WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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charliechaplinfan
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Post by charliechaplinfan »

I watched two good movies, actually it's one great movie and a good one.

The great movie was Queen of Spades based on the Pushkin short story and starring an extremely dashing Anton Walbrook. It marks Edith Evans first appearance on screen playing an aged and very decrepit once beautiful woman who was told a winning combination at cards but the price she paid was selling her soul to the devil. Anton Walbrook plays the Army officer determined to get the secret of the cards.

Anton Walbrook plays the mania and growing obsession of the officer so convincingly.

I also watched Don't Bother to Knock. I was so convinced by Marilyn in Clash By Night but can't make up my mind whether she over played her character by playing the role all breathless and girlish. She has a strong cast around her particularly Richard Widmark. Perhaps I need to see it again to appreciate it fully. She's astonishingly beautiful in this movie.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
feaito

Post by feaito »

I watched "Move Over Darling" (1963) a remake of "My Favorite Wife" (1940) which benefits of widescreen and beautiful color photography, but which does not improve on the original. James Garner and Doris Day are fun together and there are some very funny moments, but the film's not more than an average good comedy. In fact, I think that the same couple's "The Thrill of it All" is funnier. Some of the best moments are courtesy of several first rate comic actors like the ever-wonderful Thelma Ritter, Fred Clark, edgar Buchanan (who's a hoot as a judge) and Don Knotts. Polly Bergen and Chuck Connors are also part of the cast.

My wife turned her back away from the TV set and said to me she did not like Doris Day's comedies. She did not understand why a laughed out loud in some parts :wink:
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Ann Harding
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Post by Ann Harding »

Yesterday, I watched High Wall (1947), a Curtis Bernardt film noir with Robert Taylor, Herbert Marshall and Audrey Totter.
Stephen Kenet (R. Taylor) is accused of murdering his wife, but he is suffering from memory lapses and cannot remember how it happened. He is treated by Dr Lorrison (A. Totter) who is going to help him solve the mystery...
This is a handsome looking MGM noir with a very contrasted cinematography by Paul Vogel. Herbert Marshall plays a very cool villain with the best conceivable manners. The way he dispaches his janitor to a better world using the crook of his umbrella is brilliant. Taylor shows how convincing he could be as a disturbed man tortured by guilt. Totter is equally good as the female psychiatrist. But, somehow, the film doesn't have quite the momentum it could have with such a story. It could have been more gripping with another director. The happy ending was too unbelievable. Nevertheless, it's good entertainment! :)
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

I finally caught up with "The People Against O'Hara." It stars Spencer Tracy and John Hodiak along with a nice supporting cast.

It is a fairly routine legal drama about Tracy defending a young man (James Arness) of murder. An interesting part of the drama deals with Tracy and his inability to remember questions to ask or arguments to make during the trial. If they had known what it was, other than old age, it could have added an interesting story line to it. (He tries to fix it by taking up drinking again.)

The story takes a turn about half way through that changes everyone's approach. There is one scene where they fix him up with a wire. It looks like he is a wearing a bomb. There is a lot of it.

OK drama.
Chris

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Ann Harding
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Post by Ann Harding »

Continuing a Dassin season on French TV, I caught Brute Force (1947) yesterday. This film noir-prison drama is extremely dark and violent for the time. I was rather surprised to notice that the genius of soft-focus Wm H. Daniels was the cinematographer of this stark picture.
A group of prisoner plan an escape from a penitentiary to escape from brutal and vicious warden (Hume Cronyn)...
I was pretty amazed by Hume Cronyn's performance in this film. I knew he could play smooth talking villian, but in general his villainy was more verbal than physical. Here he manages to combine both to create one of the most despicable characters I have ever seen. Miklos Rozsa's score is pure bliss, combining violence and starkness in equal measure. The young Burt Lancaster had already a very impressive presence on screen. Certainly one of Dassin's best pictures! :)
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

Ann Harding wrote: I was pretty amazed by Hume Cronyn's performance in this film. I knew he could play smooth talking villian, but in general his villainy was more verbal than physical. Here he manages to combine both to create one of the most despicable characters I have ever seen.
I was absolutely floored at how physically tough and menacing Cronyn's character was in this movie. I grew up with the older, comedic Cronyn who was married to Jessica Tandy. This was a pretty dark and gritty film and is one of my favourite prison films of all time.

Sadly I haven't had a chance to watch any movies lately as i've been busy as a bee! I plan to watch at least a couple films tonight though.
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Post by MikeBSG »

Today, I watched Frank Capra's "Lost Horizon" on DVD.

