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Old films that are tremendous

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    #76
    Then a few years later, they released Von Trier's The Kingdom in US theaters, showing all 4 hours with a 2 hour break. I was absolutely blown away.
    Weird. They just aired it as the TV show over here. Because that's what it was. Can't imagine it working very well as a movie. It definitely plays on the cliffhanger structure.

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      #77
      That Brooks piece is fascinating.
      What ursus said!

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        #78
        Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
        What ursus said!
        if you can get hold of a copy Lulu in Hollywood (in which that Bogart essay appears) it's well worth picking up. Brooks was an unfailingly honest and perceptive writer (especially when it came to herself.) It's probably the best first person memoir of early Hollywood I've come across.

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          #79
          Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post
          Weird. They just aired it as the TV show over here. Because that's what it was. Can't imagine it working very well as a movie. It definitely plays on the cliffhanger structure.
          It played like any binge watching series with cliffhangers. You say "OH SHIT" and watch the next one.

          It sucked sitting up close, because of those video lines, but in the back of the theatre it was great.

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            #80
            Did they include those clips of von Trier after each episode?

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              #81
              Just spent 3 hours listening to 'The Freedland Files' which discusses many of these films with the actors that appeared in them. Frothy and lightweight but good fun.

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                #82
                Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
                if you can get hold of a copy Lulu in Hollywood (in which that Bogart essay appears) it's well worth picking up. Brooks was an unfailingly honest and perceptive writer (especially when it came to herself.) It's probably the best first person memoir of early Hollywood I've come across.
                As a companion to that, I highly recommend Gloria Swanson's very candid autobiography.

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                  #83
                  Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post
                  Did they include those clips of von Trier after each episode?
                  Von Trier's peace and rock/satan hand signs, credits, opening credits, all.

                  If anything, it may have led to the Sopranos showing their first 2 episodes of season 3 in a theatre, Hollywood premier-style.

                  Couldn't find any of the reviews from part 1, but here's a NY Times review of Part 2.

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                    #84
                    Just to add another jewel to the old movie collection (if it hasn't been mentioned already), and that would be Dead of Night. Old as God, but still pretty impressive.

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                      #85
                      Originally posted by ian.64 View Post
                      Just to add another jewel to the old movie collection (if it hasn't been mentioned already), and that would be Dead of Night. Old as God, but still pretty impressive.
                      Writing as someone who gets creeped out by ventriloquist dummies, Dead of Night still packs a punch.

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                        #86
                        I'm a big fan of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes movies.

                        Also some of Frank Capra's movies, particularly Lost Horizon, Mr Deeds, Meet John Doe.

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                          #87
                          On the subject of old films, I recommend the "You Must Remember This" podcast by Karina Longworth, which thoroughly deserves the hype it has received. Her series on HUAC and the Blacklist was particularly well executed.

                          On the website, the podcasts are downloadable on MP3 only up to a point. Then it's linked to iTunes (which has all the episodes). Podbean has the lot on their player and in downloadable MP3 format.

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                            #88
                            Recent films I've watched, all tremendous:

                            The Third Man
                            The Red Shoes
                            400 Blows
                            Jules and Jim

                            Love those last 2 Truffaut films, they must've been so radical when they were released, but totally enjoyable, entertaining and worth it radical.

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                              #89
                              Originally posted by jason voorhees View Post
                              Both characters are trapped, Michael by his family, Lefty by his job. What hit me about Donnie Brasco the second time, was how the FBI was as dark a force for Donnie as Sonny Black's gang was for Lefty. In many ways, it serves as a template for The Wire, where the Greek Gods of those groups in power will torture the mortals that exist under them. Donnie and Lefty will discover love for each other, because they are workers trapped by more incompetent and obstinate overlords.
                              You make an interesting comparison. I always subscribed to the more obvious belief that Donnie Brasco set the groundwork for that other titan of HBO television, by which I mean The Sopranos. Brasco presented the Mafia as a decaying force, and The Sopranos took that tone and ran with it.

                              Originally posted by ian.64 View Post
                              I'd chuck Sweet Smell of Success into the hat, too. It's a swagger of a movie with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis at the top of their games, the sharpest script, excellent photography and an Elmer Bernstein score worth having ears for. Directed by Alexander MacKendrick, who gave us The Ladykillers and - possibly another candidate for this thread - Whisky Galore.
                              Sweet Smell of Success is in my personal top five, pretty much for the same reasons you mentioned. The stories about the script not being finished (and how the actors were rewriting scenes minutes before filming them) always amaze me, because the script is so tight and the dialogue is relentlessly back-and-forth.

