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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Jul 8, 2019 23:43:08 GMT
Triple Cross (1966). Directed by Terence Young, with Christopher Plummer, Yul Brynner, Gert Fröbe, Romy Schneider, Trevor Howard, Harry Meyen, Claudine Auger. DVR'd from TCM telecast.
Interesting wartime spy saga, apparently based on a true story - that of Eddie Chapman, a British safe-cracker who is caught by the police on the Isle of Jersey shortly before the start of WWII. He ends up in prison there. When the Nazis invade the Channel Islands, of which Jersey is a part, Chapman suddenly finds himself under German military authority. Being clever, he cuts a deal with the Germans to work for them as an agent, as long as it will get him out of prison, and out of being sent back to England where he faces a long list of criminal charges. As he says, "I'd rather live for Germany than die for England." The Germans reluctantly agree to take him on and train him as a spy. But as it turns out, Chapman has no intention of showing loyalty to the Germans, and ultimately ends up back in England working for British Intelligence as a double agent.
Biographical info about the real Harry Chapman can be found online, and it's well worth checking out if you're a history buff, as his story was indeed fascinating - and a bit puzzling. But the film did a pretty good job of telling his story, embellished though it was for artistic and creative reasons.
The film was directed by Terence Young who, prior to this, had helmed 3 Bond films - and it shows. You'll even recognize a few characters in here who had roles in some of those, and other, Bond pictures. One interesting thing I noted is that the most odious character in the story, Lt. Keller - an over-zealous Nazi intelligence officer who suspects everybody - was played by Harry Meyen, a German Jew who apparently had been in a concentration camp during the war. He was married to Romy Schneider at the time of this film.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jul 9, 2019 0:16:12 GMT
Triple Cross (1966). Directed by Terence Young, with Christopher Plummer, Yul Brynner, Gert Fröbe, Romy Schneider, Trevor Howard, Harry Meyen, Claudine Auger.
And a cute kitten!
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Jul 9, 2019 1:37:20 GMT
Prime etc.: Yes, the kitten scene in the prison was cute.
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Eλευθερί
Junior Member
@eleutheri
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Post by Eλευθερί on Jul 10, 2019 11:58:14 GMT
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Post by kijii on Jul 10, 2019 19:44:42 GMT
The Fortune (1975) / Mike Nichols Rented for Streaming
This is pure zaniness. Don't expect a deep plot or story line here. It is just modern zany...period. All three performers: Stockard Channing, Jack Nicholson, and Warren Beatty could have been playing in a Marx Brothers movie here. I have often (almost always) seen Warren Beatty in foolish roles, but seeing Stockard Channing and Jack Nicholson in these roles is a real hoot.
This is just a watch-and-enjoy-in-the-moment movie.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jul 10, 2019 21:55:54 GMT
Tora! Tora! Tora! A lot of the film deals with the failure of US govt to adequately prepare for the attack by the Japanese, which they had had ample warnings would imminently occur. And of the disconnect between the civilian military command at the White House and State Department officials on the one hand, and the military personnel in the field on the other, which led to spectacular levels of incompetence. A lot of parallels to the wider conflict in Vietnam, which was underway while this film was being made & when it was released--as well as for the Sept 11, 2001 attack. This film conjures special memories for me, having seen it during its first release, in Honolulu, only hours after taking the Pearl Harbor tour. It was an excellent - and fairly new - theater, with a gigantic screen and phenomenal sound system. I recall thinking during the opening moments that it seemed as though a live orchestra was hiding just behind the screen. I'd guess that production costs entered into the decision not to feature any marquee-value stars (Jason Robards Jr. was probably the most high-powered name in the cast at that time), but it was one that benefited the film, and it was a treat to have well-regarded players like E.G. Marshall, Martin Balsam, James Whitmore and Wesley Addy playing prominent roles that figured throughout the length of the film (as well as providing them with opportunities they didn't regularly get). Equally welcome were the familiar faces of ones such as Joseph Cotten, George Macready, Edward Andrews and Leon Ames in smaller roles. Sô Yamamura deserves special mention for his dignified and beautifully-modulated portrayal of Adm. Yamamoto. It's always been quite interesting to consider that, in early 1969, this was one of three war-related films 20th Century-Fox had in simultaneous production, each projecting its own unique tone: the heroic, patriotic and reverential Patton; M*A*S*H, which filtered its depiction of the Korea conflict through the cynical and rebellious sensibilities of the Vietnam era. Squarely between them in its approach, the forthright Tora! Tora! Tora! determined to tell both sides of a story of conflict with candor from their differing points of view.
