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Post by petrolino on Jan 1, 2019 5:09:17 GMT
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 too. Thanks dude.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Jan 1, 2019 7:41:26 GMT
THE WILD GEESE 1978 -- Refreshingly non-Hollywood action film coming at a time when most UK film production had ceased. In rewatching it I wondered how the Coetzee-Limbani characters would seem now (given the current situation in South Africa) but in fact they avoided falling into a pit of being too progressive or insulting the audiences intelligence. Hardy Kruger is quoted as saying his performance was butchered, that he was supposed to be a "dumb Boer" who finds enlightenment but the judicial editing he complained about probably saved his character and Winston Ntshona's from being dated with too much on the nose politics. Likewise, the homosexual medic Witty is one of the more memorable characters. "My, just look at you big bastards. What a bloody shame we can't be friends." Appropriately, it takes place around Christmas.
Thanks to all who enjoyed my film euan-617 November 2004 It is not often a producer has the chance to thank his critics in this form. I do so now. The blood-sweat and tears that went into the making of THE WILD GEESE is all forgotten. Appreciation of one's endeavors of some 25 years ago, thanks to DVD, is gratefully received. The Zone 1 version is yet to appear, the lateness due to sloppy distribution. To answer questions about the film's very limited theatrical release in the United States and Canada in 1978, this was due solely to the financial collapse of its distributor, Allied Artists. Chapter II was applied and, to my disgust, it failed to reach many theaters. However, the NBC Network and HBO aired the movie with great success. Euan Lloyd.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jan 1, 2019 16:57:56 GMT
2019 began like a ball of buttuh with my first viewing of Funny Girl (1968)! Being the film weirdo that I am, I am currently following it up with the sequel, Funny Lady (1975).
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Post by kijii on Jan 2, 2019 7:10:55 GMT
The Savage Innocents (1960) / Nicholas Ray Rented from Amazon PrimeThis is an interesting, educational, and entertaining movie about an Eskimo, Inuk (Anthony Quinn), and his family. When Inuk goes to a white man's trading post to trade his fox furs for a gun, he accidentally kills a missionary by smashing his head into a wall (an act that he has done before to another Eskimo, without any harm.) After being pursued by the police, he is exposed to the white man's laws which are vastly different than his own. After being apprehended by the police, they are exposed to his world of natural survival to the elements. What we have he is failure to communicate..... First Trooper (Peter O'Toole): Inuk. listen. No judge in the world will understand you offering another man your wife. Inuk (Anthony Quinn) : But it is our custom, we must be polite. White men don't borrow other men's wives? First Trooper : Never mind that. You don't lend your wife as if she were a sled. Inuk : Oh ho ho, someone would rather lend his wife than his sled. You lend your sled, it comes back cracked. You lend your knife, it comes back dull. You lend your dogs, they come back tired and crawling. But if you love your wife, no matter how often you lend her, she always comes back like new. Inuk : Man, man, you don't understand?First Trooper: I understand. But the other men live by the book, and there you are a murderer Inuk : But we must make them understand, otherwise Papik, Asiak and me cannot go into other men's igloos, that is OUR law. Inuk : We change the book, huh?[to Asiak as he prepares to go out] Inuk : You bring the food [Exits] First Trooper : [to Asiak] They'll never understand. Asiak (Yôko Tani) : [as she exits the doorway of igloo] When you come to a strange land, you should bring your wives, and not your laws. Full synopsis from TCM with SPOILERS: Inuk, an Eskimo hunter, hoping to marry, inquires of his friend Anarwick when his aged sister Powtee will arrive with her two unmarried daughters, Imina and Asiak. Anarwick offers to allow Inuk to "laugh with," or bed, his wife Lulik, a common Eskimo custom, but Inuk refuses out of pride. Insulted, Anarwick attacks Inuk, who responds in typical Eskimo fashion, by knocking his friend's head against the wall of his igloo. Soon after, the two reconcile, and Anarwick announces that the women have arrived. Close behind is Kiddok, a rival hunter whose preference for Imina arouses Inuk to demand Imina over her sister. As soon as Kiddok agrees, however, Inuk changes