Classic Film Buffs - Check in Here!

"COLOR BY DE LUXE"

I can't even remember how many 'colors' they had back then. Cinecolor, DeLuxe, Technicolor...?

 

Brian DePalma must have watched Battleship Potempkin before he made The Untouchables. A baby carriage rolling down a staircase is now a film cliche due to these two movies.

 

Or wide screen formats! CinemaScope, PanaVision, Cinerama, VistaVision.

Watch the credits for movies shot in Technicolor. Who was Natalie Kalmus?

 

I own Battleship Potemkin, but one brief sequence confuses me. A man in the mob shouts "Kill all the Jews" then has to pull down his hat and sneak away. Were Jews popular in the Soviet Union in 1925?

 

Yup - gotta love those names. Nowadays all ya get is this: 16:9, 4:3 or 2.35:1

Where's the fun in that?

Someone who would hate a lot of today's movies...

[video=youtube;We8NpHPXzwI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We8NpHPXzwI&playnext=1&list=PL1D8653EDF260592C&feature=results_main[/video]

 

...which brings me to one of my favorite filmmakers, Akira Kurosawa. He started back in the Classic era (some may remember his 1954 classic The Seven Samurai), but I'm partial to his later films, like Dreams (1990) - he had an exquisite eye for color...

[video=youtube;Bx_dpJmUPZY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx_dpJmUPZY[/video]

What a beautiful film!!

I read somewhere that Kurosawa said his personal favorite was Ran (1985)...

[video=youtube;AbbfDntoRRk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbbfDntoRRk[/video]

 

I am a big Kurosawa fan too! The use of rain as an introduction to characters in Seven Samurai was brilliant. I especially liked Rashomon and the way Kurosawa tilted the camera up through the trees to show distance and still connection with the various story tellers. And the adaptation of Macbeth to medieval Japan was amazing in Ran!

 

You're obviously a man of good taste, RR.

No doubt about that. I think Ran is the best film adaptation of Shakespeare I have ever seen. And the cinematography is spectacular - talk about attention to detail!

Have you seen Dreams, RR? My favorite segment is the opening sequence with the wedding of the foxes...



Love that shot...

 

I haven't seen Dreams yet, but it's on my list. I wonder if it's on Netflix?

How about the Germans? From Fritz Lang to Wim Winders, the Germans have shown real prowess behind the camera.

And one director I forgot to list as a favorite is John Huston. His films, from The Maltese Falconthrough The Man Who Would be King are magnificent studies in ambition and unrealized aspirations. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre plays this theme out wonderfully.

 

Failsafe.

Henry Fonda as the President and a young Larry Hagman as the Russian interpreter.

 

Sure is:
https://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Akira_Kurosawa_s_Dreams/60026992?locale=en-US

You'll love that film, RR. It's a collection of 8 different vignettes, or "dreams". "Sunshine Through The Rain", "The Peach Orchard" and "Village of the Watermills" are my personal favorites. This clip is from "Village of the Watermills:

[video=youtube;z1usPi_QVnM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1usPi_QVnM&feature=related[/video]

Come to think of it, I can't think of any good German films that I have seen. What are your favorites/suggestions?

Funny you mention Huston - I just saw The Night of the Iguana for the first time a week ago. What a great film! I loved Ava Gardner's performance and Richard Burton was great, as usual...

 

Watch it back to back with Dr. Strangelove! Both films were released in the same year, with the same story and the same outcome.

As for my favorite political thrillers, Seven Days in May, Advise and Consent, and The Best Man are right up there with Failsafe.

 

First, watch M directed by Fritz Lang. Peter Lorre plays a child killer/molester and when the manhunt for him cramps the activities of other criminals, the criminals themselves get involved in the manhunt! They catch Lorre, try him and sentence him in their own court of justice. Lang spread his wings and flies in the Sci-Fi masterwork Metropolis. It's a dystopic look at modern life as new technology looms to either serve or destroy humanity (as it indeed did in World War II)

You don't have to love her for what she did, but you have to respect and admire Leni Refenstahl and her works Olympia, a documentary of the 1936 Berlin Olympics (a great choice while the London games play out) and her masterpiece Triumph of the Will which documented the Nazi rallies in Nuremberg.

Wings of Desire is a great introduction to the work of Wim Winders, a contemporary German film maker. It's the story of a watcher angel who wants nothing more than to rejoin mortals in life. Peter Falk has a cameo as himself. cinematographyaphy and imagery is fascinating as angels observe humans doing the mundane and profane.

 

First, watch M directed by Fritz Lang. Peter Lorre plays a child killer/molester and when the manhunt for him cramps the activities of other criminals, the criminals themselves get involved in the manhunt! They catch Lorre, try him and sentence him in their own court of justice. Lang spread his wings and flies in the Sci-Fi masterwork Metropolis. It's a dystopic look at modern life as new technology looms to either serve or destroy humanity (as it indeed did in World War II)

You don't have to love her for what she did, but you have to respect and admire Leni Refenstahl and her works Olympia, a documentary of the 1936 Berlin Olympics (a great choice while the London games play out) and her masterpiece Triumph of the Will which documented the Nazi rallies in Nuremberg.

