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RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 15/7/2009 7:16:29 PM

Nicola1001

Posts: 12312
Joined: 6/8/2006

GiGi 7/10

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Post #: 91

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 16/7/2009 5:11:40 PM

Nicola1001

Posts: 12312
Joined: 6/8/2006

Marnie 7/10

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Post #: 92

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 17/7/2009 7:49:02 AM

siegfried

Posts: 13274
Joined: 16/12/2007
From: Long ago and far away

Over the last few nights I've been watching some of the classic Universal horror films from the 30's:

Dracula - 3/5

The Bride Of Frankenstein - 5/5

The Mummy - 4/5

The Old Dark House - 5/5 (My favourite James Whale film.)

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Marriage is one of those things that is best gotten over with in youth - like chicken pox.

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Post #: 93

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 21/7/2009 6:08:27 PM

Nicola1001

Posts: 12312
Joined: 6/8/2006

Mr. And Mrs Smith 4/10

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Post #: 94

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 22/7/2009 9:42:38 AM

benmharper

Posts: 2146
Joined: 15/12/2005
From: Carlisle

Bringing Up Baby - 9/10

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Post #: 95

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 29/7/2009 6:14:18 PM

Nicola1001

Posts: 12312
Joined: 6/8/2006

Gypsy 7/10

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Post #: 96

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 1/8/2009 12:43:47 AM

siegfried

Posts: 13274
Joined: 16/12/2007
From: Long ago and far away

Arabian Nights. The epitome of high camp, with Jon Hall, Maria Montez and Sabu in glorious colour. Great fun. 4/5 Can't wait to watch Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves.

_____________________________

"Premeditated murder is one thing, but I will not have lying in this house."

Marriage is one of those things that is best gotten over with in youth - like chicken pox.

Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.

(in reply to Nicola1001)

Post #: 97

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 12/8/2009 8:23:37 PM

Nicola1001

Posts: 12312
Joined: 6/8/2006

Niagra 7/10

(in reply to siegfried)

Post #: 98

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 17/8/2009 11:50:31 PM

Chapman Baxter

Posts: 4
Joined: 4/7/2007

Scarlet Street 5/5 Surely Chris Cross has to be one of the biggest suckers in cinematic history. Fantastic film noir with an especially excellent finale featuring an interesting interpretation on the Hays Code. Both Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett are terrific.

D.O.A (1950) 3.5/5 I really enjoyed the plot device of having a man trying to solve his own murder. the plot itself wasnt overly exciting, but still an enjoyable film. Much better than the Dennis Quaid version.

(in reply to Nicola1001)

Post #: 99

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 18/8/2009 6:32:34 PM

Nicola1001

Posts: 12312
Joined: 6/8/2006

Blazing Saddles 8/10

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Post #: 100

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 18/8/2009 9:53:18 PM

Chapman Baxter

Posts: 4
Joined: 4/7/2007

Touch of Evil 5/5 Possibly my favourite film noir. The opening crane shot is astounding, it follows a series events across four blocks in a single 3 and a half minute take.The rest of the film is equally as good.

(in reply to Nicola1001)

Post #: 101

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 18/8/2009 10:33:14 PM

TheGodfather

Posts: 5100
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Sin City

My Childhood
The first part of the Bill Douglas trilogy is only 48 minutes long. In these 48 minutes Douglas gives us a story in wich a truely depressing image is given of a small mining village in 1945 where two little brothers are meant to survive while being raised by their grandmother.
Douglas only uses dialogue if necesarry, letting his imaging do most of the talking.
So there is little dialogue featured, wich automatically means that the combination of the shown images and acting needs to be real strong. Luckily, it is. The images we get to see are stripped from all thing not needed in an almost Bresson kind of way and contains excellent imagery.
The two little guys who play the brothers are really good and convince without a problem.
Looking forward to see what the other two parts of the trilogy brings.
8,0/10

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Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
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Post #: 102

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 19/8/2009 9:12:16 PM

TheGodfather

Posts: 5100
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Sin City

My Ain Folk
In the second part in the Bill Douglas trilogy we see how Tommy and Jamie continue their struggle to survive after the sad ending of the first part.
I thought this part wasn`t a strong as the first part. The story was a little less gripping but the cast was equally as good as it was in the first part. The film also has quite a few memorable (and at the same time sad) moments.
And so we go on to the final installment.
7,3/10

_____________________________

Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?