his mind and chooses Asiak, who then insists that he pursue her as he did her sister. Soon, the newly "married" couple leaves by dogsled with Powtee and proceed to hunt a bear. They leave the bear seal meat with a coiled whalebone inside as bait, then track it over several days until the bone causes such intestinal discomfort that Inuk can attack it. Just as he is about the spear the bear, however, another hunter shoots it down. Although Asiak and Inuk are terrified of the unfamiliar weapon, Inuk is fascinated with its power. Back at the other man's igloo, he explains that, at the white man's trading post, he traded one hundred fox furs for the gun. Inuk determines to do the same, and for the rest of the summer hunts only foxes, despite the need to gather winter provisions for his new family. They reach the post, where the white proprietor's rules to "civilize" the native population include prohibitions against nudity and sleeping with or trading wives. Inuk and Asiak's provincial ways are mocked, and he successfully acquires a rifle, but must hunt for more furs to obtain bullets. That night, after Inuk drinks his first alcoholic beverage, Asiak pleads with him to leave the "crazy man's home," and when Inuk ignores her, she proudly offers herself to another man. At the last moment, however, Inuk intervenes and packs the sled, unaware that Asiak has given away his rifle. They move into a nearby igloo, where one day a missionary comes to convert them to Christianity. Inuk, completely misunderstanding his intentions and vocabulary, offers the guest first his best meat, which is crawling with bugs, and then his wife. The missionary insults Inuk with his disgusted response, and when Inuk knocks his head against the wall, the frail man dies instantly. Inuk and Asiak, fearful of the white man's soul, flee after fulfilling their people's custom of cutting off the dead man's fingers and placing them in his mouth. After many months, an ailing Powtee discerns that Asiak is pregnant, and asks to be allowed to die in peace on the ice. Although Asiak is sorrowful, Eskimo conventions demand that anyone who cannot contribute must be sacrificed, so she bids her mother goodbye. Somewhat later, Asiak goes into labor, and to divert Inuk, asks him to hunt musk ox for her. After digging a hole in the floor, Asiak gives birth to a healthy boy and, after licking him clean, names him Papik. When Inuk returns, he is thrilled, until he notices that the boy has no teeth. The two adults blame each other for their bad luck, but eventually realize that he will grow teeth later. Meanwhile, two Canadian troopers are hunting Inuk for the missionary's murder, but are delayed another year when their helicopter breaks down. The next spring, Inuk is demonstrating hunting tactics to Papik when the troopers arrest him, despite his confusion over the white man's laws, which unlike his do not allow for accidental manslaughter. They roughly bind him and place him on their dogsled, and upon encountering a storm, the troopers refuse to allow Inuk to lead the sled. The inexperienced mushers soon drive the sled onto thin ice, and one trooper falls through the ice, freezing to death. The other, whom Inuk calls "Man," refuses to allow Inuk to leave, even though Man's hands are freezing and he is weak. Inuk considers leaving him behind to die, but then cuts open one of the dogs and shows Man how to warm his hands inside the still-warm body. As the two continue on, the challenges of the Arctic landscape require Inuk to care for Man and save his life again and again. Finally, he reaches his igloo, where Asiak greets him joyfully. As Man recovers from his trip, he insists that Inuk remain his prisoner and that he must bring him back to the camp to stand trial. He tries to explain to the couple that Inuk will be considered guilty of murder until he is tried, but Inuk and Asiak are still confused, and Inuk insists that they can change the white men's minds by explaining the circumstances of the death. To that end, they sled back toward the camp, but once outside, the grateful Man announces that he will go in alone and lie that he has killed Inuk, so the couple can escape. When Inuk refuses, Man deliberately insults him, knowing this is the only way to drive him away. Perplexed but enduringly good-natured, Inuk and Asiak return home with Papik.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jan 2, 2019 17:43:10 GMT
Maybe it's because I'm Canadian or whatever, but I loved Goon (2011) and having just seen the sequel, Goon: Last of the Enforcers (2017), I now love it too. Very crazy humor mixed with some emotional drama and lots of hockey/fighting. A good time, eh?
