Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

DSL's Movie/TV Reviews and Discussion

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • 51NAf99PW9L._AC_.jpg

    SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943)
    d. Alfred Hitchcock
    Starring: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotton, MacDonald Carey, Henry Travers, Patricia Collinge, Hume Cronyn


    This ones for Jeff. SPOILERS AHEAD

    Charlie Oakley is living in a boarding house somewhere on the east coast but decides to visit his sister's family out in Santa Rosa, California, dodging two men who are apparently following him. Charlotte "Charley" Newton has always idolized her charismatic, wealthy, urbane uncle, and is thrilled that he's visiting and relieving her of boredom. But Uncle Charlie is possibly not all he seems and as the days go on, she becomes more and more worried what his presence means for her family and their town.

    This is a great movie and is probably my favorite Hitchcock film that I've seen. Really the entire cast beyond Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotton is pretty inconsequential but those two are both just so good in this. Teresa Wright has become a bit of a favorite 40's actress for me and it's a shame her run at the top ended as quickly as it did and her name unrecognizable to most modern viewers. Joseph Cotton is fantastic as Uncle Charlie. At least as far as the films I've seen go, Uncle Charlie is the scariest, most psychotic villain Hitchcock would have at least up until Psycho, and I would argue Uncle Charlie is more evil; Norman Bates was just nuts.

    The cinematography of this movie is also just...wow. Hitchcock was obviously having some fun with the word 'shadow' in the title because man, the use of shadow and darkness in this movie is phenomenal. When you want to demonstrate to film students how you can best use black-and-white to your advantage, show them this. Beyond that there's just some incredibly memorable shots. Young Charlie frantically searching the newspapers at the town library for a reason why cops to to talk to her uncle. The slow zoom and close-up of Joseph Cotton as he goes on a lengthy diatribe against middle-aged women. The uses of smoke from Uncle Charlie's cigars and the foul, pitch-black smoke of the train as it delivers Uncle Charlie to the idyllic town.

    Highly recommended if you like classic cinema. This is at the top of my list for pre-1950's Hitchcock, possibly my favorite of all.

    One little bit of trivia (there's a lot one could mention) but this film was really filmed on location in Santa Rosa, California (wine country). The Newton House still exists and supposedly even some of the interiors were used in filming. But the beautiful stone town library was demolished in the 60's and much of the rest of downtown Santa Rosa featured in the film was destroyed in a 1969 earthquake.

    The official trailer for the movie has plenty of spoilers so here's a fanmade one instead. The visuals at least look a lot better


    Comment


    • Originally posted by Hannibal View Post
      52 Pick-up is Vanity's best movie.

      Fight me.
      Clearlt better than Action Jackson but The Last Dragon would certainly garner some votes.

      Comment


      • In my Best Picture marathon, I'm up to On the Waterfront. I did see if for the first time 2-3 years ago and enjoyed it quite a lot. It certainly will make my upper-third in ranking what I've seen so far.

        If I include OtW, that means I'm 27 movies in, I'd say my top 9 (not in order) are:
        It Happened One Night
        Casablanca
        Rebecca
        Gentleman's Agreement
        An American In Paris
        From Here to Eternity
        You Can't Take it with You
        On the Waterfront
        All About Eve


        Gone with the Wind was epic and I did enjoy it overall. However, it didn't live up to a lifetime of hype for me. I enjoyed it but my feel right now is that I'd be okay with never watching it again. All the ones on my list I think I'd enjoy seeing again, even Casablanca, which I'd already seen at least once before.

        The Broderick Crawford character in All the King's Men reminded me a lot of a certain current politician, although Crawford's Willie Stark seems to start out with good intentions. That film was close to making my list and the performance was great. Paul Muni as Emile Zola is another performance from a movie that didn't quite make my top 9 that I was really impressed with. I guess I should say that Olivier's Hamlet was good as well. There was something missing from that movie, though. For women, I really liked Green Garson in Mrs. Miniver.

        I have seen so many of these now that it's a little hard to keep everything straight.

        There certainly have been more good movies than stinkers. The Broadway Melody and Cavalcade are still at the bottom. Going My Way was pretty hokey but wasn't awful. I don't think it was worthy of even getting an Oscar nomination but I can see its appeal.

