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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Fond of some old movies
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
It seems to me that most of us probably have a list somewhere of old movies we like even if they are not prized by everyone else. A few I like are:
"Bates Motel" (1987) starring Bud Cort
"Killdozer" (1974) starring Clint Walker, Carl Betz and others
"The Queen's Guard" (1961) starring Daniel Massey and Raymond Massey
"The Last Voyage" (1960) starring Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone
"Carnival of Souls" (1962)
Now, of course, I will think of many more.
Has anyone ever heard of these? Do you have your own list?
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
I've never seen "Carnival Of Souls", but have heard a bit about it. Noteworthy for being directed by Herk Harvey, whose canon otherwise consisted entirely of industrial training films.
Some old, fairly obscure films that I'm fond of, in no particular order...
Ten Rillington Place, 1971. Based on the Christie case, in which an innocent man was hung for murder in the UK. Absolutely chilling performance by Richard Attenborough as the real killer, and fairly pungent portrayal, by an American director, of working-class London.
It might take me a bit of time to think of some more. I'll be back in a bit.
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
I love old movies and rarely watch new ones. Last year I bought a new, expensive cable package that included over 1000 new stations, just so I could get one particular station: Turner Classic Movies.
Some favorites are, Now Voyager, 1942, The Heiress, 1949, The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945, and Stella Dallas, both the
1925 and 1937 versions. With a few exceptions, I tend not to like many movies made after 1950.
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
When you said *old* movies, I wasn't expecting you to start your list with one made in 1987...
...now I feel old. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Some of my favourite old movies:
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Casablanca (1942)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Spaceballs (1987 - you've got me doing it now)
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
I thought of more:
"Stairway to Heaven" (1946) starring David Niven
"Death Takes a Holiday (1934) starring Fredric March
"June Night" (1940) starring Ingrid Bergman
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
I had to watch Passport to Pimlico (1949) for an English history class in College, and it's pretty charming. Pimlico residents accidentally set off an un-detonated bomb from the Blitz and discover a treasure trove that contains proof that their neighborhood was actually handed over to the Duke of Burgundy hundreds of years ago. One night of post-war rationing-free partying turns into amusing international crisis.
And any old live-action Disney films staring Dean Jones.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
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Cottontail
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# 12234
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Posted
I held my own personal 'Dirk Bogarde Season' last year, and have two particular favourites: Hunted (1952) and Victim (1961). The former has one of the best opening sequences I have seen, and makes wonderful use of its post-war London setting. The latter is a very sympathetic portrayal of a gay community under siege from a blackmailer. Bogarde's performance here is stunning, as is Sylvia Syms as his wife.
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I'm not really a film buff, but I'll add my vote for Kind Hearts and Coronets and Passport to Pimlico, and almost any of the old Ealing comedies.
Any of the original Pink Panther films
The Italian Job (the original, obviously)
Alfie
The Andromeda Strain*
And if the 1980s are considered "old", Chariots of Fire has to get a mention.
* an odd choice for me, as sci-fi usually bores me rigid.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Well for a start there is almost anything by The Marx Brothers, ditto. almost anything by Hitchcock and certainly Kind Hearts and Coronets and Arsenic and Old Lace.
How about:
The African Queen?
Goodbye Mr Chips - Donat at his best?
Some Like It Hot?
Brief Encounter? - surely we have to have that!
Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Little Shop of Horrors - both versions?
Olivier as Hamlet?
Annie Hall
There are so very many
Top of the list though if you like comedy, can we do without Young Frankenstein?
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
Oh, dear. I could obsess on this thread. I'll start by suggesting:
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) (soooooo much better than the Chuck Heston version in 1959!)
Metropolis (1927)
M (1931)
...oh, heck. List threads get tedious. I could list a dozen more and still not get into the 1950s. Let's talk about WHY we like these old movies instead. I'll start with my first one Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. It is a German silent, directed by Fritz Lang. Mabuse is a criminal mastermind. The movie was shown in two parts. The entire movie runs 4.5 hours, so that was kind of necessary. For all of Part 1, the hero has no idea that Mabuse is the villain he is chasing.
