Carmen Jones, yes. Amazing it was made when it was.
Why? It's a beautiful film, but it's also a segregationist document in its own way.
Preminger was bold, but he was also careful and canny. He wouldn't have stepped over any boundaries if he thought there would be real repercussions.
I think he's one of the greatest Hollywood directors mind.
― amateurist, Monday, 7 January 2008 16:47 (sixteen years ago) link
I've got Where The Sidewalk Ends arriving tomorrow.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 7 January 2008 16:48 (sixteen years ago) link
I wonder if Eric remembers it? Film criticism is the art of pretend forgetfulness.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 7 January 2008 17:10 (sixteen years ago) link
I remember the movie, just not writing about it. No way in hell am I gonna read that piece now.
― Eric H., Monday, 7 January 2008 17:14 (sixteen years ago) link
A bunch of the earliest essays I wrote for Slant's 100 are painfully earnest, I bet. The ones on trashy movies are probably a lot better.
― Eric H., Monday, 7 January 2008 17:15 (sixteen years ago) link
Resaw Advise and Consent a few weeks ago: the first 90 minutes are just wonderful...then the hamhanded homo drama kicks in.
How would you prefer Kennedy-era studio films dealt with homosexuality?
With less handwringing and a better actor than Don Murray. I don't mind the gay bar scene.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 7 January 2008 17:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Not bad, for a 23-second scene.
― Eric H., Monday, 7 January 2008 17:20 (sixteen years ago) link
what'd you think of the movie overall?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 7 January 2008 17:21 (sixteen years ago) link
Morbs could link you to my Slant review, I'm too lazy.
I think the way Preminger films the Senate chambers is as precise and fantastic as, I dunno, Bresson at his best.
― Eric H., Monday, 7 January 2008 17:23 (sixteen years ago) link
Another thing I remember liking is that its purportedly central concern (i.e. Leffingwell) ends up repeatedly pushed to the back in favor of more prurient distractions. In other words, it IS politics.
― Eric H., Monday, 7 January 2008 17:25 (sixteen years ago) link
apparently the Laughton character discovers Murray's body in the novel.
(I've read you being earnest without the pain, EH.)
It's certainly not as preachy a political drama as, say, Serling / Frankenheimer's Seven Days In May (which I remember liking). And it's a marvel of sophistication next to Charlie Wilson's War.
Alas, Patricia Neal is unable to intro In Harm's Way tomw night at Film Forum as planned. I will probably library-DVD it.
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 7 January 2008 17:29 (sixteen years ago) link
I never managed to make it this far into Skidoo:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xg463_skidoo-theme-song-carol-channing
― Eric H., Monday, 7 January 2008 17:33 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, I get good and weepy about John Waters.
oh, you!
Carol Channing is actually the only joyful element of Skidoo. In spite of her hard-to-watch strip scene.
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 7 January 2008 17:35 (sixteen years ago) link
Carol Channing is usually the only joyful element in anything she's in.
― Eric H., Monday, 7 January 2008 17:36 (sixteen years ago) link
except Thoroughly Modern Millie.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 7 January 2008 17:38 (sixteen years ago) link
I have avoided C.C. in most everything except her weekly appearances on PBS specials over the last 35 years singing "Diamonds" or "Hello Dolly!"
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 7 January 2008 17:41 (sixteen years ago) link
Her performance of "Diamonds" on "The Muppet Show" = best evah.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 7 January 2008 17:45 (sixteen years ago) link
more preminger movies need to come out on dvd
― abanana, Monday, 7 January 2008 18:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Daisy Kenyon in a couple months.
― Eric H., Monday, 7 January 2008 18:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Denby on Preminger. I haven't finished it.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 21:49 (sixteen years ago) link
Oy, Denby:
Preminger was perhaps too refined and modulated in his sophistication to achieve more than occasional greatness as a director. He doesn’t compare, for instance, with his fellow-émigrés Fritz Lang and Billy Wilder. It’s hard to think of a heartbreaking or truly exhilarating moment in his work. Yet, at his best, he raised civil discourse to the level of subtle entertainment: one can get caught up in the intricately choreographed give-and-take of “Advise and Consent” without caring whether the nominee gets confirmed or not
If AAC was just one of many "subtle entertainments," then isn't Preminger a great director?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 21:56 (sixteen years ago) link
I think "at his best" suggests there weren't "many." I don't know that O.P. has more than two great films.
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 21:59 (sixteen years ago) link
Depends how academic we get: Laura, Fallen Angel, Anatomy of a Murder, maybe Advise & Consent as a near-great.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 22:03 (sixteen years ago) link
I've got The Cardinal in my queue.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 22:05 (sixteen years ago) link
"Can technical skill and craft, combined with worldliness and urbanity, and presented in a distinct style, rise to the level of art?"
UGH!!!!!!
