johnny makes his way toward Kathleen's place, but collapses in the street. Passersby Maureen and Maudie take him home, thinking he has been struck by a passing lorry. When they discover who he is, Johnny departs before they can call the police and gets into a parked hansom taxicab. "Gin" Jimmy (Joseph Tomelty), the cabdriver, comes out and starts looking for a fare, unaware he has a wanted man for a passenger. When he finds out, he drops Johnny off as quickly as he can before driving away.
Shell (F. J. McCormick), a local Unionist, spots Gin dumping the now nearly unconscious fugitive. A poor man, Shell goes to Catholic priest Father Tom (W. G. Fay), hoping for a financial reward. By chance, Kathleen arrives shortly afterward, looking for help. Father Tom persuades Shell to fetch Johnny. Shell, while dropping off his pet bird at home, has to fend off another resident, (the possibly mentally unstable) painter Lukey (Robert Newton), who wants him to pose some more for him.
Meanwhile, Johnny revives and stumbles into a private booth in a crowded bar. Proprietor Fencie (William Hartnell) recognises him; wanting no trouble, he closes his establishment a bit early. He then recruits Shell and the persistent Lukey, who have separately converged on the bar, to take Johnny away in a cab. Over Shell's protests, Lukey takes Johnny back to his studio to paint his portrait. Failed medical student Tober (Elwyn Brook-Jones) tends to Johnny's wound as best he can. Johnny hallucinates, thinking Father Tom is talking to him. Johnny then speaks aloud (drooling crazily throughout) parts of 1 Corinthians 13, first verse 13 ("When I was a child ..."), then 1-2 ("Though I speak ... and have not charity, I am nothing.").
When a sympathetic Catholic police inspector (Denis O'Dea), who had earlier led a search of Kathleen's home and warned her against getting involved with the IRA, shows up to try to get information from Father Tom, Kathleen slips away. She arranges passage on a ship for Johnny to take him out of the country and goes searching for him. Shell starts Johnny toward Father Tom's, then goes ahead and encounters Kathleen. She takes Johnny to the ship, but finds the police closing in. Nearly incoherent from blood loss due to his bullet wound, Johnny is too far gone to see them. When he asks, "Is it far?", Kathleen replies, "It's a long way, Johnny, but I'm coming with you." She then draws a gun and starts firing, forcing the policemen to shoot back, killing them both.
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Post by Lebowskidoo π¦ on Mar 27, 2019 16:49:54 GMT
Penny Serenade (1941) Wasn't prepared to see Cary Grant cry. Needs to be a disclaimer at the start. Great movie though.
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Post by teleadm on Mar 27, 2019 19:08:48 GMT
Mosquito Squadron 1969, directed by Boris Segal, starring David McCallum, Suzanne Neve, Charles Gray, David Buck, David Dundas, Dinsdale Landen, Nicky Henson, Vladek Sheybal and others. Aviation WWII movie, "In WW2, a RAF squadron leader mourns the death of a comrade and receives a bombing mission against a secret Nazi V-2 rocket testing facility in France". Looks like a big and ambitious movie on the surface, that is rather unknown. The only name actor being David McCallum who at the time was popular since the U.N.C.L.E series, and since both that series and this movie are both MGM productions it might be because of some contractual matter. There is nothing wrong with the plot, an impossible mission behind enemy lines. There is a love story that have some feeling to it, but at the same time also feels like it just makes the movie a bit longer than neccesary. There is a sort of deja-vu about the mission and all the aviation scenes, and it's actually not that starnge, since I found out that much of what makes this movie looks expensive were edited from Operation Crossbow 1965 and 633 Squadron 1964, and I've seen both of those movies. It's not a bad movie, though not very memorable. Lazy rainy Sunday sort of movie. David Dundas in the cast is the same David Dundas who had a top in in the 1970s called "Jeans On".
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Post by Prime etc. on Mar 28, 2019 1:01:32 GMT
The worst case of re-used footage I have seen was Raid on Rommel. So much Tobruk footage re-used in that.
