What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

At long last, Asteroid City (2023) Wes Anderson director. Imagine Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, and Kurt Vonnegut collaborate on a play so at first bite of the apple it tastes like a luscious grape dipped maple syrup
and chocolate with crushed peanuts sprinkled, add Norman Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robie, and Edward Norton in a William Faulknerish dash then even more thespians for a Barbiesque desert splash. All this
flick really needs is a Taylor Swift soundtrack.
Iconic film in Beckett's absurdist theatrical blood type with notable cringe factor when a certain actor rumoured to have frequented Epstein Island is talking to children, and his real life wife is also cast. Ick writ loud
screech chalk blackboard. A classic start-to-finish.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Miracle on 34th Street (1947), dir. George Seaton, with Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, and Edmund Gwenn as St. Nicolas or maybe not St. Nicolas, just a kindly old man with whiskers. Personal favorite Christmas movie, a Christmas movie that deals with Christmas, not just set at or during or around Christmas. Three generations of family all loved it.
The Year without a Santa Claus (1974) not a movie, but a stop-motion television production from the Rankin-Bass studio. Shirley Booth is top-billed as Mrs. Claus, Mickey Rooney as Santa, and Dick Shawn as the Snow Miser. Santa wants to take off one Christmas, feeling bad and down in the dumps due to a world-wide lack of the Christmas spirit. Lots of songs, some clever dialogue, and exemplary story-motion animation. The Heat Miser song, as covered by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, is in the Shellhammer Christmas Music Playlist.

 

[Fading Fast]

Miracle on 34th Street (1947), dir. George Seaton, with Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, and Edmund Gwenn as St. Nicolas or maybe not St. Nicolas, just a kindly old man with whiskers. Personal favorite Christmas movie, a Christmas movie that deals with Christmas, not just set at or during or around Christmas. Three generations of family all loved it.
The Year without a Santa Claus (1974) not a movie, but a stop-motion television production from the Rankin-Bass studio. Shirley Booth is top-billed as Mrs. Claus, Mickey Rooney as Santa, and Dick Shawn as the Snow Miser. Santa wants to take off one Christmas, feeling bad and down in the dumps due to a world-wide lack of the Christmas spirit. Lots of songs, some clever dialogue, and exemplary story-motion animation. The Heat Miser song, as covered by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, is in the Shellhammer Christmas Music Playlist.

My ever shifting favorite Christmas movie list now includes "Miracle on 34th Street" in the top five.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

London is nearing an hour past midnight, 21 December, so time to toss my annual yule log on the fire
with Scrooge and Alastair Sim as Ebeneezer, but not yet right this minute.

Slightly Scarlet features Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl as her sex starved sister newly sprung from prison.
And this sets up well for Hitchcock's The Birds with Tippi Hedren later sometime this week. A real dovetail flick.
Rhonda with newly sprung sex starved sister Arlene. Birds of a feather flock together.

Wild Turkey on ice.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

View attachment 572141
Shield for Murder from 1954 with Edmond O'Brien, John Agar, Marla English and Caroline Jones (in a fun, small role as a prostitute)


The thing about noir, for all its darkness, the good guys almost always win and the bad guys almost always lose - in the end. Until the late 1950s, that's what the Motion Picture Production Code allowed and, maybe, that's what America was ready to hear about itself.

Shield for Murder is a noir-crime drama about a cop gone bad. Four years prior, a version of this story was done well in the movie with the awful name The Man Who Cheated Himself. In Shield for Murder, a veteran detective, played by Edmond O'Brien, kills in cold blood, a bookie carrying a $25,000 bankroll for the big boss.

O'Brien wants the money so he can buy a house and marry his pretty waitress girlfriend, who, surprisingly, is not a femme fatale, but a nice girl who would have happily married O'Brien without the house. This one can't be fobbed off on the "bad" woman - a normal noir tic.

After this early set up, the rest of the movie is watching O'Brien's world slowly unravel. His younger partner, well trained by O'Brien, as O'Brien was a talented detective, notices the gaps and inconsistencies in O'Brien's story, but his mind isn't, yet, ready to connect the dots back to O'Brien.

In an early movie look at the "Blue Wall," directors O'Brien and Howard Koch show how the police circle the wagons when one of their own, O'Brien, is challenged. The precinct's first move, from the Captain down, it's instinctual, is to accept O'Brien's account, sweep inconsistencies under the rug and quickly move on.

The big mob boss, out $25,000, isn't sweeping anything under the rug as he sends his goons after O'Brien. The turn for O'Brien, though, where it all falls apart, is when a deaf mute comes forward as a witness to the killing. Unfortunately, he brings his story to O'Brien.

Now it's all a by-the-numbers tale of a crooked cop becoming desperate to cover up a story that's falling apart on him. (Spoiler alert) After O'Brien kills the witness, his young partner finally allows himself to connect the dots. O'Brien then goes completely rogue, even turning to the mob for help in escaping the city with the police now searching for him.

