What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

I think it's a combination of all those things. Universal in 1930 was considered a bargain-counter studio, turning out formula melodramas and cheap westerns for an undiscriminating small-town audience, but that year Carl Laemmle was determined to do something special -- and as a result the studioit made the two most impressive, culturally-signficiant films it would ever make: "All Quiet On The Western Front" and "The King of Jazz." "Western Front" got a similar prestige restoration some years ago, but they didn't have the materials to do the same with KOJ until recently. As the one studio with, historically, the shabbiest record of film preservation, I think they also have a sense of trying to atone for past sins by doing something really spectacular.

I doubt they'll ever fully recover the cost of the restoration, which was well into the millions, but they have had surprising success with high-prestige screenings -- it was rapturously received when it opened in New York last year. If you ever notice it playing anywhere I strongly encourage you to go see it. I wish I could show it here, but our director's musical sensibilities don't extend much before 1975, and she wouldn't even consider it. But I have a key to the theatre , and a disc of the film, and ain't nobody gonna stop me from my own private midnight show...

I will absolutely keep an eye out for it. Glad you have access to it for yourself.

Do you have any idea how TCM / Fandango is doing with its revivals? We've gone to several (we saw "The Philadelphia Story" last month and will see "Sunset Blvd" in May and we've seen others over the past several years) and sometimes they are crowded and sometimes they aren't. But since they keep having the, I assume they are doing at least okay.

Away from those TCM revivals, NYC has seen a meaningful decline in revivals over the years, but I think that has a lot to do with the death of the single or couple of screens "off-beat" theater that used to show modern movies months after they were out and the one-off revival here and there. Meaning, it's not necessarily a sign that revivals are declining in popularity, but that the type of theater that could show them occasional is dying off for other reason.

 

[2jakes]

Our Gang, “Sun Down Limited” (1924) TCM

Although the opening title and background music is different from
the one shown on yootoob!

 

[Seb Lucas]

I just saw Two Jakes - the Nicholson directed sequel to the brilliant Chinatown. I saw it back when it came out. Liked it a lot. Nice visual style and interesting plot.

 

[2jakes]

I just saw Two Jakes - the Nicholson directed sequel to the brilliant Chinatown. I saw it back when it came out. Liked it a lot. Nice visual style and interesting plot.

My favorite scene is when Gittes takes a drive out to the countryside orange groves
in that beautiful Hudson convertible with the exterior Fulton Sunshield...

In seconds the sunshield disappears so we can get a better view of our hero.

 

[PeterGunnLives]

Having watched The Petrified Forest about a month ago, I recently watched the other movies that make up the Warner Bros classic gangster movie "Volume 1" collection on blu-ray, in no particular order: The Public Enemy, Little Caesar, and White Heat.

Little Caesar always struck me as kind of a transition piece between silent cinema and talkies, what with the on-screen inter-titles between acts/scenes, and the vocal deliveries seeming a little less polished than movies that would come later.

The Public Enemy is always a joy to watch. One particular scene had the odd effect of giving me a strong craving for grapefruit (I'm sure you know the scene), so I went out and bought several for the week.

White Heat is a standout to me; the perfect bridge between the gangster movie era and the hard-boiled film noir that was coming onto the scene.

 

[Fading Fast]

"The Women" 1939 with Norma Shearer and every other female star of the '30s (not quite, but close)

• On the surface, so much of the story is '30s code-enforced values of women as extensions of their husbands (a "man") that it feels horribly dated (and inaccurate to the more-complex true social history of the period), but there is also plenty of code-subversion going on to make it enjoyable to a modern mind

• And, heck, there's so much star power, machine-gun-fire dialogue, out right cattiness and period details, that the movie is a fun ride just taken as it is

• Oddly, this B&W film is interrupted for a Technicolor fashion show that felt silly and forced, but showed that there clearly was a novelty, even a "wow" factor, to color at the time

• From a story perspective, the only thing that rang truly hollow to me was that Joan Crawford never convinced me that she could fake being nice as her attempts came off as a parody of a "bitchy" woman being nice - which hurts as the entire story pivots on Shearer's husband being fooled by Crawford

• Shearer is - as always - more of a star than an actor with atavistic silent-film gestures popping up here and there - but her star power does allow her to carry it all off

• Lucille Watson (Shearer's mother in this one) is a true pro. You know she started as a theater actor, but clearly understood the different between film and theater

• Fun, too, to see a just-before-breaking-out-as-a-major-star Joan Fontaine glowing and looking as if she weighed 100 (at most) perfect youthful pounds

• Ruth Hussey has a pitch-perfect cameo as a nearly automaton of a secretary, but she brings so much subtle personality that she's engaging, funny and scene stealing

• Check out this pre-WWII casual line about a swastika being used to express how much room Shearer will have sleeping in her big bed alone: "You can spread out in this bed like a swastika." You almost miss it as it flies by, but it jars if you catch it

• It's a big giant, enjoyable mess of a movie - chockablock with stars - that could have benefited from being, at least, a half hour shorter

 

[LizzieMaine]

Based on the play by Claire Boothe, soon to be Claire Boothe Luce, soon to be Congresswoman Claire Boothe Luce, soon to be Ambassador Claire Boothe Luce.

