Fox Horror Classics
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HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 3:46 pm
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Gregory
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:07 pm
The Saragossa Manuscript? This one has the most stories within stories of any film I know of. On the first viewing of it, I didn't really enjoy experiencing this seemingly endless Chinese doll structure. If I give it a second viewing I would probably pay less attention to the narrative details and more attention to visuals, moods, etc.
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davebert
- Joined: Fri May 05, 2006 8:00 pm
- Location: NY
- Contact:
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HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 3:46 pm
davebert wrote:I seem to remember House of Strangers having a very flashback-intricate structure... but maybe I'm just confusing that with another family drama noir.
It does, but that's not it.
I'm thinking Marienbad-- but also thinking not, because I remember seeing it on DVD, and Ive never seen Marienbad on disc.
One things for sure: I'm getting old. And with this comes a distinct aeration in the cheese rolling around within the skull.
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HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 3:46 pm
House of Strangers is very engaging melodrama, but having grown up in the Italian section of the north Bronx... Eddie G's rendition of an Italian accent is really really funny-- I have a joke concerning the dialog between an old-country Italian Father and his Americanized Kid regarding the sex life of his impending marriage, and Eddies inflection sounds like the typical joke-ready "bad Italian accent-imitation" complete with shoulder rolling and cocking upturned palm w thumb/index finger touching (like playing w a tiny yo yo real fast) that I and so many others use.
Conte is the real glue holding this film together. WIthout the strength of his cooly muscular presence & performance, the thing would have slid down the hill into a ditch of vintage curiousity.
Speaking of, excuse me while I slide down into a ditch w Violent Years / Girl Gang... because Ed Wood is worth it even in traces. CHICKS WHO RAPE MEN IN THE PARK AFTER STEALING THE GIRLFRIENDS ANGORA SWEATER!
Conte is the real glue holding this film together. WIthout the strength of his cooly muscular presence & performance, the thing would have slid down the hill into a ditch of vintage curiousity.
Speaking of, excuse me while I slide down into a ditch w Violent Years / Girl Gang... because Ed Wood is worth it even in traces. CHICKS WHO RAPE MEN IN THE PARK AFTER STEALING THE GIRLFRIENDS ANGORA SWEATER!
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nycmagus
- Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:44 pm
I think that it is Conte plus Hayward that gives the film a solid core. Mankiewicz creates separate spaces for them to inhabit and inflects their dialogue so it is readily different from that of the other characters.
Conte's coolness is mixed with that of Hayward, and both are placed under the clinical eye of Mankiewicz, serving as the perfect foils to the standard churn of melodrama.
Conte's coolness is mixed with that of Hayward, and both are placed under the clinical eye of Mankiewicz, serving as the perfect foils to the standard churn of melodrama.
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nycmagus
- Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:44 pm
David: I watched LETTER last night as well. Addie Ross is more than an organizing absence; she is a controlling absence. She sets the stage just as Addison does at the beginning of EVE. The audience gets to know what is necessary about the stage upon which the story will be told.
GHOST is so beautiful -- a love story where the man waits for the woman. It is my favorite love story on screen -- for several people I know who are not ardent fans of JLM, it is the one movie of his that they like.
GHOST is so beautiful -- a love story where the man waits for the woman. It is my favorite love story on screen -- for several people I know who are not ardent fans of JLM, it is the one movie of his that they like.
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HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 3:46 pm
For impeccable Italian mannerisms by an American actor see Al Ryder in Mann's TMen-- he suddenly breaks into real Italian at the hotel desk during check in with little Pasquale (the sublime Tito Vuolo) so authentic you'd almost not pick up its not his first language.
