What Classics Did You See Last Week (August 17–August 23)
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unex — 7 months ago(August 24, 2025 12:03 PM)
Manpower (1941) - A movie about electrical linemen. I've been reading about the power grid lately so the premise interested me but them being linemen isn't really important. They could just as easily have been firemen or something else. I enjoyed it. The best part is the crew who have unique personalities and a good chemistry with each other.
The Texas Rangers (1936) - A King Vidor western about the Texas Rangers. It has a lot of the same themes seen in these movies such as divided loyalty and redemption and moves along as expected but it looks good while doing it and the three main characters were good. -
sheetsadam1 — 7 months ago(August 24, 2025 01:52 PM)
Outrage
, 1950
Directed by Ida Lupino
A film ahead of it's time thematically and anchored by a brilliant performance by Mala Powers, whom I hadn't seen in anything previously.
9/10
Two Evil Eyes
, 1990
Directed by George A. Romero & Dario Argento
An excellent cast and two legendary horror directors completely wasted in this awful attempt to bring Poe into the then-modern age.
2.5/10
Thieves' Highway
, 1949
Directed by Jules Dassin
Very good class-conscious noir from the soon-to-be blacklisted Dassin with Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, and Lee J. Cobb. Would make for an excellent pairing with 1975's
White Line Fever
.
7/10
Alice in the Cities
, 1974
Directed by Wim Wenders
Brilliant road movie with gorgeous black and white cinematography and two excellent lead performances. Wenders explores how one man unexpectedly finds purpose in his life. Fans of the director's
Paris, Texas
will love this one!
10/10
Draft Barron Trump -
spiderwort — 7 months ago(August 24, 2025 02:34 PM)
First viewings:
James Cagney: Top of the World / Carl H. Lindahl
(1992). A retrospective on Cagney features film clips and interviews with Jack Lemmon, Mae Clark, Virginia Mayo and others. Hosted by Michael J. Fox. I saw it on TCM where it was produced; not sure where it can be seen now, but it’s a beautiful hour long story of a wonderful talent who lived a wonderful life. Highly recommended, if you can find it.
The Diary of Anne Frank (A Tale Of Two Sisters) / Edward Cotterill
(2015). A 45 minute documentary that tells the stories of Anne Frank and Eva Schloss, whose young lives paralleled each other's, and whose surviving parents, Otto Frank and Elfriede Geiringer, eventually married. Its archival footage and interviews with Anne's stepsister Eva, and Gillian Walnes who runs the Anne Frank Trust in the UK, and Ronald Leopold, the Director of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, make it a powerful story of remembrance of a time and place in history that haunts the world to this day. Highly recommended. (Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, and YouTube.)
The Railway Children / Lionel Jeffries
(1970). I watched the 2000 version of this last week, in which Jenny Agutter played the mother. In this one she plays the daughter, and I loved her in both versions. Actor Lionel Jeffries wrote and directed this one, and it has many merits, not least being its wonderful cast, including Dinah Sheridan, Bernard Cribbins, and William Mervyn, as well as exceptional cinematography by the renowned Arthur Ibbetson. While I think I prefer the later version just a bit (maybe because of Agutter playing the mother, I’m not sure), I would highly recommend them both. They are exceptionally well-done films.
Re-watch:
City for Conquest / Anatole Litvak
(1940). A New York City truck driver (James Cagney) becomes a boxer to help his brother (Arthur Kennedy) become the composer he was born to be. The rest of the cast includes Ann Sheridan as Cagney’s love, Anthony Quinn, Donald Crisp, and Elia Kazan in one of his major film acting roles before he became the great director. Very much worth seeing because of its moving story, cast, and Litvak’s excellent direction. One of my personal favorites. Available on TCM until September 19. -
PygmyLion — 7 months ago(August 24, 2025 08:15 PM)
Fort Apache
1945 Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Shirley Temple, John Agar, Ward Bond - One of John Ford's western trilogy. ***1/2
H.M. Pulham, Esq.
1941 - Hedy Lamarr, Robert Young. Ruth Hussey, Charles Coburn. ***
The Strange Woman
1946 Hedy Lamarr, George Sanders. **1/2
Love Letters
1945 Jennifer Jones, Joeseph Cotton, Gladys Cooper. ***1/2
Cluny Brown
1946 Jennifer Jones, Charles Boyer, Peter Lawford. ***
Portrait of Jenny
1949 - Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton, Ethly Barrymore. I am not really into supernatural themed movies. This one is done fairly well. *** -
Rufus-T — 7 months ago(August 25, 2025 03:55 PM)
Blame It on Rio (1984)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086973/
A man played by Michael Caine with marriage trouble and his friend also with marriage trouble went on a trip to Rio de Janeiro each of their teenage daughters. The man gotten seduced their. Directed by Stanley Donen, this is an US remake of a French movie In a Wild Moment (1977) which I didn't watch. There is also a later US remake One Wild Moment (2015) which I also didn't watch. It is a very silly comedy. I did have a bunch of chuckles, mostly through Michael Caine who was very Dudley Moore-ish. The film also featured the pre-famous Demi Moore who played the daughter of the Michael Caine character. It is not a good movie, but not terrible either. It can be some people's guilt pleasure. -
CoriSCapnSkip — 6 months ago(September 09, 2025 11:06 PM)
I continued watching
The Wild Wild West
for the third time this century, watched all the rest of
Eerie, Indiana
on August 20, and started watching the 1991 BBC miniseries of
Five Children and It
for the second time.
The only movie I watched was
The Incredible Shrinking Man
on August 23, for the first time since childhood. It held up fairly well. As usual, details are in my review on another site which I will post here if people are interested.