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| Syd |
 Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 6:58 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| He's hardly the only one who deserted at that stage of the war. He'd been fighting for more than three years, had just lived through the Battle of the Crater, seen his friend killed, been injured, could see the war ending, and at that point going home is a lot more appealing than dying uselessly. Though I would have been tempted to stay with Natalie Portman. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 10:07 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6967
Location: Black Hills
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| Agree...just meant the film doesn't make clear why he can't parlay a ticket home from his hospital bed. I could fill in the blanks, more or less, but it felt a little murky. Just sharing an impression of the film, not questioning the logic of soldiers who go AWOL. Or foolishly walk away from Natalie Portman... |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:16 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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It's odd, that I totally missed the identity of the murderer in The Thin Man, but the same criteria would give me the murderer in After the Thin Man.
No Regrets for Our Youth is a 1946 Kurosawa about the militarist Japanese regime of the 1930s persecuting pacifist leftists. One of them is Ruykichi Noge (Susumu Fujita), with whom Yukie Yagihara (Setsuko Hara) is in love. Yukie and Noge are in love, but Noge is imprisoned for his pacifist beliefs, and he is imprisoned for them; when he emerges, he seems to be endorsing the militarist regime, but he's convicted of treason, a charge of which, as near as I can tell, he is guilty. Yukie goes to live with Noge's parents, only to find that the charges of treason transfer to the family in the minds of those looking for a convenient scapegoat.
I thought this was actually a pretty awful film for the first hour or so, with headlines blaring at us, Setsuko Hara overacting (something she fortunately got over with in the Noriko trilogy), and soap opera tropes bombarding us left and right. The last half hour was really good, but you have to wade through a lot to get there. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 7:09 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| What can I write about in order to be the first posting of 2016? Hmmm. Nothing. But hey, here I am! |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 11:09 am |
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Joined: 30 Oct 2014
Posts: 278
Location: Winnipeg: It's a dry cold.
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billyweeds wrote: What can I write about in order to be the first posting of 2016? Hmmm. Nothing. But hey, here I am!
There you are!
Yesterday I watched all the Marx brothers movies and then watched The Thin Man and After The Thin Man. Then I went to bed. I knew I wouldn't be able to watch the next Thin Man movie because I knew I would have fallen asleep.
HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! |
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Big bang, shmig bang; still doesn't explain how anything starts. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 11:42 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6967
Location: Black Hills
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Feliz nuevo anno.
I would extend that greeting to any lurkers on Samoa and Kiribati, but it's already Jan. 2 there. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 1:30 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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Looks like Marantz and I were on pretty much the same page yesterday. I watched a couple of Marx Bros flicks ("Animal Crackers" is seldom shown but has some of the great Marx moments, as well as their most disturbing scene, when they beat up Margaret Dumont), and then stuck with the Thin Man movies through the evening, taking a break for the ball drop (hard to believe that a million people were just a few miles down the road cheering it). But of course I dozed off during "Another Thin Man," but woke to watch some of "The Song of the Thin Man," which I've seen only once--but I dozed off before the end, and I wish they'd show that one as often as they show some of the others, even though it's not one of the best.
Today TCM is showing old sci-fi flicks (they called them horror movies when I was a teen, but they're pretty tame compared to the current horror genre), which I remember somewhat fondly but don't want to see again. Besides, I do have other things to do.... |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 8:41 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I watched the original Thin Man last night, and recorded the second, third and fifth (missing the fourth and the end of the sixth). The first is good, but I liked After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man better, even though I had seen the last part of After the Thin Man before and knew who the murderer was (but not the motives, which I did guess while watching). I have still to watch The Thin Man Goes Home. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 7:47 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Syd wrote: I have still to watch The Thin Man Goes Home.
You haven't missed that much, unless you have a desire to see William Powell spank Myrna Loy. Yes, you read that right. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:04 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| FLASH! Tonight at 10:15 TCm is showing my choice for most under-appreciated movie of the 1970s. Smile is the story of a teenage beauty pageant in California, and it not only rivals Nashville as Best Film of 1975, but it covers some of the same ground--microcosm of America, subculture coverage, etc.--and features simply great performances from Bruce Dern (until Nebraska his career peak) and Michael Kidd (proving he's almost as fine a character actor as he is a choreographer), as well as excellent work from many others including Barbara Feldon and Annette O'Toole. See this Michael Ritchie masterpiece if you see no other movie in 2016! |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 11:52 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Second the motion on "Smile." It was one of the screenings when I worked for the film class, and everyone loved it. I always wanted to see Michael Kidd again, but never did. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 12:56 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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carrobin wrote: Second the motion on "Smile." It was one of the screenings when I worked for the film class, and everyone loved it. I always wanted to see Michael Kidd again, but never did.
