Happy Monday to you....let's have fun today instead of dwelling on politics and shootings and sickness!On my Saturday blog, I told everybody you have to see Hitchcock's favorite of his films, SHADOW OF A DOUBT and we got into some good conversation in the Comments Section.......so.....
Could you list at least 3 of your favorite films?
I would love to see them and know others will enjoy that, too..........It's always good to get some new things to watch............thanks!
z
82 comments:
My three favorite films:
1. Awakenings
2. Forrest Gump
3. The Sons of Katie Elder - the musical overture is one catchy tune.
I had to struggle with naming #3. Right in there for #3, I place Psycho, any number of musicals, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
But naming #1 was easy! One reason that I'm so interested in #1 is that my father's sister died of complications from the flu epidemic of 1918, and I suspect that the movie touches upon the complications that Dad's sister had.
I also should have mentioned The Silence of the Lambs and The Green Mile, two more of my favorite films.
1. Seven Samurai (Kurosawa) -
A brilliant analysis of the warrior class, innovative use of long lenses, brilliant editing and with Takashi Shimura as Kambei one of the screen's great performances.
2. Band of Outsiders (Godard) - Breaking all the rules. Hey Jean-Luc you can't do tracking shots with a hand held, fine let's do a few. You can't use wide angles for closeups, great let's do it.
So many great scenes, the death of Billy the Kid, the minute of silence, the run through the Louvre,the Madison ... "love is being stupid together" - Paul Valery
... and Paris never looked better.
3. Early Spring (Ozu) -- He's a director who often shows up in top three of greatest films, only he does it with three different films, Early Spring, Tokyo Story, Late Summer.
Change is inevitable, it moves us apart and we often face it alone.
And all he used was a four foot tripod and a 50mm. The eloquent camera never moves but for one elevator shot.
I pick this one because it's the film where Setsuko Hara became inneffable.
not to go off topic, but can someone show where the Tucson shooter said anything about healthcare?
Sen Bob Kerrey was on Imus this morning and said definitively that the shooter didn't like Obama care....
I'd like to know where that info is. Thanks.
I like most of Harrison Ford's films. Air Force One..."Get off my plane!"
The Fugitive
Raiders of the Lost Ark
1. "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1950 version, starring Jose Ferrer, in an academy award winning performance)
2. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
3. Any one of hundreds, but, among these, "True Grit", "Harvey", "Arsenic and Old Lace", "The Oxbow Incident", "The Caine Mutiny", At least three of the Marx Brother's movies, "Braveheart"...how can I settle on just three?
San Francisco
Pygmalion
The Wizard of Oz
The Women
Casablanca
Wuthering Heights
Gaslight
The Bishop's Wife
The Man Who came to Dinner
Now, Yoyager
The Lady Vanishes
Foreign Correspondent
Rebecca
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Heiress
Mildred Pierce
All About Eve
From Here to Eternity
Annie Get Your Gun
The African Queen
Royal Wedding
Singin' in the Rain
The Nun's Story
Auntie Mame
Hot Millions
Kramer versus Kramer
Victor Victoria
Out of Africa
~ FreeThinke
Oh, and since you mentioned Hitchcock.. Some of my favorite Hitchcock films..."Strangers on a Train", "Vertigo", "The Birds" (who can forget that hilarious auto trip, with the lovebirds leaning right and then left with every curve of the road? Classic Hitchcock humour), "Psycho", "The Trouble with Harry", "Rear Window"...the list goes on and on. I've never seen "Shadow of a Doubt".
BTW, in my video collection, I am proud to have the entire 6th season of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", which includes the famous episode of the wife who kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb, and then serves it to the investigators. LOL! Good stuff, Maynard!
Mark, part of the fun for Hitchcock fans is finding the shot of him in his movies. Love the one in the opening of 'To Catch a Thief', with Cary Grant giving Hitch & the birds a skeptical sideways look.
The frozen leg of lamb as the murder weapon was priceless. I always wondered how that slipped by the censors.
Silvrlady
Not much of a movie fan, but sentimental...