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Jan 2, 2019 23:55:30 GMT
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Post by kijii on Jan 3, 2019 7:10:37 GMT
Bitter Victory (1957) / Nicholas Ray Rented from Amazon Prime
Based on a novel by René Hardy, this story is set in a Libyan British commando base during WW II. The General, General Paterson (Anthony Bushell), at the base is given an assignment to raid a German base near Benghazi, steal some of Rommel's documents and bring them back for information about German plans.
As General at the base, Paterson endeavors to find who can best carry out the mission, he interviews two of his men: Major Brand (Curd Jürgens) who is basically a paper pusher who would like military advancement and speaks German, but not Arabic and Captain Leith (Richard Burton) who speaks Arabic but no German. The two officers--given somewhat equal command over the mission--could not be more different. Leith is a volunteer who had spent two years in Libya as an archaeologist--and he is "from money" as the General observes their differences. Brand plays "by the book" and is a true soldier: Leith is laconic and somewhat bitter. We also learn that Leith had been in love with Brand's wife, Jane Brand (Ruth Roman), before they were married....which presents us with an underlying love triangle throughout the movie.
Jane Brand (Ruth Roman): What if he doesn't come back? Capt. Leith (Richard Burton) : Then he and I and you become part of history, of its futility. Jane Brand : Don't talk to me in riddles, Jimmy. Capt. Leith : It's a long time since I was in Libya. The Romans built wonderful cities in Libya: dead bones sticking out of the sand. War rolled over them. It'll be good to see them again. Jane Brand : You always seemed to prefer stones to people. Capt. Leith : I've learned things from stones. Jane Brand : What? Capt. Leith : All that people have forgotten in the centuries. Jane Brand : I seem to remember I was less than a stone to you. I loved you, Jimmy. Capt. Leith : We'd better go in. There isn't much time. Jane Brand : What can I say to him? Capt. Leith : Tell him all the things that women have said to the men before they go to the wars. Tell him he's a hero. Tell him he's a good man. Tell him you'll be waiting for him when he comes back. Tell him he'll be making history.
The mission is carried out with few problems--Private Wilkins (Nigel Green) plays the safe breaker who assists in breaking into the German safe one inside the German compound. But, the overall mission is fraught with problems, leading to some deaths among the British raiding commandos. These problems give us an even clearer picture of the differences between Captain Leith and Major Brand. These differences make a somewhat boring story into a more interesting anti-war drama:
Major Brand (Curd Jürgens): War is not murder. Capt. Leith (Richard Burton) : [chuckling condescendingly] Brand, you're wonderful! You have the Christian decency that forbids killing a dying man but ignores the work of a sharpshooter. Major Brand : [defensively] Well, war is killing. Capt. Leith : [laughing] Better and better. So, the fine line between war and murder is distane... Anybody can kill at a distance with the same sort of courage that a man shoots rabbits, but when it cokes to the dirty work. you have to call on a civilian. Major Brand: What is it that you're trying to say? Capt. Leith: That I despise you for the professional coward that you are!
Still, on the other hand, I agree with most of Spikeopath14's comments: Here is a Wikpedia Plot summary with SPOILIERS: [From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Victory]During the Western Desert Campaign of World War II, two Allied officers in Egypt are interviewed to lead a dangerous commando mission far behind enemy lines in Benghazi. Major David Brand, a South African, is a regular army officer but lacks experience of combat and of commanding men in the field. He does not speak Arabic and has only a limited knowledge of the area in Libya in which the patrol is to operate. Captain Jimmy Leith, a Welshman, is the opposite; an amateur volunteer with extensive knowledge of the area who knows a local guide and speaks fluent Arabic as well. It is decided that both officers will go, with Major Brand in command. The men see Brand as a disciplinarian - "the only thing he's slept with is the rule book".