                              I know most of these have already been mentioned, but I'd say my other absolute favourites from the same rough period are:

                              12 Angry Men
                              The Guns of Navarone
                              Lawrence of Arabia
                              Vertigo
                              North by Northwest
                              The 400 Blows
                              The Third Man
                              Strangers on a Train
                              Sunset Boulevard

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                                #90
                                Mrs Thistle and I watched Some Like It Hot tonight. Never seen it before. Really enjoyed it.

                                I thought it was interesting how it showed the way men treated women, with the bum pinching and unwanted advances, bellhops letting themselves into girls rooms and so on.

                                Also the first Marilyn Monroe film I've seen. I can see why she was such a star.

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                                  #91
                                  It’s just great. Still can’t believe that ending got through fifties Hollywood.

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                                    #92
                                    It stands up remarkably well doesn't it? It's one of those films where a director clearly has confidence in his actors' intelligence and doesn't step all over them. You can tell everyone involved had a real blast. Another one, from a couple of decades earlier, is Stage Door directed by the almost forgotten Gregory La Cava. La Cava, like Wilder, gave his predominately female cast freedom to ad lib, even though the script was by the renowned Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufmann. Ginger Rogers, Kate Hepburn, Gail Patrick and Lucille Ball are all scintillating. Catch if you can.

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                                      #93
                                      My son saw it for one of his college film classes and commented favorably.

                                      I listed it on the Top 10 Westerns thread, but finally got around to re-watching The Ox-Bow Incident. Just as good (and relevant) as last time viewed.

                                      75 minutes long - no pissing around.

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                                        #94
                                        can go along with most of those mentioned. Would Suggest

                                        "White Heat"
                                        "Green For Danger"
                                        "Oh Mr. Porter"
                                        "The Petrified Forest"
                                        "All Quiet On The Western Front"
                                        "Frankenstein" (James Whale film)
                                        "The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek"
                                        "The Lady Eve"
                                        "Pepe Le Moko"
                                        "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"

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                                          #95
                                          Just to touch upon the name of James Wong Howe mentioned a while back on this thread, I recall seeing John Frankenheimer's Seconds on the telly years ago - it's an unsettling film, even for mainstream mid-60's American cinema - and noticed a particular effect Wong Howe used in a sequence where Rock Hudson's character gets overly drunk (and possible drugged - I can't remember all the details) and staggers around in all directions at a party. It's the effect where a camera is strapped to the actor and the sequence shows the actor remaining stock still in the centre of the image while everything else around him swirls and shakes almost kaleidoscopically. It's been used ever since in particular films and music videos (I remember Scorcese doing it in Mean Streets) and I'm wondering if Wong Howe originated that effect. Just curious.
                                          Last edited by ian.64; 09-07-2018, 06:59.

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                                            #96
                                            According to Empire magazine, the earliest example of that camera trick was Vincente Minelli's Madame Bovary back in 1949. Mystery solved. Carry on.

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                                              #97
                                              Great book on the 1940s Hollywood film industry: City of Nets:

                                              https://www.amazon.com/CIty-Nets-Por...s=city+of+nets

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                                                #98
                                                Oh yes. A book I've read more than once.

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                                                  #99
                                                  Kubrick's "Paths Of Glory" showed up on TCM the other night. I'd seen it before but forgotten just how good it was. A great war movie and a great anti war movie. George Macready as Mireau is riveting. Also one of Kirk Douglas' best along with "Ace In The Hole". Indispensable.

                                                  Also a mention for "Duel". Still my favorite Spielberg film.
                                                  Last edited by adams house cat; 30-07-2018, 14:36.

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                                                    All the Kubrick films are great. I recently saw Barry Lindon for the first time.

                                                    I haven't had cable for the last year (not a great loss), so I've been downloading films and series on bit torrent instead, though it's more of a winter/cold weather activity in my neck of the woods.

                                                    Earlier this year I've been on a binge of vintage Shaw Brothers kung fu and Japanese samurai flicks. A lot of the SB classics like the one-armed swordsman I've seen only once at the theatre as a young child, brings back some good memories. There are some definite gems in there, and others that are more outlandish but are still quite entertaining if you fancy that genre. The Japanese flicks are a bit less flamboyant but pretty compelling.

                                                    Someone recommended the Alone survival reality series, which were filmed in the BC wilderness, so I've got season 1 in the wings.

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