Best New Finds

Discussion of programming on TCM.
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Feinberg
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Best New Finds

Post by Feinberg »

Perhaps this thread might be used in addition to 'I Just Watched' for films that one has seen for the first time (other than current releases) that are worthy of a recommendation.
After viewing a film that was decently regarded and personally thinking otherwise, a friend once said to me that he wasn't surprised as if it had truly been good he probably would have seen it already. Those of us who have been watching for years probably feel the same from time to time. But every once in a while I do come across a film that I think is worth recommending either as the film itself or for a performance or an interesting bit of craftsmanship.
So here goes my list of films that I have seen since Christmas that I thought stood above the rest ...

The Jester's Tale (1964) Karel Zeman, Czechoslovakia

Ohayau, the Female Demon (1968) Yoshihiro Ishikawa, Japan

Chopper (2000) Andrew Dominik, Australia

Chappie (2015) Neill Blomkamp, USA/South Africa

Flocking (2015) Beata Gardeler, Sweden
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LawrenceA
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Re: Best New Finds

Post by LawrenceA »

Feinberg wrote: April 5th, 2023, 10:10 am
Ohayau, the Female Demon (1968) Yoshihiro Ishikawa, Japan

Chopper (2000) Andrew Dominik, Australia
I really like those two, as well.

Of the many features I've watched lately, I would recommend these:

Alice in Wonderland (1915) W.W. Young, USA

Filibus (1915) Mario Roncoroni, Italy

The End of the World (1916) August Blom, Denmark

Straight Shooting (1917) John Ford, USA

Different from the Others (1919) Richard Oswald, Germany

The Dragon Painter (1919) William Worthington, USA

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry Robert Siodmak, USA
Watching until the end.
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Feinberg
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Re: Best New Finds

Post by Feinberg »

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I've been watching a few creaky British comedies of late. Most of these B pictures are not very good. Boys Will Be Girls (1938) was a slight cut above the rest due its writing. It thought it worth mentioning in this thread as I quite enjoyed the performance by Nellie Wallace. Her peculiar way of singing and mugging was rather fun. Wallace, born Wallis, was a music hall performer who only made a few pictures. Wikipedia says that the James Bond gyrocopter in You Only Live Twice, the Wallis WA-116, or 'Little Nellie' was named after her.
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speedracer5
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Re: Best New Finds

Post by speedracer5 »

LawrenceA wrote: April 5th, 2023, 11:26 am
Feinberg wrote: April 5th, 2023, 10:10 am
Ohayau, the Female Demon (1968) Yoshihiro Ishikawa, Japan

Chopper (2000) Andrew Dominik, Australia
I really like those two, as well.

Of the many features I've watched lately, I would recommend these:

Alice in Wonderland (1915) W.W. Young, USA

Filibus (1915) Mario Roncoroni, Italy

The End of the World (1916) August Blom, Denmark

Straight Shooting (1917) John Ford, USA

Different from the Others (1919) Richard Oswald, Germany

The Dragon Painter (1919) William Worthington, USA

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry Robert Siodmak, USA
Did you find the ending of "The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" to be a letdown? My husband and I watched it and were really enjoying it...then that ending happened. Oof. I think if you turn it off right after Harry confesses to Lettie, then it is perfect.
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speedracer5
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Re: Best New Finds

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My favorite recent finds are:

Paris Blues (1961) with Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Diahann Carroll. Poitier and Newman star as American expats who make their living in Paris as jazz musicians. Woodward and Carroll appear as American tourists who fall in love with Newman and Poitier during their trip. This was a great movie and one that I'd never even heard of until I heard it recommended on a podcast.

The Five Pennies (1959) with Danny Kaye, Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong and Tuesday Weld. This was another jazz themed movie with a surprisingly dramatic turn from Danny Kaye. He is excellent in this biopic about cornetist Red Nichols who was popular in the 1920s. While Kaye gets a chance to do his comedic schtick, most of the film is dramatic and very compelling. Plus, it has great music.

Born to Kill (1947) with Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Elisha Cook Jr, and Walter Slezak. This was a surprisingly brutal film noir and I loved it. We never really know what Claire Trevor's MO is.

A Woman's Vengeance (1948) with Charles Boyer, Ann Blyth, and Jessica Tandy. This is a film where Boyer is suspected of killing his wife. All evidence points towards him, despite his constant claims of innocence. While Tandy is third billed, this is her film all the way and she has a very dramatic scene which is absolutely fantastic and comes completely out of left field.

