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Post by mikef6 on Dec 25, 2018 17:33:07 GMT
For the jolly festive season, I watched probably the darkest downest depressing noir in existence, Edgar Ulmer's "Detour" (1945). ![](http://photobucket.com/gallery/http://s191.photobucket.com/user/sevenarts/media/cinema/filmsilove/detour01.jpg.html) ![](http://photobucket.com/gallery/http://s191.photobucket.com/user/sevenarts/media/cinema/filmsilove/detour01.jpg.html) ![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nmwtpvuDxEk/hqdefault.jpg)
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Post by vegalyra on Dec 26, 2018 15:08:32 GMT
I've been away from technology (phone/computer) the past couple of days (more or less), but I watched some typical "Christmas" fare:
N.L. Christmas Vacation White Christmas Die Hard (I'm not 100% sold on it being a Christmas movie, but my wife assures me that it is) Christmas Carol (1938) Elf
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Dec 26, 2018 20:25:19 GMT
FINALLY I was able to see We're No Angels (1955) after several false starts over the past year. It's quite different from the remake. I had a few good chuckles watching this this afternoon. ![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8JrquNDg56k/VphBCsEKTII/AAAAAAAANKs/SshN_NTBwr4/s1600/We%2527re%2BNo%2BAngels%2Blobby%2Bcard.jpg)
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Dec 27, 2018 1:05:25 GMT
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Post by kijii on Dec 27, 2018 6:32:55 GMT
Hell and High Water (1954) / Samuel Fuller Seen on DVD
This is a continuation of my Samuel Fuller quest to see as many of his movies as possible...
A few months after Pickup on South Street (1953) was released, Fuller once again used Richard Widmark in the leading role for this movie. Fuller also uses the Korean War for this highly unlikely--more like preposterous--fictional story by David Hempstead. Yet, the story is a totally gripping submarine movie about a talented group of private people from around the free world who are committed to investigating why there had been an atomic explosion in the neural waters between Japan and the Arctic Circle in the Summer of 1953. The private (and secret) group, assembled in Tokyo, includes submariners, atomic scientists, and a woman (Bella Darvi) with skills in Asiatic languages and nuclear physics. The goal of the group is solely to gather reconnaissance about the explosion, where it came from, and why. Once the information was gathered, the plan was to present it authorities of the free-world for further consideration, if needed. Nevertheless, the submarine group finds itself involved in matters far above their initial mission and dangerous that require submarine maneuvering, nuclear, and language skills, some of which would make MacGyve proud.
[Capt. Jones is forced to sail before his submarine is fully ready for sea] Captain Adam Jones (Richard Widmark): What about the "running dive test"? Prof. Montel (Victor Francen): As an amateur, might I suggest that we try the "running test" *while* we are running? Captain Adam Jones : Doctor, there are about a hundred ways of losing a submarine, and *you've* just come up with one of the *best*! We haven't even checked the torpedo tubes yet! You know what that means if we have to 'call on fish'? *It means we're dead!
