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This Week's Dvds
Topic Started: Mar 2 2006, 04:59 PM (54,673 Views)
CliffClaven
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Leonard Maltin has a review of Alice, and I have to agree -- For all the quirky visuals it's a bit of a snooze. This is one I would have loved to see on Mystery Science Theater or with a chemically enhanced college audience (The little box flipping it's lid to reveal the words "Eat Me"; the Duchess tossing the baby around in a way W.C. Fields wouldn't have dared; the WTF background joke at the end of the Mock Turtle's song . . . )

One puzzlement: On IMDB and other sites it's claimed the film ran 90 minutes and was cut to its present length (77) by Universal for TV showings, but the DVD shows no sign of such extreme editing -- The transitions all seem to be built in, and there are no little giveaways like actors in the credits who aren't in the existing film. In fact, the mind boggles at what they would have considered more expendable than what's still there.

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panzer the great & terrible
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I'm more of a guy who would freeze to death at a drive-in that serves cocktails like they do at the Spud in Driggs, Idaho, plus you get a marquee made of giant potatoes.

The Paramount Alice bored me when I was little -- haven't seen it since. Trying to guess who's under the make-up might be more interesting now. I remember realizing that the White Knight was Cary Grant, and not giving a heck. Fields was the one interesting thing, and he's just Humpty Dumpty -- maybe two minutes screen time, tops.

A lot of major talent wasted. Nobody has any rapport with the book except Fields. The Disney Alice pictures have the same problem. I think the deal is that everybody has his own Alice, sort of like the Bible, so you can't give the people what they want.

Since the TV showings were in the Forties and Fifties the film couldn't have been cut by Universal, could it? Did Universal already own the old Paramounts then? Is that who we can blame for their MIA status? Another heinous crime laid at Universal's doorstep? Riddle Rider? Say it ain't so, Joe. I really hate the way that studio is demonized just because they make money. When did that become a crime?
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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Laughing Gravy
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I agree with what you wrote about Alice, Mr. P., but Dave Kehr found things of interest so's I'm hopin' I like it better this week:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/movies/homevideo/28kehr.html

"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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panzer the great & terrible
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Dave Kehr found things of interest about Hugo Haas a couple of weeks ago, so I was forced to conclude he's a moron. He's an enthusiastic moron, though -- give him that.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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Zodiac
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panzer the great & terrible
Mar 1 2010, 10:13 AM
zode, I was talking about Chico. As far as I know California is the only state where policemen are taught to shoot and kill people who haven't been found guilty of anything (which explains the anti-cop bias of many movies, especially odd in kid movies like E.T.). North Carolina was one of the most civilized places I ever lived in, almost totally lacking the crazy extremes of both political parties here, the weird sense of entitlement and the jarring smartass attitude many of the more naive citizens show: people who know little or nothing but think they know it all -- the letters to the editor are dumber than anywhere else, and the political commentators out of touch with reality (try reading Thomas Sowell). I can't wait to get back to the Midwest or the East, where people are polite and food fit to eat.
Panzer,

Having lived many places I have found a few things out about local food-

Every area has it's specialties- some good

The big cities have, and I miss, the ethic neighborhoods and their foods - great variety

The south does not have ethnic neighborhoods

There is only one food type universally available - Chinese- again not always edible

Mexican food is gaining universal availability thanks to immigration



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marlin lee
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Finally received Jeremiah season 2.

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Laughing Gravy
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Arrived today from VCI.... The Spaghetti Westerns Collection (A Bullet for Sandoval, Any Gun Can Paly, The Strangers Gundown, and Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die!) and the Sabu double feature of "Savage Drums" and "Jungle Hell".
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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panzer the great & terrible
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Oh, lucky you!
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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Laughing Gravy
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Well, I'm not much for spaghetti OR spaghetti westerns, but I'm looking forward to the Sabu films, actually.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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panzer the great & terrible
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I hope they work out for you, but a guy who doesn't go for spaghetti is hard to predict.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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MovieMan
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I've just ordered October Sky and The Notorious Bettie Page from Play.Com. :D
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marlin lee
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Picked up The Princess and the Frog. Rather predictable and no truly memorable songs. Still worth an occasional watch.
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MovieMan
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I just picked up Cloverfield, Dorian Gray and Paranormal Entity.

I also got The Proposal with Sandra Bullock a few days later. :D
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Laughing Gravy
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The T.A.M.I. Show.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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And late yesterday afternoon, Ripley's Believe It Or Not (Warner Archives) arrived via parcel post, believe it or not.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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