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Author	Topic: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc. "Withnail & I" (1987)
Erk Registered: Aug '01	Date Posted: 2/9/07 4:58am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Third Man" (1949 )
	One of my favourite noir films. With a great theme. And Welles few minutes are of course brilliant. To me that's welles greatness, he's the only person I can think of who were both a world class director and a world class actor. In the third man you feel his screen-presence without him even being on the screen until near the end. Cotton were not bad either. "Switzerland had half a century of peace and what did they accomplish; the cucko-clock." -----signature----- "One man can change the world with a bullet in the right place." Mick Travis, If.... Blast. They've removed my icon. U S A ! U S A ! U S A !
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yankee8255 Registered: May '05	Date Posted: 2/9/07 5:23am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Third Man" (1949 )
	If anyone ever visits Vienna, the Burg Kino movie threatre plays it every Friday night, I believe. And the zither music is brilliant, almost surreal.
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 2/9/07 6:16am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Third Man" (1949 ) - Date Edited: 2/9/07 8:45am (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
	Yes, you're right, sorry. I knew it was a divided city... But: Welles's speech is terribly glib. Cocking a snook at the Swiss for their innate civilization is sophomoric, IMO.
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General_Dodonna Registered: Feb '05	Date Posted: 2/9/07 3:40pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Third Man" (1949 )
	Why is it "Welles' Speech" and not Harry Lime's Speech? Sure, Welles improvised it, but you know, there's this concept called acting, wherein people try to portray a character... Sorry, gotta defend my boy Welles from the David Thomspson school of Welles criticism, where you can never separate the man from his work or his characters. -----signature----- "A film is difficult to explain because it is easy to understand." - Christian Metz
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 2/9/07 7:15pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Third Man" (1949 )
	Next: "On the Town" (1949) UK; 98 minutes; Techicolor Languages: English Director: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen Producer: Roger Edens, Arthur Freed Screenplay: Adolph Green & Betty Comden Photography: Harold Rossen Music: Leonard Bernstein, Saul Chaplin, Roger Edens, Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Vera-Ellen, Florence Bates, Judy Holliday Three sailors on a 24 hour leave in New York City. Great fun.
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 2/9/07 7:24pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "On the Town" (1949 )
	The Third Man is one of the great films of all time, bar none. Par excellence. Cotton's best performance; the direction is spectacular, the city is luminous and nightmarish, the quintessential noir. Trevor Howard is all cynical detachment; Valli is beyond gorgeous, more luminous than the city. She walks into the darkness to undress at one point and you feel like a ship that's lost sight of the lighthouse. Welles is brilliant as well; a great film beyond question. On the Town is pure manic energy; Ann Miller steals the show with a frenzied dance at the museum. The opening is pure bravura genius. Great, great film. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 2/10/07 6:23pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "On the Town" (1949 )
	Next: "Orphee" (1949) France; 112 minutes; B & W Languages: French Director: Jean Cocteau Producer: Andre Paulve Screenplay: Jean Cocteau Photography: Nicholas Hayer Music: Georges Auric Cost: Jean Marais, Francois Perier, Maria Casares, Marie Dea Jean Marais is an acclaimed poet who has fallen out of fashion; Eurydice is his wife, who dies; he then follows her to the underworld. I've long wanted to see this film, which is famous.
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 2/11/07 7:30am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Orphee" (1949 )
	Next: "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950) USA; 112 minutes; B & W; Languages: English Director: John Huston Producer: Arthur Hornblow, Jr. Screenplay: W. R. Burnett, Ben Maddow, John Huston, from the novel by Burnett Photography: Harold Rosson Music: Miklos Rozsa Cast: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, John McIntire, Marilyn Monroe The prototype caper film. According to the book, it sets out the relationships of a number of people who are planning a jewellery robbery: "As in most Huston films, the thematic emphasis is on the joys and sorrows of male bonding, with the criminals' inevitable defeat by the law--and their own wesknesses--rendered almost heroic." This one I haven't seen, but it sounds very interesting.
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General_Dodonna Registered: Feb '05	Date Posted: 2/11/07 8:24am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950 )
	The Asphalt Jungle is an oddity in that it's both a pretty poor heist film and a pretty poor film noir, but it's nevertheless a pretty good film. Huston's template of the criminal code and male comraderie would serve as the basis for numerous filmmakers afterwards, especially French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville. It's funny then that Huston made few movies like this afterwards, with a few possible exceptions. Sterling Hayden, as always, is quite good here, as is Louis Calhern as Emmerich. As Huston said of the film, it's really about men and the vices that bring them down. Orpheus is really quite good, but I think it pales next to Cocteau's La Belle et la Bete. But there are still some wonderful, wonderful moments to be had here, particularly the disappearance of Eurydice in the backseat of Orphee's car. It also has a really interesting, and different, ending from its source material. -----signature----- "A film is difficult to explain because it is easy to understand." - Christian Metz
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Erk Registered: Aug '01	Date Posted: 2/13/07 1:15pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950 )
	I agree. Like the Treasure of SM the asphalt jungle is quite poor, but still show the strong points of hollywood cinema, the handiwork, the actors' presence. I know few actors in Europe who could even bring the presence of even a quite bad actor like Michael Douglas. The only one I could think of now is Gerard Depardieu. In hollywood they play like Slim Pickens in the truck in peckipah's the getaway or Sterling Hayden the asphalt jungle or Humprey Bogart in Treasure of SM, that is with star quality. The same thing that made marilyn big. -----signature----- "One man can change the world with a bullet in the right place." Mick Travis, If.... Blast. They've removed my icon. U S A ! U S A ! U S A !
