Recommend a Movie day
Sep. 17th, 2004 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fabrisseI've been told by the ever-generous ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eanja, that today is "recommend a movie" day.
My Obscure Favorites:
Knight without Armour -- Marlene Dietrich is a white Russian. Robert Donat is a member of British intelligence who's been passing as a revolutionary so well that the tsar's courts sent him to Siberia. They meet during the Russian revolution and help each other through the lines. She's trying to return to a husband in Western Europe; he's trying to return home. It has the single most erotic kiss, I remember in an old movie -- he just lightly brushes his lips over hers, but it awakens more than Tom Cruise humpin' and pumpin' any day.
Harlequin -- This film is known in the US as Dark Forces. It's a retelling of the Rasputin story. The special effects are cheesy. The acting isn't. This is one of the few movies that my parents saw a second time on its first run. It asked that many questions about who we are and how we perceive things. I loved it, and would love to be able to see it again.
Les Uns et Les Autres -- In France, this wouldn't be obscure at all. Claude LeLouch's original cut was close to eight hours long. The final version shown in theaters was just over four hours, but it was the most popular French language film in 1981/82. It's a great movie that follows several families through WWII and then through the 1970s. James Caan is great in it.
Le Maitre de Musique -- This is one that I hope will come out on DVD. I'm despondent that I've lost my VHS copy. It's set in Brussels and Jose Van Dam (the opera singer) gives a lovely nuanced performance. Patrick Bauchau gives a trashy over the top performance. The music is beautiful, and both the women in it are sexy in completely different ways. I'm also very fond of Phillippe Volter who plays the thief turned tenor.
My Less Obscure Favorites:
Cover Girl -- Tunes by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin, choreography by Gene Kelly, and Rita Hayworth at the height of her beauty: Who could ask for more? But more there is. The plot is three stages beyond silly, but Eve Arden is in it. It's one of the rare roles where she's allowed to wear high fashion and at 5'9" Damn! the girl looks great. She also gets some great lines for her dry delivery. Phil Silvers also has a few good moments. Publicly, neither Gene Kelly nor Fred Astaire would answer the question they were always asked about "favorite dancing partners." Privately, they both admitted that it was Rita Hayworth who they most enjoyed sharing the floor with. In this movie, it's easy to see why.
Random Harvest -- It's not James Hilton's greatest book. Nor is it the greatest role for either Greer Garson or Ronald Colman -- that's Mrs. Miniver for her and Tale of Two Cities for him -- but this is the type of good mid-range picture that Hollywood could turn out in its heyday. It's a chick-flick with amnesia and missing heirs and self-sacrificing women.
The Thief of Bagdad -- This is a twofer. Whether you watch the original silent with Douglas Fairbanks (in pants so tight that my former housemate Lucy swore you could tell his religion) or the Korda masterpiece from the early 1940s, you'll be transported to a wondrous world of magical creatures and imagination.
What's Up, Doc? -- It's funny. It keeps getting funnier. It's Madeline Kahn's movie debut. Ryan O'Neal nearly acts. Barbra Streisand doesn't gnosh on the scenery. And it's really funny.
Dark Passage -- My favorite of the Bogart/Bacall movies. The first 20 minutes are entirely done with first person camera. Agnes Moorehead is in it too.
My Favorite Classics:
Gilda -- Rita Hayworth again, sorry. It's got sexual undercurrents (including implied homosexuality) that are nearly as strong as the main sexual currents. It's hot and ripe; you can almost feel the juice running down your chin.
Casablanca -- I love this for the thick layers of supporting cast. The top plot is serviceable, but played with such conviction that it's become a love story for the ages. Still, when I think of Casablanca it's Peter Lorre, Claude Rains, and S.Z. Sakall that spring out. The lovely depth of the Warner's Brothers supporting players can't be matched today.
Rear Window -- I think it's Hitchcock's best.
Singin' in the Rain -- It's the most perfect musical ever. I smile just thinking about it.
eanja, that today is "recommend a movie" day.My Obscure Favorites:
Knight without Armour -- Marlene Dietrich is a white Russian. Robert Donat is a member of British intelligence who's been passing as a revolutionary so well that the tsar's courts sent him to Siberia. They meet during the Russian revolution and help each other through the lines. She's trying to return to a husband in Western Europe; he's trying to return home. It has the single most erotic kiss, I remember in an old movie -- he just lightly brushes his lips over hers, but it awakens more than Tom Cruise humpin' and pumpin' any day.