In later films, Mabuse becomes very much a prototype of a terrorist--somebody who does crimes and creates terror for no other reason than to destabilize society. You really get to see this in the next film in the series The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933). It is shocking to watch films from 1925 and 1933 and realize that they are very much relevant to the terrorist world we live in now in 2017.
Oh, and I agree with Jane R. Starting a thread about "old" movies and starting with one from 1987 is just cruel. I mean, I have something like 280 movies on DVD, and only 13 are from 1987 or later. Although, from 1987 is another big favorite, Wings of Desire. German, again. B&W and color. A study of angels in Berlin with some of the most beautiful cinematography you are ever likely to see. The shots from the Berlin Library are breathtaking!
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
I love old movies! One of my favorites is Song of Love (1947) with Katharine Hepburn as Clara Schumann.
When I was much, much, (much) younger, I loved the horror movies, like Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (also 1931), along with the others of that time period.
Oh, and Abbott and Costello!!! I had a blast watching a combo of the two types of movies in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). That was a laugh riot.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
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MaryLouise
Shipmate
# 18697
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Posted
The Third Man (1949) of course, with Orson Welles as Harry Lime.
High Noon (1952) -- and now I'll have the theme tune as an ear worm all day.
I spent my 20s watching European art films, would love to see some of them again:
Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960).
Franco Brusati's Dimenticare Venezia (1979) which I saw first in Venice.
Werner Herzog's Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972) with its Conquistadors, Amazon jungle scenery and a soundtrack by Krautrock.
My favourite film and one I've seen about seven times over the years, Chris Marker's Sans Soleil (1983).
And a film I never seem to get out of my head,the title stuck somewhere in my trivia-collecting memory: Lena Wertmuller's very odd The End of the World in Our Usual Bed on a Night Full of Rain (1978).
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Pangolin Guerre
Shipmate
# 18686
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Posted
God, so many, so I'll limit myself, but....
Dinner at Eight (1933), a pre-code comedy directed by George Cukor, with a killer cast: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery. One of the funniest films I have ever seen.
La Grande Illusion (1937) directed by Jean Renoir. One of the most intelligent films about war that you'll ever see. About eight years ago I had the great good fortune to see it in a newly struck print, introduced by Peter Bogdanovich, who knew Renoir well.
Almost anything by the Marx Bros, but especially A Night at the Opera and Duck Soup.
Reds (1981), for when I'm in the mood for political romance. What a brilliant cast.
I generally don't like musicals, but I can't resist Guys and Dolls (1955): Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons
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Cabaret (1972): Directed by Bob Fosse, with Liza Minelli, Joel Grey, Michael York, Helmut Griem. I don't think that a filmed musical has ever achieved such depth, character or thematic. Is anything more chilling than "Tomorrow Belongs to Me"?
I could go on......
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Pangolin Guerre
Shipmate
# 18686
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Posted
ML, how dare you? You mentioned Marker... Now I have to add La Jetee. (1962)
And Tarkovski's Solaris. (1972)
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Lindsay Anderson's If... anyone?
Yes, there are faults with it, of course there are, but it has enormous strength. I saw it two nights running back in 1969[?].
If 1987 is old, I share the scepticism about that, then it lets in all the old early AIDS movies such as Parting Glances, ...And The Band Played On, etc.
What about what I think is probably the greatest movie ever made: Citizen Kane?
I think it is time I watched a few of these again.
eta: and what about some of the early Carry On... films, some of them are classics - okay some are just low budget crap but there is some pure gold in there, too.
[ 18. February 2017, 06:10: Message edited by: Welease Woderwick ]
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
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Sarasa
Shipmate
# 12271
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Posted
HCH said:
quote:
Stairway to Heaven" (1946) starring David Niven
In the UK that's 'Matter of Life and Death' and it's one of my favourite films, the opening sequance is arguably the best ever, and it was fun to see Star Trek re-do it in the first re-boot films. I love Powell and Pressburger's 'Colonel Blimp' too.
I'm a big fan of early comedies, I think it's hard to beat Buster Keaton's 'The General' unless it's the Marx Brother's 'Duck Soup' ('If you think this countries bad off now, just wait till I get through with it').
