The 13TH Hall of Fame

This was probably quite a strange film to make and watch in the late 1940s. I wonder how it was received by audiences? I enjoyed the performances, especially of Tyrone Power as the lead and Helen Walker as the psychiatrist.



But other than that i enjoyed it. The film had a haunting, cautionary tale vibe about it and the carnival scenes evoked memories of "freaks" albeit not as shocking. The set design and use of lighting was also a joy to watch. One scene which featured a fountain will stick in the memory for a while,

Recommended 7.5/10

I think you accidentally misplaced Cosmic's review of "Wings of Desire" under my column.

So glad you liked Jagten, @Miss Vicky! Back when I nominated Festen I also considered Jagten, but since the other was more low budget, overseen and really different with all the dogme stuff and all, I went with that because it felt right...

So I'm glad to see Jagten get nominated in a HoF as well - and not by myself.

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Both movies are excellent. I'm really glad they were nominated. I don't think I would've watched them otherwise.

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Hopefully I can get back to it soon. I'm back from Vegas now.

How many times have you been to Vegas now, raul?

I just had a shocking realisation about why this film traumatised me so much. This exact incident happened to someone I know very well and I have never doubted him or his wife. Watching his life and career get destroyed by the way his organisation dealt with it was one of the worst things I've ever seen happen to a friend. I'm amazed I forgot that.

OK now I have to watch MM's nomination. Very uncomfortable topic so I have to ask if that's a difficult watch.

I believe that was my 8th time. 9th time coming up in August.

Been a bit busy over the last couple of days. Started 'Wings of desire' today but only 15 mins in. Will get it finished tonight or tomorrow.

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"I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me" (Frank Costello)

Great fun! I'm glad this was nominated. It's easy to go with a really heavy drama, as they often get the best response in an Hof....But seeing how it's all about the movies we love and want to share with others, I'm glad Ed shared this with us.

I had seen this before, but it was a real treat to watch it again. This time around I noticed how much meticulous attention went into the sets. There were so many neat set pieces that were used, and they really added a lot to the specialness of the movie. Just a few of the neat things were:

The detailed laundry scene with the big dyeing vat. I've never seen that done in a period piece movie before...And you know a big castle or manor would need a crew of launders to do the laundry. It was a neat looking set too.

So was the waterwheel, especially the pond and rocks in the background, very cool to see. And how about the 'magic lantern' that the Cardinal used to project drawings onto the wall. Loved that and the detail of the candle smoke coming out of the top of the apparatus.

Did I mention the medieval 'pinball machine' game in the tavern. A lot of directors would not have spent the money on it, but it adds uniqueness.

Tennis anyone? I could go on! I hope they won an Oscar for production/art design.

Holy smokes what a cast! Michael York was great as the wide eyed, naive country bumpkin who wants to become a Musketeer. I swear at times when he did the wide eyed thing, he reminded me of Claire Danes, odd I know!

Oliver Reed, was a flat out powerhouse. I read that he fought so fearlessly and with so much zeal that no one wanted to fence with him for fear of being impaled. As it turns out during the sword fight at the windmill, Oliver himself was cut badly in the neck. All the sword fighting was well done and from what I read several injuries resulted from it.

I really liked Chuck Heston as the Cardinal, he played that role so well and I would have liked to seen his role expanded. The actors who played the King and Queen were good too, I liked their costumes at the big ball.

Raquel Welch is of course an eye full, but I liked the evil Faye Dunaway character better. I was actually rooting for her to win!

My plumed hat is off to you Ed great nomination and now I know where your avatar came from!

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The Three Musketeers were great. I definitely plan to watch the sequel.

Also I've watched quite a few Oliver Reed's interviews on YouTube, as I read he was a quite a character in real life. He was definitely very charismatic , well spoken and hilarious person.

Here's the time, Shelley Winters poured a glass of whiskey over his head on Johnny Carson's show ...

Me too. I read that the film's producers shot the film and then divided it into two parts (making more money that way).
The DVD has both on it, so I'll be watching the sequel soon.

My favourite ever Ollie Reed interview:

LOL. I love that guy.

Haha, this is great !

I just watched that video, all three of them were hilarious! Good stuff(maybe Ed will get that)

Wings of Desire

My second Wim Wenders film after Paris, Texas which i love. Didn't have a clue going in that this was about angels, felt like a bit of an idiot that i hadn't considered it could be or at least considered that the wings in the title were literal. I thought it was probably metaphorical, it made a nice surprise in the first shot with the little girl spotting one on top of a building at least. Odd start to this, i was half expecting there to be a scattered pieced together plot from the angel listening to peoples thoughts that it would take you 12 watches to figure out haha. Honestly would be interested in seeing that. One thing i was wondering is do people really think like this? Some of them were pretty spot on but others i thought were thinking a little too much, by that i mean if you could read my thoughts at a random time of the day i'm sure it wouldn't make much sense because there'd be no context; it's not as if i need to remind myself of what the exact event i'm thinking about is or who the characters are or exactly why they did something. It would be more like me saying "i wonder what made him do that", "that was hilarious", etc; while having a mental picture of whatever was hilarious. This is me rambling nonsense haha, i kinda know what i mean at least and i'm not saying this was a problem i'm just saying it made me think about how i think which is pretty mindblowing

