Hitchcock, a western, Bourne....

....on this weeks list of films watched:

The Paradine Case (1947) Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Louis Jourdan, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton, Ethel Barrymore. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock for David O. Selznick, who interferred all through filming. The most controled of directors was forced to shoot many extra scenes he did not want and finally let David take over some parts altogether. What they edited down is what we have, and while I love it, I feel it is not a Hitch film but a Selznick studio film. David was promoting Valli as another Garbo. Beautiful cinematography and the loving camera lingers on Valli and Jourdan - they are stunning. I think Peck is very good as a young lawyer who has made a name for himself as a top defense attorney. He becomes mesmerized by his new client, Mrs. Paradine, accused of murdering her blind husband because she is in love with his valet, Jourdan. Did she or not? Good old fashioned murder mystery. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039694/

A Foreign Affair (1948) Jean Arthur, Marlena Dietrich, John Lund, Millard Mitchell. Billy Wilder directed and used location shots of bombed out Berlin. Devastating. Marlene sings 3 songs in her special way. Lots of funny moments while making a point about post war Germany and our boys in uniform as an occupying army. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040367/

Magnificent Seven(1960) with Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. Yul was the big star; Steve up and coming. Lots of silly rivalry. The director had to appease both to get a good performamce as the good guys in the film. Eli Wallach, as Calvera, the terrorist, stole the show. Story of a down and out group of hired guns who go to a small village in Mexico to get rid of the outlaw band, preying on the farmers and stealing all their food. Very exciting final showdown with the bandits and the hired guns all losing, but as the old man says " it is the farmers who win; they are like the land - always here. You are like the wind that blows over and is gone." Favorite western; wonderful music score. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/

To Sir With Love (1967) Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Lulu. Story of new teacher in a school in London's East End poor area. Students have to work or take care of younger children at home while both parents work. No discipline and no interest from the students. Until Mr. Thackeray loses his temper over one disgusting incident and rushes out to the teachers lounge, and says something about "the kids" and it dawns on him that these students are already doing duty as adults so should be treated as such. When he goes back to his classroom he throws the class plan in the waste basket and thus starts his new teaching style. Just talking and answering questions about anything they bring up, etc. Great film. The title song Lulu sings at the class party near the end of the film always makes me tear up, just like "Sir." 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062376/

Little Children (2006) [b][color="#800080"]Last rental was "Little Children" with Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson. Lots of nude sex. :O Story of suburbanites bored with their life, and a man who has been released from prison after serving his sentence for child endangement, and a cop who is leading a group of vigilantes trying to make the guy suffer. Very unpleasant film, and I really didn't like anyone as the characters are written. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404203/

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, David Strathaim. Visited Jason again last week. He was running as usual. From the agency that trained and used him, as usual. Strathaim good as our cold blooded villian out to get him. Allen her usual quiet, competant self as Pam Landry. Love when Bourne calls and talks to her from a lookout post. Music just perfect. Why they don't have her the second lead, I don't know. Now that would be interesting. At the end when Bourne falls into the black river and the ripples get larger and larger as the last credits are playing, I almost give up......but thank God, he surfaces and swims away! Will we see him again? Come on Matt - you know you want to. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0440963/

Watchmen (2009) Billy Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson. Those are the only actors I had seen before in other films. I was hopeful for a good film by director Zack Snyder, who did such a great job on "300", but alas, this is just a mess. I went to sleep half way through, and woke up with 15 minutes to go. I could not get into the story because none of the first characters we are spending time with are at all interesting. I admit I don't read comics and knew nothing about this one until the chatter started about filming it with Zack as director. Whether it was the writing or directing - this film is only for those who love the genre. The big blue man with the blinking blank eyes was the most interesting character even with his jewels hanging out. LOL 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/

Have got some of my tapes from years ago out to watch and see if I really want to keep them. May replace those I love with DVDs. May not. Time will tell.

For Kay Francis' Birthday, Jan.13th----

TCM showed selection of her films.