October Sky-kids making rockets, growing up to be
scientists (my life story, the Jake Gyllenhaal kid is little BB-Idaho)
The Bishop's Wife-old B&W
with Cary Grant as an angel, David Niven the fuddy Bishop and Loretta
Young as the 'bishop's wife' (an Episcopalian kid,
I studied the bible with the bishop's wife)
Battleground-another B&W (1949). James Whitmore as the craggy airborne sgt. in the Battle of the Bulge..frozen feet, unlit cigar, leading a squad of
Americans from hither and yon. (I worked with a guy
that did that)
...hardly Academy Award stuff, but I like 'em.
1. to catch a thief
2. band of outsiders (OMG i agree with ducky)
3. gone with the wind (named my oldest daughter after the primary female character in the story)
oh and tommy boy (yes i know it's an abomination, but at my house it's revered); rear window; wizard of oz; awakenings; miracle on 34th street; it's a wonderful life; something about mary (original); the patriot; braveheart; my fair lady - ugh! i could go on and on, these are movies i watch over and over and over again and never tire of...
silverlady - they didn't yused to have censors, they relied on the film makers to have decency and common courtesy...
What a GREAT question!
Schindler's List
Any of the following, in no particular order:
Dead Poet's Society
Dirty Dancing
Forrest Gump
Braveheart (ah, William Wallace - tragic Scottish hero!! - and Mel Gibson's not hard on the eyes, either)
A brief history of film censorship:
'During the 1920s, pressure to censor the movies grew. In 1922 alone, 22 state legislatures considered bills to impose state and local censorship. Hollywood responded by establishing a trade organization in 1922 known as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribors of America, with Will H. Hays, Postmaster General, under President Warren Harding) as president. Hays's called for "self-regulation" to forestall outside censorship, and The Don'ts and Be Carefuls, adopted in 1927, and The Production Code of 1930, represented important steps toward industry self-censorship. Nevertheless, criticism of the industry mounted, and by 1932, some 40 religious and educational groups had called for censorship. Unlike Protestant religious groups, which were fragmented, the Catholic church was unified in its demand that the industry recognize its moral responsibilities to the public. The threat of movie boycotts by the Catholic Legion of Decency led the industry's trade association in 1934 to establish the Production Code Administration Office, headed by Joseph Breen, to regulate films.'
Ratings such as 'G', 'PG', etc. came in later, but films still were censored by other means, such as the Catholic Legion of Decency. There were 'prohibited' films, such as 'The Moon is Blue', but the censorship probably benefitted their box office take.
Silvrlady
Band of Brothers
Saving Private Ryan
Braveheart
Still trying to understand what about the "leg of lamb" episode that would warrant censorship.
T.V censorship:
'TV ACRES: Censorship & Scandals > Jack Paar's Water Closet ...
Jack Paar's Water Closet Joke - One of the early classic moments in television censorship occurred when late night talk show host Jack Paar walked off his NBC program ...
www.tvacres.com/censorship_jack.htm'
Apologies to the Smothers Bros., but I knew somebody was censored for saying 'W.C'. The source above is a very funny read.
Many films were censored, among them 'The African Queen', 'Guys & Dolls', etc., etc.
Silvrlady
Wow, this is tough. There are so many.
Casablanca, Lion in Winter, African Queen, Braveheart, Diner, Lawrence of Arabia, The Searchers, Wuthering Heights, The King and I (the musical), West Side Story, My Fair Lady.
There are others, but I have to stop somewhere.
Pris
"not to go off topic, but can someone show where the Tucson shooter said anything about healthcare?
Sen Bob Kerrey was on Imus this morning and said definitively that the shooter didn't like Obama care....
I'd like to know where that info is. Thanks."
Z, I haven't heard that either. But, since sixty percent of the American people don't like Obamacare, I would think Kerry's is a moot point anyway, right?
But trust that the left will find anything they can to place blame on people other than the madman who committed this heinous crime. Those who do this are contributing to hate.
Evidently their desire to silence conservatives, overwhelms the truth, and any modicum of conscience. In doing so they put more of us at risk, and I believe they know it. They're dancing on graves that haven't even been filled yet. This is a sad day for our country, in more ways than one.
