What was the last movie you saw?

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Smashing Time (1967)

Two young women from the North of England go to Swinging London. Yvonne (Lynn Redgrave) is tall and flashy, Brenda (Rita Tushingham) is short and mousy. They have various slapstick misadventures until, late in the film, Yvonne wins ten thousand pounds from a Candid Camera type of television program and spends it in order to become a pop star. Brenda wins the affection of a photographer (Michael York) and becomes a supermodel. Brief conflict between the two turns back into friendship, and they leave London for home. Really, that's all there is to the plot, but the fun comes from the various random things that happen along the way. Imagine a Mack Sennett silent comedy transported in time and space to Carnaby Street in the 1960's and you'll have some idea what this film is like. (There's even a huge pie fight in a restaurant called, with dark wit, Sweeney Todd's.) The two leads are charming and funny. Tushingham, in particular, is absolutely adorable as a young British female version of Stan Laurel, causing chaos wherever she goes with wide-eyed innocence. There's some sharp satire of popular music and fashion photography near the end as well. (Redgrave's hilariously awful hit song, "I'm So Young," has lyrics like I can't sing but I'm young/Can't do a thing but I'm young. Tushingham does a television commercial for a perfume called Direct Action which shows her holding a bottle of the stuff in front of stock footage of violent riots.) Every once in a while we hear one or both of the stars singing about what they're thinking as a sort of one-or-two-woman Greek chorus. Notable for the fact that several of the secondary characters have last names taken from Jabberwocky. Lots of psychedelic music and mod clothing; at the height of her fame, Redgrave wears hysterically outrageous wigs and outfits. I thought the whole thing was fab and gear, baby.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Spike Jonze's Her (2013). Which for some reason I didn't see back then, though I'd seen his first three movies in the theater. I rather liked it. Was surprised not to find a thread about it on here.

 

[Droflet]

Yes, TC, a great movie.

 

[dask]

Whoops, sorry. Mistake.

 

[Anthoney]

I watched The Book of Eli last night. Once you get past a weak plot and some overacting by the supporting case you're left with one fact. Denzel makes a great badass.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

1984 (1956)

Decent version of the famous novel, but it can't hold a candle to the perfect 1984 version. The early and late parts of the film convey Orwell's creation in spirit, if not always in letter. (The opening credits modestly say the film is "freely adapted" from the book, but it's actually reasonably close.) The middle suffers from a flat and sappy version of the forbidden love affair between Winston and Julia, complete with lush, romantic music in the background. Edmond O'Brien is so-so as Winston, Jan Sterling is bland as Julia, Donald Pleasence is fine in a supporting role, and Michael Redgrave is excellent as this movie's version of O'Brien (renamed O'Connor, apparently to avoid confusion with the lead actor's name.) It's odd that the two leading roles are played by Americans in a very British film. Evidently made on a low budget, with a few interesting sets but otherwise with a rather flat look. Like the 1954 animated adaptation of Animal Farm, this was secretly funded, at least in part, by the CIA.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Vulture (1967)

It's remarkable that a movie could have such a ridiculous premise and yet be so dull that it provides almost no camp value. This British/Canadian/American production mixes Gothic horror and science fiction in a particularly ludicrous way. We start with a woman taking a bus, for reasons I never understood, to some place near a graveyard, which the driver helpfully describes as haunted. Sure enough, when she gets there we see a tombstone rocking back and forth, which provides a few chuckles. Something unseen comes out of the coffin, we hear the flapping of huge wings, the woman screams and faints. Later she's in the hospital, her hair turned white from fright, claiming she saw a gigantic bird with a human head. One of the many, many scenes of people talking gives us our back story. It seems the grave contained the body of a guy who was buried alive for witchcraft centuries ago, along with some gold coins and the guy's pet vulture; a familiar, I suppose. OK, so far we have a typical supernatural-revenge-from-beyond-the-grave plot, and making the undead sorcerer a half-vulture isn't as stupid an idea as some, if the movie just weren't so slow and boring. It's gets really absurd when Science Guy shows up, and deduces, with no evidence whatsoever, that somebody used "nuclear transformation" to get teleported into the coffin, got mixed up with the buried vulture, somehow got influenced by the dead guy's curse on the descendants of those who buried him because sound remains forever in the ether, or some such nonsense, and is now going around killing folks. Slowly. There are exactly two murders by giant vulture with human head, and you only get a tiny glimpse of a couple of big fake-looking talons as they carry away the victim. Eventually Science Guy figures out which of the film's red herrings has a generator and secret laboratory, and we get to see the villain dressed in a goofy bird suit. (There's no explanation for the fact that there's a skeleton in the laboratory. Maybe that's the dead guy, who got zapped there during all this teleportation and transmutation.) The whole thing is like a really bad combination of any resurrected witch movie you care to name and The Fly.

