Last Movie You Watched

[Karl Henning]

With the fam these past few evenings we watched the Back to the Future movies in reverse order. A peculiar holistic rightness to that. 

[Philo]

For those interested, Red Runs the River has a devotional guide provided by Bob Jones: https://www.bjupress.com/pdfs/showforth-devotional-guides/red-runs-the-river.pdf

Today, some more ... oddities: A Thief in the Night I-IV



These movies are bonkers, but awesome.

[Kalevala]

With the fam these past few evenings we watched the Back to the Future movies in reverse order. A peculiar holistic rightness to that.

K

[Philo]

Another crazy movie from back in the day, but, unironically, highly-relevant given the current geopolitical situation of the world: Apocalypse

[Belle]

"Camille", 1936 George Cukor, direction, Irving Thalberg producer.  Karl Freund cinematography.  Starring the great Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor, with an icy Henry Danielle and a ditzy Laura Hope Crews (Aunt Pitty Pat 3 years later for GWTW).  Here's what Cukor said about Garbo in "Camille" towards the end of his life:  from 11:26 here.  Wonderful.  The key here is at 13:45.  Cukor comments on the greatness of Greta Garbo and I completely agree.  Apart from all that her face was one of the most beautiful images of the 20th century.  And she opens her eyes just before taking her last breath!!  That's great direction, acting and story-telling.  Cukor started his career directing on Broadway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joqikcLEjAA

An anecdote might be useful here:  George Cukor was a gay man but he had an intense relationship for many years with the wife of Samuel Goldwyn, Frances Goldwyn (she kept a picture of George on her bedside table).  Yes, that was a phenomenal and complex relationship.  Cukor spoke at Sam's 80th birthday party and said that 'were things different Sam's son would have been my own".

Anyway, here's the film in toto: I love every frame of it!!  The only thing which jars is the 'score' of Herbert Stothart. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBiRa2baJLk

Thank you to the Jews and the USA for making this astonishing film legacy possible.

[Philo]

Treasures of the Snow: A movie that I've come to appreciate the more I watch it - a charming jaunt.

[Justice Roberts]

Pale Rider.

[Belle]

Pale Rider.

I absolutely adore Clint!!  And I dread the 'big day' as he's nearly 96.

[Belle]

I've written about Greta Garbo and her beauty.  Here is the most iconic shot of her from "Queen Christina" - the final shot in the film.  1933.  Do you notice that the wind for the sailing ship is blowing the wrong way?  If the wind is to blow Garbo's hair she should have been standing at the stern of the ship and not the bow, as seen here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFbWtcPjSH0

The director of this film was Rouben Mamoulian.  In the early 1970s I worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on arts programs.  Mamoulian had come from the USA for the Sydney Film Festival in 1974.  My colleague and friend at this time worked in an office very near to mine;  she came in one day and said, "Mamoulian is with Brian;  would you like to come and meet him? (Brian was her husband, also her Producer).  I replied that I'd never heard of him!!  A few years later I let out an almighty yell when I realized my mistake:

Rouben Mamoulian:  director of Garbo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 with Fredric March), the original Broadway "Porgy and Bess" WITH the Gershwins and the original stagings of "Oklahoma" and "Carousel" on Broadway with Rodgers & Hammerstein.  Directed the very first three-strip Technicolor film, "Becky Sharp".  Mamoulian lived to 90 years of age.

One of the worst decisions I ever made in my entire life was not meeting Rouben Mamoulian.  What an idiot I was!!

[Belle]

Here's a picture of a youthful Rouben Mamoulian.  He resembles "the sharp intellectual type" (Bernstein, Comden & Green, "Wonderful Town").

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Rouben_Mamoulian_-_publicity.JPG

[Justice Roberts]

I've written about Greta Garbo and her beauty.  Here is the most iconic shot of her from "Queen Christina" - the final shot in the film.  1933.  Do you notice that the wind for the sailing ship is blowing the wrong way?  If the wind is to blow Garbo's hair she should have been standing at the stern of the ship and not the bow, as seen here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFbWtcPjSH0

The director of this film was Rouben Mamoulian.  In the early 1970s I worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on arts programs.  Mamoulian had come from the USA for the Sydney Film Festival in 1974.  My colleague and friend at this time worked in an office very near to mine;  she came in one day and said, "Mamoulian is with Brian;  would you like to come and meet him? (Brian was her husband, also her Producer).  I replied that I'd never heard of him!!  A few years later I let out an almighty yell when I realized my mistake:

Rouben Mamoulian:  director of Garbo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 with Fredric March), the original Broadway "Porgy and Bess" WITH the Gershwins and the original stagings of "Oklahoma" and "Carousel" on Broadway with Rodgers & Hammerstein.  Directed the very first three-strip Technicolor film, "Becky Sharp".  Mamoulian lived to 90 years of age.

One of the worst decisions I ever made in my entire life was not meeting Rouben Mamoulian.  What an idiot I was!!