Pris
PS. This will not silence us. We love our country no less than we did before this horrendous act.
Movies I've watched a second or third time recently:
Tender Mercies
Gosford Park
The Color Purple
Faith, LOVE Tender Mercies, thanks for reminding me.
my list most resembles FT's....I'll do it later, have to run now. Am feeling well enough to DRIVE TODAY! Unreal! Will have a friend with me just in case........
Pris, they actually called him a leftwing nut this morning.....they're finally seeing he was nothing the lying sheriff or the lying media have tried SO HARD to imply.
I wondered why Obama was stopping all traveling until I realized they have to really make this bigger than it even is so they get more traction...what did Rahm say about troubles? Don't let one go what?
I feel VERY badly that I have barely heard the names of those killed but not part of Giffords' group.........how awful I'd feel were my husband killed and the only ones mentioned were the little girl and Zimmerman, for example.
Let's see now, heidianne and Ducky both say "Band of Outsiders". If it appeals to that wide an audience, put it in your queue folks.
Open Range
Alice In Wonderland (Tim Burton)
O' Brother Where Art Thou?
Frankie and Johnny
Flame and Citron
Le Miserables
The Grapes of Wrath
Shadowlands (This is when I became stuck on Anthony Hopkins.)
Pan's Labyrinth (this is up toward the top)
Raising Arizona (I'll just be takin' them Huggies.)
Moonstruck (!!!)
"what did Rahm say about troubles? Don't let one go what?"
Z, Rahm said "never let a good crisis go to waste". Of course he should have added, "and when we need one we'll make it up"!
This is what they do no matter what the circumstances are.
Pris
I have a question. One that fascinates me and doesn't have an immediate answer.
Why so few foreign films? My thought has always been that it's a matter of distribution and people often just don't have the opportunity.
Or is it that everyone gets turned off by the phrase "art film" (whatever that means)?
It puzzles me, I wouldn't make any bones that I consider French and Japanese films far superior to American and I simply wonder why they generate such limited interest.
Perhaps it's the subtitles? Not sure duhkkky. There are few on the IFC. Subtitles I think can be a distraction. At least I've found they can be at such events as an opera. You know they say you should 'feel' opera but in wanting to read the superscript even my family has felt it a distraction.
Just an observation.
It puzzles me, I wouldn't make any bones that I consider French and Japanese films far superior to American and I simply wonder why they generate such limited interest.
It's because you're a snob and it makes you feel good to love those films.
Most of french films, Ducky, suck the big one. The good ones are excellent but let's be honest, the French are sometimes stuck in their intellectualism and existentialism and many films suffer from a poor story telling.
When I see something like E.T, this is American cinema at its best. Americans know how to tell a story like nobody else.
Acting wise, and it is paradoxical, but French actors, under the pretense of being deep, don't show as much emotion. Including in acting training, Americans have a better history of training with teachers.
All of that b/c $$$ attract the best.
Am I saying we can be provincial...perhaps.
Conclusion: Your anti americanism makes you feel that way Ducky.
Why are American films more successful overseas, including in France, than French movies, you think?
Is it because the whole planet is dumb?
I don't have a favorite but rather a bunch. I *love* German movies so I'd put The Downfall first since Bruno Ganz is an unbelievable actor in everything he does. Must see!
I also love Luc Besson for French films, the only French director who seems to be able to entertain in a very artistic way without making me feel like i'm dumb.
The Downfall (Der Untergang)
Run Lola Run (German)
Das Experiment (German)
The Princess and the Warrior (German)
127 Hours (recently added)
37.2 Le Matin (JJ Beneix)
Nikita (Luc Besson)
Subway (Luc Besson)
The Professional (Luc Besson)
Mystic River
Big Lebowski
Saving Private Ryan
E.T.
School of Rock (so funny)
The Town (love heist films)
Need to add
The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher) based on a true story. Amazing acting there too.
I like foreign films, have seen many through Netflix but for some reason they generally don't make it up to the list of movies I would normally watch again. I've seen many German films in the last year or so, Sophie Scholl for one, thought it good, no interest in watching it again. Saw a couple Russian films I really liked, The Island, and The Return.
