What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Just Jim]

Needed a bit of escapism this weekend, so I watched the John Carpenter trilogy: Escape from New York, Escape from LA, and Ghosts of Mars. I hate three-day weekends.

 

[Nobert]

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, a 2017 production which is described as ".. biographical romantic drama" and deals with the last years of actress Gloria Grahame and her younger than her own kid Brit lover. I was not that familiar with the films of Grahame- other than her role as Violet Bick in It's a Wonderful Life. I enjoyed the film: perhaps our Miss Lizzie or someone else who is more familiar with her career than I am can tell me how accurate of a portrayal it was.

I saw this the other day, and I can tell you (spoiler alert) that if you've ever watched someone die of cancer, it was pretty accurate in that regard. I did like that she seemed as well-adjusted to a career faded around the edges as much as anyone who makes their living being looked at can probably be.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Currently enjoying a DVD collection of Hal Roach shorts from 1930-31 featuring the inimitable Charley Chase.

Chase was for a long time the forgotten man of the Roach studio roster, given that unlike Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang, his films were not run to death on television in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s -- other than a brief theatrical reissue after the war, his talkie shorts were hard to find until they started to turn up occasionally on TCM in the early 2000s. Chase was widely championed by film writers during the nostalgia craze of the early 70s, but it was frustratingly difficult to see his films -- and when you did see them, they often were unsatisfactory prints. This new set is a definitive collection of his second season of talkies, and is hopefully the first in a series.

Chase has a lot in common with Roach's first star, Harold Lloyd -- he has no unusual costume or eccentric characterization. He's a skinny, fussy fellow with slicked-back hair and a twitchy little moustache, just trying to get along, but instead of dangling from buildings like Lloyd, Chase dangles from absurd situations -- he bumbles into trouble as a result of his own supreme overconfidence, embarasses himself in front of everybody, and has to, somehow, extricate himself before the absurdity of the situation overwhelms him.

The most famous film in the collection, "The Pip From Pittsburgh," is a classic example. Charley is invited by a pal to go out on a blind date with a young lady from Pittsburgh -- and since everybody knows that all women from Pittsburgh are unattractive (at least in the world of this particular comedy short), Charley doesn't want to get mixed up with her. So he goes out of the way to make himself unattractive. He doesn't shave or comb his hair, dresses in a dirty, shabby, ill-fitting suit, and snacks on raw garlic -- but because this is a two-reel comedy, the gal turns out to be none other than Thelma Todd. Charley is thus forced to clean himself up while out on the date, without anyone catching on, and chaos blooms.

It's a simple formula, but one that offers many variations. Charley fights in the World War, visits hillbilly country, gets involved with bootleggers, and deals with the Depression, always as the same fussing, flustered character. Chase appeared in silent shorts for Roach for five years before talkies arrived, and all of these films incorporate dialogue-free sequences allowing him to show that he was a very fine silent comic -- of all the comedy studios, Roach had the smoothest transition to sound, allowing its comics to do their stuff without constantly running their mouths. The films also feature the familiar roster of Roach supporitng players you will recognize from other series made by the studio -- Thelma Todd is a semi-regular co-star, Billy Gilbert, Del Henderson, Dorothy Grainger, and Edgar Kennedy all turn up in prominent roles, and there's an absolutely hilarious bit by Margaret Mann in "The Panic Is On," where the kindly old grandma of "Our Gang" fame appears as a mean, snarling landlady who not only gives Charley the bum's rush, but also his dog!

The collection is "Charley Chase at Hal Roach: The Talkies, Volume 1 -- 1930-31," and it's well worth the time for anyone who appreciates short comedies.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Of course, I've been a fan of Chase for nearly fifty years, though I am much better versed in his twenties silent shorts than his thirties talkies. My seventies Super 8 collection includes Blackhawk prints of "Crazy Like A Fox" and "His Wooden Wedding". And I saw plenty of other Chase shorts via revival theaters and other film collectors back in the pre-VHS days. Really amusing films like "Long Fliv the King", "Mighty Like A Moose", "Dog Shy"...

He was, in fact, Roach's replacement for Harold Lloyd when Lloyd left the Roach studio, another "ordinary guy" comedian who didn't have the oddball trappings (crazy costumes, oversized eyes or moustaches, etc.) of most silent clowns. His real name was Charles Parrot, and his brother James was also a stalwart gag man, actor, and director at Roach.

Chase - who was also notable for writing, and later directing, both himself and others at Roach - is often described as having invented situation comedy, because usually he himself isn't funny, but he's surrounded by oddball situations and nutty characters that he must respond to. That's essentially the template for (to name one example) both of Bob Newhart's long-running sitcoms in the seventies and eighties.