        I'm slowly getting towards the territory of movies I've seen before, like OtW, Around the World in 80 Days, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. None that I've seen twice and it's been 20+ years since I've seen the latter two. I'm looking forward to revisiting some of the films but it's also been cool seeing classic movies for the first time.

        Comment


        • Pretty good list. Only one I would probably swap out is Gentleman's Agreement for How Green Was My Valley instead.

          From like 1955 to 1970 the Best Pictures are pretty hit or miss to me. Will be interested in what you think about some of those. I hope you like musicals.

          EDIT: For whatever reason I had never seen From Here to Eternity until very recent. I feel like that film has fallen out of the public consciousness almost completely and I don't get why. It's really good. And that movie is pretty dark and depressing when you think about the things that are in it. Maybe that's why it's not more popular. I guess the book is even darker and they had to lighten it a bit to get past the censors.
          Last edited by Dr. Strangelove; July 3, 2020, 01:02 PM.

          Comment


          • From Here To Eternity was directed by Fred Zinnemann, who's also not at all a household name, but in a three year window he directed that, High Noon, and...Oklahoma! lol Quite a change of pace from the first two. Given it was the McCarthy era maybe he needed something to put him back in the good graces of the authorities.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by Dr. Strangelove View Post
              Pretty good list. Only one I would probably swap out is Gentleman's Agreement for How Green Was My Valley instead.

              From like 1955 to 1970 the Best Pictures are pretty hit or miss to me. Will be interested in what you think about some of those. I hope you like musicals.

              EDIT: For whatever reason I had never seen From Here to Eternity until very recent. I feel like that film has fallen out of the public consciousness almost completely and I don't get why. It's really good. And that movie is pretty dark and depressing when you think about the things that are in it. Maybe that's why it's not more popular. I guess the book is even darker and they had to lighten it a bit to get past the censors.
              I do like musicals, for the most part. More on stage than on film but I can roll with them. An American in Paris was enjoyable to me, kind of what comes to mind for me when I think of "Movie Magic". Great songs, great dancing, great visuals. I'm guessing West Side Story will be kind of like that. Probably a bit hokey (and overly white) too, but I think I'll be okay with that.

              BTW- Especially during this pandemic, a TV thread might be worth starting. I just watched (for the first time) all of Deadwood, including the movie last night. Great fucking series, though I needed to add the Closed Captioning sometimes.

              Comment


              • People whose opinions I trust recommended Hereditary to me. And so I watched it.

                Suffice it to say I no longer trust those people's opinions. JFC. If you haven't seen it, then the best what that I can describe it is if some really shitty "mystery box"-oriented scriptwriter like Damon Lindeloff or JJ Abrams decided to try and do a horror movie.
                Last edited by Hannibal; July 6, 2020, 08:53 AM.

                Comment


                • I haven't seen it but are you basically saying it throws random shit at you with no explanation and zero payoff?

                  Comment


                  • By-and-large, yes. I mean, there is a clear ending so it's not a 100% mystery box, but it's still pretty bad IMHO. It has a decent score on imdb so YMMV but I hated it.

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by Hannibal View Post
                      By-and-large, yes. I mean, there is a clear ending so it's not a 100% mystery box, but it's still pretty bad IMHO. It has a decent score on imdb so YMMV but I hated it.
                      “Signs” has a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. A good score is not a slam dunk.
                      "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

                      Comment


                      • National Treasure has a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 76%. At a minimum, that means roughly 76% of all Americans should never vote or otherwise voice an opinion.
                        Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
                        Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.

                        Comment


                        • I had no idea. NT is Signs bad so there is some consistency there. Although, in NT’s defense, it never seemed like it took itself too seriously -unlike Signs.
                          "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

                          Comment


                          • And the 76% on Signs is the critics’ score.
                            "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

                            Comment


                            • The whole lot should be summarily shot. Or exhiled to CHOP. Either way.
                              Last edited by iam416; July 7, 2020, 01:26 PM.
                              Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
                              Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.

                              Comment


                              • At least Signs had aliens. In The Happening the villain was tree pollen.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X