18th Mofo Hall of Fame

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Citizen Rules's Avatar
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02-08-19

Abandon Ship! aka Seven Waves Away (1957)
*spoilers*
This is my nom and I like to say that so you guys know where I'm coming from. I'll be the first to admit it's not a perfect film. Hell, I've only seen a handful of films that I'd consider flawless. At times in the first part of Abandon Ship the dialogue does seem a bit stilted, like the director needed to do another take. I image the reason for that was: it's a small budget independent film and shot in a huge water tank at Shepperton Studios UK. Shooting ocean scenes in those huge water tanks was an extremely difficult task. So yeah the dialogue in the opening scenes isn't always perfect, but as the main action starts the film finds it's groove and everything flows accordingly.

To me Abandon Ship is special as the crux of the story puts one in the shoes of the acting captain (Tyrone Power) and delivers an emotion that I've not experienced in any film before. We have this tiny boat that's overloaded and nearly sinking, with even more people clambering to climb aboard to save their very lives. It's all so claustrophobic...

Then on top of that, the skies turn sullen as a fierce storm approaches and the captain has to make a moral decision: does he condemn some to death so as to save others? Or does he do nothing at all, leaving the outcome and their lives to fate?

It's a heady decision and it happens so fast once the dying Lloyd Nolan jumps overboard, that the feeling of intimacy is palatable. That moment when the captain has to act, for me, is a thing of fascination. I call it a time crux, when a moment in time surfaces and one can feel the connection between human psyche and the flow of time and events, ...where one's actions shape time in a manner outside of the temporal mundane....OK, I'm stopping right there, as I'm sure you're thinking, 'what the hell is he talking about!'



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Last edited by Citizen Rules; 02-08-19 at 02:01 PM.



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Friendo.
02-08-19
MIght do yours next, CR.

It’s Friday, so I’ll probably watch a film with the family. Probably gonna be Widows from last year. If it doesn’t get too late I’ll see Abandon Ship afterwards.



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02-08-19
Originally Posted by MovieMeditation
MIght do yours next, CR.

It’s Friday, so I’ll probably watch a film with the family. Probably gonna be Widows from last year. If it doesn’t get too late I’ll see Abandon Ship afterwards.
I should be watching your nom this weekend. It sounds promising. I hope to watch another tonight as well.

I'll PM you a better quality link to Abandon Ship.



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Friendo.
02-08-19
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
I should be watching your nom this weekend. It sounds promising. I hope to watch another tonight as well.

I'll PM you a better quality link to Abandon Ship.
I doubt you’ll like mine. Very artsy fartsy. Very experimental. But it also makes fun of it so maybe you will. And maybe you’ll enjoy the center story if not the crazy stuff around it.



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Friendo.
02-08-19
Caught up on all the pages of this thread I missed since I joined late. Didn’t read all the review though since there’s still films I haven’t seen yet.

I watched Abandon Ship as promised. Review tomorrow!



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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
02-08-19



Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Doc: Careful men. Search every cook and nanny-- Uh, hook and granny-- Uh, crooked fan-- Uh, SEARCH EVERYWHERE.

For me it's pretty easy to get caught up in the nostalgia and childhood memory of this and so many other Disney films and cartoons as well as the TV show on NBC every Sunday night.
Add the fact that I've outgrown that silly ass cynicism that a lot of us had to wear as an armor against the callousness of adult life once all our childhood dreams, fantasies and belief in the fantastical and the magical was stripped from us; I can sit back, once again, and enjoy such a film with only a minimum amount of skeptical curmudgeon.

Though one thing as not changed, and it is the appreciation of the artwork and artistic prowess it took for a number of various scenes throughout this film.
Something I've always admired is the artistic creativity of delving into the pure heart of Goodness AS WELL as the disturbing soul of Evil with equal dedication. Which, like so many early Disney animations, we see this time and again and it's been a pleasure to revisit that, and this childhood film, once again.

A solid animation for a General Hall of Fame.
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02-08-19
SPOILERS follow for Abandon Ship
Originally Posted by edarsenal
Some wonderful pondering thoughts came from Edith who found it a cruel, whimsical notion that, in an emergency, lumbering apes equal the removal of a genius, a playwright and an opera singer. . .
I also loved how she had a greater nobility than many of the more righteous of those adrift.

A great bit of cinema, CR. Bravo sir.
Glad you liked it, Ed! I like what you wrote in your review as I think we're of the same mind on the movie.

about: Edith (Moira Lister). The only other time I seen Abandon Ship, I didn't pay much attention to her character. I guess I thought she was just there to be a thorn in the captain's side. This time around I realized Edith is a lot like Leslie Howard in The Petrified Forest. I gather she's lead such a rich and privileged life and that she's more excited by the moment and risk taking and somehow manages to see the bigger picture that hangs over the heads of the other passengers.
Last edited by Citizen Rules; 02-08-19 at 11:09 PM.



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02-09-19
Originally Posted by Siddon
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is on probation right now, @neiba's got 48 hours to post a review or get back to me
Neiba has always been very solid in HoFs. By my count he's been in 23 and only didn't complete 2 and both were at the same time. Usually he doesn't post much until the very end of an HoF, but he's always been a good member.