Wings of Desire is a great introduction to the work of Wim Winders, a contemporary German film maker. It's the story of a watcher angel who wants nothing more than to rejoin mortals in life. Peter Falk has a cameo as himself. cinematographyaphy and imagery is fascinating as angels observe humans doing the mundane and profane.

 

Oopps! this site runs slowly and I'm impatient!

 

Night of the Iguana is great! I have been concentrating on collecting films adapted from or written originally by Tennessee Williams. the last two to come to the house were Night of the Iguanaand Sweet Bird of Youth. I wish they could be remade today by the same directors. The morals codes of the early 1960s really washed those two films almost too clean to have any really social significance.

 

Thanks. Glad you mentioned Metropolis - that's an old classic I've been meaning to watch. It kinda dropped off my radar...

I forgot about Refenstahl. We had to watch Triumph of the Will in a film class I took in college. Her work in Olympia is nice, indeed. It's too bad she got mixed up with the Nazis...

I can't say I'm familiar with Winders' work. I just checked out a clip from Wings of Desire and that looks like an interesting film. It's always interesting to see contemporary filmmakers shoot in black and white. Speaking of which, it never ceases to confound me how Martin Scorsese didn't get Best Picture for Raging Bull...

 

Yeah, Tennessee Williams was a bit too provocative for some people at that time. I imagine he still is in some circles.

His plays do translate nicely to film, though. I can't say I've seen a Williams adaptation I didn't like, and as we both know, some of 'em are classics...

 

You mean like the classic - M - { 1931 } where the horror of a child serial killer is
unravelled by Peter Lorre.They didn't use graphic bullcrap back in those days.
We don't even see Lorre hurt the little girl.Just Lorre snatching a girl and taking
behind some bushes as the bushes are seen shaking and the little girls balloon
fly up into the air.The movie uses the climatic final scene as the tension builder.
I prefer - The Lodger - {1944} and the great threatics of Laird Cregar,who commands
every scene with his lofty display of emotion and smugness.Cregar was a special actor
who died young.His attempt at dramatic weight loss,did him in.

 

I beg to differ.Williams was the foremost playwright in America but the only film of his
that did well was - Streetcar Named desire -. No one here has watched or even heard of
- Sweet Bird of Youth - where we see a young Paul Newman play a fading Movie Stars
little cabana boy escort.Newman even seen rolling a joint.
- Night of the Iguana - did poorly and it was hyped out of this world.Probably
on account Richard Burton was all voice and couldn't carry a film.
However to Williams credit - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - is one of my favorite and
Newman at his best,especially as the lush son of a dying tycoon.I love the way Maggie
called those kids " little no-neck monsters ".
- The Glass Menagerie - { 1950 } is artful in it's talkiness and I like both
the combo of Kirk Douglas and Arthur Kennedy { The Champion } but it never
translated well to the screen as - The Rose Tattoo - and - Babydoll - {1956} which was
censored/banned due to it's sexual innuendo.Williams liked sexual Innuendo,being a
classic theme in many of his works.

 

If i had not cited Sweet Bird of youth just a couple of posts up, you might have gotten away with it!

You are correct in calling Williams the foremost playwright in America, but consider how difficult it is to see a Williams play produced today. without the film adaptations of his work, he may be relegated to academia and not as widely appreciated as he is.

This begs the question: with the watered down versions of his work on film (the Paul Newman character in Sweet Bird is castrated on stage, beat to hell in the movie) are the film adaptations of Williams work enough to keep him relevant?

 

How did Ordinary People block out what may be the best film of the 1980s? Robert Redford?

 

I rented - Sweet Bird of Youth - a couple times.Probably 2 years ago,most recently.
Ed Begley Sr. won an Oscar for his portrayal of the stereotypical Southern Boss Hoss.
He chained smoked crooked cigars,as did Mark Twain.He also had a cane he used to
beat those he felt at ease intimidating.
Ed Begley jr. tells the story of how his Father always carried that Oscar
in his trunk { usually a Caddy } and would take it out for bragging rights.
Ed Begley was in a movie I usually watch every year in the Fall with
the Great Robert Ryan. I think it is a little gem :
- Odds Against Tomorrow - { 1959}with Harry Belefonte,also.
Belafonte has turned into a full blown racist.
Shades of it can be noticed in - The Angel Levine - {1970} which is kinda slow
and the now shelved John Travolta Film : - White Man's Burden - { 1995 }.

 

The British Film Institute has a poll of film critics every ten years. This years winner is Hitchcock's "Vertigo". There's a top ten, mostly twenty years old or more.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/e...s-vertigo-best-film-of-all-time-16193150.html

 

I was never a big fan of - Vertigo - based on the lame acting prowess of Kim Novak.
She was a half-ass actress.However Stewart was at his usual highest of standard.
The color in - Vertigo - was astounding.
If one wants to see another nicely colored movie with Stewart and Novak,I'd
suggest the little talked about - Bell Book and Candle -{1958} which is Novaks best.
It's actually better in many aspects.