DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread

[Jon]

Not a great deal of interest to anyone who didn't know or lived through the reign of Brian Clough...

I've never had even the slightest interest in football, but Brian Clough was a great man. I'm proud to say I come from the Nottingham/Derby area and he is deservedly a local hero. Watching him dismantle poor reporters was some of the best TV!

[Rogmeister]

Angel and the Badman  (1947)  Black & White   100 minutes
Producer: John Wayne
Written and Directed by James Edward Grant
Cast: John Wayne, Gail Russell, Harry Carey, Bruce Cabot, Irene Rich, Paul Hurst

A gunslinger named Quirt Evans (John Wayne) is injured and taken in by a Quaker family.  Slowly, their ways and the growing love between him and their daughter begins to change him.

This was the first movie produced by John Wayne, who also starred in the film and the only film directed by James Edward Grant whose real trade was screenwriting.  Though Grant is certainly no Howard Hawks or John Ford, this film is surprisingly effective and holds up well today.  As with many of John Ford's films, much of the film was shot on Monument Valley and used many familiar character actors including Harry Carey Sr. and Bruce Cabot.  Though not one of John Wayne's most famous films, this is one I really like and I enjoy coming back to it again and again.  As with many Republic pictures, this film has fallen into the land of public domain and there are many copies out there, some good and some bad as far as picture and sound quality goes.  My copy is from The Roan Group, a company that had a great reputation regarding quality product...at least until they were bought out by Troma.  If you can find a Roan copy, that's the one to go for.  Of course, as with many older films, there are no real extras to speak of, just some text about the background of the film and a screen showing the main players in the film.

[Tom]

Ichi

A movie about a blind female swordsman I watched today at the AsiaFilmFest. Overall I enjoyed this movie, even though it begins to drag in the second half.

[Rogmeister]

The Black Swan  (1942)  Technicolor   85 minutes
Directed by Henry King
Cast: Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, Laird Cregar, Thomas Mitchell, George Sanders, Anthony Quinn, George Zucco
Music composed by Alfred Newman
Oscar-winner for Color Cinematography
Oscar-nominated for Special Effects and for Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

DVD Extras
Commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer and actress Maureen O'Hara
Restoration Comparison
Theatrical Trailer

It's time to buckle that swash!  Join Tyrone Power and his cronies (including every whiskey drinker's favorite seaman, Captain Morgan) as they join him in Jamaica after being pardoned by the king of England...until another seaman (played by George Sanders in a bright red wig and beard) continues his evil ways attacking the king's ships and stealing their bootie.  It's a rollicking high adventure shot in beautiful Technicolor.  It also has an interesting audio commentary featuring actress Maureen O'Hara who revealed that in her first color film, she got "klieg eyes" due to overpowering lights and vowed to never shoot another color film again until cinematographer Leon Shamroy surprised her with the low level lights he would use.  This is certainly an incredible-looking picture with vibrant colors and terrific battle sequences both at sea and in castles on the mainland.  If you enjoy a good pirate adventure, this is one you need to see.

[Tom]

Title: You've Got Mail
Year: 1998
Director: Nora Ephron
Rating: FSK-6
Length: 115 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround, Music Only: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish

Stars:
Tom Hanks
Meg Ryan
Greg Kinnear
Parker Posey
Heather Burns

Plot:
This sweet romantic comedy reunites 'Sleepless In Seattle' stars Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. He's the owner of a bookstore chain; she's the woman he falls for online. Both are unaware that she runs the little shop his company is trying to shut down.

Awards:

AFI	1998	Nominated	100 Years... 100 Passions (2002)
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	1999	Nominated	Favorite Actor - Comedy/Romance	Tom Hanks
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	1999	Won	Favorite Actress - Comedy/Romance	Meg Ryan
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	1999	Won	Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy/Romance	Greg Kinnear
BMI Film & TV Music Awards	1999	Won	BMI Film Music Award	George Fenton
Golden Globe	1998	Nominated	Actress in a Leading Role - Musical or Comedy	Meg Ryan
Satellite Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Actress – Comedy or Musical	Meg Ryan
Satellite Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical	Lauren Shuler Donner, Nora Ephron
Satellite Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Original Song	"Anyone At All": Carole King, Carol Bayer-Sager

Extras:
Commentary
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

I have always enjoyed this movie. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are both great in this one. I think they have great chemistry together. The only thing I didn't like is the horrible product placement of AOL, which really dates this movie.