And yeah, he should be MUCH better known. He's one of the underappreciated geniuses of early film comedy. Apart from his great supporting part as a boozy conventioneer in the classic Laurel & Hardy feature Sons of the Desert, even most serious movie buffs don't have a clue about him nowadays.



http://charleychase.50webs.com/

 

[scottyrocks]

Apparently, Charley Chase is a popular name for female 'models' these days.

When googling the name to see what he looks like, quite a lot of other stuff showed up.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yeah, I should have warned folks about that. At least there isn't a porn star named "Snub Pollard."

 

[Fading Fast]

We saw the TCM presentation of "The Philadelphia Story" from 1940 on the big screen yesterday.

This was the first time I saw it on the big screen. The two big differences I noticed (which did not include the use of shadows - which usually pops on the big screen in so many old B&W movies) were (1) how much the stars - Grant, Hepburn, Stewart and Hussey - own the screen and (2) how many small facial and body expressions these stars were throwing when others were talking.

While we have a modern, decent-sized TV (and the picture clarity on the old movies is fantastic), the "presence," the "bigness" of the stars is much more noticeable on a movie screen. Proving by exception, John Howard - who played George Kittredge - doesn't lift off the screen / doesn't own it. And while he had a respectable career in Hollywood, he never reached the heights of the others noted, maybe, because they lift off and he doesn't.

As to those small, but impactful, facial expressions, my favorite scene in the movie is when a drunk Jimmy Stewart shows up at an already sleeping Cary Grant's home to discuss their love lives' woes. It's a study in actors carrying a scene: there's almost no action and little scenery; it's just the two of them talking to each other. Be it Stewart's interrupting hiccups when Grant's talking or Grant's under-the-table finger-tip tapping or his ability to convey impatience with just his eyes when Stewart is, it feels so real you forget you're watching actors in a scene.

While I've seen the movie umpteen times on TV, I never fully picked up on all these small movements and facial expressions, but they humanize the movie and its characters. It's a shame that a lot of that is lost on TV. And the aforementioned star's "bigness" is definitely diminished on TV, but in a movie theater, you are struck by just how good looking and impressive these starts are. There is clearly a lot of talent required in acting, but having that big-screen glow comes from a nice spiritual tap on the shoulder at birth - some just have it and some don't.

Next big screen outing for us will be "Sunset Boulevard" in May. Can't wait.

 

[scottyrocks]

That's why I watch old movies on TV like this:

 

[Fading Fast]

"Life with Father" on TCM right now. While it was filmed in Technicolor, it looks colorized and - regardless - it would have looked much better in crisp Black and White.

Amidst the many things that color doesn't help, seeing William Powell with red hair (and a red mustache!) is off putting, especially since it matches his wife's, Irene Dunne's, hair color - ugh. Powell needs black or salt 'n' pepper hair, anything else is wrong. His inner Thin Man must be crying.

There are so many screaming colors in the "sitting room" scene on right now, that I can't hear the actors.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Technicolor Color Consultant" Natalie Kalmus strikes again. You want to use their cameras, you do things her way.

This picture was made not long after the Kalmus' relationship had foundered for good, even though Natalie was still on the company payroll, and I've always wondered if perhaps some of the more eye-watering Technicolor films of this period were Nat's way of telling Herb to get stuffed.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Technicolor Color Consultant" Natalie Kalmus strikes again. You want to use their cameras, you do things her way.

This picture was made not long after the Kalmus' relationship had foundered for good, even though Natalie was still on the company payroll, and I've always wondered if perhaps some of the more eye-watering Technicolor films of this period were Nat's way of telling Herb to get stuffed.

I'll admit to a bias toward B&W, but the Hitchcock films (and some others) of this period didn't seem to scream color at you for the entire runtime of the movie, but "Life With Father's" color is so fake, so loud, so obnoxious that it undermines an otherwise silly, but okay movie.

 

[Windsock8e]

“There will be blood” with Daniel Day-Lewis about the turn of the (19th) century oil rush in California. Great film.


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[Just Jim]

Not a film to watch when you have something else going on, but I though There Will Be Blood was one of the better films I saw in '08. When I'm in the right mood, it can be a pleasant way to spend an evening. I've got a copy of the book it was based on (Oil! by Sinclair) on my "read when snowbound" stack.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Blade Runner: The Final Cut for a film group discussion along with Blade Runner 2049 (which I haven't watched yet) next week.

Okay, let me put this right out there: I didn't think Blade Runner was the masterpiece it was considered back in the eighties, and I still don't. Sure, its visually brilliant. Sure, it was the first gasp of future-noir-cyberpunk whatever. Sure, it was amazingly influential. Sure, Phillip K. Dick was way ahead of everyone else. Sure, Roy's final speech is something. Yada yada yada.