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'I guess things didn't go so well tonight, but I'm trying. Lord, I'm trying.' Charlie (Harvey Keitel) in Mean Streets.
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Ian Climacus
Liturgical Slattern
# 944
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Posted
Lots of great recommendations...thanks all.
Hepburn and Grant were fun in The Philadelphia Story (1940). Fonda Also and Stanwyck in The Lady Eve (1941). Once I started watching movies from back then I looked at watching everything with the actors in it, or everything directed by the directoer (e.g. Preston Sturges). It became a bit of an obsession.
Then I did the same with Jacques Tati and Mr Hulot -- Jour de fête (The Big Day - 1949), Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Monsieur Hulot's Holiday - 1953)... Playtime (1967) was rather intriguing and worth the investment I think...looking at how we humans move through modern, clean and sterile environments.
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
While the director is certainly not obscure, Frenzy is one of Alfred Hitchcock's last and less well-known films, but my personal favorite. The story, which contains some of Hitchcock's blackest humour(you can take that as a warning), centres around a misogynistic serial killer in London, and the man who is wrongly accused of his crimes.
Contrary to the criticism that its early-1970s setting is belied by the importation of an outdated, 1940s/50s aesthetic, I think that's what gives the film its atmospheric punch. Hitchcock was making a film about London as a person of his generation would likely conceptualize it, especially given decades of expatriation.
[ 18. February 2017, 09:37: Message edited by: Stetson ]
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
^ For an idea of the aesthetic Hitchcock was going for in Frenzy, compare the Mancini music he rejected for the opening scene, with the piece he eventually used.
The Mancini seems more appropriate to a dark thriller, while the score he went with seems like something out of a travelogue pandering to a certain generation's idea of English pomp and grandiosity.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
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bib
Shipmate
# 13074
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Posted
Brief Encounter (the original)
A Night To Remember (very good stiff upper lip black and white, infinitely superior to Titanic which I loathed)
Ben Hur (not the new one)
The Lavender Hill Mob
Goodbye Mr Chips (Donat)
Lease of Life
Sink the Bismarck
Monty Python Life of Brian
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"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
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MaryLouise
Shipmate
# 18697
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Posted
Saw A Night to Remember a few months ago and went off to find the Walter Lord book in the library. Convincing and great drama in b/w.
The later film Titanic was so dreadful I would have run from the cinema screaming except for the presence of an 18-year-old niece who wept throughout it and said she would see it again and again as often as she could for the rest of her life. When Jack said with narrowed eyes and syrupy unctuousness, “A woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets,” my snort of laughter was drowned out by her sobs. The last scene with Jack and Rose and the raft made for one was so tedious I couldn't stop yawning. Millions disagree, I know that.
On a lighter note, I loved the Pink Panther series.
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“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
-- Ivy Compton-Burnett
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MaryLouise
Shipmate
# 18697
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Posted
Saw A Night to Remember a few months ago and went off to find the Walter Lord book in the library. Convincing and great drama in b/w.
The later film Titanic was so dreadful I would have run from the cinema screaming except for the presence of an 18-year-old niece who wept throughout and said she would see it again and again as often as she could for the rest of her life. When Jack said with narrowed eyes and syrupy unctuousness, “A woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets,” my snort of laughter was drowned out by her sobs. The last scene with Jack and Rose and the raft made for one was so tedious I couldn't stop yawning. Millions disagree, I know that.
On a lighter note, I loved the Pink Panther series. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
-- Ivy Compton-Burnett
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MaryLouise
Shipmate
# 18697
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Posted
Saw A Night to Remember a few months ago and went off to find the Walter Lord book in the library. Convincing and great drama in b/w.
The later film Titanic was so dreadful I would have run from the cinema screaming except for the presence of an 18-year-old niece who wept throughout and said she would see it again and again as often as she could for the rest of her life. When Jack said with narrowed eyes and syrupy unctuousness, “A woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets,” my snort of laughter was drowned out by her sobs. The last scene with Jack and Rose and the raft made for one was so tedious I couldn't stop yawning. Millions disagree, I know that.
On a lighter note, I loved the Pink Panther series.
