What classics did you see last week ? (1 Apr - 6 Apr 2019)

Apr 6, 2019 21:00:35 GMT teleadm said:

 


Poker is boring, but thanks to the actors and actresses this became a very entertaining movie. Robinson is such a grand old man!
McQueen does what he does best, react and don't talk too much. Blondell is fun as an older in-active card shark who just keeps on rambling about people who has died.
I liked this one, such a grand cast makes this good entertainment.


Even old Teleadm got emotional. Such a lovely movie, but to be honest I didn't like it at all the first time, I thought it was too manipulative then, but I've changed my mind since then. It's an old fashioned story that is well told, and I liked it
The poster posted is wrong by the way, Donat's Chips was older and had a bushy moustache when he met love in the shape of Greer Garson.

Poker is boring!? Never! Though I do prefer Brag myself

People will sit down at the table with you, just so they can say they played with The Man.

Blah blah blah is the feelings I get when I see comments about this being McQueen's answer to The Hustler, the Newman film is firmly ensconced in the hall of classics and rightly so, but this is a different animal that stands up on its own two feet as a great film regardless of comparisons of leading men or films they respectively delivered.

"It's a pleasure to meet someone who understands that to the true gambler, money is never an end in itself, it's simply a tool, as a language is to thought"

Steve McQueen is The Cincinnati Kid of the title, a young man who has an enviable reputation as the pretender to the throne of king stud poker player. Standing in his way of claiming the crown is the holder of said crown, Lancey "The Man" Howard (a wonderfully sedate yet dominant Edward G. Robinson), both men are in New Orleans for the big showdown across the card table.

The film does suffer slightly from a meandering script, though, because you can't help feeling that there is so much more to these characters that needed fleshing out before the big tense showdown arises. However, the cast and director manage to steer the film home with a glorious final third. Suspense and drama start to boil to the surface, the tight knit editing bringing claustrophobic clarity to the enormity of the game.

McQueen is perfect here, cocky and cool in equal measure, yet still infusing the role with stoic heart and honest endearment. Tuesday Weld & Ann-Margret are playing second fiddle in the acting stakes to a delightful turn from Joan Blondell (a little under used though), but both Weld and Margret bring their respective girls' traits to life, with Margret positively smouldering with femme fatale sex appeal.

Karl Malden is solid and safe, whilst Rip Torn gives an acting lesson in dialogue driven menace. Yet in all honesty it's director Norman Jewison who has the trump card here. Once the game commences, even those who know nothing about a good game of poker are firmly watching every frame, such is the intense way that Jewison has brought the finale together.

No cop outs here, a film about egos, ambitions and personal satisfaction is gloriously laid out for a very enjoyable viewing experience. 8/10

Chips

Open the dictionary, under the word charming it says Goodbye, Mr Chips.

Mr Charles Chipping is a very shy young man, he starts teaching at Brookfield, an all boys English school. His early days at the school don't go very well at all, after coming close to losing his job he goes too far by way of discipline and costs the school dearly by way of a sporting tradition. It seems that all the school is against him, be it the children or his fellow teachers, Mr Chipping can't do right for doing wrong. Whilst taking a holiday in the Austrian Alps, Chipping meets Katherine Ellis, from there his life and general manner will change dramatically - for the better.

Goodbye Mr Chips just oozes classic status, from every single frame you get a wonderful vibe that takes you back to a time when innocence was all we had. I think that Goodbye Mr Chips surely touches most people? Maybe some folk in their make up have no time for such sweet sentimentality? But just maybe those people could do far worse than letting Mr Chips into their lives. It has taken me nigh on 30 years to actually get around to watching this film in its entirety, and having sat through it recently I feel rewarded beyond what I had originally hoped for. From the bumbling fear that Mr Chipping shows in the opening reel, to the closing scene that brings the whole damn film to its wonderful point, Goodbye Mr Chips is a truly beautiful, charming and joyous picture.

Of all the Oscars that have been given over the years, Robert Donat's is one of the most deserved. It's a performance that fuses all the emotional traits required to outlay a character that's finding itself, be it shy and retiring, or a man driven by a willingness to succeed, Robert Donat layers this turn to such a point that it may well be a 30s standard. Greer Garson only has something like 20 minutes of screen time, but as 20 minute performances go - well it leaves a long and special impression. There is a scene as Donat and Garson dance with carefree abandon, this alone makes the film worth watching. Still, a film is only as good as its ending, and it's here that Goodbye Mr Chips delivers the crown to its royal subject, an ending that ties up all the emotional strings that make for a wonderful film. So if you haven't got a warm glow come the final credit? Well there is no hope for you really.

Thank you Mr Starkey and Mr Lowry, this film reminded me of your good teachings many years ago in my primary school years. 9/10