Author Topic: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc. "Withnail & I" (1987)
Zaz  38629 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 10/29/06 7:15pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Le Jour Se Leve" (1939)
Next: "Gunga Din" (1939)

USA: 117 min. B & W.

Languages: English

Director: George Stevens

Producer: George Stevens

Screenplay: Ben Hecht

Photography: Joseph H. August

Music: Alfred Newman

Cast: Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks, jr., Sam Jaffe, Eduardo Cianelli, Joan Fontaine

Based on the Kipling poem, this wonderfully entertaining and staged adventure film is one of the high points of the 30's. At this point Stevens was a very good director indeed.

 

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Zaz  38629 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 10/30/06 8:31pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Gunga Din" (1939) - Date Edited: 11/14/06 4:55pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
Next: "Ninotchka" (1939)

USA: 110 min. B & W.

Languages: English

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Producer: Ernst Lubitsch

Screenplay: Charles Brackett, Melchior Lengyel

Photography: William H. Daniels

Music: Werner R. Heymann

Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvin Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi, Sig Ruman, Felix Bressart

Garbo's last great role, and her first comedy, is great fun. She plays a Soviet agent sent from Moscow to recover jewels from the exiled Grand Duchess Swana (Claire). Melvin Douglas is pretty good, though I wish the first casting--Cary Grant--had stuck.

 

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Zaz  38629 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 10/31/06 7:12pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Ninotchka" (1939)
Next: "La Regle du Jeu" (1939) ("The Rules of the Game")

France: 110 min. B & W.

Languages: French

Director: Jean Renoir

Producer: Claude Renoir

Screenplay: Carl Koch

Photography: Jean-Paul Alphen, Jean Bachelet, Jacques Lemare, Alain Renoir

Music: Roger Desmormieres

Cast: Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parely, Marcel Dalio, Jean Renoir

Jean Renoir's masterpiece. Heavily edited after negative audience reaction. Suppressed by the Vichy government as demoralizing; suppressed by the Nazis as subversive; reconstructed after WWII in its entirety, except for one small scene, and re-released in 1959.

I've seen this film twice, courtesy of TCM. I'm damned if I'm exactly sure what it's about, but you can tell it's brilliant. The high early point is a chin-dropping rabbit hunt; the hunting then gradually changes to bigger game.

Don't miss it.

 

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Rogue1-and-a-half  22235 posts
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered: Nov '00
16485_Wedge Antilles
Date Posted: 10/31/06 7:20pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Rules of the Game" (1939)
Ninotchka is very funny. Garbo has a pitch perfect, dead pan delivery.

"Supress it."

 

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_HothWampa_  1308 posts
Registered: Jun '02
7397_Wampa
Date Posted: 11/1/06 6:20am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Rules of the Game" (1939)
I was forced to watch Rules of the Game for a film class, and really....really...really... didn't want to. The film sounded boring, pointless, and pretentious. Well, it would appear that I was wrong :P This movie is surprsingly entertaining and provides the viewer with a nice mix of witty, sharp dialogue and astute social commentary. It's interesting that Renoir decided to cast himself in a pretty substantial role...

 

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Zaz  38629 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/1/06 12:23pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Rules of the Game" (1939)
Yes, Renoir plays a man who prides himself on being a confidant and fixer to the main characters. Interesting choice of roles.

It's beautifully photographed, too.

 

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Zombi_2_1979  1483 posts
Registered: Jul '05
6242_2-1B
Date Posted: 11/1/06 4:21pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Rules of the Game" (1939)
Those are probably the two opportunities I had to see the film the first time but didn't follow through. I caught the opening scenes which were festive and talky than did something else.

 

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Zaz  38629 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/1/06 7:35pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Rules of the Game" (1939)
Next: "Wuthering Heights" (1939)

France: 103 min. B & W.

Languages: English

Director: Wm. Wyler

Producer: Samuel Goldwyn

Screenplay: Charles McArthur

Photography: Gregg Toland

Music: Alfred Newman

Cast: Laurance Olivier, Merle Oberon, Geraldine Fitzgerald, David Niven, Flora Robson, Donald Crisp

I have seen this, and don't think too much of it; it's a bit too sanitized and cellophaned. Olivier did say later that Wyler taught him to act for the screen. If so, I wish he had done a better job.

