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The BellGab Classic Movie Playhouse

Started by GravitySucks, June 11, 2016, 05:28:45 PM

Quote from: albrecht on February 19, 2018, 01:15:03 AM
Same. Great to see on screen. But l still like to see anywhere. And one those that I watch even when on tv etc. Such a great movie. The foreshadowing of Meskin kids "playing" with.scorpion and ants n burning all? Wow.

I confess that I still don't get the Wild Bunch.  To me it is ok.  I generally like Peckinpah's work but I went into watching  it for the first time expecting more than what I got.  I'm going to have to watch it on my really big screen downstairs to properly appreciate it I think.  Great acting and directing so I don't know and I love Westerns.

Quote from: paladin1991 on February 19, 2018, 02:24:41 AM
Watched 1939's 'Of Mice and Men.'

Lon Chaney Jr. and Burgess Meredith were perfect in that.  Sad movie to watch though.

Quote from: paladin1991 on February 19, 2018, 03:00:46 AM
I'm getting a mental picture of Pacino in revolutionary garb running with a flag.  Or is that Mel Gibson?

Yes, there is a scene where he runs with the flag.  Not sure about the Gibson film since it has been a while since I saw it.

paladin1991

Quote from: 21st Century Man on February 19, 2018, 03:02:38 AM
I confess that I still don't get the Wild Bunch.  To me it is ok.  I generally like Peckinpah's work but I went into watching  it for the first time expecting more than what I got.  I'm going to have to watch it on my really big screen downstairs to properly appreciate it I think.  Great acting and directing so I don't know and I love Westerns.

the thing that got me about the Wild bunch was when men would get hit, you would see blood fly.  At a young age I was fascinated.  Pretty realistic for the day it was produced in.  I didn't realize how realistic until I grew to adulthood.   

paladin1991

Quote from: 21st Century Man on February 19, 2018, 03:04:48 AM
Lon Chaney Jr. and Burgess Meredith were perfect in that.  Sad movie to watch though.

The best version of it.  The '92 doesn't hold a candle to it.  IMO

Quote from: paladin1991 on February 19, 2018, 03:24:34 AM
the thing that got me about the Wild bunch was when men would get hit, you would see blood fly.  At a young age I was fascinated.  Pretty realistic for the day it was produced in.  I didn't realize how realistic until I grew to adulthood.

I guess that prior to watching it for the first time,  I had seen so much more blood in other more recent films that I had become desensitized to it.


Attention classic movie fans!  The silent Western epic, The Covered Wagon (1923), is available for the first time on disc from Paramount and Kino Lorber.  It was the first big budget Western and it was filmed on Utah/Nevada borderlands by James Cruz. It was the top movie of 1923 outselling The Ten Commandments 2:1.  Alan Hale is the most recognizable name in the cast and he plays the villain.  J. Warren Kerrigan, Lois Wilson, Ernest Torrence and Tully Marshall round out the cast.  Kerrigan is the hero and he was an interesting fellow who shortly afterwards retired from films. 


TigerLily

Quote from: Dr. MD MD on February 20, 2018, 08:21:46 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elp5mzQ6Geo

Damn, dude. Alex has to even tell you what movies to see?  Why don't you see it for yourself, make up your own mind and report back to us

Dr. MD MD

Quote from: TigerLily on March 01, 2018, 08:59:00 PM
Damn, dude. Alex has to even tell you what movies to see?  Why don't you see it for yourself, make up your own mind and report back to us

It's just a movie review, dingbat. I'm not sure how you got that out of me posting a vid but you're obviously incredibly threatened by it.  ::) :D

TigerLily

Quote from: Dr. MD MD on March 01, 2018, 09:12:44 PM
It's just a movie review, dingbat. I'm not sure how you got that out of me posting a vid but you're obviously incredibly threatened by it.  ::) :D

lol. You obviously didn't even watch your own video


Just saw this movie poster and it is so beautiful and detailed that I had to post it here.  The Queen of Sheba - 1921 -lost film







albrecht

Quote from: 21st Century Man on March 09, 2018, 06:16:43 PM
4 lost Chan films.








Let us hope there is some old warehouse or theater out there and these films are found! That would be great.