I watched:

The Feminine Touch (1938) Kay, Don Ameche, Rosalind Russell, Van Heflin. Amusing story of a college professor(Ameche) who feels unappreciated by his students and decides to take his book on jealousy to NYC to talk to publishers. His wife (Russell) wants to test his theories to see if she can make him jealous. The publisher (Heflin) is a wolf/player who immediately targets the wife for conquest. His chief editor (Francis), a beautiful and smart woman, keeps things interesting as she is in love with the wolf. That's the setup. This has some good dialog and these for pros use their great skills at keeping things perking along. For example:
Nellie Woods(Francis): Sorry I'm not what you were expecting.
Elliott Morgan, Publisher,(Heflin): What makes you think I'm expecting anybody?
Nellie: What makes me think that dogs like liver?
Elliott: I don't get the analogy, but I expect it's very clever. It so happens that you're wrong; there's no one coming.
Nellie: You're right. She's gone out with her husband.
Elliott: [feigning confusion] Uh. . .who has?
Nellie: The liver.

MGM had casts like this, and writers, doing these clever little pictures to fill their theaters every week. Kay was always beautifully dressed and wore outrageous hats and gowns, and carried it off spectacularly from the silents through the 1940's. Lots of fun for the "Matinee' ladies. 7/10


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033596/

It's A Date (1940) Kay and Deanna Durbin, Walter Pidgeon. Kay plays Georgia Drake, stage actress and mother to Pamela (Durbin), she is all set to star in a show at school. She asks her mothers director and a new play write to come see her in rehearsal for her show to give an opinion of how it looks. It ends with them offering her the role in their new musical, which was to be played by her mother. Of course she does not know this and is thrilled. It all turns out alright, as always in a Durbin film, but this is a very good story and the stars are all in top form. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032644/

Always In My Heart (1942) Kay, Walter Houston and introducing new teenage singer, Gloria Warren. Kay is another mother in this one, this time to new starlet singer Gloria , who is not nearly as special as Durbin. Neither in personality or voice, has she a tenth of the quality. The story has Houston as Mackenzie Scott, who has just been pardoned from prison. He is the former husband of Francis, who is about to remarry. The two teenage children have some problems with the new man, and although they have been told their father is dead, it all ends well for the family. The title song is lovely, and when Houston sings it to his daughter, a real tear jerker. Pros at work here. Enjoyable. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034454/

Cold and damp today, but at least the snow is almost gone except where the plow left mounds. Rain is forecast so maybe it will look all clean soon. We have had heavy fog mornings lately.

Ziegfeld films----

Tuesday Jan. 12th was TCM Ziegfeld Day


The Great Ziegfeld (1936) William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer(Oscar), Frank Morgan. Won Best Picture Oscar. Lavish as only MGM could do musical films. Powell is fine as Ziggy and the musical numbers, with those fantastic costumes, are very entertaining. Some of the greats from the follies (such as Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor) show up to do a number, which is fun. Very enjoyable. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027698/


The Ziegfeld Girl (1941) William Powell, Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr, Judy Garland, Frank Morgan. Highlight for me was the "You Never Looked So Beautiful Before" number and Lana and Hedy in their fantastic costumes, walking down those stairs. Beautiful Hedy. http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1566611456/tt0034415
Lana is the rags to riches, to rags girl who lets champagne and the high life bring her down. It may be corn, but it's first class corn. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034415/


Ziegfeld Follies (1946) After WWII MGM dusted off their Ziegfeld musical extravaganza for another go at the boxoffice. I don't know how it did in '46, but it was awful to sit through this week. Not one of the songs or dance numbers were entertaining and I didn't even care for Judy Garlands song. Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly's song and dance was too frantic and so this was just a total waste of my time. 4/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039116/



Next post will be on Kay Francis. Her birthday was the 13th and I watched bits and pieces of lots of her films on TCM on the Tribute Day. Will comment on 3 I watched all the way through.