Oh I do like Ingmar Bergman films and have watched some of them more than once. And I used to love Jules and Jim and could watch it over and over. Not any more for some reason although I did watch it again in the last year. Love that little song she sings in particular and go around humming it for days.
I've started quite a few French films on Netflix Instant Play and can only get a few minutes into them -- something about the French mentality just puts me off. Did watch the one "Summer" something (about the woman with the great art collection who dies and her family don't share her interest) -- watched it through and liked it but wouldn't want to see it again. Or the one about the small town grocery business. Liked it, no interest in watching again.
I saw the Bicycle Thief years ago and have had it on my list for a long time to watch again but I just never get into the mood to see it.
I'd like to see Crouching Tiger again some time I think because I remember it having some breathtakingly beautiful scenes, otherwise not all that interested in the story.
Have a similar reaction to the older American films. Like them but rarely want to see them again.
Not being very analytical about all this, just the facts as they stand. I tend to LOVE anything British though. Most of the BBC series, for instance, even if they're not that good. The acting is usually terrific and I love period pieces, costumes, sets. Saw Aristocrats series and thought it not very well done except for the sets and costumes. But I'll watch that over say a Japanese film for instance. TOO foreign for me to really enjoy perhaps?
something about the French mentality just puts me off
Yes, me too :D It's the fake depth and annoying intellectualism blended with a state of being depressed. Freaking annoying and doesn't play well in films.
Many French haven't understood a good story is about conflicts and character transformation, not just about intellectual masturbation.
Foreign films, for the most part are not only boring, but the dialogue is incoherent. The conversations scripted in them are disjointed and confusing, and they don't sound at all like a real conversation. They bring to mind Woody Allen's parody of French films in his film, "Love and Death"
"Wheat."
"Wheat".
"Wheat".
What?
This is what Foreign films sound like to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4huaX0UAFGM
Except Woody Allen comes off as more intellectual than foreign film directors.
Yes, me too :D It's the fake depth and annoying intellectualism blended with a state of being depressed.
Yes, that, and a lot of extremely graphic gratuitous sex.
My thought has always been that it's a matter of distribution and people often just don't have the opportunity.
-------
I think that was the case until Netflix and Blockbuster started delivering, and now the instant streaming is even better. It seems like there's a good selection of foreign films. A couple more of my fav foreign films:
The Lives of Others
The Wings of Desire
The Lives of Others
Damn I forgot about that one. AMAZING.
Ducky doesn't like it. It's about Democratic Socialism in action.
I forgot:
The Maltese Falcon
Dark Passage
The Big Sleep
Keeper of the Flame
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Night of the Iguana
The Trip to Bountiful
The Buttercup Chain
A Severed Head
~ FreeThinke
FrogBurger, you are really cracking me up!
I LOVE The Big Lebowski!
I'm on a Coen brothers kick lately. Just saw one this week that I'd never heard of: The Man Who Wasn't There. Who knew THOSE GUYS did film noir?? :D
Has anybody seen Flame and Citron?
(Danish)
That was such a pleasant surprise.
I usually love the Coens but I have been really disappointed by their last 2 movies: True Grit and a Serious Man.
I'm a story guy. A movie without a solid story, even if it looks well crafted, won't pass my A/B review.
I'd rather have a great story, great acting than artistic visuals. That's why I can't get into Godard. Major snooze to me.
Three of mine are:'
1. Shane with Allan Ladd
2. Gone With the Wind with Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh
3. The Music Man with Robert Preston, Shirley Jones and Buddy Hackett
I've watched a couple of old Paul Newman movies recently, one which I had seen years ago, Cool Hand Luke, and Hud which I hadn't seen before. I thought they were both quite good.
Also watched A Christmas Carol over the Christmas season. It was the version with George C. Scott. And mentioning George C. Scott, I still think Patton is one of the best acting performances that I've seen Scott even won the Academy Award for the performance. He didn't bother to attend to pick up the award.
I still think To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the best movies I've seen.
Another that I think is superb is Enemy at the Gates the story about the siege of Stalingrad during WWII. Since the movie po'ed the powers that be in the Kremlin, I suppose makes it a bonus.
