What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[MisterCairo]

I tried something I'd never done before: Indiana Jones marathon in black and white! I also watched them in chronological order instead of release order, another first for me. Indy looked amazing in black and white. Out of all of them, Raiders looked the best. I think it's the grainy film stock that sold it for me. It wouldn't be as good if it was super smooth film, or if the grain had been digitally removed for the 4K release.

Certain things about it still made it stick out as "80s movies" such as certain visual effects, clothing cuts, or hair styles (Willie's '80s frizzy hair, for example). All in all, though, it was very enjoyable and most of the movies would definitely work reimagined as being from the 1930s. I think the way Spielberg shot Raiders, and the low grain of the film stock, made it the most recognizably 1930s in style. I found that Crystal Skull worked the least well in black and white. The camera movements, film stock, lighting, etc were too "modern" to pass as a 1950s movie.

I find Crystal Skull works best from a concrete bunker about 600 nautical miles away in a power outage with no means of projecting it.

 

[Edward]

I find Crystal Skull works best from a concrete bunker about 600 nautical miles away in a power outage with no means of projecting it.

Harsh! A lead-lined fridge would surely be sufficient...

You're not holding out much hope for #5, I assume?

 

[Touchofevil]

I find Crystal Skull works best from a concrete bunker about 600 nautical miles away in a power outage with no means of projecting it.

Yeah, it was pretty bad. It was a huge disappointment for me.

 

[Zombie_61]

I find Crystal Skull works best from a concrete bunker about 600 nautical miles away in a power outage with no means of projecting it.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is far from being a good movie, but it's still considerably better than Temple of Doom, which is not only the worst movie in the Indy franchise but also one of the worst movies in cinema history.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Paradine Case from 1947 with Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton, Charles Colburn, Ethel Barrymore and Louis Jordan


The pieces of this Hitchcock movie are better than the whole, which might be why it's generally considered one of the master director's middling efforts.

But some of those pieces are outstanding, as is the incredibly talented cast with the one weak choice of Gregory Peck, a fine actor otherwise, in the lead.

Ostensibly, the story is about a young, beautiful woman, Alida Valli, accused of killing her older, blind and wealthy husband with Peck brought in as her brilliant defense attorney.

Yet, it is really about Peck becoming so besotted with Valli he risks his marriage and professional objectivity. This, in turn, means he's risking his personal life and career all over his platonic "affair" with Valli (she's being held in jail the entire time he knows her).

That is also the story's weakness as Peck's "falling in love" with Valli, pretty much at first sight, is never convincing. Valli is just too cold; beautiful, yes, but chilly. Peck, meanwhile, seems more angry with Valli for disturbing his thoughts than in love with her. The entire movie balances on this weak pivot.

If you just go with it, though, you get all these wonderful scenes and relationships. Ann Todd, Peck's arrestingly beautiful and smarter-than-him wife, immediately senses what is going on and tries to give her struggling husband room and time for his dumb mental infidelity to burn itself out. I'm firmly against physical violence, but kept hoping Todd would just punch her stupid husband in his face.

You also get Charles Colburn as Peck's friend and legal mentor having an incredible tête-à-tête with his whip-smart young daughter who sees Peck's descent into idiocy before Colburn.

Equally engaging is the scene where bullying Charles Laughton, the judge in the case, belittles his perceptive but browbeaten wife. She, also, comes across smarter than her "brilliant legal mind" husband. Say what you will of sexism from that era, but almost every woman is smarter than every man in The Paradine Case.

When the movie finally shifts to the climatic courtroom scenes, the drama is solidly engaging. Peck's crafty defense convincingly shows that the butler did it (well almost, the husband's aide, Louis Jordan). But then (spoiler alert), Valli, his client, destroys her own defense by confessing to the murder. This exonerates Jordan, whom she now acknowledges has, all along, been her lover (this is a dagger right through Peck's lovesick heart).

After that, it's all clean-up as Valli is off to the hangman, while Peck assumes his career and marriage is all washed up. But once again, it's his wife, super Ann Todd, to the rescue.

Here's when you know you have received more than you deserve in life. Ann Todd agrees to marry you. Ann Todd is your good loving wife. You then act like a complete *ss to Ann Todd over an infatuation with another woman. But when it's all over, understanding Ann Todd takes you back, not because she's weak, but because she's strong and accepts your weaknesses. Ann Todd deserves better. Roll credits.


N.B. A rule of murder mysteries: never trust the rich woman (pathologically aloof Valli, in this case) who sleeps in an overly ornate room with an elaborate headboard that includes a large narcissistic portrait of herself.