(in reply to Nicola1001)

Post #: 103

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 22/8/2009 9:25:52 PM

TheGodfather

Posts: 5100
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Sin City

The Baron Of Arizona
Het echt gebeurde verhaal van James Addison Reavis die jarenlang spendeerde aan het frauderen van (soms eeuwen oude) documenten en het voor de gek houden van mensen zodat hij zelf landeigenaar kan worden van alle grond in de staat Arizona.
Samuel Fuller`s vertelling van Reavis` praktijken is een goede mix van (uiteraard) crime, romance, een tikje roadmovie en een vleugje film noir. Een op het eerste gezicht ietwat vreemde mix maar hij werkt wel. De film is bijna de hele tijd spannend en weet steeds te boeien. Vincent Price is geweldig in de hoofdrol. In de laatste scenes weet hij,ondanks de criminele feiten die hij heeft begaan, zowaar sympathie voor z`n personage te winnen. Erg knap.
The Baron of Arizona is dan misschien niet de bekendste film van Fuller maar ik heb er volop van genoten. Opnieuw een toppertje uit de Eclipse box.

8,0/10

_____________________________

Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?

(in reply to Nicola1001)

Post #: 104

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 22/8/2009 11:07:58 PM

Chapman Baxter

Posts: 4
Joined: 4/7/2007

The Maltese Falcon 5/5 - When you're slapped you'll take it and like it! Brilliant movie, Bogart, Greenstreet and Lorre make such an excellent trio, by gad sir they do.

The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three 5/5 Great film, the ending is superb.

(in reply to TheGodfather)

Post #: 105

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 24/8/2009 9:28:23 PM

TheGodfather

Posts: 5100
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Sin City

The Steel Helmet
The last film from the Samuel Fuller Eclipse box was Fuller`s first big hit, the film that gave him his first succes in Hollywood. It also is the best of the three films from the box.

The story itself isn`t really original or innovative but because it has characters of flesh and blood, whose character you see changing throughout the film, make sure it doesn`t become a clich�. Gene Evans, who plays the lead part, is a good example of this. In the beginning of the film he`s a typical American, blunt soldier as we`ve seen so many times before but as the film progresses he changes slowly and starts to get sympathy for the little Korean kid he has to "drag" along. A brilliant performance.

Fuller plays with the conscience of the soldiers, especially with those of the Afro-American and Japanse-American soldiers in Zack`s(Gene Evans) army.
He places big racial issues that played in America at the time inside the small army. This produces some of the best scenes of the film.
A great film with a brilliant ending (although this story doesn`t really has an ending, according to Fuller)

8,3/10

_____________________________

Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?

(in reply to Nicola1001)

Post #: 106

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 9/9/2009 9:29:48 PM

TheGodfather

Posts: 5100
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Sin City

7 Man From Now
Excellent western by Budd Boetticher with, as in all of his westerns that I`ve seen so far, Randolph Scott in the lead part as a grumpy cowboy. In this case he is the sherrif on the search for the titular 7 men who stole $ 20.000.
Scott is, as in the films I`ve seen him in, very good in his part and delivers a believable performance.
Boetticher films again in his characteristic, economical way. Not showing anything that isn`t essential to tell the story, the film is 78 minutes long. 78 minutes that are really powerfull, with other than Scott a great performance by Lee Marvin.
A truly enjoyable western. I hope that there will be more of his westerns released soon!

7,7/10

_____________________________

Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?

(in reply to Nicola1001)

Post #: 107

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 15/9/2009 10:35:22 PM

TheGodfather

Posts: 5100
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Sin City

Vampyr
I already seen the film before, last year when the beautiful Criterion edition was released. So now I watched it again, this time the Masters Of Cinema release with the audio commentary by our favorite Fat Mexican.
An excellent mix makes this into an interesting, informative commentary track with a lot of humor in it.
Absolutely recommended!

9,0/10

_____________________________

Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?

(in reply to TheGodfather)

Post #: 108

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 15/9/2009 11:29:13 PM

TheDudeAbides

Posts: 783
Joined: 15/1/2006
From: In the neighbourhood, feeling a bit daffy.