 

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Rogue1-and-a-half  22235 posts
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered: Nov '00
16485_Wedge Antilles
Date Posted: 11/2/06 4:58pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Wuthering Heights" (1939)
Zaz posted:
Olivier did say later that Wyler taught him to act for the screen. If so, I wish he had done a better job.




laugh

I think it's rather overrated too; Newman's score is a bit too on the nose, as is, to be honest, about ninety percent of the acting. Drama is fine; melodrama, when it's this contained, gets tiresome.

Read the book instead.

 

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Zaz  38629 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/2/06 7:39pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Wuthering Heights" (1939) - Date Edited: 11/3/06 7:40pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
Next: "His Girl Friday" (1940)

USA: 92 min. B & W.

Languages: English

Director: Howard Hawks

Producer: Howard Hawks

Screenplay: Charles McArthur, Ben Hecht

Photography: Joseph Walker

Music: Sidney Cutner, Felix Mills

Cast: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Porter Hall

The play (by Hecht and McArthur) had a male Hildy Johnson, but Hawks switched the sexes. Rosalind Russell is the ace reporter, formerly married to editor Walter Burns (Grant). She returns from divorcing him to announce her engagement to an insurance salseman who lives in Albany, NY. Not on your tintype; Burns is not having any, and lures her back to report on a notorious murder case.

Every good comedienne in Hollywood turned down Hildy, fearing it was Grant's show. Russell, a friend of his in real life, accepted, but shrewdly paid a gag writer out of her own pocket to punch up Hildy's dialogue. It worked; Hildy's the equal of Burns and their showdowns are hilariously funny (they ad libbed wildly, some of it remaining in the film.) Walter Burns is completely amoral, hugely self-centred, and best of all, funny. Grant is really brilliant.

Very possibly my favorite comedy.

 

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Zombi_2_1979  1483 posts
Registered: Jul '05
6242_2-1B
Date Posted: 11/2/06 7:48pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "His Girl Friday" (1940)
Sadly haven't seen this one yet and seeing this title also made your ten list, definitely move it up on my list of must-sees.

 

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Rogue1-and-a-half  22235 posts
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered: Nov '00
16485_Wedge Antilles
Date Posted: 11/3/06 12:23pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "His Girl Friday" (1940)
Incredibly funny film; changing Hildy into a woman just makes everything come together. Once again, Ralph Bellamy plays the, er, 'Ralph Bellamy' role. Grant snaps at one point for someone to go find him; what's he look like, the character asks. Like that actor, Grant snaps back, what's his name, Ralph Bellamy.

It's a hilarious film from start to finish and, of all screwball, crackerjack dialogue films I've seen, it is the absolute fastest paced. This thing goes ninety to nothing.

 

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Heart of mine
If you can't do the time, don't do the crime
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Zaz  38629 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/3/06 12:24pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "His Girl Friday" (1940)
I once saw an analysis of the film which noted that Grant pushed his way to the centre of every shot, in keeping with the personality he played.

 

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Zaz  38629 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/3/06 7:51pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "His Girl Friday" (1940) - Date Edited: 11/3/06 11:04pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
Next: "Rebecca" (1940)

USA: 130 min. B & W.

Languages: English

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Producer: David O. Selznick

Screenplay: Phillip McDonald

Photography: George Barnes

Music: Franz Waxman

Cast: Laurance Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson

Master Alfred enjoys torturing Joan Fontaine; Laurance Olivier is a stick as Maxim de Winter (perfect bodice-ripper name!), Judith Anderson is one of Hitchcock's best villainesses


 

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KissMeImARebel  3770 posts
Registered: Nov '03
48516_Tycho Celchu (524092)
Date Posted: 11/3/06 10:40pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Rebecca" (1940)
One of my all time favs - and I don't even tend to favor older flicks. The acting is great and so are all the twists. Maybe I'm just gullible but I fell for every false lead: I almost died when Olivier said 'I didn't love her, I hated her!'

 

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