 

[MisterCairo]

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is far from being a good movie, but it's still considerably better than Temple of Doom, which is not only the worst movie in the Indy franchise but also one of the worst movies in cinema history.

We will have to agree to disagree on that my friend!

 

[MisterCairo]

Harsh! A lead-lined fridge would surely be sufficient...

You're not holding out much hope for #5, I assume?

Nope!

 

[Edward]

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is far from being a good movie, but it's still considerably better than Temple of Doom, which is not only the worst movie in the Indy franchise but also one of the worst movies in cinema history.

Ha, I still like both. Funny thing about Temple is that it's always better on a rewatch than I seem to remember it being. Not as good as the two that appeared either side of it, but they set a high bar.

 

[Harp]

View attachment 342688
The Paradine Case from 1947 with Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton, Charles Colburn, Ethel Barrymore and Louis Jordan


The pieces of this Hitchcock movie are better than the whole, which might be why it's generally considered one of the master director's middling efforts.

But some of those pieces are outstanding, as is the incredibly talented cast with the one weak choice of Gregory Peck, a fine actor otherwise, in the lead.

Ostensibly, the story is about a young, beautiful woman, Alida Valli, accused of killing her older, blind and wealthy husband with Peck brought in as her brilliant defense attorney.

Yet, it is really about Peck becoming so besotted with Valli he risks his marriage and professional objectivity. This, in turn, means he's risking his personal life and career all over his platonic "affair" with Valli (she's being held in jail the entire time he knows her).

That is also the story's weakness as Peck's "falling in love" with Valli, pretty much at first sight, is never convincing. Valli is just too cold; beautiful, yes, but chilly. Peck, meanwhile, seems more angry with Valli for disturbing his thoughts than in love with her. The entire movie balances on this weak pivot.

If you just go with it, though, you get all these wonderful scenes and relationships. Ann Todd, Peck's arrestingly beautiful and smarter-than-him wife, immediately senses what is going on and tries to give her struggling husband room and time for his dumb mental infidelity to burn itself out. I'm firmly against physical violence, but kept hoping Todd would just punch her stupid husband in his face.

You also get Charles Colburn as Peck's friend and legal mentor having an incredible tête-à-tête with his whip-smart young daughter who sees Peck's descent into idiocy before Colburn.

Equally engaging is the scene where bullying Charles Laughton, the judge in the case, belittles his perceptive but browbeaten wife. She, also, comes across smarter than her "brilliant legal mind" husband. Say what you will of sexism from that era, but almost every woman is smarter than every man in The Paradine Case.

When the movie finally shifts to the climatic courtroom scenes, the drama is solidly engaging. Peck's crafty defense convincingly shows that the butler did it (well almost, the husband's aide, Louis Jordan). But then (spoiler alert), Valli, his client, destroys her own defense by confessing to the murder. This exonerates Jordan, whom she now acknowledges has, all along, been her lover (this is a dagger right through Peck's lovesick heart).

After that, it's all clean-up as Valli is off to the hangman, while Peck assumes his career and marriage is all washed up. But once again, it's his wife, super Ann Todd, to the rescue.

Here's when you know you have received more than you deserve in life. Ann Todd agrees to marry you. Ann Todd is your good loving wife. You then act like a complete *ss to Ann Todd over an infatuation with another woman. But when it's all over, understanding Ann Todd takes you back, not because she's weak, but because she's strong and accepts your weaknesses. Ann Todd deserves better. Roll credits.


N.B. A rule of murder mysteries: never trust the rich woman (pathologically aloof Valli, in this case) who sleeps in an overly ornate room with an elaborate headboard that includes a large narcissistic portrait of herself.

________

Another home run review. Leaves me crestfallen that Atticus Finch tripped over himself and his client
spilled the beans all over the courtroom floor; moreover that he allowed Aphrodite to rob his wits and fall
in love with his client, harm his loving wife and marriage just like any dumbass jack leg lawyer.
Another gottasee gotcha. And Quasimodo is the learned trial judge. I bet that sonufabitch doesn't like
a lawyer asking for a directed verdict after prosecution rests, but did Finch request this, and why would he
put his client on the stand subject to cross? And Finch's client is quite the exquisite rose scorpion....

 

[belfastboy]

"Latenight" a written and starring vanity project by Mindy Kalling also featuring Emma Thompson. It was OK, we set our expectations low as all I wanted was one good laugh out of it. Well, my expectations were exceeded as I got 4 decent laughs and my wife 2. As my wife said in review...."A little toooo earnest for my liking". But it filled the bill until it cooled down enough to fall asleep.

