What Classics Did You See Last Week (November 26-December 2)
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PygmyLion — 2 years ago(December 03, 2023 03:17 AM)
Bringing Up Baby
(1938) - Catherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, May Robson - Comedy with a leopard named Baby - 8
Arsenic and Old Lace
(1944) - Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson, Peter Lorre, John Alexander - Comedy. After wedding, Grant finds that his family are all crazy, many in a homocidal way - 8
Pride and Prejudice
(1940) - Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Maureen O'Sullivan, Edna May Oliver. Garson seems a bit to old to play Elizabeth. Of course, Tarzan's Jane comes back from Africa to play Austen's Jane. The writers condense and hack the story. From IMDB:
Laurence Olivier was less than thrilled with the movie after production began, certain it would be a flop, complaining both that key scenes were missing and that more attention was lavished on the costumes than the actors.- amen Laurence. A really good cast, but production choices and writing leads to a poor rendition of the Austen novel. Garson is pretty and entertaining in the movie - 6
On Borrowed Time
(1939) - Lionel Barrymore, Cedric Hardwicke, Beulah Bondi, Una Merkel - fantasy drama with Barrymore's character fighting it out with Mr. Brink (aka death, Cedric Hardwicke). I enjoyed wheelchair bound Barrymore and Una Merkel's character was nice, but not really my cup of tea and the ending seemed unacceptible to me - 6
So Well Remembered
(1947) - John Mills, Martha Scott, Trevor Howard. Drama - 7
The Housekeepers Daughter
(1939) - Joan Bennett, Adolph Menjou, John Hubbard, Donald Meek - 6
- amen Laurence. A really good cast, but production choices and writing leads to a poor rendition of the Austen novel. Garson is pretty and entertaining in the movie - 6
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Rufus-T — 2 years ago(December 03, 2023 04:32 AM)
Taxi Driver (1976)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/
Practically perfect in everyway following the mental breakdown of a man revolting the degradation of society. The jazzy score was outstanding.
The Scarlet Letter (1926)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017350/
Actually quite good with Lillian Gish playing the lead role taking the blame and being crucified.
Native Son (1951)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042781/
Adaptation of Richard Wright's powerful novel. A bit unfortunate that he played the lead role. A good reason he never got another acting role. Though the movie retained the essense of the story, it played like a b-movie. Good, but could have been better.
Blue Velvet (1986)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090756/
Possibly my favorite of the Lynch's weird movies. Dennis Hopper's character was wonderfully crazy.
Strange Days (1995)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114558/
Former cop sell underground recording of the new technology that record like Go-Pro, but played like virtual reality by wrapping a piece on the head. Turned out this technology exposed a crime right before the turn of the millenium. Fascinating concept. A bit long and could have use some editing, especially the beginning part. Entertaining movie overall.
Incident in an Alley (1962)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056098/
A cop charged with murder in the line of duty. Seem low budget, but effective. Still relevant, but more of pro-cop in this movie.
Ossessione (1943)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035160/
An earlier version of The Postman Always Rings Twice from Luchino Visconti's directorial debut. Much better executed than the 1946 Hollywood version.
A Page of Madness (1926)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017048/
Saw it without intertitle, so hard to figure out the narrative. Seemingly a janitor of an insane asylum trying to free a woman. However, the visual was haunting.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015532/
Animation using paper casting shadows of an Arabian-esq adventure fantasy. Impressive. Lotte Reiniger did many of this type of animation, mostly short. This is one of the few feature length ones.
Don Juan (1926)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016804/
The first movie with music and sound effect synchronized on type with the visual. Starring John Barrymore as the lead role, a womanizer who knows how to fence and get out of trouble. Mostly entertaining. You also get to see the very young Mynor Loy, and Mary Astor who played the love interest.
La Bohème (1926)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016669/
Focus on a poor neighborhood, a starving artist fell in love with a next door woman, played very well by Lillian Gish. The movie got a bit too melodramatic. Frustrating at times.
Mahabharat (1965)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242636/
Bollywood production with music, fighting, magic, and fantasy. Very colorful. This was based on an epic India mythology that I have been curious. Ran almost 3 hours, but still feel choppy and part I found hard to follow. Maybe I don't know the culture well enough while reading the subtitles. I may look for the 90s internationally made TV version which I believe in English. -
spiderwort — 2 years ago(December 05, 2023 03:10 PM)
I loved
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
and
A Special Madness
, Rufus. Both remarkable in their ways. Hope to see
Ossessione
and
Native Son
one of these days. Still waiting for someone to make a film of Wright's masterpiece,
Black Boy
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NZer — 2 years ago(December 04, 2023 07:40 AM)
The Emerald Forest is a John Boorman film and it stars his teenage son Charley as a white boy kidnapped by a gentle Amazonian tribe and brought up as one of them. His birth father searches for him for years and eventually finds him, and that's when things get really interesting. It's a brilliant film.
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unex — 2 years ago(December 04, 2023 01:19 PM)
Nightfall (1956) - Nightfall (1956) - Not a bad movie just not the most compelling noir I've seen. The leading man doesn't look or sound like a leading man which is a nice change of pace.
Black Magic (1949) - Supposedly a lesser Welles movie but I must have been in the right mood for it. Some of it is silly, the hypnotism in particular, but you can't really film hypnotism without it looking silly. Nice sets, rococo or something. -
spiderwort — 2 years ago(December 05, 2023 03:08 PM)
Carousel
has one of my favorite Rogers and Hammerstein scores! I have some quibbles with the direction – a little too proscenium-like for me, as films in the early days of Cinemascope too often were, but it's quite enjoyable otherwise. One of these days I'd like to see a non-musical remake of the film's source, the play "Lilliom" by Ferenc Molnar, which has a much darker story. But in the meantime, give me songs like "You'll Never Walk Alone," and I'm just fine.