Waylon
MORE:
Night Must Fall
Mourning Becomes Electra
Craig's Wife
The Woman in White
Susan and God
Born Yesterday
It Should Happen to You
The Mudlark
David Copperfield
Great Expectations
Pride and Prejudice
Tiger Bay (John Mills, Hayley Mills, Horst Buchholz)
The Americanization of Emily
FOREIGN FILMS?
Mr. Hulot's Holiday
Sundays and Cybele
Last Year at Marienbad is probably the main reason I generally detest foreign films -- most of which seem nihilistic, cynical, disparaging while they foster a sense of hopelessness and despair.
BRITISH films, however, are quite different. I like even the mediocre ones -- from the thirties and forties. Once they became gritty, grotty, smutty celebrations of life at the bottom, I tuned out and turned off.
By the same token I hate what Elia Kazan brought to American cinema.
~ FreeThinke
Not sure I can name 3, but one that I don't believe I've seen mentioned here is "Places In the Heart" from 1984 with Sally Field.
It's because you're a snob and it makes you feel good to love those films.
--------------
Nice one Froggy,right of the bat you indicate you are not interested in civil discussion.
Most French films are mediocre? 80% everything is mediocre. Some American Sci-Fi author said something to that effect.
As for ET telling a story like nothing else, well ... it's strictly conventional narrative. Very entertaining but nothing innovative. Rivette's "Celine and Julie Go Boating", now there is narrative turned upside down. Like nothing else.
In my dream of the afterlife they have a theater with a cafe serving good strong espresso and showing Celine and Julie 24/7/365.
If you look at the larger question of whether art in general or films specifically can be transforming the answer seems to be no, and I think that's to our detriment.
I thought Tea with Mussolini was fun.
Been to very few movies in the last fifteen years (lots of reasons for that) so don't know much about what's been happening there.
Titanic was pretty good.
The Red Violin was excellent.
Sideways held my attention, but I'd never want to see it again.
The one where DiCaprio played Howard Hughes and Blanchette played Katharine Hepburn was interesting. Blanchette has to be the best mimic who ever performed in public. It really did sound as though Hepburn, herself, did voiceovers.
Brokeback Mountain may have been depressing, but it was sensitively done, and very well acted and directed.
Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs holds up well.
The Blue Angel is a good foreign film, but like most foreign films it's terribly depressing.
So many!
~ FreeThinke
Too many named here to keep track. Some I already have in my Netflix queue and it's good to get a boost to watch them. Some I'd forgotten I liked, the Paul Newman films, to which I'd add The Sting, and Places in the Heart.
I have to say I absolutely DESPISED Titanic, hated it with a purple passion.
If you look at the larger question of whether art in general or films specifically can be transforming the answer seems to be no, and I think that's to our detriment.
I wonder if this could be regarded as a typical Leftist mentality? I have no interest whatever in being "transformed" by anything. Same as I think the whole idea of political "change" the left is so attached to is a very dangerous idea. Movies can add to my store of knowledge about many things, however, and that's always valuable.
But actually I do think movies may be transforming. I think the leftie progressive films have influenced the culture in that direction. I think Elia Kazan's, whom FT mentioned, are examples. I'd have to spend more time thinking about this but it's a strong impression I've had for some time. I think there is a class of propagandistic movies that strongly influenced me as a teenager for instance. Not in a good direction.
How could I have left out "Cool Hand Luke"? I like movies with many memorable lines, and "Cool Hand Luke" has many:
"Any woman built like that has got to be named Lucille."
"Wish you'd stop being so good to me, Captain".
"Well, sometimes nothin' is a pretty cool hand."
"I can eat 50 eggs".
And, the immortal, "What we've got here is...failure to communicate".
I offer some of my favorites that heven't been mentioned, or not much.
__________
One of the greatest early color films was 'Robin Hood' with the bad boy, Errol Flynn. I think it was the 3 color process.
_________
I don't think anybody can touch the Brits when it comes to character actors. And I love their understated direction. Some British favorites:
Lavender Hill Mob
Private Life of Henry VIII (Boy, could Laughton chew the scenery!) It's the film that brought British films to the notice of the world.
