The Carol Reed Poll

i think i might like 'odd man out' slightly more than 'the third man,' if only cause i find myself getting impatient for the harry lime scenes when i rewatch TTM.

'odd man out' is roman polanski's favorite movie!

The Third Man was my favorite for a long time. Odd Man Out I didn't like much the first time I saw it but it has grown on me over the years. Voted The Fallen Idol.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Kael describes The Agony & the Ecstasy well: "mostly about a prolonged wrangle between the sculptor and Pope Julius II, who keeps sweeping into the Sistine Chapel and barking, 'When will you make an end of it?'"--five or six times, I think. Harrison has a nice death's-doorstep speech, except it's somewhat undermined when he miraculously recovers. Weird 10-minute prologue, some deus ex machina cloud patterning, and (best they could do in '65, I guess, especially with Charlton Heston around) a cryptic suggestion of Michelangelo's sexuality: "It's not that either."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwVT9cdSNvA

Kael quite liked the Oscar winner btw

On the stage Oliver! was an undistinguished musical that people took their children to, dutifully; it was an English variant of Broadway Americana. The movie transforms the material; it's not only a musical entertainment but an imaginative version of the novel as a lyrical, macabre fable. The tone is set in the opening sequence, in the children's workhouse, when Oliver's "Please, sir, I want some more" leads into a choreographed children's riot. The stylization seems to put quotation marks around everything Dickensian, in a way that makes you more aware of the qualities of Dickens' art. It's as if the movie set out to be a tribute to Dickens and a comment on his melodramatic art as well as to tell the story of Oliver Twist. The songs (by Lionel Bart) provide the distancing that enables us to appreciate Dickens' pathos intellectually, and the director, Carol Reed, gives a superb demonstration of intelligent craftsmanship; he doesn't urge us to tears--he leaves us our pride. Typically, the best moment is a quiet one. Oliver (Mark Lester), who has been listening to "Who Will Buy?," the lovely early-morning song of the tradespeople in Bloomsbury, walks along singing a few bars to himself, and it is probably the most delicately beautiful reprise in movie-musical history. The score isn't great, but it's certainly well sung.

I tried to watch it a few years back and found it painful.

Ice Cube playing Fagin in the new version (not a joke)

Oliver! rules. such an awesome movie.

Bonus points to anyone who can name the Jack Wild/Ron Moody “sequel” to Oliver! without use of intranetz.

That Oliver! was the best musical best picture winner outside only possibly of An American in Paris was, I thought, common knowledge.

consider yourself part of the furniture

> Jack Wild/Ron Moody “sequel” to Oliver!

there was something with them both in with a single word girls name on tv a few weeks ago. ah, Melody.

was set in the 60s, ended up with in them fighting with their teachers on a piece of wasteland that looks like it was up battersea way.

(oh, that was jack wild / mark lester)

I just learned about the movie Melody, can’t remember having seen it or hearing about it before

Just watched Outcast of the Islands for the first time on Mubi. Wow.

It was kind of all over the place, as if Carol Reed was trying to give a Tarzan movie the Black Narcissus treatment, but there was lots to like including an amazing over the top performance from Trevor Howard.

Also Alexander Korda extends his tradition(?) of giving the lead actress an exotic single name moniker.

Certainly this film has been under my radar all these years, although now I see it does have its defenders out there: https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/tcm-diary-outcast-islands/