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Post by teleadm on Mar 28, 2019 19:08:57 GMT
Sunrise or Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans 1927, directed by F.W. Murnau, based on an original theme by Hermann Sudermann, starring George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing, J. Farrell MacDonald, Arthur Housman, Fletcher Henderson and others. Silent drama "An allegorical tale about a man fighting the good and evil within him. Both sides are made flesh - one a sophisticated woman he is attracted to and the other his wife". I find it very difficult to watch a movie that is called "one of the greatest movies ever made" or something to that effect. What am I to expect? 90 minutes of total boredom, or an engaging and interesting movie? Or maybe even a very entertaining movie? It's not one of the greatest movies I've ever seen, but it sure is interesting and far more entertaining than I thought. There are many interesting camera shots, and some very long scenes taken in one shot that are amazing. Plotwise I don't wan't to give away too much for those who haven't seen it, all I can say is that the plot took a 180 degree turn that took me by surpise, it was something that I didn't expect at all, not after the first part of the movie. I watched it with a newly recorded soundtrack in stereo, or re-recording of the original soundtrack. Though a scene with many cars honking their horns has remained intact, and among those horns honking I could hear a person shouting something (others have heard it too), and if so it predates The Jazz Singer having a human voice in a feature length movie.
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Post by kijii on Mar 29, 2019 5:32:03 GMT
What a wonderful movie^^^^^ Janet Gaynor was wonderful whether in a silent or a sound movies.
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Post by kijii on Mar 29, 2019 6:15:16 GMT
...and justice for all. (1979) / Norman Jewison Seen for the Amazon PrimeI have seen this movie so many times over the years and it still amazes and entertains me. It masterfully tells its own story. It also holds up with time since its politics and blackmail are just as prevalent, in high places, today as it was then. What more can I say than just see it? Arthur Kirkland (Al Pacino): I have a client in jail for a busted tail light and I can't get him out.Warren Fresnell (Larry Bryggman) : [In Arthur's place Warren let slip corrections required in Ralph Agee's case, resulting in his arrest when he was supposed to get probation] If he's not in jail this week, he'll be there next week! [Arthur's crying] Warren Fresnell : Appeal it!Arthur Kirkland : I CAN'T APPEAL IT, HE'S DEAD! HE'S DEAD! HALF HOUR AFTER THEY PUT HIM IN THE LOCKUP, HE HANGED HIMSELF!Wikipedia Plot with SPOILERS: Arthur Kirkland, a defense attorney in Baltimore, is in jail on a contempt of court charge after punching Judge Henry T. Fleming while arguing the case of Jeff McCullaugh. McCullagh was stopped for a minor traffic offense, but then mistaken for a killer of the same name and has already spent a year and a half in jail; Fleming has repeatedly stymied Arthur's efforts to have the case reviewed. Though there is strong new evidence that Jeff is innocent, Fleming refuses his appeal due to its late submission and leaves him in prison.
Arthur starts a new case, defending transgender Ralph Agee, arrested for a small crime and becoming a victim of the legal system.
Arthur pays regular visits to his grandfather Sam in a nursing home, who is progressively becoming senile. It is revealed that Arthur was abandoned by his parents at a young age, and it was Sam who raised him and put him through law school. Arthur also begins a romance with a legal ethics committee member, Gail Packer. Arthur has a friendly relationship with Judge Francis Rayford, who takes him on a hair-raising ride in his personal helicopter, laughing as he tests how far they can possibly go without running out of fuel, while a terrified Arthur begs him to land. Rayford, a veteran of the Korean War, is borderline suicidal and keeps a rifle in his chambers at the courthouse and an M1911 pistol in his shoulder holster at all times, and eats his lunch on the ledge outside his office window, four stories up.
One day, Arthur is unexpectedly requested to defend Judge Fleming, who has been accused of brutally assaulting and raping a young woman. As the two loathe each other, Fleming feels that having the person who publicly hates him argue his innocence will be to his advantage. Fleming blackmails Arthur with an old violation of lawyer-client confidentiality, for which Arthur will likely be disbarred if it were to come to light.
