spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on May 25, 2017 23:10:26 GMT
Elia KazanCommonly recognized as the best actor's director since Constantine Stanislavsky. His films (with the exception of a few "studio" films where he got stuck with stars he didn't cast) always contain performances of extraordinary depth, sensitivity, and emotional truth. Many actors have won or been nominated for Oscars for their roles in his films (Marlon Brando, James Dean, Vivian Leigh, Carroll Baker, Eva Marie Saint, Anthony Quinn, Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, Celest Holm, Jo Van Fleet, James Dunn, Lee J. Cobb, Natalie Wood, etc., etc.). He revolutionized film acting by introducing the Stanislavsky "method" and demanding psychological continuity and naturalism from his actors. And he was a genius at subtext. He set the standard, which has never been surpassed. All fine actor's directors since Kazan, indeed, flow out of his lineage and benefit from his legacy. If you're interested in film acting or the directing of film actors, you must study the films of Kazan, especially A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Viva Zapata, A Face in the Crowd, America, America, Wild River, and Splendor in the Grass. Oh, and I forgot to add: Kazan is also famous for discovering stars like Marlon Brando, James Dean, Warren Beatty, Eva Marie Saint, Lee Remick, and Andy Griffith, among others. And also for starting The Actor's Studio in 1947 -- along with Cheryl Crawford, Robert White, and Anna Sokolow. Lee Strasberg took the reins later when Kazan decided he preferred directing to teaching. And one more thing (Lord, I could go on and on): on Broadway, he directed the following plays (only one of which he chose to direct on the screen): A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tea and Sympathy, Sweet Bird of Youth, and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. What a master he was.
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Post by bravomailer on May 25, 2017 23:20:55 GMT
I too think highly of Kazan. East of Eden and America, America, might be my favorites. Unfortunately, he might be as well remembered for his politics than for his movies. Nothing wrong with opposing Stalinism and its supporters.
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spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on May 26, 2017 2:14:20 GMT
Great video, bravomailer . Thanks so much for posting it. I read America America before I saw the film. Without a doubt it's Kazan's best, really only good novel, in my opinion. And I don't want to get into a political thing here, but in order to get it off the table quickly now, let me just say that as far as the Blacklist is concerned, Kazan has been the scapegoat for that for far too long, and I have a lot of hard feelings about that wrong being allowed to persist. Ronald Reagan happily volunteered to name names and no one condemned him - instead he was elected President. Dalton Trumbo himself - one of the Hollywood Ten - when asked about Kazan, said that ALL were victims; those who were blacklisted and those who felt compelled to name names - with the exception, of course, of the "friendly" witnesses like Reagan, who were quite happy to betray their friends with an impunity that's hard to comprehend. It's impossible to condemn Kazan and not condemn Reagan. Kazan's persecution should have stopped decades ago. He's gone now, and he should be allowed to rest in peace. Anyway, back to Kazan's films: my favorite of all his films is Splendor in the Grass, because it inspired me at a very young age to become a director. I'm also a huge fan of On the Waterfront, East of Eden, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Wild River, and, of course, America America. Thanks again for the video, and for your comments.
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Post by bravomailer on May 26, 2017 4:32:18 GMT
Many people are awe-struck on seeing America, America for the first time. I certainly was.
Kazan wrote a sequel to it and then made it into a film – The Arrangement with Kirk Douglas, Faye Dunaway, and Richard Boone. Boone plays the immigrant, now an aging, dying man. Douglas is his son who is unhappy with the American dream his father lived. Dunaway is Douglas's mistress. Not very good.
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Post by teleadm on May 26, 2017 17:18:28 GMT
When he got his Honorary Oscar Award half the public sat down and half the puplic raised and applauded, so it was a controvercial choice since he named names during HUAC, do we know why he did it? If he had the answers of what would become I don't think he would name names, but it's easy to be smart when you know the outcome and the downfall of McCarthy's HUAC. or to quote Laurel and Hardy "It seemed like a good idea at the time".
And now over to something completely different, his movies.
As has been said he was an actor's director, digging out the best in actors and actresses and maybe canines, and then a little bit more, who does that today? Today he would have been fired because of ego tripped stars, since the actors nowdays are usually also the producers.
Gentleman's Agreement 1947, great movie about hidden racism, still a subject nowdays.
Panic in the Streets 1950, great noir with Richard Widmark on the right side of the law for once, and a great debut (?) by Jack Palance.
