Best Movie Ever!

[Pork]

Edward Scissorhands is awesome.

 

[Winslow Leach]

Hey Randall, what are your thoughts on Lord Jim and The Night of the Generals? These are two Peter O'Toole films I haven't seen.

 

[anytimepally]

Hey Randall, what are your thoughts on Lord Jim and The Night of the Generals? These are two Peter O'Toole films I haven't seen.

Lord Jim is a good movie.. not great, just good.. the problem is that they took a deeply philosophical book and made it into an action-adventure story. In and of itself, this would be fine, provided they bothered to flesh out the philosophy in the midst of the adventure - they didn't. Oh, they tried, but the movie stumbles around from one adventure to the next without any real direction until far too close to the end. Not surprisingly, the director, Richard Brooks, also wrote the screenplay. They try to bring up the same issues the book raised, but the dialogue would've been better served to have been drawn directly from the book... it's really dumbed-down. I can't understand what went wrong with the screenplay here, though, because Brooks has written many excellent ones (Elmer Gantry, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Blackboard Jungle), so it just seems like he was either having a bad time getting it up to snuff or he needed to make the movie quickly and didn't have time for a polish... it's a very choppy screenplay, with clumsily added exposition... one good thing I can say for the screenplay is that the movie has much more plot than the book, which is what you tend to get with Conrad anyway.. so that's an improvement.

O'Toole is perfectly cast as Jim, the first mate of a British merchant ship taking Muslim pilgrims to Mecca. During a storm, the ship starts taking on loads of water and the crew abandons ship, leaving the pilgrims to sink - or so they thought. The ship actually made it to port before the crew, at which point everyone except Jim ran away, and Jim alone faced the inquest. So he spends the rest of the movie trying to do penance for this act of cowardice.

O'Toole gives a wonderful performance, as do many of the supporting characters - James Mason (who is always entertaining), Eli Wallach, Jack Hawkins, Daliah Lavi (who was gorgeous besides!)... Mason & Wallach are particularly good in their roles.. Wallach's character is even an improvement, in my opinion, over Conrad's original... in fact, the acting saves this awkwardly directed, mediocre screenplay from being wasted film reels and makes it into a pretty good movie, much better than my review makes it sound.. it's just the fact that I've read the book, and I know the movie is missing something... one issue I have with it is the character Cornelius, who was not fleshed out at all and comes off as a drunkard who's angry at someone or something for an unknown reason.. in the book he was a much fuller character, almost Jim's diametric opposite.. this really changes the story, in my opinion, because it takes away an aspect of Jim's character the audience can never fully see.. oh, and Paul Lukas overacts.

All that said, it's a good movie.. certainly worth seeing... it does drag in parts, but that's never really bothered me.. and it's especially good if you've not read the book!


As for The Night of the Generals, I have yet to see it.. I had the DVD-recorder set to tape it a few weeks ago, but accidentally set it for p.m. instead of a.m., so I didn't get it.. Amazon.com is currently selling a Korean import DVD and a Hong Kong import, so if we don't get a good U.S. release soon, I may just order one of those

 

[Winslow Leach]

Thanks for the input, Randall!

I just did a search at the TCM site, and they're scheduled to show Night of the Generals on August 2. In fact, the whole day is dedicated to Peter O'Toole.

 

[Winslow Leach]

Frankenstein - The True Story (1973)

Frankenstein - The True Story is my second-favorite Frankenstein film, after the 1931 Universal production starring Boris Karloff. The film was made in England, and broadcast in the U.S. on NBC in the fall of 1973, where it aired in two parts and scored phenomenal ratings. The film was severely shortened, and released theatrically in countries outside the U.S.

Despite its title, this is not a faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel. Instead, writers Christopher Isherwood (who wrote Berlin Stories and the play I Am a Camera, which was turned into the musical Cabaret) and partner Don Bachardy put a new, interesting spin on the tale. The writers filled their script with contrasting issues of beauty and ugliness, science and faith and good and evil. Their Frankenstein is portrayed as a narcissistic, somewhat shallow man, making the Creature ultimately more human and sympathetic than its creator.

Victor Frankenstein (Leonard Whiting) is a young scientist who is haunted by the drowning death of his younger brother, William. He wishes he could find a way to bring William back. Enter Clerval (David McCallum), a sickly, brilliant scientist who has created a solar-powered machine that can re-animate dead tissue. Frankenstein and Clerval form a partnership, and begin experimenting, much to the chagrin of Victor's fiancee Elizabeth.

When a mining disaster strikes, Victor and Clerval go to the morgue, and secretly steal bits and pieces from the various corpses that were not damaged by the accident. Clerval's plan is to create an artificial man, with the educated Victor as his accomplice. A body is sewn together from the parts, and after weeks of preparation, the experiment is ready to commence.

While the experiment is underway, Clerval suffers a fatal attack, leaving Victor alone to complete his mentor's work. Victor puts Clerval's brain into the head of their man-made being, and switches on the re-animation machine. The experiment is a success. When the gauze-wrapped Creature takes off its facial bandages, Victor is delighted to find a handsome, intelligent-looking man (Michael Sarrazin) staring back at him.

Victor dubs the Creature "Adam" (as in the first of his kind), and begins to groom him into a sophisticated, well-read gentleman, taking him to the opera, and introducing him to high society. But soon things drastically change. The Creature's facial features begin to slowly deterioate, as it is a corpse, after all. When Victor notices the Creature decomposing before his eyes, he recoils in horror, and abandons him.