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“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
-- Ivy Compton-Burnett
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MaryLouise
Shipmate
# 18697
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Posted
Double post
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“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
-- Ivy Compton-Burnett
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MaryLouise
Shipmate
# 18697
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Posted
Double post -- getting that 120 seconds message again
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“As regards plots I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots.”
-- Ivy Compton-Burnett
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
My favorite film is "The Horse's Mouth".
This is the film that Alec Guinness really wanted to make. He produced it, directed it, and starred in it. It is about an artist, Gully Jimson, who is totally committed to his artistic vision and totally unscrupulous in every other area of life His artistic vision is painting pictures of feet.
It's hilarious, but Jimson's integrity in that one area of his life gives it depth.
Moo
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See you later, alligator.
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pangolin Guerre:
Dinner at Eight (1933), a pre-code comedy directed by George Cukor, with a killer cast: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery. One of the funniest films I have ever seen.
I agree, it is a film well worth watching! It is extremely funny (the conversation between Marie Dressler and Jean Harlow at the end of the film isa riot!). But the film does have a lot of drama and contemplations of mortality in it as well.
Sarasa, I was re-watching Keaton's The General (1927) just a couple weeks ago. It is about as good as a silent comedy can get. Buster Keaton milks great laughs with the most minimal reactions and flawless timing!
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
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Pangolin Guerre
Shipmate
# 18686
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Posted
I love The General. The train off the bridge was some outrageous expense - I forget the figure - but I think that the one shot was in excess of $50,000 (1926 value). Someone can correct me on the figure.
WW: if you bring up early AIDS films, you have to think Greg Araki's The Living End, notable for its middlefingeredness.
Moo: Seconding The Horse's Mouth.
Let me add here The Four Feathers (1939), which I can watch over and over and over... That said, I confess to rather liking the 2002 remake more than do most people. It struck me as rather on odd choice for 2002, ballsy, even.
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
Rebecca (1940). I do a great impression of Mrs Danvers. "Welcome to Manderley, [barely perceptible curl of the lip] Mrs De Winter..."
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
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georgiaboy
Shipmate
# 11294
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Posted
So many of my faves already mentioned.
Casablanca - 2 reasons: a) the cafe scene with 'La Marseillaise' (the close-in shot of the weeping girl shouting 'Vive la France.' and b) 'Major Strasser has been shot! Round up the usual suspects.'
Becket - for beautiful photography and sets, and excellent acting at all levels of casting. The breaking of the candles in the excommunication scene is chilling, IMO.
Bringing Up Baby - can't believe nobody's mentioned it yet.
Some Like It Hot - for a) the speakeasy disguised as a mortuary, with a stop on the organ to open the secret door; b) the first shot of the boys in drag walking to the train, with Jack Lemmon still wobbly in heels; the closing scene with the classic line 'Nobody's perfect!' is all by itself worth the price of a ticket.
Any Bergman, but especially 'The Magic Flute.'
San Francisco - for the "Nearer My God to Thee' and Clark Gable's 'Thank you God. I really mean it.' at the end. The closing 'The fire's out!' seems totally unnecessary; the film should have faded out with the closeup of Gable and MacDonald, IMO.
Lots more, but I'll stop (for now).
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You can't retire from a calling.
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
Virtually any Bette Davis movie, but I would nominate All About Eve as one of the top ten of all time.
And recently I treated myself to an afternoon in front of the box with "The Philadelphia Story" - vastly superior to the remake the name of which I can't even remember.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
And recently I treated myself to an afternoon in front of the box with "The Philadelphia Story" - vastly superior to the remake the name of which I can't even remember.
High Society. I quite like it(the song 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' comes from this musical), but you're right, the original has a far better cast.
I'm partial to many old films, including, but not limited to:
-Boris Karloff's Mummy (never been bettered).
-It Happened One Night.
-Anything with Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant, particularly The Little Shop Around the Corner.
-Move Over, Darling or My Favourite Wife depending on whether your in the mood for Doris Day or Irene Dunne.
-Hobson's Choice.
-An Inspector Calls.
