DSL's Movie/TV Reviews and Discussion

[Jeff Buchanan]

Have at it.

[AlabamAlum]

Pretty sure this is what the miscellaneous thread is for.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, you obviously didn't read DSL's post in it's proper place requesting a Movie Review/Discussion Thread. I thought it was a good idea becasue there is a lot of discussion on this very subject and I approved it. The thread will rise and fall in the list of unstick threads depending upon use so, it will either remain in your view, depending on how many threads you select to do that in your settings, or age out and disappear.

You can sit down now.

[lineygoblue]

:::golf clap:::

[iam416]

Ned Beatty deserves his own thread. I trust DSL will pay homage accordingly.

[WingsFan]

[AlabamAlum]

Well, I guess this means the miscellaneous thread is really not miscellaneous. Change its name to Politics.

[AlabamAlum]

And I would like a hotsauce thread, one on Times New Roman font vs Arial, the best chess players named Morphy, and why Talent is a knucklehead.

[WingsFan]

I highly recommend 'Nocturnal Animals' its a couple years old, but worth the watch. I watched it twice already. Michael Shannon is a guy who doesn't seem to get the credit he deserves plays the heavy cop out for justice and he's no Sheriff Ed Tom Bell.

The sign of a good movie is not always if you agree with it or it makes you feel good or feel comfortable. It's if it makes you care and if it makes you think. This movie had parts that made me angry, sad, laugh, disgusted, but I was never bored and that to me is a good movie.

Oh yea Fuck these comic book movies

[Jeff Buchanan]

AA, your requests are duly noted and rejected because, well, just because. Your noise here is being drowned out by actual "on topic" posts about movies.

Please, again, sit down.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ned Beatty deserves his own thread. I trust DSL will pay homage accordingly.

I may discuss some Ned Beatty appearances in the near future...

[Dr. Strangelove]

So over the last couple months I watched a bunch of early Alfred Hitchcock stuff that I'd never seen before (well, one is a rewatch). Some of these are available on Amazon Prime for free if you're curious about any of them. Others are available in various formats...including a lot of high-quality Criterion Collection stuff. I felt like discussing each individually and laying out my thoughts and recommendations. On most of them I will probably reveal spoilers unless I think it's somewhat key to the entire film. Because I mean, c'mon, these are 80+ year old movies I'm talking about here.

The movies are:

The Lodger (1927)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
The 39 Steps (1935)
Sabotage (1936)
Secret Agent (1936)
Young and Innocent (1937)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Rebecca (1940)
Foreign Correspondent (1940)

So first up, just a quick word on The Lodger



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The Lodger (1927)
d. Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Ivor Novello, June Tripp, Marie Ault. Arthur Chesney, Malcom Keen

A serial killer known as "The Avenger" has killed his 7th victim, all young blonde curly-haired women. Witnesses say the killer was so bundled up that only his eyes were visible. That same night, a mysterious & intimidating young man arrives at the Buntings' home, asking about the room for rent...

Although Hitchcock directed earlier films, in his interviews he always considered this to be the first true "Hitchcock film". The suspense is built around "is the new lodger the killer or not?". The Buntings' daughter (June Tripp) is of course a blonde, curly-haired woman and Ivor Novello shows up at the house bundled up except for his eyes. But SPOILERS! He is in fact not the killer. At the end he is nearly lynched until someone shows up to tell everyone that the real killer was caught a mile away. The end.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this unless you 1) Have a high tolerance for silent films 2) Just want to see everything Hitchcock ever made 3) Can get it cheap or for free. There's a Criterion Collection version of this and other than it looking nice (for a 1927 film) it's not worth the cost.. It's a very, very simple story with the silent era's non-subtle acting. The problem with this and a lot of silent films frankly is you end up watching for academic or technical reasons rather than for enjoyment. It's neat to see what kind of camera techniques they had in 1927, or what angles, or a rare dolly shot. But it's not particularly enjoyable to watch.

