shadokitty

I started House earlier today, but had to turn it off, as life came up. From what I saw of it though, it was actually an enjoyable movie with some pretty funny moments mixed in, like the bucket scene.

Gobear

If you're inviting blokes over for a wank, you're not going to be watching movies, unless it's something from Titanmen or Raging Stallion.

I watched Goldfinger on Blu today while listening to the commentary from the 1991 Criterion laserdisc that I had downloaded from a Bond fan site. Apart from one use of the f word, it's a standard commentary. I don't see why it was pulled. I also watched The Music Room on Hulu Plus, thoroughly enjoyed it. It reminded me of The Cherry Orchard or Uncle Vanya with its depiction of a doomed landowner whose way of life is being swept away by the modern era.

Travis McClain

My cursory remarks on The River, from my Letterboxd diary:


The River
-X- 1950 (1951)
-X- 251-300 - The River (#276)
-X- Language: English
-X- Explore People: Jean Renoir
-X- Explore Themes: Faith on Film
-X- Explore Themes: Growing Pains
-X- Explore Themes: Technicolor
-X- Essay: The River by Alexander Sesonske
-X- Essay: The River by Ian Christie

Top 10 Lists
Pedro Costa's Top 10
Martin Scorsese's Top 10

LJG765

I watched Hitchcock's "Spellbound" tonight and have to say I wasn't impressed. I thought it'd be a lot better than I found it. Maybe because so many films have used this as their inspiration, but somehow it felt like it had just been done before. I have one more Hitchcock to go and am really hoping that it flows a lot better than this one.

ntnon

Which one? I just finished Foreign Correspondent, and it was very good. Kept shifting tone (spies, newspapermen, romance, war, adventure) with relative ease. So while the basics of the plot (and many of the twists) were reasonably obvious from the off, the film kept refreshing itself and thus stayed engaging the whole way through.

ntnon

I now think it near vital that the Bulldog Drummond films get a real release. They aren't very long, and they're reasonably straightforward, but they're full 'rip-roaring adventure' tales, and very watchable. Hulu says that Criterion have at least ten, and with nine down it looks like it's a proper series - possibly one solo, then a series of nine - with the final seven featuring broadly the same main cast. They fit together fairly well, with the same sort of barely-mentioned chronology of the Bond films (i.e. very occasional references back), and the reasonably stable later cast adds to the sequential nature very much. Drummond (John Howard) seems exactly right for a gung-ho heroic type, and the couple of Colonel Neilson's do a good job of being the exasperating-but-awed straightman/policemen. E.E. Clive (Universal Horror) as the butler, Tenny, is just brilliant, though. Very droll, very Jeeves-y and witty. There's also a mild running gag in two of the series where Drummond and then Drummond & Tenny wander around without their trousers on*, to good comic effect. Heather Angel is also extremely well-cast as the 'forever' left at the altar fiancee. The final film, with it's giveaway title (Bulldog Drummond's Bride) wraps everything up nicely, even if the actions and priorities of the local French chief of police are... baffling, but hilarious! "We'll marry him - dead or alive!"

A very good series, well worthy of a single spine number. How about #750? It looks like many of them might be technically in the public domain, which a) might make it cheaper to produce, b) adds to the need for "good" versions, and c) surely means the even earlier Bulldog Drummond films - which appear to be extant, but also absent from YouTube - should be prime candidates for being included as bonus features. A mini-piece on the books, a bit about the accuracy of the translations, and something about where Drummond fits in amongst Bond, Chan, Doc Savage and the rest would make it nigh-indispensable. Please?!


*Interestingly(...), I just watched Three Cases of Murder, which would work well as a (Psychological) Horror crossover by my reckoning. Two supernatural-y murder "mysteries" and a third that's really fairly sub-standard and obvious. The segments are introduced by Eamonn Andrews, and Orson Welles stars in the third segment as the "brilliant... but insufferable" Foreign Secretary. I could be wrong, but it looked very much like the parliamentary scenes there were filmed in the House of Commons, which is always nice to see, and adds a touch of realism. Anyway, as Welles walks down the path towards madness, he dreams the old dream about appearing in public with... no trousers on. (And subsequently sings "Daisy, Daisy". It's a film that deserves immortality in circulated amusing Internet segments...)

davidh777

Added three items to my list.

