What movie are you viewing at the moment?

[scoundrel]

It's messy and not well written as an overall plot, but still enjoyable and has some very good moments. Carole Lombard looked terrific and gave a jolly good effort; she compensates for the insufficient warmth of Powell's performance. I never quite believed in the love affair of their characters, because its too one sided; all from her with no encouragement from him. But I did believe in their friendship as characters, in the way in which the bitter and alienated Godfrey of the town dump, a toff broken down by depression and chronic uphappiness, whose last assets are his dignity and the friendship of his fellow down and outs, befriends the younger society girl, Carole Lombard as Irene Bullock.

Unlike her sister, Gail Patrick as Cornelia Bullock, who is very lacking in empathy, Irene's typical flapper girl shallowness and scatterbrained silliness is redeemed to a considerable extent by a kind and generous nature; she doesn't have the mean streak her sister displays, and she is every bit as pretty as her sister. Even though he's too old for her anyway (he has little idea how determined she is), Powell's Godfrey "Smith" isn't too old to at least like a pretty girl and appreciate the compliment of being desired by one; he just thinks he needs to protect her from herself and not take advantage of her foolish inclination towards him. He's actually a success in business but a failure in love, and wound up on the dump because he went to the river to drown himself and found the dump, where people worse off than him are sticking it out without pitying themselves; their simple courage inspired him to try again, so he stayed there and became one of them rather than return to the society of rich people, Carole Lombard's society, which was so soulless that it tempted him to kill himself.

The cleverest thread of the film is that Carole Lombard's Irene wanted to help the nice derelict man who showed her courtesy and was rude to her sister; distinguishing between the two was a compliment to Irene which Irene understands and appreciates; but what Irene doesn't know is that Godfrey is fine, and he's only agreed to become her family's butler because they, especially her, need help from him. Although his dump world is vey hard and their art-decor society world is luxurious and seemingly soft, in reality they live in a colder place than he does and he is right to feel compassion. He used to be rich, and is only derelict because he actively doesn't want to go back; but being Lombard's butler is a half way house in which he can go back without committing himself to rejoin their empty hedonistic lives. So he decides to help her and her family because she was kind to him, with no possible advantage to herself. One good turn has deserved another.

Ms Patrick also looked terrific as Cornelia Bullock, the bad sister, and did well to play her character as thoroughly unsympathetic until the very end, when she realises that she has been consistently rotten to Godfrey, she even tried to frame him for stealing her pearl necklace just to score a point against her sister, who acted as his guarantor.Cornelia is humiliated and ashamed simply because Godfrey has unconditionally forgiven her and wished her well, and she herself is very well aware that she does not deserve to be forgiven. She'll be much slower to forgive herself; she's miserably ashamed. That's healthy; she has turned a corner because her conscience has woken up and her previous borderline sociopathic behaviour won't fit her anymore. This is a recurring theme of the film, that kindness and compassion for others are very important attributes of character. In its' best places, it is a humane and warm hearted film, with some well aimed satirical commentary on America's divided and emptily materialistic society.

[Brecht]

Vargtimmen - Hour of the Wolf (1968)

[Immy]

The French Connection (1971)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067116/

The 28th (of 86) Best Picture I've seen in a theater.

First viewing of the film that won out over my beloved A Clockwork Orange for best pic of 1971, but I didn't hold a grudge and went in looking forward to a prime 70s crime story.

What I got was a fairly decent but not overly exceptional cops vs drug smugglers movie. Certain elements are impressive and there were nice stylish touches but I guess it's important to view it in a historical context - it was the first gritty, realistic, mean streets cop movie and set at a time when NYC was its filthiest with drug use. A steady diet of the genre for more than 30 years lessened its impact on me. This must have been a dazzling, dizzying ride in its day. It's still effective, but as a time capsule as much as an urban crime film.

[Brecht]

Dressed to Kill (1980)

[L00N]

Burden of Dreams (1982) - IMDb

A documentary on the chaotic production of 'Werner Herzog's epic Fitzcarraldo (1982), showing how the film managed to get made despite problems that would have floored a less obsessively driven director. Not only does he have major casting problems, losing both Jason Robards (health) and Mick Jagger (other commitments) halfway through shooting, but the crew gets caught up in a war between Peru and Ecuador, there are problems with the weather and the morale of cast and crew is falling rapidly. Written by Michael Brooke <michael@everyman.demon.co.uk>
credit IMDb
-------------------
I enjoy this type of documentary and this one was not disappointing.
Worth a viewing for those like minded..

[Tmee2020]

Originally Posted by L00N99

Burden of Dreams (1982) - IMDb
'Werner Herzog's epic Fitzcarraldo (1982),

And an amazing film. So is Aguirre, The Wrath of God.

Additional study- Herzog's Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski (1999)

[blondifan]

Tasmanian Devils go schlock horror in American telemovie, shot in Canada.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2180543/

Possibly the worst Ozstrain accents ever? Yet not as bad as their depiction of anything resembling a Tasmanian devil.

Full Movie

A real one.
Not looking too amused!

[Wendigo]

Fiend Without A Face (1958)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050393/
A respectable 6.2/10

An invisible brain sucking creature escapes from a laboratory and using a local nuclear source to increase its powers it attacks a military base

Full movie
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M-MtZkZOzw

[victor meldrew]

Machete

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985694/

Something different for me and an enjoyable watch.

[tomesing]

Scream Of Fear





Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrpmL0Chk4Q


tomesing