What Classics Did You See Last Week (February 15–February 21)
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unex — 1 month ago(February 22, 2026 01:15 PM)
City for Conquest (1940) - A movie about James Cagney becoming a boxer to help his family or impress a girl or whatever. The plot was a little forced and Cagney's character didn't have enough of an edge. He gets angry a couple times, inconsequentially mostly, but otherwise is passive and it is up to his friends to react and even then it's kept secret from him. He's cocooned.
The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) - According to historians this movie subverts the personality of Henry and each of his wives but it makes for a very entertaining movie, balancing the cruelty of his reign with his humorous foibles. It may be as others have said Charles Laughton's best role, he did get an Oscar for it after all.
The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) - A retelling of the Faust legend in 1840s New England. Walter Huston is great as Mephistopheles, earning him an Oscar nomination. Actors seem to really get into that role. His delivery is so unctuous and insistent it's perfect as a devil. -
spiderwort — 1 month ago(February 22, 2026 02:36 PM)
Oh, I love
City for Conquest
, unex. I think it's a beautiful film, and I love the cast, including Ann Sheridan, who's one of my favorite actresses. And I enjoy seeing the great director Elia Kazan back in his actor days in his role opposite Cagney. He loved Cagney, though, of course, they worked in very different ways.
And I also loved
The Devil and Daniel Webster
, though I haven't seen it in ages. Probably need to give that one another look. I'm a big fan of the director, William Dieterle.
And I haven't seen
The Private Life of Henry VIII
. Don't know how I missed it, because I've been meaning to watch it forever. And I didn't realize that Laughton received an Oscar for it. Appreciate your comments about it, so I'll see if I can find it and finally give it a go. -
spiderwort — 1 month ago(February 22, 2026 02:43 PM)
All re-watches:
Tender Mercies / Bruce Beresford
(1983). A broken-down, middle-aged country singer gets a new wife (Tess Harper in her feature debut), reaches out to his long-lost daughter (Ellen Barkin), struggles with his ex-wife (Betty Buckley), and tries to put his troubled life back together. A lovely film written by Horton Foote with great performances by all the cast and wonderful direction by Beresford. Nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay. Duvall and Foote both won. One of my favorite Duvall films, which I watched in memory of him. Highly recommended. (On several streaming services)
I Remember Mama / George Stevens
(1948). A writer (Barbara Bel Geddes) recalls her Norwegian mother (Irene Dunne) and family in circa 1900 San Francisco. I think it’s Dunne’s career best performance, for which she received one of her five Oscar nominations. Also nominated were Bel Geddes, Oscar Homolka, and Ellen Corby, although director Stevens was snubbed. It’s such a beautiful film, one of my all time favorites, which I watch only now and again because I know it too well. Highly recommended. (On TCM through February 23; probably other places, too)
My Man Godfrey / Gregory La Cava
(1936). "A scatterbrained socialite (Carol Lombard) hires a vagrant (William Powell) as a family butler - but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye." I think this is the first screwball comedy I remember seeing, and it’s one of the best. I loved it then and have loved it every time I’ve seen it since. It’s a total delight with a great cast, including Gail Patrick, Eugene Pallete, Alice Brady, and Alan Mowbray. Highly recommended. (On several streaming services)
I Never Sang for My Father / Gilbert Cates
(1970). A widowed New York professor (Gene Hackman) loses his mother (Dorothy Stickney) and reaches out to his bitter father (Melvyn Douglas), who has controlled and/or overlooked him his whole life. Estelle Parsons provides great support as Hackman’s sister in her brief role. I think would have been better if it were a half hour shorter, and it often feels stage bound (I don’t think that Gates was the best director for the project), but overall it’s a powerful story that doesn’t sugarcoat some tough issues and provides a powerful showcase for two great acting talents. It received three Oscar nominations, for Best Actor (Douglas), Best Supporting Actor (Hackman), and Best Screenplay (Robert Anderson, who adapted it from his play). Strongly recommended for the cast and the meaningful story. (Available on Tubi TV) -
PygmyLion — 1 month ago(February 25, 2026 01:42 AM)
It has been a few years since I watched
I Remember Momma
, although I remember liking it. Perhaps it is time for a rewatch. I don't know that I would feel that
I Remember Momma
was Irene Dunne's top performance. I really like Irene Dunne in
Theodora Goes Wild
and she is really good in some of those movies with Cary Grant like
My Favorite Wife
and
The Awful Truth
and there are a couple other movies she is pretty good in. Dunne actually has 15 photoplay awards for Best Performance of the Month.
My Man Godfrey
was my choice for the top picture of 1936. -
spiderwort — 1 month ago(February 26, 2026 02:37 AM)
Oh, I loved her in
Theodora Goes Wild
, too, and in
My Favorite Wife
and
The Awful Truth
. But for me,
I Remember Mama
was her shining moment in a difficult role which included her having to speak with a Norwegian accent, which she did perfectly. And I think the story itself is very powerful, certainly the most meaningful to me. But I loved her in everything, and she never gave a bad performance.
