Colman is indeed clean shaven and it is just odd.
I think I've identified the problem with this adaptation. Casting Ronald Colman as Carton and Some Random Schmo as Darnay makes Lucie's choice of lover somewhat puzzling.
Otherwise, pretty solid. Storming of the Bastille was exciting.
Lucille's choice of lover was always surprising, Charles Darnay even in the books is a Flat Character and needless to say given that the entire climax comes because of his stupidity (cf A Tale of Two Cities and Idiot Plot section), it doesn't make sense. Mind you Lucille is also a flat character, and the joke is that Sidney Carton shows more chemistry with the Seamstress on the way to the guillotine.
But then, I actually root for Madame Defarge in that book...and almost no movie does justice to her. But then it's not surprising given how blatantly false that novel is as a depiction of the French Revolution with the right-wing "poor widdle aristocrats" narrative.
Frumpy and grumpy
So I made a page for Ida Lupino's Film Noir, The Hitch-Hiker.
Honestly, I wasn't too impressed by it. What I was impressed by was Lupino's accomplishments in a male-dominated industry: Writer/director/producer/actor.
She needs a Creator page. I'll probably make it.
"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."
Yeah, I think people want Ida Lupino films to be good because of her status as a female director in 1950s Hollywood, but they just aren't.
Frumpy and grumpy
I've only seen the one film, so I can't say they're all clunkers, but I've seen many films where she's acting, and she's never terrible. She was an accomplished, underrated actress.
The only thing I don't understand is why she was called the "British Jean Harlow." That I can't wrap my head around.
edited 31st Jan '17 4:37:49 PM by LongTallShorty64
"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."
Oh as actress she was good. High Sierra and whatnot.
I think the only thing that she directed that I've ever seen is that episode of The Twilight Zone, "The Masks."
Made a page for an Errol Flynn flick called Edge of Darkness. It's ridiculous—a whole Norwegian town rises up against German occupiers—but fun nevertheless.
edited 1st Feb '17 9:32:25 PM by jamespolk
My favorite Flynn movies are the ones he made with Raoul Walsh, especially Gentleman Jim (A masterpiece and one of the best movies about boxing) and Uncertain Glory (a Cop and a Criminal team up to resist when the Nazis take over France, more or less Les Miserables with javert and valjean teaming up, really good).
Von Richthofen
Desperate Journey
is a personal favorite of mine. Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan( in his best performance, arguably) in a cheesy WWII movie that everyone can enjoy. What's not to love?
edited 2nd Feb '17 11:37:02 AM by Karaya457
I'm just talking about me sitting on this empty, God-forsaken airfield near Lille, with only two planes left, two pathetic bangers!- Pips
No Reagan's best performance is as the corporate thug in The Killers by Don Siegel. His last film, his only role as a villain, and one where he holds his own in the same screen against John Cassavetes and Lee Marvin.
It's a performance he hated of course because he disliked its B-Movie made-for-tv and villainous nature, but let's just say it's very self-revealing.
We have a page for Desperate Journey, by the way.
We also have one for Kings Row, which is usually cited as Reagan's best performance and one of the very few films he was in that weren't garbage.
I watched that movie he made with Shirley Temple, That Hagen Girl. Didn't make a work page, wish I had. It was so terrible, and it had creepy bizarre Incest Subtext.
Von Richthofen
Speaking of Ronald Reagan movies, Knute Rockne: All American is absent much to my surprise. I remember watching it as a child with my Grandfather who was a teenager when the movie came out, so it was a rather unique experience. It is, after all, the beginning of Win One For The Gipper in popular culture.
Knute Rockne: All American is on the National Film Registry, and it also named a trope. If TCM ever ran it I would absolutely make a page.
That said, I think it is the only good movie Ronald Reagan ever made that isn't already listed on the Ronald Reagan page. Honestly, long before that guy ever got into politics he was the Troy McClure of his day. You'd think that being at Warner Brothers for as long as he was, he would have made it into a couple more good movies even by accident, but nope.
edited 2nd Feb '17 11:51:04 AM by jamespolk
Von Richthofen
It's a very extreme rarity if they do run it. I would have to say it's been several years(perhaps 5-6, even) since they have. Which is a rather huge disappointment, since it shows the birth of modern collegiate football in a rather easy to digest manner, and highlights part of the golden age of Army-West Point football along with the Rockne Notre Dame dynasty. Most people don't remember the days when Army was a huge powerhouse in football.
I'm just talking about me sitting on this empty, God-forsaken airfield near Lille, with only two planes left, two pathetic bangers!- Pips
I haven't been talking about TCM's "31 Days of Oscar" like I could every day.
But I do feel bound to point out that "The Crowd" is running on Feb. 6. 6 pm Pacific time. One of the all-time greats.
Frumpy and grumpy
So the theme for TCM's "31 Days of Oscar" is going from A-Z.
Today February 5: We've got some heavy hitters for the "C" category in our era:
- Cain And Mabel (1936) — A Marion Davis vehicle with Clark Gable. Funnily enough, she was the basis for Kane's lover in Citizen Kane below.
- Calamity Jane (1953) —Doris Day at her Doris Daysiest.
- Camelot (1967) —Singing is involved apparently.
- Camille (1937) —Greta Garbo's best film?
- Captain Blood (1935) —The first teaming up of Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.
- Captains Courageous (1937) — Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney
- Casablanca (1942) —Some say this is one of the best films ever made.
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) — Tennesse Williams play with two big stars: Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor
- Citizen Kane (1941) —Held the number one spot for best film ever made for a long time until Vertigo knocked it off. Important for its storytelling components and cinematography. It Was His Sled Trope Namer.
- Comrade X (1940) —As jamespolk would put it, a complete knock-off of Ninotchka.
edited 5th Feb '17 11:08:08 AM by LongTallShorty64
"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."
