Classic cinema - thoughts and questions

Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Thanks mate! I like the subject of old/classic films pretty much and I really appreciate it when other people also keep this topic alive!  :ok:

I admit that it might be difficult to draw a line with the “Now watching” topic, but I hope it encourages people to tell their experiences of older films (or even better: urges people to see more older films). I’m interested in other people’s views/opinions and hope to get tips as well (last one given by Perun!).
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Forostar said:
I admit that it might be difficult to draw a line with the “Now watching” topic, but I hope it encourages people to tell their experiences of older films (or even better: urges people to see more older films). I’m interested in other people’s views/opinions and hope to get tips as well (last one given by Perun!).
Click to expand...

This topic is moving to a film noir /cult film direction
If is to draw a line with the "now watching" thread, I would say that now watching is about films we saw recently -this one is to give some tips for older /probably unknown films -like Perun's film -which has to be awesome  :ok:

I remember when I was 17, there was a festival in the public library of my town dedicated to films noir/ cult b-movies.... I saw then some films like Jean d'Arc's passion or goodmorning Babylon, that normaly I would never had the opportunity to watch in the big screen -this topic so, it makes me think that festival

There I saw Henry, portrait of a serial killer, one of the best b-movies I've ever seen

It's a biography of Herny Lucas, but unlike other horror movies inspired from him (Psycho, Silence of the lamps) this one does not contain any violent scenes -I highy recommend it to you

BlackHenryPoster.jpg
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

____no5 said:
This topic is moving to a film noir /cult film direction
If is to draw a line with the "now watching" thread, I would say that now watching is about films we saw recently -this one is to give some tips for older /probably unknown films -like Perun's film -which has to be awesome  :ok:
Click to expand...

Uhh, well, I'm watching old films non stop (so it could be recently all the time). And before mentioning a film, it's impossible to know if it's unknown on this forum or not. So please, let's not make it more complicated than I already did. I let people themselves decide if their film is a classic (or old) or not.
;)

Thanks for your tip! Yesterday I saw another film about a serial killer, called "Peeping Tom" (1960), directed by Michael Powell (who also did "A Matter Of Life Or Death" (the film that inspired Maiden's album title).
200901~Peeping-Tom-Posters.jpg

doc-701.jpg

This is a black and white screenshot, but the film is in colour.

Genius script! The killer films all his victims before he strikes (very confrontating).
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Last week I saw a few early Fritz Lang films.

The first is Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) which is a four and a half hour long film about the character Doctor Mabuse from the novels of Norbert Jacques. Mabuse is a doctor of psychology and master of disguise. He tricks many people out of money by using hypnotism.

After that I saw the sequel, called The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933).

It was only Lang's second sound film, the first being M, but its use of sound was highly advanced; a repeated motif in the film is sound that is misidentified by either the characters or the audience (a pocketwatch spring unwinding, intended to simulate a telephone's ring; a gunshot masked by the sound of car horns; a ticking that seems to be a bomb until we see the spoon tapping on an eggshell). It's a motif that fits neatly in with a larger theme of unsuccessful communication of all kinds.

The film, along with its predecessor M,  was banned in Nazi Germany on orders of Joseph Goebbels, as it was its content and terms like "the reign of crime" were considered disconcerting and possibly referring to the rise of Nazism.

---------
From wiki:
The rumour has it that Joseph Goebbels called Lang to his offices for a meeting in which he gave Lang two pieces of news: the first was that his most recent film, Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (The Testament of Dr Mabuse, 1933) was being banned as an incitement to public disorder. The second was that he was nevertheless so impressed by Lang's abilities as a filmmaker, he was offering Lang a position as the head of German film studio UFA. Lang had been, unbeknownst to Goebbels, already planning to leave Germany for Paris, but the meeting with Goebbels ran so long that the banks were closed by the time it finished, and Lang fled that night without his money, not to return until after the war.

