WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I didn't like Monte Carlo as much as One Hour With You, The Love Parade and The Smiling Lieutenant but I'm a bona fide Chevalier fan, I don't dislike Jack Buchanan, I just adore Chevalier.
Last edited by charliechaplinfan on October 8th, 2012, 1:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
feaito

Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by feaito »

I agree with you Ali, I've watched MC twice and IMO it's the weakest of the lot.
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Bogie
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Bogie »

For those who were in '07 I used to be a fairly regular poster/lurker here so now I make my comeback LOL

Ahem, latest classic era film i've seen is this:

Black Gold (1947)

Well this movie is a whole lotta hokum...That's not necessarily bad per se just something you got to keep in mind. This movie is actually pretty historical in a couple ways as it was the first film released under the Allied Artists banner. Allied Artists was born out of the ashes of poverty row studio Monogram Pictures and this was the start of what would be B+ type films in terms of budget and such. The other historical aspect to this movie was this was the very first lead starring role for Anthony Quinn.

Here's the summary:
In the early 1920s (Actually it looks more like the '40s in the film), in the desert near the Texas-Mexico border, Charley Eagle (Anthony Quinn), is an Indian who owns a small, hardscrabble ranch and is training a horse, "Black Hope,". He thinks that the horse is capable of running in, and winning, the Kentucky Derby. Charley runs into a young Chinese boy, David Chung ('Ducky' Louie), whose father has been killed by a smuggling gang, while pretending to help him enter the United States illegally. Charley takes the young boy back to his small ranch, where Charley and his wife, Sarah (Katherine DeMille) adopt him. His plans for "Black Hope" go awry but oil is discovered on his land and this intensifies his dreams that "Black Gold" (Highland Dale,) the colt of "Black Hope" can do what his sire couldn't do.
Yes this was in the era when actors of Native American descent couldn't play themselves in film which, when you think about it is pretty racist. Nonetheless this movie has to have one of the more anti-racist messages i've seen from movies in that era as it portrays the lead characters of Charley and David in a very positive light. If you look beyond the somewhat broken english spoken by Quinn you'll see that the character is one of strong moral values and someone who has big dreams. He befriends David and teaches him not to paint all white men with the same brush even when early in the film he gets snookered by a crooked gambler into entering Black Hope in a claim race and losing him.

The name Katherine De Mille should ring some bells as she was Quinn's wife at the time and daughter of the famed director Cecil B. Her portrayal as the strong, understanding reservation educated wife of Charley is a pretty good one while David played by an actual Asian was er well...Let's just say the acting wasn't great but he was perfunctory. Truth be told though, this movie is all Anthony Quinn. You can't help but watch him and be glued to his performance. The movie really plays at your heartstrings especially the scene where Charley has to put down Black Hope. Those kind of scenes could easily become laughable or overplayed but Quinn gives it a realistic touch that makes it believable.

The story is based very loosely on an actual Kentucky Derby winning horse but the whole story of how the horse got there and such is changed so dramatically from what actually happened that there's no use in comparing. That being said, the message about tolerance and being a good decent person is what makes this movie shine despite it being hokey and Quinn gives an inspired performance that raises the script up and makes it worth watching.

There's no DVD of the movie but it has aired on TCM in the past so maybe one day it'll show up again. I give this one about 2 stars for Quinn's performance and the overall message of the film. I admit with the way the movie played out, I had some dust in my eye if you follow my drift.


(All this was written on another message board I post on where i'm the only one that really watches old films. I get teased a lot about that actually HAH!)
RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

Texas tea!
MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

Just watched "The Stalking Moon" (1968) starring Gregory Peck.

I found it an oddly frustrating film. This western, about a scout who takes a white woman and her half-Apache son to his ranch, where they are attacked by the boy's father, looks great but is slow moving, its slowness emphasized by the near non-existence of dialogue. The movie only comes to life at the end when it is only Peck and the Apache trying to kill each other. The result is a Western action sequence worthy of Anthony Mann. However, it is a long, heavy slog to get to that point.
RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

it is a long, heavy slog to get to that point.

It is exactly that. Not a bad film. Just not an exciting one.
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movieman1957
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by movieman1957 »

Bogie! Comeback. Good news for us.
Chris

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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

No teasing here, Bogie! Welcome back.

I'm JackFavell, better known as Wendy. :D
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Bogie
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Bogie »

Thanks,

I never really stopped watching classic movies just life has gotten in the way. Anywho I didn't watch a classic film last night but did watch an NBC 2 part miniseries from 1984 called Fatal Vision starring the recently deceased Karl Malden.

It's essentially about this army doctor who kills his wife and kids and his in-laws especially Malden is supporting him but then Malden starts seeing the inconsistencies in his son in law's story and is convinced that he killed his daughter and grandkids. We go through the 2nd half of the telepicture showing Malden seeking justice.

Lots of good acting in this from Barry Newman as the son-in-law's lawyer, a very brief bit part by Andy Griffith which essentially caught some people's attention as this movie is said to have inspired the casting of Griffith as Matlock.

Quite a good little flick overall and reminds me of a time when TV movies were actually done with a bit of a budget and with good acting.
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

Well...I saw THE AVENGERS. Grabbed it from Red Box. If you like this high tech extravaganza, please don't be offended. But what a waste of time! I'm so tired of "all action, no story." I'll concede it would have been more impressive on a big screen. This is not DVD material. But a good movie should be able to survive the translation. Visuals, noise, visuals, noise. Cluttered and ambiguous so that half the time I wasn't even sure what was happening.