This is a great submarine movie, with a cat-and-mouse game between their (a refitted Japanese submarine from WWII) and another Red Chinese submarine that eventually leads them to a couple islands, where the our group discovers a planned "Red" clandestine operation to make America look bad during the Korean War. Full synopsis from TCM with SPOILERS: In 1953, the worldwide scientific community is stunned when French scientist Prof. Montel goes missing, and after four weeks, the authorities believe that he voluntarily traveled behind the Iron Curtain, as four other scientists are suspected of having done recently. Meanwhile, former U.S. Navy commander Adam Jones arrives in Tokyo after receiving a mysterious package containing $5,000. Jones is taken to meet Hokado Fujimori, who ushers him into a secret room buzzing with activity. There, Jones meets Montel and a consortium of international scientists, businessmen and statesmen, who explain they suspect that Communist forces are building an atomic base on an island somewhere between Japan and the Arctic Circle. Montel states that as private citizens, they can conduct their investigation without political interference. Montel then offers Jones another $45,000 if he will head a submarine expedition, during which the sub is to follow a Chinese freighter, the Kiang Ching , that has been making deliveries to the area under observation. Although he is reluctant to use the Japanese submarine that the consortium is overhauling, Jones agrees, providing that he can hire his former crew. Soon after, Jones and his men, plus an international group comprising the rest of the crew, labor to refit the Japanese submarine. The day before Jones is to make a running test, however, Fujimori insists that they leave, as the freighter has just departed. Jones protests, asserting that they have not tested the torpedo tubes, but Fujimori prevails, and Montel boards with his assistant, the multilingual and beautiful Prof. Denise Gerard. The crew is outraged, as they were unaware that Montel's assistant was a woman, but her earnestness and Jones's insistence that women are not bad luck persuade the crew to accept her. The voyage is uneventful, despite a fight between "Ski" Brodski and a drunken crew member over Denise, until Jones realizes that they are being tracked by another submarine. They contact the sub, which is Chinese, and are fired upon when the Chinese are unsatisfied by their explanation that they are on a scientific expedition. Jones orders their sub to dive, and during the confusion, Montel's hand is caught in the hatch, and Jones is forced to amputate his thumb. The Chinese sub also dives to the bottom, and the subs "run quiet" in order to avoid detection. During the following hours, as the heat builds and the oxygen runs out, the crew grows sluggish and Montel becomes weak from shock and loss of blood. Unwilling to lose his fee for returning Montel to Tokyo, Jones decides to risk surfacing, even though the Chinese sub will be able to shoot torpedoes at them and they will be unable to retaliate. After blowing off the accumulated hydrogen, which could have caused a massive explosion, the sub begins to surface, and the Chinese pursue it. Jones decides to ram the other sub, and after two attempts, manages to cripple the enemy and escape. Later, while Montel is recuperating and Jones and Denise are falling in love, the sub follows the Kiang Ching to an island, onto which Jones and Montel lead a patrol. Montel is puzzled to find relatively low levels of radioactivity, and suspects that they are on the wrong island. There are many soldiers and gas tanks, however, and during a gun battle, one of Jones's shots ignites the tanks. After capturing a Chinese soldier, the patrol reaches the sub, and Jones determines to return to Tokyo. Montel vetoes his decision, however, and orders him to continue to Kevlock Island, where the Chinese soldier, who is a pilot named Ho-Sin, was headed. Montel and Denise are disgusted by Jones's mercenary declaration that he is only interested in the $50,000, but he nonetheless follows Montel's orders. On the way to Kevlock, the sub is tossed by a storm and Montel is injured during a fall, then, because he cannot accompany Jones on a patrol of Kevlock, Montel insists that he take Denise to gather data. Jones reluctantly agrees, and Denise records an astonishing level of radioactivity. While they are hiding from Chinese soldiers, Denise is forced to shoot and kill one of them, and Jones drags her safety. Aboard the sub, Jones reveals that he saw an American B-29 bomber on the island's airstrip, and, needing to obtain more information, sends cook Chin Lee, dressed as a prisoner, to question Ho-Sin. Ho-Sin reveals that the Communists intend to drop an atomic bomb on either Korea or Manchuria and blame the United States, but before Chin Lee can escape, Ho-Sin deduces that he is a "plant" and beats him to death. Although Montel wants to return to Tokyo with the information, Jones refuses to allow the Communists to "pin the rap" of the bomb explosion on the U.S., and plans to go alone to the island, from which he will signal the sub when the B-29 takes off. The sub will then surface and shoot all available guns at the plane in the hope of destroying it. The next morning, before Jones can leave, Montel sneaks onto the island, where he assumes the lookout position. When Jones yells at Denise for allowing the elderly man to go, she tearfully reveals that Montel is her father. Upon receiving the signal from Montel, the sub surfaces and blows up the airplane, although the plane crashes into the island, rather than the ocean, and the island is destroyed. Knowing that her father died for the cause he believed in, Denise holds her head high, and Jones remembers Montel's remark that "each man has his own reason for living and his own price for dying."