Arthur's friend and partner, Jay Porter, is also unstable. He feels guilt from gaining acquittals for defendants who were truly guilty of violent crimes, and shows up drunk at Arthur's apartment after one of his clients commits another murder after his acquittal. After a violent breakdown at the courthouse, wherein he ends up throwing plates at people, Jay is taken to a hospital. Before leaving in the ambulance, Arthur asks Warren Fresnell, another partner, to handle Ralph Agee's court hearing in his absence. Arthur gives Warren a corrected version of Ralph's probation report and stresses that it must be shown to the judge so that Ralph will get probation rather than jail time.
Unfortunately, Warren fails to appear on time and Ralph is sentenced to jail. Arthur is livid and attacks Warren's car. When Warren argues that Ralph's trial was nothing but "nickels and dimes" and beneath him, Arthur reminds him that "they're people!" He then reveals that 30 minutes after he was sentenced, Ralph committed suicide by hanging himself. Meanwhile, Jeff, sexually and physically abused by other inmates, finally snaps and takes two hostages. Arthur pleads with him to surrender, promising to get him out, but a police sniper shoots and kills Jeff when he moves in front of a window.
A clearly disturbed Arthur takes on Fleming's case. He tries to talk the prosecuting attorney, Frank Bowers, into throwing the case out but Bowers, who recognizes the prestige that convicting a judge would earn him, refuses to back down. Arthur meets with another client, Carl, who gives him photographs that show Fleming engaged in BDSM acts with a prostitute. Gail warns him not to betray a client, revealing that the ethics committee has been keeping their eye on him ever since the contempt of court incident. He shows the pictures to Fleming, who freely admits he is guilty of the rape.
As the trial opens, Fleming makes a casual remark to Arthur about wanting to rape the victim again, which pushes an already disgusted Arthur to a breaking point. In his opening statement, Arthur begins by mocking Bowers' case while speculating on the ultimate objective of the American legal system. He appears to be making a strong case to exonerate Fleming β but then, unexpectedly, he bursts out that the prosecution is not going to get Fleming, because he is going to get him and declares that his client is guilty. Judge Rayford shouts that Arthur is "out of order," to which Arthur retorts, "You're out of order! You're out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They're out of order!" Arthur is dragged out of the courtroom, venting his rage all the way and condemning Fleming for his and the legal system's abuse of the law. As the courtroom spectators (including Gail) cheer for Arthur, Fleming sits down in defeat, and a fed-up Rayford storms out.
In the end, Arthur sits on the courthouse's steps, knowing his antics will probably cost him his career in law. An apparently cured Jay passes by and tips his wig to Arthur in greeting, leaving him sitting on the steps in disbelief.
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Mar 29, 2019 6:32:27 GMT
Morituri (1965). Directed by Bernhard Wicki. With Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Trevor Howard, Janet Margolin, and Wally Cox. DVR'd from recent TCM telecast. First-time viewing for me.
I've somehow missed seeing this one all these years, but finally was able to DVR a recent TCM telecast. Not everybody likes this one, but to my mind it's a pretty decent wartime saga about a covert attempt to divert a German cargo ship - carrying a cargo of much-needed rubber - into the hands of the Allies. Most of the film takes place on an actual cargo freighter, so it just has this authentic "sea story" vibe about it. Filmed in Black & White, too, which helped create an atmospheric touch throughout. I thought it was a great pairing of Brynner and Brando. Brando's German accent was pretty decent, too - that guy really put some effort into this one.
