Poor Peter Bogdanovich couldn't understand how Kafka could be funny -- yet another example of the illiteracy of film directors.
― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 January 2011 03:28 (thirteen years ago) link
feel bad saying this since OW is my favorite film guy for life but 'the trial' doesn't really work for me, the 'before the law' opening aside.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 3 January 2011 04:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Certainly love the fact that Perkins was cast in the role, but it doesn't turn out to be as good as you think.
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 3 January 2011 13:33 (thirteen years ago) link
ppl who voted for Arkadin or F for Fake: banned from filmwatching― Dr Morbius, Thursday, August 7, 2008 8:11 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Awarded a long-overdue SB for this comment.
― it also takes hip-hip with it (Eric H.), Monday, 3 January 2011 13:58 (thirteen years ago) link
oh, cmon
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 3 January 2011 14:04 (thirteen years ago) link
and remember, Starman is John Carpenter's best.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 3 January 2011 14:05 (thirteen years ago) link
And there's another one.
― it also takes hip-hip with it (Eric H.), Monday, 3 January 2011 14:05 (thirteen years ago) link
I really don't think it works that way, Pope Eric
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 3 January 2011 14:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Rest assured: I SB'd you both.
― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 January 2011 14:07 (thirteen years ago) link
I'd like to re-poll this one. Also S&S '12 if Kane takes that one.
― it also takes hip-hip with it (Eric H.), Monday, 3 January 2011 14:09 (thirteen years ago) link
wau, ya woulda made a "great dictator"
(based on an idea by Orson Welles)
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 3 January 2011 14:15 (thirteen years ago) link
And you would've made a great court jester.
(based on a genre of film by untalented hacks)
― it also takes hip-hip with it (Eric H.), Monday, 3 January 2011 14:19 (thirteen years ago) link
the vessel in yer pestle
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 3 January 2011 14:22 (thirteen years ago) link
I really think I may have been wrong about Jerry Lewis.
― it also takes hip-hip with it (Eric H.), Monday, 3 January 2011 14:27 (thirteen years ago) link
Rent/dl/steal and watch "Black Magic", fellow film geeks. Have fun!
― A happenstance discovery of asynchronous lesbians (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 3 January 2011 15:28 (thirteen years ago) link
havent seen The Trial since i was a kid, but i thot it was amazing then
― Princess TamTam, Monday, 3 January 2011 15:38 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah the trial is good. saw it first while stoned out of my head and really dug it: the soviet bloc style tower blocks, the weird frisson with the chix, the running around latticed mazes casting crazy shadows, the play on the psycho persona with the nervous repressed nice young man free of crime this time if still moved to temper, the bizarre variation on the kafka ending
― zvookster, Monday, 3 January 2011 15:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Dennis Perrin on growing old w/ Ambersons:
http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2012/05/lost-in-amber.html
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 20 May 2012 08:26 (eleven years ago) link
well and beautifully said.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 21 May 2012 06:20 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, Macbeth definitely not on the same playing field as Chimes at Midnight.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:09 (eleven years ago) link
But still much better than I expected from a movie shot in 3 weeks in salt mines.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:10 (eleven years ago) link
and much better than Othello.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:48 (eleven years ago) link
fond memories of his Macbeth. I guess I should get around to seeing the Magnificent Ambersons one of these days
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:48 (eleven years ago) link
Didn't realize DVD was now available as a standalone.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:49 (eleven years ago) link
I remember Roddy McDowall being kinda terrible in Macbeth... Othello all the way among Shakespeares.
― kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:51 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, Roddy isn't going to make a great king.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:55 (eleven years ago) link
Will get back to you to call you totally insane, Morbs, when I finally get around to Othello.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:56 (eleven years ago) link
tsk tsk, you have become what I was merely rumored to be....
― kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:06 (eleven years ago) link
That's a throne you will never vacate.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:09 (eleven years ago) link
Not only does Macbeth boast one of Welles' few good performances, the one by Jeanette Nolan is almost as good.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:11 (eleven years ago) link
no, I do what's necessary and leave. xp
oh, you go envision Cary Grant as Titus Andronicus!
― kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:12 (eleven years ago) link
"one of Welles' few good performances"
Hah, OK, so that's what it looks like when I do that.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:18 (eleven years ago) link
I get my jollies envisioning Archie as Rosalind.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:18 (eleven years ago) link
insightful?
i maintain that OW never made any bad films, but 'macbeth' is better than 'othello'
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:48 (eleven years ago) link
I, too, haven't seen a "bad" Orson Welles movie yet.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:51 (eleven years ago) link
The Stranger probably.
Bad performances he's got, er, tons of.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:53 (eleven years ago) link
If performances like his are bad, I don't really give a care about good ones.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:55 (eleven years ago) link
He's hopeless playing a straightforward love scene (e.g. Tomorrow is Forever).
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:56 (eleven years ago) link
Well, yeah, who wants to see that? (Tho I was surprised at how rowr he was -- by his standards -- early on in Macbeth.)
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:58 (eleven years ago) link
I rewatched Ambersons last night; I always forget that's Anne Baxter as Cotten's daughter. She was allegedly 18 or 19. That scene where she faints in the drugstore AFTER Welles swings the lens away from her... who did THAT, ever, in Hollywood?
Tim Holt's fine as Georgie, as written at least. Love the way he says "Umph, strawberry shortcake" in the kitchen with Aunt Fanny.
The George-Mom relationship really isn't that compelling for an Oedipal drama tho. A near-great amputee of a movie, still.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 23 January 2013 02:20 (eleven years ago) link
Cotten is magisterial in a quiet sad way that's always killed me.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 January 2013 02:24 (eleven years ago) link
and that's after he's introduced slapstickily, exhibiting male fashion habits of 1900, then taking a pratfall.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 23 January 2013 02:25 (eleven years ago) link
the Baxter-Cotten chat about Indians is one of my favorite throwaway surreal bits in movies.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 January 2013 02:26 (eleven years ago) link
well, it's pretty thematically relevant, tho I'm not sure if the chief who gets set adrift is Morgan or George...
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 23 January 2013 02:28 (eleven years ago) link
(I wonder if it's in Booth Tarkington)
there's a bit in the Thomson bio where he observes that Welles make Tarkington as deep as Henry James whereas most screen adaptations of James look like...Tarkington.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 January 2013 02:30 (eleven years ago) link
btw I still own this on VHS recorded from the local PBS station twenty years ago
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 January 2013 02:31 (eleven years ago) link
The most beautiful (and most nostalgic) shot in the film has to be the iris at the end of the snow ride:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJxgrxl5BRM
― clemenza, Wednesday, 23 January 2013 02:32 (eleven years ago) link
The George-Mom relationship really isn't that compelling for an Oedipal drama tho.
one of the most fucked-up things about what RKO did to 'ambersons' is that they didn't just cut stuff, they actually RESHOT a couple of scenes to make tim holt more 'sympathetic' and less of a dick. so it was probably more intense in the original cut.
sabotage and all, this feels like welles's...deepest and most resonant movie, somehow. so many little bits of it just stick with me.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 23 January 2013 02:36 (eleven years ago) link