I Just Watched...

[Hibi]

DELETE

[txfilmfan]

Back to Perry Mason. Bette was on last night pinch hitting for Perry defending Michael Parks. (Does anyone know what his operation was about when he was out of the show for awhile? It's not a very good episode (I'd seen it before). It must've been shot around the time of Dead Ringer as she's wearing the same styled wig as she wore in that film.

It's like that old Tootsie Pop commercial: "The world may never know." Burr, who famously fudged his personal life details for decades, never really explained it. Burr supposedly said afterwards in a talk show that he had a non-serious physical condition that prohibited him from being able to stand or move comfortably. Clears things up...

Media at the time said it was some kind of intestinal surgery. Some stated it was for polyp removal. Whether it was cancerous or not is up for debate, as sources at the time said both. Other sources said he was in for dental surgery.

Bette Davis on a TV show is somewhat jarring, to me. Last night on MeTV, I caught the last 5 minutes of an Alfred Hitchcock episode that she was in. Never knew she did that show. When the credits rolled, the director of that episode was Paul Henreid! Never knew he directed any TV shows, but in looking it up this morning I see he has numerous TV directing credits on ImDB (including 28 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents) .

Do you think he lit a cigarette for her on set?

Maybe off set! (Lighting up). LOL. I've seen that Hitchcock episode several times. Bette is good in that. She seemed somewhat less effective in Perry Mason. Maybe it was the script, but I just didn't buy her as a lawyer. That clears things up about Burr. NOT! Never read anything about what the medical problem was about. Guess it wasn't serious as he lived on through 2 more tv series......

Actually Bette did a good number of guest spots on tv. She was in a couple of Wagon Trains and a Gunsmoke that I remember seeing.

She even had a sitcom pilot in the mid-60s! Hard to imagine seeing Bette weekly in a sitcom.

[kingrat]

Au hasard Balthazar (1966).

Parallel stories of donkey and French village girl each suffering unrelenting cases of "sh!t happens".

This is one of those movies where I wonder what the critics who select the films for lists like the Sight and Sound all-time lists are smoking. It's not a bad movie; it certainly has excellent black-and-white cinematography and very effectively gets its point about suffering across. But one of the top 20 films of all time? (Wikipedia says it was #16 in the 2012 poll; I haven't looked up later editions to see where it's ranked now.) Really?

I couldn't agree more. It's not even close to being Bresson's best film. A Man Escaped is the place to start; you might even (don 't tell anyone) enjoy this film. Diary of a Country Priest is good. Back before Bresson got "more downbeat Catholic than thou," he made a very entertaining drama called Les Dames de Bois de Boulogne.

As for Balthazar, nothing could be easier than to stack the cards to show that people are evil, the innocent suffer, etc. When the donkey is the best-looking and most intelligent character in the film, you know you are in trouble.

[kingrat]

One of the other fun things about THE MIND READER (1933) was that many of the women's costumes featured one of the more curious fashion trends of the time, which was to have TWO ENTIRE MINKS WITH HEADS and GLASS-EYES AND CLAWS ATTACHED, sort of lashed together and wrapped about the body- giving off the effect that whoever was wearing it was being rounded by a pair of fighting or mating woodland creatures, and yet for some reason was unbothered by it.

it's WEIRD and I am 100% okay with this trend never coming back.

this was the best image i could find, but i know some of you know what I mean.

I do indeed know what you mean. There is a term for them, but I can't remember it. My mother had one of these, though it certainly wasn't mink, and as a child I thought they were the height of elegance. I called them her "kitty cats."

[Hibi]

It's like that old Tootsie Pop commercial: "The world may never know." Burr, who famously fudged his personal life details for decades, never really explained it. Burr supposedly said afterwards in a talk show that he had a non-serious physical condition that prohibited him from being able to stand or move comfortably. Clears things up...

Media at the time said it was some kind of intestinal surgery. Some stated it was for polyp removal. Whether it was cancerous or not is up for debate, as sources at the time said both. Other sources said he was in for dental surgery.

Bette Davis on a TV show is somewhat jarring, to me. Last night on MeTV, I caught the last 5 minutes of an Alfred Hitchcock episode that she was in. Never knew she did that show. When the credits rolled, the director of that episode was Paul Henreid! Never knew he directed any TV shows, but in looking it up this morning I see he has numerous TV directing credits on ImDB (including 28 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents) .