The problem is that many portions of the story cannot be checked, and of those that can, most are contradicted by the evidence: Lang actually left Germany with most of his money, unlike most refugees, and made several return trips later in the same year. There were of course no witnesses to the meeting besides Goebbels and Lang, but Goebbels's appointment books, when they refer to the meeting, mention only the banning of Testament. No evidence has been discovered in any of Goebbels's writings to affirm the suggestion that he was planning to offer Lang any position. Jean-Luc Godard's film Contempt (1963), in which Lang appeared as himself, presents a bare outline of the story as fact.

Whatever the truth of this story, it is known that Lang did in fact leave Germany in 1934 and moved to Paris, where he filmed a version of Ferenc Molnar's Liliom, starring Charles Boyer. This was Lang's only film in French (not counting the French version of Testament.) He then went to the United States. Lang's wife Thea von Harbou, who had started to sympathize with the Nazis in the early 1930s and joined the NSDAP in 1932, stayed behind. The two were divorced in 1933.
----------

I was very impressed by both films, they belong to the coolest pre-war movies I’ve ever seen. I always was a bigger fan of Lang’s Hollywoord era, but these films changed appreciation for his earlier work. Next mission: Metropolis, I think. :-)

Here some pictures of these masterpieces:

Lang_Mabuse_2.jpg

articles-37449_mabuse2.jpeg

mabuse_joueur_10.jpg

drmabuse.gif

mabuse_2.jpg

Testament_des_Dr._Mabuse__Das-6.jpg
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

I recentley watched 3 Bette Davis movies. 
1. The Letter
2. Now Voyager
3. Mr. Skeffington

I enjoyed all three very much.  The endings in all three movies had me guessing.  Movies of today are so predictable.  I also started watching "Of Human Bondage" but fell asleep, so I never got to finish that film.

Next mission: Peeping Tom
Looks interesting.  Thanks to you Forostar. :ok:
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

You're welcome!

I don't know "Now Voyager" and "Mr. Skeffington" yet, but "The Letter" sure was good!
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

On March 7, 1979, Alfred Hitchcock becomes the seventh recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievment Award. Hostess Ingrid Bergman introduces an array of actors and writers and directors, as well as the British ambassador to the United States, each of whom spoke with words of formal praise for Alfred Hitchcock's genius as a filmmaker. Included in the tribute are James Stewart, Cary Grant, Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Sean Connery, Tippi Hedren, Jane Wyman, Gregory Peck, Vera Miles, Rod Taylor, Teresa Wright, Henry Fonda, Joan Fontaine and Dame Judith Anderson.

Check it out!  :)

part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7
part 8
part 9
part 10
part 11
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

there are 2 films that I search since some years and I can not find their titles -so I thought to ask the specialist  :D

the first one is a classic : there's a scene that someone plays chess with the devil

the second one is probably a 70s or 80s film and its subject is Frankenstein.
Leading role is Frankenstein's grand child, and one very funny moto of that movie
that's oftenly repeaded is "who is that dwarf ?"

tip:  in the basement of the hospital is Frankenstein's grand son's laboratory, and the dwarf is his assistant.
The dwarf is making oftenly some missions to search for material in the hospital and every time that hospital's director see him ask this same question "who is that dwarf ?"  :lol:

hoping you know them
detective.gif
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Forostar, if you're a film noir fan, you should track down and watch a film called "The Dark Corner".  It's about a man who gets poisoned and has 24 hours (or so--it's been awhile since I've seen it) to find the antidote.

Co-stars Lucille Ball, and she's an absolute knockout in this film.  I'd only ever seen her on her TV show, and didn't realize how pretty she was in the 50s.

The film's great.  Very tense.  I highly recommend it.
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Indigo Shift said:
Forostar, if you're a film noir fan, you should track down and watch a film called "The Dark Corner".  It's about a man who gets poisoned and has 24 hours (or so--it's been awhile since I've seen it) to find the antidote.

