What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

Doctor Strange · Sep 23, 2017

Diane, a 1955 historical drama about King Henry II of France - played by an impossibly young Roger Moore - and the intrigue between his wife Catherine de Medici (Marisa Pavan) and mistress Diane de Poitiers (Lana Turner). A big budget M-G-M production exemplary of the anti-TV approach of the time - color, widescreen, lavish sets/costumes/spectacles - it's not exactly good, but as a sucker for costume dramas, it held my interest.

Trenchfriend · Sep 23, 2017

"Alien", on DVD.

Trenchfriend · Sep 23, 2017

I still think, the added cocoon-scene in the Director's cut of "Alien" doesn't improve the whole movie. I still don't feel, that it improves the whole atmosphere. To me, it's just another nice, mystic or scary scene, not more.

Fading Fast · Sep 24, 2017

"Good Morning, Miss Dove" 1955 staring Jennifer Jones

Surprised this good one never hit my radar before I recorded it off of a recent TCM airing

Miss Dove is rigid to her value system - enforce rules / all students are treated equally - but her humanity and decency shows through that code, through her patience with her students, through how she honors her debts and through her willingness to put her savings at risk to stop a bank run
- She doesn't boil down to a stereotype, but, IMHO, is close to an Ayn Rand character who plows through life with her own set of principles to guide her, public opinion be damned

And for a 1955 movie, she basically argues that her former student and now adult friend should marry the "fallen" woman he was engaged to until she discloses a past indiscretion to him - while handled discretely, this is radical and ahead-of-its-time stuff for '55

Slow out of the gate, uneven and reasonably predictable, there is still much to admire and enough surprises to make this a fun one

HanauMan · Sep 24, 2017

I watched Cowboys and Aliens (2011) starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.

I like Westerns and I like Sci Fi but not together. This film is just too dumb and doesn't work for me.

MisterCairo · Sep 24, 2017

HanauMan said:
I watched Cowboys and Aliens (2011) starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.

I like Westerns and I like Sci Fi but not together. This film is just too dumb and doesn't work for me.

A bit of fun that, but as noted, quite odd!

MisterCairo · Sep 24, 2017

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium with the girls for Friday night movie night. Quite cute!

Fading Fast · Sep 24, 2017

"Hud" 1963

All four leads own their roles, but hard to picture any other actress playing the Patricia Neal role

Newman had a heck of a long career, but he was on fire - absolute fire - for ten years in the late '50s/'60s

If this counts as a Western (or being set in the early '60s, maybe it doesn't), it's one of my favorites

The symbolism of the smash-faced Caddy at the end was heavy handed but still darn good

BlueTrain · Sep 24, 2017

MisterCairo said:
A bit of fun that, but as noted, quite odd!

Weren't there a couple of other movies that were half-Western, half-monster movie?

2jakes · Sep 24, 2017

Spending an evening with Harry Langdon on TCM tonight.
First one is “His Marriage Wow” (1925).

Always enjoy the street scenes from these silent films.

Screen Shot 2017-09-24 at 3.42.26 PM.png

Schwab Drug Store in Hollywood.

Screen Shot 2017-09-24 at 3.42.53 PM.png

Piggly-Wiggly grocery store.
(My part-time job during high school)

Worf · Sep 24, 2017

Fading Fast said:
"Good Morning, Miss Dove" 1955 staring Jennifer Jones

Surprised this good one never hit my radar before I recorded it off of a recent TCM airing

Miss Dove is rigid to her value system - enforce rules / all students are treated equally - but her humanity and decency shows through that code, through her patience with her students, through how she honors her debts and through her willingness to put her savings at risk to stop a bank run

She doesn't boil down to a stereotype, but, IMHO, is close to an Ayn Rand character who plows through life with her own set of principles to guide her, public opinion be damned

And for a 1955 movie, she basically argues that her former student and now adult friend should marry the "fallen" woman he was engaged to until she discloses a past indiscretion to him - while handled discretely, this is radical and ahead-of-its-time stuff for '55

Slow out of the gate, uneven and reasonably predictable, there is still much to admire and enough surprises to make this a fun one

Saw this too. Found it to be a bit too "Goodbye Mr. Chips" for me in Technicolor. Enjoyable BUT I couldn't shake Robert Donat out of my head. Combine that with the fact that many school districts forbad female teachers to marry until way into the '60's the idea of her living loveless and childless irked me on the inside. I'd recommend it but barely, they did get props from me for integrating her classroom not only ethnically but religiously as well.