Loved the dialogue, i could see it annoying people but all it reminded me of was the same mood the film George Washington put me in except this actually had some substance/purpose for the most part. One thing i thought which i never think about foreign language films is that i'd really love to know and watch this in German. Don't think it would improve my experience i just think it is the perfect sort of film to watch when you are tired though, it's really calm and meditative and alot of it is soft-spoken lying back and half watching/half listening to this would be so relaxing i feel. Love these types of films. No doubt it had a creepy vibe too, certain parts of the score the first time i thought that was in the scene in the library; it's pretty surreal he's walking around while loads of people are thinking at once and the music for the first time was intense instead of calm. Then there's just the idea of him listening to peoples thoughts in the first place especially Marions. Observing peoples deepest thoughts, their worries and troubles without any intention of interfering is such a dark concept. There was a 10 minute or so stretch in particular that got right under my skin, Cassiel following the old guy about listening to him then stopping for a moment while passing by to listen to a clearly distressed girl; don't think it was explicitly said but i took it that she was supposed to be a prostitute, either way it was so chilling, such a cold scene especially thanks to Otto Sanders emotionless expression. Think cold is a good description of the tone here except not normally the way i use it, there was plenty of emotion on display here but the Angels purpose and the voiceover never allowed the film to stray too far from this feeling. This is not a complaint, cold as i normally use it is usually but i don't mean the same thing i just can't think of the right word. Of course this was largely Cassiel's part with Damiel observing the happier parts of life, it was a nice contrast seeing both explored. My only complaint really is i'm not so sure about Damiel and Marion meeting, not really anything specific about it but it didn't sit that well with me. Oh well we got Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds during the 1980's even out of that at least.

Not sure what to say about the visuals; it was beautifully photographed and the camera movement was outstanding. Loved the shots from above and how it followed people at varying speeds. My biggest surprise was definitely the switches to colour though, jesus, the first thing i thought of was that it had a similar effect on me as seeing Ida's hair in er...Ida. Getting a response from something completely mundane mostly because it has been kept from us, the combination of how beautiful it had looked in black in white and the scene choice with Marion slowly standing up and colour being restored to her beautiful hair, surroundings, etc made it work. Think it would be fair to call it a bit gimmicky but i don't care i liked it. Even though it was probably obvious to everyone else i'm also proud of myself for figuring out its signifigance the moment it happened haha, as it happens the moment Damiel left the room. All good performances, don't think the acting is all that important to this film as long as it isn't bad but everyone did their job. And special shoutout to Columbo, almost dies when i saw "special appearence by Peter Falk" haha. It took me longer than it should've to figure out that he was an ex-angel.

Anyway i liked this alot and will need to think quite hard about where to place it when we're finished as it's not like anything else. It's not an easy watch i don't think, there's so much meandering and quiet, contemplative scenes that even if you're into it like i was it can be a bit of a struggle. Really glad you went with this Cosmic as i don't think i'd have liked the other one you were thinking about nominating as much.

The Hunt next for me probably tomorrow since it looks like Titu is out.

No, I didn't like that scene either. I thought it was completely inappropriate of her. I really thought it was kind of an unnecessary scene, in a way. Clearly the guy just wanted to be left alone and she has her new life now. I don't see her need for doing what she did.

I find myself saying that more and more lately when I watch movies/TV shows where a particular scene/character has made people feel sympathy towards it all, and I am as cold as cold can be.


If she is SO in love with him (which is something that I thought while watching that scene), why did she ever marry anyone else? And not only that but have a baby with this person? Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I wouldn't have been able to do those two things after what had happened. I just wouldn't have done it.


I think that I never really thought about it before until you said it here about the non-romance in the film. Honestly. Well, I wouldn't really have been too bothered with them as a couple in this, but that may be because I knew they were married to each other in real life when this was filmed.

I still prefer City Lights, too. But this is a close second for me. I am glad that you did enjoy it. I know the first time I heard him speak it was funny to me because I always dread to hear their voices, but it almost feels like I experience a sigh of relief when they just sound like regular, ordinary guys.


I plan on watching The Marriage of Maria Braun next. That should be happening in the next few days.

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Great write-up Camo.

Even if a lot of people don't take to Wings of Desire and its slow pace, I'm also glad that I went with it over Nowhere in Africa. I think people might appreciate Wings of Desire a lot more, even if it's not to their taste. It's certainly the movie that more people have heard of before.

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Why wouldnt she marry someone else after divorcing him? Some people are simply not built to be single. And as for having another baby, same thing - why not? A lot of women crave a baby after losing one to miscarriage or other tragedies. It's a biological urge in a lot of people. I found absolutely nothing about either of those experiences out of the ordinary.