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Eλευθερί
Junior Member
@eleutheri
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Post by Eλευθερί on Jul 11, 2019 2:34:44 GMT
These images look good. Makes me want to watch these films. I wish the cost was lower. I usually buy used movies then resell them. I have a feeling I would be stuck with these, unable to resell.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jul 11, 2019 3:11:44 GMT
HIRED KILLER 1966 Robert Webber is a weary assassin who gets a partner (Franco Nero) to help track down his target (who killed his brother). Some of it covers similar territory to the Mechanic--might have been an inspiration?
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Eλευθερί
Junior Member
@eleutheri
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Post by Eλευθερί on Jul 11, 2019 6:48:02 GMT
Panic in the StreetsI'd been wanting to watch this for years, after finding out that Barbara Bel Geddes was in it, but never got my hands on a copy of it until this week. The more stuff I see Richard Widmark in, the more I like him, both as an actor and a human being. Never realized how unusual Jack Palance's looks were until I saw him in this. His features must have mellowed with age. Hmm. Was this supposed to be a closeted gay couple?
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Post by louise on Jul 11, 2019 15:16:36 GMT
Man of the Moment (1954). Amusing Norman Wisdom comedy He plays a civil servant who accidentally gets involved in an international incident involving a Pacific island nation.
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Post by teleadm on Jul 11, 2019 16:54:13 GMT
Fantômas se déchaîne aka Fantomas Unleashed 1965 These images look good. Makes me want to watch these films. I wish the cost was lower. I usually buy used movies then resell them. I have a feeling I would be stuck with these, unable to resell. I said to another who was also thinking of buying the 3-disc box: There are action scenes and sets worthy of 1960s James Bond movies, and though they have thrills, they also farces with slapstick. The quility on the images I posted were much better than the picture quality on the films in the box. (The box were sold in a very cheap bin) Take a look at the trailers on Youtube before making up your mind if it could be worth it.
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Post by louise on Jul 11, 2019 17:19:10 GMT
To Dorothy, A Son (1954). Silly but fairly amusing comedy. Shelly Winters as an American singer who finds her rich uncle has left two million dollars to her husband, on condition that he has a son by a certain date that year. otherwise the money goes to her. Only she and her husband are now divorced and he has remarried. So she goes to England to find him. And of course he and his new wife are about to have a baby.
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Post by teleadm on Jul 11, 2019 18:17:29 GMT
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 1954, directed by Richard Fleischer, based on a novel by Jules Verne, starring Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre, Robert J. Wilke, Ted de Corsia, Carleton Young, Percy Helton and others. Adventure. A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo (Mason). For a family-oriented Disney movie surpricingly many dies during the course of this movie, though we only see the damaged ships sinking. Captain Nemo is a very complex character too, an early environmentalist, a missunderstood genius, a dissillusioned nutcase, or a cold-blooded murderer?, in any case a very unusual character for a Disney movie, enriched by the urbane acting of James Mason that makes him neither a hero or a villian in the traditional sense. Those are not negative aspects since it makes the character much more interesting. After watching the Verne travesty Return 2 The Mysterious Island 2012 earlier this week I wanted to see a better Verne movie. Offcourse 20,000 also takes liberties from the original source, but creates a feel of wonder and imagination, and not in-your-face action. Still on the surface, it's an entertaining movie in the old-fashioned style, with some stunning sets and underwater cinematography, helped too by the four main actors and a few special effects that still works. This movie won two Oscars, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color and Best Effects, Special Effects. It was also nominated in the Best Film Editing category.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jul 12, 2019 8:00:19 GMT
It also has Kirk Douglas singing to a seal.