 

[Foxbat]

I haven't been particularly impressed or enamoured by recent Marvel releases but have to admit I enjoyed Captain Marvel.

 

[Jeffbert]

Womaneater aka The Woman Eater (1958)

Low budget British mad scientist/monster movie, which combines an extremely ridiculous premise with a very serious attitude on the part of all involved. Scientist goes to the Amazonian jungle to witness some "natives" sacrificing a young woman to a carnivorous plant. The womaneater is a ludicrous fake tree with a bunch of puppet-style tentacles swishing around, obviously hand-operated by somebody behind the tree. Five years later, scientist comes back to England with the womaneater and a "native" to bang on drums when he feeds local young women to it. It seems that when the womaneater eats women, it produces some stuff that can revive the dead. We get a scene where the scientist injects the stuff into what looks like a gigantic heart and it beats for a while. Along for the fun are the scientist's ex-lover/housekeeper; a carnival hula dancer who gets a job with the scientist; and the dancer's auto mechanic boyfriend. Scientist falls in love with the dancer, ex-lover gets jealous, they fight, he kills her. Guess who gets the reviving stuff injected into her. There's a goofy twist ending, too.

Spoiler

The stuff revives the body but not the brain, so she comes back as a mindless zombie.

I saw this turkey a few years ago. Lost in Space had better 'monsters'. The only saving grace is the fact that this is B&W, & the woman-eating plant is in the shadows for the most part.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Land of the Lost (2009)

Transforms the quirky, imaginative Saturday morning children's science fiction adventure television series into a a lame parody. The stunning special effects merely serve to point out how lame the comedy is.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Spiderman Far From Home, Not too shabby, however not his best. 6/10.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Saw Green Book last night. I found it enjoyable. Excellent performances by the two leads. (Viggo didn't look even a tiny bit like Aragorn.)

 

[Jeffbert]

The People Against O'Hara (1951) Spencer Tracy as James Curtayne an alcoholic washed-up lawyer, who defends Johnny O'Hara (James Arness) accused of Murder. ST had been relegated to minor cases, but JA's family was destitute and begged for a favor from a friend. In court, it is evident that Tracy is not up to the task, but he refuses any help from court appointed lawyers.

As expected Arness is convicted. Yet, the story has a twist:

Spoiler

Before going to war, O'Hara was in love with the woman who eventually married his boss, Knuckles Lanzetta (Eduardo Ciannelli) and had still been involved with her. But there is more: there is a suitcase that had been scrutinized by the police, but actually had drugs sewn into it, and was still sought by the killer. Tracy becomes involved in a scheme to trap the killer, and is mortally wounded.

Supporting cast includes:

Det. Vincent Ricks (Pat O'Brien)
D.A. Louis Barra (John Hodiak)
Pete Korvac (William Campbell: "Trelane, put away your humans, wash your hands, and come to dinner!")
Angelo Korvac (Charles Bronson; billed as 'Buchinsky')
Jeff Chapman (Richard Anderson; better known for his role in the $6,000,000 Man, as Oscar Goldman)
Ginny (Diana Lynn; never heard of her before, but she started as a child actor)

I liked it, but apparently MGM was not thrilled by it. Muller's before and after was very informative, as usual.

For All Mankind (1989) TCM is showing moon themed films in celebration of the 1st Moon landing this month. Some guy went through miles and miles of film, to make this. I was about 10 when the event occurred. Everything since then, everything space-related has paled in comparison. Anyway the film is for those interested in NASA, etc., and there is no NOIR here.