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Dec 27, 2018 21:02:45 GMT
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Dec 28, 2018 22:41:52 GMT
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Dec 29, 2018 3:06:34 GMT
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Post by louise on Dec 29, 2018 7:09:55 GMT
i Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978). Delightful comedy about a group of teenagers from New Jersey going to New York to try and get into the Ed Sullivan show to see the Beatles. They all have various adventures and one actually manages to get into the Beatles hotel suite. Very funny film. ![](https://www.zekefilm.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/I_Wanna_Hold_Your_Hand.jpg)
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Dec 30, 2018 0:58:05 GMT
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Dec 30, 2018 3:49:03 GMT
Funeral in Berlin (1966). Directed by Guy Hamilton, with Michael Caine, Paul Hubschmid, Oskar Homolka, Eva Renzi, Guy Doleman et al. DVR’d from TCM telecast a while back. First-time viewing for me.
Excellent entry in the British spy series which featured Michael Caine as Harry Palmer - a sort of poor-man’s James Bond if you will. I’ve now watched all 3 of the ones made in the 1960s featuring Michael Caine (the others being The IPCRESS File (1965), and The Billion Dollar Brain (1967)).
As most other fans of the series would agree, it’s lamentable that more Harry Palmer films with Michael Caine in the starring role did not immediately follow. True, the series was given a new lease on life much later - in the 1990s, with Caine reappearing in the lead role for Bullet to Beijing (1995) and Midnight in Saint Petersburg (1996). But the 1960s ones were far superior. They weren’t as far-fetched and improbable as the Bond films, but were equally as entertaining, IMHO.
Anyway, Funeral in Berlin is a very well done spy story, excellently filmed on locations in and around Berlin, Germany (as well as London, England), with lots of clever dialogue. It has a doozy of a plot twist, too. A must-see for fans of the spy-film genre.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Dec 30, 2018 3:52:58 GMT
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Post by kijii on Dec 30, 2018 6:48:36 GMT
Shark (1969) / Samuel Fuller Seen on DVDThe story of this movie takes place in a remote town on the coast of the Red Sea in Sudan. (Yes, I Googled a Map of Africa to see where Sudan was in relationship to the Red Sea and what counties surround it). However, the entire movie was filmed in Manzanillo, Mexico, and all the performers in the movie are Mexicans except Burt Reynolds (Caine), Arthur Kennedy (Doc), and Barry Sullivan (Prof. Dan Mallare). It's unclear how, or why, the American, Cain (Burt Reynolds), became a gunrunner in Sudan. It's also unclear how, or why, we find Arthur Kennedy's alcoholic character, Doc, is in that remote Sudan town...or even in the movie. The movie LOOKS like a film that was made in Mexico, right down to the characteristics of the its inhabitants, (e.g. The fat man who owns the hotel in town seems like the comic character, Gordo). Yet, these Mexicans are all dressed like Arabs and speak Arabic. So, what brings all of these disparate characters together? A sunken ship off of the Sudanese coast, loaded with gold bullion. And, why is the movie called Shark?
