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Syd
Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:36 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Finally watching Chimes at Midnight, in which Orson Welles gives us the definitive Falstaff, but it does have some problems condensing two parts of Henry IV into 116 minutes. For example, we lose the lovely scene where the conspirators are plotting to trisect England, which reveals what incredible traitors the Percys actually are, and how hollow all the talk of Hotspur's "honor" is.

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gromit
Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 3:48 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Been watching random films noir on youtube, and after one middling noir ended, the next film to auto-cue and start was The Whisperers (1967). Pretty damned depressing film about a lonely old retiree scraping by with her fantasies and National Assistance. She has a nebulous family of ne'er do wells.


Great acting by Edith Evans in the lead. Depressing ish, but well done and very believable. In the school of British Kitchen Sink Realism form the 50's and 60's.

Directed by Bryan Forbes who a few years earlier made the terrific Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964).

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bartist
Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:29 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Syd wrote:
Finally watching Chimes at Midnight, in which Orson Welles gives us the definitive Falstaff, but it does have some problems condensing two parts of Henry IV into 116 minutes. For example, we lose the lovely scene where the conspirators are plotting to trisect England, which reveals what incredible traitors the Percys actually are, and how hollow all the talk of Hotspur's "honor" is.


It also has some dialogue from Henry V and The Merry Wives mixed in there. Welles was originally going to do a stage play about the 5 Kings, drawing from 9 plays, that didn't work out, so he told a producer he was going to make a version of "Treasure Island" and then used the money to make CaM instead.

Interesting how we all benefit from a big fat lie.

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bartist
Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:37 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
gromit wrote:
Been watching random films noir on youtube, and after one middling noir ended, the next film to auto-cue and start was The Whisperers (1967). Pretty damned depressing film about a lonely old retiree scraping by with her fantasies and National Assistance. She has a nebulous family of ne'er do wells.


Great acting by Edith Evans in the lead. Depressing ish, but well done and very believable. In the school of British Kitchen Sink Realism form the 50's and 60's.

Directed by Bryan Forbes who a few years earlier made the terrific Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964).


I was fairly amazed by my first view of a Kitchen Sink film, which was A Taste of Honey, and seemed to go into gritty and transgressive areas for what I had thought of as British film in the 50s/60s - interracial romance, homosexuality, etc. The other one I remember well is Billy Liar, with Tom Courtenay as the AYM role. "Depressing ish" indeed.

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Syd
Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 11:02 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
bartist wrote:
Syd wrote:
Finally watching Chimes at Midnight, in which Orson Welles gives us the definitive Falstaff, but it does have some problems condensing two parts of Henry IV into 116 minutes. For example, we lose the lovely scene where the conspirators are plotting to trisect England, which reveals what incredible traitors the Percys actually are, and how hollow all the talk of Hotspur's "honor" is.


It also has some dialogue from Henry V and The Merry Wives mixed in there. Welles was originally going to do a stage play about the 5 Kings, drawing from 9 plays, that didn't work out, so he told a producer he was going to make a version of "Treasure Island" and then used the money to make CaM instead.

Interesting how we all benefit from a big fat lie.


In addition to Welles, I thought Keith Baxter was very good as Prince Hal and Jeanne Moreau as Doll Tearsheet. John Gielgud bothered me, perhaps because I'm used to Jeremy Irons as Henry IV.

I think I'm now up to eight Welles-directed films.

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bartist
Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:18 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Chimes, Touch, Lady, Magnificent, Citizen - only up to 5. Onward! Recommends welcomed. If BOZ is lurking, "chime" in, please?

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Syd
Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 6:47 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
With me, it's Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Stranger, Confidential Report, The Trial, Chimes at Midnight, The Immortal Story, and F for Fake.

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yambu
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:00 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 6441 Location: SF Bay Area
I'll watch Gielgud do "Ten Bottles of Beer". That singsong quality that reaches back to John Barrymore, and maybe even to John Wilkes Booth. "A-h-h-h-h Vengeance!"

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billyweeds
Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 8:28 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
bartist wrote:
gromit wrote:
Been watching random films noir on youtube, and after one middling noir ended, the next film to auto-cue and start was The Whisperers (1967). Pretty damned depressing film about a lonely old retiree scraping by with her fantasies and National Assistance. She has a nebulous family of ne'er do wells.


Great acting by Edith Evans in the lead. Depressing ish, but well done and very believable. In the school of British Kitchen Sink Realism form the 50's and 60's.

Directed by Bryan Forbes who a few years earlier made the terrific Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964).


I was fairly amazed by my first view of a Kitchen Sink film, which was A Taste of Honey, and seemed to go into gritty and transgressive areas for what I had thought of as British film in the 50s/60s - interracial romance, homosexuality, etc. The other one I remember well is Billy Liar, with Tom Courtenay as the AYM role. "Depressing ish" indeed.


