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| Take The Balcony Challenge! | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 3 2008, 09:01 AM (2,109 Views) | |
| Chandu | Sep 30 2008, 08:36 AM Post #106 |
Knowledge Seeker and rascal at large
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I'm still playing, but I only have 2 foreign films and have already commented on them. Last week TCM showed Aventure Malagache, 1944, and I DVR'd it hoping it would fill the foreign requirement. It turned out to be a war propoganda film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock as one of his two efforts to help the British government and do his part in the war effort. It was aimed at strengthening the French resistance movement and told of a similar effort in Madagascar. The players were from a French traveling group of actors. It was duly subtitled and all, but it was only 45 minutes in length, so I'm not sure it would truly qualify for the "Dans le Balcon" category. But I'll keep lookin.'
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| Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me... | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Oct 2 2008, 05:33 AM Post #107 |
Revered in the UK
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I think it qualifies! It's in some dang foreign non-Englishical-type language, ain't it? |
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| The Batman | Oct 2 2008, 05:45 AM Post #108 |
Charter Member
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Oui |
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| Greypilgrim | Oct 2 2008, 06:32 AM Post #109 |
"Zarkov to Flash Gordon....Come in Flash!"
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Down the corridor and to the left....give Pepe a quarter for the key first.
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| Chandu | Oct 2 2008, 07:52 AM Post #110 |
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Knowledge Seeker and rascal at large
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Well, you're the expert, and a quotable one at that. I didn't want to be seen trying to put one over on yuh and have yuh make me start over, as almost happened with Andy Hardy, even though that was an innocent mistake!  I therefore accept your judgement and will press on to my documentary, which I have already selected. Thanks.
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| Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me... | |
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| Chandu | Oct 3 2008, 11:19 AM Post #111 |
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Knowledge Seeker and rascal at large
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TCM ran a salute to the Telluride Film Festival, the first part of September, which they called, The Men Who Made The Movies. It was a five part segment and included one hour interviews with King Vidor, Howard Hawks, Raoul Walsh, Sam Fuller and William Wellman. They ran all of these interviews back-to-back. I recorded them and have played them back about one per week all through the month. While this isn't a movie, like Living Desert, I think it still qualifies under the "Reality, Practicality" heading. This was a delightful and interesting series of interviews. While I took the self imposed project on to become more learned about some of the directors you all converse so freely about, after watching the first one with Sam Fuller, I eagerly anticipated the next one. All but one displayed an almost embarrassed "Aw Shucks, twarn't nuthin'" kind of attitude about their accomplishments. For instance, Howard Hawks said he discovered early on that if he liked a scene, the audiences generally liked it as well, and Fuller claimed his secret was plain ol' honesty and reality. A "tell it like it was" sort of mentality. I enjoyed hearing about some of their experiences on the sets and their tales of working with various studio moguls too. Clips of some of each's movies were also played during the segments. It was one of the most enjoyable things I've watched recently, something I never anticipated saying about a dry old documentary. I came away having a better appreciation for these guy's movies now, but the one negative is that I wouldn't walk across the street to see anything of Wellman's. Although his interview was interesting, he just rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. The Vidor, Hawks and Walsh interviews were filmed in '73, Fuller in '02 and Wellman in '06. And that completes my part of The Great Balcony Challenge of 2008! 
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| Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me... | |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Feb 5 2009, 07:39 AM Post #112 |
Mouth Breather
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Agree about Wellman. His movies don't do much for me, even when I want to like 'em. Wild Boys of the Road is the only one that gets me. It's not that his movies are bad, they're just sort of unemphatic: too stoic for my taste. |
| We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater | |
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| Frank Hale | Feb 5 2009, 04:12 PM Post #113 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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As I’ve mentioned on other threads, I feel Mr. Wellman is a tough director to pigeon-hole. Good-bye My Lady is a totally uncharacteristic, straight-forward but soft-hearted boy-and-his-dog story. Also, I just watched the semi-restored Arrowsmith last night, a John Ford production, but absolutely full of no-nonsense Wellman touches. Very much looking forward to the new Forbidden Hollywood set of his films for a further evaluation. |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Feb 5 2009, 06:47 PM Post #114 |
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Mouth Breather
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I saw several Wellman pre-codes on TCM last year. They're fast-paced and ought to be more fun. What bothers me is, he plants the camera too far from the action. I go for the visceral; in an action film I don't like an unbiased point of view with all the characters in one shot; I prefer cutting between close-ups of individuals. It's more exciting and tones up each character's peculiarities. Wellman's compositions recede from the viewer -- but good storytelling should involve the audience. Ozu, Renoir, Hawks, Huston, and the other humanist directors use the one shot technique because they want to show how people connect. Wellman doesn't aim that high. I hope this makes sense to somebody. I think directors express themselves through their visuals and I use the visuals to try to understand them. Of course if we could see the Wellman films on the big screen my objections might not be so apt. |
| We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater | |
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