In A Lonely Place
(Nicholas Ray, 1950)

Outstanding psychological noir, starring Humphrey Bogart as the unbalanced screenwriter accused of murder and Gloria Grahame as the fascinated neighbour protecting him. In terms of tone and general atmosphere, this is more or less a perfect crystallisation of the noir genre, dripping with the neurotic instability which characterises (what I have seen so far of) Ray's work. His shooting style is very modern, using fluid camerawork as opposed to the more immobile techniques of old, and he has a keen eye for both for the exciting sequence and the revealing details.

Bogart's most brilliant performances came when he was given these kinds of characters - hot-tempered, paranoid, insecure men decending into mental collapse (see Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Caine Mutiny). As an actor, not the easiet kind of part to choose as your hallmark, but he was a funny guy. Dixon Steele is a superbly-written role anyway, a three-dimensional human being, who was apparently the closest to playing his off-screen personality the gifted but troubled star ever came. The high point of the performance, aside from the ending (which I'll come to), is surely when he plays out his theory of the murder, growing more and more involved, to the obvious discomfort of his friends.

Grahame is good, too. She was an excellent actress, but her character here is slightly underwritten and she would do a better job later on in 1953's The Big Heat. The only really interesting element she is given is her idee fixe that Steele's violent fits of rage are inherently bound up with his genius, which attracts her to him even as his behaviour deteriorates dangerously. Aside from that, Grahame does her best, but without a well-developed part seems to have trouble deciding which note to strike, wavering between spunky and hopelessly devoted. That said, no one can fault either actor in the truly enthralling climax, a heady mixture of slowly-mounting emotional and physical violence that leaves the head in a spin.

9/10

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Post #: 109

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 20/9/2009 9:12:02 PM

TheGodfather

Posts: 5100
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Sin City

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheDudeAbides

In A Lonely Place
(Nicholas Ray, 1950)

ha, coincidence?

I had a Nicholas Ray weekend:

Bigger Than Life
James Mason (also the film`s producer) is Ed Avery, a school teacher in the `50s who is given the medicine Cortisone after spending a few days in a hospital. Doctors say it`s a wonder medicine but Avery gets so used to the great feeling it gives him that he takes more and more of it. Slowly but surely he gets ever-growing mental problems from it...

Ray gives us a brilliant character study, mixed with melodrama. The character study covers the biggest part of the movie, with Mason giving a powerfull tour de force. His character gets more insane by the minute but never it feels forced or over-acted. The scenes towards the end of the movie where he yells and threatens his wife and son are breathtaking and, quite frankly, just scary to see.

Beautfiul images filled with rich colours (in wich often the colour red plays a part) and a lovely soundtrack, this is the best film of Ray I`ve seen so far.

9,3/10

In A Lonely Place
If you`re gonna watch a film noir by Ray you know up front that you aren`t gonna see your average film noir. And you don`t. Here, the film isn`t so much about the whodunnit storyline (as we see so often in a noir) as it is about the characters.
Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart) is a script writer suspected of murdering a young lady. A neighbour (Gloria Grahame) gives him an alibi. A great romance comes from it, but after a while the conscience is getting to her...

The traditional film noir elements are of course present: the bad guy, the femme fatale and the combination of light and shadows. As said, in a Nicholas Ray film noir everything is just a bit different than usual: the bad guy character gets a great depth by Bogart, the femme fatale isn`t really so fatale and the lightening and camera work are gorgeous, best seen in the scene where Steele gives his visions of the murder to the detective. The tension is built slowly towards an excellent climax.

Bogart gives one of his best performances. Again, as I`m used to by now, a brilliant film by Ray, who`s rapidly grown out to be one of my favorite directors.

8,8/10

_____________________________

Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?

(in reply to TheDudeAbides)

Post #: 110

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 21/9/2009 11:40:14 PM

TheGodfather

Posts: 5100
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Sin City

Baby Face (original theatrical version)
How lovely, great and enjoyable the films from the Hollywood Pre-Code era can be is proven here by Baby Face, with Barbara Stanwyck in an excellent leading role.
Stanwyck is Lily Powers from the small town Erie, Pennsylvania. Her life is at a death end. One day she gets the advice that she needs to try and make something out of her life. She takes the advice and heads to The Big Apple, hoping to find a good job and start a new life.
Baby Face has everything that you can expect from a pre-code film, with a powerfull and confident lady who uses her femininity and sexuality to get ahead in life leading the way. Stanwyck gives her perfomance with great dedication, making Powers into a lovely character that`s easy to hate as well. A beautiful character.
A greatly enjoyable film and I am looking forward to the longer, uncensored version that is also included in the Forbidden Hollywood box.
The boxes are truly recommended!

