Tcm mark 2

[Johann]

THE DIVORCEE (1930)


Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, this was an interesting look at relationships in the early 30's.
It was under scrutiny due to the subject matter: marriage in those days was sacred. Divorce was seriously frowned upon.
Starring Irving Thalberg's wife Norma Shearer (who won the best actress Oscar for this film), this was an exercise in infidelity and it's consequences.
Jerry (Shearer) married Ted and she catches him in a compromising spot with another woman.
Ted tells her it was nothing, but she ain't buying it. She cheats on him with another dude to even things out. Ted hypocritically loses it, and they seperate, getting a divorce.
Jerry is courted by another man, and marries him.
Long story short, Ted and Jerry miss each other and reconcile by film's end.
Charming and fairly short movie.

[Chris Knipp]

So, a feel-good divorce movie.

[Johann]

haha. yep.
The moral was: divorce ain't a thang.

[Johann]

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (1966)



Winner of six Academy Awards including best picture, actor and director.
Very compelling indeed historical drama.
This is the story of Thomas More, a man with large integrity who stands by his principles, even if it get him beheaded. Set during the 1500's reign of Henry the Eighth, More is at odds with the king. He's a man of Faith, and will not kowtow to annulments, pledges or oaths.
Paul Scofield is rock solid as More, earning his Oscar.
Orson Welles has a small role but he's very memorable.
Fred Zinnemann directs, with a sure hand.
The cinematography is rich, and for a film with no action or sex or any other "draws" than drama itself, it was damn good.
It was cool to see a young John Hurt too!

[Chris Knipp]

It was originally a successful stage play by Robert Bolt. Paul Scofield, who played the leading role in the West End premiere, reprised it on Broadway in 1961, winning a Tony Award. Both productions were directed by Noel Willman. That was an exciting time in the Broadway theater, and this was one of the major plays. Another was Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, first staged in October 1962. It was mind blowing, and this was the time of Beckett and Jean Genet. Ionesco's Rhinoceros with comic Zero Mostrel in the lead role, 1961. Beckeett's Endgame had its debut New York production in 1958. This was a really great time in the theater.

[Johann]

Thanks for that. The studio wanted Richard Burton or Richard Harris as More, but Zinnemann insisted on Scofield. Paul wasn't even able to receive his Oscar- a co-star picked it up for him.

[Chris Knipp]

Scofield defined the role. It was wise to keep him.

[Johann]

THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)



William Friedkin directs Gene Hackman and Roy Schieder, 2 NYPD narcotics detectives (Doyle & Russo). They are on the trail of drug lords from France, and they have aggressive methods to get their man/men. Doyle is a racist to boot! He uses the N word and gets away with it. (!)
This movie is exciting, with a great car chase from the same team that did the car chase in BULLITT.
Winner of five Academy Awards, including best picture, actor and director, besting Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

[Johann]

THE BLACK STALLION (1979)




Uplifting family film produced by Francis Coppola and directed by Carroll Ballard.
A boy and an arabian stallion find themselves on a sinking ship which later explodes.
They're both eventually marooned on the same island for a time, and then are picked up by a fishing boat and taken to America. They have a bond, horse and kid, and by film's end they are winning team racehorse and jockey.
Co-starring Mickey Rooney as his mentor (and getting an Oscar nom in the process).
This film took me back to childhood, as it was one of the first films I ever saw.

[Johann]

SUNRISE: A Song of Two Humans (1927)



Masterpiece.
Winner of three Academy Awards at the first ever ceremony, this is widely considered one of the best films ever made. F.W. Murnau agreed to make this as long as he had complete artistic control.
George O'Brien is The Man, and Janet Gaynor is The Wife (1st ever Best Actress winner!).
Their marriage is mightily tested, with "The Woman From The City" (Margaret Livingston) threatening everything.
This wasn't a true silent, as it utilized synchronized sound effects and music.
If you're a film buff, then you simply can't miss Sunrise.
Manna from film heaven...

[Johann]

WOODSTOCK: the director's cut (1970)




This Oscar-winning documentary by Michael Wadleigh is a fantastic time capsule.
Wadleigh was an independent film producer who was hired after all the major studios turned down the festival. He hired a young Martin Scorsese to help, along with editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
It was 3 days of peace, love and music which was declared a free concert on the first day.
I loved opening act Richie Havens, Canned Heat, Jefferson Airplane and the Who.
We get tons of festival footage; around the grounds and on stage.
They really covered their subject! helicopters, motorcycles, the sea of humanity that was filtering in, it was a huge event. Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix are probably the highlights.
A must-see.

[Johann]

MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1954)



Weird romance/melodrama from Douglas Sirk.
Rock Hudson plays Bob Merrick, a rich playboy who crashes his speedboat.
His rescuers obtain a resuscitator from a home belonging to Dr. Philips.
While they use it on Bob, Dr. Philips has a heart attack and dies.
Bob is eventually sent to Dr. Philips’ clinic to recover, scorned by everyone for causing the good Dr’s death.
He leaves the clinic before he’s healed, collapsing in front of the Dr’s widow’s car. (Jane Wyman)
Long story short, he’s in love with her, and when he advances on her in a car, she gets out and gets hit by a car, causing blindness.
He uses a ruse of being a poor medical student so he can keep seeing her, eventually becoming a brain surgeon (!).
After looking to cure her blindness in Europe with no hope, he eventually performs brain surgery on her and she can see again.

Weird movie, mang. I won’t see it again.

[Chris Knipp]

From Richard Brody, the back pages movie commentator of The New Yorker:

This implausible, extravagant, coincidence-riddled romantic drama, from 1954, made Rock Hudson a star and Douglas Sirk a specialist in melodrama, a genre that he infused with a philosophical import all his own. The astonishing plot is centered on Bob Merrick (Hudson), an arrogant playboy in a small town in upstate New York, whose mischief contributes to the death of a beloved doctor, Wayne Phillips. Merrick meets and falls for Phillips’s widow (Jane Wyman), gets her into an accident that blinds her, and—after many years of devoted exertions—becomes a brain surgeon, in the hope of operating on her and restoring her sight. The late Dr. Phillips turns out to have been something of a religious philosopher, whose metaphysics of charity unlocked the talent of his best friend (Otto Kruger), an artist, who, in turn, imparts the wisdom to Merrick; Sirk, a German émigré, locates the source of this New World gospel in the lovingly depicted American landscape. Besides treating the ridiculous story with the utmost dramatic precision and visual coherence, the director lends it surprising thematic depth. Every step depends on stifled emotions and closely guarded secrets, resulting in a buildup of operatic passion that endows everyday gestures and inflections with grandeur and nobility.n— Richard Brody

A citizen review sounds more like my opinion:

Jochen Stossberg
2 years ago

Today, it's hilarious. Jane Wyman with a mumsy fringe and sensible clothes, looks like she could be Rock Hudson's maiden aunt. Or his mother. These campy, ridiculous films were fun once. Not any more. It really is embarrassing today. Douglas Sirk, before he was considered to be an unsung genius, was once laughed off the screen. They got it right the first time around. All his films, including this one, are not even funny today, sorry. It's so bad it's painful.

[Johann]

Those are great quotes.
The second one is more accurate. THe plot was just plain ridiculous, with too many coincidences.
The first quote is Brody giving Sirk more credit than he deserves. "Specialist" in melodrama? lol

[Chris Knipp]

I agree with your assessment of the two quotes completely though I have not seen this film.