| |
| Author |
Message |
|
| gromit |
 Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 10:10 pm |
 |
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
|
| Just to be clear, Studs isn't in the film, but gets interviewed in the extras. Another interesting extra interviews the boy in the film, who became a toothless hillbilly proud that one of his children finished high school... |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
  
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 11:02 pm |
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
In Come and Get It (1936), Barney Glasgow (Edward Arnold) is a supervisor at a logging operation in Wisconsin in the 1880s. He specializes in clearcutting forests, his men clearing ten million feet of timber in one season, which is one of the reasons Wisconsin is known for its cheeses and not its timber. (The Peshtigo forest fire is another reason.) This gives him a chance to become a partner and marry the boss's daughter (Mary Nash). During the celebration of the team meeting the goal in record time, he meets dance hall girl Lotta Morgan (Frances Farmer), and he and his foreman and friend, Swan Bostrom (Walter Brennan), promptly fall in love with her. Lotta also falls in love with Barney, but when Barney gets a telegram from his boss offering a partnership and his daughter, Barney chooses to follow his dream rather than his love. Swan swiftly picks up the pieces of Lotta's broken heart.
Fast forward twenty years. Lotta has now died, and Swan wants his old friend to come visit and go hunting. Barney hasn't dared to visit because of his feelings for Lotta and his treating her shabbily. But now he does visit, and gets to meet Swan's niece and Swan's beautiful daughter Lotta Bostrow, who is a dead ringer for her mother (and also played by Frances Farmer). He promptly falls for her, and she decides to take advantage of his fondness to get out of the wilderness, although she doesn't quite realize why he's fond of her. She never does find out the connection with her mother.
Naturally, Barney has a handsome, idealistic son Richard (Joel McCrea), so when Barney takes Swan, Lotta Jr. and family to Milwaukee, sparks fly between Richard and Lotte, Jr., which is not Barney's idea at all. This is going to lead to a confrontation, which works out better than I was expecting.
Oscar A-Z thought Arnold was miscast (Spencer Tracy was first choice), but I thought he gave a good performance as someone who was a robber baron on one hand and actually a pretty likeable person for an environmental disaster. Farmer is actually fairly awful as a chanteuse/femme fatale, but is better when she leaves that life. She's just fine as the daughter, and it's interesting that she could play two such different personalities. I also found it interesting that both the mother and daughter sing "Aura Lee," sing in different registers, and the daughter is much better.
Brennan won an Oscar as Swan, which I think was a bit much. That's mostly because he's overdoing the Swedish bit (he gets to say 'Yumping Yiminy a lot). He does have some fine scenes, my favorite of which is him comforting Lotta Sr. when her love has abandoned her, but he's better in Fury, which came out the same year. Mary Nash starts off with a thankless role as Barney's rather stiff wife, which makes it interesting as her character is developed. For instance, we're quite prepared for her to reject her daughter's choice of a husband, but she actually handles it quite well. I found it interesting when she's calling for her husband after the shit has hit the fan, that she finally calls him by his first name--and reveals that she's figured out what's been going one all along.
Directed by Howard Hawks, who was fired halfway through and replaced by William Wyler. That gives me 13 Hawks films and 10 Wylers. One thing that impresses me about those ten Wyler films is that nine of them won acting Oscars, including five best actresses (Bette Davis in Jezebel, Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver, Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress, Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday and Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl. And two best Actors, four supporting actors and two supporting actresses.) One of those supporting actors was Walter Brennan (again) in The Westerner, which is one of the great supporting performances of all time.
Based on an Edna Ferber novel. She was having quite a run at the time. Showboat was the best, but this was pretty good. |
Last edited by Syd on Mon May 25, 2015 12:45 am; edited 4 times in total
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 11:06 pm |
|
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
| I didn't mention that the logging operations in Come and Get It are spectacular. It's to logging what Red River is to cattle drives. Although I did wonder why they were sending one log at a time down a shute when we earlier saw them sending a hundred logs at a time just by rolling a pile of logs down a hillside. |
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 5:29 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
|
| Aura Lee is the Civil War era ballad which was transmuted into Elvis' Love Me Tender nearly a hundred years later. |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 5:48 am |
|
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
gromit wrote: Aura Lee is the Civil War era ballad which was transmuted into Elvis' Love Me Tender nearly a hundred years later.
And Jessica Lange got an Oscar nomination for playing Frances Farmer in Frances. (Though the movie is fictionalized. She was never lobotomized and even tried a film comeback after she was institutionalized.) She also played opposite Edward Arnold (and Cary Grant) in The Toast of New York, with Arnold playing Jim Fisk, who tried to corner the gold market during the Gilded Age. Arnold's also Claude Rains' evil boss in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Lionel Barrymore's nemesis in You Can't Take It With You. He also played Diamond Jim Brady a couple of times. He made a sub-career of playing fat cat bosses, often evil, although he's not particularly evil here. (I can't speak for the Edna Ferber novel the movie is based on, though he's playing a pretty complex character here, which must be from Ferber.)