Thief of Baghdad (I think it was a Rank film) Conrad Veidt was magnificent as the evil Jaffer. Didn't much like the male pretty boy, though. Amazing early special effects.
Kind Hearts & Coronets in which Alec Guinness played 8 character parts. At least, I believe it was 8. I saw it just recently.
___________
Early silents:
Great Train Robbery
Birth of a Nation
Intolerance
Greed (chilling!)
____________
Stunning black & white was 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with an unbelieveably beautiful dream sequence.
Also, the French film by Cocteau, La Belle et la Bete', with stunning photography. When the Beast was transformed Marlene Dietrich was famous for saying, 'Give me back my Beast'.
___________
I'll stop for now-----------
Silvrlady
Nice one Froggy,right of the bat you indicate you are not interested in civil discussion.
If saying you're a snob is not civil, please tell me what word I should use.
Some people are wine snob, some people cheese snob (me). You're a movie snob. That's just a fact.
FrogBurger, I'm not sure if "Enemy at the Gates" would qualify as a French film, but it was made by a French director. You might like it.
Waylon
Also, the French film by Cocteau, La Belle et la Bete', with stunning photography
Good catch. Beautiful indeed. I love Cocteau. Great books, great drawings as well.
If you look at the larger question of whether art in general or films specifically can be transforming the answer seems to be no, and I think that's to our detriment.
Even that is not an absolute answer/question.
A movie doesn't have to be transforming. Likewise a painting doesn't have to be transforming to qualify as art.
I don't want to be like those people who only appreciate beauty when they qualify it as art b/c it's transforming.
That requires an intellectualization process and art should not be intellectual. It should be full of truth about our world and human condition, and should, in my books, create an emotional and visceral reaction with the audience.
That's why I describe you as a snob, Ducky. Your brain gets in the way too much.
The Corn is Green
INCREDIBLY good film!
Titles and fond memories keep popping into my mind.
A Man for All Seasons
~ FreeThinke
Yes, Z, what a lovely idea! Lets have some fun, why not...It's only Monday!!! :)
My three favorite movies are:
1) Little Woman (the one with Liz Taylor in it and June Allyson)
2) North by Northwest
and
3) Yours, Mine, and Ours (the original with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda)
I am an avid lover of the oldies, like you could not tell! xo
Three favorite films? Impossible!
Metropolis.
Aliens (the second one in the series)
MST3K: Cave Dwellers
This is just off the top of my head, of course.
FrogBurger, I'm not sure if "Enemy at the Gates" would qualify as a French film, but it was made by a French director. You might like it.
I will look into it b/c JJ Annaud is another director I really like. The Bear is a great animal only movie by the way.
Just 3, Z?
I have so many but I will try.
1. LOTR they are one in my book.
2. Star Trek movies, lol! I am cheating.
3. Old Dogs
I think I will add a few more:
4. Evolution
5. Matrix trilogy
6. Star Wars series
7. Pride & Prejudice with Collin Firth
8. Left Behind trilogy
9. X-Men movies
10. Mummy 1 and 2 the 3rd bit.
I decided I just have way too many.
Leticia, good list! I, too love the LOTR trilogy, and I can't believe you and I both love "Evolution"! That one is an obscure film for sure, but I own it and watch it often.
The Clock - Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanhester
Witness for the Prosecution - Laughton, Lanchester, Dietrich, Tyrone Power
My all time favorite is probably I Remember Mama - Irene Dunne
Back to Hitchcock:
Vertigo - for Barbara Bel Geddes' supporting role and Bernard Herrmann's haunting musical score.
Someone mentioned Strangers on a Train. YES! One of Hithcock's very best. Robert Walker's portrayal of a sadistic, manipulative madman is one of the best performances on film.
Random Harvest with Greer Garson and Ronald Coleman is a lovely romance
The Bridge on the River Kwai - great study in human psychology
It Happened One Nght - Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable -- very funny
Sister Kenny w Rosalind Russell
~ FT
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir w. Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. George Sanders plays his usual SOB character brilliantly -- GREAT score by Bernard Herrmann
The Greatest Sow in Earth w Betty Hutton, Charlton Heston
Anna and the King of Siam w. Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne
Flamingo Road w. Joan Crawford, Sydney Greenstreet and others
Goodbye, My fancy w. Crawford and Robert Young
~ FreeThinke
Dial "M" for Murder.
