WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[RedRiver]

I don't know PURPLE NOON. Is it a western?

D'0hhhhhhhhh!

I was serious. Seeing it mentioned with JESSE JAMES threw me. I knew something wasn't right. Alain Delon as a cowboy?

[CineMaven]

I'm sorry for the "D'0hhhhhh!!!" Red. I thought you had seen the description posted earlier in the thread.

* * * * *

THE SEDUCTIVENESS OF MURDER:

"I showed you a thing or two didn't I? This is the real thing."



"I'll hang in the end. But I'll give them their money's worth."

You mean to tell me this film doesn't have the most tense, nail-biting last half hour in all the 1930's? Robert Montgomery pulls out a masterful and unnerving performance in "NIGHT MUST FALL."

[JackFavell]

Oh god, I got sucked into Night Must Fall AGAIN today too. I just love my Baby Face....er, I mean Danny Boy! But the whole cast is A1. I love Dame May Whitty in this one, especially her final scene where she gets frightened. Masterful acting. Do you know for years I didn't realize that that old b**** was Miss Froy? Now that's acting.

I also love Merle Tottenham as dumb Dora, and especially Kathleen Harrison as housekeeper Mrs. Terence. You know how you wait for Ingrid to say "What a little pal you are, Dev"? I wait for the whole movie just to hear Kathleen Harrison say, "Grisly, That's what I calls it. Grisly." and this exchange cracked me up today:

MRS. TERENCE: What d'you want for lunch to
morrow ?

MRS. BRAMSON : Lunch to-morrow ? . . . Let me
see

DAN : Lunch ? To-morrow ? . . . (After a pause)
What about a nice little steak ?

MRS. BRAMSON: A steak, let me see.... Yes, with
baked potatoes

DAN : And a nice roly-poly puddin', the kind you
like?

MRS. BRAMSON : I think so.

MRS. TERENCE : Something light. O.K. Good night.

I also love the way she thinks for two seconds when Olivia asks her if she'll help go through Danny's things, and then says quick, "Alright." as if she didn't have to be prodded. Then she tells her it's OK to read his letter because his wife would do it quick enough, if he had one.

They were both in "Flight of the Phoenix."

I knew that! Really I did! Just didn't remember... and I think Duryea was a bit wasted in it - I don't mean drunk, but that he had few scenes. Always good, but underused, as usual.

Whoa...I didn't think of Franchot Tone. ( )You're right. I agree. He was good in "Sitting Pretty" ( nice bland dad ) but also good in "Crossfire" ( tough cop. ) Use that frustration as Stanislavsky, Uta Hagen, Strasberg or Adler might instruct. Your "Wardy" as a Nazi...totally believable. And there was your girl, Bonita Granville. There is something about her that is so pure and clean as a bell. She's pretty and has a great voice. You need to write a post about her. ( Hey, that beats whaling ships, no?? ) She's always very good. Why didn't she have a bigger career? I always thought she was a good solid actress; hahaha...with a great "movie star" name.

Wardy is truly frightening in that movie! Oh my gosh, I would have peed my pants if he ever came near me in Nazi Germany.

Franchot and Robert Montgomery, then Taylor and Mitchum took all the good roles before Young got there. I think I read that LB mayer didn't like him. Poor third Bob. He might have even been fourth Bob! I wonder if he ever felt like offing one of them? I think he's super in The Enchanted Cottage, They Won't Believe Me, and H.M. Pulham, Esq. plus I have a soft spot for him in Journey for Margaret and The Canterville Ghost. He's especially good in the other German film, Three Comrades, I believe, if I'm not getting it mixed up with Mortal Storm. I've always liked Three Comrades better. The Shining Hour is another one of those kind of half baked roles, but he brings a bit of ambivalence, a not so nice quality to his character there too. But frankly, I like him in pretty much everything, hard edged or nice guy. I would have gone out with him back in the day.

I'm sorry, I mis-remembered that. I loved Stewart in the movie. And crazy Kruger. I've got to find out the Italian song playing on the radio of this injured man in the movie. All star cast of character actors. ( I'm so glad the leetle monkee survived. I smiled when I saw George Kennedy having it in a bag tied to the wing. The monkey was a better actor than all the actors combined in "The Silencers." Whew! I had to turn the channel. Everyone was horrible. )

Hahahhahaha! You didn't mis-remember, I think I came late to the discussion of FOTP, because I couldn't find a copy. I was relieved about the monkee too.

