WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[JackFavell]

It's definitely a movie that makes you want to keep watching. It's not particularly my cup of tea, but I found that I couldn't pull myself away from it...probably due to its style more than anything else. Or maybe because it has a little bit of a weird sense of humor that appealed to me, as noted in your description of the sign.

[Lomm]

I've been feeling a bit down lately so I turned to some classics which I have seen many times for a pick me up.

It Happened One Night - Just a wonderful film, start to finish. Colbert and Gable have terrific chemistry and are put into an improbable situation, but they pull it off in grand comic fashion.

North By Northwest - My favorite Hitch/Grant work.

Watching old familiar faces entertain me for a few hours does wonders for the mood, and these were just the right medicine.

[movieman1957]

Good for you, Lomm. Everyone should have music or movies that does them some good when they need a lift. Good choices.

Wendy,

Not wanting to give up on Woody Allen I watched his fantasy "Midnight In Paris." It was charming despite there was nothing going on. Everyone always, at some time I think, feels like they were born at the wrong time or feels like some other time would have been a better time to live. I think that is mainly because it is a different time. Woody finally got to the point that your favorite time may not be someone else's.

It's a movie that will make you smile more than laugh though there were one or two of those moments. Owen Wilson, though I'm not a fan of his, is quite nice here. He channels Woody very well. (Woody, obviously, is too old for the part.) He carries the rhythm of Woody's dialogue just as if Woody would speak. Sometimes even the head and arms move like him.

Now, if only Woody would have found a better saxophone for the opening music. I guess I'll go see what other Woody films are out there.

[JackFavell]

I am glad you liked Midnight in Paris, I thought it was charming. That milieu has always intrigued me too, so it was a plus to get to figure out who the different writers and intelligentsia were before their names were mentioned. He very definitely captured the period well, and I am an Owen Wilson fan, so all was good. I think Wilson did a great job of speaking as Woody while retaining a little of his own quirkiness too. I kind of wish he'd go back to writing, maybe he and Woody could collaborate. Wonder what kind of crazy script would come out of a Wilson, Allen and Wes Anderson collaboration?

I especially enjoyed Scoop, of Woody's more recent films, it's small and it appealed to me greatly. I am a big fan of magicians and magic in movies. I've got Match Point here, but have never watched it.

[RedRiver]

I've been feeling a bit down lately so I turned to some classics which I have seen many times for a pick me up.

Likewise. Life is a struggle of late. Old favorites are a fine remedy! I'm doing the same thing.

Wendy, I like MATCH POINT a lot. And I mean a lot! Definitely not a comedy! My favorite young actor "playing Woody Allen" is John Cusack in BULLETS OVER BROADWAY. He really had the attitude.

28 DAYS LATER is an excellent HALF a movie. Clever, creepy and thoughtful. For about 45 minutes. Then it deteriorates into a vile, mindless, pointless bloodbath. I was never so disappointed in a promising horror film. They took what might have been a tasteful and memorable story, and turned it into commercial trash.

[JackFavell]

I guess it's in the air llately to want to watch comfort movies instead of the new and bold, or the old and never seen. I've been doing the same thing. Watched the Friday night screwballs this last week, and it was a wonderful pick me up.

Thanks for the info about Match Point, Red, I know I really should have watched it by now... but I just haven't. Everyone I know said it was good too. I liked Bullets Over Broadway but all I remember from it is Jennifer Tilly.

[RedRiver]

Another "young Woody" I like is Jason whatever (Biggs?) in ANYTHING ELSE. This is not a movie people talk about, but I like it. It's quietly funny, typically ironic. One of the better "late Woody films."

[JackFavell]

I don't even know that one, red! It must have slipped by me. I guess it's time to check it out.

[JackFavell]

Did anyone see Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men this morning?

I thought Wynne Gibson was TERRIFIC cast in the kind of role Marion Davies would get just a few years after this. I've always wanted to see Gibson's movies, having seen her photos in my movie books for years. The films I've seen her in so far have been so so, but her performances really stand out - in The Captain Hates the Sea especially she caught my eye and I kept watching her.

In Aggie Appleby, Wynne plays a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who finally gets fed up with her street-wise lover, William Gargan. Gargan isn't a bad sort, but he's constantly losing the rent money, either gambling or misplacing it as soon as there is a fight to be had. He's TOO tough. Enter Charles Farrell, a milksop who likes classical music and wears glasses. Wynne gets him a job as the bulky boss of a roughneck crew, teaches him street talk, and falls in love with him. She goes noble, deciding he needs the girl back home, rather than the used goods she is. Heartbreak ensues as Gargan and the girlfriend descend on the couple's brief happiness.

All the players are great. Zasu Pitts gets to do a little bit different spin on her gawky character, this time street-wise and sassy - in fact her first line had me laughing out loud - "Men are like trees. If you tap them, the sap runs out." Gargan is swell as usual, very natural but bigger than life as the tough guy who smacks Gibson around. I am constantly surprised at how much I like this actor, how good he can be. Charles Farrell is darn near perfect, broad-shouldered and square, in more ways than one. His good looks are toned down, and his masculine factor is amped up later in the movie, without losing any of his sweetness. The role seems written specially for him. Betty Furness is the jilted girlfriend, who turns out to have been waiting for Farrell to stand up for himself. She's a pip, very good natured and down to earth, looking for a he-man lover.

I really enjoyed this film so much, mainly for Wynne Gibson's performance, who is spot on, and could have been a big star in my book. She's pretty, has a great natural voice, and is super at dialogue and street slang. She can make you laugh like a platinum Pert Kelton, or she can make you cry like baby. Her emotions are very truthful and lovely. I kind of wish she had taken all those parts Marion Davies got. Director Mark Sandrich keeps the pacing going fast until the denoument, but picks it back up for the ending...I especially liked the scene in the last five minutes when Gibson slowly realizes that if she made the milksop a bit more of a tough guy, maybe she can make the tough guy... fit to live with. Along with Professional Sweetheart, Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men is on my list of underrated pre-codes.

[moira finnie]

Did anyone see Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men this morning?

YES!! But I can't talk about it yet. I saw the first half hour and had to tear myself away to go out. I recorded it after I fell in love all over again with one of my favorite squares: Charles Farrell (*sigh*). Wynne Gibson was as salty a pre-Code dame as I've ever seen. Omigosh, I even fell in love with Charlie's room. I had to leave just as Wynne starts to do Pygmalion in reverse on Charlie...! More later...

[JackFavell]

Can't wait to hear what you have to say!

Ooh, I just realized I should have posted this in the silents and precodes thread... sorry folks! Sometimes I just get confused, I swear I thought I was in that thread.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Wendy & Moira,

Oh I think you're in the right thread - - after all, you just saw this movie - - and that's "lately"......

In the 60's Wynne Gibson was a theatrical agent in NYC; she represented Christopher Hewitt, whom I knew slightly.
Rumour has that she was dropped by Paramount because of a morals clause. She did live with Beverly Roberts for years - so add that up - - Words from Betty Blythe, who knew everybody's secrets....
Ann Warner told me that both ladies were friends with Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney & his wife. And Nora Eddington told me that Roberts was friendly with Errol Flynn.

I get Wynne Gibson mixed up with Gladys George..

That's just my 2 cents worth....

Larry

[JackFavell]

Thanks Larry! Really liked Wynne Gibson in everything I've seen so far, which, granted isn't a whole lot. Someone to look out for, most definitely.

I can see why you would get Wynne and Gladys mixed up, they both play 'worn' very well.