Author Topic: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc. "Withnail & I" (1987)
soitscometothis  4860 posts
Registered: Jul '03
19681_Duel
Date Posted: 11/4/06 4:05am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Rebecca" (1940)
I really like Rebecca. One of the few movies I think Olivier is actualy good in, ditto Fontaine. Good movie.

 

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Zaz  38621 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/4/06 7:48pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Rebecca" (1940) - Date Edited: 11/4/06 11:21pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
Next: "Fantasia" (1940)

USA: 120 min. Technicolour

Languages: English

Director: Ben Sharpsteen

Producer: Walt Disney, Ben Sharpsteen

Screenplay: Joe Grant, Dick Huemer

Photography: James Wong Howe, Morgan Maxwell

Music: All non-original

Described by the book as a 'remorselessly kitsch experience', it was a flop on release, but subsequently made money. In some ways, the first music video. Some parts are still very good: "The Socerer's Apprentice"; the hippos and ostriches in "The Dance of the Hours", the Chinese mushrooms. Some are very bad: the centaurs, "Night on Bald Mountain", etc.

 

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Rogue1-and-a-half  22235 posts
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered: Nov '00
16485_Wedge Antilles
Date Posted: 11/4/06 8:02pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Fantasia" (1940)
Rebecca is far from Hitch's best, but it's good. Waxman contributes a great score and both Fontaine and Anderson are perfect. It'd be easy for either of them to slip into schtick (ask Olivier; he does it occasionally), but they both work so seamlessly that it just flows.

As for Fantasia, Sorceror's Apprentice is about the only bit that has held up, from where I sit. Get the soundtrack; skip the movie.

 

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TheBoogieMan  15280 posts
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered: Nov '01
22994_Tarkin
Date Posted: 11/4/06 8:08pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Fantasia" (1940)
I pretty much agree with Rogue on Rebecca. I also like the novel more.

It's been so long since I last saw Fantasia that I don't think I can comment fairly.

 

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Zaz  38621 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/5/06 9:37pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Fantasia" (1940)
Next: "The Philadelphia Story" (1940)

USA: 112 min. B&W

Languages: English

Director: George Cukor

Producer: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Screenplay: Donald Ogden Stewart

Photography: Joseph Ruttenberg

Music: Franz Waxman

The play this movie was based upon was itself based on Hepburn's then reputation--the source of the 'chaste goddess' routine, which is the most tiresome thing about the movie. Hepburn owned the rights and sold them to MGM on the condition she got the leading role. She wanted Gable and Tracy as Dexter and Mike; and got Grant and Stewart; probably a better cast. It's a good film; but the preachiness is a bit much for me; much is redeemed by the performances, uniformly excellent.

 

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solojones  33567 posts
Registered: Sep '00
24089_Obi-Wans
Date Posted: 11/6/06 12:13am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Philadelphia Story" (1940)
I've only seen this once, but oddly I was about to watch it again sometime this week. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I saw the stage play first, but loved both equally. They're pretty much identicle anyway tongue Except in cast, of course. In which case I have to say that the Hepburn/Grant/Stewart combination is enough to make this movie special for me. But only because I'm a 70 year old trapped in a young body tongue


-sj loves kevin spacey

 

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Rogue1-and-a-half  22235 posts
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered: Nov '00
16485_Wedge Antilles
Date Posted: 11/6/06 2:27pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Philadelphia Story" (1940)
Film is a bit better than the play, but not by much. It's that rarity in American cinema: the purely character based comedy.

And it is very, very funny.

 

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soitscometothis  4860 posts
Registered: Jul '03
19681_Duel
Date Posted: 11/6/06 2:37pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Philadelphia Story" (1940)
Excellent film, I've seen it many times and it's always a joy. I was already familiar with High Society when I first saw The Philadelphia Story, and it took me a while to get used to the pacing (and the lack of singing, obviously), but this has the superior cast. You don't need colour or song when you have stars that shine like these.

