What Classics Did You See Last Week (March 8–March 14)
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spiderwort — 1 week ago(March 22, 2026 04:09 PM)
I agree, even when the scripts weren't that good. I think his career directing on Broadway helped him a great deal, too, especially with actors. Among others, he directed
Oklahoma!
(1943) and
Carousel
(1945), as well as the first production of George Gershwin's
Porgy and Bess
(1935). But in his films he did, as you say, push the envelope, utilizing montage, close-ups, split-screens and dissolves in masterful ways. I suspect, being from the Russian Empire, he was influenced by the the great Russian directors like Eisenstein, Kuleshov, Pudovkin, et al., all of whom were masters of the techniques Mamoulian used. -
unex — 4 days ago(March 29, 2026 12:42 PM)
It was in one of those movies with a not very good script (We Live Again) that he explicitly imitated Russian filmmakers, it being a film set in Russia. I think you are probably right about his background influencing him. I wasn't aware that he was from Georgia.
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PygmyLion — 2 weeks ago(March 17, 2026 05:04 PM)
I watched
City Streets
for the first time back in November and thought it was pretty good. I enjoyed seeing a young Gary Cooper in a different sort of role.
I remember watching
Split Second
a couple years ago. An interesting film noir with the criminals choosing to hide away in a ghost town within the range of soon to take place atomic test. They have several hostages with them. -
StevenHC — 2 weeks ago(March 15, 2026 12:37 PM)
BULLDOG DRUMMOND STRIKES BACK 1934
Ronald Colman as Drummond is over the top but good to watch. It's a very exciting mystery with a dark mansion and disappearing bodies.
NICHOLAS NICKLEBY 2002
This is an enjoyable abbreviated adaptation of the Charles Dickens story. Christopher Plummer as the wicked uncle and Jim Broadbent as the brutal schoolmaster are very good. -
spiderwort — 2 weeks ago(March 15, 2026 05:25 PM)
Haven't seen either of these, Steven, but they both sound interesting, because of their excellent casts, including Loretta Young in DRUMMOND. I'll keep an eye out for them. I don't know how I missed NICHOLAS NICKLEBY when it first ran.
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spiderwort — 2 weeks ago(March 15, 2026 03:11 PM)
First viewings:
The Voice of Hind Rajab (Sawt Hind Rajab) / Kaouther Ben Hania
(2025) Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call from a 6-year old girl trapped in a car under IDF fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. They keep her on the line, while trying do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. And the voice of the girl on the phone is the actual voice of the girl who was in the car when it was happening!! It's the first time I've ever seen anything like that in a film, and it was profoundly disturbing to say the least. This haunting cinematic masterpiece should have received multiple Oscar nominations instead of only one as Best Foreign Language Film! And it’s a film that every adult in the world should see, so that things like this won't happen again. Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix were among the executive producers, bless them for that. HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommended! (In theaters now, though I hope it comes to streaming services soon.)
Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi) / Joachim Trier
(2025). An aging filmmaker (Stellan Skarsgård) is about to embark on a new project which he wrote for his daughter, but she refuses to star in it, so he’s brought a young star (Elle Fanning) to Norway to appear in it. There are many wonderful performances by all the cast, several of whom received Oscar nominations, but it took me awhile to get fully engaged, because I think the script is too long and rambles. It would have been better had it been 20-30 minutes shorter. Also, I grew weary of all the hand-held shots. But I recommend it for its wonderful performances, even though in the end it was a major disappointment for me. It did receive a total of nine Oscar nominations, however, all in major categories, so I’m clearly in the minority in my opinion of it. Maybe one of these days I'll watch it again and feel differently. (In theaters now)
Closely Watched Trains / Jirí Menzel
(1966). A charming coming of age story about a young apprentice train dispatcher (Václav Neckár) in World War II Czechoslovakia who looks for love while feeling he isn’t much of a man. Over time things change, but I can’t say more without major spoilers. Very well performed and directed, it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and director Menzel was nominated for the DGA Award for his film debut. (On TCM through April 11)
Re-watch:
Born Free / James Hill
(1966). Based upon a true story, it’s the simple and moving account of how a British couple in Kenya (Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna) raise a wild lioness cub to maturity and then try to re-educated her so she can live freely in the wild. A well done, entertaining and meaningful film with a beautiful Oscar winning song by John Barry. (On TCM through March 31 and on Roku) -
PygmyLion — 2 weeks ago(March 17, 2026 05:26 PM)
The only one of these I have seen is
Born Free
. I saw it back when it came out in 1966, when I was a kid. A real favorite of mine then. The lion, Elsa, was really fun to watch.
I was also a big fan of the TV show
Daktari
back in those days, which was about a veterinarian and his aids helping the wild animals in Kenya. Of course, a 40ish Marshall Thompson was the star of the show - and it is sort of interesting seeing him in some of the old movies that I am watching nowadays as a young man. Other regulars, were Judy the chimp and Clarence the cross-eyed lion.
Then there was tv show
Cowboy in Africa
with Chuck Connors, and a
Tarzan
tv series with Ron Ely back in the mid-1960s. -
spiderwort — 2 weeks ago(March 17, 2026 10:54 PM)
So glad to see another fan of
Born Free
. I liked it when I was young, and I still liked it when I saw it again last week. It's a wonderful film that celebrates nature, something that I believe is holy.
