“Remember the Night.” It is directed by Mitchell Leisen from a Preston Sturges script. It will be showing at Film Forum shortly as part of a Sturges festival.
Francesco Rosi is an underrepresented director. Something by him other than “Salvator Giuliano” might be good.
I heard that “The Moment Of Truth” is being considered.
DEADLINE AT DAWN. The only film directed by Harold Clurman with a Clifford Odets script based on a Cornell Woolrich novel.
An interesting cast too: Paul Lukas, Bill Williams and a very sexy Susan Hayward. Well worth checking out.
Outcast Of The Islands (Carol Reed)
The Mattei Affair (Francesco Rosi. Talk about a neglected director!)
Chimes At Midnight (Orson Welles. I guess I am not alone in this.)
Shoeshine (Vittorio De Sica)
Days And Nights In The Forest (Satyajit Ray)
The Life Of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi)
Summer With Monika (Ingmar Bergman)
The Beggars Opera (Peter Brook)
The Mother And The Whore (Jean Eustache)
China Is Near (Marco Bellochio)
The Lady Eve
The Navigator
Easy Living
Bringing Up Baby
Modern Times
Duck Soup
Seduced And Abandoned
Smiles Of A Summer Night
Mr Hulot’s Holiday
Kind Hearts And Coronets
Kim Novak brought beauty and sensuality and an inner anxiousness to the screen. She lacked technical proficiency, which probably added to her insecurity, but she more than made up for it in other ways. I loved her in PICNIC, PUSHOVER, KISS ME STUPID, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, THE EDDY DUCHIN STORY, BELL BOOK AND CANDLE along with VERTIGO. That body of work is nothing to be ashamed of.
Edwige Feuillere
Louis Jouvet
Harry Baur
Raimu
Maurice Tourneur
Lee Garmes
Walter Huston
Claude Autant-Lara
Robert Donat
Ruth Chatterton
Jack Hilldyard
Jack Oakie
Pierre Fresnay
Conrad Veidt
Nickolai Cherkassov
John Barrymore
Harry Ritz
et.alia
There is a lousy movie called SOLDIER OF FORTUNE starring Clark Gable and Susan Hayward that is intermittently saved by Hugo Friedhofer’s atmospheric score. You can forget about the terrible acting and the fake looking sets and drift along on star power and romantic thoughts.
There is a lousy movie called SOLDIER OF FORTUNE starring Clark Gable and Susan Hayward that is intermittently saved by Hugo Friedhofer’s atmospheric score. You can forget about the terrible acting and the fake looking sets and drift along on star power and romantic thoughts.
There is a lousy movie called SOLDIER OF FORTUNE starring Clark Gable and Susan Hayward that is intermittently saved by Hugo Friedhofer’s atmospheric score. You can forget about the terrible acting and the fake looking sets and drift along on star power and romantic thoughts.
I love Bernardo Bertolucci’s “1900” but I know a few of the performances are over the top and some of the ideas behind the plot are pretty simple-minded. However, it is gorgeous and what does work, works beautifully. The movie has a romantic sweep to it. Ennio Morricone’s score is one of his best. If you see the full length version, it can be an overwhelming experience, for all it’s weaknesses.
I Know Where I’m Going (Powell/Pressburger)
The Rocking Horse Winner (Anthony Pelissier)
Outcast Of The Islands (Reed)
Oliver Twist (Lean)
Kind Hearts And Coronets (Hamer)
The Beggars Opera (Brook)
Sabotage (Hitchcock)
The Stars Look Down (Reed)
Rembrandt (Korda)
Hope And Glory (Boorman)
It’s virtually impossible to pick the greatest performances of all time but it is fun to try.
