Calling all Classic Film Lovers!

Watched Dog Star Man, an experimental film from 1964. I thought it was okay. In it, a man climbs a mountain along with his dog. There's also some borderline pornographic stuff in it. It's weird.

Dog Star Man is one of those films that's on the National Film Registry because they seem to have a quota for weird stuff. Like every year there are a few Hollywood hits, a few documentaries, and a couple of experimental films where a dirty-looking guy like Stan Brakhage traipses around in the woods.

Edited by jamespolk on Sep 9th 2018 at 1:36:27 AM

So I've been reading the short stories of Dashiell Hammett. I've currently read The Thin Man and Red Harvest.

The film The Thin Man keeps a lot of the novella- the witty lines, the snarkiness, and the mystery. But, damn, are the characters less likable. The film made Dorothy more sympathetic and gave her an actual connection with her father whereas in the book she's completely indifferent to him. And really whiny and annoying... The mother is a complete monster in the book. The movie one is more dumb and silly while the book version is a complete manipulative and abusive mother. Which I don't mind necessarily, but she's just such a bitch, god, I wish she had been killed off by Mc Cauley. Most of the great lines in the novella are in the film...except for maybe the "god damn"s, "sons of bitches," and all that good stuff the Hays Code would never allow. Even Asta is mentioned a lot, and I thought that was a film creation!

Googling stuff about Red Harvest, and I'm shocked that no real adaptation has been made of the novel during the golden age...well, not surprised I guess because this book is about a corrupt town with gangsters murdering people left and right. And our very morally ambiguous detective sets up a lot of people for murder. I don't think the Hays Code would've let any of it slide, and it would've made a pretty weak film through their filter. It would make a really good neo-noir now though. Damn is it bleak as hell. Loved it.

Edited by LongTallShorty64 on Sep 9th 2018 at 7:55:51 AM

I've read that the novel The Thin Man is a bit more hard-edged and Nick Charles is more cynical and less of William Powell's cheerful bon vivant.

It's definitely more hard-edged, and yep, book Charles is very cynical: there's no William Powell levels of charm attached to him just hardboiled, no fun detective.

You could get into something pretty interesting here. The Maltese Falcon was a Hammett novel, wasn't it? So you have one cynical Hammett novel, The Thin Man, which was done Lighter and Softer but still pretty brilliant. Then you have The Maltese Falcon, which was done in a lighter and softer version, which was...ok. Then it was made in a version more true to the book, The Maltese Falcon, and it was brilliant.

TIL—that's what the kids say, right?—that Henry Daniell's last role was in My Fair Lady, and after shooting his brief appearance, he went home and died of a heart attack that very night.

And why was I reading about Henry Daniell? Because I was watching the Garbo Camille.

Watched it because it's on the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list, but this kind of thing just isn't my cup of tea. Greta Garbo was limited as a talking actress, maybe b/c English wasn't her first language, I dunno. But she's better as a femme fatale in Flesh and the Devil or an alcoholic in Anna Christie or when she's being funny in Ninotchka, all better than a three-hankie costume drama like this one.

So anyway, I watched it, and it wasn't horrible but it doesn't deserve to be on that list. But it did have one of the most unintentionally funny moments I've ever seen. Garbo's dying of TB; her eyes are closed. Robert Taylor is cradling her and talking about all the good times they're going to have. Garbo opens her eyes and looks up at Taylor with what looks like a major case of side-eye. She literally has a "WTF, dude?" look on her face. Then she closes her eyes again and kind of goes limp and I realized that Garbo was trying to convey the moment of her character's death. Y'all should watch it if you can find a clip at the ending. It's the most amazing "whatever" look on her face, like she's thinking "You're talking bullshit."

Edited by jamespolk on Sep 10th 2018 at 1:43:34 AM

Apparently she was super close to Taylor on set, holding hands with him and the like. Taylor thought she was super into him...turns out she was being all method and was very amused when Robert Taylor thought it was a real romance.

Good eye, jamespolk because it's subtle...here it is in poorly dubbed Spanish. Podemos vivir juntos!

Edited by LongTallShorty64 on Sep 10th 2018 at 7:45:35 AM

That's also a pretty poor scan on You Tube; it was more obvious watching on Filmstruck.

But it sure was funny. Other than the ending to The Legend of Lylah Clare, I can't think of a similar instance of unexpected fun at the very end of an otherwise mediocre or bad film. There's Buster Keaton's College, but that's actually pretty good before the ending, although not on a level with his best films.

Right now I'm watching the 1936 version of The Charge of the Light Brigade, the movie that asked the world to believe that Olivia de Havilland would pick Patric Knowles over Errol Flynn.

Also killed a lot of horses making that movie, which got people mad in 1936.

Edited by jamespolk on Sep 13th 2018 at 3:36:32 AM

Finished The Charge of the Light Brigade.

First of all, the problem I noted above that we're to believe anybody would pick Patric Knowles over Errol Flynn. The Sibling Triangle was just awkwardly grafted onto the story to provide some conflict and to give Olivia de Havilland something to do. Then there's Nigel Bruce as a cavalry officer—he was good at being an Upper-Class Twit or The Watson, but he was no cavalry officer.