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Post by teleadm on Mar 29, 2019 18:57:48 GMT
Little Voice 1998, directed by Mark Herman, based on a play by Jim Cartwright, starring Brenda Blethyn, Jane Horrocks, Michael Caine, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent, Philip Jackson, Anette Badland. Drama with Comedy. "The pathetically shy LV (Horrocks) lives the life of a recluse listening to her late father's old records in her room and in the process driving her abusive, loud-mouthed mother, Mari Hoff (Blethyn), to distraction. At night, however, when her father's ghost visits, LV sings the songs of the great divas such as Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Gracie Fields and Shirley Bassey. One evening LV is overheard by one of her mother's loathsome boyfriend (Caine), the disastrous dead-end talent scout Ray Say, who recognizes her innate talent and realizes this is his last big chance for the glittering prizes". LV's collection of her father's old vinyl's made my mouth lick, such great artists, of both male and female artists, frequentlu sung by both the real artists and by Horrocks herself on the soundtrack. Blethyn is just great as one of the most horrible mothers I've seen, vulgar and cheep in taste, that never shuts up. Caine is also great as the at the beginning swooning slick promotor who sees this as his last chance, but in the end shows that he is a cheap dreamer of the big times, his singing/killing of Roy Orbison's "it's Over" is near epic, showing what a pathetic person he is. Broadbent is also great as a once un-funny comedian and club owner who can't help telling very bad jokes that are so old that the audience don't even care to applaude. Horrocks who did most of her singing herself do great voice impersonations of Garland, Bassey, Monroe, Fields, and Dietrich, she's a little hard to take at the beginning of the movie, but won me over as the movie went along. McGregor who played a character not in the original play, a racing doves enthuiast, works well at least in the movie so LV can have at least one soul mate. An entertaining movie that I liked, even if some characters is loathsome, but if they wearn't loathsome the story wouldn't have worked. I watched it with subtitles or I wouldn't have understand anything Brenda Blethyn was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar, and Michael Caine grabbed/won a Golden Globe award. The buildings used as exterious in this movie, where LV lives and where LV performes, has since this movie been demolished.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Mar 30, 2019 0:19:53 GMT
I just watched The Matrix (1999) for the first time in 17-18 years.
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Post by kijii on Mar 30, 2019 6:37:24 GMT
Two movies about WW II Japanese POW Camps is a lot to absorb in one weekYet, they both aired on TCM this week.The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) / David Lean Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa): A word to you about escape. There is no barbed wire. No stockade. No watchtower. They are not necessary. We are an island in the jungle. Escape is impossible. You would die. Full TCM Synopsis with SPOILERS: In World War II Burma, after they are captured by Japanese troops during World War II, British commander Col. Nicholson and his troops march into Prisoner of War Camp 16 whistling their regimental tune. Their crisp arrival is wryly observed by Shears, an American sailor who bribes a guard to transfer him from the burial detail to the infirmary. When the camp's commander, Col. Saito, imperiously informs the new prisoners that they will all be expected to work on building a railroad that will connect Bangkok to Rangoon, Nicholson protests that under the regulations of the Geneva Convention, all officers are exempt from manual labor. Afterward, Nicholson goes to the infirmary to visit Jennings, one of his wounded men. There Maj. Clipton, the camp's medical officer, introduces the colonel to "Commander Major" Shears. When Jennings proposes escaping, Nicholson counters that he was ordered by headquarters to surrender, and therefore escaping would constitute a military infraction. Incredulous at the colonel's naΓ―vetΓ©, Shears retorts that escape is their only chance to avoid the death sentence of forced labor. The following day, Saito announces that all the men, including officers, will work on building a bridge across the River Kwai. When Nicholson defiantly waves a copy of the Geneva Convention, Saito slaps him across the face with it and flings it to the ground. Nicholson still refuses to let his officers perform manual labor, and after the other men march off to work, Saito calls for a machine gun and threatens to gun down all the officers. Watching in horror, Clipton runs out of the infirmary and protests that he and his patients have seen everything and will be witnesess to murder if Saito orders the gunners to fire. Saito then changes his mind and forces the officers to stand for the entire day in the merciless sun. Afterward, Saito locks Nicholson in "the oven," a crude metal shed, and imprisons the other officers in the "punishment hut." As the troops encourage Nicholson with a rendition of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," Shears, Jennings and a prisoner named Weaver escape into the jungle. Jennings and Weaver are gunned down by the guards, who then pursue Shears to a ridge above the river and shoot him. The guards assume that Shears is dead after he plunges into the river, but he survives and makes his way down river to the shore. Later, Saito summons Clipton and asks him to tell Nicholson that unless he cooperates, the patients in the infirmary will be forced to work. Confronted with the ultimatum, Nicholson still refuses to comply on the grounds that "it is a matter of principle." With only two months left before the May first deadline for the completion of the bridge, Saito, frustrated