Because there are sharks dangerously swimming in the waters near the sunken ship, sharks that play a role in the overall plot. ![](http://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/v22vodart/143/p143_v_v8_aa.jpg) Fuller liked the idea of the movie but thought the final result was terrible: In April 1967 it was announced Twist of the Knife would be produced by Skip Steloff for Calderon-Stell and directed by Sam Fuller, his first film since The Naked Kiss. The cast would include Burt Reynolds, Arthur Kennedy and Barry Sullivan.[5] The film was to be the first in a series of co productions between Skip Steloff, Marc Cooper's Heritage Productions, and Jose Luis Calderon's Cinemtographia Calderon.[6] When Sam Fuller joined the project, he rewrote the script and retitled it Caine. He shared writing credit with John Kingsbridge.[3] Fuller later said "I liked the idea of making a story where, for once, the hero is really the heavy, the heavy is the girl, there's another heavy, and you find out in the end they're all heavies."[7] He elaborated, saying he liked "doing a story about four amoral characters... to show not only a double cross on a double cross but when we think we know who the heavy is, we find out the real heavy behind it all is the girl... I have the hero not only allow her to die, but he shrugs it off.I thought that was exciting... I had such fun because I went beyond the average switch of revealing the villain. I also didn't have the guy just let the girl go to jail; he lets her be eaten by sharks." But, he didn't like the final result of the movie: Fuller supervised editing in Mexico City for four weeks. His cut was later re-edited by the producers without his approval. When Samuel Fuller finally saw the version that was released to theaters, he said he thought it was "terrible. I told them I wanted to restore my original cut. They said they didn't know if they could get it from Mexico."[11]
Fuller demanded the producers take his name off it. The producers refused.[12]
Fuller demanded the producers take his name off it. The producers refused
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Dec 30, 2018 9:42:22 GMT
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD 1938 - He speaks treason fluently.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Dec 30, 2018 21:31:41 GMT
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Post by kijii on Dec 31, 2018 5:38:29 GMT
There's Always Tomorrow (1955) / Douglas Sirk Seen on DVD
This would be an ideal example of the melodramas that Sirk made in the 50s. In the same vain as All That Heaven Allows (1955), Magnificent Obsession (1954), Written on the Wind (1956), and Imitation of Life (1959), this movie aims at the heart rather than the head or gut.
It's funny that every time I see Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray on the screen in a melodrama, i.e, Remember the Night (1940), I have to work hard to remember that this is the same pair of actors who also made Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944). Yes, it is the same actors, but the roles are so different. They did make a good screen couple,
This is a movie about a successful toy manufacturer, Clifford Groves (Fred MacMurray), with a good job and an ideal family. Still, he has a need to be more loved and free again, as when he was young. His wife Marion (Joan Bennett) and three children are all busy living, but he feels as though he is no longer in the family picture. When a woman from his past, Norma Miller Vale (Barbara Stanwyck), comes to see him again, he sees something in her that may cause him to go astray from his family... It is strange to see the man as the weak person in a situation like this, but I guess it is possible..
Norma Miller Vale (Barbara Stanwyck) : Love is a very reckless thing. Maybe it isn't even a good thing. When you're young and in love, nothing matters except your own satisfaction. The tragic thing about growing older is that you can't be quite as reckless anymore.
Norma Miller Vale : I guess that's the hardest job to learn in the whole world... how to give love and expect nothing in return.
Norma Miller Vale : I never knew how to give love - only to take it.
![](https://pxhst.co/avaxhome/c5/2f/001a2fc5.jpeg)
Full TCM Synopsis with SPOILERS: In Pasadena, California, Clifford Groves runs a successful toy manufacturing business and goes home each night to his wife Marion and three children, Vinnie, Ellen and Frankie. On Marion's birthday, Cliff offers her an evening of dinner and theater, only to find that she is too busy with the children's schedule to take the night off. By dinnertime, Marion and the kids have rushed off to their various dates, leaving Cliff alone with a warmed-over meal. Just then, Norma Miller Vale, a former co-worker whom Cliff has not seen in twenty years, arrives to visit. Norma has grown into a stunning, cosmopolitan woman with a flourishing fashion design business, and a charmed Cliff invites her to share his theater tickets. After the theater, she asks to visit his office, where she admires his latest toy, a wind-up robot, and reminisces with him about the innocent dates they shared in the past. When Norma asks if he is happy now, Cliff hesitates a moment before saying yes. Upon returning home that night, Cliff tries to tell Marion about his night, but she is too tired to listen. The next weekend, Cliff cheerfully prepares for a weekend get-away with Marion, his first in years. Just before they are to leave for a resort in Palm