So it's been recut several times by Ridley Scott and others, but whether it has the voiceover narration and unicorn dream or not... it still leaves me cold.

Whether he's supposed to be a replicant or not, Harrison Ford sleepwalks through the part. There's no trace of his usual easy audience identification, he's a total cypher with zero characterization (what comes after "alcoholic ex-cop"?) Sean Young can't act. The other actors - Edward James Olmos, Joanna Cassidy, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, James Hong - are all too familiar from other things to easily accept in these parts. As amazing as the futuristic cityscapes are, for really gutsy visionary imagination I'll stick with Metropolis from way back in 1926. The then-cool electronic score is damn annoying. Nothing about this future makes sense, and now that reality signifiers like Atari are long gone - and L.A. isn't turning into an overcrowded half-Asian city with massive pyramid buildings anytime soon - it's all just window dressing. Most importantly, whatever the film is trying to say about the reality of human experience is totally confused.

For me, neither time nor editorial changes have improved a film that looks tremendous, but has always been pretty disappointing otherwise.

(Ducking in advance of avalanche of angry replies.)

I just caught this. I know several people who think Blade Runner is dull. I thought that the first time I saw it when it came out. But it quickly grew on me and by 1987 I had seen it 8 or 9 times and came to consider it one of the greatest films of the 1980's. I still hold this to be true.

No Atari and LA not being half-Asian isn't really the point. This is a fantasy future from 1981. It was never going to be accurate and the fact some of the things didn't come true hardly matters - this is an alternative future, not ours. And the actors you mention were fairly unfamiliar in 1981. But I understand if that stuff spoils it for people today.

I actually prefer the original cinema release version because that's the version I saw back then and grew to love. Ford has a great voice for narration and I love how this references classic private investigator films. Ford's enervated performance I always saw as intentional. Remember, right at the start, he's described as a cold fish. He only comes alive as a result of his ordeal at the film's end when he runs off with Rachel.

For me most of the time cinema is not so much about story but about the possibilities of visual style - camera, set design, art direction, effects and framing. It's about creating worlds that don't really exist. Blade Runner does that far better than most (even today's films) and, as a result, it has clearly had a haunting effect on many millions of filmgoers over the past three decades.

But in the end, Blade Runner like any classic, doesn't appeal to everyone and nor should it. I'm indifferent to almost all Hitchcock films except Psycho, so what do I know?

 

[AmateisGal]

Sergeant York. First time to see this (no, I don't know why!), and Gary Cooper most definitely deserved his Oscar award for his performance.

 

[Worf]

Sergeant York. First time to see this (no, I don't know why!), and Gary Cooper most definitely deserved his Oscar award for his performance.

The revival meeting scene will stay with me forever. I've lived through this many times as a kid. Sinner's brought down to the "Mourner's Bench" with song and prayer, moved to kneel and give themselves over to Christ. The scene still gives me chills or tears because it rings so true not for religious reasons but as a remembered experience.

Worf

 

[bluesmandan]

Stayed up til 4am the other day watching The Godfather. What a good movie. It really must be considered in any serious discussion of “the greatest”.


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[AmateisGal]

The revival meeting scene will stay with me forever. I've lived through this many times as a kid. Sinner's brought down to the "Mourner's Bench" with song and prayer, moved to kneel and give themselves over to Christ. The scene still gives me chills or tears because it rings so true not for religious reasons but as a remembered experience.

Worf

That was one of the best scenes of the movie. Very moving.

 

[Fading Fast]

"The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" 1935 starring Gary Cooper

• Classic "action adventure of its day" movie - the exact type of movie, as a young kid, I used to watch on a Sunday afternoon (on some local channel) that first drew me toward old movies

• Almost everything is wrong by today's standards - the British Empire is all good and right / any Indian rebellion must be put down / individual honor comes from sacrificing yourself to your unit and country and not from expressing your individuality - but if you run with it as a period piece from '35, it works both as a movie and as a cultural exposition

• Despite uneven writing and acting - some scenes are very clunky - there's a passion to the story and a conviction to the acting that makes it all work

• As much as I love Cooper as an actor, Errol Flynn would have done more in the lead - no actor ever evoked a better combination of blithe fun, esprit de corpe, leadership and heroism than Flynn

 

[Worf]

"Mrs. Miniver" - Even Churchill called it "propaganda" but "propaganda worth 2 battleships and several Divisions". Great movie and Greer Garson... wow! Still watch it when I can, still well up when it ends. Vin going to sit with the old Battle Axe gets me every time. You can see she's totally wrecked but breeding prevents her from grieving publically, however when her widowed son in law takes her hand you can see his strength just pour into her. Yes she's lost her only Granddaughter and her only kin, but she knows she's not alone. Great stuff!

Worf