I watched
THE BREAKING POINT--1950--which was the actual story to Have and Have Not--so here they filmed it under a different title. I have not to my knowledge seen a John Garfield film before (other than reading Robert Forster was doing an impression of him in THE DON IS DEAD--I can see the resemblance). I was unsure what to think of Garfield at first-he reminded me of Frank Sinatra a little--or a poor man's Bogart, I thought of Bogart a lot while watching this but after a while I realized he would have been ill-suited for this story and Garfield's scenes with Phyllis Thaxter won me over.
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Post by louise on Jul 12, 2019 16:30:00 GMT
Northwest Frontier (1959). A ripping yarn set in India in 1905 with Kenneth More as an army officer escorting a young Hindu prince through dangerous Muslim territory in a creaky old train. Lauren Bacall plays the prince's governess, and there is a wonderful performance by I.S. Johar as the engine driver, his last line never fails to move me as he is carried off wounded at the end and says proudly to Kenneth More: "they said Victoria was too old, no good for anything but shunting. Le them speak now!"
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Post by teleadm on Jul 12, 2019 16:41:20 GMT
Ring of Fear 1954, directed by James Edward Grant (the second of the two movies he directed), starring Clyde Beatty, Pat O'Brien, Mickey Spillane, Sean McClory, Marian Carr, John Bromfield, Gonzalez-Gonzales, Emmett Lynn, Kenneth Tobey and others, including authentic circus acts like the unfortunate Flying Wallendas. Circus Noir. The Clyde Beatty Circus seems jinxed, falling victim again and again to apparent accidents which are actually the acts of a murderous saboteur. Mystery writer Mickey Spillane comes on the scene to solve the case. A very strange oddity, that maybe was made to catch in on the success of DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth. Clyde Beatty might have been famous once and I've heard that he was one of the pals around John Wayne, and that could explain why Wayne's production company made this movie. My knowledge in American circuses are very low. The movie feels like a very long add for Clyde Beatty's circus, but to make it more interesting they put in a story about a mental patient on the run story to make it more interesting. It's filled with loads of bad acting, if one can even call it acting, and it's sad to see Pat O'Brien just stand around being tough and yet have a heart of gold character that he made in much better in Warner Bros movies. Mickey Spillane might have been a great crime novelist, but acting he couldn't, not even as himself. The most interesting parts are the nearly documentary style footages of a circus travelling around America, that part was interesting. Animals in circuses could be discussed, but the movie is from 1954 and therefor should be excluded.
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Post by kijii on Jul 13, 2019 5:40:35 GMT
Wolf (1994) / Mike Nichols Rented for Streaming
I really enjoyed this modern-day werewolf story about a book publisher (Jack Nicholson) about to lose his job at a publishing agency. While in Vermont(?) on business, Nicholson runs over a wolf; when he approaches the wolf to see if it is still alive, the wolf bits him on the hand and runs into the night. Once bitten, Nicholson takes on the appearance and behavior of a werewolf, but only at night during a full moon.
When Nicholson goes to his doctor to be treated, the doctor doubts that he could have been bitten by a wolf in Vermont: Doctor (Ron Rifkin):In Vermont? I don't think so, Will. Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) : You weren't there, Ralph. Doctor : Are you sure it wasn't a Husky or a German Shepherd? And after all, it was night, wasn't it? It was dark out. Will Randall : Full moon. And to answer your question, it was a wolf. It was staring straight at me, you don't confuse a dog with a wolf. Doctor : I see, whatever you say. You know, it's funny, this isn't the first Rabies shot I have given in the last few months. My wife's sister-in-law up in Onianca, a raccoon chased her up onto her porch and bit her in the ass. And last summer, the son of a friend of mine sustained brain damage from a snake bite. This kid was sitting in front of his pool and the next thing you know, he has brain damage.
Michelle Pfeiffer plays the outcast daughter of the agency's owner (Christopher Plummer).