[CineMaven]

I had on TCM to keep my company, so I can't say I had my beady squinty eyes glued to the screen. So in the background there's Franchot Tone ( great speaking voice ) and Robert Montgomery in "Three Loves Have Nancy." Oooh boy, an innocuous little comedy that wasn't very very funny. Both these guys seem to be of equal caliber in timing and in heat. That they were pretty evenly matched was interesting. I did have two laugh out loud moments. When Montgomery says of Tone: "He lost his soul years ago in a Scotch mist." Also when Nancy's ( played by Janet Gaynor in an annoying Southern accent, when it should have been played by [ lower-tiered ] Joyce Compton ) three loves: Tone, Montgomery & Grady Sutton ( ? ? ) confront each other to fight...they all take off their jackets and ask her to hold their coats...I did laugh out loud.

* * * *

I have a friend whose bugaboo is "My Favorite Wife." She thinks it's just plain silly. "The kids don't recognize their own mother after seven years? Cary Grant didn't have pictures of Irene Dunne around the house?!" She also asks, "Do you suppose audiences of 1941 believed that Dunne spent seven chaste years on an island with Randolph Scott?" I try to joke her out of it ( 'cuz I love the idea of Grant & Dunne together again. ) I try to tell her that all girls back then were not sitting under the apple tree with anybody but their soldier boy until he came back from the War. I try to tell her to suspend her disbelief.

All she does is hit me with the suspenders and bops me on the head with the apples. ( 0w! )

...But having on "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" today, I found that movie sillier than "My Favorite Wife." Listen, it pains me to write this stuff down. Oh yeah, I might think it but I hate negative reviews. It went on a little longer than it could have. What I really reacted to was the bittersweetness of seeing the two great 1930's light comedians, make their foray into the nineteen forties. Lombard looked absolutely beautiful and womanly in this film. Montgomery didn't mug so much ( his mugging with that silly smirk of his was just godawful in "Nancy Has Three Loves" ) in this. Seeing Lombard and knowing that she wouldn't be with us much longer just makes me sad and think of "what might've been." She still had IT!

* * * *

I like your assessment of Robert Young above. In fact, I liked the spiritedness of your whole post. Cheeky. Makes me smile.

[JackFavell]

Ouch! This pays me back for that Lincoln review....

[MikeBSG]

Today I watched "King of Kings" (1961) directed by Nicholas Ray.

I hadn't seen this film since Kindergarten. I really liked it. In some ways, the movie makes unusual choices. It almost seems to be more about the enemies of Jesus than about Jesus, but this turns out to be a strength of the film, because it shows the impact Jesus has on people more than simply restaging the miracles. (Although I have to say that the Sermon on the Mount was wonderfully done. Jeffrey Hunter did a great job there.)

I was struck by the movie's portrayal of Judas, who is presented as a basically likeable guy who betrays Jesus because he wants Jesus to strike out violently at the Romans. Isn't this the approach taken in Franco Zefferelli's movie "Jesus of Nazareth" (1976) which was considered so daring and new at the time? I also had to think of "Last Temptation of Christ" a few times, particularly when Jesus was brought before Pilate.

And I loved hearing Orson Welles' narration.

I just was very impressed by this film.

[CineMaven]

Ouch! This pays me back for that Lincoln review....

Naaaah. I'd have to be much more excoriating than this. This was just a teensy little swipe.

Say, what movie up there are you liking so much?

[JackFavell]

I really LOVE Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but I actually like Three Loves Has Nancy as well, just because it's 3 good actors working from a ridiculous script. I think they're all good, and I especially like the slow burn of Robert Montgomery who we know is going to miss his train as soon as he says, "I've never missed a train in my life and I'm not going to miss it now."