Harlequin -- This film is known in the US as Dark Forces. It's a retelling of the Rasputin story. The special effects are cheesy. The acting isn't. This is one of the few movies that my parents saw a second time on its first run. It asked that many questions about who we are and how we perceive things. I loved it, and would love to be able to see it again.
Les Uns et Les Autres -- In France, this wouldn't be obscure at all. Claude LeLouch's original cut was close to eight hours long. The final version shown in theaters was just over four hours, but it was the most popular French language film in 1981/82. It's a great movie that follows several families through WWII and then through the 1970s. James Caan is great in it.
Le Maitre de Musique -- This is one that I hope will come out on DVD. I'm despondent that I've lost my VHS copy. It's set in Brussels and Jose Van Dam (the opera singer) gives a lovely nuanced performance. Patrick Bauchau gives a trashy over the top performance. The music is beautiful, and both the women in it are sexy in completely different ways. I'm also very fond of Phillippe Volter who plays the thief turned tenor.
My Less Obscure Favorites:
Cover Girl -- Tunes by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin, choreography by Gene Kelly, and Rita Hayworth at the height of her beauty: Who could ask for more? But more there is. The plot is three stages beyond silly, but Eve Arden is in it. It's one of the rare roles where she's allowed to wear high fashion and at 5'9" Damn! the girl looks great. She also gets some great lines for her dry delivery. Phil Silvers also has a few good moments. Publicly, neither Gene Kelly nor Fred Astaire would answer the question they were always asked about "favorite dancing partners." Privately, they both admitted that it was Rita Hayworth who they most enjoyed sharing the floor with. In this movie, it's easy to see why.
Random Harvest -- It's not James Hilton's greatest book. Nor is it the greatest role for either Greer Garson or Ronald Colman -- that's Mrs. Miniver for her and Tale of Two Cities for him -- but this is the type of good mid-range picture that Hollywood could turn out in its heyday. It's a chick-flick with amnesia and missing heirs and self-sacrificing women.
The Thief of Bagdad -- This is a twofer. Whether you watch the original silent with Douglas Fairbanks (in pants so tight that my former housemate Lucy swore you could tell his religion) or the Korda masterpiece from the early 1940s, you'll be transported to a wondrous world of magical creatures and imagination.
What's Up, Doc? -- It's funny. It keeps getting funnier. It's Madeline Kahn's movie debut. Ryan O'Neal nearly acts. Barbra Streisand doesn't gnosh on the scenery. And it's really funny.
Dark Passage -- My favorite of the Bogart/Bacall movies. The first 20 minutes are entirely done with first person camera. Agnes Moorehead is in it too.
My Favorite Classics:
Gilda -- Rita Hayworth again, sorry. It's got sexual undercurrents (including implied homosexuality) that are nearly as strong as the main sexual currents. It's hot and ripe; you can almost feel the juice running down your chin.
Casablanca -- I love this for the thick layers of supporting cast. The top plot is serviceable, but played with such conviction that it's become a love story for the ages. Still, when I think of Casablanca it's Peter Lorre, Claude Rains, and S.Z. Sakall that spring out. The lovely depth of the Warner's Brothers supporting players can't be matched today.
Rear Window -- I think it's Hitchcock's best.
Singin' in the Rain -- It's the most perfect musical ever. I smile just thinking about it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-09-17 11:42 pm (UTC)I agree with you on Casablanca -- but how can you not mention Sidney Greenstreet! -- and Rear Window. But I don't see how Singin' in the Rain, despite being a truly *excellent* film, can be "the most perfect musical ever". Possibly the best of the "old-style" musicals, where the music and the plot were essentially disjoint.
As far as original Hitchcock, I have a strong soft spot for The Trouble With Harry. People lionize Hitchcock for his mastery of suspense, but he had a brilliant touch for comedy as well. Hm. There's probably valuable academic work to be done on the structural similarities between suspense and comedy...
no subject
Date: 2004-09-18 02:55 am (UTC)I like The Trouble With Harry, too. I don't think it's Hitch's best, but it's beautiful to look at and the humor is sweet and gentle. Yes, his comedic touch should be discussed more. And the link between comedy and suspense is a tight one. It has to be, off-timing will hurt both of them terribly.
Also, I'm mad at Amazon. I was supposed to be on the mailing list when Maitre de Musique came out on DVD, now I can only find it used?! Hrrrmph.