Quote from: albrecht on March 09, 2018, 06:18:33 PM
Let us hope there is some old warehouse or theater out there and these films are found! That would be great.

I know.  They still find good prints of lost films every now and then so we can hope.  The only early Chan film that survives is The Black Camel with Bela Lugosi.

WhiteCrow

"Slither" with James Caan 1973

Great little movie that few know of.
Outstanding supporting character actors.

It plays on TCM every few years.

More clips here:
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1057/Slither/videos.html 

https://youtu.be/676IcO99nWo

Any lover of classic movie cinema should love this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or0j1mY_rug


Friedkin will also be releasing a new documentary within a few weeks about a real exorcism.  It is called The Devil and Father Amorth.

I watched what remains of the early Hitchcock film, The White Shadow, from 1924.  Credited to director, Graham Cutts.  Hitch did practically everything in this film even though he didn't get the director credit and I think it is his vision that comes through. The following is what he is credited for:

Screenplay
Editing
Set Decoration
Art Direction
Production Design
Assistant Director

No, this is not a movie about a white basketball coach who leads a black team to victory.   :P  It is about a pair of identical twins played by Betty Compson who fall in love with the same man (Clive Brook).  A handsome American, Robin Field, (Brook) meets Nancy Brent (Compson)while aboard ship from America. Field becomes smitten and decides to pursue her and while Nancy appreciates the attention, she is not quite ready to settle down. You see, Nancy likes to gamble, flirt, drink and smoke.  Nancy also happens to be Daddy's favorite.  Daddy also doesn't appreciate Robin's attention to his favorite daughter. He breaks up their trysts and Nancy flees home.  Robin unaware that Nancy has a twin mistakenly pursues Georgina and while initially cold to his advances warms to him.   When Nancy leaves the stately English manor home so she can live a scandalous life in Paris, Daddy goes nutso and Mama dies.   Years pass, Papa Brent lives as a vagrant in the dens of Paris while Nancy lives the good life in the gambling halls.  A friend of Robin's spies Nancy in a gambling hall called The Cat Who Laughs and goes home to England to tell him that his girl is living sinfully.  You see, Georgina was supposedly on holiday when  Nancy was spotted in Paris so Robin believes his friend. I'm getting confused talking about it. Yeah, this sounds very contrived but it is told skillfully.  The rest of the film is lost. 

What we are told is that Robin marries Georgina thinking she is Nancy but Georgina, frail in health as all good women were back in those days ::), gets fatally ill  and confides to Robin that he is really in love with her twin. Georgina dies and Nancy coming to her senses and renouncing sin, marries Robin and Daddy becomes sane again.

The white shadow of the the title refers to twin sis, Georgina who is as pure as the driven soul. When she dies, the shadow transfers to Nancy, who becomes a good girl.  The cynicism of later Hitchcock is muted here. There is hint of incest in the relationship between Georgina and Daddy mostly on Daddy's part.  We are told that Mama lived a loveless, frigid marriage with Daddy who adored Nancy.  There is also a recurrent theme that later resurfaces in Vertigo regarding twins and confused identities.  The scenes in the gambling hall, are wonderful and one could tell Hitchcock took special delight in those scenes.

Brook is the main weakness in the film and there is a bit of overemoting which was prevalent in lesser product of the time but not too bad. 

What remains of the White Shadow comes from the New Zealand archive rediscoveries of 2011 along with John Ford's 1926 film, Upstream, which thankfully survives completely.  That film is minor Ford and is a stage dramedy that brings together such characters similar to that of Alan Mowbray's Shakespearean actor from My Darling Clementine.  Some humorous bits but not enough there to sustain a grade A feature.  For better and more ambitious Ford pictures of the same era, check out The Iron Horse and 3 Bad Men both readily available. Among other items on the dvd is a Mabel Normand Keystone short from 1914 and a brief look at Appalachia circa 1924.