The Luce marriage was a very very outre one -- not quite Professor Marston outre, but outre nonetheless, given the many prominent notches on La Luce's headboard, and it belied certain of the public stands the Luces took in their many public pronouncements. Some of that personal conflict over social expectations vs private conduct finds it way into "The Women" -- more in the stage version than the movie, but there nonetheless.

 

[3fingers]

Based on the play by Claire Boothe, soon to be Claire Boothe Luce, soon to be Congresswoman Claire Boothe Luce, soon to be Ambassador Claire Boothe Luce.

The Luce marriage was a very very outre one -- not quite Professor Marston outre, but outre nonetheless, given the many prominent notches on La Luce's headboard, and it belied certain of the public stands the Luces took in their many public pronouncements. Some of that personal conflict over social expectations vs private conduct finds it way into "The Women" -- more in the stage version than the movie, but there nonetheless.

Isn't there a massive 2 volume book about her life? Seems like I've seen it somewhere.

 

[scottyrocks]

Just watched The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). Good special effects for the time, and the dialogue/narration was the typical angst of the period. Worth watching, if not again.

Watching Them! (1954) right now. I don't know what it is about GE movies that contain police, their cars, and the outdoors, but that combination almost always holds me to the screen.

Ooo, look, a huge ant! And that stereotypical outerspace alien thrumming sound. And now the off-the-cuff analysis, and in a windstorm, yet. I'm cracking up!

 

[AmateisGal]

The Seventh Cross with Spencer Tracy. Wonderful film.

 

[PeterGunnLives]

I've been watching the Fleischer Studios "Superman" cartoons from 1941-1942. Since they were originally exhibited theatrically, I guess they are okay to mention in a movie thread.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Sure. Besides, they're masterpieces! The greatest short dramatic theatrical cartoons ever made. (Admittedly, it's a small category.)

 

[Fading Fast]

I've been watching the Fleischer Studios "Superman" cartoons from 1941-1942. Since they were originally exhibited theatrically, I guess they are okay to mention in a movie thread.

They are visually so incredible (Doctor Strange and a few others here turned me on to them), that the wash-rinse-repeat stories don't even bother you that much.

 

[Zombie_61]

Sure. Besides, they're masterpieces! The greatest short dramatic theatrical cartoons ever made. (Admittedly, it's a small category.)

The first nine are, anyway. After Famous Studios took over production from Fleischer Studios there was a drop in quality and a change in tone from generic "Superman saves the day" stories to "World War II propaganda". I don't know if it was noticeable in 1942 when these cartoons were released one to two months apart, but when you watch them back-to-back at home I think it's fairly apparent. I still enjoy them all, but I clearly have my preferences.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The personnel who made them were the same over the two studios -- Famous was simply Fleischer without Max and Dave. Paramount foreclosed their mortgage and took over the whole operation, putting Max's son-in-law Seymour Knietel in charge of production. Then Paramount ordered the Miami studio operation shut down and pulled them all back to New York, where they found themselves tied to a very short budget leash. The Superman films under the Fleischers had gone over budget, which was one of the reasons Paramount called the loan and kicked the Fleischers out.

With all of that going on it's a wonder they could get any work done, let alone quality work. The Popeye cartoons also took a big drop in quality around that same time.

 

[scottyrocks]

Just watched I Married A Witch (1942). I have just two words: VERONICA LAKE! Oh my God . . .

It was a cute movie, though.

 

[Fading Fast]

Just watched I Married A Witch (1942). I have just two words: VERONICA LAKE! Oh my God . . .

It was a cute movie, though.

You can see the roots of "Bewitched" in the movie.

Lake made several noir movies with Alan Ladd - "The Glass Key," "This Gun for Hire" and "The Blue Dahlai -" if you like noir, I recommend all three.

Also "Sullivan Travels" is a wonderful movie with Lake at her uber-cuteness.

Her best dramatic role, IMHO, is in "So Proudly We Hail," which is a darn fine movie.

Yup, I'm a big fan of Ms. Lake

 

[ChiTownScion]

With all of that going on it's a wonder they could get any work done, let alone quality work. The Popeye cartoons also took a big drop in quality around that same time.

Once he stopped mumbling double entendres, it became kiddie fare.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It also didn't help that in the midst of the administrative shakeup, Jack Mercer was drafted. None of his replacements had the knack for the role that he had -- they even tried having Mae Questel do Popeye as well as Olive, and while she was certainly a versatile performer, she wasn't Popeye.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Based on the play by Claire Boothe, soon to be Claire Boothe Luce, soon to be Congresswoman Claire Boothe Luce, soon to be Ambassador Claire Boothe Luce.

The Luce marriage was a very very outre one -- not quite Professor Marston outre, but outre nonetheless, given the many prominent notches on La Luce's headboard, and it belied certain of the public stands the Luces took in their many public pronouncements. Some of that personal conflict over social expectations vs private conduct finds it way into "The Women" -- more in the stage version than the movie, but there nonetheless.

One of my favorite Dorothy Parker stories, probably apocryphal, concerns a supposed feud between Luce and Parker. At a party, they both arrived at a doorway at the same moment. According to lore, Luce gestures to Dorothy: "Age before beauty."

Mrs. Parker walks through and says, "Pearls before swine."