The Creature, confused and alone, decides to destroy itself by leaping off of a cliff. It survives its fall, and wanders into the home of a blind old man (Ralph Richardson). There, the Creature finds acceptance and learns more speech before its bliss is interrupted once the old man's two young relations catch sight of him. In confusion, the Creature kills one of the relatives, and the other, fleeing in terror, is run down by a horse-drawn carriage. The Creature brings the broken body of Agatha (Jane Seymour) back to the lab where it was created, only to find Dr. Polidori (James Mason), another scientist and mentor of Victor's, has taken up residence there.

Victor is paid an unwelcome visit by Polidori and the Creature, who blackmail him into creating a mate for the Creature by using Agatha as the primary source. After securing a new, unharmed body, Victor grafts Agatha's head onto the corpse, and brings it to life. He falls in love with his beautiful new creation, and, like the Creature before him, teaches her elecution and brings her out into society.

At her coming-out ball, Prima (the name of Victor's female creature) is popular with the upper-crust. The Creature bursts into the festivities, and destroys Prima. By now Victor has had enough of monsters. He marries Elizabeth, and flees on a chartered ship, unaware that the Creature and Polidori are also on board...

Directed by veteran Jack Smight, Frankenstein - The True Story is an intelligent, fast-moving drama that focuses more on characterization than all-out horror. The Creature is born an innocent, but learns about hate, fear and ugliness by the world in which it lives. Victor abandons his creation when it loses its beauty, and denies its existence. In the novel, Victor is horrified at the Creature at first sight, but here, he initially is overjoyed at the way the experiment turned out. Smight, Isherwood and Bachardy downplay stereotypical expectations one has come to expect in a Frankenstein film; even when the Creature decomposes, it retains its humanity.

The casting is excellent. Leonard Whiting plays Victor. The actor, who was 22 years old at the time the film was made, was best known for playing Romeo in Franco Zeffirelli's hit Romeo & Juliet (1968). Whiting is probably the youngest actor ever to play Frankenstein on film, and does an excellent job as a somewhat snobbish, vain scientist. James Mason is smooth as the evil Polidori, a brilliant scientist who is deathly afraid of lightning. David McCallum's Clerval is a pale, eccentric fellow; you believe he is crazy enough to invent a machine to raise the dead. Jane Seymour, in one of her first films, is wonderful as the Creature's potential mate. Ralph Richardson underplays the role of the old blind man in the woods who befriends the Creature. Other familiar faces in the cast include John Gielgud as a police constable, Agnes Moorehead as Victor's snooping landlady and Tom Baker (Doctor Who) as the captain of the ship.

But the film belongs to Michael Sarrazin as the Creature. Born in Quebec, Sarrazin was a leading man in film from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. After the '70s, he seemed to take lesser roles in lesser films, working in television, and playing bit parts in straight-to-video fare. But for a time, he was one of the busiest actors in Hollywood, appearing in such films as The Flim-Flam Man, co-starring George C. Scott (1967), Sometimes a Great Notion (1971), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), For Pete's Sake, co-starring Barbra Streisand (1974), The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) and The Gumball Rally (1976). One of Sarrazin's best roles was as Robert Syverton, the doomed hero in an adaptation of Horace McCoy's Depression-era novel set at a dance marathon, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), in which he co-starred with Jane Fonda. Sarrazin is certainly one of the best actors to play the "Frankenstein monster." He brings warmth and sympathy to the role, making us pity this being who is thrust into a world where it is first accepted, then shunned.

Overall, this is a strong production and an interesting adaptation of an oft-told tale. It was finally released on DVD last year in its uncut form (including the modern-day prologue, introduced by James Mason). Prior to its DVD release, Frankenstein - The True Story briefly appeared on video in the early 90s. But that was the shortened, theatrical version. The full-length version is now available. It's definitely worth a look, even if you're not into horror films.

 

[Speed Tracer]

Man, I love TCM. What else are they showing that day, Winslow?

 

[lael]

Man, I love TCM. What else are they showing that day, Winslow?

~ just a shot in the dark here buddy. . . but i'm guessing. . . a few old movies? kidding! HA!

I do love TCM & love that they have theme days. Directors, Actors & such. I've even seen a few Anime's on there. Princess N. . . onsence. . . cia Of The Valley Of The Wind, Princess Mononoki & Spirited Away.

 

[Winslow Leach]

Man, I love TCM. What else are they showing that day, Winslow?

In August, TCM devotes the entire month to "Summer Under the Stars." Every day a star from Hollywood's classic golden age (Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Joan Crawford, etc.) have an entire day of his or her films shown.

August 2 is Peter O'Toole (all times Eastern).

8:15 am - Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
11:00 am - Man of La Mancha (1972)
1:30 pm - Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
5:30 pm - The Night of the Generals (1967)
8:00 pm - Becket (1964)
10:45 pm - Lord Jim (1965)
1:30 am - Rosebud (1975)
4:00 am - Brotherly Love (1970)

check out http://tcm.com for full July/August/September schedules.

 

[Speed Tracer]

No The Lion in Winter?

I call shenanigans.

 

[travellingpat]

Oooh thats a greate lineup..august 2nd, ill have to remember that...Thanks Winslow