All right, who wound up Ken too tight and sent him skittering across the floor like a mad marching toy? You've got him all confused . . .
First, he mentions Joe Kennedy, Sr. and his curried favor of the Nazis, and then denies it in his next post. Regardless of his politics, Kennedy liked the Nazis for the same reason that a lot of our social engineers did back then -- they had fantastic social programs, which Life magazine, for one, did several stories about. Even FDR admitted that he modeled his New Deal on the German system. But when they saw what those programs were supporting in Germany, they gradually fell away by the end of the '30s.
Then he starts thinking that the fascists are ultra-right, when they are actually ultra-left. (Remember, the Nazis were socialists by definition and affirmation.) In that light, they might have killed Kennedy because he "betrayed the revolution" by getting tough on communism in Cuba, and passing tax cuts for the rich, among other things.
However, he might be on to something with the Rube-Goldbergian machinations that might indirectly implicate the elder Joe Kennedy in his son's assassination. That's one of the main points of Robert Mayer's terrific satirical novel I, JFK. It's the conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories.
But let's stop provoking Ken and stick to the movies. Okay, I'm through . . .
WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?
The Nazis were a combination of big business and the power of the state, that is right not left, but whatever the Nazis were there were evil, and bickering over wether they were right and left is not productive. FDR drew many of this ideas from Catholic Social Doctrine as expressed in the encyclical Rerum Novarum of Pope Lea XIII The Time - Life Publishing Empire was founded by Henry Luce another Bonesman. Many Bonesman ( Harriman - P. Bush were movers and shakers in the eugenics movement which had similiar objecties as did the Nazis, build a better human race by elimating " inferior people ", be they " inferior because of race or diabilities ! Just because ' old Joe sought favor with the Anglo - American WASP Establishmentdoesn't mean that his sons followed in his footsteps, even though Bobby was a pal of Joe MvCarthy.Interesting that Prof. Carroll Quiqley, William Jefferson Clinton's political mentor, was also a one time " advisor " to Tail Gunner Joe . JFK's domestic opponents were of the political right from H.L Hunt down ! :wink
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moira finnie
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I recently saw a dvd of Paris, Je t'aime (2006), which is an anthology film blending the work of many directors from all over the world behind the scenes. It is set in various neighborhoods of Paris. Most of the segments are about 5 minutes long or so, and some are technically dazzling (the segment with Elijah Wood late at night is wonderfully ghoulish and visually arresting, if a bit bloody for my taste). Most are alternately touching, satisfying observations of human nature and sometimes very funny.
The best, among the many sequences, to me:
~ Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands as an older, long-seperated couple planning their divorce.
~ Bob Hoskins and Fanny Ardant as a pair of games-players that is quite funny and sad.
~ Juliette Binoche as a grieving mother helped by a cowboy (Willem Dafoe)
~ Seydou Boro as a displaced Nigerian immigrant. Very well done and the last is a real heartbreaker.
~ Steve Buscemi as an American tourist who commits an unforgivable faux pas: he makes eye contact with a couple in the Metro. Very funny in a goofy way.
The best, among the many sequences, to me:
~ Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands as an older, long-seperated couple planning their divorce.
~ Bob Hoskins and Fanny Ardant as a pair of games-players that is quite funny and sad.
~ Juliette Binoche as a grieving mother helped by a cowboy (Willem Dafoe)
~ Seydou Boro as a displaced Nigerian immigrant. Very well done and the last is a real heartbreaker.
~ Steve Buscemi as an American tourist who commits an unforgivable faux pas: he makes eye contact with a couple in the Metro. Very funny in a goofy way.
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feaito
Good review Christine. What you say is coincident with what I've read in Dumont's biography of Borzage; this one seems to be indeed his most interesting film made at Warners.Ann Harding wrote:Yesterday I watched a Borzage picture: Living On Velvet (1935) with Kay Francis, Warren William & George Brent. Around that period, Borzage was under contract at Warner's. I don't think he was very happy within the studio and it's reflected in this film. But, overall, this is certainly the best Warner film he made. The storyline has some wonderful bitter accents that are not achieved completely on the screen alas.... George Brent is supposed to be a devil-may-care pilot who lost all will to live after the death of his parents and sister in his own plane. Until he meets Kay Francis who is doing her best to 'wake him up' to reality...
