SPTO wrote:The movie gets a 3 1/2 out of 5 from me. After seeing the 3 big gangster movies I'd rate em like this:
Scarface
The Public Enemy
Little Caesar
I think I'd have to give The Public Enemy top honors becasue of Cagney's brilliant performance and that absolutely chilling ending.
Those are the big three however.
I'll drink to Cagney in Public Enemy. The bits of this movie I see in the TCM promos look to be from an excellent print, much better than the worn-out, smudgy thing I saw on TV when I was a kid. It should be run frequently.
If that "Sexiest Man Alive" award really had any meaning, it would be awarded posthumously to Cagney for Public Enemy. He is unbelievable vital and sexual in this movie, and I've never seen anything like it before or since. It makes his life of crime and ultimate downfall that much more tragic -- a guy like that could have been somebody.
Well what puts Scarface on top for me is that that film while pretty broad is much more nuanced then the Pacino remake and the ending just blew me away. I think it was one of the best parts Paul Muni ever had. I just loved the cavalier attitude he had towards authority figures and the whole way in which he climbed to the top of the underworld was very entertaining.
I also think the somewhat incestual brother/sister dynamic in Scarface while much more restrained in Muni's version was disturbing yet in some aspects you had to admire Tony for looking out for his sister.
I did watch 4 of the 5 movies I had planned to watch the other day. I will mention one of those films and an actress in another film.
Upper World: You know, the more I see of Warren William the better I like him. This was a fairly nuanced film for the 30s. What with William's character being a rich industrialist who gets tangled up with a poorer woman who has a shady bf and getting caught in the web of the boyfriend's plan to extort money and getting tangled up in a murder rap.
The movie was very entertaining and there were some great performances. Dickie Moore as William's sassy mouthed kid, Ginger Rogers as the gal that William gets tangled up with and his chauffeur played by Andy Devine.
The morals displayed in the film are a little slippery which is odd considering this wasn't a pre-code film but other then that it was a typical film of the time. Oh and it was nice to see Sidney Toler as a cop with a vendetta against William seeking justice.
3 out of 5 stars
The actress I want to talk about is Glenda Farrell. I saw her in The Personality Kid (overall a dandy little film and I loved the ending. It gets 4 out of 5 stars from me) and she was, as usual, excellent. I don't know how much she's remembered today but she has grown to be one of my favourite actresses of the period. She is very believable in every role she took on and I just love the way she carries herself whether it be semi serious roles or pure comedy.
While I did like Upper World with Warren William. I thought Mary Astor was (Kind of ) wasted as his "Cocktail Party" wife.
I also watched Union Depot with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Blondell. I liked it better than the Warren William film. It also stars a Guy Kibbee as Scrap Iron Scratch (great name) and Alan Hale with an accent.
The 3rd. film is Private Detective 62 with William Powell. Not as good as the Thin Man But still pretty good, and Directed by Michael Curtiz
Look for Charles Lane in both "Union Depot" and "Private Detective 62"
this is some of his earliest work in his 300+ career
vallo
"We're all forgotten sooner or later. But not films. That's all the memorial we should need or hope for."
-Burt Lancaster
Yesterday I watched with my father (who's a huge fan of the Broadway Musical "Les Misérables") the 1935 version of "Les Misérables" (I for the 2nd time and he for the 1st). I remembered that Fredric March's and Charles Laughton's portrayals were excellent, but it was Cedric Hardwicke's performance as the friendly Bishop the one that surprised me the most this time. My father said that this version is good but it's too much centered on Valjean, Javert and Cosette, leaving out two many other important characters from the book.
Today I saw "Unfaithfully Yours", the flawless Criterion Edition print. Brilliant. Period. You have to watch the movie. It cannot be properly described, it has to be "lived". Witty, intellectual dialogue. Rex Harrison superb. Linda Darnell magnificent. Beautiful music. Truly a classy, elegant Black Comedy. A masterpiece. It deserves several views.
Hello, Everyone. On Saturday night, our local cable college station - CUNY-TV, showed Cecil D. DeMille's 1915/18 "The Cheat." This was a real treat, not just because the movie was quite good, but because the print was in excellent condition, and looked the way I would imagine it looked when the audience first saw it, not like the damages prints we generally picture when we think of the earliest silents.