Here goes (in no order):
Walter Huston—Dodsworth
Bette Davis—Jezebel
Gerard Philipe and Edwige Feuillere—The Idiot
Kinuyo Tanaka—The Life Of Oharu
Pierre Brasseur—Children Of Paradise
Barbara Stanwyck—The Lady Eve
Marcello Mastroianni—Il Bell’ Antonio
Jeanne Moreau—Bay Of Angels
Laurence Olivier—Carrie
Raimu—The Baker’s Wife
Steve Cochran—Il Grido
Alida Valli—The Third Man
James Mason—A Star Is Born
Marlon Brando—A Streetcar Named Desire
Dan O’Herlihy—The Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe
Trevor Howard—Outcast Of The Islands
Humphrey Bogart—The Treasure Of Sierra Madre
Eva Dahlbeck—Smiles Of A Summer Night
Harriet Andersson—Summer With Monika
Max Von Sydow—The Seventh Seal
Toshiro Mifune—Yojimbo
Anna Magnani—The Golden Coach
James Cagney—Angels With Dirty Faces
Margaret Sullavan—Three Comrades
Katharine Hepburn—Alice Adams
Dame Edith Evans—The Last Days Of Dolwyn
Jean-Louis Barrault—The Puritan
Charles Laughton—Rembrandt
Peter Lorre—M
Greta Garbo—A Woman Of Affairs
Maria Falconetti-The Passion Of Joan Of Arc
Innokenty Smoktunovsky—Crime And Punishment
Anthony Quinn—A High Wind In Jamaica
Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young—A Man’s Castle
Burt Lancaster—Atlantic City
Soumitre Chatterjee—The World Of Apu
Jean Louis Trintingant—The Conformist
Jane Fonda—Klute
Juano Hernandez—Intruder In The Dust
Henry Fonda—Young Mr. Lincoln
Cary Grant—Bringing Up Baby
Jack Lemmon—Some Like It Hot
Tony Curtis—Sweet Smell Of Success
Judy Garland—Meet Me In St. Louis
John Barrymore—Twentieth Century
Gian Maria Volonte—Christ Stopped At Eboli
Yvonne De Bray—Les Parents Terribles
Nicole Stephane—Les Enfants Terribles
Maria Casares—Orphee
Gene Hackman—All Night Long
Stanley Kubrick (excepting Spartacus, Lolita, and The Killing)
Clint Eastwood
Tim Burton (However, I do love Beetlejuice)
Quentin Tarantino
Some Frank Capra (Mr Smith, Mr Deeds, You Can’t Take It With You, Arsenic And Old Lace, Its A Wonderful Life). His earlier stuff is much better.
and (I know I am on dangerous ground here) John Ford.
If you define being overrated as not living up to original promise, Francois Truffaut might be considered a little overrated but “The 400 Blows,” “Jules And Jim” and “Shoot The Piano Player” are pretty remarkable achievements. “The Wild Child” and “The Story Of Adele H” are impressive too. However, much of his other stuff is not so hot (“Mississippi Mermaid,” “The Man Who Loved Women,” “The Last Metro,” “A Gorgeous Kid LIke Me,” “The Bride Wore Black,” “The Green Room.”)
If you look back into film history there are directors who flower for a period and then lose their inspiration. Rene Clair had a great start and created masterpieces in France. Then, at least in the United States, became less of an original. Admittedly he had to contend with the studio bosses. Later on, back in France, his films also lacked his early touch. Is he overrated? As far as I am concerned, the man who created “Le Million” can never be overrated.
First 5 are predictable but justified:
L’Avventura (Antonioni)
A Man Escaped (Bresson)
The Rules Of The Game (Renoir)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Earth (Dovzhenko)
Next 5 are more personal:
The Lady Eve (Sturges)
Days And Nights In The Forest (Ray)
Umberto D (De Sica)
The Life Of Oharu (Mizoguchi)
Los Olvidados (Bunuel)
I have been watching Stanley Donen’s “Two For The Road” on TV and have found myself drawn to the two main characters over and over again. And I know that the film is seriously flawed. The supporting characters are stereotyped. It is very close to sitcom. Albert Finney gives a boorish performance. It is dated, somewhat. And yet, I am moved.
What makes the film work for me? Audrey Hepburn? Henry Mancini’s score? The references to life among the very privileged a la “La Dolce Vita?” (Having Nadia Gray, the woman who does the striptease at the end of “La Dolce Vita” stresses the connection.) I am not sure.
