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Post by pimpinainteasy on Apr 3, 2019 12:44:27 GMT
a great film of place. DAVID LEAN packs it in with the beautiful visuals of the beach, the small coastal irish village and its woods. the setting captured my imagination in the same way as the setting of a SERGIO LEONE film. everything looked that authentic. the small seaside cottage attatched to the classroom with separate entrances for boys and girls which was MITCHUM and MILES home looked really cozy.
the plot is quite straightforward. a bored and lonely young woman (SARA MILES) in an irish village policed by the british (i know nothing about the irish vs british politics) develops feelings for the elderly and mild mannered school teacher (MITCHUM was a very strange choice for this role) who accepts her affections reluctantly. when they get married, they dont have much sex and MILES soon enters into a relationship (lust at first sight in a bar) with an injured british officer. they have a torrid and sweaty affair having sex in the woods and the caves. when a revolt by a bunch of irish nationalists fails miserably, the angry villagers turn on MILES and MITCHUM. they suspect MILES of betraying the nationalists to her lover, the british officer.
the film is a treat for the eyes. SARA MILES is not the most beautiful woman i have laid my eyes on. but she was quite adorable. she resembled JULIE CHRISTIE. i couldnt stomach my favorite classic movie actor MITCHUM in the role of a cuckold. BRANDO was supposed to play his rival, eventually played by CHRISTOPHER JONES who did look melancholic, vulnerable and tough. but what a treat it would have been to have MITCHUM and BRANDO in the same film. this is another great film that BRANDO rejected.
this is the sort of movie that is made for the big screen. my 29 inch TV does not do it much justice. i thought the film's theme was quite simple. every human being longs for passion and maybe the setting in the backdrop of the idyllic village with the occasional stormy sea, enflamed the passions of the two lovers.
the irish nationalists trying to gather floating guns and ammunition while fighting the raging sea during a thunder storm was a standout scene.
(7/10)
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Post by OldAussie on Apr 3, 2019 17:50:32 GMT
Most definitely. It's one of the top 3 movies I always cite as a must see on the big screen. Plus one of my favourite Trevor Howard performances.
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Post by kijii on Apr 3, 2019 18:10:31 GMT
I recently re-saw this movie on TCM (St Patrick's Day). I was surprised how much better it seemed this time than on previous viewings. I have been to the filming site on a fairly recent trip to Ireland (with a guided tour bus). (The same background scene appears in The Quiet Man (1952).
Does anyone notice that John Mill's mute character sort of helps express the unspoken truths within the movie. For me, his character is more reflective than expressive.
Still my favorite Lean epics are now (in order of preference):
1) Passage to India ---wonderful epic that holds together and gives the message about the unspoken problems of the Raj. I think this is even better than the The Jewel in the Crown TV series.
2) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)---Great Japanese POW movie with allies forces at cross purposes. "Madness"
3) Doctor Zhivago---I really need to see this again to see if it "holds together" to make a complete "picture" of something.
4) Lawrence of Arabia--Way too long--It just makes me thirsty whenever I try to get through it.
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Post by kijii on Apr 3, 2019 18:13:27 GMT
Most definitely. It's one of the top 3 movies I always cite as a must see on the big screen. Plus one of my favourite Trevor Howard performances. Sometimes I wonder if Trevor Howard ever gave a bad performance..the more I see him, the better I like him.
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Post by mikef6 on Apr 3, 2019 18:36:36 GMT
This is how I felt back in the days of the Old Boards.
This is Lean in his “epic” years where the wide screen, the color, the vistas, the colorful settings and vistas threaten to (and sometimes does) overwhelm the story Lean is trying to tell. In the review that, according to lore, sent Lean into a 14 year long retirement from film making, Pauline Kael dismissed him as a “technician” – a man interested only in the technology at his disposal who gives scant regard to the emotional core of his tale. To a certain extent this is true and it echoes some of the thoughts I was having as I watched the DVD, my thumb poised over the fast forward scan button, sorely tempted to rush ahead past all of the empty spectacle and even repetition. Twice, maybe three times, we get a situation where the villagers are getting out of control but the priest (Trevor Howard) shows up just in time, pushing his way through the mob, to put a stop to the violence. But after it was over and some days passed, it was the small story, the personal story, that I retained. Many of the scenes and performances remained with me. The David Lean of “Brief Encounter,” “The Sound Barrier,” and “Hobson’s Choice” had shone through. Even some things I had scoffed at while watching, like John Mills’ embarrassing performance (for which he won an Oscar) as a challenged adult (the “village idiot”) – had a final scene that moved and astonished me. I could go on like this – one sentence heaping scorn, the next praising. Sometimes, as with Mill’s performance, doing both at once.
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Post by geode on Apr 3, 2019 19:15:59 GMT
I saw it in first release with 4-track magnetic sound on the big screen where I worked as a projectionist. MGM soon cut it, with some of the best scenes edited out(especially with John Mills).
Thank God Brando wasn't in this as he would not have been believable. The storm sequence is incredible on a big screen.
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Apr 4, 2019 2:19:36 GMT
I saw it in first release with 4-track magnetic sound on the big screen where I worked as a projectionist. MGM soon cut it, with some of the best scenes edited out(especially with John Mills). Thank God Brando wasn't in this as he would not have been believable. The storm sequence is incredible on a big screen. i did not find MITCHUM believable.
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Post by geode on Apr 4, 2019 7:01:34 GMT
I saw it in first release with 4-track magnetic sound on the big screen where I worked as a projectionist. MGM soon cut it, with some of the best scenes edited out(especially with John Mills). Thank God Brando wasn't in this as he would not have been believable. The storm sequence is incredible on a big screen. i did not find MITCHUM believable. Brando was in his mid-40s so the whole plot premise would have not worked. Rosy would have been involved with two older men. Mitchum was at least the correct age for his part. Christopher Jones and Sarah Miles were the same age, making their affair logical. It would not have been with Brando.
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