Valley, California, however, Frankie twists her ankle and Marion insists on staying home with her. In response to Marion's proposal that he go alone, Cliff schedules a business meeting in Palm Valley and drives to the inn. There, just as he discovers that his meeting has been cancelled, he bumps into Norma, who is also on vacation for the weekend. They go horseback riding that day and dance all night, and soon Cliff feels so carefree and exhilarated that he convinces her to stay on an extra night. At dinner, Norma discusses her failed marriage, revealing that there has been no one in her life since the divorce. The next day, Vinnie, with his girl friend Ann and two other friends, drives to Palm Valley to see Cliff. They arrive and immediately catch sight of Cliff and Norma laughing intimately, and Vinnie suspects the worst. Although Ann warns him not to jump to conclusions, he insists that they leave at once, and at home, confides in Ellen about what he has seen. Even after Cliff comes home and immediately tells Marion all about Norma, the kids do not trust him, and cringe when he then invites Norma for dinner the following night. Before the dinner, Cliff picks Norma up at her apartment, and when her purse spills open, he sees an old photograph of him and realizes that she has feelings for him. At dinner, Vinnie abruptly leaves the table after Norma tells Ellen that love sometimes requires patience, and although Cliff is furious, Ellen also rudely refuses to talk to Norma. Ann rushes after Vinnie to tell him that he is acting like a suspicious child, but he turns away from her. Norma graciously leaves early, and later when Cliff tries to confront his children, they will not speak to him. Marion defends them, inciting Cliff to accuse her of coddling them. He then announces that he is tired of feeling like his wind-up robot and being taken for granted, but Marion remains unconcerned, pointing out that a life full of adventure would be exhausting. Later, she suggests that Norma is lonely and envies their home and family, and then falls asleep. Cliff sneaks out of the room, and Vinnie returns home just in time to hear his father urge Norma to meet him the following night. The next day, Marion and Ann visit Norma's bustling studio to try on clothes, and Ann struggles to find the right words to reveal Vinnie's qualms to Norma. Norma understands immediately and cancels her appointment with Cliff. Later, Ann breaks up with Vinnie because of his immature behavior, after which Vinnie watches through the window as his father comes home, grows increasingly restless, and rushes out the door again. Cliff interrupts Norma's business meeting to confess his love, explaining that he knows she feels the same way. She kisses him but then dissolves in tears, and asks him to give her a day to think. The next night, Norma hears a knock, and believing it is Cliff, joyously opens her door, only to find Vinnie and Ellen. When they accuse her of having an affair with Cliff, she charges them with having neglected him for years, until he was forced to look outside his family for love. Softening, she tells Ellen that young love can be reckless, but a mature lover cares more for her beloved than for herself. Ellen tearfully begs Norma not to take her father away, and soon after, Norma goes to Cliff's office to tell him they cannot be together. He tries to argue with her, but she paints an image of a future in which he cannot bear to be cut out of his children's lives and longs to talk to Marion again, and reminds him of what a wonderful life he has to lose. She cries and races off, and although Cliff tries to follow, she disappears into the rain. Soon after, Vinnie reveals to Ann that she was right all along and he has finally learned how to love and expect nothing in return. He goes home just as Cliff arrives, and Vinnie and Ellen note Cliff's solemn gaze as he turns his face to the window and watches a plane flying overhead. Although the kids remain busy and distracted, they smile when Marion checks to see if Cliff is feeling better, and he takes her arm and tells her no one knows him as well as she does.
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Post by teleadm on Dec 31, 2018 17:51:50 GMT
There's Always Tomorrow (1955) / Douglas Sirk Seen on DVD
This would be an ideal example of the melodramas that Sirk made in the 50s. In the same vain as All That Heaven Allows (1955), Magnificent Obsession (1954), Written on the Wind (1956), and Imitation of Life (1959), this movie aims at the heart rather than the head or gut.
It's funny that every time I see Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray on the screen in a melodrama, i.e, Remember the Night (1940), I have to work hard to remember that this is the same pair of actors who also made Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944). Yes, it is the same actors, but the roles are so different. They did make a good screen couple,
This is a movie about a successful toy manufacturer, Clifford Groves (Fred MacMurray), with a good job and an ideal family. Still, he has a need to be more loved and free again, as when he was young. His wife Marion (Joan Bennett) and three children are all busy living, but he feels as though he is no longer in the family picture. When a woman from his past, Norma Miller Vale (Barbara Stanwyck), comes to see him again, he sees something in her that may cause him to go astray from his family... It is strange to see the man as the weak person in a situation like this, but I guess it is possible..