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Friendo.
02-09-19
18th Hall of Fame
Abandon Ship!
1957




Cinema has developed greatly over the years since the motion picture maiden voyage more than 100 years ago. Today, making the impossible possible has never been easier with the “first aid kit” called a computer. Technological advances have helped shape cinema as we know it and has added more and more layers to the sacred and undying “movie experience”. But that also means the focus has moved greatly since its beginning. You no longer need one singular element to drive multiple ones, since you have so much to play with now. I dearly missed those days when it was all about the script. Some of the best movies ever made relies heavily on a simplistic but fantastically written script, with sharp dialogue and narrow turning points. Those dialogue-heavy movies, where everything relies on acting and interactions, preferably in a one-setting scene, is simply unparalleled…

‘Abandon Ship!’ or ‘Seven Waves Away’ or ‘Seven Days from Now’ is one of the lesser known films made like that and no wonder since I take it most people are feeling lost at sea when it comes to even tracking down this three-titled cinematic cast-away of a film. But in all seriousness, it shouldn’t be. I found it to be a pretty solid film given the level of popularity it has, though it definitely also has its flaws. You can tell the budget has been small, which makes for an uneven opening and ending, though when it gets going in the middle part it does fare pretty well, almost going overboard at places with the progression of the plot, having some elements being too unbelievable or unsuccessfully executed.

The very opening feels dated, and the budget clearly butchered the sense of actual terror you can reach out and touch. Okay, they didn’t have the money to blow up stuff, but showing the landmine blow above water when it is later stated it went under the ship kind of annoys me. And it doesn’t help when the film finally introduces the characters, which ends up not being the characters we should actually care about, except we do because we have no idea what happened to them after we leave and is kept wondering at least for a while until we accept we aren’t getting back to those people anymore. It was super weird having a similar story before the main event, also featuring a dog and a dead guy and what have you. It was like the short film of the feature film that followed. Very weird.

Anyways, the acting is indeed on the theatrical side but not to any particular major annoyance for me. It seems like a lot of dialogue was ad-libbed though, because of what I take it is poor conditions for sound recording, which does make matters a bit worse. The acting was good in places, but the driving force definitely came from Tyrone Power, who was really good. At least some of the performers had a good character behind them, which made their performances a bit more fascinating. The film kept my attention most of the time but jumped the ship a little when it had the huge text on screen with ‘WHAT WOULD YOU DO?’ type nonsense in the end. I was entertained though, so here's a rather poor write-up of a good nomination, CR.


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Friendo.
02-09-19
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
Neiba has always been very solid in HoFs. By my count he's been in 23 and only didn't complete 2 and both were at the same time. Usually he doesn't post much until the very end of an HoF, but he's always been a good member.
He's doing the 2nd Chance HoF too, right?

Maybe he's been the most busy in there and wanna get that closer to done before he moves in here...



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02-09-19
Originally Posted by MovieMeditation
He's doing the 2nd Chance HoF too, right?

Maybe he's been the most busy in there and wanna get that closer to done before he moves in here...
Right, he's in the 2nd Chance HoF, his nom is Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948). I'm sure he will finish, he's been in a lot of HoFs and has been a good member.



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Friendo.
02-09-19
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
Right, he's in the 2nd Chance HoF, his nom is Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948). I'm sure he will finish, he's been in a lot of HoFs and has been a good member.
I believe so too. He's one of my favourite members and when he's not busy doing opera he's usually here or watching movies I believe

I like Letter from an Unknown Woman. Hope it does well...



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02-09-19
MM, good review of Abandon Ship. Even though you didn't love it, I'm glad you can have some appreciation for this 60 year plus film.
...It was like the short film of the feature film that followed...
About the opening raft scene...yeah Miss Vicky mentioned that too. I actually agree that the raft scene isn't really needed. But I did like the title sequence of the ever closer approaching mine, for it's simplistic effectiveness done on a small budget...But the raft scene could have been cut and in it's place I would have done this opening scene: a half full life boat with people frantically swimming to it and clambering abroad, soaking wet and tired. With each additional passenger the tiny boat sinks lower and lower into the briny sea. Then last we get Tyrone Power making his way on board. That kind of scene would have created foreshadowing and increased initial tension and also would have visually relayed the underlying theme that the ship is dangerously overcrowded with too many passengers.

BTW, that was Tyrone Power's third time in an HoF. I had previously nominated his movie Nightmare Alley (1947) for the 13th HoF and Neiba had nominated Witness for the Prosecution (1958) for the 50s HoF.



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2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
02-09-19
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
Neiba has always been very solid in HoFs. By my count he's been in 23 and only didn't complete 2 and both were at the same time. Usually he doesn't post much until the very end of an HoF, but he's always been a good member.
Yes but the rules were posted beforehand, so I think it's a reasonable request.



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02-09-19
Originally Posted by rauldc14
Yes but the rules were posted beforehand, so I think it's a reasonable request.
Oh, you misunderstood me. I never tell a host what to do, I might suggest ideas, but I respect a host gets to be a host. So, I'm just being a positive character witness for Neiba.

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