At least, the characters seemed to have a history. The bantering and bickering between them was entertaining. But where did this come from? Is there a reason for it? My guess is, these elements are introduced in a previous entry. IRON MAN 2? (Didn't see it.) This movie offers no explanation. Either you've seen the prequel or you have no idea! (What is with Black Widow and Hawkeye? Are we supposed know that?) The writing of this and movies like it is almost insulting. It looks as if they don't even try to make a good story. Just patch together some sights and sounds, some mind boggling images, and sell tickets. Lots of tickets!

I know they still make good movies. Please tell me they do. Action films? It may be time to let go of that genre. It's gotten out of control. HULK SMASH!
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

I remember seeing Fatal Vision on TV. I wasn't going to watch but Malden got me hooked. I really liked his character, and the way he changed from being on his son in law's side to thinking him guilty, it was very well done. I believe this was based on a book about a real life incident. The author interviewed the son in law who continually maintained his innocence even when the evidence proved him guilty, and he just boldly lied about everything, which makes it more interesting.

kingrat, I loved your description of Son of Fury! I too thought Sanders' physique at the beginning surprisingly fit. Roddy is ALWAYS good. And I watched part of Night and Day, it wasn't as bad as I remembered, though some of the dance sequences were just plain odd, going for a sort of color block choreography rather than actually paying any attention to what the song was about, lol. If you simply forget that it's about Cole Porter, it's not bad.
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moira finnie
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by moira finnie »

JackFavell wrote: Night and Day...wasn't as bad as I remembered, though some of the dance sequences were just plain odd, going for a sort of color block choreography rather than actually paying any attention to what the song was about, lol. If you simply forget that it's about Cole Porter, it's not bad.
How can a movie be bad when you have Cole Porter tunes and dancing boys and girls traipsing across the manicured lawn at the country place of Linda (a frosty Alexis Smith). I especially liked the way she was swaddled in yards of material and had a tunic buttoned up to her chin while all the gals scampered past in short-shorts. It was also too divine when she caught them going through her makeup kit at her dressing table in her bedroom (Ick).

I didn't remember that there was a film of Roy Rogers singing "Don't Fence Me In" that was shown when Cole (Cary) was in the hospital. For some reason I remembered Trigger and Roy visiting him there. Ah well, and let's not forget that Tom D'Andrea got the girl in this movie (even if it was an alleged Cole cast-off named Jane Wyman whose hair looked like a poodle's in this movie).

Why did they have to make all those awful Beard jokes about Monty Woolley? An inside joke, or just desperation?

The music throughout this movie and Cary Grant's presence really makes this movie for me. Two Faves:

1) Cole composes in the middle of the battlefield while listening to African troops humming what becomes "Night and Day."

2. )Ginny Simms sang "What Is This Thing Called Love?" in the middle of the philistines in the music shop (Philistine #3 played by the remarkable Richard Erdman, who's still around and working!).
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Bogie
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Bogie »

RedRiver wrote:Well...I saw THE AVENGERS. Grabbed it from Red Box. If you like this high tech extravaganza, please don't be offended. But what a waste of time! I'm so tired of "all action, no story." I'll concede it would have been more impressive on a big screen. This is not DVD material. But a good movie should be able to survive the translation. Visuals, noise, visuals, noise. Cluttered and ambiguous so that half the time I wasn't even sure what was happening.

At least, the characters seemed to have a history. The bantering and bickering between them was entertaining. But where did this come from? Is there a reason for it? My guess is, these elements are introduced in a previous entry. IRON MAN 2? (Didn't see it.) This movie offers no explanation. Either you've seen the prequel or you have no idea! (What is with Black Widow and Hawkeye? Are we supposed know that?) The writing of this and movies like it is almost insulting. It looks as if they don't even try to make a good story. Just patch together some sights and sounds, some mind boggling images, and sell tickets. Lots of tickets!

I know they still make good movies. Please tell me they do. Action films? It may be time to let go of that genre. It's gotten out of control. HULK SMASH!
Actually I really enjoyed this movie a lot. I saw it at the theatres with my girlfriend.

One of the problems of the movie that you point out is that it's totally geared to either people who just love big dumb action flicks and/or people who know the backstory already. It's pretty much steeped in the Marvel Comics and the movies with some of the characters but most of it is in the comics so you have to come into it knowing the dynamics within the books.

This makes it difficult for someone like you who may be going in totally cold to it but those who know the material get it and eat it all up.

BTW Hawkeye and Black Widow have a history of having dated each other which is shown in some incarnations of the two characters in the comics. Hawkeye is basically a womanizer while Black Widow used to be a mind controlled Soviet Agent who breaks out of said programming and becomes a heroine. There'll be more explanation of all that i'm sure in the next Captain America movie which will feature Bucky Barnes greatly as he was Cap's sidekick who was presumed dead in WWII but in reality was captured by the Soviets and programmed to be their operative under the codename Winter Soldier.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Night and Day was a dissappointment to me when I watched it, I think the combination of Grant and Cole Porter I'd expected to be engrossed but it misfires, there is enough there to keep it jogging along but of all Grant's movies it's the one I've felt the least engaged by.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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