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Post by teleadm on Jan 15, 2020 8:40:26 GMT
Mississippi 1935, directed by A. Edward Sutherland. Combining two of Paramount's biggest stars at the time, Bing Crosby and W.C. Fields, one get's a litte of both of them. Crosby croones a few Rodgers and Hart (no less!) songs, Fields does his comedic bits, some very acrobatic. Crosby plays a Philadelpia Quaker engaged to a Southern belle. He becomes a social outcast when he refuses to fight a duel. Fields then hires him to perform on his riverboat, promoting him as "Colonel Steel...the notorious Colonel Steel...the singing killer." The movie runs just under 75 minutes, and that's just how long a movie like this ought to be. There is also a blonde Joan Bennett, before she became a brunette femme fatale, racial stereotypes, a fist-fighting Bing and lots and lots of booze. Fairly entertaining and pleasant, for what it is.
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Post by teleadm on Jan 15, 2020 8:50:23 GMT
So Long At The Fair (1950). I heard Alfred Hitchcock was fond of the film--some cite it as proof Terence Fisher could have done more "respectable" films but I don't see how he would have been better off making things like this instead of the horror films he was known for. I felt it was kind of contrived towards the end.
Hitchcock actually did the story as one of the episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents called Into Thin Air 1955. Though it changes the story a bit to a young woman who's mother disappears, though it's still set in Paris at the end of the 19th century.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jan 15, 2020 22:32:07 GMT
NIGHT TRAIN TO PARIS 1964 - Leslie Nielsen is a good-natured travel agent in London who is enlisted to escort a microfilm to a government agency via a night train full of skiers. For once, he is neither a dead serious character or jerk, he gets to smile and engage in some humorous escapades which seemed to agree with him.
THE DISAPPEARANCE 1977 - Donald Sutherland, David Hemmings, Christopher Plummer, David Warner, and John Hurt in a hit man character study that is really slow and somewhat confusing yet something about it makes me watch it for the second or third time. A high-brow relic of the 1970s Canadian film production initiative.
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Post by millar70 on Jan 16, 2020 0:21:28 GMT
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Myles Directed by John Ford.
C'mon, we know this one, a true classic. One of my favorite older Westerns, it never gets old. I always thought Lee Marvin was just a bit over the top, but who wouldn't want to be in a gang with him, Lee Van Cleef, and Strother Martin? When you see Stewart and the Duke on the screen together, you know you're seeing royalty, and I think they realized that as well. There always seems to be a knowing grin between the two of them that I absolutely love.
Classic.
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Post by politicidal on Jan 18, 2020 0:43:54 GMT
I'm shocked this is a PG-13 instead of a R.
Not that it's as sleazy as A CURE FOR WELLNESS or as intense as SHUTTER ISLAND. But they got away with more than I anticipated.
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Post by RiP, IMDb on Jan 18, 2020 2:05:28 GMT
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Post by Prime etc. on Jan 18, 2020 2:08:45 GMT
SNOWBEAST 1977 - One of those B movie staples of late 70s tv. Looking at it again, and compared to today, it is almost hard to believe that at one time a story with a weird monster in it was not treated as a joke. You could have Bo Svenson as a former Olympics medalist who admits with a straight face he is afraid of becoming a has-been skier--with Yvette Mimieux as his tv journalist wife who is not the feminist stereotype of the era--there's no dialogue about her sacrificing her marriage for career---she carries a rifle and does the cooking. And he doesn't mind her kissing her former lover in front of him!
Clint Walker is the sheriff and he is neither incompetent or corrupt. When the three of them are in a shot together, one marvels at the fact that you could have two actors over 6'5 and neither of them playing the monster.
The monster itself is hardly shown--but effective enough for the brief moments.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jan 18, 2020 9:01:40 GMT
In rewatching AMADEUS-The Director's Cut 1984, I was considering the negatives associated with the American accents used in the film. It seemed to me, the accents were intended to establish various dividing lines in terms of cultural breeding.
So Kenneth McMillan's jarring accent emphasizes his almost complete lack of cultural sophistication (except for dog paintings) and make the alien nature of his employment of Mozart all the more obvious and grating. Jeffrey Jones likewise, is presented as monotone and talent-less about music and yet possesses a hobby enthusiasm for it-he is not a snobbish aristocrat. He is able to see that a ballet without music is ridiculous, while his entourage speak eloquently to ignore the obvious.
Elizabeth Berridge is the most jarring example of the lack of sophistication--(unlike Hulce and Abraham) she shows no cultural or theatrical mannerism-she may have been a last minute casting decision--but I think it works beautifully since her character is totally devoid of musical appreciation. She is not his Muse. His music means nothing to her. Practical reality does --without being materialistic. In the sequence where she and Hulce are watching Simon Callow's re-enactment of his music, she is offended, while Hulce is pleased that the audience of commoners are reacting positively.
The themes of art and creation and judgement are interestingly complex. Like the Agony and the Ecstasy, a central idea is how art is a madness and destroyer, and yet also creates harmony between contrasting people. Mozart's music ultimately brings him and Salieri to a brief unification.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Jan 18, 2020 10:42:09 GMT
Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan (2019).
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Post by louise on Jan 18, 2020 11:54:08 GMT
So Long At The Fair (1950). I heard Alfred Hitchcock was fond of the film--some cite it as proof Terence Fisher could have done more "respectable" films but I don't see how he would have been better off making things like this instead of the horror films he was known for. I felt it was kind of contrived towards the end.