A Streetcar Named Desire 1951, just scream STELLA!!!! and everyone knows it's Marlon Brando, This is a virtual handbook in how to crreate and develop characters and make them alive and on fire, but not over the top. One of the best movies based on Tennessee Williams plays-
Viva Zapata! 1952, I don't know how historically corect this movie is, and maybe maybe it should have been in Technicolor, but it made me read up a liitle about Mexico's violent history, not that I'm an expert now, far from it. A vivid portrait by Marlon and it gave Anthony Quinn an early Oscar who's role is more complex than meets the eye.
On the Waterfront 1954, "I Could have been something" "I Could have had class" "now I'm a bum". This was the first movie I ever did see with Marlon Brando on old Swedish TV, I had never seen something so intense, and the knucklefight in the end shocked me, it seamed realistic and maybe still his realistic, (not like today when all punches has to be in slo mo)
East of Eden 1954, I don't hate him, I don't dislike him, I don't dislike his fans! but I'm not a fan of James Dean's acting style, the movie has bean greatly restored, bought the double DVD, and I liked the movie. One of the actors in his mama's bordello was Timothy Carey and someone here uses his pic in this room, not that it matters it just that his pic has eluded me.
The Arrangemen 1969, It starts interesting, but becomes very muddled after a while, and apparently the reason Deborah Kerr stopped making movies for nearly 15 years. Dare I say it was boring?
The Last Tycoon 1976 based on an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, so it might have sounded like a great challange for Kazan, since this was his last movie at least he went out decently, with such a star studded cast.....
The Above was personal notes of movies I know that I have seen, and the rest is also personal reflections
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Post by petrolino on May 27, 2017 1:55:30 GMT
Elia Kazan surely ranks among the greatest directors for actors yet it's no coincidence that they all tend to be master stylists, the key being that they adopt the right style for the right picture. Directors like George Cukor, Sidney Lumet, Mike Nichols and Woody Allen spring immediately to mind. Pretty much every movie I've seen from Kazan has bowled me over to some degree, he was that damn good. 'Baby Doll' is a top 10 all-time picture for me but I love so many.
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spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on May 27, 2017 14:57:36 GMT
Many people are awe-struck on seeing America, America for the first time. I certainly was. Kazan wrote a sequel to it and then made it into a film – The Arrangement with Kirk Douglas, Faye Dunaway, and Richard Boone. Boone plays the immigrant, now an aging, dying man. Douglas is his son who is unhappy with the American dream his father lived. Dunaway is Douglas's mistress. Not very good. Yes, this is one of his inferior films, for sure, from one of his inferior novels. I love the man as a director, but with the exception of "America America," which was quite good, he really wasn't a novelist. But it's what he wanted to do, finally, instead of interpreting other people's writings, so I can't fault him for that. I just wish he had been better at it. About The Arrangement film version, however, I will say this: I love the score by David Amram, who also wrote the score for Splendor in the Grass, and for Kazan's Lincoln Center version of Arthur Miller's play, After the Fall.
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spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on May 27, 2017 15:04:15 GMT
When he got his Honorary Oscar Award half the public sat down and half the puplic raised and applauded, so it was a controvercial choice since he named names during HUAC, do we know why he did it? If he had the answers of what would become I don't think he would name names, but it's easy to be smart when you know the outcome and the downfall of McCarthy's HUAC. or to quote Laurel and Hardy "It seemed like a good idea at the time". Teleadm, please see my note about this to bravomailer. That behavior at the Oscars was a disgrace and an embarrassment - only 19 years after Ronald Reagan, a "friendly witness" who gladly named names, left the White House as ex-President of the United States. Give me a break!
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Post by bravomailer on May 27, 2017 15:25:11 GMT
There were three responses: standing and applauding, standing but not applauding, remaining seated and not applauding. I recall Spielberg stood but did not applaud.
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spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on May 27, 2017 15:36:28 GMT
. . .standing but not applauding, remaining seated and not applauding. I recall Spielberg stood but did not applaud. Something I will never understand or condone.