Oscars for Duvall, Zeta-Jones & Ledger,

----will Streep win again this year? Since my last entry I have watched:


The Egg & I (1947) Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride. Charming film based on a book about city folks who buy a chicken farm in the boonies. The film that introduced Ma & Pa Kettle and their large family, who went on to make a dozen more. A nice, happy film. 8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039349/


Mr. Soft Touch (1949) Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, Beulah Bondi, John Ireland. A gangster steals the money owed to him and the gang is out to get him and the loot back. He needs a hideout for 36 hours until his boat sails. He finds it at a settlement house where they are getting ready for the Christmas party. Perfect for his purposes, but he gets caught up in the lady social workers problems as she tries to turn him around from the abusing husband he is pretending to be. A film noir for Christmas. Put it on the list for when the others are just getting too sweet. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041663/


Up The Down Staircase (1967) Sandy Dennis, Eileen Heckart, Jean Stapleton. A young woman gets her first teaching job at an inner-city school where disipline is about all the staff is trying to teach or accomplish. Her efforts, and the film, are a lot like other films of the era. About to give up, by the end, one tiny hope is enough to make her go on for aother year. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062425/


Tender Mercies (1983) Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Ellen Barkin Wonderful indy film that won many awards. Duvall at his best, won his Oscar. Story of a drunken drifter, a former successful song writer, who flops at a roadside motel run by Harper. He is broke so asks if he can work off what he owes. She says yes. Her young son takes to him also and that is the film. Three people learning about each other and just living, A small gem to treasure. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086423/


Spy Game (2001) Robert Redford, Brad Pitt. Complicated story about one agent trying to get another out of a jail in China and do it behind, and over the top, and around the corner, of the CIA, the FBI and all the other letter agencies. The boys do a good job and it was a pleasure to be in their company for a few hours. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266987/


Chicago (2002) Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee' Zellweger, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly. The whole cast was great. I never say this on stage; never heard any of the songs. But I remember the original film with Ginger Rogers and Adolph Menjou (Roxie Hart 1942); which was based on a real Chicago murder. This version is just as over the top and satirical as the original. Loved all the numbers. Gere. Is. Amazing! The final number "Nowadays" is so perfect in all its garish triumph. See it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luef1H24hU8 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299658/


Derailed (2005-Independent) Jennifer Aniston, Clive Owen, Vincent Cassel. Married businessman meets a woman on the train and thus begins a tale of infidelity and blackmail and double and triple crosses. And who is doing what to whom? Very hard to keep track of and with this type of film, that is the key. Hitchcock always winked at us and kept us guessing, but by the end we could tell the story. With this story, it was just too clever by half. I needed a play by play. Cassel makes a good villian. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398017/


The Pacifier (2005) Vin Diesel. Navy Seal Diesel is assigned to watch over a bunch of kids in a family of the scientist father who has been killed. Not a bad little film for what it is - a kids movie. Diesel is okay and for a wintry day by the fire, this'll do. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395699/


Notes On A Scandal (2006-UK) Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench. Two great actresses in a story of loneliness and obsession at a school Sheba Hart comes to teach and immediately is befriended by an older teacher, Barbara. Sheba allows Barbara to become too much a part of her family, all the while herself becoming emeshed in an affair with a 15 year old student. They meet in alleys and have sex on the ground and finally Barbara sees them in Sheba's classroom. The story from there on is unhappy for all parties. The two actresses are fine and it does hold your interest. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465551/


The Dark Knight (2008) Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine. Well! I decided I should bee the film that will soon overtake Titanic as the most successful film ever made. I did not like the beginning. The introduction scenes of the characters from there were good and interesting. Joker was not nearly as great a character as I was expecting. Maybe too much propaganda over the last 16 months? I was interested through the 2-hour mark, but I think I did doze a bit near the end. Think I'll keep my first Batman and Joker - Michael Keaton and Jack 'Crazy' Nicholson. I like the fun or that one as opposed to the serious/gutteral/Dark Knight. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/


It's Complicated (2009) Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin. My daughters and I went to see this on a day with the temps at 2 degrees - and that was the high! We loved this film. Streep(Jane) and Baldwin(Jake) are perfect playing off each other. Martin(Adam) does a fine job, especially with Streep in the smoking grass scene. John Krasinski has a role(Harley) of a son-in-law that gradually you love. Story of a gathering for a graduation of the son of a divorced couple. The father has a young wife with young son. Jake and Jane end up drinking and in bed together. And so - it's complicated. Nancy Meyers has made a film for us grown-ups women. No puking, peeing, pandering to 14 year old males. Like the great 'womens' pictures for the "matinee ladies" of the 1930s and 40s, we finally have someone in Hollywood to do it again. 9/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1230414/



Some warm days will get rid of most of our snow and I hope, what's left of the ice, where it is shady all day. I will be writing on the festivals TCM has been having in the last few days. Great old films.

