Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

Dang Citizen your thread is huge. Im way behind on B&W movies Ive seen in my lifetime. I should make a one year commitment to watch nothing but old B&W movies and catch up on all the classics Ive missed. Then I can go back to the sucking on the Hollywoods superficial nipple after.

I like your plan! Even if you did it for 3 months, as long as you watched a lot of old B&W films you would end up with one helluva education. Oh BTW, there are a lot of old color films. Starting in the late 30s they made a number of technicolor films. Actually they had color films even way before then.

On a similar note, La Strada, another film nominated for the first 50's HoF, is Pope Francis's favorite movie.

There was one on TCM last night that I never heard of... they had it listed as "Mr. Arkadin," but I couldn't find it on IMDB... that's because it's also known as "Confidential Report" (1955) directed by & starring Orson!

I didn't watch it because I just got done viewing Run Silent Run Deep (1958). But I believe they'll have it On-Demand for later viewing.

So, Rules, is "Mr. Arkadin" worth watching?

I would have never guessed that. I really liked La Strada, so I'm in good graces

Captain, I've never seen Mr. Arkadin" aka "Confidential Report". For me, most of Orson Welles films are iffy. I loved Citizen Kane and so far that's about it. I've seen other of his films but wasn't bowled over by them. If you watch let me know what you think. Have you seen other Orson Welles' films?

Run Silent Run Deep (1958) now that is one cool film!

I saw Mr. Arkadin a while back, but it was only okay. Here's a link to my review:

http://www.movieforums.com/community...83#post1317783

Yes, I've seen some other Orson films, but not a lot of the film noir ones - talking to you got me started on that trend!

So far I've seen (not including his voice work)...
Citizen Kane
The Stranger
The Third Man
Moby Dick
Compulsion
Casino Royale
Catch 22
F for Fake

I've probably seen a couple others that I don't recognize by title.


Also - mentioned that I watched Run Silent Run Deep on the "What Movie Are You watching Tonight" thread yesterday and said how the beginning reminded me of Star Trek the Motion Picture (1979).
Today I looked up trivia on IMDB and it said that Robert Wise was the director for both movies and it seems he was well aware of the plot similarities, (i.e. Wise may have influenced the story of STTMP to make it resemble the conflict in RSRD!)

Thanks, GBG. If I find it on at some point I may check it out, but I don't think I'll go out of my way to hunt this one down!

Nice list, you've seen a lot, that I haven't seen:

Moby Dick
Compulsion
Casino Royale
Catch 22

Touch of Evil is a great noir and it's been restored to be the movie he wanted. The film had been cut up by the studio after he was done shooting. Shanghai Surprise is a good noir of his too.

Also - mentioned that I watched Run Silent Run Deep on the "What Movie Are You watching Tonight" thread yesterday and said how the beginning reminded me of Star Trek the Motion Picture (1979).
Today I looked up trivia on IMDB and it said that Robert Wise was the director for both movies and it seems he was well aware of the plot similarities, (i.e. Wise may have influenced the story of STTMP to make it resemble the conflict in RSRD!)[/quote] That's interesting, it would be cool to watch both movies back to back.

You should move Compulsion to the top of your watchlist, and definitely make sure that you watch it before you compile your Top 50's Movies list.

Oh, I just looked it up and I did see Compulsion. I remember posting about it, but I don't remember Orson Welles in it.

Orson Welles was their lawyer in Compulsion.

Thanks, I still can't picture him. Did he look really different, thanks to make up? I do seem to recall discussing that fact.

I'll check back latter, dinner time and I'm watching Cricket's MoM Punishment Park

I thought you'd seen that. (I remember discussing it.)

Orson played the Clarence Darrow character (but the character had a different name just like in Inherit the Wind where they also had a lawyer played by Spencer Tracy that was based on the real-life Darrow).

You may not remember Orson because he was virtually unrecognizable. When I saw Compulsion I spent several minutes trying to figure out if the lawyer was Orson or not (the voice was there, but he looked so different).

Just found this to give an example of how different Orson looked in the film...

Nice to see someone else who doesn't think Grace Kelly was the be all and end all... the camera loved her but as an actress, she was definitely limited and, as you probably know, I have always been of the belief that she robbed Judy Garland of the Oscar she should have won for A Star is Born for her performance in The Country Girl, an award I think Kelly received because she agreed to appear onscreen without makeup...other than that, there was nothing special about the performance IMO.