The best of them all is The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, a masterpiece and an emotional journey as strong as most.
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whiskeypriest
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 8:08 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 6916 Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
bartist wrote:
Chimes, Touch, Lady, Magnificent, Citizen - only up to 5. Onward! Recommends welcomed. If BOZ is lurking, "chime" in, please?
I've seen the same 5. I think that I have noted before that Chimes at Midnight is headds and shoulders the best Shakespeare adaptation/pastiche I have seen. Throne of Blood would be second, but frankly Kurosawa was Noh Shakespeare.

Thank you, I will be here all week, with a matinee on Sunday. Don't forget to tip your waitress. Try the veal.

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gromit
Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 12:42 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
The Joker Is Wild (1957).
Sinatra does a fine job as Joe E. Lewis, a singer who ran afoul of the Capone gang, and so was forced to switch to comedy. Apparently Lewis was a real life drinking buddy of Sinatra and Dean Martin. And Sinatra seems real invested in the role. The film gets overlong and meanders in the last half hour. But it's a good film, mainly for Sinatra's lead performance.

I'm just watching The Godfather, and when they land in Vegas the first thing we see is a sign for Joe E. Lewis playing the Rancho whatever casino. Been a long time since I've seen The Godfather, so thought I'd see if I liked it nay better. It still kind of bores me. It's superlong, the pacing is languid, and the set pieces meh. It also has a rather phony Hollywood look to most sets. James Caan is bad at times. The Sicilian scenes are dull and useless.

I did like: after Michael gets slugged by the crooked cop, his jaw becomes swollen and he's forced to talk in a mumbling style, thereby resembling his father Don Vito, foreshadowing that he'll takes over for him. The cat on Brando's lap gives a terrific performance. There's one nice edit to the click of a trigger.

I think the source material is good. But the film mostly plods, has 2 dimensional characters and is unsubtle. Overall it does little for me. Never understood why it's so highly praised. I think I'll go with Part 2 next, but I'm just not a Godfather fan.

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billyweeds
Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 1:40 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
gromit wrote:
The Joker Is Wild (1957).
Sinatra does a fine job as Joe E. Lewis, a singer who ran afoul of the Capone gang, and so was forced to switch to comedy. Apparently Lewis was a real life drinking buddy of Sinatra and Dean Martin. And Sinatra seems real invested in the role. The film gets overlong and meanders in the last half hour. But it's a good film, mainly for Sinatra's lead performance.

I'm just watching The Godfather, and when they land in Vegas the first thing we see is a sign for Joe E. Lewis playing the Rancho whatever casino. Been a long time since I've seen The Godfather, so thought I'd see if I liked it nay better. It still kind of bores me. It's superlong, the pacing is languid, and the set pieces meh. It also has a rather phony Hollywood look to most sets. James Caan is bad at times. The Sicilian scenes are dull and useless.

I did like: after Michael gets slugged by the crooked cop, his jaw becomes swollen and he's forced to talk in a mumbling style, thereby resembling his father Don Vito, foreshadowing that he'll takes over for him. The cat on Brando's lap gives a terrific performance. There's one nice edit to the click of a trigger.

I think the source material is good. But the film mostly plods, has 2 dimensional characters and is unsubtle. Overall it does little for me. Never understood why it's so highly praised. I think I'll go with Part 2 next, but I'm just not a Godfather fan.


This is literally the first time since 1973 when the film was released that I have seen ANYBODY compare the novel favorably to the movie. This is the classic case of a trashy novel becoming a great film. You disagree. Okay. But you are in (in my experience) a minority of one.
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bartist
Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 4:17 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Heterodox reviews are interesting - they often have fresh insights and they challenge you, if you liked a film, to understand more why you did. I've heard negative reviews of GF2, but not of GF1, so this might get me to break out the DVD and some cannolis. I like the pace, myself, but I always tend to favor films that take their time. Even if my bladder explodes.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable poultry holocaust. I have never been super-fond of turkey, so it was pretty easy to enjoy a curried yellow lentil dal and some vegetables in some kind of spicy sauce that melted the inside of my face. Meat has never been a big part of the diet, but lamb is my indulgence of choice when feast days roll around. Spouse and daughter had something with lamb, so I tried a bite.
As a mostly vegan, my only excuse is that lambs are pretty f--ing stupid. I had something more lofty and philosophical than that, but accidentally erased it and the previous sentence is what it boiled down to, no pun intended.

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gromit
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 3:15 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Never read the book. But some of the inside-mob stuff is interesting and well-researched. Sleep with the fishes. An offer he can't refuse. Some older mob families wary of moving into narcotics. Muscling into Las Vegas casinos, etc. All good stuff. But I don't think the film manages to do much with any of them. It kind of plods and explains them instead of letting them be revealed or dramatized.

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whiskeypriest
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 9:47 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 6916 Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
gromit wrote:


I'm just watching The Godfather... It still kind of bores me.
You are dead to me.

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