And I also watched
Daktari
back in the day and remember enjoying it. I enjoy everything with wild animals and also always liked Marshall Thompson.
Haven't seen
Cowboy in Africa
, though I seem to recall seeing a few episodes of the
Tarzan
series, but I didn't watch it regularly.
Thanks for the memories. -
Rufus-T — 2 weeks ago(March 15, 2026 05:39 PM)
Blue Moon (2025)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32536315/
This is a movie about one night at a bar for an middle age Lorenz Hart, a lyricist, meeting a young college girl Elizabeth Weiland. Lorenz Hart was a collaborator of Richard Rodgers of Rodgers & Hammerstein. He missed out in collaborating with Richard Rodgers in the collaboration in Oklahoma! because of his alcoholism problem. he stepped out early to the bar to meet the girl. Directed by Richard Linklater, I thought this was a based on a play. No, impressively, it was an original screenplay by Robert Kaplow base on the letters exchange between Lorenz Hart & Elizabeth Weiland. The entire movie was basically talking. With Ethan Hawke playing Lorenz Hart, he delivered one hell of a show. He was foul mouth, but yet poetic, funny, and energetic. Margaret Qualley played Elizabeth Weiland. Most of the other cast were so-so, but watch it for Ethan Hawke. The mood of the bar is very relaxing with beautiful music. If this was a bigger movie, Ethan Hawke could have been a stronger contender for Best Actor at the Oscar.
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18382850/
This is one peculiar movie in which almost everyone in the movie are rude. The leading character played by Rose Byrne was a mother in care of a sick child while her husband was away. The screen do not show the child, but the mother seemed to have mental illness herself with low emotional maturity. Yet, it addition being a mom, she was a psychotherapist. Go figure. Her only consolation was to a fellow therapist next door played by Conan O'Brien who is as mean to her as she to other people. Written and directed by Mary Bronstein, this movie gives me a headache the much of the movie with the people screaming at each other. Okay, she had her hand full, plus a big hole in her house. She just not handling stress well, and there is a sense of Mary Bronstein sounding the toughness being a mom. I don't know. I can see certain situation can be resolved easily if she was not being so nasty. Perhaps it was meant to be comedic, but only find the screaming mildly funny. There was a few very interesting scene though as she was hallucinating, and I do think it ended well. Rose Byrne did put on a good performance of a woman breaking down. Overall, it was painful movie to get through. -
PygmyLion — 2 weeks ago(March 15, 2026 06:54 PM)
The Train
1964 Burt Lancaster, Paul Schofield. Paul Labiche* (Lancaster) and a number of other French railroad workers try to save a large number of paintings from being shipped to Germany on a train as the allies approach Paris in WWII. ***
The Front Page
1931 Adolphe Menjou, Pat O'Brien, Mary Brian, Edward Everett Horton, Frank McHugh. Essentially, the same background story as in
His Girl Friday
(1940), but here we have Walter Burns (Menjou) trying to stop his star reporter Hildy Johnson (Pat O'Brien) from marrying and moving off to New York. ***
The Ghost Camera
1933 Henry Kendall, Ida Lupino, John Mills. Mystery. John Gray (Kendall) has a Camera fall into the back seat of his car. He develops the film and the first picture leads him to May Elton (a young, blond Ida Lupino) the sister of the camera owner, whose brother (Mills) has gone missing. Together they solve the mystery. ***
The Corsican Brothers
1941 Douglas Fairbanks jr., Ruth Warrick, Akim Tameroff, J. Carroll Naish. Fairbanks plays a duel role of the Corsican twins, Mario and Lucian Franchi, who are separated at birth, and then join together when grown to avenge their father's death. Based on an Alexander Dumas novel. ***
*
Spoiler
I wonder how Labiche is going to live with himself causing a large number (~20) of hostages shot, just to save the art works. -
spiderwort — 2 weeks ago(March 17, 2026 11:02 PM)
I haven't seen
Ghost Camera
, PL, although it sounds really interesting. One I would like to see.
Also haven't seen
The Corsican Brothers
, which also sounds really interesting. What a great cast it has.
And I agree with your ratings for
The Train
and
The Front Page
, both of which I have seen. About
The Train
: as I recall, Lancaster did his own stunts in that film, and what amazing work it was! -
CoriSCapnSkip — 2 weeks ago(March 16, 2026 05:05 PM)
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
(1953) on March 8
Moby Dick
(1956) on March 9
King of Kings
(1961) first half on March 10 and second half on March 11
Besides watching all of Ray Bradbury's movies, I embarked on a project of watching his TV episodes and accordingly watched
Steve Canyon
, "The Gift" (1958) on March 10
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
, "Shopping for Death" (1956) on March 12
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
, "And So Died Riabouchinska" (1956) on March 12
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
, "Design for Loving" (1958) on March 13
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
, "Special Delivery" (1959) on March 13
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
, "The Faith of Aaron Menefee" (1962) on March 14
Alcoa Premiere
, "The Jail" (1962) on March 14
In addition I continued with Season 3 of
The Dick Van Dyke Show
. -
spiderwort — 2 weeks ago(March 17, 2026 11:08 PM)
What a good week you had, Cori. I haven't seen it in a long while, but I remember loving
Moby Dick
. And I enjoyed
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
and
King of Kings
back in the day when they were first released. Haven't seen them since. But
Moby Dick
is my favorite.
And congrats on catching up on Ray Bradbury works. Not an easy task, to say the least.