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| gromit |
 Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 4:32 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Kind Hearts and Coronets is terrific.
Tunes of Glory was hard to get through.
Speaking of mid-century British films,
I just watched 2 David Lean films based on Noel Coward plays. I just don't get the Noel Coward appeal. Seems the most banal stuff wrapped in mediocrity. This Happy Breed is okayish as a film, but annoyingly stops at times to have characters say things like -- Gee the last 20 years have been grand. I wouldn't change a thing but wouldn't trade then for now -- or somesuch. Blithe Spirit immediately ran into trouble when Rex Harrison takes the lead. One of my least favorite actors.
Fortunately I saved In Which We Serve for last, as that's a straight up war film and actually has Coward in the lead, so I'm willing to go for a 3rd in the series just due to the change of pace. I'm not expecting much, but I'm willing to give it a spin. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 5:09 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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gromit wrote: Kind Hearts and Coronets is terrific.
Tunes of Glory was hard to get through.
True about KHaCs. I've seen Tunes of Glory about five or six times, so obviously I disagree. I think it's a great film, and features not only a genius turn from John Mills, but (IMO) the peak performance of Guinness's brilliant career. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 3:55 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I was enjoying Kind Hearts and Coronets up until the moment where I experienced for literally the only time in my life a moment so explicitly racist that made it impossible for me to continue enjoying a movie. When he's in jail and references the "ten little niggers" and then uses the word on it's own and then the girl uses the word, too...I just can't. As a result, I've never watched the movie again. |
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| Shane |
| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:04 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 1168
Location: Chicago
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gromit wrote: Kind Hearts and Coronets is terrific.
Tunes of Glory was hard to get through.
Speaking of mid-century British films,
I just watched 2 David Lean films based on Noel Coward plays. I just don't get the Noel Coward appeal. Seems the most banal stuff wrapped in mediocrity. This Happy Breed is okayish as a film, but annoyingly stops at times to have characters say things like -- Gee the last 20 years have been grand. I wouldn't change a thing but wouldn't trade then for now -- or somesuch. Blithe Spirit immediately ran into trouble when Rex Harrison takes the lead. One of my least favorite actors.
Fortunately I saved In Which We Serve for last, as that's a straight up war film and actually has Coward in the lead, so I'm willing to go for a 3rd in the series just due to the change of pace. I'm not expecting much, but I'm willing to give it a spin.
Don't know the appeal but Blithe Spirit is an all time fav of mine. Not shared by many I know however this never puts the dampers on my appreciation. I was surprise I also liked My Fair Lady!! No accounting for taste I guess! |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 2:01 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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The Life of Emile Zola seems pretty relevant today with the zeal of pursuing leakers and finding scapegoats, and it's still pretty exciting stuff today, as old Emile Zola shakes off the cobwebs from his successful life of pissing people off in the pursuit of the truth (presented mostly in novelistic form), and takes up the sword of justice in the name of Alfred Dreyfus. The central courtroom scene (Zola's libel trial, not Dreyfus's treason trials) is the highlight; it's all justice unfairly dispensed and the honor of the French military which threw away its honor when they convicted Dreyfus essentially for being convenient (and Jewish, although that's hardly mentioned). Another detail not mentioned is that after the exonerating evidence had been found and forgery exposed, Dreyfus was convicted a second time! That was so patently unjust that the French president promptly pardoned Dreyfus, although it took seven more years for the military to give in and exonerate him.
Muni dominates, Joseph Schildkraut got a rather inexplicable Oscar since he doesn't really get a chance to do much, and there's a good supporting cast including Gale Sondergaard as Lucie Dreyfus, Donald Crisp as Maitre Labori (Zola's lawyer), Morris Carnovsky as Anatole France, Gloria Holden as Zola's wife, and a good supply of character actors as their nemeses. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 2:03 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Rex Harrison can be good in some films calling for his brand of debonair annoyingness. But generally I find a little Rex H goes too far ...
Btw, Noel Coward is part of Shanghai history, as he wrote Private Lives in a couple weeks from a suite in the Cathay Hotel overlooking the waterfront. The art deco hotel is still there and still a landmark, since renamed the Peace Hotel.
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The Shanghai Int'l Film Festival kicks off tomorrow. I had to wrestle extensivelywith the website to unearth the screening schedule. In fact I still have no idea how to access the schedule from their website itself. I finally found the direct link -- on their website somewhere -- via a google search. But it wouldn't be the annual SIFF without a crummy website.
Much Ado is playing. I might go to see it. But I could also get the dvd for about 1/5th the price in a month or two. And I'm not especially revved to see it ... So far -- after a very quick half-skim -- only found a 1:30 Thursday screening which I won't likely make.
There is a sidebar -- 100 Years of Indian films:
There's also a "100 Years of Indian Cinema" sidebar.