Major Brand's wife Jane is a WRAF Flight Officer who enlisted to be near her husband. When Brand invites Leith to drinks with his wife, he picks up the fact that the two had previously had an affair before she married Brand. Leith had walked out on her without explanation.
The unit parachutes behind enemy lines with the mission of attacking a German headquarters and bringing back secret plans from a safe to be opened by Wilkins, an experienced safecracker. Dressed as local civilians, Brand's hand shakes with fright when he has to knife a German sentry; the deed is done by Leith.
The mission is completed successfully with only one death and one man wounded of the British soldiers. The patrol ambushes a German detachment, capturing Oberst Lutze, who Brand knows was responsible for the secret information. Possibly in the hope of getting rid of Leith, Brand leaves him alone with two seriously wounded men, one British, one German. Leith decides to put them out of their pain. He shoots the German, who pleads for his life. The Briton encourages Leith to act quickly, and get it over with. Leith puts his pistol to the soldier's head and fires, but there are no bullets left. Rather than reloading, Leith picks the man up, and sets out to carry him to safety. The ironic use of music here, a heroic march, is unusually powerful. The man cries out in agony and curses Leith's failure, but dies before Leith puts him down again. Leith, whose Arab friend has joined him, then catches up with the rest of the unit.
The patrol is supposed to escape on camels, but they discover the men left with them have been murdered and the camels taken. During the long march back across the desert, Brand's animosity towards Leith grows, not only due to the affair with his wife, but to Brand's fear that Leith will reveal him as a coward to headquarters and destroy his career. While the group are resting, Brand sees a scorpion climb up the leg of Leith's trousers but does not warn him in time. When Leith is stung, Brand refrains from shooting him as his orders permit and lets him die in pain during a sandstorm. The men believe he killed him.
A patrol eventually picks up the group and takes them back to HQ. Brand's wife is distraught to learn of Leith's death, and when Brand is immediately awarded the Distinguished Service Order, instead of congratulating him, she walks off disconsolate. In the closing shot Brand ruefully pins the medal on a stuffed dummy.
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Post by telegonus on Jan 3, 2019 8:01:59 GMT
The Lodger (1944). A great favorite of mine. Lots of atmosphere.
That's a dark one, isn't it? So different from what Universal and Columbia were doing back then. Of the genteel horrors,--if The Lodger can be called genteel, and I think it is for what it is--only the MGM-Lewin production of The Picture Of Dorian Gray matches it. Of The Lodger's follow-up, so to speak, and also directed by John Brahm and featuring Cregar and Sanders in the cast, Hangover Square, it feels less like a horror to me than something else. One TV critic described it as a "florid melodrama", and I'm inclined to agree.
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Post by telegonus on Jan 3, 2019 8:10:38 GMT
Great film, Jezebel: a sweeping romance, a critique of the culture of the ante-bellum South. The performances are all good, with Miss Davis emerging triumphant. I've always liked the closing scenes in New Orleans, as the movie turns Gothic and downright morbid. A first time viewer might not see this coming, and when it does come it's like a kick in the gut.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Jan 4, 2019 7:34:55 GMT
SINFUL DAVEY 1969 -Overlooked John Huston film isn't quite as fun as ROYAL FLASH but I am not fussy with these movie relics, especially given the cast. I needed to add Robert Morley to my favorite character actors list since he is always amusing. I read John Huston wanted his daughter for Pamela Franklin's role. W....T.....F.......? That would have been one of the most painfully obvious bits of nepotism and horrendously bad casting. Fortunately saner heads prevailed and Huston could save her for Prizzi's Honor.