And I'm so glad to see another fan of
My Man Godfrey
! It's a truly wonderful classic screwball comedy which I have loved for many decades. The chemistry between Lombard and Powell, who had previously been briefly married, was wonderful, and, of course, the story is a total delight. I was so glad to see it again. -
PygmyLion — 1 month ago(February 22, 2026 08:13 PM)
Vice Squad
1953 - Edward G. Robinson, Paulette Goddard - Police/Film noir drama. Police Captain Barney Barnaby (Robinson) has to solve a police killing and deal with several other incidents along the way. Eddie Mueller mentions that this movie seems like sort of a model for later quality TV police dramas. ***
The Devil to Pay!
1930 Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, Myrna Loy, Frederick Kerr. ***1/2
The Real Glory
1939 Gary Cooper, David Niven, Reginald Owens, Broderick Crawford, Andrea Leeds. War. The Phillipines 1906. The American Army has pulled out of a Filipino village. A small group of American soldiers are left to try to teach the Filipino villagers to defend themselves against the fanatic Moro Muslim warriors under Alipang. ***
My Foolish Heart
1949 Dana Andrews, Susan Hayward, Kent Smith, Lois Wheeler. Romance. I found this movie a little bit slow and too much of a tear jerker type. **1/2
Sahara
1943 - Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, Dan Duryea, Lloyd Bridges. Dir Zoltan Korda. Bogart with 2 other American crew members of an M3 Lee tank pick up 4 or 5 British soldiers and a Free French soldier. Later, they add a Sudanese soldier to the group. They attempt to defend a well in the southern Sahara from a German motorized brigade (without tanks). As I mention in another thread, the combat seems questionable. Further, that American soldiers in an M3 Lee tank painted in American colors would be fighting with the British in the period after the fall of Tobruk (June-July 1942) seems questionable. Still, the movie is pretty entertaining. Obviously a bit of a propaganda piece with its multinational force. ***1/2
Edward, My Son
1949 Spencer Tracy, Deborah Kerr, Ian Hunter. Dir George Cukor. **
Broken Lullaby
1932 Lionel Barrymore, Nancy Carroll, Phillip Holmes. Dir: Ernst Lubitsch. After WWI a French soldier goes to Germany to make amends to the family of a German soldier that he killed. ***1/2 -
spiderwort — 1 month ago(February 23, 2026 03:59 PM)
Haven't seen the first three of yours, PL, but I did see
Edward My Son
long ago and agree with your rating for that one. With that cast, it was a major disappointment. Also saw
My Foolish Heart
, which I enjoyed because of Hayward's Oscar nominated performance. I'd probably give that one a *** rating (although I haven't seen it in ages and might feel differently today).
But based upon your ratings I think I definitely need to watch
Devil to Pay
(one I never even heard of), and
Sahara
(don't know how I missed that one), so I'll see if I can find them.
And I'm glad you liked
Broken Lullaby
, and I agree with your rating for it. You might want to check out the most recent version of it,
Frantz
(2016). I saw it last year and was very impressed by it. It's the same story, based upon the Maurice Rostand play, "The Man I Killed." -
PygmyLion — 1 month ago(February 23, 2026 07:03 PM)
I would figure that you would like
My Foolish Heart
a bit more than I did. I like Susan Hayward but I really don't want to bother watching that movie again.
You have heard of
The Devil to Pay!
. I wrote a review of it back in 2024:
https://www.filmboards.com/t/The-Devil-to-Pay!/Ronald-Colman%2C-Loretta-Young-(1930)-3531667/
As I mention in the review, to like it as I do you probably have to like Ronald Colman. Of course, you also get Loretta Young as the young girl Colman gets interested in and Myrna Loy as the showgirl Colman has had an attachment with. Frederic Kerr is pretty good as Colman's rich father. This time I watched
The Devil to Pay!
on Kanopy.
I hadn't seen
Sahara
for many years. A war movie with no females or romance in it, but you do get Humphrey Bogart, who is very good in his role.
I often feel a bit let down by modern renditions of such movies.
Frantz
does get decent ratings and the girl looks pretty. -
spiderwort — 1 month ago(February 24, 2026 01:59 AM)
Sorry I didn't remember your review of
The Devil to Pay
, and obviously I never got around to seeing it. But I will try to remedy that sometime soon. Same with
Sahara
, a film that sounds really interesting. There are just so many films and too little time. . . -
spiderwort — 1 month ago(February 24, 2026 05:57 PM)
Oh, I'm sorry for recommending it to you! I really liked it, although I confess that now that I've seen
Broken Lullaby
, that's the one that vividly sticks in my mind. A different kind of Lubitsch touch, for sure, but a strong one, indeed.
And I think you should have just stopped watching
Frantz
, if you didn't like it. The older I get I simply refuse to keep watching anything that I don't like or that I think isn't good. Skipping is good, I think, life being short and all.
-
PygmyLion — 1 month ago(February 24, 2026 07:50 PM)
I really didn't say
Frantz
wasn't watchable. The first part of
Frantz
is essentially the same story as
Broken Lullaby
but not done as well as Lubitsch. The second part of the movie is some new stuff, which seemed like was written for some 1980's made for TV movie, but I really couldn't tell about it until I had pretty watched it all. I particularly didn't like the final scene in the Louvre, it seemed rather tasteless.