And of course anybody who cares about horses is not going to like this movie.

But a worse problem than that is that it's basically two moves kind of glued together. Evidently someone at Warner Brothers wanted to make a movie about the charge of the Light Brigade, which happened during The Crimean War. And someone else wanted to make a movie set in The Raj, in imitation of The Lives of a Bengal Lancer. So they made both. The whole first half of the movie is Errol Flynn and the Light Brigade on the India/Afghanistan frontier, fighting a bad guy named Surat Khan. Then Surat, uh, runs away, and winds up in...the Crimea, which is a long goddamn way from Afghanistan, but allows him to be in the Russian lines at the battle of Balaclava when Flynn and the English charge.

It's so odd.

But that being said, the battle scenes really are exciting and wonderfully shot. There's a shot of the bad guys storming a British fort by throwing up ladders and climbing that is very reminiscent of Peter Jackson and The Two Towers.

Watched The Unsuspected, a fun Film Noir with Claude Rains. It's kind of a ripoff of Laura, and there's a huge-ass Plot Hole that I describe on the work page. But it's fun to see Claude Rains deploying that silky voice of his to play The Sociopath. I think it's the only straight-up villain I've ever seen him play; in The Invisible Man and The Phantom of The Opera he was basically driven mad by events. But in this one he's a murderer and it's great.

The movie also boasts some great Film Noir style, lots of Chiaroscuro, a nifty scene where we see the shadow of a woman whom Rains just strangled and then hung from a chandelier to simulate a suicide. It also has Audrey Totter looking sexy as hell in a lot of tight dresses. All in all a lot of fun.

I think someone posted upthread about The Goodbye Girl. God, it's always great to see a good romcom. When I saw the trailers for this, Dreyfuss' character seemed like one of those typical unbearable romcom dudes that we're supposed to like for whatever reason, but he was actually charming and more than just quirks. Damn fine movie!

I also made the mistake of thinking that Paul Simon wrote the screenplay, and thought, huh, didn't know that music guy wrote movies, too. A google search later....and it's Neil Simon, not Paul. Too many Simons out there!

And for 1970s romcoms, this isn't the one that gets mentioned. It's Annie Hall... all the time. For my money, ,The Goodbye Girl is leagues better. We don't have to stand the neurosi of Woody Allen every five seconds which is nice, and the characters feel lived in. Watch it, y'all.

Edited by LongTallShorty64 on Sep 16th 2018 at 9:19:04 AM

Isn't that well past our end date?

Shhhhh... no.

Okay, maybe, yes, but you see another thread for the New Hollywood era?

Edited by LongTallShorty64 on Sep 16th 2018 at 9:23:41 AM

I suggested a New Hollywood thread once and got shot down. And I don't know if we'd be allowed one, what with our overzealous moderators that like to lock every thread that isn't about a superhero movie.

Anyway, The Goodbye Girl is outstanding and proof that romcoms can be great movies.

Ah, I'm sure we can do one. This thread has been around for a while and hasn't been locked up. As long as we're clear about the limitations of New Hollywood, I guess it can work. We don't break "the rules" here that often.

Give it a shot then! And I'll send a strongly worded PM if Fighteer locks it!

Imma do it, but I'll do it tomorrow! The lazy person's creed!

Found this cool video about the Hays Code. Still don't know how to embed videos!

Watched and made a page for The Baker's Wife, a French film from 1938. The title characters runs off with a shepherd shortly after moving to a new village. The movie is seen from the perspective of her husband, who loses all interest in baking, and the villagers, who want him to start baking again.

I liked it. The film has some interesting discussions about morality and religion, as well as some pretty good comedy. I think the choice to focus on the baker and the village rather than the two lovers was an interesting one, and one that worked in the film's favour.

I love these Marcel Pagnol movies, especially the Marius/Fanny/César trilogy; but then I am quite biased since I live in that South-East France area. Good job making this work page.

They've made a movie about Laurel and Hardy!. Looks like a prestige picture, too.

Monkey Business, not the Marx Brothers version, but a Howard Hawks Screwball Comedy with Cary Grant as an uptight chemist who invents an elixir of youth. Wacky hijinx ensue as both he and his wife Ginger Rogers ingest the potion and start acting like teenagers, then (after a stronger dose) like eight-year-olds.

It's amusing, has some clever gags, but the real thing to watch for is 26-year-old Marilyn Monroe as the Sexy Secretary. I'll just copy this whole dialogue exchange for everyone's amusement:

Oxley: Oh, yes. Just a moment, Miss Laurel. Find someone to type this.

Laurel: Oh, Mr. Oxley, can't I try again?

Oxley: No, it's very important. Better find somebody to type it for you.

Laurel: Yes, sir.

[Sexy Walk out of the office]

Oxley: Anybody can type.

Edited by jamespolk on Sep 21st 2018 at 5:26:51 AM