So, I watched the before & after comments on the other films that had them, but had seen Countdown (1968) no fewer than two times, From the Earth to the Moon (1958) and First Men in the Moon (1964) too many times to count. If I ever find the time, I would like to read the novels again. Actually I think First Men had neither before, nor after comments.

Next week,

8:00 PM
horror
Time Machine, The (1960)

8:00 PM
----------------------------------------------

10:00 PM

horror

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

-----------------------------
12:45 AM
horror

Five Million Years To Earth (1968)
---------------------

anything after these will likely lack the before & after comments.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Watched The Matrix, Twentieth anniversary on Thursday evening, I've never seen the film at the cinema only on DVD and Tablet. I was quite surprised that it didn't even feel dated and was an excellent watch. Never liked the sequels, the first is the best. 10/10. Not many films get that score often.

 

[Jeffbert]

While the City Sleeps (1956) Noir Alley; though Muller admits it just doesn't fit the genre as most others he had shown did. This is one of my favorite Newspaper dramas, along with Five Star Final; not sure which is #1. Star - studded cast; which Muller notes, is rare for Noir.

Edward Mobley (Dana Andrews) works in a media giant Kyne that includes TV news, newspaper & wire service. Andrews does the TV part. Amos Kyne (Robert Warwick, not familiar with him) owns the business, but dies about 1/4 into the film, leaving son Walter (Vincent Price, ) in charge. His wife, Dorothy (Rhonda Fleming) is being a naughty girl & having an affair. Dad dies immediate after editor Griffith (Thomas Mitchell) has already pasted news about a "lipstick killer" (John Drew Barrymore) as the main item on the front page, and is a bit upset to learn that papa's death is overshadowed by it. VP had not been brought into the business by papa, so he is unsure how to proceed. He starts a competition between his three top newsmen for a new position he has just created, for the guy who will run the business, seeing Price realizes he is not up to the task.

Those three are George Sanders as Mark Loving, Wire-service guy; Thomas Mitchell as Jon Day Griffith, already noted that he is the Editor; James Craig as Harry Kritzer (I cannot recall his post).

Mobley's friend Lt. Kaufman (Howard Duff) gives him information with which he formulates a way of exposing the killer. He publicly identifies his age, hair color, physique, and the fact that he reads comic books. The guy is shown taken aback by these facts, but is enraged when Mobley calls him a "Mama's boy." Nancy Liggett (Sally Forrest) and Mildred Donner (Ida Lupino), the "Star writer" are used as pawns by the three competitors; in fact, SF, being engaged to marry Andrew's character, becomes bait used to catch him. Mobley too late realizes he should never have used his love as such.

For me, the stars, most of whom are unfamiliar to me, were likely not as important as the story, with one exception VP. I think I would feel compelled to watch anything in which he appeared.

Oh, Muller mentioned the anti-comic book movement that existed at the time, and the fact that in the novel it was based upon, the killer read the Bible.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Well made and well acted, of course, but I couldn't help thinking this was just a modern version of an old-fashioned Hollywood musical biopic, complete with a montage of concert scenes with the names of cities flying by, and the scene where the composer comes up with a melody on the piano that goes on to become the basis of the big hit song.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Not Very Enlightened, Not Very Funny Gay-Themed Comedies From the Vietnam Era Triple Feature:

The Gay Deceivers (1969): A couple of straight guys avoid the draft by pretending to be gay. Because a military officer keeps a constant watch on them, a development that seems very unlikely, they move into an apartment together in a gay neighborhood. Sitcom complications ensue. It's all pretty bland and lame, not even managing to be offensive, despite its gay stereotypes and occasional use of derogatory terms for gay men. There's a really stupid scene where one of the straight guys, at a costume party full of gay men, many in drag, picks up what he thinks is a woman but isn't. There's no possible way this guy could have made this mistake, given the situation, so the intended comedy falls completely flat. The whole thing seems like an extended television skit.