Worf

Worf · Sep 24, 2017

"Blithe Spirit" - This David Lean and Noel Coward production is based on another Coward stage play and released right after the war, is a funny affair. Not "ha ha" funny but more what WAS he trying to do funny? There's some of the usual Coward bite and double entendres but not enough to make this thing "sing" for me. The idea of a man being haunted by his ex-wife is a good premise but everyone involved is so tedious you can't work up much sympathy for them. The real standout is the medium who starts all this ruckus "Madame Arcati" played with manic genius by Margaret Rutherford of "Miss Marple" fame. She literally steals the show from both female leads and a VERY young Rex Harrison. Ms. Rutherford at this point has boundless energy and (forgive me for noticing) a waistline and all her teeth! Can't give it a hearty recommendation but, if it's ever back on TCM you could waste an hour and a half in worse ways.

Worf

Fading Fast · Sep 24, 2017

Worf said:
Saw this too. Found it to be a bit "Goodbye Mr. Chips" for me in Technicolor. Enjoyable BUT I couldn't shake Robert Donat out of my head. Combine that with the fact the MOST school districts forbad female teacher to marry WAY into the '60's the idea of her living loveless and childless irked me on the inside. I'd recommend it but barely, they did get props from me for integrating her classroom not only ethnically but religiously as well.

Worf

"Goodby Mr. Chips" is the much stronger movie, but this one - flaws and all - had, as you noted, pro-active lessons against antisemitism, ethnic prejudice and the ostracizing of a woman who had a child out of wedlock. That's a whole lot to get right in a 1955 movie.

I don't remember much about it - other than that it covered similar ground - but "Cheers for Miss Bishop" was also a decent one in the "venerated teacher" genre.

HanauMan · Sep 25, 2017

After watching Cowboys and Aliens the other day I had to cleanse my palate, as it were, and watch a proper Western.

I thus watched Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) starring Wes Studi, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Matt Damon and Jason Patric.

Wes Studi, as usual, really got into his character as the Apache warrior Geronimo, ably supported by the veteran actors, especially Duvall. Beside the story of the Apache and the 'White Eyes', what came across very strongly was the harsh beauty of the Arizona deserts and mountains.

I have always been intrigued by Geronimo and the story behind him. Some years back I was lucky enough to stay with some Dine for a short time and found out that Geronimo is still admired and respected by them, even though he was a Chiricahua Apache.

HanauMan · Sep 25, 2017

Sorry, but can I ask which Goodbye Mr. Chips movie is being referred to above? The 1939, 1969 or 2002 versions?

I have seen the first and last versions and am about to start reading the book by James Hilton.

Otter · Sep 25, 2017

Kingsman Golden Circle at the cinema, could have done with being around an hour shorter !
Then Alien Covenant on DVD. Great sets, superb special effects, surprisingly good music. Story a little thin but still good not a patch on the original.

Benzadmiral · Sep 25, 2017

Fading Fast said:
"Youngblood Hawk" 1964

They should have waited a decade or so and made it into a TV miniseries (when that was all the rage) as there are too many characters, too many sub-plots and just too much going on to boil it down to a two-plus hour movie and make it anything more than a surface-skate of the book

And a shout-out to Doctor Strange who corrected me in another post when I said - prior to seeing it - that "Youngblood Hawk" was a big-budget movie as, having now seen it, it wasn't. As DS noted, it basically stared a bunch of TV actors who, like most TV actors, can't quite carry a movie the way many of them can a TV show

But the B&W cinematography was outstanding . . .

