Obsession (1949) 9/10
Muzi v Nadeji (2011) 7/10
I saw Tension at Table Rock, a western from 1956. Not one of the major westerns, but a good film with a decent script. Starred Richard Egan, Dorothy Malone and Cameron Mitchell. A small role for Angie Dickinson near the start of her film career. Also appearing as the gunman hired to kill off the sheriff was none other than DeForest Kelley - a pleasant surprise for any Star Trek fan.
I saw Gertrud (1964), Carl Dreyer's last film. It was based on a play by Hjalmar Soderberg and comes across as a filmed play. Very well put together but, as one would expect from Dreyer, as serious a film as one can get.
For an in depth analysis of the background to the film - this link to an article by Jonathan Rosenbaum.
Bridesmaids. It was very funny and I belly laughed!
Pastorali (1975) 8/10
My Week With Marilyn (2011) 7/10- I have now seen all 5 oscar nominated performances for best actress and i hope the winner will be Michelle Williams
I resaw Rope (1948), the Hitchcock film shown as one long scene though is composed of several sections due to the fact that the maximum length of a reel of celluloid film was 10 minutes and that the film was shot over several days.
This is a clip of the trailer for the film. It starts with a scene in Central Park between the victim and his girlfriend. This scene was deleted from the released film.
I resaw the original Point Blank (1957) directed by John Boorman and starring Lee Marvin. This was John Boorman's breakthrough film, previously he had made just one film, the British Catch us if you Can. Point Blank was the first mainstream film to be filmed in part on Alcatraz.
I saw Pandora's Box (1929). Directed by G W Pabst and starring Louise Brooks, this black and white silent film tells the story of Lulu, a high class prostitute and her eventual fate. Although Louise Brooks was American, she was too independently minded to fit in with the Hollywood system and so moved to Europe. Pabst chose her in preference to Marlene Dietrich for Pandora's Box and was right to do so. The film's success would depend entirely on which actress played Lulu, and Louise Brooks is mesmerising.
This is a film where a performance has become regarded as legendary and it is justified.
Although the film's subject is of an adult nature, the film is definitely of a PG nature. As a point of trivia, the film also features Alice Roberts who played the Countess Anna Geschwitz whose character is clearly lesbian, and this is regarded as the first film to do this.
I saw Broken Lance (1954) a western starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner and Richard Widmark. A good western but not in the same league as Tracy's next western Bad Day at Black Rock.
In Broken Lance, Spencer Tracy's wife was played by Katy Jurado. A photo of Katy Jurado does not appear on the IMDB website so:
Katy Jurado was a Mexican actress although she played an Indian in this film though with her Spanish looks was called Senora. She appeared in quite a few notable American films such as High Noon. Her IMDB biography is one of the more interesting biographies and could be made into a film.
Originally Posted by El Loro:
As I has Gentleman's Agreement (1947) on DVD and hadn't seen it before I decided to watch it and give it the same rating as Jackassfan.
It was my first viewing as well and after seeing it i am very surprised it won an oscar for best film
Kozara (1962) 9.5/10
Prenom Carmen (1983) 4/10
I think that when Gentleman's Agreement was released it would have had a much greater impact then. Although its message is still relevant, it would need to be made in a different way to have much impact and would have to consider all faiths and prejudices without being over politically correct but not being afraid of speaking out and at the same time not being over preachy (which would need a very capable writer, director and cast).
I saw Ponyo (2008), a Japanese animated film from the Ghbili studio. The version I saw was the Japanese original with English subtitles done via Walt Disney. The credits at the beginning and end were for the English dubbed version which was momentarily a bit confusing.
It is a children's film, a fantasy, but certainly watchable for adults. Although not a perfect film, it does have some scenes of astonishing beauty. There is a scene where Ponyo rises to the surface of the ocean and runs on top of the waves after a car with her friend in on the road by the shore, this is done to music which recalls Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. That scene transcends a good film into something very special - a real sense of wonderment.
My Man Godfrey (1936) 9.5/10 2nd viewing
I saw Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). This is a film which is unavailable on DVD in the UK. Although it is available in the States that would be on a region 1 DVD and I wanted to play it on my DVD player.
I contacted the British distributor who holds the rights in the UK and they said that they were waiting for an appropriate music score for the film. The film is of course silent and no music was made for the film at the time it was made by Dreyer. He is on record for saying that there should be no music for the film.
The film was for many years lost until a copy was discovered in a mental institution in Oslo. This was restore in 1985 into the version which was released in the States and elesewhere with a music score by Richard Einhorn, This version runs for 82 minutes and is as close to being the original which ran for around 110 minutes as it is possible to be. Although half an hour is missing, it does diminish the film, merely to condense what in reality took place in more than 3 weeks into almost continuous time.
I discovered that the South Korean DVD ran on Region 2 players and had English subtitles as well as Korean. I therefore imported a copy via the States.
I have had the DVD for over a year but waited until I felt the time was right to watch it. There are obvious parallels between the passion of Christ and this film and as I would not be able to see it on Good Friday I decided to watch it during the season of Lent. I turned my answerphone on, turned off the light and watched the film without the music.
Maria Falconetti was a stage actress. Although she had made a couple of films a decade before, this is the film which she will always be remembered for. She never made another film. In the film she is listed as Mlle Falconetti (Mlle standing for Mademoiselle) and she is generally referred to as Falconetti for the stature of her performance.
Quite rightly her performance is regarded by many as the greatest performance in the history of film.
A genuine 10/10 film.
I resaw All about Eve (1950) starring Bette Davis, George Sanders, Anne Baxter and Celeste Holm. A strong contender for the best screenplay of all time. Not surprisingly, the film holds the record for the most women nominated for an Oscar - Thelma Ritter was the fourth. None of them won.
Marilyn Monroe also appeared in the film. Earlier in the same year she appeared uncredited in Ticket to Tomahawk which starred Anne Baxter.