Staircase (1969): Famously heterosexual actors Rex Harrison and Richard Burton star as a couple of aging gay men who have been together for thirty years. Burton wears a large bandage wrapped around his head for almost the entire film, to hide his bald head. Harrison is going to have to go to court on criminal charges because he dressed up in drag at a nightclub as a joke. That's it for plot, really. Most of the film is the two bickering with each other. Lots of dialogue that thinks it clever but isn't. There are also some uncomfortable scenes of Burton taking care of his very elderly, bedridden mother. Overall, a depressing experience.

The Pink Angels (1971): Low budget weirdness about a group of gay bikers on their way to a drag party. Starts off in confusing fashion, with a scene from what seems to be a drag party, which turns into a freeze frame as we hear the words "party" chanted over and over. Then we cut to a military officer driving up to a mansion. Scenes of this officer, which seem to be from some other movie entirely, alternate with scenes of the Pink Angels on their way. The Pink Angels look like typical macho bikers, but when other people aren't watching they suddenly speak in high, lisping voices and mince around. Not much happens. They pick up a hitchhiker, he runs away when he realizes they're gay, they have a food fight, the cops stop them and find out they're carrying women's undergarments, they run into straight bikers and they all party with some prostitutes, the Pink Angels get the straight guys drunk and put dresses and makeup on them, the Pink Angels go shopping for women's clothing, the straight bikers show up when the Pink Angels are in extremely unconvincing drag and stupidly think they're women, so the get drunk and get put in dresses and makeup again. Lots of padding and scenes that go nowhere, and quite a bit of wildly inappropriate soft folk-rock music on the soundtrack. The seemingly unrelated scenes of the military officer, played for extremely broad political satire, come together with the silly antics of the Pink Angels for the Shocking Twist Ending:

Spoiler

We see all the Pink Angels hanging dead from a tree. It's a bizarre sudden change in mood, not in keeping with anything else in the film.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Witches' Brew (1980)

Third adaptation of Fritz Leiber's classic novel Conjure Wife, and it doesn't even have the decency to give the great fantasist on-screen credit. The first version, Weird Woman (1944), was a passable low budget B movie. The second, Burn Witch Burn AKA Night of the Eagle (1962) was very good. This one is the worst of the three. It's also trying to be a comedy, at least some of the time. The basic plot is the same. College professor discovers his wife practices witchcraft to protect him and makes her get rid of her magic stuff. Bad stuff happens to him, and there's a life-and-death struggle with another witch. Poorly written, poorly directed -- they had to call in a second director for "additional sequences," which partly explains why this is such a mess --, poorly acted, and with jarring changes in mood from silly to serious. Includes a sequence in which bad special effects show a demon hatching out of a huge concrete egg, which has nothing to do with the rest of the story. An example of the film's incoherence is the fact that, early in the movie, the professor (Richard Benjamin) allows his wife (Teri Garr) to smear his body with bat guano, cat urine, lamb's blood, and feathers -- comedy! -- waits outside for hours until sunrise, then goes inside to shower, even though he was warned this would break the spell, since he dismisses all this as nonsense. Why did he go through with it, then? Lana Turner appears in her last movie role -- she'd go on to do a little television -- as the evil witch, out to transfer her soul into Garr's body.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Eyes of the Mummy (1918)

Silent German melodrama. Don't expect a walking mummy; the title refers to a very minor incident that has nothing to do with the main plot. Pola Negri is a young Egyptian woman held as a slave by her fellow countryman Emil Jannings, wearing extremely dark makeup. Our young hero rescues her and takes her to Europe, where she becomes a sensation with her "oriental" dancing, which of course looks more like modern ballet. With bare midriff and tight trousers, she's also pretty sexy for 1918. Jennings is also taken to Europe, as a servant for some other guy, and tracks down Negri, leading to the final, tragic tableau. Even at an hour long, it often drags. The hero is bland, but Negri and Jennings make strong impressions, in that old-fashioned silent movie way. It's hard to believe that this was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, soon to be known for the "Lubitsch touch" in light comedies. Of some historical interest.