I should read some Ferber some time. She also wrote Cimarron, Show Boat, So Big and Giant, and co-wrote the plays of Stage Door and Dinner at Eight. |
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 2:23 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
|
| John Michael McDonagh's "Calvary" (2014) is quite a contrast from his earlier "The Guard" which was a rollicking comedy. Both these movies are set in rural Ireland and both have Brendan Gleeson in the main role. In "Calvary" he is a good-hearted priest whose world begins to collapse because of the diminishing prestige of the church, increasing skepticism of the parishioners and retributive feelings lingering from the days of earlier predatory priests. It puts the results of last week's vote on gay marriage in better perspective. Interesting movie. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 9:06 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
|
gromit wrote: Aura Lee is the Civil War era ballad which was transmuted into Elvis' Love Me Tender nearly a hundred years later.
Many drugs are taken, Aura Lee.
Finally saw Tristram Shandy and, in spite of its preoccupations with birthing forceps, penile injuries, and making the actress Keeley Hawes scream for 20 percent of the film, I found it hysterically funny. Quite a clever sendup of the British period drama, and a convincing take on the insanity and vanity of filmmaking. A very postmodern film about what has been called the first postmodern novel (which Sterne somehow wrote even before there was modern.)
] |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 9:33 am |
|
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
bartist wrote: gromit wrote: Aura Lee is the Civil War era ballad which was transmuted into Elvis' Love Me Tender nearly a hundred years later.
Many drugs are taken, Aura Lee.
Finally saw Tristram Shandy and, in spite of its preoccupations with birthing forceps, penile injuries, and making the actress Keeley Hawes scream for 20 percent of the film, I found it hysterically funny. Quite a clever sendup of the British period drama, and a convincing take on the insanity and vanity of filmmaking. A very postmodern film about what has been called the first postmodern novel (which Sterne somehow wrote even before there was modern.)
In its own way, it's pretty faithful to the original. |
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 11:15 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
|
bartist wrote: gromit wrote: Aura Lee is the Civil War era ballad which was transmuted into Elvis' Love Me Tender nearly a hundred years later.
Many drugs are taken, Aura Lee.
]
Every time you take vaccine,
Take it Aura Lee.
As you know the other way,
Hurts more painfully.
As a result I cannot think of that song without silently singing those lines. In much the same way I now automatically mentally add "Fucking"into the middle of both Robert Powell and Jesus of Nazareth. |
_________________
I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 3:28 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
|
Heh! In Bruges bristles with contagious memes.
Syd, have you read Sterne's novel? I feel I must read it now, but not sure am equal to the task. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 4:44 pm |
|
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
bartist wrote: Heh! In Bruges bristles with contagious memes.
Syd, have you read Sterne's novel? I feel I must read it now, but not sure am equal to the task.
I read about half of it. It's fun, but it tends to keep pulling your leg over and over and doesn't have a plot. After a couple hundred pages I got the idea. |
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 9:48 am |
|
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
| In a similar vein, I watched about half of Orson Welles' version of The Trial last night before I started falling asleep. Not because of the movie, though, which moves at a surprisingly good clip, and Anthony Perkins is well-cast as Josef K. At first, I thought Jeanne Moreau was simply bad, but then I realized her character was smashed and weary to the bone. Probably because of all the noise from Josef's pornograph. |
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 10:34 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
|
Anyone see Viva la Liberta, 2013 Italian film, a political comedy...imagine Fellini had signed on to make "Dave." In this case, the senator disappears to deal with burnout
and his twin brother, fresh from a mental hospital, steps in to replace him. Excellent
both as shrewd commentary on the loss of public confidence in government and as a comedy about escapist urges. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Fri May 29, 2015 4:25 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
|
Sounds good and in years past it would probably turn up as a Dvd within another year. But now with everyone streaming everything and slowing down the internet, it will probably never turn up here.
Two days ago, I looked and the one large somewhat pricey (for China) DVd store was empty and for rent, and yesterday my old Dvd shop was suspiciously closed on a Thursday night.
I don't know if the gov't even bothers with the periodic dvd crackdowns anymore. It used to be about once every 3 years the stores would be warned to shut down for a period ranging from 2 weeks to 2 months, usually timed with some international conference or other sensitive issue in trade relations. Sometimes it was okay after one week if they just hid all their dvd's in a back room and continued to sell them ... |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri May 29, 2015 6:08 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
I would be promoting this movie even if it weren't written and directed by my own stepson, but Boy Meets Girl (now streaming oin Netflix) is a very worthwhile film. Eric Schaeffer (said stepson) has put together a funny and touching rom-com-dram about a transgender woman in Kentucky named Ricky and her interactions with several members of both sexes. It's sometimes cute, sometimes fairly wrenching, and almost always excellent.
Most notably, the transgender woman is played not by a so-called "cisgender" actor like Jared (Dallas Buyers Club) Leto or Jeffrey (Transparent) Tambor but by an honest-to-goodness transgender woman named Michelle Hendley whom Schaeffer found by searching the internet. She'd never acted before but she's terrific. The rest of the cast follows suit and the whole thing is very very much worth watching. I'm not alone: the movie has 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and raves from the Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter among others. Watch! Boy Meets Girl: the overused title for once means a whole lot more than usual. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
|
