Calling all Classic Film Lovers!

My question of the day:

Does Born Yesterday still hold up?

I'd say yes. I think it's a fantastic film, great writing, great performances, and the political message has universal application.

Gone to Faerie, no forwarding address. (AO3)

I'd also say yes. It doesn't talk down to Billie but points out that being passive is not really a great quality for anyone to have and blind materialism isn't great either. I find the whole government stuff to be a little preachy, but the idea of searching for knowledge and trying to understand the world around you is really well done. And I love the scene where Holden tells her that gaining more knowledge doesn't mean becoming a snob.

edited 5th Sep '17 10:53:52 AM by LongTallShorty64

"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."

I have Dead End on my DVR and am going to watch it relatively soon. This led me to scan the list of Best Picture nominees on the Academy Award page.

We've done a pretty good job of filling out that list. Seems like we're missing most of the 20th Century Fox nominees, I guess because TCM doesn't run Fox features a lot. Most everything else is on there.

EDIT: Page made for Dead End. I'm gonna have to start scanning Amazon to see if any of those old Fox movies are available. Anybody wanna visit UCLA and ask to see East Lynne?

edited 8th Sep '17 2:45:49 AM by jamespolk

I watched an interesting little pre-Code called Heat Lightning. Aline MacMahon stars as a Wrench Wench who's ex-boyfriend/gangster comes by to her secluded autocamp and stirs things up. It's surprisingly feminist in tone and reminded me of The Petrified Forest but for setting alone.

You can just go to UCLA and ask to watch one of their stored movies without credentials?

"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."

Oh, probably not.

Really, we need to find some rich person to fork over the $$ to have East Lynne cleaned up and made available for viewing.

Watched The Mortal Storm, which I think is just wonderful and deserves to be on the National Film Registry (I actually nominated it via their online form). Really powerful. And it is of course amazing to watch Stewart, Sullavan, and Morgan in it and think that they were all in The Shop Around the Corner that same year. It is also amazing to see Elliot Ness and Father Knows Best playing Nazis. Really a great film.

Omg. How come I've never heard of this film? That sounds amazing.

I also watched a film from 1940 but it's a Warner Bros melodramatic fare, They Drive by Night. Two trucker brothers (played by George Raft and Humphrey Bogart) witness the highs and lows of the tough business. Raft falls in love with Ann Sheridan but his boss' wife, played by Ida Lupino, has always had her eyes on him and goes out of her way to have him whether it means murder and a frame up.

It was a great movie and Lupino really is the stand out. Also, the dialogue is really snappy and great especially when it comes from Ann Sheridan.

edited 10th Sep '17 11:20:57 AM by LongTallShorty64

"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."

I remember the first Kurosawa film I saw was Yojimbo, as I was working on a college assignment about plagiarism a couple of years ago. Which means I saw it side by side with A Fistful of Dollars.

I have to admit I was very biased towards the Leone film on that basis, and it is indeed an almost scene by scene rip-off of Yojimbo… but damn if it's not a finely made rip-off. I'm still stuck between loving the film (though I still prefer Yojimbo) and disliking it for just how shameless it is.

edited 10th Sep '17 8:48:33 AM by Lyendith

Flippé de participer à ce grand souper, je veux juste m'occuper de taper mon propre tempo.

The Mortal Storm does indeed sound amazing. I'll check it out if I get the chance.

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Watched The Housemaid (1960). Maybe this is a cultural thing, but the characters felt really off to me; the decisions they make are stupid, and their reasons for making them are inscrutable to me (She murdered your son! Are you going to let her get away with that?). Apart from that, it's a pretty good movie with regards to suspense and such. It reminds me a bit of Fatal Attraction.

Ceterum censeo Morbillivirum esse eradicandum.

Man, I loved The Housemaid. All that angsty sex and murder in 1960 Korea, that film is great. And such a delightfully bizarre ending.

Hello...where has this forum been all my life?

Recent film seen: The Three Musketeers (1921). I don't know if the American action film tradition descends directly from the Douglas Fairbanks swashbucklers, but all the elements are there (violence, stunts, a cavalier approach to history, romance that never gets in the way of the bromance, the silent film equivalent of the Pre Ass Kicking One Liner). If you do check out this movie, try to make it a double feature with The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922), a really good Affectionate Parody of the 1921 film.

Also, do any other posters here ever go to the film screenings at the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC)? I go to screenings there frequently.

I'm looking forward to watching that one over the weekend. It's hard to beat a film of The Three Musketeers for excellent light entertainment, no matter what era the adaptation is made in!

Gone to Faerie, no forwarding address. (AO3)

By all means, everyone, please visit and improve the work page I just made for that film, The Three Musketeers.

And make sure to see the sequel, The Iron Mask, which is even better.

Welcome! Always nice to have more people.

A general question for everyone: have you guys seen Robert Montgomery's Ride the Pink Horse? I've read accolades, and it has a Criterion Collection release but I'd like your opinions if you have any.

edited 14th Sep '17 9:38:40 AM by LongTallShorty64

"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."

The TV guide was treating me a fortnight ago with Destry Rides Again and The Blue Dahlia. Loved them. Hoping this week is just as great.

edited 16th Sep '17 2:57:40 AM by Kitchen90

Your ego won't fit through the door, but your whole vocabulary will fit in one Tweet.

The Blue Dahlia. Apparently the radio bulletin when Alan Ladd is a fugitive doesn't give his height when rattling off his description, because Alan Ladd was so short.

Made my latest page for a short film, namely, an incredibly moving piece from 1955 called The Bespoke Overcoat.

Watched Mrs. Miniver again. Still not sure what that German pilot thought he was going to achieve. Steal a rowboat and paddle to occupied France, maybe?

I watched There's Always a Woman: A mystery comedy with a team up of Melvyn Douglas and Joan Blondell. I guess a lot of films of the time tried to cash in on the Powell/Loy team, but this one isn't that great. Douglas and Blondell have great chemistry and there's some smart lines here and there, but its not on par with the Thin Man series.

I saw another Blondell and Douglas team up but since I can't even remember the name of the movie, it's pretty indicative of its quality.

"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."

Stanley Kubrick's debut feature Fear And Desire is now available on Amazon Prime. Shit, I guess I have to watch it.

It's a nice little curiosity. Not bad, not good.

Ceterum censeo Morbillivirum esse eradicandum.

Ride the High Country: Late-period Western set in the early 20th century with Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott as two grizzled old lawmen with one last chance at glory. Pretty great.

Ah, Joel McCrea the handsomest of the leading men, and in all my favourite Preston Sturges films.

edited 19th Sep '17 6:00:13 PM by LongTallShorty64

"It's true that we had a gentleman's agreement, but unfortunately, I am no gentleman."

Gunga Din. Exciting, but pretty darn racist. An obvious inspiration for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom—which, come to think of it, was exciting, but pretty darn racist. Also, I had no idea the Kipling poem "Gunga Din" speaks of having "flayed" poor Din.

Also, I'm wondering if that was Cary Grant's real accent. Distinctly more lower-class than how he usually spoke.

edited 23rd Sep '17 9:33:53 AM by jamespolk