(A few more spoiler alerts) Bad move, as the mob is still mad about its "missing" $25,000, so they double cross O'Brien. Even his girlfriend goes to the police to help them find O'Brien; it's the right move, but still. All that's left is the obligatory showdown where a crazed O'Brien, with the stolen money in one hand, tries to shoot it out with the entire police force.

It's 1954, so we're told, effectively, the Blue Wall, if it exists at all, is really only for minor transgressions, but for serious crimes, the police will do the right thing even if they have to bring in one of their own.

In less than a decade, noir will morph into truly gritty and shocking stories where the cops can be the bad guys and the good guys lose, but for now, as in Shield for Murder, that wasn't a line that Hollywood would yet cross.

I'll mark this maverick for post New Years for great back alley script and O'Brien, a favourite who always
gives his all whatever the role. And Caroline Jones. She seems a slight demure thing but her scenes are
all the more abundant with a quiet depth of character she possessed. Her eyes alone were enough. I cannot
recall the title where she played a town barfly who helps Kirk Douglas against Tony Quinn in this western.
Quinn's son confesses to her that he raped and killed Douglas' Cheyenne wife, Caroline in her serene
beauty and eyes spoke volumes in this classic. Epic direction character focus.

 

[Zombie_61]

...All this flick really needs is a Taylor Swift soundtrack...

I haven't seen the movie, but I couldn't disagree more simply because NOTHING will EVER need a Taylor Swift soundtrack. I realize she's only popular because 99.9% of the human population of this planet has an IQ lower than it's average waist size, but she's one of the most overrated, boring performers in the history of humankind.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

What Price Glory (1926)

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

I haven't seen the movie, but I couldn't disagree more simply because NOTHING will EVER need a Taylor Swift soundtrack. I realize she's only popular because 99.9% of the human population of this planet has an IQ lower than it's average waist size, but she's one of the most overrated, boring performers in the history of humankind.

Taylor is a lovely sweet rose whose beauty strikes thunderous lightning that echoes inside my heart.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Scrooge (1951) Alastair Sim. Brian Desmond Hurst director.

Released as A Christmas Carol in the States, its initial premiere at New York's Radio City met axe cancel due
to Scrooge's grim overcast moodiness so the now classic shuffled off to lower digs for poor box office reception. Television reruns came to Scrooge rescue with burnished time cloth polish revealing hidden hues and colours in a black and white gemstone diamond most capably directed. Scrooge stands the test of time while, as to be expected, Alastair Sim became seen sole eminence griese Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Until 1984 that is when Clive Donner directed A Christmas Carol featuring a stellar British cast and an American
actor named George C Scott as Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Annual Christmas holiday with usual '24/7' lifestyle, today, tonight, but certainly tomorrow.

 

[Zombie_61]

Taylor is a lovely sweet rose whose beauty strikes thunderous lightning that echoes inside my heart.

Yeah...my eyes, ears, and heart don't see that, so I suppose you can have my seat at her shows.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

^ See Americana Girl, a very well done Taylor docu and her concerts are available Netflix.

 

[Zombie_61]

^ See Americana Girl, a very well done Taylor docu and her concerts are available Netflix.

Not gonna' happen, my friend. Zero interest here.

 

[Edward]

Not gonna' happen, my friend. Zero interest here.

I can't imagine we're exactly her target audience. My niece is a big fan, though, which is nice. Better she likes a performer with a bit of suss, stands up for herself and produces her own material, than some manufactured clone...

I can't honestly say I'm much familiar with her oeuvre (it's not my style - as I say, not her target audience), but I do very much admire how she's taken on the music industry and used the platform she has to speak out against the appalling way the parasite Spotify treats artists, among other things. Kudos to her as well for re-recording all her earlier material rather than be solely at the mercy of another industry party's ownership of the original sound recordings. What really made me appreciate her on a personal level, though, was her appearance on a television chat show here a few years ago, on the same bill as Cleese. Cleese clearly starts in his Grumpy Old Man mode, ready to roll his eyes at some dim pop-star bimbo. He does a one liner, she comes rightback with something equally clever and funny - suddenly you can see him realise there's a brain there... the sheer joy in his eyes as they engage and bounce off each other after that was really fun to watch. I can imagine she'd be a lot of fun socially.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

^ Agreed, records her own compose and recaptured material manager stole book copyright.
Taylor also generously gives charities nod including UK community works and speaks her mind for cause and concern.
I enjoy her music with her exquisite vivacious femininity. And young ladies need a female role model.

 

[Worf]

Scrooge (1951) Alastair Sim. Brian Desmond Hurst director.

