Raoul Walsh

[charliechaplinfan]

I've really enjoyed Jack Gilbert in Downstairs, Queen Christina and Fastworkers, here we didn't just have a good actor but a writing talent. If only, with encouragement he might even have risen to a career behind the camera.

My favourite Leisen movies, Hold Back The Dawn, Midnight and Death Takes a Holiday, all contain an element of comedy, one screwball the other gentler comedy, very much under rated but when I look at his list there is an awful lot I've not seen. Anatole Litvak again it's his earlier movies, Mayerling, Tovarich, All That Heaven Allows, The Sisters, Out of the Fog and Sorry Wrong Number, I don't tend to like costume pictures but Mayerling is so much more, Tovarich is funny, All That Heaven Allows an epic that didn't quite make it, The Sisters, fun with a teaming of two of Warner's greats but without the help of costumes and tights, Out Of The Fog, another direction to take but so watchable and Sorry Wrong Number, I was on the edge of my seat. I don't like all of his movies, despite liking Ingrid and Yul I didn't like Anastasia.

[Robert Regan]

Well, Alison, I haven't seen some of those Litvaks for a long time. Like Mayerling which is on my Netflix queue even as we speak. What I would really like to see again is the tv production he did of Mayerling with Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer. I do like costume films, even though so many are unsatisfactory in one way or another. As an essentially nineteenth century man, I relate more to the past than to the future. Thus I could count on one maimed hand the science fiction movies I like, but the costume movies I like are enough for a list I posted on Mubi.com called The Cinema is a Time Machine.

[charliechaplinfan]

I'd love to see Mayerling with Audrey and Mel Ferrer. I don't like costumes for costumes sake and I'm a bit of a history buff so I find it pick holes in plots but if they are well done I can sit through them. Some actors and actresses take to costume dramas better than others. I'll check out your list though

[Robert Regan]

I see what you mean, Alison. I tend to be less bothered by historical inaccuracies than twentieth century hair styles and overly fashionable filming techniques. Half the shots in Far From the Madding Crowd drove me crazy. If a Julie Christie movie is hard for me to sit through, I have a real problem! Then there are the two versions of Charge of the Light Brigade. Tony Richardson's film was undeniably more accurate than the Curtiz classic, but it was so boring, even with Vanessa wearing lots of nice clothes.

There's one error that, according to a knowledgeable and insightful cinephile, virtually all period films commit. Even in such a scrupulously researched and designed film as The Age of Innocence, there are roses that did not exist until much later in the twentieth century. Of course, to most people "old" roses do not really look like roses, so what are you going to do?

[JackFavell]

Not to digress, but you just brought up a pet peeve of mine in films.... if someone says "ah the calla lilies are in bloom again" I expect to see calla lilies! Flowers are notoriously wrong in the movies, most of the time. GAD, that irks me.

[charliechaplinfan]

I can't put my finger quite what it is about costume dramas that doesn't capture me, I like Far from the Madding Crowd because it captures the sixties even though Julie Christie is not Bathsheba, a long time fan of the book but Terence Stamp and Alan Bates are well cast. I feel the same about The Charge of the Light Brigade. Certain stars are made for costumes, Errol Flynn certainly, Cary Grant no. There is no formula as to why I would like a certain one. Perhaps down to the dynamics of the cast and director. I'll have to give it more thought but far From the Madding Crowd does not contain historical accuracy.

[MissGoddess]

Has anyone here seen Walsh's Jane Russell vehicle, The Revolt of Mamie Stover? It's a real lark if you haven't given it a look. That is, if you like Jane, and I do, very much. It's kind of gaudy, in the style of the times, but better than I expected.

[Robert Regan]

Yes, Alison, Far from the Madding Crowd was very sixties, as was Julie Christie at that time. She has continued to be a woman of her times and remains one of the great beauties in film.

And true, there are actors who look ridiculous or at least uncomfortable in costume.

One of the great experiences in movie-going, kingrat, was the hearty spontaneous cheer from the audience when Sophia Loren ran down Tony Perkins in her car. Moments later, this was surpassed when she backed up and ran over him again!

[JackFavell]

I haven't seen Mamie Stover yet, but I intend to, it sounds like it would be a lot of fun. I have a lead on a copy, but need to check other sources first.

[RedRiver]

I watched THE ROARING TWENTIES again. This is probably the second time I've seen it. It's a hard movie to pin down. It's good. It's worn well for something 75 years old and of a now alien style. But it's more interesting than exciting. Even thought provoking, with the economic and social issues. (The problem of returning veterans not finding employment still exists.) Who turns to crime? People who have nowhere else to turn. The Warner Brothers gangster films were phenomenal at conveying this message.

But more than once, I was bored. Raoul Walsh was responsible for the two great members of the genre. WHITE HEAT and HIGH SIERRA are thrilling as well as contemplative. The suspense is exact; the story spellbinding. This film, not so much. Boy meets girl. Girl meets lawyer. Cagney meets Bogart. (That's gonna be trouble!) It has meaning. It's just not a lot of fun. If I did the research, I bet I'd find this movie is under two hours. It feels longer!

I consider this an important film. One classic fans should watch sooner or later. But where I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG deals poetically with these issues; where SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS takes the lighter road to great effect, THE ROARING TWENTIES is a solid drama that never quite crosses the finish line. It's a good film. It's just not a great one.

[MissGoddess]

I think the ending is what lifts it up from good to excellent. it's one of the most affecting endings i've ever seen and my favorite of any in the gangster genre.

[RedRiver]

It is a dramatic, Shakespearean, finale.

[JackFavell]

I love The Roaring Twenties, but I think you are right, it's a little long getting to the climax. Once it does, however, BAM SOCK POW! It hits it out of the park. I like it's mixture of nostalgia and crime, but must admit that there is something muddled somewhere in the middle of it. As long as Cagney is on the screen, it's first rate. Love Gladys George. Why does Jeffrey Lynn have to be so bland? It's annoying, and although it totally works for the story, I hate it when Priscilla Lane comes to Cagney for help, it's so heartbreaking, in a Sidney Carton way. It really hurts. Definitely High Sierra's and White Heat's younger brother, but not quite as tightly woven.

[RedRiver]

I have mixed feelings about the lapses into documentation: prohibition, crime, repeal, depression. It's very interesting, but it does nothing to speed the story along. It almost makes me wish I was watching a documentary instead of a work of fiction. I'm being too tough on this movie. It's fine. Better than most of what's out there. But the man who made the last word in gangster films, a rousing cavalry adventure, and a brutally effective war story is capable of more.