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Not sure why Bel Geddes looks like a ghost. If designers want to mimic old avant-garde photography, that can be okay, but the choices should make sense vis-a-vis the film.
"Opuls"?

Gregory wrote:"Opuls"?

That is, for some godforsaken reason, how Ophuls was credited on his American films.

Yeah, but that's not how Olive billed him on the cover of Letter from an Unknown Woman, which was also a U.S. film. Seems like an odd and unnecessary decision.

Ashirg wrote:Wow, some of those covers look ugly.

http://classicflix.com/OLIVE-Caught-Pea ... 31044.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't get Lost Moment cover and Mr. Peabody and The Mermaid looks like was done by swimminghorses.

I can assure you Swimminghorses would consider it an honor to have designed the cover to "Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid"!

domino harvey wrote:Really? I think they're clearly bringing some Criterion-aping A Game. I mean, if anyone on this board knows me, they know I hate Caught but that's an AMAZING cover:

In fact it's a not very interesting variation on what was done for the Wild Side DVD release.

How could anyone hate Caught? Hate implying something deserving of hate, i.e., pernicious, completely worthless, etc. I'm not looking to debate the matter. I just cannot imagine on what grounds the film (which, yes, I like immensely as I do all of Ophuls) could be "hated".

Dom finds it to be exactly those things. Or in his words it is the worst film he's ever seen by a director capable of great movies. I personally wouldn't go that far, but it isn't a film I would want to see again.

See again either?

Yes, the ol' "Worst film by a great director" declaration, which has found considerable competition in the interim from the likes of Rollover and the Cotton Club and more I'm sure

knives wrote:Dom finds it to be exactly those things. Or in his words it is the worst film he's ever seen by a director capable of great movies. I personally wouldn't go that far, but it isn't a film I would want to see again.

I'd rather sit through Caught than

IAMMMMW
Fat Girl
Tiny Furniture
Chasing Amy
Armageddon
The Rock
Contempt

and anything by Wes Anderson

I consider Godard & Kramer capable directors. ..I guess I'm the only one who hasn't cared for anything Wes Anderson has done so far. Technically he seems capable, it's just nothing he's done has compelled me to see it more than once (or even through to the end, although I have been able to listen to all of his Terry Gross interviews on NPR in full). I'm sure (almost) everyone can come up with a number of titles in the catalog that are more insufferable than the worst film by Ophuls (if you do consider Caught his worst).

None of those films were made by "great directors" though (at least not my definition)

domino harvey wrote:Yes, the ol' "Worst film by a great director" declaration, which has found considerable competition in the interim from the likes of Rollover and the Cotton Club and more I'm sure

...and with all the Ford talk, What Price Glory?

domino harvey wrote:None of those films were made by "great directors" though (at least not my definition)

Godard isn't a great director in your definition?

domino harvey wrote:None of those films were made by "great directors" though (at least not my definition)

Even Contempt? Though of course this goes down to show how much these proclamations are as subject to personal taste as any other one which suggests a hierarchy of quality.

Okay, clearly I somehow missed Contempt at the end of that list. JLG is of course one my very favorite directors. Carry on!

domino harvey wrote:

domino harvey wrote:Yes, the ol' "Worst film by a great director" declaration, which has found considerable competition in the interim from the likes of Rollover and the Cotton Club and more I'm sure

...and with all the Ford talk, What Price Glory?

Oh no, The Plough and The Stars is much worse than What Price Glory. Much, much worse.

It may well be, I have not seen it yet!

but what's the name of the movie??

This is why we can't have nice things

domino harvey wrote:It may well be, I have not seen it yet!

You'd be wise to continue that trajectory. It's like if The Informer replaced the good stuff with bad (or worse I guess) accents. The good thing is it's only about an hour long which is probably enough to keep it off the list.

Caught can't be a Worst Film By A Great Director because Lola Montes, The Reckless Moment and Le Plaisir are all worse.

So there.

If you're suggesting that all of those films are bad, then how does Ophuls still figure as a great director?

You will note I didn't say they were bad, I said they were worse (than Caught). I don't think any of them are bad, and certainly not bad enough to discredit Ophuls as one of the greats.

challenging opinions!

The last page or so of this thread needs to be entered into this forum's annals of comedy. Good stuff. I don't know what it is about Lola Montes or Martine Carol but I can't get enough of both.