 

[Jeffbert]

A few sci-fi films, the most infamous 1st:

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) Was it really 1964? I was barely 6 years old, but I vaguely recall the commercial for this turkey. I wanted to see it, soooo badly!

One fine day, the Martian kiddies are as usual studying their lessons. All school, no concept of play time. But the kids, Bomar & Girmar are not happy, to say the least. So, the daddy, who also happens to be the supreme leader of Mars, decides to take action, but what action?

Abduct Santa Claus from Earth, and bring him to Mars, to make toys for the Martian children. Reasoning that Earth has had him long enough, now Mars should benefit from his presence.

There was the old [what is it called?] deal with newspapers of many languages being piled one upon another, difficult to [print screen] of all, but I think I did rather well:

Ahhh! only allowed to attach 10 files!

But there is one Martian bigwig who opposes the idea, on the grounds that toys and playtime are frivolous, etc. He makes several attempts to sabotage Kimar (King Martian)'s plans. Two Earth kids are caught and also brought to Mars.


12 to the Moon (1960) Where had this been, all my life? TCM showed it along with other moon-oriented films for the celebration of the Apollo Moon landing's 50th anniversary.

An international Space organization selects 12 scientists from various nations and several races to be the 1st on the Moon, and claim it for all Earth, lest some one nation claim it for itself. During flight, there are conflicts between the Russian (Tom Conway, & the only name I recognized) and Polish scientist and An Israeli and a German, all centered on WWII. The Israeli & the German make-up, later, after the German suffers a mild heart attack, and, during his period of senselessness, utters the fact that he had changed his name from an infamous one to another one. The standard space flight dangers make the travel time more interesting.

Also, an interesting alternative to showering with water, "Cleaned by ultrasound and massaged by air spray jets."


The spaceship will use chemical fuel to launch itself, but, once outside Earth's atmosphere, will use nuclear propulsion.

Of note, this film uses a unique solution to the problem of glare on the space helmets' visors' obstructing views of the faces. Just use a force field instead! I recall a noteworthy example of this problem in 1st Spaceship on Venus. There was a scene with a black guy, and because of the visor, all you could see of his face, were his teeth. Not a problem with 12 to the Moon!

The space ship is the classic design, several decks with a central ladder connecting them. It appears to have a much greater diameter inside, than out. The innards of the ship appear mostly to be devices and such sitting upon tables. There are lounge recliners that would be seen at poolside on Earth, but here, they are so out of place on a spaceship! Note the oscilloscope at far right; obviously not an integral part of the place it sits upon.

I guess their budget was spent on other things!

One of the best, and likely least known quicksand death occurs here, as one Astronaut is swallowed by a pit of pumice dust. About 5 or 6 other vainly attempt to extract him, while he begs them to to become stuck also.

There are two guys in the pit, and the 2nd one is extracted, after becoming as sunken as the 1st guy had been when the others had reached him. Don't know why they could not pull the 1st guy out, esp. with 1/6 of Earth's gravity.

That guy is still alive, assuming the force field covering his face protects from positive external pressure as well as vacuums.

The Lunar surface is covered with slabs of safe to tread upon areas, separated by chasms. Meteors frequents bombard the Moon, causing danger to the Astronauts.

The ending was weird, as North America had been solid by the Moon people; who had then restored the Earth, seeing the Astronaut's willingness to self-sacrifice. Interesting, I might watch it again, if ever I can find it.


Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) So, I watched a documentary about Nimoy a few weeks ago, in which he noted this film's obsessive use of sfx, to the point where all other elements were secondary. I watched this on Prime, and by chance discovered an information pull-down thingy on the left edge, that was annoyingly distracting. How could I just sit there, watching, when there might be relevant trivia available?

Last time I saw this was 1979 or early 1980. At the time, I mourned that there was no conflict between the Klingons & the Federation guys. Plenty of conflict between crew members, though. Recently, I watched TOS' Balance of Terror, based upon old WWII surface ship Vs. U-Boat films. That had the conflict I had expected from this film; which, sadly, it lacked. If not for my expectations not being met, I suppose I would have enjoyed it more. My recent viewing was a bit more satisfying, as I enjoyed laughing at certain 'dumb' parts.