WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

FALLEN ANGEL is exciting from start to finish. Linda Darnell is exciting from start to finish!
feaito

Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by feaito »

charliechaplinfan wrote:My appetite has been whetted for Dana Andrews by reading his biography, he isn't an actor that I knew very much about but from the first film I saw him in (Laura) I was hooked. I rented Fallen Angel with him, Linda Darnell as a woman who cast her favours about with any barfly she came across (very daring for the time, how did it get passed the censors) and Alice Faye as a woman living alone with her sister and in danger of staying that way. Dana plays a chancer, out to make money in any way, fast and then to get out of town, he alights on the idea of marrying Alice and running away with Linda, he manages the first but comes unstuck with the second. I won't give the twist away but it's a good noir, well worth watching.
Alison, the same has happened to me with Dana Andrews; the detail with which Carl Rollyson analyzes and praises in his Bio "The Ox-Bow Incident" (1943), "Laura" (1944), "Fallen Angel" (1945) and "Canyon Passage" (1946), made me see all those films in a succession. Laura and FA I had seen before, but not the other two. I was particularly hooked by CP which I've had on DVD for ages and hadn't come around to seeing it; a great psychological Western indeed. TOBI is one of the most lauded films of the '40s and it lives up to its reputation. Thanks to this enlightening Bio I've seen things in Dana Andrews' performances and in these films, that I hadn't seen before. I'll probably watch "The North Star" (1943) next.
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

The Teahouse of the August Moon - 1956

I hope some of you set your DVR to this lovely Marlon Brando/Glenn Ford Drama/Comedy that was so delightful ... I was laughing and enjoying the antics that went on this great film. It's gets better with age and I find this film one of the better Brando's earlier films and certainly on of my favorite Ford's films in the 50's.

The supporting players Eddie Albert and Paul Ford as Col Wainwright Purdy III ... was complementary to the magic of Brando and Ford in this charming film. More and More I watch it ... I'm starting to pick up more and more the mannerisms that goes into this great film back in 1956.

Machiko Kyo as Lotus Blossom was a pleasant surprise as well playing the Geisha in this movie. She was wonderful.

The Trailer for this wonderful movie ...

[youtube][/youtube]
MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

You made me remember my elementary school principal. He was a no-nonsense guy, and the only comedy he said he liked was "Teahouse of the August Moon."
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CineMaven
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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DANA ANDREWS has recently supplanted some of my old favorites as one of my newest favorite actors.

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I love his brooding darkness. I like that he doesn't seem to mind going to dark places and not be so heroic in his films. A bit of a cad, or love 'em or leave 'em type, tortured by war memories, being bitterly blind or using his fists first and asking questions later. He can be two-timed by love; most famously falling in love with a dead woman. Handsome, baritoned-voice and unafraid. I've seen a slew of Andrews' films ( about twenty of them ) but I still have to get more of his films under my belt. He's one of Hollywood under-rated actors.

* * * *

I just saw "INFERNO" and boy...what a movie!!

The laser-beamed plot caught me right between the eyes and held me in its grasp. Rhonda gets short shrift from the description I read in a post or two. She doesn't seem that cold. She seems to be a reluctant vixen, at every turn doubts go through her head about the scheme. Moreso it's William Lundigan who pushes hard for them to go through with it. ( Finally I'm liking Lundigan. Meeeeeen and not the vanilla hero. He opened my eyes and gave Ryan a run for his money, didn't he? )

The snake was just a small piece of desert gauntlet. Ryan breaks my heart when he yells at the desert fox ( not Rommel this time. ) I liked his voice-overs and absolutely shook my head with glee when the director kept cutting back and forth between the desert drama and the lovers in town. OMG!! Without a doubt, Robert Ryan can hold the screen all by his lonesome. I am convinced he could sit down and count tumbling tumbleweeds and I would be riveted by him. The twist had me on the edge of my seat, didn't see it coming. ( I could almost see Harrison Ford play this role. ) And here again is the director's choice: where to put the camera...where does the story start. If we saw Ryan like he was in "Caught" we might have no vested interest in whether he lived or died. But the story starts in the desert and not the boardroom though we get the idea that's he's not an easy man to work for. ( But what tycoon is? ) A man like Ryan needs the desert to measure his strength and resolve. Rattlesnakes and a cheating wife are no match.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I'm glad you've watched Inferno Theresa, it does kind of hit between the eyes.