Do you think he lit a cigarette for her on set?

Maybe off set! (Lighting up). LOL. I've seen that Hitchcock episode several times. Bette is good in that. She seemed somewhat less effective in Perry Mason. Maybe it was the script, but I just didn't buy her as a lawyer. That clears things up about Burr. NOT! Never read anything about what the medical problem was about. Guess it wasn't serious as he lived on through 2 more tv series......

Actually Bette did a good number of guest spots on tv. She was in a couple of Wagon Trains and a Gunsmoke that I remember seeing.

She even had a sitcom pilot in the mid-60s! Hard to imagine seeing Bette weekly in a sitcom.

YES. She filmed a lot of pilots but nothing ever sold (I've never seen any of them). I don't think Bette would've been happy in a weekly series and would've become disgruntled quite quickly. I'm not sure Perry Mason was one, probably done when Perry was "out" recuperating from whatever...

[kingrat]

I never get tired of A FACE IN THE CROWD (which is a good thing since they air it so much, lol) so decided to dive in again.

Now, some of you might know that my recent great will power (not when it comes to Lay's Dill Pickle potato chips) concerning maintaining a calm attitude towards a certain main host's intros and outros was, shall I say, sorely tested the other night while this individual was chatting with their guest programmer about the prescient nature of the movie. Mr. Main went political, naming three people on a certain side of the aisle, including the current presumptive presidential nominee.

I admittedly fumed for about five minutes, then took deep breaths and went into zen mode. Slowly but surely, all was well again!

I missed this, but saw the outro to Ace in the Hole, where Spike Lee made some intelligent comments about how much he loved the last shot of the film, with Kirk Douglas crashing to the floor right in front of the camera, and how he liked to show this film to his students. I couldn't decide if Lee was a bit stoned, or if this was just part of his manner.

[jimimac71]

Lonesome Rhodes is one of those come-from-nowhere performances that always astound me. I wonder where Andy pulled that darkness from? Great acting. I can understand your feelings, jimimac, about NTFS but I do think AFITC is one of Kazan's best. One never expects to see Walter Matthau as "Vanderbilt '44" but he does a credible job, albeit helped along by the "intellectual" props of pipe and glasses, lol. Patricia Neal is terrific. Her anguished groan after seeing Lonesome descend from the plane with a certain someone is unforgettable.

NTFS? Is this a MS Windows forum? As Dargo would say, I couldn't resist.
Chances are I'm really a Ben Matlock fan versus an Andy Griffith fan, if that makes sense. The Andy Griffith Show is only okay. Glad it is just 30 minutes.

[CinemaInternational]

A note about a film recently seen:

W.C. Fields and Me (1976) -- Middling saga of the life and times of the misanthropic comic (played very well by Rod Steiger) as seen from the vantage point of his long time mistress (Valerie Perrine). Steiger's performance is far and away the best reason to watch this as it is an uncanny impersonation. Otherwise the film is decent, and certainly looks good, but doesn't have the most momentum....


Assorted notes on recent posts...


The Mind Reader sounds fascinating, Lorna, so I thank you for writing about it. But your little writeups brought back some memories for me. 1) I once was harassed by some troll on the IMDb boards and called him "the living equivalent of VD". Not my finest moment, and I regret what I said now, because its too nasty. This would have been in 2016. 2) The fate of Mayo's character reminded me of Rosalind Shays 3) It's similar to Nightmare Alley? I'll have to take a look then. That 1947 film is so creepy, and its 2021 remake is one of the few really good films of the decade so far. 4) The furs with eyes are creepy. My parents used to go to an antique store that had a fox fur that had the glassy eyes still on it. Nobody ever bought it.....

Fedya, I agree, Au hasard Balthazar is a good film, but not among the top 20 of all time. And it is such a sad story. Movie critics these days seem to value heaviness above all else.... That Sight and Sound critics list is topped by Jeanne Dielman, a 1975 anti-film that runs 200 minutes in which a prostitute kills a client at the very end....after most of the film consisted of her doing housework like peeling potatoes and doing dishes with little to no dialogue. Imagine, a film mostly dealing with chores in dry documentary fashion now being called the best film of all time. It boogles the mind.