[Dr. Strangelove]

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The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
d. Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Leslie Banks, Peter Lorre, Edna Best, Nova Pilbeam, Frank Vosper

Hitchcock made quite lot of films between 1927 and 1934 (some available) but the next that I watched, and the start to his "spy" period, was this.

The Lawrence family enjoys their time at a Swiss ski resort. Wife Jill Lawrence is actually an excellent shot and participates in some skeet shooting, competing against the overbearing Italian Ramon. The family also befriends a French skier named Louis. One night, while dancing, Louis is shot and killed. Before he dies, he tells Jill about a secret plot to assassinate an unnamed European leader in London. Louis, it turns out, was a spy. While the Lawrences are sorting through all this, their daughter (Nova Pilbeam) is kidnapped, and the terrorists threaten that if they mention any of this to any authorities, she's as good as dead.

I believe this is the only film Hitchcock ever remade and it's hard to understand why; it holds up just fine even now, let alone needing an 'update' for the 1950's.

The cast the is strong, with Peter Lorre an obvious standout. The Royal Albert Hall sequence became famous and movies continue to try and imitate or improve on it up to this day (see Mission Impossible 5 for example). A scene with a villainous dentist (yes, really) and a sun-worshiping cult (yes, really) also stand out. Although there's a few other films I'd still like to check out, this is probably the earliest Hitchcock film I'd call "essential" if you're trying to watch a wide swath of his stuff.

[Dr. Strangelove]

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The 39 Steps (1935)
d. Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Godfrey Tearle, Lucie Mannheim, Wylie Watson

Like in The Lodger and so many Hitchcock movies, the "wrong man, wrong place" archetype is used here. Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) attends a vaudeville show when a fight breaks out. He find himself taking home an exotic woman who says she is in danger and has uncovered a plot to steal British military secrets. During the night, she is murdered and Hannay is meant to take the fall. Instead, he travels to Scotland, a country mired in 17th century ways, to seek out a secret organization known as the 39 Steps.

I don't want to give too much away about this one because I think it's probably lesser known in the US and lesser seen than most of Hitchcock's American pictures. And I think it's well worth seeing, A number of organizations consider it among the best British films ever made in fact. There's a number of moments meant to surprise and in particular I like the ending. What seems like a throwaway scene earlier in the movie ends up being a major clue.

Donat and Carroll have terrific chemistry as the two leads. Carroll arguably set the archetype of the icy blonde that Hitchcock loved. She definitely not as known as she once was, but she was one of Britain's biggest stars in the 1930's until she basically gave up acting for philanthropy when her sister was killed during the London Blitz. And Donat was so good that Hitchcock tried to use him several more times, but the actor's health always prevented it (Donat won an Oscar for his role in Goodbye, Mr. Chips).

So would definitely recommend. One of the best of Hitch's British era films. This is available for free on Prime

[Jeff Buchanan]

DSL, these are great. Glad you asked for this thread.

I have vivid memories of watching a lot of Hitchcock on TV with my Mom and Dad in the late 50s. Hitchcock had a TV show that ran from 1955 - 1965 called Alfred Hitchcock Presets. I can still hum the opening tune for the show.

Each episode featured a 30 minute short story. I don't remember them but a Wiki search for the TV show's title jogged my memory on a few of them ..... always good. I was 9/10 at the the time and lived in Wilmette, IL, a northern suburb of Chicago. The house I grew up in is still on Forest Avenue. I thought it was huge ..... it is tiny even though it had an addition on the back end of the otherwise narrow two story stucco house..

I think my Dad loved Hitchcock movies and if one was playing on TV, he'd tune in, smoke cigs and drink scotch - Buchanan's, of course. Distinct memories of those smells too. Funny how stuff like that stays with you. I have good childhood memories of Alfred Hitchcock, that time and my Mom and Dad watching that show and his movies too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock_Presents