The Silver Screen Oasis

Yay! Margaret Lockwood will be celebrating with me on my 150th birthday!

Just found RETURN FROM THE ASHES (in sections, but still...) on YouTube, as I missed the TCM showing. This is one of my favorites from back in the day -- Max, Samantha, and Ingrid give terrific performances! Memorable "little" suspenser on all counts.

Remind me to be suspicious of a man who kisses my feet while I'm bathing.

JackFavell wrote:Remind me to be suspicious of a man who kisses my feet while I'm bathing.

LOL

At least it wasn't Herbert Lom.

You know, it just might be worth it if the man were Maximilian Schell.

Ha, I was thinking the very same thing!

What a way to go!

Oh sorry, that's a different movie.

HA!!! One of the few Shirley MacLaine's I've never seen, and maybe don't want to, lol. Nothing turns me off than an aging Gene Kelly. Also Robert Cummings (at any age).

(oooh, is Nils Asther smokin' hot as Yen, or what??)

Hahaha! You've labeled the two major downfalls of What a Way To Go! What was charming egoism in Gene in the early films becomes something kind of ugly later on. And Robert Cummings has a fussiness later that can be a real turn off, though I don't really mind him that much.

Moving back to Nils Asther, I think quite possibly there was never a more beautiful man in movies. He's excellent, perhaps even brilliant as Yen. One of the few portrayals of an Asian by someone of a different culture that works. He respects the culture he portrays which is why the movie remains one of my favorite Capra films. It's a shame he couldn't have escaped his leading man good looks, because I think he's far better as a character actor.

And yeah, he was smokin' hot!

I like Capra early on, when he was a bit of a tough guy. In this film and in Flight, plus a few others, I felt there was a different Capra at work, an adventurous one with a cleaner, more concise tale to tell. A director not afraid to cut to the bone, more like Wellman, making tough choices. This helped Capra's stories immensely, as least for me.

Hey, how come Rock Hudson was most appealing when he was unconscious and flat on his back in movies? (Please see Seconds for further proof of this idea).

Tonight at 10pm (ET), this and other questions are explored by Douglas Sirk and company in All That Heaven Allows (1955).

Did anyone see Pather Panchali last night? Still one of the most incredible movie experiences. It's a movie you feel rather than watch. It goes right through to your soul. Just amazing... especially considering how Ray had to work so hard just to get it filmed.

I've never seen it. I know it's considered a classic. What does it make you feel?

Wonder. Great sadness. Connectedness to the world. Radiance. Transcendence.

It's an evocative movie that unfurls like real life, it never feels like a movie. It's poetic and emotional rather than story driven. It just happens.

Dang it!!! I should have given it a chance.

One of the masters of cinema. See his Oscar acceptance speech here:



The great Satyajit Ray.

He was one of the world's greatest filmmakers.