If it weren't for lovely Kay Francis, the film would be really boring. The main problem is George Brent. He is so dull and bland, it looks as if the expression 'wooden acting' was made for him....The part called for a skilled comedian. In the background, Warren William has little to do. That's a shame because he is a far better actor than Brent. Apparently, Warner had the film script modified so that Kay would stay with Brent rather than William who had terminated his contract at Warner's.....the studio policies are just mind-boggling sometimes!!!!
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feaito
Moira, I watched this film some months ago and I found it very interesting. The segments you list are really among the best.moirafinnie wrote:I recently saw a dvd of Paris, Je t'aime (2006), which is an anthology film blending the work of many directors from all over the world behind the scenes. It is set in various neighborhoods of Paris. Most of the segments are about 5 minutes long or so, and some are technically dazzling (the segment with Elijah Wood late at night is wonderfully ghoulish and visually arresting, if a bit bloody for my taste). Most are alternately touching, satisfying observations of human nature and sometimes very funny.
The best, among the many sequences, to me:
~ Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands as an older, long-seperated couple planning their divorce.
~ Bob Hoskins and Fanny Ardant as a pair of games-players that is quite funny and sad.
~ Juliette Binoche as a grieving mother helped by a cowboy (Willem Dafoe)
~ Seydou Boro as a displaced Nigerian immigrant. Very well done and the last is a real heartbreaker.
~ Steve Buscemi as an American tourist who commits an unforgivable faux pas: he makes eye contact with a couple in the Metro. Very funny in a goofy way.
Yesterday I watched "Broken Lance" (1953) a powerful, exciting western with Spencer Tracy in tailor-made role. Katy Jurado is superb as his wife. Bob Wagner is good as his favorite son. Richard Widmark is very good as the oldest son, full of hatred and jealousy. Good film!
When the film began I found it uncannily reminiscent of Mankiewicz's "House of Strangers". The details are not the same, but the general outline of the plot is very similar.
It also reminded me of "Duel in the Sun".
Monday night...big screen.
Slap to the face! Punch in the gut! Knife in the chest! Shot in the rump!
Yes, I saw VERBOTEN! (1959) by Samuel Fuller.
Glad I went in spite of the UofC student (excuse the implicit anti-intellectual and ageist characterization) next to me who thought we were at a Midnight Camp Movie Fest. OK, I'll admit that with one of the sappiest opening theme songs in movie history (Paul Anka warbling lines such as "Our love is verboten") and our American soldier hero convincing a German fraulein that she is acceptable to him by saying "You're kosher" could make the movie appear campy, but this is Fuller at his lurid and unsentimental best.
The film starts (after Anka) with American soldiers "liberating" a German town near the end of WWII (to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony). Our American soldier hero, having been shot in the rump, is tended to by a fraulein, who has an angry teenage brother who lost an arm during an earlier American bombing of the town. Hero falls in love with fraulein. Fraulein acts as if she loves hero -- but does she? Hero stays in village post-WWII as a civilian working with the American Military Occupation forces while a gang of young unreconstructed Nazis terrorize the town (to Wagner's Die Valkure). The gang is led by a friend of the fraulein, who had gotten him a job working for the hero. And fraulein's brother, of course, gets sucked into the gang.
Romance! Nazis! Racism! Juvenile Delinquents! Savagery! Survival! Fuller, again, with the slenderest of a main plot line, gets all of his touchstones into a 93 minute movie that has more subplots than a Dickens novel. And does it with style and gusto.
Love him or hate him, he is the prototype of an auteur.
Slap to the face! Punch in the gut! Knife in the chest! Shot in the rump!
Yes, I saw VERBOTEN! (1959) by Samuel Fuller.
Glad I went in spite of the UofC student (excuse the implicit anti-intellectual and ageist characterization) next to me who thought we were at a Midnight Camp Movie Fest. OK, I'll admit that with one of the sappiest opening theme songs in movie history (Paul Anka warbling lines such as "Our love is verboten") and our American soldier hero convincing a German fraulein that she is acceptable to him by saying "You're kosher" could make the movie appear campy, but this is Fuller at his lurid and unsentimental best.