Gerard Butler ♥ Scotland's Heartbeat ♥

For the New Year!

The last 7 films of 2009---

---I watched these the last few days:

The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (1939) Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Ida Lupino. The great detective matches wits with his arch enemy Professor Moriarity in a case involving the Crown Jewels. Lupino is terrific as the damsel in distress who is spirited and able. Based on a stage play which merged 2 stories and used characters from the stories but not the stories themselves. Enjoyable. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031022/

Adams Rib (1949) Tracy & Hepburn, Judy Holiday, David Wayne, Tom Ewell, Jean Hagen. Watched this for the first time in about 5 years. Didn't seem as funny as it used to be, and think it is because the film is slanted to make Tracy the sympathetic character. One of the funniest scenes is an argument between Kate and Spence and Wayne, involving slamming doors, mixup in who lives where because they are all screaming at each other. Great slapstick, played straight, makes it all the funnier. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041090/

Deadline USA (1952) Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, Kim Hunter, Ed Begley, Martin Gabel. Turner Classic Movies is having a Bogart festival. I watched part of "Bacall on Bogart", and then this film. A really good film about newspapers and how they were real crusaders throughout the years, but the change was happening and the film is about owner/stockholders wanting more money so the heirs want to sell and merge this great paper with a tabloid. Made in the 1950's but we're still going through the changeover from substance to style today. Good film involving racketeers, swindles, greedy heirs, murder and politics/politicians. Black & White. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044533/

The Contender (2000) Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Gary Oldman, Sam Elliott, Christian Slater. Taut political thriller about the slander campaign against the Presidents candidate to run for the vacancy for Vice-President. He has picked Senator Laine Hansen (Allen) and Senator Shelly Runyon (Oldman) is determined she will not be confirmed. He has found scandalous sexual pictures which he says are from her college days. She will not discuss them or answer questions in the hearings about them. Her contention is that if she were a man, she would not be going through this trial. Very interesting take on D.C. politics. Oldman is good as the despicable demagog; and Allen is quietly determined. Bridges is marvelous as the Pres, playfully trying to stump his head chef by calling at all hours and asking for stange and wonderful things to eat. Top notch cast and great intelligent script. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208874/

Enchanted (2007) Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden. Prince & Princess from a Fairytale book end up on the streets of NYC along with various mice, birds etc, from the storybookland. Adams is so darn cute you just love watching her in her white hoop skirted dress, as it gets dirtier and dirtier as she wanders the wet streets. When she says "no ones being very nice to me" in her little girl voice, it's funny and you just want to help. For the child in all of us. Beautiful cinematography. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461770/

No Country For Old Men (2007)Tommie Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson. Revisited to see if it was as good as I thought last year. Didn't hold up as well as I expected. After seeing that nut case with his air hose blowing out door knobs 4 or 5 times, plus killing people with it, I lost interest. Once you know what is going to happen, it is no fun watching it again at all. Rated it 9/10 last time but am lowering it to a 7/10. Well made, but not a film I will be watching over and over. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/

The Hangover (2008) Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham. For our New Years Eve films, we started with this one. O. M. G. Most of the time us gals were shaking out heads and saying "they didn't!" or "What??" A few really funny bits, but mostly absolutely tasteless and rediculous. Helms takes the acting honors. Graham is lovely and sweet. Cooper came across, to me, as an arrogant, incompetant jerk. Ditto Bartha. Definitely worth a look, along with a glass of your favorite alchoholic beverage, to see in the New Year. But not a keeper. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119646/

Good luck and Happy New Year to all. Hope it will be better for everyone, and there will be some great films in 2010.