8,0/10

_____________________________

Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?

(in reply to TheGodfather)

Post #: 111

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 23/9/2009 1:06:45 PM

FGT

Posts: 246
Joined: 10/3/2008

Night of the Hunter....still classyy

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Post #: 112

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 29/9/2009 9:54:36 PM

TheGodfather

Posts: 5100
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Sin City

Johnny Guitar
With in In A Lonley place Nicholas Ray showed that a film noir from him isn`t your average film noir. Here we see that with the western he does the same thing, breaking with all genre conventions.
The lead characters are portrayed, perfectly, by Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. Ray puts two women in the leads against each other, in stead of men. In a western by Ray, women play the most important parts and aren`t just extra`s.
The use of colour is also striking: the good guys wear black clothes, the outlaws are wearing the most colour full clothes, with the colour blue almost completely absent during the whole film.

Ray once again shows he`s a master in creating scenes in wich the images and a beautiful soundtrack become an almost hypnotising whole. The best example of this is the scene where Crawford and Sterling Hayden (who plays the titular protagonist) are together in Crawford`s saloon in the middle of the night having a conversation about their past. A masterful coming together of images, music and brilliant acting.

And so Nicholas Ray shows that he can also bring a character driven western to a great ending.
Again a masterpiece.
9,0/10

_____________________________

Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?

(in reply to Nicola1001)

Post #: 113

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 20/10/2009 11:02:45 PM

TheGodfather

Posts: 5100
Joined: 21/10/2005
From: Sin City

The Wizard of Oz
One of the best and most fantastical children-/family films ever has been released on blu-ray last week. I received the set last week and today it was time to check out the film in full glory on blu-ray. And boy did I, again, enjoy it!
As with the first viewing a few years back I really enjoyed the film. It didn`t give in any of its power or charm in the second viewing. A fantasy rich story (of wich I`m sure we all dreamed when we were kids) with beautiful and colourfull sets and classic songs.

That`s the film itself, then my thoughts on the blu-ray disc. This film with its colourfull and happy sets is of course a great opportunity to exploit the full powers and ability of blu-ray. And it really did. In the beginning, with the black-and-white scenes, the picture quality is (except for some minor flickering) really tight and strong. There are details to be seen that I didn`t notice before.
When the colour part of the film starts, the party really gets going. It`s a true feast for the eyes. Bright colours, extremely detailed images and again a tight transfer smile right at you 70 minutes long. There are some short moments where the transfer has a few soft spots but they are pretty much neglectable. You only see if you really pay good attention to it.

The Wizard of Oz got the blu-ray debut that it deserves. Excellent sound- and picture quality and an almost unwatchable ammount of extra`s.
Extremely high recommended!
8,5/10

_____________________________

Jules: "What" ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?

(in reply to TheGodfather)

Post #: 114

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 21/10/2009 9:35:42 AM

boristhespie

Posts: 202
Joined: 30/8/2009

Flying Deuces which I Watch non colourised (Bastards) off to Watch Pillow Talk and My Kid Brother today on me day off.

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Post #: 115

RE: Recent Classics and The Great Musical Debate spinoff - 26/10/2009 6:24:58 PM

Nicola1001

Posts: 12312
Joined: 6/8/2006

Derby Day 8/10

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Post #: 116

RE: The Last Classic I Watched... - 26/10/2009 10:01:48 PM

JohnChard

Posts: 176
Joined: 22/10/2009
From: Birmingham

Isle Of The Dead (1945)

The Lewton/Robson partnerhip does it again with a talky atmospheric chiller that pot boils nicely to its genuinely creepy last quarter. 8/10

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Post #: 117

RE: The Last Classic I Watched... - 27/10/2009 7:50:45 PM

Nicola1001

Posts: 12312
Joined: 6/8/2006

I Live In Grosvenor Square 6/10

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Post #: 118

RE: The Last Classic I Watched... - 29/10/2009 8:21:58 PM

Nicola1001

Posts: 12312
Joined: 6/8/2006

The Lady Is A Square 5/10