The White Shadow - 4 stars for what exists
Upstream - 3 stars.

albrecht

"I Married a Monster from Outer Space" (1958.) Sorta fun old sci-fi, some character actors and actresses you'll recognize. Some funny lines (like a newlywed retorting that she missed her, joking, Yankees try-out because arms were sore after nights in his car.) Also good drinking angle. Spoiler: aliens are weird because they won't drink. They still can smoke though. :D

zeebo

Couldn't sleep the other nite, so caught Stage Door (1937) on TCM.  Story of young ladies in a boarding house trying to get their break in the theater.  Lots of snappy dialogue.  I liked it but it takes a strange dramatic turn toward the end, which I think was unecessary and spoiled the lighthearted mood.  Katherine Hepburn was pretty good in it, but Ginger Rogers stole the show, what a kick.  Reminded me of my other fave blonde spitfire, Jean Harlow.

ItsOver

Quote from: 21st Century Man on February 19, 2018, 03:02:38 AM
I confess that I still don't get the Wild Bunch.  To me it is ok.  I generally like Peckinpah's work but I went into watching  it for the first time expecting more than what I got...
The violence was just a bit too gratuitous for me.  It was like a little kid doing revolting stuff just to get attention.  Kind of like BellGab.

Dr. MD MD

Quote from: ItsOver on May 04, 2018, 05:12:20 PM
The violence was just a bit too gratuitous for me.  It was like a little kid doing revolting stuff just to get attention.  Kind of like BellGab.

What. Did. You. Say?!...


In the top 20 of my favorite movies.  Ronald Colman is in my top 10 of favorite actors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGJ1xww9bb8

ItsOver

I finally saw Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train."  An excellent movie.  Just one more classic example as to why present day Hollywood should just throw in the towel on trying to produce anything decent.  Maybe that's why every other movie seems to be some kind of CGI superhero mess.  Something great just isn't in most of today's Hollywood crowd. 

The psycho villain, Robert Walker, in "Strangers on a Train" was tremendously entertaining.  He reminded me of a combination of Bill Murray and Kevin Spacey.  Interestingly, Hitchcock cast him in the role after Walker had been discharged from the Menninger Clinic, where he had been treated for a psychiatric disorder.  Nice pick, Hitch.  ;)  For another piece of trivia, the actress who portrayed the murder victim, Kasey Rogers, went on to become the second Louise Tate in "Bewitched."

I'm betting 21st has some interesting things to say about this gem, if he hasn't already.  Thanks, TCM!

Quote from: ItsOver on June 03, 2018, 07:04:15 AM
I finally saw Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train."  An excellent movie.  Just one more classic example as to why present day Hollywood should just throw in the towel on trying to produce anything decent.  Maybe that's why every other movie seems to be some kind of CGI superhero mess.  Something great just isn't in most of today's Hollywood crowd. 

The psycho villain, Robert Walker, in "Strangers on a Train" was tremendously entertaining.  He reminded me of a combination of Bill Murray and Kevin Spacey.  Interestingly, Hitchcock cast him in the role after Walker had been discharged from the Menninger Clinic, where he had been treated for a psychiatric disorder.  Nice pick, Hitch.  ;)  For another piece of trivia, the actress who portrayed the murder victim, Kasey Rogers, went on to become the second Louise Tate in "Bewitched."

I'm betting 21st has some interesting things to say about this gem, if he hasn't already.  Thanks, TCM!

Did you watch the pre-release version (aka the British version) or the American version?  The prerelease version is actually the most popular version now and it is the version Hitchcock preferred.  It omits the last scene with Granger and Roman on a train speaking with a minister.  There are some other differences too but my memory is fuzzy on that right now. I haven't watched the film in about 15 years so it is due for another viewing and the next time, I am going to do a scene by scene comparison of the 2 versions.  There was a nice bit of nepotism in that film with Hitchcock giving a solid supporting role to his daughter, Pat.

Incidentally,  Kino Lorber will be releasing in a few days the only American Hitchcock film that has not been available before on dvd or blu-ray.  Under Capricorn with Joseph Cotten and Ingrid Bergman in a Down-Under 19th century drama.  Many think that film is Hitchcock at his worst and most boring. The French think it is one of his finest films though. I haven't given the film much of a watch before because  the TCM print was faded and not very good.  Not their fault, it was simply the only print on the market.  It has been restored now and might get a more favorable reception.  It was initially released to theaters through Warner Bros. but Warners does not own the rights to that film.  Don't look for any suspense in it as it is simply a period drama.

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