The film starts (after Anka) with American soldiers "liberating" a German town near the end of WWII (to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony). Our American soldier hero, having been shot in the rump, is tended to by a fraulein, who has an angry teenage brother who lost an arm during an earlier American bombing of the town. Hero falls in love with fraulein. Fraulein acts as if she loves hero -- but does she? Hero stays in village post-WWII as a civilian working with the American Military Occupation forces while a gang of young unreconstructed Nazis terrorize the town (to Wagner's Die Valkure). The gang is led by a friend of the fraulein, who had gotten him a job working for the hero. And fraulein's brother, of course, gets sucked into the gang.
Romance! Nazis! Racism! Juvenile Delinquents! Savagery! Survival! Fuller, again, with the slenderest of a main plot line, gets all of his touchstones into a 93 minute movie that has more subplots than a Dickens novel. And does it with style and gusto.
Love him or hate him, he is the prototype of an auteur.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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jdb1
Yesterday TCM ran a very nice one in the afternoon - the film Janie. The movie was directed by Michael Curtiz, and stars the pretty, teenaged Joyce Reynolds as Janie, a nice, smalltown girl. Some of the adults in the cast include Edward Arnold and Ann Harding as Janie's parents, Hattie McDaniel as their maid, Robert Benchley as a neighbor, and Alan Hale as a government scientist. A wonderful youngster named Clare Foley plays Janie's wisecracking sister. She was terrific; I hadn't seen her before, and her movie resume on IMDb is very short.
The story revolves around a group of girls wanting to throw a party for the young soldiers billeted in the town. Janie has the attentions of two young men, one just enlisted, and one too young to enlist. The younger one, jealous of Janie's time spent with soldiers, calls the camp and invites all the young men under 20 to come to Janie's house for the party, where Janie has planned for just six soldiers and six young ladies. So instead of six soldiers, she finds herself entertaining about 106.
There are the usual teenage hijinks one would expect from a 1944 movie - trying to get the parents out of the house so the party can commence; a few patriotic speeches about how our boys need to see a real home and have some innocent fun before they ship out, etc. However, the entire film is played out with a minium of corn, and they young people are very sweet and entirely believable. I picked out Jimmy Dodd (later of the Mickey Mouse Club) and Keefe Brasselle among the soldiers at the party. One of Janie's two loves is Richard Erdman, and the other is Robert Hutton (or is it Sutton?), who was in a lot of movies as the son going off the war. From the distance he looks a lot like James Stewart.
As the party builds, a soldier swing band shows up, and the kids break into song - "Keep Your Powder Dry" - the whole musical number is very briskly done, and seems perfectly spontaneous. The young Joyce Reynolds is very good, and keeps the sugary cuteness to a minimum. (I see on IMDb that there is a sequel, Janie Gets Married, with Joan Caulfield as Janie.) Of course, things at the party get a bit too loud, the police are called, the MPs show up (Hattie distracts them with coffee and donuts), but everyone is placated and all ends well.
One really good scene: Janie is upset and is trying to ask her father's advice about her romantic problems while he is trying to make a phone call to Washington (he is the editor of the town paper, and is trying to reach Alan Hale). He only half hears her, until she says she's gotten herself into a terrible jam. Then he slams down the phone and demands to know what's happened. His face goes from exasperated to panic-stricken. You can tell me, he says, whatever it is, I'll help you. So Janie tearfully admits that she's let one of her two young men kiss her. "He kissed you??" Dad says, as his face recedes from panic-stricken, to relieved, to amused, all this in the space of about 10 seconds. Edward Arnold does this so subtly and so recognizably to any parent watching. A real master.
I enjoyed Janie very much, and recommend it to you as one of the superior films of this genre.
The story revolves around a group of girls wanting to throw a party for the young soldiers billeted in the town. Janie has the attentions of two young men, one just enlisted, and one too young to enlist. The younger one, jealous of Janie's time spent with soldiers, calls the camp and invites all the young men under 20 to come to Janie's house for the party, where Janie has planned for just six soldiers and six young ladies. So instead of six soldiers, she finds herself entertaining about 106.