It is interesting looking at the ratings on IMDB,
Frantz
gets a rating of 7.5, which is a weighted mean. Looking at the country breakdown
Frantz
gets a 7.6 unweighted mean in the US but only a 7.3 in France.
Frantz
gets 10% 10's in the US, but only 4.9% in France. In the US, 59.3% rank it 8 or above, but only 47.3% rank it 8 or more. In the US, 16.9% rank it 6 or less, but in France 22.8% rank it 6 or less.
[spoilers]
I don't know why this difference exists, but I can speculate.
In
Frantz
in the 2nd part of the movie, the German girl goes to France and finds the Frenchman living with his mother in a large mansion (villa) in the country, obviously rich people. Further, he is planning to marry a young French woman, who has loved him since before the war, and who appears to be living in the villa. This makes the Frenchman look like a rake or perhaps a jerk. Meanwhile, the German girl is pretty, moral and sweet. -
spiderwort — 1 month ago(February 24, 2026 09:55 PM)
It's so interesting, because the more you talk about
Frantz
the less I can remember it. It's almost like I didn't see it. And yet I can vividly remember
Broken Lullaby
, and not just because I saw it more recently; rather because it made a bigger impression. Also, I love the title.
Anyway, thanks for all the feedback. (And how you breakdown the ratings by country is amazing to me.) -
Rufus-T — 1 month ago(February 22, 2026 09:14 PM)
Marty Supreme (2025)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32916440/
When I first hear what this movie about and about the cast, I have a good feeling about this movie and one of the few movies I look forward to it. It met my expectation and possibly my favorite of 2025 so far. Directed by Josh Safdie of the Safdie brothers, this is one wild movie. Timothée Chalamet played a shoe salesman for his uncle is excellent in ping pong. He played Marty Mauser based on the ping pong player Marty Reisman after WWII. He swindled, hustled, lied, and used his friends just to be able to get to the tournament to proof his worth through ping pong. Much of the movie was about how he tried to find way to get funding to get to Tokyo for a rematch against the Japanese champion. Everything that can go wrong did go wrong. From beginning to the end, the pace was relentless. This is not just a drama or a sport movie, it is very funny too. There were several moment that I went "Oh Sh!t" and cracked up laughing. The supporting cast with Odessa A'zion playing his childhood girlfriend who is married but stuck with him was terrific. I was surprised to see Kevin O'Leary playing the rich guy who Marty tried to get sponsor through. Kevin O'Leary basically play himself but sufficiently effective. Fran Drescher played Marty's mother. Gwyneth Paltrow, who I wasn't that crazy about, did okay playing the stage actress who Marty had an affair with. Timothée Chalamet is the one who carried the movie with his swagger posture, ego-centric demeanor. Think of an even better version of Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can. It is a snappy movie. Outstanding handling of the ping pong match. Editing was superb. Just a fun movie.
Capernaum (2018)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8267604/
This Oscar Best Foreign Language film nominee representing Lebanon can be a tough watch. A child, about 12 years old probably in Lebanon sue his parents for giving birth to him. Then we flash back to the family life, how he protected his siblings especially his little sister who is entering puberty and his life protecting a little baby of an woman who is illegally work in Lebanon. Directed and co-written by Nadine Labaki, this movie takes a look at the struggle of impoverish family and the neglect of children. The dialogue were minimal, and the shot were taking with shaky camera which made it a documentary feel. The child actor Zain Al Rafeea was outstanding playing the leading character. I don't know how they get the toddler Boluwatife Treasure Bankole act so well. Don't expect to be much cheered by it, but a worthwhile watch. -
spiderwort — 1 month ago(February 23, 2026 04:44 PM)
I really enjoyed
Marty Supreme
, too
@Rufus-T
, though it's not my favorite of the year (that would be
Train Dreams
). Very well directed with a great peformance by Chalamet. It could have been shorter, I think, with fewer ping pong games, but it was nevertheless quite enjoyable.
And I would love to see
Capernaum
, which sounds very special, indeed, although I have a feeling it might be too heart wrenching for me right now. But thanks for your thoughtful review. Maybe one of these days I'll feel up to watching it. And good for Lebanon for getting an Oscar nod. -
CoriSCapnSkip — 1 month ago(February 23, 2026 05:51 PM)
Tender Mercies
(1983) on February 16
A Family Thing
(1996) on February 17
Rambling Rose
(1991) on February 18
Paper Moon
(1973) on February 19
It Happened One Night
(1934) on February 20
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(1996) on February 21 -
spiderwort — 1 month ago(February 24, 2026 02:57 AM)
What a good week for you, Cori. I love
Tender Mercies, Paper Moon, It Happened One Night
and
A Family Thing
(co-written by Billy Bob Thornton, how neat is that?).
Haven't seen
Rambling Rose
(don't know how I missed that one and really need to see it) or
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
.
I'm glad that your viewings this week included a good tribute to Robert Duvall. I only watched
Tender Mercies
, one of my favorites and his only Oscar win out of all his brilliant performances. What a great actor he was. May he R.I.P.