Deadline at Dawn (1946) with Susan Hayward and Paul Lukas. This was an excellent film noir where Susan Hayward helps a young sailor try to retrace his steps after he wakes up with a crapton of money in his pocket and then discovers that the woman he was with is now dead. The hitch is that the navy bus leaves at 6am and must be on board. Lukas appears as a kind cab driver who aides the investigation. This movie also had an ending that I did not anticipate.

Ivy (1947) with Joan Fontaine, Patric Knowles, and Herbert Marshall. Joan Fontaine is cast against type as a woman who will do whatever it takes to improve her social standing.
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C*i*g*a*rTheJoe
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Re: Best New Finds

Post by C*i*g*a*rTheJoe »

speedracer5 wrote: April 7th, 2023, 11:31 pm
Deadline at Dawn (1946) with Susan Hayward and Paul Lukas. This was an excellent film noir where Susan Hayward helps a young sailor try to retrace his steps after he wakes up with a crapton of money in his pocket and then discovers that the woman he was with is now dead. The hitch is that the navy bus leaves at 6am and must be on board. Lukas appears as a kind cab driver who aides the investigation. This movie also had an ending that I did not anticipate.
It they had actually followed the Woolrich novel it would have been an entirely different film. In the novel the taxi dancer is named Bricky for her red hair. There is no sailor at all, and no deadline to get to Virginia Beach. He is replaced by Quinn a guy coincidentally from Bricky's hometown in Iowa, the proverbial "boy next door." Quinn BTW worked for an electrician in Manhattan until the old man died recently.

On one particular job they did they had to add a new socket in a bathroom wall, while Quinn was cutting through the plaster and lath wall he hit the wooden backside of a safe embedded in the wall only the safe door and frame were of cast iron. Quinn also came into possession of the latch key for the house that accidentally fell into his tool box that he had placed near the small table near the foyer. Weeks go by and he forgets about the key.

When the old man died the shop he ran closed up and Quinn was going broke by the day. He remembered the latch key that he had forgotten about and the safe that would be easy picking. So he waited until the owner left the house, went in and broke through the back of the safe making away with about $2500 in cash. He's now feeling that everyone is watching him. He spends some of the money on food then decides to hide out in the taxi dance ballroom until it closes there he meets Bricky.

He basically confesses to Bricky who falls for him and then Bricky decides that the thing for them to do is to put the money back and catch the 6AM bus to Iowa. That is the deadline in the novel. Also throughout the novel Bricky keeps getting glimpses of the large clock atop the Paramount Building and it's hands moving ever closer to that 6AM deadline. When they get back to the townhouse to put the money back they find the owner shot dead. In the novel Bricky and Quinn act like detectives picking up various clues and following them. They figure out that there was a man and a woman in the room with the dead man and figure out that one of them must be the murderer.

With only four hours to go before that 6AM deadline they split up to follow the leads Quinn after the man Bricky after the woman, agreeing to rendezvous back at the town house. The novel details the various trails they follow and some of the leads are quite interesting.

For instance in the novel the Bricky character traces a cab taken by a woman to a street corner in lower Manhattan from there she goes into an all night bakery to ask if a blonde woman came in. They tell her that one that lives just down the block did and bought some fresh bread. Bricky starts checking the buildings on the block looking for traces of flour on the door handles and mail boxes.

In the novel the Quinn character follows a dead end lead of a nervous man to a hospital where he discovers he's been following an expectant father. The whole novel pretty much, is Quinn and Bricky vs Manhattan and a bus departure deadline with just minor characters filling in.
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Feinberg
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Re: Best New Finds

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Macbeth (1997) with Jason Connery and Helen Baxendale. I was pleasantly surprised to find this a very credible version of the Shakespeare play with both leads equating themselves well. Kenneth Bryans was also very good as Macduff.
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Feinberg
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Re: Best New Finds

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Keith Mitchell is the whole show as the King in Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972). Also starring Donald Pleasence, Charlotte Rampling, Jane Asher and Michael Gough.
Not to be confused with the earlier tv mini series, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) with Mitchell and a different cast. The 1972 film certainly feels like an abridged version but Mitchell's performance is worth seeing in the feature.
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Feinberg
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Re: Best New Finds

Post by Feinberg »

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I'm late to the party on this one. I finally caught up with Bertrand Blier's surreal comedy, Buffet Froid (1979) with Gerard Depardieu and the director's father, Bernard Blier. I thought it was wonderfully funny in the vein of Bunuel's French films of the 60's and 70's.
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HoldenIsHere
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Re: Best New Finds

Post by HoldenIsHere »

speedracer5 wrote: April 7th, 2023, 11:31 pm

Ivy (1947) with Joan Fontaine, Patric Knowles, and Herbert Marshall. Joan Fontaine is cast against type as a woman who will do whatever it takes to improve her social standing.
IVY is one of my favorite movies starring Joan Fontaine, who is one of my favorite actors.
She plays Ivy in a way that almost makes me want the character to get away with everything!