Norma Miller Vale (Barbara Stanwyck) : Love is a very reckless thing. Maybe it isn't even a good thing. When you're young and in love, nothing matters except your own satisfaction. The tragic thing about growing older is that you can't be quite as reckless anymore.
Norma Miller Vale : I guess that's the hardest job to learn in the whole world... how to give love and expect nothing in return.
Norma Miller Vale : I never knew how to give love - only to take it.
![](https://pxhst.co/avaxhome/c5/2f/001a2fc5.jpeg)
Full TCM Synopsis with SPOILERS: In Pasadena, California, Clifford Groves runs a successful toy manufacturing business and goes home each night to his wife Marion and three children, Vinnie, Ellen and Frankie. On Marion's birthday, Cliff offers her an evening of dinner and theater, only to find that she is too busy with the children's schedule to take the night off. By dinnertime, Marion and the kids have rushed off to their various dates, leaving Cliff alone with a warmed-over meal. Just then, Norma Miller Vale, a former co-worker whom Cliff has not seen in twenty years, arrives to visit. Norma has grown into a stunning, cosmopolitan woman with a flourishing fashion design business, and a charmed Cliff invites her to share his theater tickets. After the theater, she asks to visit his office, where she admires his latest toy, a wind-up robot, and reminisces with him about the innocent dates they shared in the past. When Norma asks if he is happy now, Cliff hesitates a moment before saying yes. Upon returning home that night, Cliff tries to tell Marion about his night, but she is too tired to listen. The next weekend, Cliff cheerfully prepares for a weekend get-away with Marion, his first in years. Just before they are to leave for a resort in Palm Valley, California, however, Frankie twists her ankle and Marion insists on staying home with her. In response to Marion's proposal that he go alone, Cliff schedules a business meeting in Palm Valley and drives to the inn. There, just as he discovers that his meeting has been cancelled, he bumps into Norma, who is also on vacation for the weekend. They go horseback riding that day and dance all night, and soon Cliff feels so carefree and exhilarated that he convinces her to stay on an extra night. At dinner, Norma discusses her failed marriage, revealing that there has been no one in her life since the divorce. The next day, Vinnie, with his girl friend Ann and two other friends, drives to Palm Valley to see Cliff. They arrive and immediately catch sight of Cliff and Norma laughing intimately, and Vinnie suspects the worst. Although Ann warns him not to jump to conclusions, he insists that they leave at once, and at home, confides in Ellen about what he has seen. Even after Cliff comes home and immediately tells Marion all about Norma, the kids do not trust him, and cringe when he then invites Norma for dinner the following night. Before the dinner, Cliff picks Norma up at her apartment, and when her purse spills open, he sees an old photograph of him and realizes that she has feelings for him. At dinner, Vinnie abruptly leaves the table after Norma tells Ellen that love sometimes requires patience, and although Cliff is furious, Ellen also rudely refuses to talk to Norma. Ann rushes after Vinnie to tell him that he is acting like a suspicious child, but he turns away from her. Norma graciously leaves early, and later when Cliff tries to confront his children, they will not speak to him. Marion defends them, inciting Cliff to accuse her of coddling them. He then announces that he is tired of feeling like his wind-up robot and being taken for granted, but Marion remains unconcerned, pointing out that a life full of adventure would be exhausting. Later, she suggests that Norma is lonely and envies their home and family, and then falls asleep. Cliff sneaks out of the room, and Vinnie returns home just in time to hear his father urge Norma to meet him the following night. The next day, Marion and Ann visit Norma's bustling studio to try on clothes, and Ann struggles to find the right words to reveal Vinnie's qualms to Norma. Norma understands immediately and cancels her appointment with Cliff. Later, Ann breaks up with Vinnie because of his immature behavior, after which Vinnie watches through the window as his father comes home, grows increasingly restless, and rushes out the door again. Cliff interrupts Norma's business meeting to confess his love, explaining that he knows she feels the same way. She kisses him but then dissolves in tears, and asks him to give her a day to think. The next night, Norma hears a knock, and believing it is Cliff, joyously opens her door, only to find Vinnie and Ellen. When they accuse her of having an affair with Cliff, she charges them with having neglected him for years, until he was forced to look outside his family for love. Softening, she tells Ellen that young love can be reckless, but a mature lover cares more for her beloved than for herself. Ellen tearfully begs Norma not to take her father away, and soon after, Norma goes to Cliff's office to tell him they cannot be together. He tries to argue with her, but she paints an image of a future in which he cannot bear to be cut out of his children's lives and longs to talk to Marion again, and reminds him of what a wonderful life he has to lose. She cries and races off, and although Cliff tries to follow, she disappears into the rain. Soon after, Vinnie reveals to Ann that she was right all along and he has finally learned how to love and expect nothing in return. He goes home just as Cliff arrives, and Vinnie and Ellen note Cliff's solemn gaze as he turns his face to the window and watches a plane flying overhead. Although the kids remain busy and distracted, they smile when Marion checks to see if Cliff is feeling better, and he takes her arm and tells her no one knows him as well as she does.