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Post by nostromo on Jan 4, 2019 9:51:52 GMT
'Life Itself' (2018) For the first 15 minutes of this film I was a little puzzled at why some critics had absolutely panned it. Then I watched the rest of it. It's particularly cliched, holier than thou, self indulgent and narcissistic. It's almost as if the film thinks it's going to win a host of awards for being so poignant, profound and memorable. Trouble is, it's not any of those things. It just comes across as 2 hours of arrogance. There are some nice sequences, some semi-decent performances, and Laia Costa is as beautiful as ever. But it tries so hard to make the audience cry / think / reminisce etc etc etc, that it rather disappears up it's own cinematic orifice. It will probably win 347 Academy awards. 4/10
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Post by louise on Jan 4, 2019 17:02:55 GMT
The Favourite. Very peculiar historical drama about Queen Anne. Wildly inaccurate historically, also I found it quite revolting apart from that.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Jan 5, 2019 0:24:21 GMT
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Post by kijii on Jan 5, 2019 16:47:29 GMT
The Lusty Men (1952) / Nicholas Ray Rented from Amazon Prime
Even though this movie has four "Oscared actors" in it, it really doesn't give one much to hold on to, or get interested in.
First, "this isn't my first rodeo." I had two uncles who were pretty regular, and routine, rodeo contestants so my childhood was made up of a plethora of rodeos and I got use to watching the five main events of a rodeo.
Second, there was little tension between the men in the movie, let alone "lustiness." Competition, yes; lustiness, no. In fact, there is barely enough tension to deserve a movie here, with all the men behaving fairly cooperative and supportive of each other. Jeff McCloud (Robert Mitchum) does go on the rodeo circuit with Wes Merritt (Arthur Kennedy) and his wife, Louise (Susan Hayward). The Merritts are trying to raise enough money to buy a ranch by rodeoin'. Mitchum takes a cut of the winnings (as agreed upon), but never tries to make a play for Hayward.
Booker Davis (Arthur Hunnicutt) has a few comic lines in the movie. He is a broken down has-been rodeo cowboy who travels the rodeo circuit with his young teenage daughter, Rusty (Carol Nugent). They seem to have a few comic routines:
Rusty Davis (Carol Nugent): [Meeting Wes for the first time] You're new, ain't ya'? Wes Merritt : Yeah. Rusty Davis : Got two bits? Wes Merritt : Sure. Rusty Davis : Gimme'. Rusty Davis : [Takes his money, then turns to Booker] Okay, let him have a look. Booker Davis (Arthur Hunnicutt): [Pulls up his pant leg, revealing his scarred and mangled right leg] You ever see anything like that before? Wes Merritt : [Slightly shocked] Sure is the worst lookin' leg *I've* ever seen. Booker Davis : Twenty years rodeoin' done that. Leg busted nine times, kneecap five, and the ankle four. Jeff McCloud : Booker's got just about the most busted leg in the world. Booker Davis : Nobody'll ever beat it unless they jump off one of them New York skyscrapers.
Wes Merritt (Arthur Kennedy): A fella's bankroll could get fat in a hurry, rodeoin'. Jeff McCloud (Robert Mitchum) : Bahh... Chicken today, feathers tomorrow. Wes Merritt : Not if he played it smart when he had the chicken.
Louise Merritt (Susan Hayward): Wes tells me you once made three thousand dollars in one day, rodeoin'. Jeff McCloud : That's right. Louise Merritt : And threw it all away. Jeff McCloud : Oh, I didn't throw it away. It just sorta'... floated. Louise Merritt : That's pretty stupid, breakin' all your bones, then lettin' the money go.