For those wondering, the list Citizen Kane was number one on for a long time is the Sight & Sound critics' poll.
edited 5th Feb '17 11:00:51 AM by TompaDompa
Ceterum censeo Morbillivirum esse eradicandum.
For fifty years...the undisputed Number 1. And when it was toppled it had Vertigo and Tokyo Story teaming up to take it down.
I will say that of the two, Tokyo Story is a worthy successor.
Frumpy and grumpy
Monday, February 6: Here are the remainder of the "C"s and the beginning of the "D"s: —-
- The Constant Nymph (1943) — Joan Fontaine and Charles Boyer in this melodrama which I've always thought should be shown along with another Fontaine film, Letter from an Unknown Woman.
- Cool Hand Luke (1967) — Great film with Paul Newman. Countless Fanservice scenes for those interested.
- Coquette (1929) — An all-talking Mary Pickford vehicle. She won the first Academy award for Best Actress for this film.
- The Corn is Green (1945) — Bette Davis in some weepie.
- The Corsican Brothers (1941) — Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays the titular brothers in this swashbuckling adventure film.
- Crossfire (1947) — Film Noir with the trio of Roberts: Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, and Robert Young. Also, there's our great Femme Fatale Gloria Grahame.
- The Crowd (1928) — Has some amazing shots to show you how masterful silents had become. Also referenced by Billy Wilder in his 1960 Academy Best Picture winner, The Apartment.
- Days of Wine and Roses (1962) — Jack Lemmon's Academy Nominated performance alongside Lee Remick. Probably a good companion piece with another Academy winner, The Lost Weekend. Both films are about alcoholics and their struggles.
- Designing Woman (1957) — Fluffy Romantic Comedy with Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall and directed by Vincente Minnelli.
edited 5th Feb '17 4:06:14 PM by LongTallShorty64
"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."
I've tried watching Coquette twice and didn't make it 15 minutes in either time. Just every stereotype about the early talkies—stiff acting, turgid dialogue, people standing around plants and lamps talking into hidden microphones because the boom mic hadn't been invented yet.
Frumpy and grumpy
Tuesday, February 7
A few from our era and the beginning of the "F"s:- Destination Tokyo (1943) — War film with Cary Grant and the underrated John Garfield.
- The Dirty Dozen (1967) — Classic WWII picture with big names Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, and Donald Sutherland.
- The Divorcee (1930) — Norma Shearer breaks out of the good-girl mould with this Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pre-code classic.
- Doctor Zhivago (1965) — One of the last MGM epics with the late Omar Shariff and directed by British director, David Lean.
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) (1931) — Fredric March won the Academy award for best actor, and it’s probably the best film version.
- Fanny (1961) — Maurice Chavelier once again plays the creepy old guy to the poor Leslie Caron Love Triangle.
edited 6th Feb '17 2:10:19 PM by LongTallShorty64
"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."
Destination Tokyo is interesting because its Delmer Daves' first film. Daves is these days (to use Andrew Sarris' phrase), "a subject for further research". He's poised to become the next guy film buffs bring into the pantheon. He's been Criteron'd twice already.
Daves was a screenwriter on Love Affair by Leo Mccarey and he was a respected professional and know-it-all. Apparently Jack Warner needed someone who knew about the technical aspects of submarine and he selected Daves to direct it and Destination Tokyo while it has the wartime racism, is quite impressive technically.
But the really impressive film is Pride of the Marines the film he made after this with John Garfield. William Wyler screened that when he was making The Best Years of Our Lives. In my view it's pretty great, almost as great as Best Years and it has an amazing speech which I think got one of the writers blacklisted. Daves was a Rockefeller Republican, in an era when that was still possible. Quite liberal, anti-Mccarthy and so on. I recommend seeing any and all his films.
Frumpy and grumpy
Wednesday, February 8:
A lot of "F" films from our era and a lot of WWII propaganda films:
- Father of the Bride (1950) (1950) — The original one with Spencer Tracy as the father and Elizabeth Taylor as the bride.
- The Fighting Sullivans AKA The Sullivans (1944) — The story of five Irish-American brothers who all died in WWII. This rings a bell to me and seems like an inspiration to a more contemporary WWII film, Saving Private Ryan.
- Five Graves to Cairo (1943) — Billy Wilder's second directed feature. It’s WWII but we’re in Egypt this time and with the British forces.
- Flight Command (1940) — Robert Taylor vehicle.
- For Me and My Gal (1942) — Directed by Busby Berkeley and has Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in his screen debut. Gene Kelly didn't like Berkeley's direction at all.
- Forbidden Planet (1956) — Classic Sci-Fi film. Featuring Robby The Robot!
- A Foreign Affair (1948) — Marlene Dietrich and Jean Arthur vie for John Lund's love in post-WWII Berlin.
- Foreign Correspondent (1940) — Alfred Hitchcock's film with Joel McCrea.
- 42nd Street (1933) — A pre-code Busby Berkeley film which is about the behind-the-scene lives of showgirls. It has some of my favourite of the Busby numbers: "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" and "Forty-Second Street".
- Friendly Persuasion (1956) — William Wyler's take on the Civil War. It has Gary Cooper.
- Fury (1936) (1936) — Fritz Lang's take on the wrong-man yarn with Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney.
edited 7th Feb '17 4:19:10 PM by LongTallShorty64
"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."
It's pretty funny that Rathbone was the villain in everything except when he played Sherlock Holmes. Actually, Holmes isn't the best guy ever, so maybe it makes sense...
I recently watched Ronald Colman in Random Harvest and he was great as per usual.
Oh my god, Colman doesn't have his signature moustache for A Tale of Two Cities?
edited 29th Jan '17 9:22:14 AM by LongTallShorty64
"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."