You're up at bat, Eric.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 16:53 (fifteen years ago) link
ambersons is sooo close, but I have to go with f for fake.
― t0dd swiss, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 21:09 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― ILX System, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link
dude wtf with the low Touch of Evil showing! guess I should've voted but I refrained cuz I haven't seen a bunch of these
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:02 (fifteen years ago) link
Answer: it's not that good.
― Alex in SF, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:03 (fifteen years ago) link
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8894/kaneklapqo6.gif
― wilter, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:07 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh ILX, will your surprise poll results never cease?
― Eric H., Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:41 (fifteen years ago) link
I request that from now on all ILX instances of the Welles slow clap be replaced with Heath Ledger Joker slow clap
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:43 (fifteen years ago) link
lol I was going to post both of them
― wilter, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Never seen The Immortal Story. Is this available?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:43 (fifteen years ago) link
no, but it gets an occasional late-night showing on TCM.
― J.D., Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:46 (fifteen years ago) link
how the hell did i note vote in this
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:48 (fifteen years ago) link
would have voted touch of evil ftw
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 6 August 2008 23:49 (fifteen years ago) link
ilx
― PappaWheelie V, Thursday, 7 August 2008 01:54 (fifteen years ago) link
Ambersons Ambersons Ambersons. Even what survives of it dwarves most filmmakers entire oeuvres
Touch of Evil = extremely overrated tho
― Vichitravirya_XI, Thursday, 7 August 2008 03:14 (fifteen years ago) link
ppl who voted for Arkadin or F for Fake: banned from filmwatching
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 August 2008 13:11 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm under the impression both are perfectly respectable choices. In fact, I'm under the impression anything short of The Fountain of Youth or The Hearts of Age is a respectable choice.
― Eric H., Thursday, 7 August 2008 14:37 (fifteen years ago) link
no way! The Stranger?!
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 7 August 2008 14:37 (fifteen years ago) link
I can see maybe saying that re: Arkadin (although I adore the shit out of it) but F for Fake? Please to explain.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 7 August 2008 14:43 (fifteen years ago) link
it's a cute stunt. Doesn't operate on anywhere the number of levels that Kane, Ambersons, ToE, Othello etc do. Unless you fall for, OHHHH, MAGIC / HOAXES / REALITY, AH'M SOOO KONFUZED...
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 August 2008 14:50 (fifteen years ago) link
Touch of Evil doesn't really work on "the number of levels" either, but then again, I partially buy into Kael's pronouncement of Kane as a "shallow masterpiece" and don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
― Eric H., Thursday, 7 August 2008 14:52 (fifteen years ago) link
What people often miss when they get het up over Kael's remark is that she italicized "shallow." She wasn't at all denying that CK was a great film deserving all the kudos.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 7 August 2008 14:54 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, me neither. The deeper I think you get into Kane, the less rewarding, but if you just hang out at the surface, yeah, it's one of the greatest movies evah, obv.
― Eric H., Thursday, 7 August 2008 14:55 (fifteen years ago) link
ToE is the one I'd call the shallow masterpiece; brilliantly executed, and still "just" a tarted-up dirty-cop grinder. At least Welles never made a horror film. ;)
Kane's biggest weaknesses are in the parts of the dialogue where the Poor Little Rich Man theme is made overexplicit (more OW than Mankiewicz? I'll have to reread that Callow bio to check).
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 August 2008 14:58 (fifteen years ago) link
also, Simon Callow points out in his vol 2 that if Ambersons had been released acc to OW's wishes, there still would've been imperfect things about it, starting with the curious casting of Tim Holt.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 August 2008 15:00 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, no perfection in this filmography, thankfully.
― Eric H., Thursday, 7 August 2008 15:02 (fifteen years ago) link
I don't mind Holt much anymore. His awkwardness helps the character, and he does look chastened at the end.
Other Kane weaknesses: the chronology of the first marriage and meeting Suzie is muddled; "What would you like to have been?" "Everything you hate!"; and Thompson's last speech.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 7 August 2008 15:04 (fifteen years ago) link
Tim Holt is fine
― Tom D., Thursday, 7 August 2008 15:05 (fifteen years ago) link
but he's the wrong kind of (cowboy) actor! Not a persuasive silver-spoon Hoosier brat.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 August 2008 15:07 (fifteen years ago) link
He persuaded me. I wanted to smack the shit out of him.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 7 August 2008 15:09 (fifteen years ago) link
Seth Rogen for the remake, then.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 August 2008 15:10 (fifteen years ago) link
I bet Holt could have pulled off Mozart in Amadeus.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 7 August 2008 15:10 (fifteen years ago) link
He's much more in his element in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, sure.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 7 August 2008 15:11 (fifteen years ago) link
I don't know if F For Fake is all that great a film, but the section with Welles's monologue on Chartres cathedral is one of my favourite things in all cinema.
― Alba, Thursday, 7 August 2008 15:21 (fifteen years ago) link
i've decided to celebrate the new year by rewatching all of OW's films in order. anyone with me?
