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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Apr 9, 2017 15:05:08 GMT
For example, I once had a "quest" where I sought out lots of 1953 films.
I also had a "quest" where I sought out 1912 comedy shorts.
Outside of film, I had a quest where I sought out 1912 pop song recordings, and I also had a quest where I sought out 1960s UK sitcoms.
Has anyone else on here ever been on a film quest?
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Post by BATouttaheck on Apr 9, 2017 15:23:49 GMT
Matthew the SwordsmanLast December I watched as many versions of and variations on "A Christmas Carol" as I could find. You would be amazed at how many of them there are and how much they vary from each other. Even found the remnants of a silent version. Recently made a very mini-quest of Hayley Mills films and watched her grow up to adulthood on screen from "Whistle Down the Wind" to "Appointment with Death" with a few stops inbetween. 1953 is, for me, one of the most questable of years. Amazing collection of movies that aren't the BIG films but are memorable once seen.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Apr 9, 2017 15:35:50 GMT
Matthew the Swordsman 1953 is, for me, one of the most questable of years. Amazing collection of movies that aren't the BIG films but are memorable once seen. I must admit, the reason I went on a 1953 quest was to watch the films on their 60th anniversary. Along the same lines, the 1912 quest was to watch them on their 100th anniversary. Another quest I went on: Soviet TV-movies/mini-series, which proved quite interesting, although relatively few are available with English subtitles.
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Post by baj2 on Apr 9, 2017 16:28:23 GMT
It's Les Miserables for me! Loved both the stage production ( which I first saw a year after it opened on Broadway...and then over the years had seen the theatrical musical 10 times - Broadway, London, Paris, and where I live ) and the film version. I had earlier seen at least 3 versions of the film as a non-musical, including the last one with Liam Neeson ... When I first saw the stage production I read the full-length literary work by Victor Hugo, got as many cast or cover recordings as I could including the original French concept album, had copies of the anniversary concerts and had gotten a copy of the book by Edward Behr called Les Miserables: History in the Making.
But when the film adaptation came in 2012, it replaced the stage production as my favorite musicalized version. I re-read the long novel again, as a group of us at IMDB were following all the filming developments. It started with the auditions and casting news for the film, the long rehearsal period preceding principal photography, and then the actual filming ( surprisingly a relatively short shoot). It was the first time that singing for a movie musical was done live ( and since it was a sung-through musical there was hardly any spoken word), with acting as the dominant artistic force...and the singing complementing the acting choices. I did recognize some of the filming locations ( mostly from the UK - the only French location was at the beginning of the movie where Valjean was traveling on the hilly part of Provence). That was a fun time when we were following the filming as a group on IMDB! We were even joined briefly by the head of the Sound Unit on the IMDB board -- he eventually won an Oscar for his work on the film.
I saw the film many times, bought the soundtrack recordings, downloaded the screener script ( it was Oscar time, so the script was downloaded for the awards community), got the companion book on the making of the movie, watched all the publicity promotional material on the making of the movie as well as the screening Q&A's for the awards community.
When I had a chance to be in Paris, I visited some of the landmarks mentioned in the novel - such as the Quartier Latin ( Student Quarter), the Left Bank area where the small barricades may have been put up, recognized streets like Rue du Bac and areas like Port St. Cloud... I even tried to locate the bridge where Javert was supposed to have committed suicide, as described in the novel and where there was an unusual water current underneath. I drew the line at visiting the Parisian sewers ( even if there is actually such a tour...and decided that Pere Lachaise cemetery was too far -- besides, there is supposed to be only a fictional unmarked grave).
It is easy to recall the film because many of the key passages are easily identified with a particular song.
But what an experience!
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Post by BATouttaheck on Apr 9, 2017 17:38:11 GMT
baj2What a wonderful quest ! RE: I drew the line at visiting the Parisian sewers ( even if there is actually such a tour
I went to Paris in my youth, mostly to see Notre Dame and the Louvre since they would never come to me. One of the highlights of my trip was the Sewer Tour. I don't know if they still do the tours but if they do ... worth the trip. I went on the tour inspired by the Phantom underground scenes. The tour starts right at the Opera House ! They are actually drain sewers not sewage sewers and you go in a big boat. It was GREAT. I don't even remember a smell other than "damp". This tour provided me with one of my more positive encounters with Parisians. I was talking to an older man while waiting fo the tour to start and he was very patiently communicating with me in my probably grade school level high school French. Meanwhile a group of "young adults" were snickering at us and my feeble efforts. He told me to ignore them and we did. I could understand French better than I could speak it. We sat together on the tour. Ah, Memories of world travel !