A consequence of living for many years with my grandparents is a greater working knowledge of older cowboy and war films than is strictly necessary or desirable in someone (just) under the age of 40.
You never know when being able to tell Audie Murphy from Stewart Grainger will be useful.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
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Pancho
Shipmate
# 13533
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Posted
To me, an old movie is one from the Mid-Sixties or earlier and is almost synonymous with Hollywood's Golden Age.
Not every old movie that I like is a great film or a classic, but it's usually well made and at least entertaining for me.
I like pretty much anything made by Hitchcock, some of my favorites include:
North by Northwest
Shadow of a Doubt
To Catch a Thief
Rear Window
Strangers on a Train
Foreign Correspondent
The Mating Season is a cute little comedy from 1951 that ought to be better know. It stars Gene Tierney and John Lund but the movie is stolen by Thelma Ritter. It's a perfect movie to watch on Mother's Day.
Singin' in the Rain is my favorite musical. I like musicals in general but this one is my favorite. I also love An American in Paris for various reasons and I'll watch pretty much anything with Gene Kelly.
It you're into Film Noir, Gun Crazy from 1950 is a terrific Bonny-and-Clyde type movie that more people should know about. It stars Peggy Cummins and John Dall.
I also really like Powell and Pressburger's I Know Where I'm Going from 1945. I think it gets overshadowed by their other movies but I think it's wonderful.
Stanley Donen's Charade with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant is the best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made. Plus it has, you know, Paris, Audrey Hepburn, and Carey Grant.
[ 18. February 2017, 22:55: Message edited by: Pancho ]
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“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, ‘We piped to you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.’"
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Pangolin Guerre
Shipmate
# 18686
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Posted
I was trying to limit the number of films I was going to mention, but, Pancho, you're dead on the mark with Gun Crazy. It's highly entertaining, but it's also fascinating from an anthropological perspective, especially in the context of the American debate on gun control, strongly foreshadowed by that film.
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
A consequence of living for many years with my grandparents is a greater working knowledge of older cowboy and war films than is strictly necessary or desirable in someone (just) under the age of 40.
You never know when being able to tell Audie Murphy from Stewart Grainger will be useful.
Ah, but it's when someone says "isn't that Jack Palance?" and you can correctly reply "no, it's Jack Elam" that you start to wonder if maybe you have a problem!
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Nicholas and Alexandra with the wonderful Janet Suzman and Michael Jayston, plus Harry Andrews finally got to play someone above the rank of Sergeant
Separate Tables which won David Niven an Oscar
Bedtime for Bonzo just to see the 'Great Communicator being out-acted by a chimpanzee (and this was the film BBC2 scheduled on the evening that Reagan became POTUS!)
Star! much under-rated biopic of Gertrude Lawrence with Julie Andrews, and a very young Daniel Massey gave a bravura performance as Noel Coward
Rob Roy with Liam Neeson in the title role
Kingdom of Heaven a creditable attempt by Ridley Scott to give a more accurate take on the crusades with Ghassan Massoud as Salah ad-Din
The Wedding Date is hilarious for all the wrong reasons, especially just how wrong Hollywood can get an English wedding
Some like it Hot Curtis, Lemon and Monroe - enough said
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Howard Keel is great but the dancing of the brothers is something else (four were professional dancers)
For pure escapism when struck down with 'flu (or similar) I'd go for either Gladiator or Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, not because I've a crush on Russell Crowe (!) but because they're good films.
(edited for hideous typo)
[ 19. February 2017, 14:24: Message edited by: L'organist ]
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I'm a great fan of the old swashbucklers, two of my absolute favourites being The Black Swan with Tyrone Power and The Sea Hawk with Errol Flynn.
It's not just Tyrone Power's manly chest and medallion that does it for me - it's the way that The Black Swan can be looked at as a boy's adventure movie (all the piratical derring do) and as a girl's historical romance if you look at it from the heroine's point of view. Though it doesn't pass the Bechdel Test. And when Tyrone Power first meets Maureen O'Hara, he punches her and throws her over his shoulder as spoils of war. But they do take the sailing ships seriously - there's a scene where they have to beat against the wind to see into a harbour where they think the baddies have gone to ground.