I re-watched HORROR EXPRESS 1972 which never disappoints especially when there is snow on the ground. Such an interesting backstory--they had a train prop used in a Pancho Villa film starring Telly Savalas so they made this movie to re-use the train! Savalas sang the end song for that one-wish he had done one for Horror Express with the lyrics:
"Peasants! peasants!"
It is interesting that Hitchcock liked it, it is a bit like The Lady Vanishes - the disappearing person who everyone denies having seen etc, but Lady Vanishes is much more amusing. I have not seen Horror Express, but it is funny that they made the movie to re-use the train!
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Post by louise on Jan 18, 2020 11:56:12 GMT
At the Circus (1939). Not one of my favourite Marx Brothers films, but a few good bits, I love Groucho singing Lydia the Tattooed Lady, and the orchestra floating out to sea at the end.
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Post by louise on Jan 19, 2020 14:04:51 GMT
A Run For Your Money (1949). Two Welsh coalminers (Donald Houston and Meredith Edwards) win a prize of money and a trip to London to see a Wales versus England rugy match at Twickenham. Alec Guiness plays the journalist who is supposed to meet their train in London and take them about. The two men get separated, and both have an exciting time in London in different ways. An entertaining comedy.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jan 19, 2020 15:24:06 GMT
The Bat (1959)
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Post by louise on Jan 20, 2020 17:49:03 GMT
The Way Ahead (1944). WW2 drama which follows a group of reluctant conscripts from their basic training to their deployment in Africa. A host of familiar British actors including David Niven as the officer and William Hartnell as (what else?) the Sergeant.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jan 21, 2020 7:04:43 GMT
Rasputin the Mad Monk - 1966 Christopher Lee gets a rare leading role with lots of dialogue. This really is much like a filmed stage play. Most of the story is through dialogue and performance with very little camera action. Although based on Rasputin it becomes obvious after viewing the Barrymore version of Svengali that the film was the main inspiration--they even replicate a scene of him looking out a window to his sleeping victim. Barbara Shelley, probably the most accomplished actress of the scream queen class in Hammer films has a big part with much performance range (Lee said at one time she was the best actress he worked with). Richard Pasco lends some valuable support as a disgraced doctor who Rasputin sponges off until he sets sights on the Czarina. Very economical film so you don't even get to see the Czar. Was made at the same time as Dracula-Prince of Darkness so rather inventive way of getting double use out of the same cast and sets.
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Post by louise on Jan 21, 2020 13:38:15 GMT
The Mouse That Roared (1959). The tiny Duchy of Grand Fenwick has only one export - it's wine, Pinot Grand Fenwick. But to their horror, the people discover that a California vineyard has started manufacturing an identical wine and selling it under an almost identical name, which will ruin them. So they decide to declare war on the USA, because they believe that when they lose the war the USA will give them lots of money and help like they did for the countries they defeated in WW2. So the minute Fenwickian army (which has only bows and arrows as weapons) is despatched to America under the command of Tully Bascome (Peter Sellers) with, of course, William Hartnell as his sergeant. However, due to unforeseen events, Grand Fenwick ends up winning the war, which causes a lot of complications. Amusing comedy in which Peter Sellers also plays the Duchess of Grand Fenwick, and the Prime Minister.
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Post by teleadm on Jan 22, 2020 18:29:28 GMT
The Best Years of Our Lives 1946, directed by William Wyler Three WWII returns home to small town America, but it's not the America they left, since while they were away, life went on and adabted in it's own new ways, and it's not easy to fit in again. I hadn't seen it since the late 1970s, so most of it felt rather new to me, though I did remember a few things. 2 hours and 45 minutes went surpisingly fast. Rightfully called a masterpiece.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jan 22, 2020 18:38:00 GMT
The Treasure of San Teresa 1959 -- Dawn Addams, Eddie Constantine, Christopher Lee.
Daughter of German general who committed suicide after failing to assassinate Hitler is involved in a plan to break into a Czechoslovakia convent to get some jewels that belong to her family. The scheme to get the jewels is interesting as well as the finale involving a train.
Hercules Against the Barbarians -- 1964 Mark Forest ends up in Poland helping to defeat the mongols thanks to generous use of stock footage. Hercules in Poland is one of many WTF aspects to the film (Ken Clark as a mongol is another). On the other hand there is a neat interlude with Chinese acrobats, the saucer spinning trick is quite neat.
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Post by louise on Jan 24, 2020 7:00:03 GMT
Venetian Bird (1952). Drama with Richard Todd as a private detective who is in Venice trying to find a man who may or may not be dead, and gets involved in an assassination plot. The most interesting part for me was the surprise appearance of Sid James playing an Italian.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jan 24, 2020 8:48:51 GMT
CAPE FEAR 1962 and CAPE FEAR 1991
Interesting to watch them back to back. I think it's a shame Scorsese did not attempt more B movie type films because he brings so much creative pizzazz to it. In the original the Cady victim and daughter are not developed beyond what is necessary--in the remake Illeana Douglas and Juliette Lewis really bring extra intensity to their parts. The former has a horrific abuse scene and then an equally pathetic bed-confined breakdown.
Is this type of acting done anymore? Only 30 years ago, feels like a million years in quality.
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