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Post by BATouttaheck on Apr 9, 2017 17:53:00 GMT
Matthew the Swordsmanspiderwort mentioned film location quests. I was in Iowa and went to the Bridges of Madison County bridges (several have been arson burned since then) and to Francesca's House. The house was closed that day but I sat on the porch rocking chair, peered into the windows and took home a souvenir black walnut from the yard. Also in Iowa, made a special trip to The Field of Dreams playing field. For a while they used to play ball there in olde-timey uniforms on Sunday afternoons. I don't know whether or not they still do that. I was not the only one there being somewhat reluctant to cross the line a la Doc Lancaster. LOVE that movie to pieces ! Near all of these places is Winterset, Iowa, birthplace of John Wayne. His boyhood home is open for tours. A busload of senior citizens had just arrived when I was there and I didn't have time to do more than a quick look at the outside and the gift shop so I left it for another trip.
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Post by OldAussie on Apr 9, 2017 21:46:28 GMT
In the early 70s I set out to see - All Best Picture winners - I'm missing about 4 of the early ones All Brando movies - I'm missing 2 of his last ones.
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Post by neurosturgeon on Apr 9, 2017 22:08:25 GMT
Almost my whole life has involved movies. Watching them is pretty normal, but sometimes, I just wanted more.
Went looking for the staircase known as "The Music Box" steps where Laurel & Hardy delivered the piano in their Oscar winning short. Found it near Dodger Stadium. It is marked as an historic landmark.
Set out to find some filming locations from "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Many of them where in my home town: the YMCA was the Police Station, the Hardware Store was Imperial Hardware near Sears and the final chase scenes at Lincoln Park near the Main Library and the Edison Building. But I wanted to find the park with the big W. the entrance of the park was Peck Park in San Pedro, but the Big W was on private property nearby in Palos Verdes, and all the trees had collapsed by the time I went looking.
Almost movie related, there was an article in the LA Times years ago that the home that belonged to Rosemary Clooney and was the last residence of George Gershwin, had been sold and was going to be torn down. A friend and I took a trip to Beverly Hills to photograph it before it came down. Many of the Classic stars homes on Roxbury Drive are being replaced when new owners buy the property.
I have also visited the final resting places of some of the stars. Pierce Brothers Westwood is my favorite. More stars there in one square block than anywhere else.
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Post by marshamae on Apr 9, 2017 23:10:29 GMT
Most of my quests were literary. I spent my first trips to London visiting 221b Baker Street ( Sherlock Holmes) WIMPOLE Street( Henry Higgins and Elizabeth Barrett) 110 Piccadilly ( lord Peter Wimsey) Doughty Street(Harriet Vane) Stanhope Gate and Green Street( various Forsytes)
The last time I was in New York I took a cab ride around various film sights, the Dakota, 17 Cranberry Street( Moonstruck)
I sought out all the Cagney films - I'm still shy a few. All the Leslie Howard films - I'm missing some early ones.
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Post by baj2 on Apr 9, 2017 23:12:55 GMT
baj2 What a wonderful quest ! RE: I drew the line at visiting the Parisian sewers ( even if there is actually such a tour
I went to Paris in my youth, mostly to see Notre Dame and the Louvre since they would never come to me. One of the highlights of my trip was the Sewer Tour. I don't know if they still do the tours but if they do ... worth the trip. I went on the tour inspired by the Phantom underground scenes. The tour starts right at the Opera House ! They are actually drain sewers not sewage sewers and you go in a big boat. It was GREAT. I don't even remember a smell other than "damp". This tour provided me with one of my more positive encounters with Parisians. I was talking to an older man while waiting fo the tour to start and he was very patiently communicating with me in my probably grade school level high school French. Meanwhile a group of "young adults" were snickering at us and my feeble efforts. He told me to ignore them and we did. I could understand French better than I could speak it. We sat together on the tour. Ah, Memories of world travel ! I love Paris (and France) and have been there a number of times...the last time in Paris was a week before the infamous terror attacks in 2014. Some time ago, we went to see the French version of the Mackintosh production of Les Miserables -- at that time, the only phrase I understood was Valjean's ID number ( 24601 in French ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) ). Unlike in the past when most French people would not or could not speak English ( although in the south, on the Cote d'Azur, people were more open to try to converse in English), there is now more widespread use of the language and some English words have now found their use as part of normal conversations in French, such as "le weekend". The city remains beautiful and gives any visitor a real sense of old world Europe!
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Post by Seto on Apr 9, 2017 23:24:17 GMT
I am currently on a quest!! Trying to watch as many films made from 1900-1920 as I can.
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Post by baj2 on Apr 9, 2017 23:25:09 GMT
Back to Les Miserables -- my favorite memorabilia took many years to put together.