Portnoy's Complaint was so infamous as a book, even before the movie (again, I haven't seen it). The movie shocked some because it wasn't rated X. It probably should have been if it lived up to the book's frankness. Lee Grant's character was a gorgon on the page, so not a surprise that the treatment was grotesque onscreen. The film also led in part to a big scandal because Daryl Zanuck refused to let Fox make the film, even though his son had spent half a million on the rights. Zanuck Jr. then took it to Warners. Its ironic because Fox had put out Myra Breckinridge and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls within two months.

Yes, Karen Black is terrifying at the end of Burnt Offerings. The whole end of that film is truly messed up.

I have come to expect political comments practically everywhere, and whether I agree with a comment or not, I find them grating. I'll admit, a little of Ben M. Goes a long way, no matter what he is talking about. I sometimes wish that Alicia Malone or Eddie Muller took over his hosting duties, so he could just work behind the scenes.

[HoldenIsHere]

DJT, Lonesome Rhodes with a degree from Wharton.

Yes, a less articulate Lonesome Rhodes with the physical presence of Jabba The Hut.

[jimimac71]

About the hosts:
Talk, both good and bad, have been in place for ages.
People at the TCM forum would give me more than a bad time.
I like Eddie, except I don't watch Noir Alley.
Dave is okay. Ben and Alicia, not so much.
Eddie is the only one who gives me the feeling he isn't reading a script. I love his Noir Alley promos.
The short with Ben and Eddie, where Ben is wearing his "everyday" boots, is classic Ben not being humorous for me.
I don't watch Silent Sunday either.
Jacqueline Stewart is both easy on the eyes and ears.
I'm VERY critical about voices.
My hearing makes most TV voices sound gritty and/or serious sinus trouble.
I'm not fond of the lady who does voicing for TCM but the new guy is great.
I could watch and listen to Christiane Amanpour all day long.

[HoldenIsHere]

EVER SINCE they shuttered YE OLDE MESSAGEBOARDS I have had the hardest time watching what used to be one of my favorite genres of film- PRECODES, because I missed our discussions of them (and also I'm STILL mad at TCM.)

that aside, I checked out THE MIND READER (1933)- a curious little precode with WARREN "WOW-E-WOWOW" WILLIAM in a role that I think a lot of other actors could've done better, not that I dislike WARREN WILLIAM- (it's funny, there was someone on ye olde boardes who DESPISED WARREN WILLIAM and referred to him as "a walking venereal disease"- which I have to admit, is A GOLD-STANDARD INSULT....and possibly an apt statement)- but he's just not up to the challenges presented in the second act, also he can't WERK a TURBAN anywhere NEAR as well as BELA LUGOSI.

FRANKLY, he needed a second fitting. (it looks kinda dumpy)

It takes certain man to pull off the turban look.

Warren William is not that man.

[HoldenIsHere]

Jacqueline Stewart is both easy on the eyes and ears.

I also enjoy listening to Jacqueline Stewart

She's a professor in the Cinema and Media Studies department at the University of Chicago.
She's supposed to resume teaching in Winter Quarter 2024,

[CinemaInternational]

Jacqueline Stewart is both easy on the eyes and ears.

I also enjoy listening to Jacqueline Stewart

She's a professor in the Cinema and Media Studies department at the University of Chicago.
She's supposed to resume teaching in Winter Quarter 2024,

I haven't seen too much of Jacqueline Stewart, but she does seem very professional and has a wonderful voice.

[Andree]

Yes, a less articulate Lonesome Rhodes with the physical presence of Jabba The Hut.

I wouldn't trust either one of them, but a fictional character is harmless.

[Dargo]

One of the other fun things about THE MIND READER (1933) was that many of the women's costumes featured one of the more curious fashion trends of the time, which was to have TWO ENTIRE MINKS WITH HEADS and GLASS-EYES AND CLAWS ATTACHED, sort of lashed together and wrapped about the body- giving off the effect that whoever was wearing it was being rounded by a pair of fighting or mating woodland creatures, and yet for some reason was unbothered by it.

it's WEIRD and I am 100% okay with this trend never coming back.

this was the best image i could find, but i know some of you know what I mean.

I do indeed know what you mean. There is a term for them, but I can't remember it. My mother had one of these, though it certainly wasn't mink, and as a child I thought they were the height of elegance. I called them her "kitty cats."

And so why do I now have a feeling a certain current governor of the state of South Dakota would LOVE to see this fashion trend have a comeback???

(...yeah, that's right, you got it..."ripped from today's headlines" here...so sue me!)