There are the usual teenage hijinks one would expect from a 1944 movie - trying to get the parents out of the house so the party can commence; a few patriotic speeches about how our boys need to see a real home and have some innocent fun before they ship out, etc. However, the entire film is played out with a minium of corn, and they young people are very sweet and entirely believable. I picked out Jimmy Dodd (later of the Mickey Mouse Club) and Keefe Brasselle among the soldiers at the party. One of Janie's two loves is Richard Erdman, and the other is Robert Hutton (or is it Sutton?), who was in a lot of movies as the son going off the war. From the distance he looks a lot like James Stewart.
As the party builds, a soldier swing band shows up, and the kids break into song - "Keep Your Powder Dry" - the whole musical number is very briskly done, and seems perfectly spontaneous. The young Joyce Reynolds is very good, and keeps the sugary cuteness to a minimum. (I see on IMDb that there is a sequel, Janie Gets Married, with Joan Caulfield as Janie.) Of course, things at the party get a bit too loud, the police are called, the MPs show up (Hattie distracts them with coffee and donuts), but everyone is placated and all ends well.
One really good scene: Janie is upset and is trying to ask her father's advice about her romantic problems while he is trying to make a phone call to Washington (he is the editor of the town paper, and is trying to reach Alan Hale). He only half hears her, until she says she's gotten herself into a terrible jam. Then he slams down the phone and demands to know what's happened. His face goes from exasperated to panic-stricken. You can tell me, he says, whatever it is, I'll help you. So Janie tearfully admits that she's let one of her two young men kiss her. "He kissed you??" Dad says, as his face recedes from panic-stricken, to relieved, to amused, all this in the space of about 10 seconds. Edward Arnold does this so subtly and so recognizably to any parent watching. A real master.
I enjoyed Janie very much, and recommend it to you as one of the superior films of this genre.
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moira finnie
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Judith,
Your description of Edward Arnold's face as he listens to Janie's problems make me wish that I'd seen this! I've seen parts of this and seem to recall that Hattie McDaniel as the housekeeper makes no bones about who's really in charge in the household, and even swats the behind of one of the girls (who deserved it) when she gets out of line.
I just saw--no, strike that--got sucked into the first movie I've ever seen (other than Renoir's Woman on the Beach, that is) about the U.S. Coast Guard, God bless 'em. It was called The Guardian (2006) with Kevin Costner & Ashton Kuchner (am I spelling that correctly?). Having lived for years a half mile from a Coast Guard station on the Atlantic that saved too many souls to count, and having found them to be one of the few branches of the federal government one could be proud of during the Katrina mess, I was delighted to see them as the focus of a flick.
Dang, at first I thought it was going to be another godawful Waterworld or The Postman for a moment and then breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that we were viewing Costner in one of his non-writing/producing/creating movies. In other words, he acted a role and jeepers, even though this story had some major third act flaws, that boy is good when he stops being a freakin' mogul! In the last few years he's turned in some darn good and subtle acting turns, particularly in The Upside of Anger.
The Guardian, which is sort of a combination of An Officer and a Gentleman meets The Perfect Storm might be an ideal, not too dumb or violent movie for teens too btw, (though there is some puppyish sex between the Ashton kid and a cute girl). While the ending is a bit of a howler, it's entertaining and also touching. It seems to me that the critics really beat up on this movie more than it might have deserved when it came out.
Has anyone else seen this?
Your description of Edward Arnold's face as he listens to Janie's problems make me wish that I'd seen this! I've seen parts of this and seem to recall that Hattie McDaniel as the housekeeper makes no bones about who's really in charge in the household, and even swats the behind of one of the girls (who deserved it) when she gets out of line.
I just saw--no, strike that--got sucked into the first movie I've ever seen (other than Renoir's Woman on the Beach, that is) about the U.S. Coast Guard, God bless 'em. It was called The Guardian (2006) with Kevin Costner & Ashton Kuchner (am I spelling that correctly?). Having lived for years a half mile from a Coast Guard station on the Atlantic that saved too many souls to count, and having found them to be one of the few branches of the federal government one could be proud of during the Katrina mess, I was delighted to see them as the focus of a flick.
Dang, at first I thought it was going to be another godawful Waterworld or The Postman for a moment and then breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that we were viewing Costner in one of his non-writing/producing/creating movies. In other words, he acted a role and jeepers, even though this story had some major third act flaws, that boy is good when he stops being a freakin' mogul! In the last few years he's turned in some darn good and subtle acting turns, particularly in The Upside of Anger.