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 7 January 2010 04:07 (fourteen years ago) link
― Alba, Thursday, 7 August 2008 16:21 (1 year ago)
pretty much came here to post this
F For Fake is an awesome and compelling mindfuck and OW is like some sort of sly jovial God lumbering with Iberian aspect throughout a maze of artistic deflections
― some men enjoy the feeling of being owned (acoleuthic), Sunday, 30 May 2010 19:56 (thirteen years ago) link
before Morbs leaps on me though I gotta say I need to see more Welles - only seen Othello aside from this
― some men enjoy the feeling of being owned (acoleuthic), Sunday, 30 May 2010 19:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Why on earth are Chimes and Ambersons not available on DVD??? Very frustrating.
― Moreno, Monday, 1 November 2010 17:07 (thirteen years ago) link
in the case of Chimes, rights disputes I'm sure.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 1 November 2010 17:12 (thirteen years ago) link
it'd be sad to watch these on youtube but i guess that's what i'll have to do.
― Moreno, Monday, 1 November 2010 17:14 (thirteen years ago) link
My copy of Ambersons is a PBS showing in the mid nineties. Good condition too.
― sandra lee, gimme your alcohol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 November 2010 18:57 (thirteen years ago) link
Other Kane weaknesses: ... What would you like to have been?" "Everything you hate!"
of course alfred had to go and pick on my favorite line!
'ambersons' gets showed on TCM pretty often, i think. no idea why it isn't out on dvd, unless they're holding out for a 'metropolis'-style miracle. more and more i think it's his best film -- so many shots in there are like nothing else i've ever seen in a movie.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 1 November 2010 20:37 (thirteen years ago) link
there was some shitty dvd of ambersons in spain or mexico or somewhere and it was rlsed on xvid years ago, only copy i've seen of it but still my favourite film of his
― Terminal Boredoms (nakhchivan), Monday, 1 November 2010 20:49 (thirteen years ago) link
Saw Othello a few months ago in a theater — some audio sync problems but it's Welles at his sensory-overload baroquely excessive best.
― corey, Monday, 1 November 2010 20:50 (thirteen years ago) link
Just watched "Black Magic" (aka "Cagliostro"). What a hoot. Probably the most 'fun' Welles prior to "F For Fake". Also, so obviously directed by him for the majority of the film that I'm surprised it's not considered his.
― A happenstance discovery of asynchronous lesbians (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 3 January 2011 02:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Didn't mean to put fun in quotes there.
― A happenstance discovery of asynchronous lesbians (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 3 January 2011 02:51 (thirteen years ago) link
i saw The Trial the other day. Great effort but kind of a mess. one of those things they shouldn't have tried to do in the first place
― Cunga, Monday, 3 January 2011 03:02 (thirteen years ago) link
Nah, I love Anthony Perkins in the role, and the extra dialogue Welles wrote.
― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 January 2011 03:05 (thirteen years ago) link
it's fine on its own
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 3 January 2011 03:22 (thirteen years ago) link
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
the opening long shot, wow, I need to find that and watch it again
some incredible performances in this — welles especially, heston, andthat fortune-teller lady
a really unnervingly charming blend of camp and menace
― k3vin k., Sunday, June 23, 2019
I had the pleasure of showing it in my film class last Thursday, and I was delighted that half the class rode the groove even when it unnerved them. The idea of Heston playing a Mexican amused them; the quasi-rape scene did not.
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 June 2019 03:36 (four years ago) link
I was a little more nagged-at by The Lady from Shanghai's filler when I watched it last night: the courtroom stuff (although Everett Sloane's soliloquy about Welles's fate is memorable), and, if I'm honest, just a lot of the film when they're not in the aquarium and not in the funhouse. The story is convoluted and absurd (hardly an anomaly in the world of noir). But those two scenes and Glenn Anders as Grisby make up for everything (Rita Hayworth in a sailor suit, too). Grisby is like Timothy Carey in The Killing, or Joseph Wiseman in Detective Story (or Dennis Weaver in Touch of Evil)--it's hard to say if Anders is even trying to remain in sync with the film you're watching, or if he's simply off doing some other movie known only to him, and if the two happen to intersect, all the better. Visually, the aquarium scene is somewhat of a practice run for the funhouse later on, and the funhouse sequence was the clip I showed my last few primary classes in trying to demonstrate what a film director did. The original trailer for the film is on YouTube--there is conspicuously nothing from the funhouse sequence, suggesting that Welles wanted to extract every last iota of astonishment from anyone who went to see the film. (There's a fan trailer that uses the funhouse liberally.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3lW5UKsbP4
― clemenza, Thursday, 23 December 2021 16:36 (two years ago) link
k*r*g*rg* has The Other Side Of The Wind
Strange way to spell "Netflix".
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 24 December 2021 17:51 (two years ago) link
Tbf that post was made 10 years before it was on Netflix.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 24 December 2021 19:56 (two years ago) link