The Sea Hawk is Errol Flynn at his best (and chained to an oar), and a great propaganda film - with Philip of Spain standing in for Hitler and Errol Flynn leading the plucky British.
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
I recently watched My Darling Clementine (1946), with Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford. Now, I am not huge fan of Westerns (although Ford's Stagecoach (1939) with John Wayne and Claire Trevor is a must-see). Maybe that is why I am on the fence about Clementine. It is a telling of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. But it is not a very accurate one. Ford claimed that he was told how the gunfight went down from Wyatt Earp himself. This was theoretically possible because Wyatt did hang out around Hollywood in the 1920s. But all that tells us is either Wyatt was a tremendous liar or John Ford was. The factual errors are pretty staggering (wrong ages, wrong people end up dead, etc.).
I have tried to view it purely as a work of fiction, but even from that stance it is odd. Wyatt, having recently resigned as marshall from Dodge City, is taking a herd of cattle to California. Near Tombstone, AZ the herd is stolen and his allegedly youngest brother James is killed. [James was actually the oldest Earp brother, and lived about 40 years after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which he was not a part of...] Now, Wyatt suspects the Clantons of doing it, so he becomes the marshall of Tombstone. [Virgil Earp was, in reality, the marshall of Tombstone...] But after becoming Marshall he doesn't really do anything to prove his suspicions. The evidence comes near the end of the movie purely by accident. Oh, and the movie ends with him shaking hands with the love interest, Clementine, before he rides off.
So the plot and characterization is odd. But the scenery (Monument Valley) is as awesome as ever. Of course, Tombstone isn't actually all that close to Monument Valley, but that is another one of those fact things...
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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HCH
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# 14313
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Posted
I have to agree with many of these ("Some Like It Hot", "Sink the Bismark") although I was originally thinking of films one likes even though they were not originally fabulous successes.
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
Being born in 1980 I caught the tail end of the days when BBC2 programmed 1930s and 40s films in the daytime as a matter of routine - mind I was only allowed to stay in and watch them during the holidays if it was throwing it down outside.
I stunned my grandmother once with my ability to tell you the studio from the opening sequence before any words came up - I mean anyone can do Universal's globe or the MGM lion, but at the age of 10 I knew my RKO radio mast from my Gainsborough lady - to say nothing of J Arthur Rank, Two Cities, British Lion....and if you were really lucky the arrow thudding into the target which was the signal to drop everything, clear the toys away and prepare to be mesmerised as you were about to see "A production of the Archers"...
A chance viewing of I Know Where I'm Going at the age of about 9 started what I can only describe as a love affair with Powell and Pressburger - God knows what I took from it at that age but I was well aware that I was slouching slack jawed in the presence of greatness.
From their oeuvre I'll watch anything but keep going back to IKWIG, and their masterpiece (IMO) A Canterbury Tale - described by someone I can't quite recall as a flawed film that has the fragile beauty of a tubercular saint...
From P&P I slide easily into a vast collection of films spanning the whole history of cinema which I can see as I type this. Some highlights:
Tunes of Glory - this is IMO one of the greatest films ever made. The plot's quite slight really but it's a riveting psychological study of command featuring John Mills and Alec Guinness at the top of their games. I'll stick my neck out here and say that Guinness was *never* better than he was in this film. It is the performance of a lifetime from a chap who wasn't exactly a slouch in his average roles.
If... I managed to see this one night in the Lower Sixth and was quite startled that someone had apparently made a documentary about my school. Ok, so it wasn't *quite* the same - I'm sure both you and the emergency services/criminal justice system will be pleased to know - but there was some serious resonance there!
The Dawn Patrol - David Niven, Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone - what's not to like?
This Sporting Life - Richard Harris does in this what Guinness does in Tunes of Glory, but such a difficult, challenging film - even today.
One from the 90s, because I'm confident that it will stand the test of time and be nominated in this sort of list in 50 years' time. Brassed Off - unfairly bracketed with your Full Montys, etc, but so so different. It is one of the angriest, angriest films I've ever seen. The whole thing is one scream of rage and despair from the first minute to the last. With some brass bands. Sometimes I go to YouTube just to watch Pete Postlethwaite give his speech, or the whole "Orange Juice" sequence... I might be a Tory lefty but my mum's family were all Durham coal-miners - that film is my family's experience writ large. A difficult watch but one I see pretty well every year.