The characters, played by Nicholson and Pfeiffer, get off to a bad start in their relationship: Will Randall (Jack Nicholson): What do you do? Laura (Michelle Pfeiffer): Why do you care? Will Randall : I don't. I was just making polite conversation. Laura : I'd rather not discuss what I do. Will Randall : You know, I think I understand what you're like now. You're very beautiful and you think men are only interested in you because you're beautiful, but you want them to be interested in you because you're you. The problem is, aside from all that beauty, you're not very interesting. You're rude, you're hostile, you're sullen, you're withdrawn. I know you want someone to look past all that at the real person underneath but the only reason anyone would bother to look past all that is because you're beautful. Ironic, isn't it? In an odd way you're your own problem. Laura : Sorry. Wrong line. I am not taken aback by your keen insight and suddenly challenged by you.
However as the plot builds, Nicholson finds that Pfeiffer is the only person he is able to trust with this feelings about his body being taken over by the werewolf. After being taken over by the werewolf's bite, Nicholson gains new powers to take on the competitor for his position at the agency (James Spader). However, with his new the powers also come the curse...
Wikipedia Plot Synopsis with SPOILERS: Will Randall is bitten by a black wolf while driving home in Vermont. Afterwards, he is demoted from editor-in-chief of a publishing house when it is taken over by tycoon Raymond Alden, who replaces him with Will's protégé Stewart Swinton. Will finds out that Swinton had begged Alden for the job behind Will's back and suspects that Swinton is having an affair with his wife Charlotte, after he smells Stewart's scent on her clothes. Will bites Stewart on the hand while entering his apartment and rushes to the room to find Charlotte half-naked. His worst fears are confirmed and he leaves without saying a word. Will becomes more aggressive, taking on the characteristics of a wolf.
With the help of Alden's headstrong daughter Laura, Will sets out for his new life. His first escapade to turn into werewolf takes place at Laura's estate, where he wakes up at night and hunts down a deer. In the morning, Will finds himself on the bank of a stream, with blood all over his face and hands. He visits Dr. Vijav Alezais, who gives him an amulet to protect him from turning completely into a wolf. Alezais asks Will to bite him, as Alezais does not have long to live and would prefer "demonization to death". After refusing, Will keeps the amulet so that he will not transform at the next full moon. That night Will transforms into a werewolf again, breaks into the zoo and steals handcuffs from a policeman. Muggers want his wallet, but he attacks and bites the fingers off of one of them. He wakes up in his hotel, with no memory of what happened.
Will organizes a mutiny of writers, who threaten to leave the publishing house unless he is retained as editor-in-chief. Alden agrees and Will's first act is to fire Stewart, urinating on his shoes in a bathroom and claiming he is "marking his territory". While washing his hands, Will finds fingers in his handkerchief and realizes he has attacked and wounded someone. He cuffs himself to the radiator in his hotel room, but Laura arrives and downplays his belief that he is a werewolf. The next morning Detective Bridger knocks on Will's door to inform him that Charlotte was found dead in Central Park with canine DNA on her body. Will then wonders if he murdered Charlotte, but he does not know that it was Stewart who killed her.
Believing Will is a murderer, Laura goes to the police station. There she runs into Stewart, who makes an animal-like pass at her while sporting increasingly obvious werewolf traits. Laura hurries away, making arrangements for her and Will to leave the country. Stewart follows Laura back to her father's estate and kills two guards. After a brief struggle in the barn, Stewart attempts to rape her, Will intervenes, and the two fight. Stewart is shot to death by Laura. Still in a half-human state, Will has a brief moment with Laura and then runs into the forest.
Minutes later, Laura shows heightened senses when the police arrive, telling Bridger that she can smell vodka tonic on his breath. The final scene is a close-up of her face fading into dark, wolf eyes, and a close up of Will completing his transformation into a full werewolf. And Laura's own beginning.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jul 13, 2019 6:48:01 GMT
LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE 1951 Ruth Roman, Richard Todd, Mercedes McCambridge (unrecognizable voice compared with her "Karras!" days). Keeps you guessing. Did he murder his wife? Yes or no? I know Todd best from ASYLUM where he kills his wife, chops her up, and says "rest in pieces." He reportedly hated the movie.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 13, 2019 7:45:05 GMT
The Return of the Man Called Horse (1976)
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Post by louise on Jul 13, 2019 18:12:02 GMT
Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). Lavish costume drama with superb cast, just what you want on a Saturday afternoon.
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