Al Ryder, another unsung actor's actor. Here's a wonderfully, outrageously over the top performance by him as a cockneyish sleazoid con about to mount the gallows.. in whats often claimed the "first supernatural" tv series (it was on ABC in 59) called One Step Beyond, and this was the premeire ep, called "The Devil's Laughter". Interesting that it looks so much like an Eagle Lion noir in visual style, and also features in addition to Ryder, John Newland, who played the sidekick to Carson in Tmen. Watch Ryder launch into the stratosphere at around 5min 50 sec, with the priests entrance. You get a hint of where the guy pulled out the chops to be the standby for Laurence Olivier in the role Archie Rice, in the 1958 Bway production of 'John Osborne''s "The Entertainer". Some consider Olivier's Rice one of the greatest performances of the 20th Century.
Al Ryder, another unsung actor's actor. Here's a wonderfully, outrageously over the top performance by him as a cockneyish sleazoid con about to mount the gallows.. in whats often claimed the "first supernatural" tv series (it was on ABC in 59) called One Step Beyond, and this was the premeire ep, called "The Devil's Laughter". Interesting that it looks so much like an Eagle Lion noir in visual style, and also features in addition to Ryder, John Newland, who played the sidekick to Carson in Tmen. Watch Ryder launch into the stratosphere at around 5min 50 sec, with the priests entrance. You get a hint of where the guy pulled out the chops to be the standby for Laurence Olivier in the role Archie Rice, in the 1958 Bway production of 'John Osborne''s "The Entertainer". Some consider Olivier's Rice one of the greatest performances of the 20th Century.
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Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
- Contact:
And now, DVDdrive-in.
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filmnoir1
- Joined: Sat Jun 03, 2006 3:36 am
Fox Horror Classics
Today seemed like the appropriate day to sit and watch these films what with the sense of gloom that pervades the nation on this the 7th anniversary of 9/11 and with a massive hurricane headed towards Texas.
Of the three Dragonwyck is the most fully realized vision of horror and the gothic in an American setting. Gene Tierney is gorgeous in this film as the naive young farm girl who seeks a life of pleasure and refinement in the world of the old Dutch class system. In almost every scene she is lit in such a way that her eyes seem to bore into the soul of the characters and the viewer.
Vincent Price displays his uncanny ability to combine the ideas of a refined gentleman with that of sadism and evil. In fact there are moments in the film where the way he is dressed and lit remind one of Charlotte Bronte's description of Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre. This is not the cynical, empty headed social boy toy of Laura, this is a performance that displays his ability to express anguish, passion, jealousy, and madness, especially in the scene where he reveals to his second wife what he does all the time in the tower room of Dragonwyck.
Also adding to this Gothic ambience is Alfred Newman's brilliant score. The music wafts through the house and scenes like forgotten memories.
All of these films are interesting and demonstrate that Fox studios was capable of transforming routine material into stories and films that transcend generic expectations. For the money, this set is definitely worth purchasing. Here is hoping that Fox like Warner Brothers will continue to be such a good steward to their class collection, now if only Paramount would follow up these efforts with their own classic materials.
Of the three Dragonwyck is the most fully realized vision of horror and the gothic in an American setting. Gene Tierney is gorgeous in this film as the naive young farm girl who seeks a life of pleasure and refinement in the world of the old Dutch class system. In almost every scene she is lit in such a way that her eyes seem to bore into the soul of the characters and the viewer.
Vincent Price displays his uncanny ability to combine the ideas of a refined gentleman with that of sadism and evil. In fact there are moments in the film where the way he is dressed and lit remind one of Charlotte Bronte's description of Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre. This is not the cynical, empty headed social boy toy of Laura, this is a performance that displays his ability to express anguish, passion, jealousy, and madness, especially in the scene where he reveals to his second wife what he does all the time in the tower room of Dragonwyck.
Also adding to this Gothic ambience is Alfred Newman's brilliant score. The music wafts through the house and scenes like forgotten memories.
All of these films are interesting and demonstrate that Fox studios was capable of transforming routine material into stories and films that transcend generic expectations. For the money, this set is definitely worth purchasing. Here is hoping that Fox like Warner Brothers will continue to be such a good steward to their class collection, now if only Paramount would follow up these efforts with their own classic materials.