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Post by petrolino on May 28, 2017 20:17:24 GMT
Elia Kazan surely ranks among the greatest directors for actors yet it's no coincidence that they all tend to be master stylists, the key being that they adopt the right style for the right picture. Directors like George Cukor, Sidney Lumet, Mike Nichols and Woody Allen spring immediately to mind. Pretty much every movie I've seen from Kazan has bowled me over to some degree, he was that damn good. 'Baby Doll' is a top 10 all-time picture for me but I love so many. The right style for the right picture, oh so true!! That's the name of the game, and those you mention, including and maybe especially Kazan, adhere to it with perfection. It makes me think of the different visual styles Nichols used for The Graduate (lots of long lenses with shallow depth of field and plenty of cuts) and for Silkwood (lots of long takes in wider shots and far fewer cuts, much like the John Ford style - letting scenes play out in quiet grace). This is the art of directing - knowing how fit the style to the narrative. And knowing how to get great performances out of actors. In that, I think Kazan was pretty much without peer. And now that you've brought it up, I really must watch Baby Doll again. For whatever reason, I was never really able to warm to it, though I fully acknowledge that it's a terrific film. I need to figure out why it doesn't move me like all his films do. I saw it so long ago. I hope I'll feel differently today. There are certain techniques used by Sidney Lumet and Mike Nichols frequently and both men were formidable technicians, but they adapted their artistic palette to suit the material they were intent upon doing justice to at any given time. Both directors respected good literature and good journalism, both were trained in the art of live performance and theatre. Lumet and Nichols were masters at visually invigorating small, confined spaces for the big screen. I'd be happy to show any film student double bills of '12 Angry Men' (1957) & 'Dog Day Afternoon' (1975) / 'Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf' (1966) & 'Closer' (2004) to suggest ways in which you can extend the possibilities of the mobile frame with the right mixture of strict discipline and raw imagination. I have to agree that Elia Kazan is peerless when it comes to screen acting. From the 1940s on, he was extracting phenomenal performances from pretty much every actor he dealt with. What a gifted artist he was. Hope 'Baby Doll' grabs you next time round, it's a gem!
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Post by Wesley Crusher on Aug 1, 2017 15:19:38 GMT
Elia Kazan (One of my favorite directors) 10 Rating - Best A Streetcar Named Desire9 Rating - Super Great On the Waterfront8 Rating - Great A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 7 Rating - Very Good Pinky A Face in the Crowd Baby Doll East of Eden Gentleman's Agreement Man on a Tightrope Viva Zapata!3 Rating - Horrible The Sea of Grass 2 Rating - Garbage The Arrangement
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Post by howardschumann on Aug 1, 2017 16:14:23 GMT
I too think highly of Kazan. East of Eden and America, America, might be my favorites. Unfortunately, he might be as well remembered for his politics than for his movies. Nothing wrong with opposing Stalinism and its supporters. Those who felt that HUAC had no legitimacy to inquire into an individual's associations had their reputations damaged and their careers destroyed. They not only refused to cooperate with the investigation but denounced the HUAC anti-communist hearings as an outrageous violation of their civil rights, a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which gave them the right to support any political philosophy or belong to any political organization they chose as long as they did not undertake action to overthrow the government. Also, many of the those named were members of the Communist Party in the 1930s, when the US and Russia were allies and did not support Stalin.
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Post by kijii on Aug 1, 2017 17:35:18 GMT
Elia Kazan (One of my favorite directors) 10 Rating - Best A Streetcar Named Desire9 Rating - Super Great On the Waterfront8 Rating - Great A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 7 Rating - Very Good Pinky A Face in the Crowd Baby Doll East of Eden Gentleman's Agreement Man on a Tightrope Viva Zapata!3 Rating - Horrible The Sea of Grass 2 Rating - Garbage The Arrangement I agree with you for the most part, but you forgot a couple of his GREAT crime (noir) films. Boomerang! www.imdb.com/title/tt0039208/reviews-57AND Panic in the Streets www.imdb.com/title/tt0042832/reviews-83
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Post by howardschumann on Aug 1, 2017 18:46:51 GMT
When he got his Honorary Oscar Award half the public sat down and half the puplic raised and applauded, so it was a controvercial choice since he named names during HUAC, do we know why he did it? If he had the answers of what would become I don't think he would name names, but it's easy to be smart when you know the outcome and the downfall of McCarthy's HUAC. or to quote Laurel and Hardy "It seemed like a good idea at the time". Teleadm, please see my note about this to bravomailer. That behavior at the Oscars was a disgrace and an embarrassment - only 19 years after Ronald Reagan, a "friendly witness" who gladly named names, left the White House as ex-President of the United States. Give me a break!Spider - I'm not sure how I would have reacted at the Oscars since I had largely forgiven Kazan. However, having said that I can understand the feeling of those at the Oscars who did not applaud. They were expressing their disdain for those who cooperated with and gave legitimacy to a Committee that was used to intimidate people for their beliefs and associations, guaranteed under the Constitution. Ronald Reagan as President of the Screen Actors Guild, also cooperated with HUAC but didn't name names at a public hearing, though he did provide names a few months before that to the FBI.