Co-stars Lucille Ball, and she's an absolute knockout in this film.  I'd only ever seen her on her TV show, and didn't realize how pretty she was in the 50s.

The film's great.  Very tense.  I highly recommend it.
Click to expand...

I've seen The Dark Corner, but I appreciate the tip!  :ok:
I'm not sure, but you might mix up two films. The plot you told sounds like D.O.A., starring Edmond O'Brien.

200px-EdmondOBrien.jpg

doa05.jpg


Is that the one you meant? That was an exciting film indeed!
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

____no5 said:
there are 2 films that I search since some years and I can not find their titles -so I thought to ask the specialist  :D

the first one is a classic : there's a scene that someone plays chess with the devil
Click to expand...

The Seventh Seal? Though the chess is played with Death.

____no5 said:
the second one is probably a 70s or 80s film and its subject is Frankenstein.
Leading role is Frankenstein's grand child, and one very funny moto of that movie
that's oftenly repeaded is "who is that dwarf ?"

tip:  in the basement of the hospital is Frankenstein's grand son's laboratory, and the dwarf is his assistant.
The dwarf is making oftenly some missions to search for material in the hospital and every time that hospital's director see him ask this same question "who is that dwarf ?"  :lol:

hoping you know them
detective.gif
Click to expand...

I have not seen that one :)

My wife guesses "Young Frankenstein"? We haven't seen that film, but she heard about that title. BTW, cool smiley, the one with the pipe.
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Forostar said:
BTW, cool smiley, the one with the pipe.
Click to expand...

it reminded you that's why  ;)

well as I told you already the 7th seal is ok
as for the other, I guess I have to google "who is that dwarf" and some when I'm gonna find it -normally
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Forostar said:
People who appreciate Hitchcock and/or Scorsese, might find this interesting and amusing!

It's less than 10 minutes:
http://www.scorsesefilmfreixenet.com/video_eng.htm


:)
Click to expand...

well it's certainly amusing, there are some easily recognisable references
(LOL the 3 shots of the electric lamp made me think the endless shots -in the bath, Psycho)

BUT : I think Scorsese is pushing it a little bit, to a grotesque representation -for my taste

absolutely interesting though  :ok:
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Have you seen the end? That was very funny I thought, and then you'll see it was not meant that serious.  :)
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Forostar said:
Have you seen the end? That was very funny I thought, and then you'll see it was not meant that serious.  :)
Click to expand...

No I quitted in the "last paragraph"  ;)
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Thanks Forostar for the link.  It was quite amusing.

@ _no5: There are only 2 Frankenstein movies that come to mind.  Translyvania 3000 and Young Frankenstein?  Both are very funny and both have dwarf's.  Let us know if you ever do find the one your taking about.

This weekend I watched "All About Eve" and "From Here To Eternity".  The acting and story line in AAE was top notch for its time.  So many memorable LINES in that movie.  Loved the ending. 
FHTE was with Burt Lancaster and Debra Kerr.  I hear there are 2 movies with different actors?  Anyway, It was good but I think it lost something with time? 
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

char_da_harlot said:
@ _no5: There are only 2 Frankenstein movies that come to mind.  Translyvania 3000 and Young Frankenstein?  Both are very funny and both have dwarf's.  Let us know if you ever do find the one your taking about.
Click to expand...

nope and nope  :(

yesterday I goodled the phrase "who's this dwarf" with no results
but, yes, as soon as I find out I'll post in this very thread  :)
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

Did you try "Revenge of Frankenstein" or "Dr Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks"?  Both contain a dwarf, but I don't know if they have the line that you are referencing.
 
Re: Classic cinema / current cinema - thoughts and questions

wasted155 said:
Did you try "Revenge of Frankenstein" or "Dr Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks"?  Both contain a dwarf, but I don't know if they have the line that you are referencing.
Click to expand...

it's a comedy  :(
thanks for the try though  :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top