What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

FF, I watched this a while back. Honestly, felt a little uncomfortable with the Powell - Reynolds set up and a little put off by the way the movie tries to be clean and upright and inside the Production Code as well as risqué and daring and edgy for 1954.
Technicolor and Powell's topnotch acting chops, as well as the solid supporting cast can't IMHO raise it to the level of genuinely entertaining storytelling.
Did you notice that the movie opens on Christmas Eve with colorfully wrapped presents under the tree, and remain unopened as the story unfolds? Who were they for?

Pretty much feel the same way. Powell was 50, supposedly playing a (wink, wink) 35 year old who looked every one of his fifty years / Reynolds was 22 playing an 18 year old and looking 18. Even adjusting for the different standards of the day, it felt off. For the time period, an in-his-mid-30s William Holden would have been a much better choice as their real age difference would have been less than 15 years not the 28 years between Reynolds and Powell.

Also, as you note, the whole "oh, what if they, oh, you know, but, of course, we won't have them do that" shtick got old fast. That said, had a much younger male played the lead, the movie would have been okay for what it was as those movies weren't supposed to reflect real life but to be more of a '50s version of a rom-com-screwball-comedy mashup. I did enjoy Reynolds as she seemed to be having a ball overall. Her reactions to Francis - especially when she was watching the home movies - were truly funny.

As to the presents, I missed the first fifteen minutes or so of the movie (darn work schedule), but I did notice they sat unopened (except when Powell gave Reynolds the mink which made me chuckle as so many would be offended by that today). I just assumed that the arrival of Reynolds interfered with Powell and Francis' Christmas celebration - but that was just an assumption. Also, I did note the over-the-top modern apartment and Christmas decorations - purple walls / white Christmas tree, ugh. I doubt that is what the Hipsters envision when they laud Mid-Century Modern.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Double Indemnity" (again)

• I've seen it many times, but it still doesn't get old
• It is a visually beautiful move - the architecture of the insurance company is incredible
• I'm a Barbara Stanwyck fan, but this is MacMurray's and (even more so) Robinson's movie
• Now I just have to let six months or more go by so that I can watch it again

 

[Worf]

That's funny, I thought it looked outdated & cheesy when I saw it in 1985.

After viewing it one critic accused it of being "gun porn" because of the extended battle suit up scene. I laughed out loud. Actually I thought the main villain was pretty good if a tad one dimensional.

Worf

 

[GHT]

Charlotte Gray was rerun on one of the late night movie channels, it's a drama set in Nazi-occupied France at the height of World War II. Charlotte Gray tells the compelling story of a young Scottish woman working with the French Resistance in the hope of rescuing her lover, a missing RAF pilot. Based on the best-selling novel by Sebastian Faulks.

At the same time on another channel, Hope & Glory was being rerun: Director John Boorman drew from his own childhood experiences for this coming-of-age tale about a boy growing up in and around London during World War II.

Decisions, decisions. "Come to bed," called my missus, "I'm recording both." I tell you, that woman has definitely got witchy powers. We sat and binged watched both one after the other earlier today. Binge watch? She does keep stopping the video so that she can note where a particular fashion item is for future reference.

 

[belfastboy]

Charlotte Gray was rerun on one of the late night movie channels, it's a drama set in Nazi-occupied France at the height of World War II. Charlotte Gray tells the compelling story of a young Scottish woman working with the French Resistance in the hope of rescuing her lover, a missing RAF pilot. Based on the best-selling novel by Sebastian Faulks.

At the same time on another channel, Hope & Glory was being rerun: Director John Boorman drew from his own childhood experiences for this coming-of-age tale about a boy growing up in and around London during World War II.

Decisions, decisions. "Come to bed," called my missus, "I'm recording both." I tell you, that woman has definitely got witchy powers. We sat and binged watched both one after the other earlier today. Binge watch? She does keep stopping the video so that she can note where a particular fashion item is for future reference.