I had the extreme pleasure of interviewing Kidd at his home in L.A. in 1974, I think it was, before Smile came out. Kidd was one of the most acerbically funny people I've ever met. His comments on Gene Kelly and Danny Kaye were just barely printable. Let's just say he punctured a few balloons. What a hilarious afternoon that was! His character in Smile is very similar to the real Michael Kidd I met. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 1:46 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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Our film class was disappointed that we didn't have any guest from "Smile" except a publicist, a smug guy who presented the ad campaign that he had set up. And it was creepy--showing photos of the beauty contestants with the tag line, "Will she go all the way?" The class hated it, of course. Fortunately, as far as I know, that particular ad campaign was never heard of again. (I hope the clueless publicist never was, either.)
Too bad the Internet wasn't around for Michael Kidd. He sounds like a natural for publicity clips. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2016 11:04 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Some quick observations on my holiday re-watch festival.
I got a bit sick starting last Tuesday, so have been watching films and molesting the cats mostly. Though today I surprised myself by both going to work and then playing basketball at night. So I'm either feeling better or will feel like crap tomorrow.
Bigger Than Life -- Great Nic Ray film. For 1956, this is a pretty potent look at family life and hiding motivations. Hell, James Mason even hides his part-time after-school job form his wife. His subsequent medicated megalomania is both funny and scary. But the way his family is subject to and subjugated by his moods and whims is frightening but also not terribly uncommon in a family.
The Set-Up. Robert Ryan is a boxer who loses when he wins, gets screwed over, and might come out ahead anyway (sorta). Also well-known for its more or less actual time conceit. This time I enjoyed the training room scenes a good deal. I forgot that the black fighter was the headliner. To fit the radio schedule, Ryan fights after the feature bout and the announcer has to remind the crowd to stick around for one more fight.
The Third Man. Such a great film. I've seen it a lot. This time I really appreciated the local European actors, especially the old porter and the haggard landlady. Everything just comes together so well, especially the zither music, the huge shadows on the buildings, the dark wet streets, the bumbling American coming in late and trying to do the right thing (WWII metaphor alert?). The only scene I never really feel comfortable is the late railway cafe scene, where she spots Cotten, gets off the train and lets it leave with all her belongings.
Odd Man Out -- more Carol Reed (and James Mason). I love how the film opens with the final planning -- I think we come in in the middle of a sentence as things are being finalized -- and then after some brief backstory and character relationships, launches right into the heist. 15 minutes and the heist is done and Mason a casualty. Because of course the film is all about him wandering around in a feverish state, and the way others interact with him and what he represents. The first time, I thought the scenes with the wacky down-and-out housemates was way over the top and prolonged. But on each subsequent viewing (this is at least the 3rd), it all fits in better and is pretty well-paced. Still unusual and a bit exaggerated, but interesting.
Fury. Fritz Lang directs an angry sneering Spencer Tracy.
The first time I really liked how enraged and uncompromising Tracy's Joe is. But each re-watch kind of brings it down a little. The brothers are rather cardboard characters and are given some awful lines to recite. Silvia Sydney looks decidedly odd for most of the film -- something rather aquatic about her features in this film. Some combination of lighting and hairstyle makes her look peculiar. The trial scene also seemed to drag a bit, but maybe I was just tired since it was late at night. And the word mistake which proves somewhat crucial is rather clunky. It's a good film and the mob riot is very well done.
There were probably a few more the past week or two I'm forgetting as well ... |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 11:51 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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gromit wrote: Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor is something like an ultimate b-film. Alot of snappy-but-silly pulp dialogue, thoughts spoken aloud in stagey whispers, a room of ravenous nymphos, psychology jargon of the era, and even characters popping up in miniature and whispering into other's ears. Some great over-the-top moments had me laughing out loud.
The premise is that a newspaper reporter gets himself committed to a mental institution in order to get on the inside and solve the murder of a mental patient that occurred recently. And then pretending to be crazy, he starts really going batty once in the bughouse. Interestingly in order to persuade that the reporter has "mental hygeine" problems, they concoct a story that he has sexual desire for his sister, played by his reluctant girlfriend (who moonlights as a stripper). So there is a weird swirl of sexual themes lying just below the surface (and on full display in the nympho ward).
The film is in many ways a precursor to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, with a normal guy pretending to be crazy, depictions of a bunch of nutters locked up, some misunderstood violence leading to electro-shock therapy, and ultimately a tragic ending for the hero. One of the early dance/strip routines also really put me in mind of David Lynch's Blue Velvet.
Just saw this, 10 years after your posted review here. Had very similar thoughts, especially as regards parallels to Lynch and Cuckoo's Nest.
(edited, due to typo from posting on Android earlier.....) |
Last edited by bartist on Fri Jan 08, 2016 11:06 am; edited 1 time in total
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