When I saw the musical on one of those times on Broadway many years back (when it played at the Imperial), I was able to get an artcard ( a large postcard) with an artistic representation of the show with the Imperial as the background at a Shubert Alley theatre store. Before they started filming the 2012 movie, but with the casting announced, I had a chance to see a Jackman show on Broadway ( Back on Broadway). Hugh signed my artcard ( it also drew some memories for him because the Imperial theatre was where his first Broadway show The Boy from Oz played for a year!) -- and that was before he had filmed the movie.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Apr 9, 2017 23:39:53 GMT
I am currently on a quest!! Trying to watch as many films made from 1900-1920 as I can. Good idea, Seto (please say hi to Mokuba for me). I've been slowly re-watching the "Edison: The Invention of the Movies" DVD set, which covers 1890s to 1910s. Some great stuff, some shocking stuff, and plenty of "routine" films. I love the routine films, actually, nice to see representative examples of a typical film of the period.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2017 23:46:15 GMT
All horror & sci-fi films of the 30s-50s released theatrically in the USA. Soviet talkie films of the Stalin era released in the USA. Feature versions of movie serials. Minor company (often by name) b-movies. Cold War stories. British mystery, detective and crime films. The Films of Jerry Warren and other hybrids into the 1960s. Anthology films.
I've been a film buff since the 50s. The advent of cable TV and home video in the early 80s enable me to pursue the above, and more, "quests", none of which I've ever completed but have large chunks of all on my shelves in one home media format or another. A very weird collection...
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Post by Seto on Apr 9, 2017 23:58:25 GMT
Wolf-Swordsman Yeah, many films come across as magician routines, but it's still amazing some of the things they were able to accomplish. I guess George Melies is the obvious one, but there were a few others like Segundo de Chomon. Haha, I sent Mokuba to his room until he gets better at Duel Monsters!!
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Post by rateater on Apr 10, 2017 0:24:43 GMT
in the early 2000's i went out on a search for star wars like films/animations. not the usual ones i knew of. i searched all drug stores and there small cheap dvd/vhs sections. i had to work that day but i hit like 8 different stores all over the area and found a ulysses 31 vhs tape with 2 episodeds which was a score, sherlock holmes 2000, from the same company as ulyesses 31 which was interesting and the film evil alien conquers which was funny but not exactly what i was searching for. ulysses 31 is great and made my quest a success.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Apr 10, 2017 0:29:24 GMT
Went looking for the staircase known as "The Music Box" steps where Laurel & Hardy delivered the piano in their Oscar winning short. Found it near Dodger Stadium. It is marked as an historic landmark. Chances are you're aware of those same steps having been used five years earlier in the most legendary and sought-after of L&H's mercifully few lost films, 1927's Hats Off (depicting them as washing machine salesmen). Comparing surviving stills from that earlier production with The Music Box reveals how significantly the hillside, largely vacant in 1927, had been built up in the brief time between the two. That's boomin' L.A. for ya. And one just never knows when or where a lost gem will be rediscovered in some unexpected place, so we live in hope. I've seen The Music Box so many times that my eye often strays from the central action to scrutinize the surroundings; so many of their films - as well as those of others such as Buster Keaton - are wonderful, time-capsule documents of an ever-changing city, isolated pockets of which (like those steps) remain just as they were to be found if one looks hard enough. In shots looking north on Vendome St, passing traffic just beyond up on Sunset Blvd often catches my eye, and I think of those people going about their daily business, oblivious to some of film history's most enduring and well-known moments being committed to film in their direct vicinity, and I think as well of the meetings of two worlds in one time and place: the odd juxtaposition of iconic, manufactured farce captured in the same frame with those mundane details. And of how many of us would wish for a time machine just to be able to witness them for ourselves.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Apr 10, 2017 0:32:16 GMT
Wolf-Swordsman Yeah, many films come across as magician routines, but it's still amazing some of the things they were able to accomplish. I guess George Melies is the obvious one, but there were a few others like Segundo de Chomon. I've been needing to check out George Melies films. I've seen some on YouTube, really need to get them on DVD (I'm something of a snob, in that I consider YouTube to be the lowest form of distribution). EDIT: OK, so a big tree just fell down where I live. Damn Blue-Eyes White Dragon. (I'm not joking though about the tree falling).
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Apr 10, 2017 0:53:20 GMT
Matthew the Swordsman Yes, you really do need to see the Melies films. They play occasionally on TCM, but I'm assuming you don't have that in Australia. Hope the tree didn't do any damage. When I last had cable (I can't get it anymore where I live), TCM was largely useless with a poor selection of films. Nothing like the excellent U.S. version. Luckily, I have an every-region DVD player and an Amazon account, which helps make up for it. The tree was a Mountain Ash. Didn't cause any damage, but could have been risky.
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Post by howardschumann on Apr 10, 2017 1:28:10 GMT
Matthew the Swordsman Last December I watched as many versions of and variations on "A Christmas Carol" as I could find. You would be amazed at how many of them there are and how much they vary from each other. Even found the remnants of a silent version. Recently made a very mini-quest of Hayley Mills films and watched her grow up to adulthood on screen from "Whistle Down the Wind" to "Appointment with Death" with a few stops inbetween. 1953 is, for me, one of the most questable of years. Amazing collection of movies that aren't the BIG films but are memorable once seen. So which version of "A Christmas Carol" was your favorite? A great 1953 quest is for "The Great Adventure" (Det Stora Aventyret), a nature/coming of age film by Arne Sucksdorff, on my all time top ten list.
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