I do that too except it is to note the fedoras for future reference. Both great movies BTW.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Powell was 50, supposedly playing a (wink, wink) 35 year old who looked every one of his fifty years...

Two or three years ago we watched The Major and the Minor (1942) on TCM, with Ginger Rogers playing a woman who dresses as a 12-year-old in order to save money on a train fare, but for one reason or another is forced to maintain this facade throughout most of the movie. The trouble is that Rogers was 30-31 years old during filming and she looked it, so we couldn't buy into the premise that any of the other characters would be fooled and it somewhat ruined our enjoyment of the movie.

 

[Worf]

"Ronnie Coleman - The King" - I'm not overly familiar with the world of "competitive bodybuilding". I don't consider anything where your score is left up to the subjectivity and prejudices of "judges" a sport. I consider it an exhibition. Still I found "Pumping Iron" and it's follow up fascinating. I'd never heard of Mr. Coleman before taking a flyer on this documentary. I came away very... VERY impressed with him and his story. 8 straight Mr. Olympia titles is still an amazing feat. While Arnold changed the game with his height (most bodybuilders before him were quite short), Coleman was not only tall but incredibly BIG. His competitors state quite plainly that he was a "freak of nature". No body, no THING had ever looked like him before.

On the real tip, they never mention the elephant in the room.... Steroids. The word is not mentioned ONCE though looking at his workout it's easy to believe that everything the man had was due to God given genetics and hard work. His decades of heavy lifting have ravaged his body.... twin hip replacements.... screws in his spine but he's not "deflated" like Arnold and other steroid users have. So I can't tell for sure. Still it's a fascinating documentary that anyone can watch.

Worf

 

[scottyrocks]

I am watching Prrimrose Path (1940) on TCM.

I have watched a lot of GE movies over the years.

This is going to be as much of a lament as a question.

Why, in so many of these movies, is the lead male such a schmuck?

Of course, I know the answer. That is what creates the conflict between him and the lead female. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boys gets girl back.

But I'm watching this movie, and right off the bat I hated the Ed Wallace character for the way he treated the Ellie May character, especially initially during the motorcycle ride, and then various times later during the film.

Yes, I know that's what drives the plot, but all I could think of was how I would have fallen over backwards for Ellie May, as in right away, and the way Ginger Rogers portrayed her.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent.

 

[Seb Lucas]

That's funny, I thought it looked outdated & cheesy when I saw it in 1985.

That's exactly right, Zombie - I remember the groans and mocking laughter that greeted Commando when i saw it at the cinema 30 odd years ago. I always assumed it was either a really bad movie or deliberately kitsch and corny. Either way, no body wins.

 

[Fading Fast]

I am watching Prrimrose Path (1940) on TCM.

I have watched a lot of GE movies over the years.

This is going to be as much of a lament as a question.

Why, in so many of these movies, is the lead male such a schmuck?

Of course, I know the answer. That is what creates the conflict between him and the lead female. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boys gets girl back.

But I'm watching this movie, and right off the bat I hated the Ed Wallace character for the way he treated the Ellie May character, especially initially during the motorcycle ride, and then various times later during the film.

Yes, I know that's what drives the plot, but all I could think of was how I would have fallen over backwards for Ellie May, as in right away, and the way Ginger Rogers portrayed her.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent.

I hear ya, agree and believe you smartly answered your own question, but it is still annoying.

Another movie "tick" of the GE is the "we've fallen instantly and passionately in love with each other in, oh, say, ten seconds." It drive my girlfriend and me nuts.

Two characters will meet once and be ready to change their entire lives - follow someone to another city, defy their family and friends, believe someone's not a criminal, etc. - all without even really knowing the other person. Way too many GE plots depend on the audience fully buying into the "deep, life-altering love in a flash" meme.

 

[LizzieMaine]

An awful lot of the everyday program pictures of the Era were geared to the same audience that made confession magazines popular, a demographic group which was believed to make up the bulk of the heavy-moviegoing audience: young, single working-class women were considered the surest bets to buy movie tickets multiple times a week, so the studios stuffed their yearly schedules with features designed to draw them in.