Full synopsis from TCM with SPOILERS: After being roughed up by a Brahma bull, veteran rodeo champion Jeff McCloud retires from the circuit and returns to his childhood home in Texas. Jeff is surprised to discover that his parents' rundown ranch is now owned by the aging Jeremiah Watrus, who indulges Jeff as he reminisces about his youth. Before Jeff leaves Jeremiah's, a young couple, Louise and Wes Merritt, who are interested in buying the place, drive up. When Wes, a ranchhand for a neighboring outfit, hears Jeff's name, he excitedly introduces himself and later helps the penniless cowboy secure a job with his boss. That evening, while dining at the Merritts', Jeff talks about his successful career in rodeo and his reckless way with women and money. Louise, a former waitress, criticizes Jeff's limited ambitions and proudly states that she and Wes have saved $1,100 toward the $5,000 purchase price on Jeremiah's ranch. Later, Wes reveals to Jeff his plan to earn easy money on the rodeo circuit and persuades Jeff to help him train. When Louise discovers that Wes has used $125 of their savings to enter the San Angelo, Texas, rodeo, she explodes in anger, denouncing the sport as too dangerous. Despite Louise's protests, Wes competes at San Angelo and, with Jeff's backing, wins an impressive $410. Flush with victory, Wes then informs Louise that he has quit his ranch job and is joining the rodeo circuit, with Jeff as his coach. Sure that Jeff, who is to get half of Wes's winnings, is behind the scheme, Louise confronts him and calls him a "saddle tramp." Jeff is nonplussed by Louise's insults, pointing out that she, too, "latched onto" Wes to better her life. Unable to dissuade Wes, Louise decides to accompany him, and the three set out the next morning. Upon arriving that night at the rodeo camp in Tucson, Jeff stops a fight instigated by the drunken Buster Burgess, a rodeo performer whose recent goring by a bull has scarred him physically and mentally. Jeff then reunites with his old friends, Booker Davis and his teenage daughter Rusty. The next day, Buster's long-suffering wife Grace befriends Louise, as does trick rider Rosemary Maddox, Jeff's old flame. After Rosemary warns Louise about Jeff's womanizing ways, Jeff flirts with Louise in the shower stall of Rosemary's trailer, but is rebuffed. At the rodeo, Wes enters five events, including bull riding, a stunt he has never before attempted. Louise is terrified when she hears Wes's name announced for the bull riding, but Wes stuns the crowd by winning the event. Later, Wes, Louise and Jeff celebrate at a rodeo-sponsored party, where Wes's success attracts the attention of the seductive, young Babs. Spotting Babs flirting with Wes, Louise kicks her would-be rival in the rear end. Grace then arrives at the party and, distraught because Buster again was gored by a bull, starts ranting about the cruel nature of rodeo. The next morning, an apologetic Grace declares that she and Buster are quitting the circuit and sells her trailer to Wes. Over the next several months, Wes competes successfully in a series of rodeos, quickly building up his savings. Upon reaching the Annual Pendleton Roundup in Oregon, Louise reveals to Jeff that Jeremiah has agreed to sell his ranch for $4,100, the amount she and Wes have saved. When Louise tells Wes the news, he refuses to give up rodeo for the boring life of a rancher and storms off to a party hosted by Babs. Although angry, Louise dons her most alluring dress and, with an admiring Jeff in tow, heads for Babs's. There, she brawls with her rival in front of a drunken Wes and is thrown out. In the hallway outside Babs's apartment, Jeff comforts Louise and admits that he has loved her from the beginning. After Louise gently rejects Jeff, she begs him to do what he can to save Wes. Wes then sees them together and, jealous, calls Jeff a coward for not competing. Jeff slugs Wes, and the next day, enters all the events in the rodeo. Although Jeff amazes the crowd with his enduring skills, he slips off his saddle during the bucking bronco ride and punctures his lung. As Rusty watches tearfully, Jeff dies in Louise's arms. Later, stunned by his mentor's death, Wes announces that he is returning to Texas with Louise. Wes then offers Booker and Rusty jobs on his new ranch, and they happily accept.
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Jan 5, 2019 21:32:58 GMT
Code of Silence (1985). Directed by Andrew Davis, with Chuck Norris, Henry Silva, Dennis Farina, et al. DVR’d from recent MGM HD telecast. First-time viewing for me.