 

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Zaz  38621 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/11/06 8:22pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) - Date Edited: 11/12/06 9:39am (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
Next: "The Mortal Storm" (1940)

USA: 100 min. B&W

Languages: English

Director: Frank Borzage

Producer: Frank Borzage

Screenplay: George Froeschel, Hans Rameau, Claudine West

Photography: William H. Daniels

Music: Bronislau Kaper, Eugene Zador

Cast: Margaret Sullivan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan, Robert Stack, Bonita Granville

One of the few anti-Nazi films released in the USA prior to Pearl Harbour. Haven't seen it, but Sullavan and Stewart (who made four films together) were a great screen team, mainly because Stewart was carrying a giant torch for her in real life, and they were both acutely talented.



 

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Zaz  38621 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/12/06 6:35pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Mortal Storm" (1940)
Next: "The Bank Dick" (1940)

USA: 74 min. B&W

Languages: English

Director: Edward J. Cline

Producer: Jack J. Gross

Screenplay: W. C. Fields

Photography: Milton R. Krasner

Music: Charles Previn

Cast: W. C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel, Franklin Panghorn, Shemp Howard, Grady Sutton

Fields wrote this, under the pseudonym Mahatma Kane Jeeves. It has a typical set up for him; shrewish wife; ungrateful, tormenting children; nasty employer. As usual, he's a passive twit, in this case named Edward Souse. Yeah, like that. Fields had a very unsentimental view of family life, as you might have gathered. As a result, his best films had held up surprisingly well--his appeal had something to do with wish-fufillment in an era when trying to strangle your own offspring was generally taboo.

Great stuff.

 

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Rogue1-and-a-half  22235 posts
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered: Nov '00
16485_Wedge Antilles
Date Posted: 11/13/06 4:29pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Bank Dick" (1940)
I absolutely laughed my head off watching It's a Gift and this is supposed to be even better, but I haven't seen it yet. You're right about his unsentimental view; funniest set piece in It's a Gift is basically an extended joke at the expense of the blind. Classy. But also hilarious.

 

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Zaz  38621 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/13/06 4:31pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Bank Dick" (1940)
He's not going to be raising money for blind girl's operations a la Chaplin. Accept that, and he can be acutely funny.

 

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Zaz  38621 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/13/06 6:51pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Bank Dick" (1940)
Next: "Citizen Kane" (1941)

USA: 119 min. B&W

Languages: English

Director: Orson Welles

Producer: Orson Welles, Richar Baer, Geroge Schaefer

Screenplay: Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles

Photography: Gregg Toland

Music: Bernard Herrmann, Charlie Barnet, Pepe Guizar

Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorhead

Welles was 24 when he led a very talented group in the making of this film. He drew the wrong conclusion: that he was alone responsible. He kept trying and trying to duplicate this success.

The main model of Kane is William Randolph Hearst, and Hearst became a powerful enemy (even so, they had to cut the Ince scandal out of the movie).

Operatic, bombastic, high energy, it's a young man's movie.

 

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Rogue1-and-a-half  22235 posts
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered: Nov '00
16485_Wedge Antilles
Date Posted: 11/13/06 7:05pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Citizen Kane" (1941)
Zaz posted:
He's not going to be raising money for blind girl's operations a la Chaplin. Accept that, and he can be acutely funny.


laugh Exactly!

Citizen Kane . . . it's an overrated film. Often gets called the best American film of all time, which it hardly is. Usually shows up in the top ten. It'd be in my top 100 probably, but not very high.

Welles' performance is great, as is his directorial eye. With Toland on deep focus photography, he makes the film a beauty to look at. His performance is a masterwork as is Joseph Cotton's.

Bernard Hermann's score is good too; beyond that . . . well, it's definitely worth a watch; more than one really. But it is just a hair overrated.

 

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Don't be a fool, don't be blind
Heart of mine
If you can't do the time, don't do the crime
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Zaz  38621 posts
Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre
Registered: Oct '98
40038_Jawa
Date Posted: 11/13/06 7:55pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Citizen Kane" (1941) - Date Edited: 11/13/06 7:55pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
You're dead wrong; and I'll say what I always say when I think so:

"Octopussy."

I rest my case. grin

 

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