I have her biography in the house. I must start reading it. I bought it a few years ago because I was curious about her romance with Stokowski.

[Belle]

I wasn't aware of Garbo having had a romance with Stokowski.  That was back in the 1930s, according to Google, when Garbo was heterosexual and had a long-time affair with silent screen actor John Gilbert.  He starred with her in the aforementioned "Queen Christina".

Another astonishing fact about Greta Garbo is that she was making 'talkies' as soon as these were available ("Anna Christie", 1930) and she had to learn English from scratch.  It's barely conceivable that her English was so good in such a short period of time.

[VonStupp]

The Road to Wellville (1994)
Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Broderick, John Cusack
Bridget Fonda, Dana Carvey, John Neville
Colm Meaney, Lara Flynn Boyle

I remember this one as more of a bedroom farce, but that isn't quite the style after all. Instead, we get Kellogg's history in passing amidst various character quirks, nothing of which quite comes together effectively.
VS

[Madiel]

The Richest Woman in the World



The names have been changed, but this is very heavily based on the real-life Bettencourt affair, where the heiress to the L'Oreal fortune gave a heck of a lot of money/gifts to a photographer-artist she met on a magazine photo shoot.

Isabelle Huppert in the title role is as great as you'd expect, but all the acting is good. The film holds your attention because you're constantly trying to decide what the artist is up to. Is he genuinely trying to get material wealth out of her, or is he just a flamboyant artiste with no sense of personal boundaries who already mixes with the rich and famous, and who happens to have now found an extremely wealthy patron that finds him charming and exciting?

[Belle]

I just love La Huppert!!

[brewski]

Damnation (1988, dir. Béla Tarr). My first encounter with Tarr, and a great one. A slow-moving, slightly inscrutable plot about a woman having an affair, told with exquisite black-and-white photography and precision sound design. Tarr's most famous film is probably Sátántangó (1994), which is seven hours long, and after today, it is now on my to-see list.

[Belle]

"River of No Return", 1954 Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, Rory Calhoun.  Directed by Otto Preminger in Technicolor.  A comparatively early film of Monroe and she never changed much in her acting style! Right away she worked with the best:  Mankiewicz, Preminger, Logan, Hawks, Wilder, Huston, Hathaway, Negulesco.  Yes, the very best.

Mitchum had that easy charm and confidence which is the hallmark of the star who never seemed to make an effort. And it did sound like his voice singing the title song.  Tommy Rettig plays his son;  a wonderful young actor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL8eG6_ZaG4

[relm1]

"River of No Return", 1954 Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, Rory Calhoun.  Directed by Otto Preminger in Technicolor.  A comparatively early film of Monroe and she never changed much in her acting style! Right away she worked with the best:  Mankiewicz, Preminger, Logan, Hawks, Wilder, Huston, Hathaway, Negulesco.  Yes, the very best.

Mitchum had that easy charm and confidence which is the hallmark of the star who never seemed to make an effort. And it did sound like his voice singing the title song.  Tommy Rettig plays his son;  a wonderful young actor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL8eG6_ZaG4

The only Monroe film I've seen was Some Like it Hot which was just great.  I probably would like the Misfits.

[SonicMan46]

"River of No Return", 1954 Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, Rory Calhoun.  Directed by Otto Preminger in Technicolor.  A comparatively early film of Monroe and she never changed much in her acting style! Right away she worked with the best:  Mankiewicz, Preminger, Logan, Hawks, Wilder, Huston, Hathaway, Negulesco.  Yes, the very best.

Mitchum had that easy charm and confidence which is the hallmark of the star who never seemed to make an effort. And it did sound like his voice singing the title song.  Tommy Rettig plays his son;  a wonderful young actor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL8eG6_ZaG4

Of course, Marilyn Monroe did most of the singing in the film, but Mitchum did 'chip in' and could sing - a fun album (shown below) is his Calypso one which I streamed on Spotify; he was also much respected for his ability to do accents.  Dave

[SonicMan46]

The only Monroe film I've seen was Some Like it Hot which was just great.  I probably would like the Misfits.

Boy - you have a lot of catching up to do -    Misfits was her last 'complete' film before her '62 untimely death.  She made over two dozen films - below is a ranking from IMDB of their top 15 listing, I own 10 of these films but have seen them all; now the remainder from the linked list are pretty much unknown to me so I may need some catching up too

IMDB Ranking (Audience numbers complicated)
Some Like it Hot (1959) - 8.2
The Seven Year Itch (1955) - 7.0
All About Eve (1950) - 8.2
The Misfits (1961) - 7.2
Gentlemen Prefer Blonds (1953) - 7.1
Bus Stop (1956) - 6.3
How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) - 6.8
The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) - 6.4
Monkey Business (1952) - 6.9
Niagara (1953) - 7.0
Don't Bother to Knock (1952) - 6.9
River of No Return (1954) - 6.6
There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) - 7.3
Clash by Night (1952) - 7.0
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)  - 7.8