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 2/13/07 9:27pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950 )
	Next: "Rashomon" (1950) Japan; 88 minutes; B & W; Languages: Japanese Director: Akira Kurosawa Producer: Minoru Jingo Masaichi Nagata Screenplay: Ryunosauke Akutagawa, Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto from the stories by Akutagawa Photography: Kazuo Miyagawa Music: Fumio Hayasaka Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Moro The unreliable narrator makes an appearance in this film about the unknowability of "truth". Each of three people tells the same story, except the emphasis is different each time. We then get a fourth version, but even then it is not reliable. Avoid the terrible Hollywood remake & see the real thing.
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waheennay Registered: Sep '00	Date Posted: 2/14/07 12:57pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Rashomon" (1950 ) - Date Edited: 2/14/07 1:01pm (2 edits total) Edited By: waheennay
	Great movie. Toshiro Mifune and Machiko Kyo were amazing. Did anybody know Hollywood did an American version in the early 60s called "The Outrage"? It's a scene by scene remake but set in the Old West starring Paul Neuman playing a Mexican bandit in the Toshiro Mifune role! It's as bad as it sounds. I was flipping through the channels one day and caught it. I was watching this thinking "This seems awfully familiar!" -----signature----- U2's Sweetest Thing; "A blue-eyed boy meets a brown-eyed girl Oh oh oh the sweetest thing"
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JohnWesleyDowney Registered: Jan '04	Date Posted: 2/14/07 2:23pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Rashomon" (1950 ) - Date Edited: 2/14/07 2:30pm (3 edits total) Edited By: JohnWesleyDowney
	Rashomon is, I think, one of the greatest films of the 20th Century. It's certainly one of the most brilliant films ever about the subjective nature of truth. It's the film that brought Kurosawa to international attention and world-wide fame. Considering it was made for peanuts in post-World War II Japan, it's an amazing accomplishment. Technically, for it's time, it's remarkable, some of the tracking shots and photography, long before the steadicam, are complex and ambitious. I listened to the commentary track and I found it amazing how much is going on behind the camera to create such a simple little film, given the limitations of the medium at the time. The special features on the DVD are also fascinating. In just 4 very simple locations, a beach (briefly), an abandoned temple, a forest clearing and a rooftop, and with just a handful of actors, Kurosawa created a masterpiece. This tiny little film has more heart, more insight into human nature, more value than a hundred big-budget Hollywood CGI monstrosities with 100 million dollar + budgets. Nevertheless, as much of a fan as I am of this movie, I have learned that getting other people to appreciate it is a very big challenge. With it's hyperactive kabuki acting which is so foreign to the West, and with it's black and white photography, most people won't sit still and watch it closely for the measly 88 minutes it runs. But for those who can appreciate what it says and how it says it, at the hands of the painterly Kurosawa, it's very rewarding. Incidentally, it won First Prize at the Venice International Film Festival, quite an honor in it's day, and it was also voted an Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture of 1951. It was also the very first Japanese movie to be widely seen in the West. -----signature----- Namaste.
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 2/14/07 9:33pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Rashomon" (1950 ) - Date Edited: 2/14/07 9:36pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
	Next: "Winchester '73" (1950) USA; 92 minutes; B & W; Languages: English Director: Anthony Mann Producer: Aaron Rosenberg Screenplay: Borden Chase, Stuart N. Lake, Robert L. Richards, from a story by Lake Photography: Wm. H. Daniels Music: Walter Scharf Cast: James Stewart, Shelly Winters, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Jay C. Flippen, Will Geer, Rock Hudson (as the Indian chief) and Tony Curtis (as a soldier). The first of eight collaborations of Stewart and Mann (I thought it was 5, but the book says 8), this is a really excellent action film, which follows the fate of a rifle. The Stewart/Mann films would become increasingly bitter and morally uncertain, and this element is present in the very first one. There is a flaw: the book describes Shelly Winters as 'excellent'; she isn't. She's dreadfully miscast, and you have to tolerate her and her affectless acting and Bronx accent.
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Erk Registered: Aug '01	Date Posted: 2/15/07 2:23am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Winchester '73" (1950 )
	Among Kurosawa's films I don't rate Rashomon very high, of his early works (pre 7 samurai) I think Stray Dog is better. -----signature----- "One man can change the world with a bullet in the right place." Mick Travis, If.... Blast. They've removed my icon. U S A ! U S A ! U S A !
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