The Guardian, which is sort of a combination of An Officer and a Gentleman meets The Perfect Storm might be an ideal, not too dumb or violent movie for teens too btw, (though there is some puppyish sex between the Ashton kid and a cute girl). While the ending is a bit of a howler, it's entertaining and also touching. It seems to me that the critics really beat up on this movie more than it might have deserved when it came out.
Has anyone else seen this?
Hi Moira:
I started to watch it today, then realized I had already missed about 45 minutes, so hopefully I will catch it on Monday. or even sometime in the middle of tonight. I agree with you about Kevin, and the same goes for Mel Gibson and all the others who try to run the entire show except Clint Eastwood, he seems to manage pretty well. I also noticed when Robert Redford directs, he usually leaves the lead to someone else since The Horse Whisperer.
Anne
I started to watch it today, then realized I had already missed about 45 minutes, so hopefully I will catch it on Monday. or even sometime in the middle of tonight. I agree with you about Kevin, and the same goes for Mel Gibson and all the others who try to run the entire show except Clint Eastwood, he seems to manage pretty well. I also noticed when Robert Redford directs, he usually leaves the lead to someone else since The Horse Whisperer.
Anne
Anne
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charliechaplinfan
- Posts: 9040
- Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am
I watched Broken Lullaby a 1932 Ernst Lubtisch film, not a comedy for once. Instead a very thought provoking film. It's story is centres around the death of a German soldier. The French man who kills him becomes haunted by the act and as he has seen the mans name and address he goes to the soldiers home town and visits the grave and the family. He originally intends to own up to the killing but finds he can't. It's a superb premise for a film but one audiences weren't ready to take at the time. If you do get chance to see this movie, it's well worth it. Extremely thought provoking and well acted and crafted.
I had two disappointing experiences yesterday.
I tried to watch "The Italian Straw Hat," a silent comedy directed by Rene Clair. I really enjoyed Clair's early talkies, "Under the Roofs of Paris" and "Le Million," but "Italian Straw Hat" just seemed slow and poky, and the characters looked alike. I was dozing off after twenty minutes, so I gave up on it.
Then I tried to watch "My Dinner With Andre," which I had never seen before. I found the film oppressive. Andre's talk about his trip to Poland was interesting, but then as he kept talking and talking and talking, I felt as if I were locked in a room with a guy who wouldn't SHUT UP. I lasted about an hour with it, and then I shut it off.
I tried to watch "The Italian Straw Hat," a silent comedy directed by Rene Clair. I really enjoyed Clair's early talkies, "Under the Roofs of Paris" and "Le Million," but "Italian Straw Hat" just seemed slow and poky, and the characters looked alike. I was dozing off after twenty minutes, so I gave up on it.
Then I tried to watch "My Dinner With Andre," which I had never seen before. I found the film oppressive. Andre's talk about his trip to Poland was interesting, but then as he kept talking and talking and talking, I felt as if I were locked in a room with a guy who wouldn't SHUT UP. I lasted about an hour with it, and then I shut it off.
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klondike
Mike, sounds like your experience with this film pretty closely parallels my own, albeit on cable back in '92; ever since, we've referred to it around my household as "My Dinner with Ennui".MikeBSG wrote:
Then I tried to watch "My Dinner With Andre," which I had never seen before. I found the film oppressive. Andre's talk about his trip to Poland was interesting, but then as he kept talking and talking and talking, I felt as if I were locked in a room with a guy who wouldn't SHUT UP. I lasted about an hour with it, and then I shut it off.
Com' mauvais par moi, eh?
klondike wrote:
Yes, but it does have Wallace Shawn, who, with Bob Balaban, is my favorite kooky little pre-Steve Buscemi character actor of my generation.ever since, we've referred to it around my household as "My Dinner with Ennui".
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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klondike
Good point, ChiO; I've always regarded Wally Shawn as an overlooked comic genius, and part of my disgruntlement with Dinner is the way in which (IMO) Mr. Shawn's enthusiastic involvement was so under-utilized and, ultimately, wasted.ChiO wrote:klondike wrote:Yes, but it does have Wallace Shawn, who, with Bob Balaban, is my favorite kooky little pre-Steve Buscemi character actor of my generation.ever since, we've referred to it around my household as "My Dinner with Ennui".