I'm really liking Dana Andrews and I ask myself, why is he not up there in the top rung of stars who are known and talked about, it took me a few years of watching to discover him myself. The OxBow Incident I'm going to have to watch again, I wonder if the power will be retained seeing as it's so powerful I couldn't forget the storyline if I tried and I was so convinced that it wasn;t going to play out like that that I was horror struck by what happened.

I've never seen Teahouse of the August Moon, I always liked Brando as a serious actor and the reviews were so mixed, maybe I shall give it a go.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

charliechaplinfan wrote: I've never seen Teahouse of the August Moon, I always liked Brando as a serious actor and the reviews were so mixed, maybe I shall give it a go.
You won't be disappointed Allison ... this is one of my favorite Brando movies ... when he was very young.
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

Wow, I just loved your review of Inferno, Maven. You captured it exactly, and you are so right - Ryan NEEDS a desert to go up against, mere mortals don't seem big or tough enough. He's a lone wolf, and so the vast reaches of earth seem somehow right for him.

I think Dana is marvelous, would you all say that he's probably the prime under-rated actor of classic film? I could sit and watch him think for hours. Every one of his expressions tells volumes. Fallen Angel was a wonderful surprise to me, I just fell in love with this movie. I am becoming a huge noir fan, thanks to movies like this one. It's a shame it's not better known.
RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

the director kept cutting back and forth between the desert drama and the lovers in town

I love that! Every cut kicks the excitement up a notch. This is a popcorn movie. Is it serious? Is it just for thrills? Who cares? Just watch the movie!

the story starts in the desert and not the boardroom

A wonderful touch. From the first moment, we're hooked. A lot of writers could learn from this.
RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

I'm really liking Dana Andrews and I ask myself, why is he not up there in the top rung of stars who are known and talked about

One of the great mysteries of classic film, Chaplin Fan. Not handsome enough? I'll let the ladies answer that question! Maybe it's the very choices we fans admire; dark, unpredictable stories with no easy solution. Not box office gold. Too bad. People don't know what they're missing. A friend of mine said, "You're never really sure which side of the law Dana Andrews is on." That's as good a description as any!
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CineMaven
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by CineMaven »

:) STYMIE!!! STYMIE!! :)
"You build my gallows high, baby."

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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Ask this lady, not handsome enough, are you kidding, he was handsome in a very dark way, you didn't know what side he was on, he suggested danger. He wasn't lacking on charm for this lady.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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CineMaven
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by CineMaven »

[u]RED[/u] [u]RIVER[/u] wrote:...Not handsome enough? I'll let the ladies answer that question! Maybe it's the very choices we fans admire; dark, unpredictable stories with no easy solution. Not box office gold. Too bad. People don't know what they're missing. A friend of mine said, "You're never really sure which side of the law Dana Andrews is on." That's as good a description as any!
A picture's worth a thousand words:

ImageImage
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I've said this before, I think the bench ran very deep in movies back in its "Golden Era." There were ten people for one role. Not quite interchangeable but would do a credible job. I guess the creme de la creme would be the Carys and the Garys and the Errols and the Gables...etc. But there was this second - tier of actors who could really Act. I used the term "second-tier" very very loosely. A lot probably depended on the studio or directors he worked with. Robert Ryan is held in high esteem and I think Dana Andrews should go right beside him. There's an intensity about him and a bad guy with good qualities/good guy with bad qualities in him that'd keep a girl guessing. Since talking him up here and looking over his filmography, these are the performances I enjoyed him in the best. In no particular order ( because really...why make myself crazy: )

* "Ox-Bow Incident"
* "Laura"
* "Best Years of OUr Lives"
* "Night Song"
* "Daisy Kenyon"
* "My Foolish Heart"


I shall regret not making more of an effort to go out in the dead of winter when Andrews' biographer Carl Rollyson appeared in Gramercy Park ( in Manhattan ) to talk about Dana Andrews. I could have had my very own autographed copy of a book about a solidly good and believable actor.
"You build my gallows high, baby."

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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I'd agree with your second rung tier assessment although what put them there I don't know. Perhaps they weren't marketed as pin ups like Gable and Flynn, maybe they looked just a bit more ordinary because even though both men are handsome they aren't as catch your breath handsome as Gable and Flynn. Both were good actors and I was amazed to find that Dana Andrews was the same age as Errol Flynn, I'd have taken 8 to 10 years off. I must see The Best Years of Our Lives again and The Ox Bow Incident which I plan to put on during a lull in the long summer holidays, a film I think we can all watch together.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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CineMaven
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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Hi Alison. One of the great mysteries of life...is Hollywood, and what specifically makes an actor/actress, a Movie Star.
"You build my gallows high, baby."

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