There wasn't much effort put into originality with this type of picture -- you had the same stock plots, stock characters, and stock dialogue you could find in a copy of "True Story." But these programmers were the bread and butter of all the studios -- they were so cheap to make that it was impossible for them not to make a profit. That was the money that made it possible for the studios to turn out a quota of "better pictures" that might or might not be profitable.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Two characters will meet once and be ready to change their entire lives - follow someone to another city, defy their family and friends, believe someone's not a criminal, etc. - all without even really knowing the other person. Way too many GE plots depend on the audience fully buying into the "deep, life-altering love in a flash" meme.

It kinda happened to me but I didn't have much to leave behind. I'm a firm believer in 'love at first sight' but if you can't follow your heart at least follow your genitals.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Over the past few days, an MGM short, The Jonkers Diamond, with Pete Smith narrating without wisecracks: it's about the back story of the (then) world's largest diamond.
Followed by Speedy, the Harold Lloyd 1928 comedy. Babe Ruth is in it, as Babe Ruth taking a ride in Harold's taxi in order to get to the ball park.

 

[Peacoat]

Casablanca was on TCM the other night. The war movie with no war and the romance movie with lots of romance and intrigue. I watched it . . . again. Had been a number of years, and I enjoyed it. Still a good move—a classic, obviously.

 

[Fading Fast]

Casablanca was on TCM the other night. The war movie with no war and the romance movie with lots of romance and intrigue. I watched it . . . again. Had been a number of years, and I enjoyed it. Still a good move—a classic, obviously.

Every time I watch it - which has been a ridiculous number of times - I pick up something new, see a new angle of looking at it, catch some fresh nuance, etc. As you note - it's a classic for a reason.

 

[Peacoat]

Every time I watch it - which has been a ridiculous number of times - I pick up something new, see a new angle of looking at it, catch some fresh nuance, etc. As you note - it's a classic for a reason.

Same with me. I almost always catch something new. The next time it is on a channel with no commercials, I will watch it again. May even struggle through the never ending commercials on one of those "other" channels.

 

[Harp]

Every time I watch it - which has been a ridiculous number of times - I pick up something new, see a new angle of looking at it, catch some fresh nuance, etc...

Rick did the noble; caught inside fateful tangled webbing and all, but still...

 

[belfastboy]

Watched on Netflix...."Coco before Chanel" a good straightforward bio pic. "Disobedience" with Rachels,, Weisz and McAdam, an interesting movie that overall I quite liked although it was flawed both in writing/character arc yet well acted. One of those movies where the reviews ranged from a must see to a don't bother and we were talking about it, still, two days later..

 

[Fading Fast]

Watched on Netflix...."Coco before Chanel" a good straightforward bio pic. "Disobedience" with Rachels,, Weisz and McAdam, an interesting movie that overall I quite liked although it was flawed both in writing/character arc yet well acted. One of those movies where the reviews ranged from a must see to a don't bother and we were talking about it, still, two days later..

Seem to remember liking "Coco before Chanel," also, my thoughts on "Disobedience" seem close to yours as per my comments here: https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...ovie-you-watched.20830/page-1285#post-2445994

 

[belfastboy]

Seem to remember liking "Coco before Chanel," also, my thoughts on "Disobedience" seem close to yours as per my comments here: https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...ovie-you-watched.20830/page-1285#post-2445994

Yes, I think your review was bang on. Another common thread from our watching, (my wife, a female friend and me) was that we felt zero empathy for the two females. If we felt anything it was for the husband. We all found the ending dissatisfying and all thought the lesbian love scene gratuitous, it would have worked if all we saw was them entering the bedroom and watching the door close. As our friend said, "we're pretty astute people here, all we needed was the bedroom door closing behind them and we would have gotten the gist of it all clear as day. My weakness is for slow paced movies...or as we joke I love movies where NOTHING happens and it takes forever for that nothing to unfold so I loved the languid pace of it all.