Unappreciated masterpieces?

[Blackthorn]

The Prestige (1996)

One of the best movies I have ever seen, period.

 

[MisterCairo]

The Purple Plain.

I swallowed vomit, until I re-read your post which I at first thought said The Purple RAIN...

 

[Blackthorn]

I swallowed vomit, until I re-read your post which I at first thought said The Purple RAIN...

Well, Purple Rain...Prestige...almost the same thing.

 

[Stearmen]

I swallowed vomit, until I re-read your post which I at first thought said The Purple RAIN...

I had to look up Purple Rain! Needless to say, I am not a Prince fan.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

I remember seeing "The Purple Plain" at the Midway drive-in outside Kenedy, TX in 1954. I was 6 and I went to sleep about halfway through it, so my memory of it is a little hazy. All I remember is a party or something getting bombed and a dead woman with a shard of glass stuck through her palm, which was considered shockingly graphic at the time.

 

[Blackthorn]

The Train, with Burt Lancaster. I can't believe I never heard of it until now.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059825/?ref_=nv_sr_1

 

[Feraud]

The Train is excellent! I record and watch it every time they play it on TCM. It really is an unappreciated masterpiece.

 

[Blackthorn]

I'm glad to know someone else thinks the same way about it. I can't figure out how these fall thru the cracks.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

A movie I think richly deserves digital remastering and redistribution is "The Warlord"(1965). This film was a labor of love for its star, Charlton Heston. Based on the play "The Lovers," by Laslie Nielson, it tells the story of an 11th century Norman knight who is given a small fief to defend on the North Sea coast. The Normans are still intruding Christian conquerors while the locals still cling to paganism. He claims his droit du seigneur on a peasant girl's wedding night and won't give her up the next morning. Much mayhem ensues. The movie Heston envisioned was different because of interference from the head office, but what he managed to make was a small masterpiece. Very hard to find now. My dvd is Brazilian and a little fuzzy, but I watch it often.

 

[Fading Fast]

A double header (really an original and a remake - and an idea I stole form my post earlier on "Casablanca") of "These Three" and "The Children's Hour" both of which are based on the same play and both are excellent, but almost never mentioned (hence, under-appreciated) masterpieces.

1936's "These Three" is an outstanding story of how a child's rumor destroys a struggling private girls school owing, in part, to the social prejudices of the times. The play it is based on has an assumed lesbian affair at the heart of the scandal, but being 1936, they changed it to a heterosexual extra-marital affair. In the equally outstanding 1961 version, the lesbian affair is brought back. While both are excellent movies, the remake had a purpose - to make the movie consistent with the original play and address an issue that 1936's movie standards wouldn't allow to be addressed.

Both movies are well cast and draw you in early to the passion and need the young school teachers have to make their school a success so that, by the time the scandal hits, you are rooting for them. The scandal, in both movies, is handled incredibly well showing you all sides and - in the role of the grandmother of the student who started the scandal, a truly human person who makes mistakes, doesn't want to admit them, is overwhelmed by the evidence, is devastated by the destruction her advocacy caused and, belatedly but sincerely, tries to make amends.

Both movies are powerful movie making because they tell a wrenching story with all the honesty and complexity of human emotions and character.

 

[Harp]

A movie I think richly deserves digital remastering and redistribution is "The Warlord"(1965)... He claims his droit du seigneur on a peasant girl's wedding night and won't give her up the next morning. Much mayhem ensues...

Recall this and the knight's moral quandary-or decided lack, and his attendant serving as a fulcrum-of-sorts testamentary.
The servant kills the husband in self defense and the web is spun to include bridal acquiescence of fate. Excellent film.

 

[AttyOzzy]

Broken Flowers

Starring a somber mature Bill Murray. Circumstances propel him to view his life through the women who have come and gone in his life.

I thought this movie would be a nice light hearted flick one winters night after viewing No COuntry For Old Me

 

[AttyOzzy]

Broken Flowers

Starring a somber mature Bill Murray. Circumstances propel him to view his life through the women who have come and gone in his life.

I thought this movie would be a nice light hearted flick one winters night after viewing No COuntry For Old Me

Sorry - hit post before done


Any way - i thought I could unwind to this movie after watching No Country For Old Men.

Saw Bill Murray's name in the credits for Broken Flowers and thought it would be a movie to lighten the mood.

Nope. Instead it forced me to reexamine my own life - on a yearly basis whenever I rewatch BROKEN FLOWERS.

Great movie for when a reflective mood stikes and you have a dark room and some scotch on hand.

 

[Blackthorn]

Sorry - hit post before done


Any way - i thought I could unwind to this movie after watching No Country For Old Men.

Saw Bill Murray's name in the credits for Broken Flowers and thought it would be a movie to lighten the mood.

Nope. Instead it forced me to reexamine my own life - on a yearly basis whenever I rewatch BROKEN FLOWERS.

Great movie for when a reflective mood stikes and you have a dark room and some scotch on hand.

I'm really glad to get this recommendation, AttyOzzy. I will look this up.

 

[AttyOzzy]

I'm really glad to get this recommendation, AttyOzzy. I will look this up.

Hi Blackthorn! That is great. Please let me know what you think after you have seen it.

 

[Blackthorn]

I will, AttyOzzy but it may be a while.

 

[Blackthorn]

Scorpio, with Burt Lancaster. I saw it twice in the theater when it was new, and just saw it again. Excellent movie.

 

[PeterGunnLives]

I don't know if I would call it a masterpiece, but I like Tucker: The Man and His Dream. When I finally decided to buy it, the DVD had gone out of print, so I ended up paying over thirty bucks for it. And apparently, it's still out of print, judging by the current prices on Amazon and Ebay.

 

[Blackthorn]

I don't know if I would call it a masterpiece, but I like Tucker: The Man and His Dream. When I finally decided to buy it, the DVD had gone out of print, so I ended up paying over thirty bucks for it. And apparently, it's still out of print, judging by the current prices on Amazon and Ebay.

I would agree with you. I bought a copy back in February when we visited Coppolla's winery (most of his movies are for sale in the gift shop) and really have enjoyed it.

 

[PeterGunnLives]

I would agree with you. I bought a copy back in February when we visited Coppolla's winery (most of his movies are for sale in the gift shop) and really have enjoyed it.

It's got some great menswear styles, with some colors/patterns/cuts that I presume to be based on the elusive "bold look" of the post-war years. I look to stuff like this for inspiration for my jitterbugging outfits.