I completely understand your feelings though, about BOTH movies, they can be annoying or simply not too funny, but I find they just tickle me, more so with each successive viewing. I think there are some comedies that actually work BETTER when you know what's coming, and these both work on that level for me. When I was younger, I couldn't get my mind around Mr. and Mrs. Smith at all, I didn't like it. Now I find it hilarious, especially Gene Raymond drunk. I love that Carole is doing her best to get mauled by him, but he refuses to act as anything but a perfect gentleman. All she really wants is a guy who'll try something like Robert Montgomery but she's fighting it tooth and nail. They break up because of those little things that drive us all crazy with our partners. What if I left every time I told Andrew I was ticked off at him? I can see this happening, that he didn't ask again after being through marriage with me. I like how babyish they both are....no one else would put up with them! And the truth is, the more we love our partners, the more annoyed we become with them. At least most of the time. Maybe the attraction is the same as the flare of annoyance?

[feaito]

I haven't seen "Three Loves Has Nancy" (1938), but I do remember not enjoying so much "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (1941) the first time I saw it; found it somewhat unfunny. Only when I watched it for a second time I enjoyed it more and I think that it might be the case of an "acquired taste", just like wine and sea-urchin roe

And of course when I watched it for the first time I wanted badly to like it (the combination of Hitchcock, Lombard and Montgomery beforehand seemed irresistible and winner all the way...).

Another Classic comedy which I wanted to like, but I found very unfunny and unappealing was Lubitsch´s "That Uncertain Feeling" (1941) with Merle, Burgess and Melvyn....sad.

[CineMaven]

Nothing sadder than an unfunny comedy. But hey, the funny bone is in the body of the beholder.

[RedRiver]

She thinks it's just plain silly...I try to tell her to suspend her disbelief.

Some people just can't do that. If it's not totally credible, it doesn't work for them. I argue there's a difference between believable and realistic. It's believable that THAT character in THAT situation would do it. In a world where that situation would even occur. To the realist, it must make perfect sense or it's ridiculous. These people tend to be very smart. A little too smart? My closing argument is this. Do you like Shakespeare? Do you think people EVER really talked like that?

having on "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" today, I found that movie sillier than "My Favorite Wife."

I don't get fully taken in by this one either. It's not the silliness I object to. It's just not all that funny. The exquisite Ms. Lombard is a joy to watch in anything. But Hitchcock's only comedy is an effort with mixed results.

"King of Kings" (1961)

I tried to like it. Heard all about it when it came out; finally saw it years later. It's too slow for me. Much too slow. You can't criticize the plot. My compliments to the author! But rarely was I excited. By the time the climax came along, I had lost interest. It didn't help that I watched a widescreen broadcast on a box like TV. Sometimes I could barely tell what was going on. "Some guy's walking on water, I think!" I'd like to see De Mille's version of this story. Is it silent?

[RedRiver]

Ack! Maven

My feelings exactly.

[charliechaplinfan]

Two Westerns for me so far this week, you know me I'm not a Westerns gal but I did quite like Westward The Women with Robert Taylor, who's boyish good looks had dissappeared by this time leaving a far more interesting actor, I think this is the best thing I've ever seen him in, a far cry for Armand or A Yank At Oxford.

Then The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, I really like Paul Newman but I don't always like everything he's in, I'm sitting on the fence with this one, I like the way it was made in vignettes but it didn't completely gel for me.

A touch of romance Dangerous Moonlight with Anton Walbrook and Sally Gray, good twosome, Walbrook is a very good actor and livens up whatever he's in. This story didn't need much excitement added to it, with a lovely soundtrack to accompany the film, thankfully it's been recognised and had a release here.

[JackFavell]

Wow, two of my favorites as far apart as they could be.

Westward the Women is such a great movie! I can't even tell you how it affected me. Robert Taylor is wonderful in it, but even more wonderful are the women themselves. For me the standouts (in a cast that is perfection) are Hope Emerson and sharpshooter Lenore Lonergan, with the glasses. Does anyone know anything about Lenore? Every time I see the movie I think I should check out her other movies, but then I forget.

Thanks to a certain Walbrook fan here, I have a copy of Dangerous Moonlight. It's so romantic! Anton, playing in an empty room with no roof? He's a Polish pilot downed in battle, then finds time for a little piano playing while the battle rages? Exciting. Oh yeah. I'm there.