I liked it more than I thought I would. The opening scenes at the airport and the flight into the mountains were very well-done and hinted at a first class adventure film. As for shangri-La itself, since there is to be no conflict there, that shuts down the spirit of adventure a bit. However, I enjoyed most of the film, although the scenes with the high lama were too self-important for me.

The last part of the movie, when the hero is suddenly persuaded to leave, seemed a bit abrupt, but Capra handled the action well, and the scene in which the Englishman toasts the idea of Shangri-La was just what the movie needed. I have never really been a big Ronald Colman fan, but I have to admit that he carried the film here. Had someone else been in the role, I don't think it would have worked.

Just curious. Is the Seventies remake as unutterably bad as everyone says?
klondike

Post by klondike »

MikeBSG wrote:
Just curious. Is the Seventies remake as unutterably bad as everyone says?

Y E S ! ! !
:x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x
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moira finnie
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Post by moira finnie »

The '70s musical remake of Lost Horizon (1973) is so awful you ache for the unusually talented people caught in its web of horror: Liv Ullmann, Peter Finch and Charles Boyer to name but the most memorable. Full disclosure: I went to the movies and paid money to see this, though I can't for the life of me remember who I was with on that dark occasion. May the gods of cinema forgive me.

Maybe it would be okay if you watched it with some form of altered consciousness, either medicinal or distilled.
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klondike

Post by klondike »

moirafinnie wrote:The '70s musical remake of Lost Horizon (1973) is so awful you ache for the unusually talented people caught in its web of horror: Liv Ullmann, Peter Finch and Charles Boyer to name but the most memorable. Full disclosure: I went to the movies and paid money to see this, though I can't for the life of me remember who I was with on that dark occasion. May the gods of cinema forgive me.
I remember my date that evening; she started making wretching noises when Olivia Hussey began singing to George Kennedy, excused herself to the ladies' room, and never came back to her seat!!! :oops:
Never went out with me again either; see what bad cinema can do to your social life?!! :x
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moira finnie
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Post by moira finnie »

klondike wrote:
I remember my date that evening; she started making wretching noises when Olivia Hussey began singing to George Kennedy, excused herself to the ladies' room, and never came back to her seat!!! :oops:
Never went out with me again either; see what bad cinema can do to your social life?!! :x
Hey, it all comes back to me now...(cue the wavy harp music)...I went to the ladies room that night...I never came back to my seat...Klonnie, you were the *&%#@* guy who took me to that movie!! You were the cause of my fear of musicals!!
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klondike

Post by klondike »

moirafinnie wrote:Klonnie, you were the *&%#@* guy who took me to that movie!! You were the cause of my fear of musicals!!
Rest assured, my Dear, even if those allegations are, indeed, factual, I definitely had other goals on my mind that evening, which I swear would have had nothing to do with insidious designs on affecting your exposure to cinematic genre.
:roll:
Wow . . I never thought that motivation would rescue me from an accusation of perfidy!
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inglis
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Post by inglis »

klondike wrote:
moirafinnie wrote:Klonnie, you were the *&%#@* guy who took me to that movie!! You were the cause of my fear of musicals!!
Rest assured, my Dear, even if those allegations are, indeed, factual, I definitely had other goals on my mind that evening, which I swear would have had nothing to do with insidious designs on affecting your exposure to cinematic genre.
:roll:
Wow . . I never thought that motivation would rescue me from an accusation of perfidy!
Very funny you two I got a good laugh out of that one. I was rolling :lol: :lol: :lol:
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

While you two catch up on old times let me tell you that you should not feel guilty about having seen the movie. Anyone can make that mistake. (Luckily, I haven't.) The greater problem was those that MADE the movie. At some point anyone, I mean anyone should have thought better of it.

At least you both had a date. Two years later in my senior year I was voted "Most Likely To Be Forgotten."
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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Ann Harding
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Post by Ann Harding »

MikeBSG wrote:I have never really been a big Ronald Colman fan, but I have to admit that he carried the film here. Had someone else been in the role, I don't think it would have worked.
I am SO happy to read this, Mike!!! 8) :D The part of Robert Conway seems to have been tailor made for Colman. If you want to become a fan, you just need to watch more of his pictures. :wink:

I have never seen the musical 1973 remake and all your comments make me think that it must bring gales of laughter from the public! :mrgreen: (My French dictionary mention the appearance of Boyer as the High-Lama has being the main provider of merriments!!! :lol: )
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