Though I've never seen it, I can imagine James Franciscus was not the right casting for Hawke as he was written in the novel (which I first read in the early Eighties). Hawke was a big, rather clumsy-looking fellow with a shock of dark hair, and whose Kentucky accent became more pronounced when he got upset. I always pictured Hawke looking more like the young Stephen King than like Franciscus's rather New England-ish college professor style. I can imagine Suzanne Pleshette made a pretty good Jeanne Green, his love interest, though.

Fading Fast · Sep 25, 2017

Benzadmiral said:
Though I've never seen it, I can imagine James Franciscus was not the right casting for Hawke as he was written in the novel (which I first read in the early Eighties). Hawke was a big, rather clumsy-looking fellow with a shock of dark hair, and whose Kentucky accent became more pronounced when he got upset. I always pictured Hawke looking more like the young Stephen King than like Franciscus's rather New England-ish college professor style. I can imagine Suzanne Pleshette made a pretty good Jeanne Green, his love interest, though.

You are spot on - Franciscus gave it a sincere try, but he is more New England Yankee than Kentucky Mountain Man. Pleshette was a good Jeanne but I have no idea if Genevieve Page was any good as Frieda Winter as - while she had the physical appearance of Frieda Winter down perfectly - I only understood about one out of every three words she said (her accent - real or created for the role - was brutal).

The major two problems, though, were, one, they are all TV actors - in reality or presence - and none of them was "big" enough to carry the movie and, two, there is too much to the story to do it in two-odd hours. The same mistake was made when "The Best of Everything" was made into a movie - instead of taking out a lot of the sub-stories and side characters so that the movie can dig into one good core story, they kept bits of everything in, but then it's all superficial and almost impossible to follow if you haven't read the book. It - like "The Best of Everything -" should have been made into a mini-series.

Benzadmiral · Sep 25, 2017

Fading Fast said:
You are spot on - Franciscus gave it a sincere try, but he is more New England Yankee than Kentucky Mountain Man. Pleshette was a good Jeanne but I have no idea if Genevieve Page was any good as Frieda Winter as - while she had the physical appearance of Frieda Winter down perfectly - I only understood about one out of every three words she said (her accent - real or created for the role - was brutal). . . .

At the time I pictured soap actress Marcia McCabe as perfect for the role of Frieda Winter: https://pgpclassicsoaps.blogspot.com/2008/12/mccabe-mr.html In 1984 I was, I admit it, a regular watcher of the venerable soap Search for Tomorrow, which told some pretty good, not-over-the-top dramatic stories and didn't have a cast consisting of only pretty 20-somethings. SfT helped to launch the careers of Morgan Fairchild, Kevin (Batman) Conroy, and Jane Krakowski, among others.

I still can't imagine, though, who could play Hawke himself.

Fading Fast · Sep 25, 2017

Benzadmiral said:
At the time I pictured soap actress Marcia McCabe as perfect for the role of Frieda Winter: https://pgpclassicsoaps.blogspot.com/2008/12/mccabe-mr.html In 1984 I was, I admit it, a regular watcher of the venerable soap Search for Tomorrow, which told some pretty good, not-over-the-top dramatic stories and didn't have a cast consisting of only pretty 20-somethings. SfT helped to launch the careers of Morgan Fairchild, Kevin (Batman) Conroy, and Jane Krakowski, among others.

I still can't imagine, though, who could play Hawke himself.

In his day, I could see Mitchum playing Hawke (but clearly too old by the mid '60s).

What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

Doctor Strange

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Trenchfriend

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Fading Fast

HanauMan

Practically Family

MisterCairo

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MisterCairo

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BlueTrain

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2jakes

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Worf

I'll Lock Up

Worf

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Fading Fast

HanauMan

Practically Family

HanauMan

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Otter

One Too Many

Benzadmiral

Call Me a Cab

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Benzadmiral

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