MikeBSG wrote:yesterday I watched a terrific swashbuckler -- "On Guard" (1997) directed by Philippe de Broca. It takes place in France in the early 1700s, and catches the spirit of the great swashbucklers without ever really imitating them.
Daniel Auteuil is the hero, a swordsman who becomes the friend of an aristocrat and raises his daughter when the man is killed. Marie Gillain plays the grown-up daughter, and I would bet that the people who made "Pirates of the Carribean" watched the film or Keira Knightley watched this film, because Gillain's performance kept bringing Knightley to mind. (There is no magic in "On Guard," which puts it several steps ahead of "Pirates" in my view.) Really a lot of fun.
So glad to read that! Actually On Guard is an adaptation of a famous French classic novel Le Bossu. IMHO, the Philippe de Broca version is the best of the numerous other versions (including one with Jean Marais). Auteuil and Gillain are both brilliant. De Broca was the only modern French director who knew how to pace and direct swashbucklers.
I watched Dillinger(1945) the other day, been wanting to see it for some time...it was good dumb fun. Who cares about facts, when one can have good dumb fun.
http://precodevixen.blogspot.com(my blog, come and visit)
I watched Victoria The Great today, I think Anton Walbrook was born to play Prince Albert and as my husband says, he seems to be the stock German in the British cinema and for me he's always very good in whatever he's in. I'm not sure Anna Neagle was given the right direction when playing Queen Victoria, probably a fault of the writers, she seemed lacking in the right spirit to play Victoria but made a valiant effort in playing her in her old age. A little artistic licence but a watchable film.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
Today I watched "Sundown" (1941?) directed by henry Hathaway.
I had some problems with the disc. Still, I thought this was an interesting mix of things: part WWII film complete with geopolitics lecture, Kiplingesque British adventure, and Gene TIerney looking like she wandered in from a von Sternberg movie. Actually, I think I liked Tierney here more here than I usually do.
Yesterday, I watched Dead of Night (1945, A. Cavalcanti, C. Crichton, B. Dearden, R. Hamer). This Ealing productions is an amazing collection of ghost/horror stories shot with great skills by four directors. Among my favourites are 'The Haunted Mirror' and 'The Ventriloquist'. In the first one, a man goes mad after his wife purchased an old mirror for his bedroom. The mirror reflects a room, full of foreboding, different from his own. He is driven to madness and even to killing his wife. This very simple story is beautiful done (by R. Hamer) and conveys all the uneasiness of the characters. As for 'The Ventriloquist', it's a showcase for Michael Redgrave's considerable talent. He plays a ventriloquist who becomes literaly inhabited by his own dummy. Brilliant! As for the film's ending, it's a brilliant 'mise-en-abyme' which has been copied many times since. If you've never seen it, it's highly recommended.
"Dead of Night" is truly one of the great horror movies.
The only other horror anthology movie that comes close is "Asylum," (1972) directed by Roy Ward Baker from a script by Robert Bloch.
However, "Dead of Night" came from works by several different authors and each segment had a different director. That makes its accomplishment all the more remarkable. Michael Redgrave's performance is terrific.
I watched the delightful Lili today, I was completely enchanted and taken aback. I thought the story was so sweet, I wish I'd watched it with Libby, which I hope to do soon, I think she'd love it. Zsa Zsa Gabor as Jean Pierre Aumont's assistant wife and Jean Pierre Aumont as the magician Lili falls in love with, unaware of the tortured puppet master played by Mel Ferrer who is in love with her. Mel Ferrer was a revelation for me, I'd only known him as Audrey Hepburn's husband and have seen some of his later films but here he's in a romantic part and so completely believable, I don't know why it took Lili so long to realise that the magician wasn't for her and see what a good man the puppet master was.
Leslie Caron spoke about this film in her autobiography, she was determined how her hair should appear but the MGM top brass decided it needed changing to style more attractive, for the first time Leslie refuses to work until she had seen the person who had made the decision to give her a different hairstyle and ruin her characterisation. She got her interview with Dore Schary who said 'What film are you working on?' and then 'Whatever you want dearie'. Mel Ferrer and Charles Walters had a real set to off the set as Mel had his own ideas to how the film should be directed.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
knitwit45 wrote:The Song of Love is a Sad Song
Hi Lili, Hi Lili, Hi Lo........
love the movie! (and the song)
Loved the song too, when I was around 5. Then one day Mom asked me to please, for the love of God, go back to singing "O, Susannah" and "I've Been Working on the Railroad" 50 times a day. I used to be afraid of that puppet. Anyone else have any qualms about that slightly satanic piece of wood and cloth?
No? Probably only me. I don't like clowns either!
A lovely film with one of Caron's best early performances. I was sad when I read in her memoir that people at the studio thought she was stupid because she wanted to play this unglamorous, lost girl so close to the way she saw herself.
Yes but she was so right, Lili needed no glamour. I got that feeling from Leslie's book, she was independent from a very young age and left to her own devices in Hollywood.
At first I thought the puppets were modelled on the people in the carnival, Carrot Top being the magician, the Giant being the puppetmaster, the vain girl, Zsa Zsa but then I got stuck on the wily fox. As the film unfolded I realised I'd barked up the wrong tree.
I wonder, did Mel Ferrer actually do all the voices, especially Carrot Top, it's so at odds with the stern man he played, he doesn't look like he has a soft side, although now I'm going to search for some more movies with him in, does anyone have any recommendations?
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
"Lili" is a favorite of mine. I liked it a lot when I was a kid. Then I saw it when I was in my twenties and realized that it is a musical with only one song, (but a great one), but I still like it. I showed it to my daughter when she was 8 or so. I wish more people knew about this movie.
I seem to recall that there's another musical with big "Puppets" featured in a musical sequence of the movie, made in 1933 or 1934 and starring German Star Lilian Harvey ("I am Suzanne" perhaps?) but I've never seen any of the films she made for FOX while in USA.
It seems I've invoked a lot of good memories watching Lili. It's a very good song, I wish Leslie Caron had made more movies, she made a handful of very good ones, I just wish MGM had bought more film vehicles for her.
This afternoon I watched Peter Ibbotsen with Gary Cooper and Ann Harding. I liked the opening scenes with Virginia Wiedler and Dickie Moore, I was almost heartbroken when they were torn apart. Alas the film for me after this point didn't work for me. I couldn't stretch my imagination to appreciate the love they had once Peter went to prison, it just seemed to strike a wrong chord. I also didn't think they had much chemistry, perhaps Ann is too patrician for Cooper, who I didn't think was well cast but was nevertheless very handsome as Peter Ibbotsen and Ann seemed too aloof as Mary. I'm sorry, I'm sure I've not appreciated a much loved film of other members but it's not a film for me.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
Actually On Guard is an adaptation of a famous French classic novel Le Bossu. IMHO, the Philippe de Broca version is the best of the numerous other versions (including one with Jean Marais). Auteuil and Gillain are both brilliant. De Broca was the only modern French director who knew how to pace and direct swashbucklers. 