Swing Time (1936) is probably my favorite Astaire and Rogers movie, even if it's flawed. It was the first one I saw, broadcast on late-night TV the night Fred Astaire died (that was back in 1987, when media wasn't as readily available, so our local station aired it after the news to be timely). Astaire and Rogers are just a joy, and the Kern-Fields score is great. Some of the comedy falls a bit flat, and there's a blackface number that was cut from my TV broadcast. Still, one of my favorite movies.

I did watch Charade, and it is the breezy fun that I remembered. It's been many years since I last saw it, so there were a few clues that rang familiar to me as the plot was unfolding. I watched it with my kids and kind of regretted that we hadn't watched North by Northwest first, as I think that shapes Cary Grant's character reveal a bit, but maybe there's still time by the end of the month.

I randomly watched A Few Good Men with one of my kids (the other, who was out, had already seen it). I thought I might be able to count it when it came up on the Wikipedia laserdisc page, but it was in the section of titles that were planned for laserdisc (spine 181) but never released. I thought I had lucked into one there.

So it was only two items in the end.

LJG765

I'd have to double check to be sure, but I think it's "The Man Who Knew Too Much."

I went through about 10 days ago and tried to find the eligible Hitchcock's but I think I missed quite a few. (Like North by Northwest which seems to be a laserdisc release by Criterion, but they don't have any links on his Criterion page.) Does anyone have an easy way of finding just one director's Criterion films? Even the ones not on DVD?

I'm surprised that Criterion hasn't made him of the people to explore, to be honest.

I've been trying to watch a lot of his films during eligible challenges as I think his filmography is one that I'm lacking in and since I've enjoyed most of what I HAVE seen, I want to watch them all.

flansered

I finally got around to watching the Lower Depths set. While I think that both movies are good, I think that they are both lesser films by each director. Kurosawa's had a better cast, but Renoir's was more fun to watch. Neither one is bad though.

And as I was writing this, my music player started playing the Spinal Tap soundtrack, which let me mark off the soundtrack portion of the list.

flansered

You can go here and sort it by name, director, year, or spine number:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...rdisc_releases
They also have a similar table on the page for the dvd releases.

LJG765

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for!

sleepyhead55

I saw it once years ago on VHS and it never really impressed me either. I just don't find the plot that interesting at all. Aside from the Dali inspired set piece near the end, I can't find that many memorable moments with the film.

I watched The Game today and while it doesn't edge out Seven as the best Fincher film, I believe it still holds up during multiple viewings. The ending doesn't really bother me as much as it does others. This films looks great in HD.

shadokitty

Why is it, when you are in the mood to watch a particular movie, you can't locate it? I wanted to watch Dazed and Confused, but can't for the life of me remember where I set my binder.

Trevor

I plan to watch The Game tonight, it's Michael Douglas' birthday.
I'm having a similar issue. I know that all of my Criterion DVDs are in storage, thought all the BDs were here on my shelves; yet I'm having a hard time finding titles I swore I owned on BD.

I've ended up using Hulu for most of my viewing this month actually.

Ash Ketchum

The music in SPELLBOUND is great. The score is by Miklos Rozsa, one of my favorite composers. One of the first uses of the theremin.

It is an odd film, though, but a must-see for Hitchcock fans, chiefly for Bergman's proactive performance and some great touches here and there, including the Dali dream sequence that Sleepyhead cited. I never quite bought Peck in that role. Not sure exactly what star of that era would have been better, though. Joseph Cotten, maybe? Other possibilities, like Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark and Kirk Douglas hadn't made their film debuts yet. (Peck was either their age or younger, but he got a head start on all of them.)

When I saw this film for the first time, it was at a Hitchcock double feature at Berkeley in 1974 and the scene of Peck and Bergman "skiing" in front of a rear projection scene drew roars of laughter from the crowd.

shadokitty

I've used Hulu for most of my viewing as well. Just saving the DVDs for when I'm in the mood for a certain movie. I plan to hit them all this month though some time.

davidh777

Comcast borked my 360 access and I've been unable to use Hulu.

I did open my BD of Singin' in the Rain, though!

I went on a huge Hitchcock kick back in the '80s when the restorations/rediscoveries came out. I hate to admit that I really prefer his color '50s work to some of the older stuff like Spellbound and even Strangers on a Train (I do love Rebecca, though, and I really enjoy Saboteur as well). I think Frenzy might have ended my kick.

mrcellophane

I think it's probably fine if you missed Family Plot! On a related note, I watched The Lady Vanishes today and had completely forgotten how delightful that film is! It's a little too silly and staged to have the impact of Rebecca or Saboteur, but it's still good fun. Also, I tend to lump Spellbound in with Marnie as these interesting but dated explorations of psychology.