I forgot the greatest dance film: the Red Shoes. No dancing double needed with Moira Shearer on toe. And Anton Walbrook is the villain magnifique!
For fun, the production of the opera Aida with Sophia Loren in the title role. Needless to say, there was a voice double. I'd have to check, but it might have been Renata Tebaldi.
Silvrlady
THE LIVES OF OTHERS....Jen, SO SO SO SO SO SO STUNNINGLY good.
SilvrLady, seen FREAKS? talk about an interesting film.
I'll be back soon........got some stuff to do before I read everybody's comments in total...LOVING the discussion and so glad you're all here :-)
Silvrlady, any plans to see Aronfsky's "Black Swan". I have an idea what to expect so I'm taking a pass. Doubt it's up to "The Red Shoes" as a dance film.
I talk about THE BLACK SWAN in my blog tomorrow, among other things. Haven't seen it but know several people who saw most of it...but I'm sure you'll like it, DUcky.......very explicit lesbian scenes, extremely explicit masturbation scenes with a mother watching her daughter; Very much something 'enlightened' people will love watching. :-)
The Red Shoes...what do you like so much about it?
Ducky, I think I'll just wait for another Red Shoes showing on TCM.
Z, I've seen some segments of Freaks.
I had a friend who wouldn't get in the shower for over a month after seeing Psycho.
I saw Manchurian Candidate in the theatre when it was first released, very shortly before Kennedy was shot in Dallas. It was pulled immediately, & I never saw it again until years later on the telly. Angela Lansbury was excellent. A chilling film.
Great topic, Z!
Back to the BCS game.
Silvrlady
SilvrLady, I saw a 'modern day' Frankenstein movie when I was about on TV. No ancient Transylvanian town, but a tract house neighborhood like we used to live in..... Well, I couldn't sit in the living room for at least a month without sitting so I could see ALL windows and doorways! It was AWFUL! :-) I still remember that feeling. It's one thing to see monsters "over in Europe", quite another thing to see Frankenstein in what looks like your own front yard!
Let's defend ourselves and talk about the "culture of hate...the hate mongers...the ability of Sarah Palin to lead retards to violence.
Let's talk about this divide in America...the screw balls vs the Tea Party...the Krugmans vs the real people of America.
The hate that the elites have towards all of us. Indeed...this is the medias lowest point in "journalism" in America.
There's not one of us who would ever...EVER...condone this despicable, heinous, murderous, illegal act against...any... ANY sitting member of Congress. We'd only hope that they be "eliminated" through the legal proceess of our ballot.
Our prayers are with "Gibby". God protect and love her....her family...her policies and politics...her life.
Krugman...and the NYT....are the enemy of truth.
What do I like about Red Shoes, z. I like dance.
One of my favorite dance films is a series of Martha Graham pieces from PBS in the 60's. It's out on Criterion and is just super.
Appalachian Spring, traditional values, Manifest destiny. All that stuff leftists love?
Ducky, I'm not a fan of Martha Graham, etc.,'dance' like that leaves me cold. Can't watch Agnes DeMille, etc..
I can't remember the name of it but there's a Harlem group of jazz/modern dance I really like, something with J's in the name, I can't believe I've forgotten it.....Alvin Ailey's okay.
But, mostly, I'm a real formal ballet fan...the stiffer the tutu the better :-)
I do kind of like hiphop/contemporary dance today, I must admit.
The Wizard of Oz
Fantasia
What Dreams May Come
The Longest Day
Patton
Gettysburg
Little Big Man
Equilibrium
Pi
Donnie Darko
Chasing Amy
Clerks 1 and 2
Four Rooms
Thursday
Beavis and Butthead Do America
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Bridge over the Rver Kwai
Seven Samurai
Full Metal Jacket
all Dolemite / Rudy Ray Moore movies
Into the Mouth of Madness
Dark City
Dog Day Afternoon
Frequency
Clash of the Titans (original)
The Untouchables
The Usual Suspects
American Psycho
Mars Attacks!