by the slow progress, takes command of the project himself. After a segment of the bridge collapses, a defeated Saito has Nicholson brought to his office from the oven and explains that if he fails to meet the deadline, he will be forced to commit hara-kari. Unmoved, Nicholson insists that the Geneva Convention be adhered to, after which Saito orders him taken back to the oven. Meanwhile Shears, who was found near death by some friendly villagers, recovers and begins a solitary boat trip down river. Days later, his water exhausted, Shears passes out, leaving his boat to drift aimlessly. Plagued by ineptness and sabotage in his efforts to build the bridge, Saito orders the weakened and dehydrated Nicholson pulled from the oven and brought to his office where he grants a general amnesty to the officers and declares it will not be necessary for them to perform manual labor. As the men cheer Nicholson's victory, Saito sits in his office, broken and sobbing. Upon inspecting the bridge, Nicholson criticizes the workers' cavalier attitude and asks Capt. Reeves, who worked as a civilian engineer, for advice. Reeves observes that the river bottom at the present location is soft mud and suggests moving downstream where the bottom is solid bedrock. When Maj. Hughes, a public works engineer, criticizes the men's lack of teamwork, Nicholson declares that they will rebuild the company's morale by building an exemplary bridge. Nicholson, completely oblivious to the fact that he is about to aid and abet the enemy, presents a plan to Saito increasing the men's daily work quota and suggests that Japanese soldiers should work laying track. Seeing his position crumbling, Saito stoicly says that he has already given the order. Shears, meanwhile, has been picked up by a sea rescue plane and brought to a hospital in Ceylon where he is visited by Maj. Warden, the explosives instructor at a nearby British commando school, who invites him to a meeting at the school. At the meeting, Warden explains that he plans to lead a team into Burma to blow up the bridge and asks Shears to join them. Shears, desirous of returning to civilian life, demurs, confessing that he was merely impersonating an officer and therefore is not qualified for the mission. Warden then informs him that the U.S. Navy already knows about his deception and has authorized his transfer to the British commandoes. Faced with possible imprisonment for impersonating an officer, Shears reluctantly accepts the assignment and retains his rank as Major. At the prison camp, Clifton warns Nicholson that he could be charged with treason for collaborating with the enemy. Obsessed by proving the mettle of his British soldiers, Nicholson turns a deaf ear to the medic's protest. At the commando school meanwhile, Shears joins a team comprised of Warden, Chapman and Lt. Joyce, a young recruit wary of killing. As the four parachute into the jungle, Chapman crashes into a tree and is killed. The others are met by Yai, a native guide who hates the Japanese, and four women bearers. As they begin their trek through the jungle, they receive a radio transmission from headquarters informing them that a special train carrying troops and VIPs is scheduled to inaugurate the bridge on the thirteenth, and ordering them to carry out the demolition on that day. Realizing that he cannot finish the bridge by the deadline, Nicholson matter-of-factly tells Clifton that he has asked the officers to work beside the enlisted men and they have volunteered "to a man." After Clifton's protests, Nicholson then recruits wounded men from the infirmary to perform "light labor." In the jungle, meanwhile, Warden's team is accosted by Japanese soldiers, and in the skirmish Warden is shot in the ankle. Warden subsequently stumbles along on his crippled foot, climbing torturous mountain paths, but when they are just six hours away from the bridge, he declares that the others should continue on without him. Angrily denouncing Warden's self-sacrifice as the histrionics of a British gentleman, Shears orders him hoisted onto a stretcher, after which they all continue on together, reaching the bridge just as Nicholson is nailing up a plaque commemorating the work of the British soldiers. That night, as the prisoners put on a show in celebration of the completion of the bridge, concluding with "God Bless the King," Joyce and Shears, aided by the women, pilot a raft filled with plastic explosives to the bridge while Saito, having been bested by the British, makes preparations for hara-kari. After attaching the explosives to the bridge, Joyce takes cover with the detonator while Shears swims back across the river to await the arrival of the train the next day. At daybreak, the commandoes discover that the water level of the river has dropped, exposing the wires leading to the detonator. When the troops march onto the bridge for the ribbon cutting ceremony, Clipton informs Nicholson he wants no part of the festivities and retreats to a hill to watch. As the train whistle is heard in the distance, Nicholson spots the wires and calls Saito to go with him and investigate. Warden watches in disbelief as Nicholson follows the wire to the detonator, incredulous that a British officer would try to prevent an act of sabotage against the enemy. Sneaking up behind Saito, Joyce stabs him in the back with his knife, then informs Nicholson that they have been sent by the British to blow up the bridge. Crazed, Nicholson attacks Joyce, prompting Shears to scream "kill him" and swim to Joyce's defense. As Warden bombards the bridge with mortar shells, the Japanese open fire, wounding Shears and killing Joyce. When the injured Shears dies at Nicholson's feet, the colonel realizes his folly just as he is wounded by mortar fire and falls onto the detonator, setting off the explosives as the train approaches the bridge. As the bridge collapses, sending the train spilling into the river, Clipton surveys the scene and utters "madness."