The script by Frederic Raphael? What?
Is there an answer?
Josef von Sternberg’s “Morocco” and “Shanghai Express” were both shot by Lee Garmes. I know that von Sternberg dictated everything on his sets but Garmes was a good student, and he brought a lot of knowledge with him.
Also see his work in “Zoo In Budapest” and Hawks’ “Scarface.”
“Hallelujah, I’m A Bum”
“Chunhyangdyun”—sort of a musical, with a growling chanter or rapper. Wonderful.
“Under the Roofs of Paris”
“It’s Always Fair Weather”—the stepchild of the Kelly/Donen collaboration.
When I say "A Perfect Film", What One Film Pops Into Your Head First? over 3 years ago
A Man Escaped. Bresson.
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Classic Actors/actresses over 3 years ago
Barbara Stanwyck
Robert Mitchum
Margaret Sullavan
Joel McCrea
Sylvia Sidney
Montgomery Clift
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FAVORITE CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY MOVIES over 3 years ago
“Remember the Night.” It is directed by Mitchell Leisen from a Preston Sturges script. It will be showing at Film Forum shortly as part of a Sturges festival.
A ridiculously neglected film.
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Favorite auteurs missing from the profile selection box. over 3 years ago
Alexander Mackendrick
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Your favorite title sequence over 3 years ago
Walk On The Wild Side (Saul Bass)
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 3 years ago
Francesco Rosi is an underrepresented director. Something by him other than “Salvator Giuliano” might be good.
I heard that “The Moment Of Truth” is being considered.
Go to Comment
Underrated movies/actors over 3 years ago
DEADLINE AT DAWN. The only film directed by Harold Clurman with a Clifford Odets script based on a Cornell Woolrich novel.
An interesting cast too: Paul Lukas, Bill Williams and a very sexy Susan Hayward. Well worth checking out.
Go to Comment
What movies desperately need a U.S. dvd release? over 3 years ago
Outcast Of The Islands (Carol Reed)
The Mattei Affair (Francesco Rosi. Talk about a neglected director!)
Chimes At Midnight (Orson Welles. I guess I am not alone in this.)
Shoeshine (Vittorio De Sica)
Days And Nights In The Forest (Satyajit Ray)
The Life Of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi)
Summer With Monika (Ingmar Bergman)
The Beggars Opera (Peter Brook)
The Mother And The Whore (Jean Eustache)
China Is Near (Marco Bellochio)
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Favorite Kurosawa lead actor? over 3 years ago
Isuzu Yamada is pretty great in THRONE OF BLOOD and YOJIMBO.
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favorite funniest movie over 3 years ago
The Lady Eve
The Navigator
Easy Living
Bringing Up Baby
Modern Times
Duck Soup
Seduced And Abandoned
Smiles Of A Summer Night
Mr Hulot’s Holiday
Kind Hearts And Coronets
Go to Comment
GREAT FLAWED FILMS over 3 years ago
Kim Novak brought beauty and sensuality and an inner anxiousness to the screen. She lacked technical proficiency, which probably added to her insecurity, but she more than made up for it in other ways. I loved her in PICNIC, PUSHOVER, KISS ME STUPID, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, THE EDDY DUCHIN STORY, BELL BOOK AND CANDLE along with VERTIGO. That body of work is nothing to be ashamed of.
Go to Comment
ARE THERE ANY FORGOTTEN ARTISTS THAT ATTENTION SHOULD BE PAID? over 3 years ago
Edwige Feuillere
Louis Jouvet
Harry Baur
Raimu
Maurice Tourneur
Lee Garmes
Walter Huston
Claude Autant-Lara
Robert Donat
Ruth Chatterton
Jack Hilldyard
Jack Oakie
Pierre Fresnay
Conrad Veidt
Nickolai Cherkassov
John Barrymore
Harry Ritz
et.alia
Go to Comment
GREAT USE OF MUSIC IN FILMS over 3 years ago
There is a lousy movie called SOLDIER OF FORTUNE starring Clark Gable and Susan Hayward that is intermittently saved by Hugo Friedhofer’s atmospheric score. You can forget about the terrible acting and the fake looking sets and drift along on star power and romantic thoughts.