 

[Fading Fast]

________

Another home run review. Leaves me crestfallen that Atticus Finch tripped over himself and his client
spilled the beans all over the courtroom floor; moreover that he allowed Aphrodite to rob his wits and fall
in love with his client, harm his loving wife and marriage just like any dumbass jack leg lawyer.
Another gottasee gotcha. And Quasimodo is the learned trial judge. I bet that sonufabitch doesn't like
a lawyer asking for a directed verdict after prosecution rests, but did Finch request this, and why would he
put his client on the stand subject to cross? And Finch's client is quite the exquisite rose scorpion....

Well said.

 

[Harp]

Well said.

As Charles Lamb said, "Lawyers were children once." But with Murder One there is no kiddin' round.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Her Kind of Man (1946) w/ Dane Clark, Janis Paige, and Zachary Scott. Songstress Paige is conflicted: does she love gambler Scott, or two-fisted newspaper columnist Clark? Somebody gets whacked, and all three principals are tangled up in the followings.
Then, All the King's Men (1949), dir by Robert Rossen, with Broderick Crawford, Joanne Dru, John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge, and a young young young John Derek. Crawford and McCambridge received Academy Awards for their performances, and the film earned the Best Picture award. The Missus picked this one, and while it is not the feel-good picture of 1949, it is powerful story-telling.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Last night it was The Blue Gardenia (1953), dir. Fritz Lang, with top-billed Anne Baxter, and Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, and Raymond Burr. Telephone operator Baxter is thought to be guilty of commiting a homicide. Did she, or didn't she? Pal and roomie Sothern gets the best lines, Conte (another columnist! See above) wants to exploit the sordid affair as fodder for The Chronicle, but as he gets in deeper, he starts to --- you'll have to see it for yourself.

Followed by The Velvet Touch (1948) w/ Rosalind Russell as a light comedy Broadway star who quarrels with controlling producer Leon Ames about doing "heavy drama", and falls in love with English architect Leo Genn, and feuds with co-star Claire Trevor, and must deal with police captain Sydney Greenstreet when Ames is murdered. Directed by Jack (John) Gage, of whom I have never heard. IMDB says he did lots of television directing.

Stay with it 'til the end: solid performances throughout, with a couple of twists and turns to keep you watching.

 

[Fading Fast]

Our Very Own from 1950 with Ann Blyth, Jane Wyatt, Farley Granger, Ann Dvorak and Natalie Wood


TV was less groundbreaking than it appears when you realize that most of what TV would eventually do in its first thirty or forty years had already been done in the movies.

B movies, going back to the 1930s, were often quite similar to what would become TV-style dramas or soap operas by the 1960s. Equally ahead of TV, serial stories were quite popular in the 1930s and 1940s where audiences would come back week after week to see the next "installment" of these, mainly, kid-oriented pictures.

In the 1940s and 1950s, there were many low-budget movies that were the antecedents of the 1970s TV After School Special. In those efforts, a "challenging" issue relevant to kids or young adults was highlighted and addressed in an edifying manner.

Our Very Own is a 1950 movie version of a 1970s After School Special with the seventeen-year-old daughter of a comfortable and loving middle-class family accidentally discovering she was adopted. As was a common practice then, the parents had kept the adoption secret from the daughter, so the discovery is a crisis moment for the daughter and parents.

Until then, Ann Blyth is a "normal" teen worried about her boyfriend, Farley Granger, excited about her dress for graduation and regularly doing battle with her younger sisters, the youngest being twelve-year-old Natalie Wood.

When she learns she was adopted, all that gets pushed aside as she immediately knows she wants to meet her "real" mother. This is a dagger right through the heart of her adoptive mom Jane Wyatt (warming up for her future role on Father Knows Best as one of TV's perfect 1950s mothers).

After a trip to biological mom, Ann Dvorak - nice but rough around the edges and struggling financially - and a conversation with her best friend whose mom died when she was a baby, Blyth comes to the only conclusion the script allows: she is darn lucky to have been adopted by such nice people.

The movie ends with class vice president Blythe giving a graduation speech about the value of citizenship and a heartfelt admonition to her fortunate fellow students to feel gratitude to their parents and country.

It's easy to be snarky and cynical about these movies, especially today when any pride in one's country is mocked by many (at least in America; although, those same people probably respect and understand it when practiced in other countries). It also doesn't help that, as is the wont of these movies, the messaging is heavy handed and obvious.

Sure, better writing would help and some of the thinking doesn't align to today's unforgiving standards, but heck, somebody, somewhere was trying to do some good. Which means, kids then probably felt like kids in the 1970s did about those After School Specials.