I was surpriced that I liked this one, a father taken for granted sounded unsoundly familiar.
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Post by kijii on Jan 1, 2019 1:30:45 GMT
Seen on YouTube
This completes my Sam Fuller feature films. I've surely seen better Fuller movies than this, but even this one has its moments, with Angie Dickinson in a early lead role and Lee Van Cleef playing the Communist trained-in-Moscow trying to win her over to his side. The prologue is interesting, given the time that this movie was made. . www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA1LuLTuQHU
![](http://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/v22vodart/1938/p1938_v_v8_aa.jpg)
Full synopsis from TCM with SPOILERS: In 1954, along a mountain range known as the China Gate, a small Northern Vietnamese village remains as the last holdout against the steadily encroaching Communist doctrine voiced by Ho Chi Minh. The starving peasants have paid dearly for their idealism, and are pounded daily by bombs. One day, a little boy guards his puppy from the hungry villagers, running to his mother, Lucky Legs, the infamous woman who operates the local saloon. The French, who have occupied Indochina for 300 years, are trying to keep it from being overrun by the Communists, and have assigned Colonel De Sars a ragtag band of soldiers of fortune, whose goal is to locate the tunnels in which the Communists have secreted their vast artillery supplies. To help ferret out the tunnels, the colonel also turns to Lucky, whose many treks across the jungle selling cognac to the soldiers have given her a familiarity with both the Communists and the territory. The China Gate is guarded by Major Cham, a half-caste Vietnamese officer who is in love with Lucky. When Lucky protests that this is not her war, the colonel reminds her that although she appears Caucasian, she is really half Vietnamese, and then offers her $5,000 and a new bar in exchange for guiding the demolition patrol. Instead, Lucky bargains to have her five-year-old son sent to the safety of America. After the colonel agrees to her terms, he introduces her to the American explosives expert who is to lead the expedition, Johnny Brock. Upon seeing Brock, Lucky slaps his face and storms off. Brock, who was married to Lucky when she was an idealistic girl known as Lia, walked out on her after she gave birth to their Asian-looking son. When the colonel informs Brock that Lucky had agreed to cooperate to save her son, Brock asks Father Paul's help in persuading her to change her mind. The priest, who loathes Brock for his treatment of Lia, retorts that Brock's rejection caused her to turn to a life of prostitution and drugs. After the priest refuses to help, Brock visits Lucky and sees his son for the first time in five years. Brock, who cannot accept the half-caste boy, admonishes Lucky not to condemn the child to a life in Vietnam just to spite his father. Lucky relents, and Brock begins to organize the expedition under the command of the French officer, Captain Caumont. The group consists of Brock, whose lust for adventure caused him to join the French Foreign Legion; Goldie, a dedicated opponent of Communism; Private Jaszi, a Czech patriot who hates the Russians for what they have done to his country; Private Andreades, a Greek; and several French soldiers who wonder why the Americans are not providing more aid to the French effort. Brock divides the highly explosive primers in two, and gives half to Goldie and keeps the rest. When they reach the first Communist camp, Communist soldiers welcome Lucky and her cases of cognac. While Lucky distracts the soldiers, Brock and the others skirt by the camp. After stopping for the night, Jaszi has a nightmare about a Russian soldier and attacks Goldie in his sleep. Concerned about Jaszi's mental stability, Brock cold-bloodedly announces that he must die. When Jaszi begs to be allowed to finish the mission, Brock gives him a reprieve. After making their way past a Communist-occupied village, the group enters a jungle littered with land