Quote: 3 IDIOTS （India） Director: Rajkumar·Hirani
AWAARA （India） Director: Raj·Kapoor
DIL CHAHTA HAI （India） Director: Farhan·Akhtar
LAGAAN （India） Director: Ashutosh·Gowariker
LESSONS IN FORGETTING （India） Director: Unni·Vijayan
OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! （India） Director: Dibakar·Banerjee
PUSHPAK （India） Director: Singeetham·Srinivasa Rao
RAJA HARISHCHANDRA （India） Director: Dadasaheb·Phalke
RANJANA AMI AR ASHBONA （India） Director: Anjan·Dutt
RUNNING WITH THE BULLS （India） Director: Zoya·Akhtar
WAKE UP SID （India） Director: Ayan·Mukerji
I've seen is Awaara, and have heard of Lagaan, but otherwise out to sea.
Wake up Sid?? The title made me laugh.
Any recs among those? |
Last edited by gromit on Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:43 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 2:06 am |
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| I've seen Lagaan. That's got the scene where it looks like rain clouds are coming, and the Indians sing about how wonderful the rain is and scare the clouds away. And there's cricket, which all England's fault. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 2:14 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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It worked!
I woke up Syd ...
So Lagaan is good?
I think I have the dvd of that ...
No idea on the others.
Maybe Ghulam can help |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 3:41 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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There's also a sidebar of Hitchcock silent films, but I watched all of those 2 years back.
Beasts of the Southern Wild is playing, but I saw it on Dvd and mostly liked it, but wasn't a big fan. It would probably be a little better on a big screen, but not gonna do it. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:23 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Shane wrote:
Don't know the appeal but Blithe Spirit is an all time fav of mine. Not shared by many I know however this never puts the dampers on my appreciation. I was surprise I also liked My Fair Lady!! No accounting for taste I guess!
Blithe Spirit is a wonderful play, though I've never seen the film. Rex Harrison is very talented at what he does, which is somewhat narrow in scope. He was great on stage in My Fair Lady, though his screen performance had elements of phoning it in. My regard for him as an actor, I must confess, has been limited since I discovered what a horrendous person he was. No less than three women committed suicide while having relationships with him (he's sort of the British Henry Fonda, I guess), and he was a well-known cheapskate and all-around rotten human being. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:19 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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Shane wrote: bartist wrote: Dark Skies - a small cut above the usual B-grade film about little gray aliens who muck up house circuits, implants devices in your head, leave weird symbols, abduct humans, etc. Its chief asset is that we see very little of the Grays, and quite a bit of suburban idyll being gradually subverted. JK Simmons has a nice small part as an abduction expert who makes interviewing the traumatized family look as routine as changing a flat tire. I think it's meant to be funny, but not sure. Fans of "Signs," swing away!
Library reserve finally coughed up "This is Not a Film," the clandestine docu. Hope to see tonight; much looking forward to.
The older television series was a fine attempt at terror and suspense IMO and I'm disappointed that this drivel took the name.
I'd sort of forgotten about that 90's series. Yeah, not bad, and offered an alternate vision to the X-Files. Only lasted 20 episodes - it's demise was probably due in large part to the success of the X-Files, which soaked up so much of that kind of audience. A movie based on the series (much as "Serenity" was based on "Firefly") would also have been my preference. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 10:11 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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gromit wrote: It worked!
I woke up Syd ...
So Lagaan is good?
I think I have the dvd of that ...
No idea on the others.
Maybe Ghulam can help
Lagaan's good without being outstanding. It's interesting as a look at history. There's a similar American film, American Pastime, which takes place in an internment camp and it all comes down to a baseball game. Lagaan's better, it is about oppressive taxation and it all comes down to a cricket game. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Shane |
| Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:01 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 1168
Location: Chicago
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billyweeds wrote: Shane wrote:
Don't know the appeal but Blithe Spirit is an all time fav of mine. Not shared by many I know however this never puts the dampers on my appreciation. I was surprise I also liked My Fair Lady!! No accounting for taste I guess! is a wonderful play, though I've never seen the film. Rex Harrison is very talented at what he does, which is somewhat narrow in scope. He was great on stage in My Fair Lady, though his screen performance had elements of phoning it in. My regard for him as an actor, I must confess, has been limited since I discovered what a horrendous person he was. No less than three women committed suicide while having relationships with him (he's sort of the British Henry Fonda, I guess), and he was a well-known cheapskate and all-around rotten human being.
It's been said that ignorance is bliss. I must disagree in this case, thanks Billy for that eye-opener. It's no wonder I've had reservations about both of them. |
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I'd like to continue the argument we were having before. What was it about? |
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| Shane |
| Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:08 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 1168
Location: Chicago
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jeremy wrote: Another question: I wish to get a feel for how America currently sees itself, would I be better off watching The Alamo or Miracle?
The Alamo gave me the same impression of 'we need to tell ALL' which has been a not so subtle underpinning of the poorer masses hereabouts since the popularity of the book 'Lies My Teachers Told Me' back in the 90's Jer. It is widly considered that knowing is doing something 'round here....the double-edged wooden sword being used for the recent rounds of leaks. People will express outrage which quickly subsides into 'I have nothing to hide so why should I care?' mentality. Well are under complete dominance by our own volition. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 1:36 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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| Picked up Dragon Seed, with Kate Hepburn and Walter Huston as Chinese peasants when the Japs invade. Based on a Pearl Buck novel. 1944. When the Chinese were our buddies. |
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