Add me to the 'never seen the appeal of Grace Kelly' club. If she hadn't married a Prince and died young I don't even know that I'd have heard of her when I was a kid.

__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.

Yup I'm not a big fan of Grace Kelly. I can think of a ton of other actresses that I like better.

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan

Synopsis: A quiet, older man who works as a bureaucrat in a cramped office, tries to find some meaning to his life after he visits the doctor and learns he has only a short time left to live.

Review: I really was impressed with the first 90 minutes and thought it was beautifully shot, with many potent and poetic scenes. I can see artistry here at work.

The scene where Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) goes to the doctor and another patient literally tells him that he's doomed was maybe one of the most powerful scenes I've seen on film.

Another powerful scene was where Watanabe overhears his son and daughter in-law talking about getting him to sign over his pension, which breaks his heart...a very powerful scene indeed. The scene with the younger girl and how see finally reacts to him was deeply reflective of the emotions in play.

The actor who played Watanabe and the actress who played the girl were both excellent. They could really pack emotion into a facial expression.

But the film lost me on some degree, when he dies at the 90 minute mark of the film. That felt like the emotional end of the tale and I didn't connect to what functions as a epilogue in the last 50 minutes (the scenes at the wake and the flashback sequences). That part was well done too but almost felt like another movie.

Overall I liked the insight the film gives into attitudes of the Japanese in the mid 1950s. You could see that the occupation of Japan had really westernized them, with their dance clubs with American style dancing and music. Also interesting was the married couple wanting an American style house because the Japanese houses were too cold.

La Strada (1954)
Director: Federico Fellini
Writers: Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart
Genre: Drama
Length: 1h 48min
Country: Italy

Synopsis (spoiler free): A young woman is sold by her mother to a traveling 'strong man' entertainer for a few dollars and a bit of food. He mistreats the young woman at every chance he gets.

Review: La Strada is a strong story that juxtaposes the over bearing personality of a side show strong man (Anthony Quinn) who doesn't care who he abuses and the young woman (Giulietta Masina) he purchases for an assistant, she has a child like mind and a light joyous heart that he tries to break.

Like a feather in the wind Gelsomina is tossed around by the negativity of the strong man all while keeping trying to keep her innocents. That's the beauty and tragedy of the story....we see the world through her innocent child like eyes and yet, her world is Zampano, a brute of a man, who is a polar opposite of her, and destroys what he can't understand and can't care about.

Anthony Quinn was excellent as the antagonist and yet there's enough humanity to his character that I could still understand where he's coming from.


Richard Basehart is perfect as the comic fool. I had never seen him do such a lively role before. I would have liked to seen more of his character, he was excellent in this too.


Giulietta Masina, I was captivated by her performance. It was sad, and yet her smile could light up the screen. She wanted so little out of life, and got even less. Not only was the actress amazing, but the writing and idea for the character Gelsomina was brilliant too.

La Strada, is about a dark subject, but it's told in a bright, life affirming way. At least that's how it felt to me and I found that lighter feel appealing.

+

Suffragette (2015)
Director: Sarah Gavron
Writer: Abi Morgan
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Anne-Marie Duff, Helena Bonham Carter
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Length: 1h 46min

about: After nearly 50 years of campaigning for women's right to vote, the suffragette movement in Britain turns to violence as the foot soldiers in the movement begun breaking windows and destroying property. Lead by the strong willed and outspoken Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep), the movement grows and so does the police brutality. Maud (Carey Mulligan) is a lone woman who works in a laundry sweat shop, who becomes swept up in the cause and risk loosing her family in the process. This is a story based on historical facts, the brutality these suffragette woman faced was horrendous. Over thousand of them were locked in jail cells and beaten. Written

Review: Directed by a woman director (Sarah Gavron) and written by another woman (Abi Morgan), Suffragette tells a heart breaking story of the real women who fought for equality in Britain at the turn of the 19th century. I was deeply moved by this film, even more so that when I learned that the events on the screen happened in real life and were just as brutal. It's hard to believe half of the human population was denied the rights to vote around the world and only achieved that right through much suffering and sacrifice. 100 years ago is not so long ago. This film is an important film.