Go to Comment
GREAT USE OF MUSIC IN FILMS over 3 years ago
There is a lousy movie called SOLDIER OF FORTUNE starring Clark Gable and Susan Hayward that is intermittently saved by Hugo Friedhofer’s atmospheric score. You can forget about the terrible acting and the fake looking sets and drift along on star power and romantic thoughts.
Go to Comment
GREAT USE OF MUSIC IN FILMS over 3 years ago
There is a lousy movie called SOLDIER OF FORTUNE starring Clark Gable and Susan Hayward that is intermittently saved by Hugo Friedhofer’s atmospheric score. You can forget about the terrible acting and the fake looking sets and drift along on star power and romantic thoughts.
Go to Comment
GREAT FLAWED FILMS over 3 years ago
I love Bernardo Bertolucci’s “1900” but I know a few of the performances are over the top and some of the ideas behind the plot are pretty simple-minded. However, it is gorgeous and what does work, works beautifully. The movie has a romantic sweep to it. Ennio Morricone’s score is one of his best. If you see the full length version, it can be an overwhelming experience, for all it’s weaknesses.
Go to Comment
What is your most memorable film going experience? (Only one per post please!) over 3 years ago
“L’Avventura”
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Best British Film over 3 years ago
I Know Where I’m Going (Powell/Pressburger)
The Rocking Horse Winner (Anthony Pelissier)
Outcast Of The Islands (Reed)
Oliver Twist (Lean)
Kind Hearts And Coronets (Hamer)
The Beggars Opera (Brook)
Sabotage (Hitchcock)
The Stars Look Down (Reed)
Rembrandt (Korda)
Hope And Glory (Boorman)
Go to Comment
What books would you like to see adapted for the screen? over 3 years ago
The Master and Margarida although it might have to be animated.
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Best title over 3 years ago
I Wake Up Screaming
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Top performances of all time. over 3 years ago
It’s virtually impossible to pick the greatest performances of all time but it is fun to try.
Here goes (in no order):
Walter Huston—Dodsworth
Bette Davis—Jezebel
Gerard Philipe and Edwige Feuillere—The Idiot
Kinuyo Tanaka—The Life Of Oharu
Pierre Brasseur—Children Of Paradise
Barbara Stanwyck—The Lady Eve
Marcello Mastroianni—Il Bell’ Antonio
Jeanne Moreau—Bay Of Angels
Laurence Olivier—Carrie
Raimu—The Baker’s Wife
Steve Cochran—Il Grido
Alida Valli—The Third Man
James Mason—A Star Is Born
Marlon Brando—A Streetcar Named Desire
Dan O’Herlihy—The Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe
Trevor Howard—Outcast Of The Islands
Humphrey Bogart—The Treasure Of Sierra Madre
Eva Dahlbeck—Smiles Of A Summer Night
Harriet Andersson—Summer With Monika
Max Von Sydow—The Seventh Seal
Toshiro Mifune—Yojimbo
Anna Magnani—The Golden Coach
James Cagney—Angels With Dirty Faces
Margaret Sullavan—Three Comrades
Katharine Hepburn—Alice Adams
Dame Edith Evans—The Last Days Of Dolwyn
Jean-Louis Barrault—The Puritan
Charles Laughton—Rembrandt
Peter Lorre—M
Greta Garbo—A Woman Of Affairs
Maria Falconetti-The Passion Of Joan Of Arc
Innokenty Smoktunovsky—Crime And Punishment
Anthony Quinn—A High Wind In Jamaica
Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young—A Man’s Castle
Burt Lancaster—Atlantic City
Soumitre Chatterjee—The World Of Apu
Jean Louis Trintingant—The Conformist
Jane Fonda—Klute
Juano Hernandez—Intruder In The Dust
Henry Fonda—Young Mr. Lincoln
Cary Grant—Bringing Up Baby
Jack Lemmon—Some Like It Hot
Tony Curtis—Sweet Smell Of Success
Judy Garland—Meet Me In St. Louis
John Barrymore—Twentieth Century
Gian Maria Volonte—Christ Stopped At Eboli
Yvonne De Bray—Les Parents Terribles
Nicole Stephane—Les Enfants Terribles
Maria Casares—Orphee
Gene Hackman—All Night Long
and on and on and on….