Good (and good-looking in HD) mid-80s actioner featuring Chuck Norris as Eddie Cusack, a Chicago police sergeant in the middle of a gang war between rival drug lords. A side story involves a fellow police officer who recklessly shoots an unarmed bystander in a drug raid gone bad, then nonchalantly tries to cover it up to avoid repercussions.
Has a number of good action scenes in and around Chicago, although there is surprisingly little in the way of martial arts: in this one, Norris relies on handguns and shotguns more than his fists and feet. One thing I couldn’t help noticing was the number of times Norris and some of the other characters went to make important phone calls, relying either on pay phones or landline phones. Cell phones just hadn’t arrived on the scene yet.
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Post by kijii on Jan 6, 2019 2:51:17 GMT
The Favourite. Very peculiar historical drama about Queen Anne. Wildly inaccurate historically. I also found the images to be too dark...therefore making the movie less enjoyable that it overwise might be. Perhaps this was what palaces and courts looked like during the late Stuart period, but it was hard to see who was doing what to whom.
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Post by kijii on Jan 6, 2019 6:44:08 GMT
Thunder on the Hill (1951) / Douglas Sirk DVD from TCM boxed set Doulas Sirk-Filmmaker Collection
Based on Charlotte Hastings' play, Bonaventure, this who-done-it murder mystery was Sirk's first A movie with Universal. It is hard to follow on first viewing since there are so many characters that come and go in the story. However, the complete movie takes place at a convent hospital near Norwich in England during a massive flood. It is the flood that brings all the characters together in one location; holds them there long enough for the plot to build up; and then, finally uncovers the real murderer.
The lead character of the story is a nun at the convent hospital, Sister Mary Bonaventure (Claudette Colbert). As Valerie Carns (Ann Blyth) is traveling to her execution for the murder of her brother, she (and her jailers) are stalled at the convent, due to the flood. While there, Sister Mary becomes convinced that Valerie Carns is not the murderer and slowly uncovers all of the leads that brings the movie to its exciting climax. Gladys Cooper is great as the Mother Superior at the convent, as is Connie Gilchrist who plays the cook, Sister Josephine. (If you have ever seen A Letter to Three Wives (1949), you will instantly recognize Connie Gilchrist from her role there as Linda Darnell's mother). Sister Josephine's collection of old newspaper clippings is more-than-a-little help in uncovering the real murderer. Full synopsis from TCM with SPOILERS: As rains flood Norfolk County, England, Sister Mary Bonaventure is busy running the hospital ward at the Our Lady of Rheims Convent with unfailing correctness. When Nurse Phillips rebels against Mary's exactitude, the nun berates herself for being inflexible and reveals to the Mother Superior that she has not felt peace since she discouraged her sister from marrying a corrupt man, and her sister committed suicide. Soon after, the roads are washed out, and police Sergeant Melling is forced to sequester convicted murderess Valerie Carns and her guard, Pierce, in the convent until they can reach the prison to carry out Valerie's death sentence. The townspeople have also crowded into the convent seeking shelter, and although they protest Valerie's presence, Mary tries to comfort the desperate young woman. Valerie slowly warms to Mary and informs her that she is innocent of poisoning her brother, the ailing pianist Jason Carns. The head of the hospital, however, Dr. Edward Jeffreys, informs Mary of the facts of the case: he was Jason's physician while Valerie was caring for her brother, and heard her state that she wished Jason was dead. At the trial, his testimony and other circumstantial evidence suggested that Valerie had administered a fatal overdose of her brother's medicine on the day he died. Mary, who understands feeling guilt and dismay over a loved one's death, feels drawn to Valerie and believes in her innocence. That night, Mary researches the trial with the help of her friend, Sister Josephine. They leave a photograph of Jason on a table, and when Jeffreys discovers his ill, distraught wife Isabel staring at the picture, he rips it up and gives her a sedative, warning her not get