---------------------------------------------------------------------- King Rat (1965) / Bryan Forbes
Peter Marlowe (James Fox): [speaking about King] It wouldn't have occurred to you would it, Grey, that you're only alive because of what he gave you? Lt. Robin Grey (Tom Courtenay): What are you talking about? I never took anything from him. He never gave me anything. Peter Marlowe : Only hate, Grey. Only hate.
Wikipedia Plot with SPOILERS: Corporal King is an anomaly in the Japanese prison camp. One of only a handful of Americans amongst the British and Australian inmates, he thrives through his conniving and black market enterprises; whereas others, nearly all of higher rank, struggle to survive sickness and starvation while trying to keep their civilised nature. King recruits upper class British RAF officer Flight Lieutenant Peter Marlowe to act as a translator. As they become acquainted, Marlowe comes to like the man and appreciate his cunning. King respects Marlowe, but his attitude is otherwise ambiguous; when Marlowe is injured, King obtains expensive medicines to save Marlowe's gangrenous arm from amputation, but, despite the fact he stays by the sick man's bedside, it is unclear whether he does so out of friendship or because Marlowe is the only one who knows where the proceeds from King's latest and most profitable venture are hidden.
King has a different relationship with the lower class, seemingly-incorruptible British Provost, First Lieutenant Grey. Grey has only contempt for the American and does his best to bring him down. Then Grey has to deal with an unrelated dilemma when he accidentally discovers that the high-ranking officer in charge of the meagre food rations has been stealing. Grey rejects a bribe and zealously takes the matter to Colonel George Smedley-Taylor. To his dismay, Smedley-Taylor tells him the corrupt officer and his assistant have been relieved of their duties, and orders him to forget all about it. Grey accuses Smedley-Taylor of being in on the scheme, but the tampered weight he presented to the colonel as evidence has been replaced, so he no longer has proof of the crime. Smedley-Taylor offers to promote him to acting captain: when a troubled Grey does not respond, Smedley-Taylor takes his silence as consent.
The camp commandant summons the senior British officers, and notifies them that the Japanese have surrendered and that the war is over. After overcoming their shock and disbelief, the prisoners celebrate β all except King. He realises he is no longer the unquestioned (if unofficial) ruler of the camp. A lone British paratrooper appears from seemingly nowhere, walks up to the prison gates and unceremoniously disarms the guards. The prisoners are stunned and are too shocked by the sudden events to speak to the paratrooper, except King. That King appears fit and is well-dressed among the other prisoners clad in rags makes the paratrooper suspicious and accusatory as to how that could be. King manages to squelch a premature attempt by resentful underling First sergeant Max to reassert his rank and authority, but that only delays the inevitable. When Marlowe speaks to him before King's departure from the camp, King ignores his overture of renewed friendship.
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Post by Lebowskidoo π¦ on Mar 30, 2019 12:35:56 GMT
Snow Cake (2006) This movie made me miss Alan Rickman even more. He really shines here. Sigourney Weaver does too as an autistic woman. It also has Canada's back-up Tatiana Maslany herself, Emily Hampshire. I thought it was Maslany at first. Carrie-Anne Moss plays an amorous neighbor. Great Canadian movie!
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Post by teleadm on Mar 30, 2019 15:57:24 GMT
damn you kijii in a short time you have mentioned two moveies I just want to re-watch The Hill 1965 and King Rat 1965 I thought they were great, but a second view confirm it!
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