Yesterday evening, I got together with some friends and watched Topsy-Turvy, Mike Leigh's film about Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. It's a favorite of mine and one of the best films I've seen that examines the behind-the-scenes of theater productions and the creative process.

ntnon

I just load and search three (or four) pages: Laserdisc, Blu/DVD, Hulu and Eclipse.

I may make my own database for ease of searching, because I don't think there's a masterlist...

Hitchcock's eligible films are:

CC Proper
The Lady Vanishes
The 39 Steps
Rebecca
Spellbound
Notorious
The Man Who Knew Too Much (34)
Foreign Correspondent

Additional
Sabotage
Secret Agent
Young and Innocent
North By Northwest
Blackmail

Many of the earlier ones are on Amazon Prime; Hulu only has Foreign...

sleepyhead55

I also had a problem with Gregory Peck's portrayal of the main character. It's not the worst Hitchcock film I've seen (Under Capricorn is far worse). The last scene of Spellbound is pretty good too.

I never saw Family Plot but I did watch Frenzy once on TCM. I found it pretty entertaining but predictable. I also watched The Lady Vanishes earlier in the month and really enjoyed it as well. I found it a lot funnier this time around. There is a certain British humor to that entire film. I think I find it more entertaining than The 39 Steps.

Ash Ketchum

RE: Hitchcock. I used to consider PSYCHO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST and REAR WINDOW as favorites because they were the flashiest and most entertaining. As I've gotten older, my tastes have shifted to the following as favorites: REBECCA, SHADOW OF A DOUBT, NOTORIOUS and STRANGERS ON A TRAIN.

Then I read Patricia Highsmith's novel, "Strangers on a Train," and it's sooooo much darker than the movie. The movie's really watered down in comparison. I now wish I hadn't read the book. Still, Robert Walker's Bruno remains one of the most brilliant portrayals of a psychopath (or psychotic?) in movie history. He's genuinely scary. And completely believable.

VERTIGO is some kind of a great movie but it's so damned disturbing. It's beautiful but it freaks me out. Stewart really goes off the deep end there. And it's even more disturbing because it's Stewart. If it had been Cary Grant it wouldn't quite have been as disturbing, because he'd mined that territory before, most notably in SUSPICION. If it had been Gregory Peck, that would have worked also.

MARNIE has flashes of greatness but something is off there, mainly in the lead performances. If there'd been a stronger actor in the male lead role (Connery wasn't quite there yet) someone more aggressive and overpowering for Tippi to play off, her portrayal might have worked. What if the Mark Rutland character was domineering and a bit psychotic? What if, say, Robert Ryan had played him? What kind of movie would that have been?

LJG765

The Dali segment was probably the most interesting one there. I read that it was supposed to be over 20 mins but they cut it do to financing. I think that was a good idea-20 minutes of those giant eyes would have been a bit too much! I thought Bergman did well in the film, but agree about Peck. I actually commented on that while watching. I'm not sure who else would have fit better, but he's just lacking something in this film. I also laughed at the skiing bit. I'm sure at the time it was considered just fine, but it's so obvious now that it makes you laugh at it rather than be impressed that they are "skiing."

I enjoyed Rebecca. I watched it not too long ago. It's not at the top of the list for me of his films, but it's up there.

Thanks! I do have Prime, so I may have to take a look at what is on offer there. So far (total, not just what I've watched for the challenge this month), I have watched The 39 Steps, Rebecca, Spellbound and The Lady Vanishes, plus a couple others that don't qualify. I'm slowly working my way through his filmography...

mostaccioli

i just bought thief and i liked the way it looks now,but it totally changed the color scheme from the way the movie was originally released. did this bother any purists?

LJG765

Watched "Sabotage" tonight off of Amazon Prime. Thought the movie itself wasn't bad, but the version they have is really dark. I read up and saw it was in the PD for awhile, so I have a feeling that's where their copy came from. Though, it was a pretty clear picture, just really dark.

I saw that they also had "Secret Agent" and "Young and the Innocent." They have some others, but those are the only 3 eligible for this challenge.

shadokitty

That doesn't always work. Classic Media's Gojira has yellow subtitles, and they are still sometimes drowned out by the white background.