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Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 3 years ago
Stanley Kubrick (excepting Spartacus, Lolita, and The Killing)
Clint Eastwood
Tim Burton (However, I do love Beetlejuice)
Quentin Tarantino
Some Frank Capra (Mr Smith, Mr Deeds, You Can’t Take It With You, Arsenic And Old Lace, Its A Wonderful Life). His earlier stuff is much better.
and (I know I am on dangerous ground here) John Ford.
Go to Comment
Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 3 years ago
If you define being overrated as not living up to original promise, Francois Truffaut might be considered a little overrated but “The 400 Blows,” “Jules And Jim” and “Shoot The Piano Player” are pretty remarkable achievements. “The Wild Child” and “The Story Of Adele H” are impressive too. However, much of his other stuff is not so hot (“Mississippi Mermaid,” “The Man Who Loved Women,” “The Last Metro,” “A Gorgeous Kid LIke Me,” “The Bride Wore Black,” “The Green Room.”)
If you look back into film history there are directors who flower for a period and then lose their inspiration. Rene Clair had a great start and created masterpieces in France. Then, at least in the United States, became less of an original. Admittedly he had to contend with the studio bosses. Later on, back in France, his films also lacked his early touch. Is he overrated? As far as I am concerned, the man who created “Le Million” can never be overrated.
Go to Comment
Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 3 years ago
I would be interested in Antonioni’s early documentaries.
Go to Comment
Here it is... Top 10 films of all time? over 3 years ago
First 5 are predictable but justified:
L’Avventura (Antonioni)
A Man Escaped (Bresson)
The Rules Of The Game (Renoir)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Earth (Dovzhenko)
Next 5 are more personal:
The Lady Eve (Sturges)
Days And Nights In The Forest (Ray)
Umberto D (De Sica)
The Life Of Oharu (Mizoguchi)
Los Olvidados (Bunuel)
Go to Comment
What is the greatest contributor to making a film work? over 3 years ago
I have been watching Stanley Donen’s “Two For The Road” on TV and have found myself drawn to the two main characters over and over again. And I know that the film is seriously flawed. The supporting characters are stereotyped. It is very close to sitcom. Albert Finney gives a boorish performance. It is dated, somewhat. And yet, I am moved.
What makes the film work for me? Audrey Hepburn? Henry Mancini’s score? The references to life among the very privileged a la “La Dolce Vita?” (Having Nadia Gray, the woman who does the striptease at the end of “La Dolce Vita” stresses the connection.) I am not sure.
The script by Frederic Raphael? What?
Is there an answer?
Go to Comment
Most Memorable Villain over 3 years ago
I remember the audience’s intake of breath when it was revealed that Angela Lansbury was the lynchpin in “The Manchurian Candidate.”
His own mother!
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Last movie you saw and rate it over 3 years ago
My Uncle Antoine—8.5
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Best shot movie(s) and its cinematographer over 3 years ago
Josef von Sternberg’s “Morocco” and “Shanghai Express” were both shot by Lee Garmes. I know that von Sternberg dictated everything on his sets but Garmes was a good student, and he brought a lot of knowledge with him.
Also see his work in “Zoo In Budapest” and Hawks’ “Scarface.”
Go to Comment
I'm looking for musicals over 2 years ago
“Hallelujah, I’m A Bum”
“Chunhyangdyun”—sort of a musical, with a growling chanter or rapper. Wonderful.
“Under the Roofs of Paris”
“It’s Always Fair Weather”—the stepchild of the Kelly/Donen collaboration.
Go to Comment