involved. Valerie later begs Mary to bring her fiancé, Sidney Kingham, to the convent. The Carnses' faithful half-wit servant, Willie, finds a rowboat to transport Mary to Sidney's town, and she goes even though she knows it is forbidden for her to help Valerie. Along the way, Willie reveals that Jason was a sadist, and that Willie stole one of his letters to punish him for mistreating Valerie. When they find Sidney, Mary convinces him to believe in his girl friend's innocence and delivers him to the convent, where he embraces Valerie passionately. The next morning, Melling discovers that Willie has destroyed the rowboat so Valerie cannot be taken to the prison, and presses charges against Mary for not stopping him. Against the Mother Superior's orders, she gives Willie's stolen letter to Valerie, and although it is clearly a love letter from a married woman to Jason, Valerie cannot guess who the writer might be. After an unknown assailant strikes Willie over the head that evening, the Mother Superior finds and burns the letter, stating that Mary's stubbornness is only hurting others. In the next room, Isabel asks Jeffreys if he retrieved her letter, and he tells her that if she keeps talking about her "dreams" he will have her committed. The phone wires are fixed, and Sidney, realizing that Valerie will soon be brought to the prison, begs Mary to help them. She at first refuses, but when Josephine brings more press clippings about the trial, they notice that the pharmacist, Abel Harmer, was inconsistent in his testimony. Jeffreys eavesdrops as they go to Harmer, who quickly realizes that someone tampered with the key to the medicine cabinet on the night of the murder. As she passes Isabel's room, Mary, hearing Isabel protest that Jeffreys is oversedating her, confronts her. Isabel weakly reveals that she was Jason's lover and that the older man was going to help her escape her husband when Jeffreys discovered the affair and killed Jason, then pinned the murder on Valerie. Mary tries to drag Isabel to Melling, but Jeffreys intercepts them and tricks Mary into accompanying him to the bell tower. There, he tells Mary he would do anything to keep Isabel's love. Jeffreys then attacks Mary, who rings the bell, alerting Sidney. Sidney rushes to her rescue and the two men fight until Sidney overpowers the doctor. As Jeffreys is arrested, Valerie and Sidney kiss, and Mary explains to the Mother Superior that she knows now that God chose his servants to help mankind.
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Post by petrolino on Jan 6, 2019 6:50:41 GMT
Thunder on the Hill (1951) / Douglas Sirk DVD from TCM boxed set Doulas Sirk-Filmmaker Collection
Based on Charlotte Hastings' play, Bonaventure, this who-done-it murder mystery was Sirk's first A movie with Universal. It is hard to follow the first time since there are so many characters that come and go in the story. The complete movie takes place at a convent hospital near Norwich in England during a massive flood. It is the flood that brings all the characters together in one location; holds them there long enough for the plot to build up; and finally uncovers the real murderer.
The lead character of the story is a nun at the convent hospital, Sister Mary Bonaventure (Claudette Colbert). As Valerie Carns (Ann Blyth) is traveling to her execution for the murder of her brother, she (and her jailers) are stalled at the convent, due to the flood. While there, Sister Mary becomes convinced that Valerie Carns is not the murderer and slowly uncovers all of the leads that brings the movie to its climax. Gladys Cooper is great as the Mother Superior at the convent, as is Connie Gilchrist who plays the cook, Sister Josephine. Sister Josephine's collection of old newspaper clippings is more than a little help in uncovering the real murderer.
Hi kijii. Not seen this one, but I do have a Douglas Sirk box-set. He and Mark Robson are the melodramatic bees knees to me, Id like to add this bad boy to my target list. Thanks!
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jan 6, 2019 16:12:12 GMT
Those three in a movie together? I NEED this in my life!
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jan 6, 2019 16:19:48 GMT
Watched One Way Passage (1932) and its remake 'Til We Meet Again (1940) back-to-back. Both very similar, except the remake is about 30 minutes longer. Frank McHugh plays the same drunken con man in both.
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