The Wedding Singer
Slingblade
Powder
Cheech and Chong's Next Movie
The Butterfly Effect
Sword of Gideon
The Expendables
Red Dawn (original)
Jaws
Cloverfield
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
This is Spinal Tap
Time Bandits
Twelve Monkeys
Morons from Moronica
The Mouse that Roared
Dee Snider's Strangeland
UHF
Meet the Feebles
Evil Dead 3 (the Army of Darkness)
Pandorum
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Saturday Night Fever
Excalibur
Sniper
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Easy Rider
Dr. Strangelove
The Goonies
...to name a few
great. Now I'm whistling the River Kwai song in my head.
If I can't sleep, I'm coming to pinch your head off your neck, Beamish :-)
thanks for the list! xxx
btw, currently at my blog, I scrutinize the "political assassins must be right wing" crap the left is currently spewing a bit more closely than those walking potential genocidal maniacs would likely enjoy.
I may have to go into hiding.
The Thin Man - William Powell and Myrna Loy
Love the entire Thin Man Series
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House - Myrna Loy and Cary Grant
Love The Red Shoes also, SilverLady - wonderful music, intense drama, fantastic ballet sequences. Was never crazy about Marius Goring's performance as Julian Krastner, but the fellow who played the obsessive-compulsive ballet master Lermontov was brilliant.
The Tales of Hofmann is also great - more of beautiful, red-haired, exquisitely gifted Moira Shearer
Wish Moira Shearer had made more films. She had everything. Not only a magnificent dancer, but also a great actress.
And yes Fantasia should have been mentioned much earlier. It's a glorious introduction to the wonders of symphonic music, although the treatment Disney gave Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony shouldn't have happened to a dog. Ponchielli on the other hand, got just what he deserved with that Hippopotamus as prima ballerina -- very funny. What Disney and Stokey did with Moussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was nothing less than marvellous.
Three Came Home - with Claudette Colbert - a great war picture
Since You went Away - Claudette Colbert, Monte Woolley, Jennifer Jones, Agnes Moorehead, Joseph Cotton - another great war picture
SilverLady, do you by any chance remember the name of a Claudette Colbert film that involved a small boat named the Monsoon, which her character remembered in a dream sequence as "Noosnow," because she saw it only as a reflection in the water? I experienced that movie as a small child, and it's haunted me ever since. Would love to know what it is and maybe see it once more.
Quartet - four short stories of Somerset-Maugham -- was a memorable film experience.
The Unsuspected - Claude Rains was never less than splendid. Audrey Totter gives a memorable performance as Althea. Joan Caulfield as the weak-minded heiress manipulated by her evil "Grandy" was not great but didn't hurt the film any.
And the beat goes on ...
~ FreeThinke
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042935/
FT...THE SECRET FURY, I think...xx
Thank you, Z. That sounds right. I looked it up and sort of remember Robert Ryan was in it. It looks like it might not be easy to find these days. 1950! That WAS a while ago. I was 9. Always loved mysteries. They've completely disappeared from TV -- at least in this area.
~ FT
Free Thinker,
On You Tube there is a wonderful clip of Moira Shearer dancing as a dragonfly. At least I think it's a d'fly. I don't know who the male dancer is. If you haven't seen it, do look it up. The only trouble with it is that it's too short.
I forgot about Tales of Hoffman with her. Stunning film. Robert Helpmann danced in both that & Shoes. I was fortunate enough, giving away my age, to see both him & Margot Fonteyn when the company was still Saddlers Wells. A memorable experience for a teenager who loved both classical ballet & opera. I wonder how many young girls she inspired to take up ballet?
Silvrlady
Somebody mentioned The Manchurian Candidate. Yes that's one I forgot that is a great movie with excellent performances including by Frank Sinatra.
Also remembered the Pink Panther movies with Peter Sellers as being great for laughs with Inspector Cluseau. Also The Party and Being There with Peter Sellers I found hilarious.
Waylon
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