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Post by howardschumann on Aug 1, 2017 20:45:28 GMT
Spider - I'm not sure how I would have reacted at the Oscars since I had largely forgiven Kazan. . . Howard - My biggest complaint about this has always been that Kazan became the poster boy for the national disgrace called the Blacklist. Reagan not naming names openly but freely providing them earlier only makes him all the more a villain - certainly more than Kazan who refused to testify at first, then after struggling with himself finally relented. He lost friends for what he did and got branded for life, while Reagan suffered no ill will and was later elected President. Lives and careers were destroyed by HUAC. But I don't hold Kazan accountable for that. I hold Joe McCarthy and the likes of Reagan and other willing conspirators who helped push the investigation along. And whether it was true or not, by the time Kazan agreed to testify he said that he had decided it was the right thing to do. I don't condone his naming names (all of which, we know, the committee already had anyway). But I also don't condone the fact that every blame in the world has been placed on this man alone, when there were so many others who were more egregiously to blame, and who escaped with no harm to their lives at all. When it comes to Kazan, I believe what Dalton Trumbo said is true: Everyone was a victim - those who named names as well as those who refused to. Trumbo forgave Kazan. He didn't forgive McCarthy. Nor should we. He was the real, abject poster boy, not Kazan. Anyway, in this case, I hope we can agree to disagree. I understand how you feel and I basically agree with your feelings on the matter. I don't feel that Kazan should shoulder the blame but, on the other hand, I applaud those who had the courage to stand up to the Committee even though it meant a possible jail sentence or, at the least, loss of livelihood. When, in August 1955, Pete Seeger was summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee, he refused to discuss his political associations and activities, and chastised the committee for the entire inquiry. As he put it that day: "I decline to discuss, under compulsion, where I have sung, and who has sung my songs, and who else has sung with me, and the people I have known. I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent this implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, or I might be a vegetarian, make me any less of an American. I will tell you about my songs, but I am not interested in telling you who wrote them, and I will tell you about my songs, and I am not interested in who listened to them." By the way, Joe McCarthy had nothing to do with HUAC. He did not gain power until after 1953 when he became head of the Senate Internal Security Committee.
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spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on Aug 1, 2017 21:02:44 GMT
I understand how you feel and I basically agree with your feelings on the matter. . . By the way, Joe McCarthy had nothing to do with HUAC. He did not gain power until after 1953 when he became head of the Senate Internal Security Committee. Thank you, Howard. And God bless Pete Seeger, Arthur Miller, Lilliam Hellman (who also gave them an earful; not as elegant as Seeger's though), and all the others who had the courage to stand up to the Committee. And yes, I know McCarthy came later, but HUAC was the model he used for his investigation, so I tend to marry them when I shouldn't. Thanks for clarifying that. I do think we basically agree, and I'm glad for that. And thanks again for posting the Seeger speech. He was a giant, and I wish he were still with us today. We need his spirit now. (Btw, I have a friend who was hired to write a script about the Blacklist, which didn't get made, but the things he learned about it in his research were quite astounding. There's one thing in particular that is unbelievable; if only I can remember what it is accurately I'll post it later and tag you. Something about a grocery store in New York City. . .)
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Post by Staccato on Aug 1, 2017 21:51:08 GMT
"Elia Kazan: A Life" is a fine autobiography. Kazan left a lot.
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spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on Aug 1, 2017 22:41:33 GMT
"Elia Kazan: A Life" is a fine autobiography. Kazan left a lot. Absolutely. His best writing, in my opinion (all 800 plus pages of it). The thing that I found so remarkable about it was how little slack he cut himself for his foibles - particularly in his philandering. He was really realistic about himself, and life in general, I think. His memoir is a gold mine for anyone interested in learning about the art of directing and the life that leads to it.
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Post by bravomailer on Aug 1, 2017 23:42:37 GMT
I too think highly of Kazan. East of Eden and America, America, might be my favorites. Unfortunately, he might be as well remembered for his politics than for his movies. Nothing wrong with opposing Stalinism and its supporters. Those who felt that HUAC had no legitimacy to inquire into an individual's associations had their reputations damaged and their careers destroyed. They not only refused to cooperate with the investigation but denounced the HUAC anti-communist hearings as an outrageous violation of their civil rights, a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which gave them the right to support any political philosophy or belong to any political organization they chose as long as they did not undertake action to overthrow the government. Also, many of the those named were members of the Communist Party in the 1930s, when the US and Russia were allies and did not support Stalin. Hard to argue with someone whose knowledge of history is so vast that he or she thinks the US and Russia were allies in the 1930s. Actually, it was the USSR and Nazi Germany that were allies in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Members of the American Communist Party were naive, gullible, and more loyal to the Soviet Union than to the US. Some of them knowingly helped with Soviet espionage. I have no more respect or sympathy for them than I have for those who sentimentalized and supported the Third Reich.
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