I'm going to have to go off to YouTube now. Orange Juice makes me cry every time. Have a look for yourselves - Brassed Off Orange Juice into YouTube for a brutal five minutes or so.
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
Just watched it again and can confirm the room is still very dusty.
I'll now spoil the entire previous post by adding that I also love The Wild Geese - if you're in the mood for morally/ethically dubious spectacularly politically incorrect films. Great Joan Armatrading theme song though!
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
Count me in for The Wild Geese. It ought to be a bit ropy- slightly dodgy politics, stars not exactly at the peak of their careers- but it isn't. Genuinely thrilling. And I was going to mention Tunes of Glory but I see you have done.
For another Alec Guinness good'un- what about The Horse's Mouth?
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My beard is a testament to my masculinity and virility, and demonstrates that I am a real man. Trouble is, bits of quiche sometimes get caught in it.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Albertus:
Count me in for The Wild Geese. It ought to be a bit ropy- slightly dodgy politics, stars not exactly at the peak of their careers- but it isn't.
It is *very* clear that Burton and Harris in particular were having a ball...
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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rolyn
Shipmate
# 16840
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Posted
All Quiet on the Western Front 1930 A brilliant film for it's time, biting pacifism.
On the Beach 1959 Not highly rated, but an atmospheric, eerie nuclear doomsday fable.
[ 19. February 2017, 21:49: Message edited by: rolyn ]
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Change is the only certainty of existence
Posts: 3206 | From: U.K. | Registered: Dec 2011
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by rolyn:
[i]On the Beach 1959 Not highly rated, but an atmospheric, eerie nuclear doomsday fable.
Rather uncomfortable viewing right now though.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
quote:
Originally posted by rolyn:
[i]On the Beach 1959 Not highly rated, but an atmospheric, eerie nuclear doomsday fable.
Rather uncomfortable viewing right now though.
In fairness it's uncomfortable viewing/reading whenever you view/read it. Horrible, haunting story - the various film/radio versions have never got close to the yawning bleakness of the novel though. Possibly because I don't think the censors would cope with the sheer number of suicides and pointless deaths.
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
I've been having a bit of a tidy (actually looking for something the accountant wanted) and came across a DVD I must have left in an old folder...
How could I have forgotten Louis Malle's Au Revoir les enfants? A wonderful, if at times horrifying, film based on an incident in Malle's own life.
If you haven't seen it, get a copy or download it.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Brother Worm
Apprentice
# 8680
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Posted
My favourite old film is "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". It is a short French film made in 1962. There is no dialogue but it has a gripping plot (based on a story by Ambrose Bierce). Once seen, never forgotten. It's one of those films I can't watch too frequently because of the emotional upheaval it provokes. It's available to watch on Youtube.
I also like "The Browning Version" (1951), which contains a very moving performance by Michael Redgrave as a school teacher hovering on the verge of a mental breakdown.
And "A Tree Grows on Brooklyn" (1945), which usually brings a lump to my throat.
Personally I think the 1979 version of "All Quiet on the Western Front" with Ernest Borgnine is more powerful than the 1930 version.
Posts: 48 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2004
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Pangolin Guerre
Shipmate
# 18686
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Posted
Brother Worm, I back you up on the 1979 All Quiet on the Western Front. As well as Borgnine, I liked Richard Thomas as Paul.
Posts: 758 | From: 30 arpents de neige | Registered: Nov 2016
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Paths Of Glory.
1950s Kubrick film about World War I, sort of an ur-text for mmany of the themes and imagery that pervaded his work for the next 40 years. Taken as a whole, probably closest to being a pre-boot of Full Metal Jacket.
The justly famous denoument, with a German POW dragged into French army barracks, isn't directly connected to the rest of the story, so watching it wouldn't technically be a spolier. But it's definitely an emotional capstone to everything that comes before it.
(That's the soon-to-be Mrs. Kubrick as the POW)
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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