Released as A Christmas Carol in the States, its initial premiere at New York's Radio City met axe cancel due
to Scrooge's grim overcast moodiness so the now classic shuffled off to lower digs for poor box office reception. Television reruns came to Scrooge rescue with burnished time cloth polish revealing hidden hues and colours in a black and white gemstone diamond most capably directed. Scrooge stands the test of time while, as to be expected, Alastair Sim became seen sole eminence griese Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Until 1984 that is when Clive Donner directed A Christmas Carol featuring a stellar British cast and an American
actor named George C Scott as Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Annual Christmas holiday with usual '24/7' lifestyle, today, tonight, but certainly tomorrow.

THIS is my fave example of the Dickens' timeless tale. But unfortunately I've been unable to find it anywhere for the last couple of years. Did someone "buy it up" like they did with "It's a Wonderful Life"? Why can't I find this movie anymore!!!???

Worf

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

THIS is my fave example of the Dickens' timeless tale. But unfortunately I've been unable to find it anywhere for the last couple of years. Did someone "buy it up" like they did with "It's a Wonderful Life"? Why can't I find this movie anymore!!!???

Worf

Watched Scrooge last night on YouTube and will see A Christmas Carol with Scott later tonight for my
annual cinematic compare since I always discover afore hidden facets both.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Scrooge (1951) Alastair Sim. Brian Desmond Hurst director.

Released as A Christmas Carol in the States, its initial premiere at New York's Radio City met axe cancel due
to Scrooge's grim overcast moodiness so the now classic shuffled off to lower digs for poor box office reception. Television reruns came to Scrooge rescue with burnished time cloth polish revealing hidden hues and colours in a black and white gemstone diamond most capably directed. Scrooge stands the test of time while, as to be expected, Alastair Sim became seen sole eminence griese Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Until 1984 that is when Clive Donner directed A Christmas Carol featuring a stellar British cast and an American
actor named George C Scott as Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Annual Christmas holiday with usual '24/7' lifestyle, today, tonight, but certainly tomorrow.

A Christmas Carol (1984) George C Scott. Clive Donner director. Honourable mention Susannah York.

I've come to more fully realize Charles Dickens and his character profile usage; namely, Bob Cratchet's wife,
Emily as the stalwart castle rook to her husband's gallant knight opposite king Ebeneezer Scrooge.
Emily's strength of character as wife and mother firmly anchors this family themed tale.

George C Scott wins over Alastair Sim this year. I saw Scott's take as the more spot on Scrooge,
believable, eminently so, but its cast easily tops Hurst's earlier production totally. And Ms York did a more
than convincing Emily Cratchet, rock anchor and chain counter to protagonist spectre presence Scroooge;
whom she never meets in the flesh, but he her in spirit. Emily Cratchet impresses Scrooge, whisked away by
the third and more mercurial spirit.

Alastair Sim is a superb Scrooge but Scott had the better of Ebeneezer.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Seems like I've posted about Alastair Sim vs. George C. Scott here every December for 20 years now.

I long ago decided that the Sim version was my favorite b/w adaptation and Scott my favorite color. (It used to be just Sim - I vividly recall when the Scott version originally premiered here on NBC as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special.) The production, everyone in the cast, and every storytelling decision in the Scott version is flat-out excellent. Scott is so good as Scrooge that you don't even notice that he's not bothering to use an English accent to match the rest of the cast.

And don't forget David Warner as Bob Cratchit - a rare good-guy role for this villain specialist. His Christmas Future dialog about the cemetery where Tiny Tim's buried gets me every time. I may vacillate on my favorite Scrooge, but he's my all-time favorite Bob Cratchit. Not that Mervyn Johns (father of Glynis) isn't also good in the Sim film.

And with all respect to Patrick Stewart, Michael Caine, Albert Finney, etc.... my third favorite adaptation remains Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol - for a cheap TV-animation hour-long musical version, it hits most of the story points about as well as the live action films. And a couple of its songs are really good.

 

[jordan1776]

Right now, I think I'm going to watch a Christmas classic maybe. Just don't know what yet.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Scott is so good as Scrooge that you don't even notice that he's not bothering to use an English accent to match the rest of the cast.

And with all respect to Patrick Stewart, Michael Caine, Albert Finney, etc.... my third favorite adaptation remains Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol - for a cheap TV-animation hour-long musical version, it hits most of the story points about as well as the live action films. And a couple of its songs are really good.

Scott does start the film with a fairly decent try at the beginning, reference his opening scene with Warner
as Bob-my favourite Bob-listen to his quite discernible mid-Atlantic not bad coal remonstrate. It never entirely
leaves, a trace east coast Jerseyite occasionally surfaces like flotsam gutteral, but it floats through the entire
film; particularly the cemetery scene. Not a bad go I'd say. Scott's capture of the man as drawn always the
June forecast but the accent bits and bobs across surface sheen.

As to the other pretensers to the throne, Ebeneezer Scrooge is the Ahab more easily found and done,
though Stewart gave him a go, and Scrooge, like Ahab must be the rock mount summit beckoning thespians.
Watch lads before a lass insists her right to grab peg leg, or perchance a female Scrooge's silver tipped stick.