Rating:

[Jon]

Now that's what my collection's missing... swashbucklers!  thanks for that, Roger

[Rogmeister]

Always aim to please    Of course, now I have a yen to see more Maureen O'Hara movies.  I do have a "D" western I can watch I've never gotten around to before that she's in (but it means no Darby O'Gill for the marathon).  I still need to decide on my "C" movie first.  So far I have about 3 possibilities but I believe they've all been reviewed before so I may glance around my collection some more and see what else catches my eye... 

[Rick]

If you liked The Black Swan you'll love Captain Blood. Although I've always preferred Errol Flynn to Tyrone Power in these types of roles so maybe it's just me.

[Jimmy]

Rick any chance for a review soon
Maybe you should tried with the binary alphabet... you just need two movies

[Rich]

Rick any chance for a review soon
Maybe you should tried with the binary alphabet... you just need two movies

 

[Rick]

Rick any chance for a review soon
Maybe you should tried with the binary alphabet... you just need two movies

 

 


 

[Rogmeister]

Captain Blood (1935)  Black & White   119 minutes
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone, Ross Alexander, Guy Kibbee
Music: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

After watching "The Black Swan", I was in the mood for even more swashbuckling so I decided to pop in Errol Flynn's first starring role in a swasbuckler, "Captain Blood".  Ironically, both films were based on novels by the same writer, Rafael Sabatini.  Captain Blood came out 7 years earlier and was shot in black & white so you don't get the lush color photography of The Black Swan but it looks very good for a 74 year old black & white film.  You get more big ships, armies of men swordfighting all at once, both on land and at sea.  Unfortunately, you don't get Maureen O'Hara this time, having to settle instead for Olivia de Havilland but you do get Errol Flynn so perhaps that's a fair trade off.  Unlike the other film where the lead character starts off being a pirate, this time you get the long story of how he became one...being arrested and sold off into slavery and finally escaping with fellow slaves and taking over a ship.  Basil Rathbone is in this film, too...but not for a long amount of screen time but he does have one excellent sword fight sequence with Flynn which is definitely one of the highlights of the movie.

The DVD has a lot of extras including a featurette on the movie, audio-only bonus radio program, and the original trailer.  They also have a presentation of Warner Night at the Movies where they try to show you what it was like seeing a movie back then...besides the movies, you get some shorts also from 1935 including a newsreel, movie trailer of another film, musical and comedy shorts and a cartoon.  There's a lot of entertainment for your buck here, especially considering that, as I write this, you can pick this up in the U.S. currently for about $6.

[Rick]

OK - I at least got my list ready to go. Tomorrow I'll actually watch something and post the review. Decided to do an "Hollywood Legends" theme as well. Works for most of the movies I picked. All but one of them I haven't seen before so I have no idea what to expect on most. Looking forward to it. 

[Rogmeister]

I haven't really thought of doing a theme but now I'm wondering if I can go through the entire marathon without doing one movie set in contemporary times.  I've done 4 movies so far, two being westerns and two being swashbucklers.  My "E" movie might mess me up as I was thinking of doing Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers...but I do have a few other E possibilities... 

[Achim]

Jay and Sielnt Bob Strike Back

Boy did Kevin Smith drop the ball on this one. The story is rather lame and feels forced (admittedly, the story is rarely the main focus of his films, almost like a McGuffin) and especially the acting is very flat, feels like the lines are merely recited, not felt. It clearly shows that Jay and Silent Bob are great side characters in front of the convenient store (or burger joint) but cannot hold a movie by themselves.