― Martin Van Burne, Wednesday, 9 January 2008 00:23 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm not yet a Hawks convert, but that argument is total idiocy
― Eric H., Wednesday, 9 January 2008 01:34 (sixteen years ago) link
http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/levon_and_the_hawks_1964.html
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 9 January 2008 04:59 (sixteen years ago) link
aargh http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/levon_and_the_hawks_1964.gif
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 9 January 2008 05:00 (sixteen years ago) link
I was this close to going to see Saint Joan last night but didn't make it and now I am regretting it.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 10 January 2008 15:36 (sixteen years ago) link
i went to the screening of bunny lake w/ keir dullea. he did a funny impression of otto preminger (and confirmed once more that the man was a complete monster)
― impudent harlot, Friday, 11 January 2008 03:59 (sixteen years ago) link
:o
A friend wd've gone if Carol Lynley had been there. He was scared shitless by Bunny as a kid.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 11 January 2008 14:21 (sixteen years ago) link
i think denby is pretty much on the money, and i don't usually.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 11 January 2008 14:23 (sixteen years ago) link
I didn't know that OP and Dorothy Dandridge were lovers, or I just forgot.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 11 January 2008 14:26 (sixteen years ago) link
I remembered. They had a son, no?
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 11 January 2008 14:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Exodus is surprisingly sentimental and awkward, and about as long as this primary season.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 11 January 2008 14:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Mort Sahl allegedly stood up at the Exodus premiere at the 3-hour mark and yelled "Otto, let my people go!"
joe, one Dullea monster story, plz!
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 11 January 2008 14:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, you gotta back these things up with anecdotes.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 11 January 2008 14:58 (sixteen years ago) link
in bunny lake, made martita hunt do one scene over again about 40 times because she kept making the wrong gesture (the 40th take, she realized she was doing it again, paused halfway, and muttered "oh, FUCK it"). he also said the best day he had while filming BLIM was getting the phone call that he'd landed the main role in 2001
OP wouldn't raise his voice at olivier, tho
― impudent harlot, Friday, 11 January 2008 16:29 (sixteen years ago) link
dullea's looking really good for his age, btw
― impudent harlot, Friday, 11 January 2008 16:30 (sixteen years ago) link
well, he was rebirthed by tasteful aliens.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 11 January 2008 16:33 (sixteen years ago) link
Morbs, have you seen Where The Sidewalk Ends? Pretty good, even if Gene Tierney's a drip.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 11 January 2008 16:34 (sixteen years ago) link
long ago, I think. Just got Fallen Angel from library.
I'm perversely tempted by that Otto/Milton Berle co-star thing next week.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 11 January 2008 16:35 (sixteen years ago) link
the only twinbill i may get to the rest of the retro might be The Fan/ Forever Amber
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 11 January 2008 16:37 (sixteen years ago) link
I saw When The Sidewalk Ends once at random as the second half of a double during some noirfest years back and remember being pleasantly surprised.
I might could try to see that twinbill next Tuesday, Morbs.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 11 January 2008 16:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Fallen Angel is deliciously put together, even if Alice Faye is kind of an annoying simp; her walk through the town w/ Dana Andrews, and her arrest in San Francisco, are one-take tours de force. Great scene of dirty ex-cop Charles Bickford working over sleazy suspect Bruce Cabot.
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 14 January 2008 14:29 (sixteen years ago) link
The first ten minutes (in that bar) are wonderful, aren't they?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 14 January 2008 14:30 (sixteen years ago) link
I lover "BEER" on both sides of the front door too.
I've riffled through that new Otto bio; Dullea def not fond of OP... more from M Musto:
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/archives/2008/01/foster_hirsch_a.php
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 16:24 (sixteen years ago) link
musto was also at the BL screening
― impudent harlot, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 16:41 (sixteen years ago) link
i just watched Fallen Angel last night. A pretty fine noir, and a pretty interesting story. Dana Andrews' conman character is almost on the outside looking in while the grimmer noir story runs parallel to his less-than-savory con angle. it's a pretty unpredictable story, with a bit more heart and less doom than another similar story might possess. Andrews is vv good, Alice Faye is solid as the good girl, Linda Darnell is phenomenal as the supposed femme fatale, who is really more a lonely, sad, and tragic figure who's used and ogled and cast aside by men.
― omar little, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 19:57 (nine months ago) link
Like most Linda Darnell roles.
― Blecch’s POLLero (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 20:53 (nine months ago) link
Mistakenly thought Jane Darwell
― active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 21:04 (nine months ago) link
intrigued to check out Forever Amber while it's still on the criterion channel
― omar little, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 21:06 (nine months ago) link
That’s kind of a sleeper. Remember some good stuff was in it, especially George Sanders and the dogs, haven’t seen it in ages.
― Blecch’s POLLero (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 21:30 (nine months ago) link
― Blecch’s POLLero (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 21:31 (nine months ago) link
Trying to fight off Rudy Vallee and Howard Hughes, just to name two.
― Blecch’s POLLero (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 21:45 (nine months ago) link