mines. Lucky warns that a guard is watching from a tree house high above them, and makes her way to the lookout to disarm him. After the guard, a friend of Lucky's, apprises her of the location of the jungle mines, Brock stealthily enters and slits his throat. Alone in the tree house, Brock and Lucky embrace and admit that they have feelings for each other. When Lucky realizes that Brock still is unable to accept their son, however, she breaks down in tears. The next day, as they continue their journey, Private Andreades slips from a steep ridge and breaks his back. As he lays dying, he chastises Brock for his treatment of Lucky. When Brock defends himself by insisting that he was only being honest about his feelings for their son, Lucky replies that he is the only person who has ever made her ashamed of her mixed race. That night, when the Communists open fire on the expedition, Brock uses half the explosives to blow them up. Later, surrounded by Communists, Goldie steps on a spike protruding from the jungle floor and must endure the excruciating pain in silence. As Brock bandages Goldie's foot, Goldie, simmering with resentment against Brock, explains that his wife died because she could not give him a child. Goldie then vows to get Lucky and her son to safety in the States. Pushing on through the jungle, the band finally comes to the China Gate. There, Cham welcomes Lucky, and she reminds him of a time when he hated the brutality of war and the Communists. Cham, thirsting for power at the hands of the Russians, chides her for deserting him for an American and then offers to marry her and adopt her son. To impress Lucky, he shows her the tunnel packed with arsenal. Lucky, appalled, calls it a butcher shop. She then reports the position of the tunnel and its guards to Brock, who confesses that he is still in love with her and is finally ready to accept his son. When Brock asks Lucky to marry him, she replies that they were never divorced. Later, at the tunnel, Lucky distracts the guards with jokes as Brock and the others line the tunnel with fuses. Just as they are ready to detonate, Cham appears and detains Lucky. As Cham proudly announces that he is being sent to Moscow, the phone rings and he learns of Lucky's betrayal. When he coldly informs her that the wires into the tunnel have been cut, thus thwarting the mission, Lucky pushes him off the balcony. She then darts into the tunnel and uses a primer to detonate the explosives, sacrificing herself. In the ensuing hail of gunfire, only Goldie, Caumont and Brock survive. They hijack a plane, taking off just as the entire mountain explodes, but when Caumont, who is piloting the aircraft, passes out and dies from his injuries, the plane careens out of control and crashes into the jungle. Unharmed, Brock and Goldie climb out of the plane. After collecting his wages, Brock claims his son and his puppy, taking the boy by the hand to begin the long journey to America. As they pass, Goldie sings the song "China Gate."
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Post by petrolino on Jan 1, 2019 3:23:34 GMT
China Gate (1957) / Samuel Fuller Seen on YouTube
This completes my Sam Fuller feature films. I've surely seen better Fuller movies than this, but even this one has its moments. The prologue is interesting, given the time that this movie was made. The casting is interesting too.
Thanks for the Sam Fuller reviews, really enjoyed reading them in 2018.
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Post by kijii on Jan 1, 2019 5:06:47 GMT
China Gate (1957) / Samuel Fuller Seen on YouTube
This completes my Sam Fuller feature films. I've surely seen better Fuller movies than this, but even this one has its moments. The prologue is interesting, given the time that this movie was made. The casting is interesting too.
Thanks for the Sam Fuller reviews, really enjoyed reading them in 2018. Thank you Petrolino for all of your great reviews (and threads) this year also. I am almost finished with Martin Ritt reveiws also.
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