This movie is listed with the date 1915. However, I distinctly remembered that a character was reading a newspaper which was dated 1918. Upon doing a little research, I found out that the film was revised a bit and re-released in 1918. The main revision was to the "villain," who was initially Jpanese, but in the later version was changed to Burmese. Apparently, Hollywood was sensitive to offending the Japanese at that time, and maybe nobody cared about Burma then. In any even, the Asian villain was played by Sessue Hayakawa, who had quite a flourishing career in American silents. He was remarkable. Since I remember him mainly from "Bridge on the River Kwai," it was a revelation to see him in this one - young, very handsome, and quite hot (in the most modern sense).
The story tells of a frivolous society woman whose husband cuts off her clothing allowance, so she embezzles money from the Red Cross which she had been raising among her society friends. She then appeals to Hayakawa, a "rich ivory merchant," who agrees to lend her money if she will provide "certain things" for him. Horrors! A Fate Worse Than Death!
She takes the money, but then reneges on her part of the deal, and in the true fashion of Hollywood's Devious Inscrutable East, Hayakawa brands her on the shoulder with his chop -- now he owns her. She shoots him, and her husband, who was sneaking around Hayakawa's place trying to find out what was going on, takes the blame. A sensational trial ensues, at which the truth comes out, the public rages against Hayakawa, and some live more happily ever after than others.
In spite of the melodramatic aspects, the movie is quite good, and DeMille milks it for all it's worth. And it is worth seeing, for the excellent performance of Sessue Hayakawa. He made so very many films in the period between the World Wars which are seldom seen.
I watched "The Cheat" on DVD earlier this year and was very impressed with how dynamic and powerful it was. It made me want to see more Cecil B. De Mille, and that is a real miracle.
MikeBSG wrote:I watched "The Cheat" on DVD earlier this year and was very impressed with how dynamic and powerful it was. It made me want to see more Cecil B. De Mille, and that is a real miracle.
You know Mike, I've always thought that one of CB's failings was that his more contemporary movies still had the look of silents; but for the silents, his style works just fine. This movie really was good, and was almost 'noir" in style -- those scenes in shadows and all. I haven't seen all that much of CB's earliest work and, like you, I'd like to.
Just a heads up: I will be kinda scarce this month due to the baseball playoffs but I should find time for a few movies at least so you'll see me from time to time.
I tried watching THE FRENCH CONNECTION last night but well too many distractions at home wrecked that I will say it's pretty moody at least.
"The Guru" (2002). A funny film mainly thanks to Jimy Mistry's charm, no masterpiece by any means, but I needed to laugh.
"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964). When we began watching the film with my wife, the fact that all the dialogue was sung was quite unsettling for us and it started getting a little bit on my nerves, but then I got used to it and kinda enjoyed the film. Cathérine Deneuve looks so beautiful in it and she and Nino Castelnuovo make a very handsome couple. Anne Vernon is very good as Cathérine's mum. The ending is very moving.
"For Pete's Sake" (1974). I had been searching this film for quite a while, because I had watched it in the early 1990s or late 1980s, I don't remember well, and had laughed my heart out. Well this time around, I had fun, but not THAT much. Still a funny film and Barbra's very good. Estelle Parsons and Molly Picon are very funny too.
"Premonition" (2007). An OK film, but nothing really special.
"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964). When we began watching the film with my wife, the fact that all the dialogue was sung was quite unsettling for us and it started getting a little bit on my nerves, but then I got used to it and kinda enjoyed the film. Cathérine Deneuve looks so beautiful in it and she and Nino Castelnuovo make a very handsome couple. Anne Vernon is very good as Cathérine's mum. The ending is very moving.
Say, Fernando, I've tried to introduce others to this film as well as to Jacques Demy's follow-up, The Young Girls of Rochefort(1967) without any luck. I agree, it takes awhile to get used to the sung dialogue in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), but the movie does build in its impact toward that snowing climax. I also find the exceptionally bright color schemes in both movies unsettling and interesting. Did you like the color?
I will say it's pretty moody at least. 