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C*i*g*a*rTheJoe
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Re: Best New Finds

Post by C*i*g*a*rTheJoe »

Road To Salina aka La Route de Salina (1970) Written & Directed by Georges Lautner (The Professional (1981). The film is based on Maurice Cury's novel La Route de Salina. The excellent cinematography was by Maurice Fellous, Music by Christophe (Kill Bill), Clinic and Bernard G?rard.

The film stars Mimsy Farmer (The Outer Limits TV Series, 1963?1965, The Girl from Trieste) ) as Billie Salerno, Robert Walker (Route 66, The Naked City, Easy Rider) as Jonas / Rocky. Ed Begley (vet of 10 Classic Noir) as Warren, David Sachs as the Sheriff, Bruce Pecheur as Charlie, Ivano Staccioli as Linda's Husband, and Sophie Hardy as Linda, and also starring Rita Hayworth (Gilda, Lady From Shanghai) as Mara Salerno.

This film, like Chair de poule, is another Spaghetti Western-ish Film Soleil Noir, and a Road Movie. The engaging cinematography of the Euro Western locations used to depict Mexico contribute greatly to that ambience. Think of this Noir as a combo of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Detour, Chair de poule, Twilight Zone, Inferno, Zabriskie Point, From Here To Eternity, This World, Then The Fireworks with even a dash of an old farmers daughter joke. 10/10



Galia (1966) A New Wave Noir Femme

Directed by Georges Lautner (The Road To Salina). Written by Vah? Katcha and adapted by him and Georges Lautner. Cinematography was by Maurice Fellous, Music by Michel Magne, title sequence JS Bach. The film stars Mireille Darc as Galia, Venantino Venantini as Greg, Francoise Prevost as Nicole, Jacques Riberolles as Matik, Fran?ois Chaumette as Wespyr.

Lautner creates an interesting and beautiful film that gives us a view back to a 1965 swinging sixties Paris (and Venice). Galia is a free and independent sexually active young woman who gets gets slowly trapped in a web of love with the wrong guy. Mireille Darc gives a nice convincing performance and will remind you a bit of Brigitte Bardot. Venantino Venantini is believable as the womanizer with a chick magnet while Francoise Prevost is equally compelling as the distraught wife. Francois Chaumette as the hedonist Wespyr is creepy.

A very well made, quirky, talky, intelligent, everyday Woman's Noir that could use English subs. 7/10.


Deep End (1970) Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski.

Written by Jerzy Skolimowski (Knife In the Water), Jerzy Gruza, and Boleslaw Sulik. Cinematography by Charly Steinberger. Music by Can... (as The Can) and Cat Stevens.

The film stars Jane Asher (Alfie (1966)) as Susan, John Moulder-Brown as Mike, Karl Michael Vogler as swimming instructor, Chris Sandford as Chris, the fianc?, Diana Dors (Room 43, Tread Softly Stranger, The Unholy Wife, The Long Haul, Blonde Sinner) as Mike's first lady client, Louise Martini as prostitute, Erica Beer as baths cashier, Anita Lochner as Kathy, Annemarie Kuster as nightclub receptionist and Burt Kwouk (Cato in A Shot in the Dark and The Pink Panther Films).

Jerzy Skolimowski's art direction uses the familiar Neo Noir palette of clashing colors carnal reds against dead body blues, grimy puke yellows, with peeling intestine greens, all offset with bathhouse pastels heavy on the turquois.

Jane Asher and John Molder Brown are excellent and very compelling. They make it all quite believable. Diana Dors is great as the eccentric customer who likes to talk football, she also dubs the hooker with a broken leg. The rest of the cast is good and the overall effect of the combo of Soho & Munich gives the film a very familiar but definitely off swinging sixties vibe. It's a nice surprise. 8/10
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Re: Best New Finds

Post by jimimac71 »

Hey Big Joe: Lomm can fix your username to the way it should be and the way you want it to be.
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