My friends and I used to sometimes watch and, of course, openly mock them, but also, maybe only quietly to ourselves, learn something from them as well. For us today, Our Very Own is also pretty good time-travel to the cars, clothes, architecture and norms (seen through a Hollywood filter) of the day.


N.B. In academic "game theory," the "crowd watching the crowd" is a big deal as it's one of the ways a culture signals its norms and practises (and, in today's vernacular, memes) to its members. One wonders if movies like Our Very Own didn't both reflect and help create the teenage culture of the 1950s.

Parties, music, dancing, necking, dress, speech, attitudes toward parents and school are all very 1950s "teenager" in the movie. At a time when entertainment hadn't split into a million silos like today, these geared-toward-teenagers movies probably had a pretty powerful "crowd watching the crowd" effect.

 

[Harp]

Ann Blyth, any other reason needed to watch this flick?

No, there isn't.

 

[Fading Fast]

Ann Blyth, any other reason needed to watch this flick?

No, there isn't.

The director agreed as he, basically, found a reason to have a beach scene so that he could put Miss Blyth in a, for the day, revealing two-piece bathing suit.

 

[Harp]

Was she in the film Sally and St Anne?

The first girl I chased in college looked just like her.
Unfortunately, it all crashed and burned...

 

[Fading Fast]

Was she in the film Sally and St Anne?

The first girl I chased in college looked just like her.
Unfortunately, it all crashed and burned...

I'm not familiar with that movie, but I checked on IMDB and, yes, Ms. Blythe was in it.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Nuisance from 1933 with Lee Tracy, Madge Evans, Charles Butterworth and Frank Morgan


Once again, behold the pre-code: Successful ambulance-chasing lawyer Lee Tracy makes up false claims from whole cloth, hires fake witnesses, has a corrupt doctor, Frank Morgan, alter examination records and x-rays and suborns perjury. Today's tort lawyers could take notes. Yet, Tracy is not presented as a really bad guy despite the stunning fraud.

At one point, Tracy is negotiating a settlement with a streetcar company's lawyer over damages for an accident victim, literally, as the injured man dies in front of them. Without missing a beat, all that changes is the two men start arguing over a much-higher figure. I'm not proud of myself, but I was laughing out loud at their ruthless indifference.

Lee Tracey, at this moment, was MGM's answer to Warner Bros'. James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. Tracy, just like those Warner Bros. stars, is talking so fast in The Nuisance, the dialogue struggles to keep up.

Also like Warner Bros. MGM, at least for this instant, didn't flinch from calling out Germany and Hitler. Check out this exchange, and remember it is 1933:

German immigrant: "All good doctors are Germans"

Charles Butterworth as a pragmatic American: "I understand all that's been changed since Hitler got elected."

And how respected was Prohibition in 1933? Tracy has a bootlegger on call, a well-stocked bar at home and the local drug store all but openly sells booze from behind the counter. The "Noble Experiment" had become the national joke.

Back in the plot of The Nuisance, the streetcar company, tired of writing out big checks to Tracy's clients, hires super-adorable Madge Evans to masquerade as a client of Tracy to document and expose his corruption.

Just as she starts to make real progress, she - you know it's coming - begins to fall for Tracy as he does for her. Tracy and Evans have good chemistry and even better banter, but it's a tough square to circle in a relationship when you're about to sell out your boyfriend.

All that's left is a bunch of misunderstandings, hurt feelings, wounded pride, recriminations and, finally, Tracy and Evans trying to top each other in self sacrifice to prove their love after first saying horrible things to each other. You know, basic last-minute romcom stuff.

But since it's still pre-code 1933, the closing scene has Tracy assuring his now wife Evans he's reformed, while in the next breath, he's setting up a new big-money fraudulent claim. What does Evens do? She basically shrugs. For about four years, from 1930-1934, the pre-code movies refuted every wholesome narrative subsequent movies, produced under the code, would attempt to portray for the following thirty years.


An inside-Hollywood N.B. While made at MGM, this is a Warner Bros. movie in spirit as it shows illegal activity in an all but favorable light. Additionally, there's the aforementioned speed-talking Tracy doing his best Cagney/O'Brien and the very Warner Bros.' swipe at Hitler.

Finally, Charles Butterworth, as Tracy's amoral sidekick, is MGM's answer to Warners Bros. character actors like Frank McHugh. But proving you can never do things as well as the master, The Nuisance runs for an hour and twenty three minutes; warp-speed Warner Bros would have wrapped it up in an hour and five without losing any story.