Lights! Cameras! Action! The Movie Thread

[crich70]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Lost Horizon's sounds right. I haven't seen a Star is Born. I have the Wizard of Oz DVD. If I recall correctly, they use the still for the section with Buddy Epsen singing If I only had a heart. [as many know, Epsen was the original Tin Man, but had an allergic reaction to the makeup, so they replaced him with Jack Haley].

Actually both Ebsen and Haley had problems with the makeup. Epsen ended up in hospital when the makeup coated his lungs (it was a powder based makeup at that point) and then Haley had problems with the paste based makeup that they changed it to after Ebsen when it got into his eyes. Haley couldn't sit down in his costume either so he had to lean against a board. Burt Lahr was under 50 lbs of real lion skin and Ray Bolger had a rubber mask applied to his face every day (the scarcrow mask). Then there was Margaret Hamilton and her injuries due to the trap door and fireball effect, and a winged monkey had a fall to the floor when his wires broke. I can only imagine that working under those hot studio lights every day was torture for the actors. Even Toto was injured when a Winkie guard stepped on him.

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by issybird

But the point is that none of those with the possible exceptions of North by Northwest and Rear Window are up to:

• Notorious
• Rebecca
• Shadow of a Doubt
• Suspicion
• The 39 Steps
• Stangers on a Train

Most people would put Vertigo in the top tier as well; it's not only often selected as Hitchcock's finest film, but ranks near the top of many lists of all movies. AFI's influential top 100, for instance, has it as the #9 American film of all time, edging out The Wizard of Oz. (Psycho weighs in at #14, with Rear Window at #48 and North by Northwest at #55), while Sight and Sound rated it as the best film of all time, beating out Citizen Kane.

[Apache]

And talking about Alfred Hitchcock, do not forget the homage High Anxiety by Mel Brooks.
Apache

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by crich70

Actually both Ebsen and Haley had problems with the makeup. Epsen ended up in hospital when the makeup coated his lungs (it was a powder based makeup at that point) and then Haley had problems with the paste based makeup that they changed it to after Ebsen when it got into his eyes. Haley couldn't sit down in his costume either so he had to lean against a board. Burt Lahr was under 50 lbs of real lion skin and Ray Bolger had a rubber mask applied to his face every day (the scarcrow mask). Then there was Margaret Hamilton and her injuries due to the trap door and fireball effect, and a winged monkey had a fall to the floor when his wires broke. I can only imagine that working under those hot studio lights every day was torture for the actors. Even Toto was injured when a Winkie guard stepped on him.

Yea, it's surprising the conditions that some of these actors worked under, especially in those days. That's still the case to an extent. I've read some comments about how the Star Wars actors who were in costume really suffered from the heat while they were filming on location.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Yea, it's surprising the conditions that some of these actors worked under, especially in those days. That's still the case to an extent. I've read some comments about how the Star Wars actors who were in costume really suffered from the heat while they were filming on location.

I imagine the guards at Jabba's palace did. I understand they had to prop the mouth of the masks open and blow air in via hair dryers (set to cold air). Anthony Daniels (C3PO) had his share of problems too as I imagine did Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca). Certainly Kenny Baker must have had his troubles as R2D2 and of course there were the Ewoks.

[issybird]

This thread is a repository for recent ongoing discussions about films in other forums. Grab your popcorn and have it.

[The Old Man]

Originally Posted by issybird

This thread is a repository for recent ongoing discussions about films in other forums. Grab your popcorn and have it.

Great Thread! As a long time movie goer I wonder how many I have see in my 86 years?

Just re-watched The Time Machine (1960) on FilmStruck and so re-read the Wells short story. Overall, the film is better. Many extra little touches such as the candle burning down, the manikin's style changes, the 1966 3rd World War and, of course, the love story. Wells took the bleak outlook for human-kind a bit further and Weena was more like a child than woman. But the film's final "Which three books would you take?" is classic.

[Luffy]

When I was watching movies more than reading books, I understood that the movie Die Hard was an adaptation of Nothing Lasts Forever. Another adaptation was Forrest Gump.

As for Odd Thomas, the actor playing Odd died in a freak accident at the age of 27, and the studio has not showed interest in a sequel.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

Great Thread! As a long time movie goer I wonder how many I have see in my 86 years?

Just re-watched The Time Machine (1960) on FilmStruck and so re-read the Wells short story. Overall, the film is better. Many extra little touches such as the candle burning down, the manikin's style changes, the 1966 3rd World War and, of course, the love story. Wells took the bleak outlook for human-kind a bit further and Weena was more like a child than woman. But the film's final "Which three books would you take?" is classic.

I've subscriber to FilmStruck for about a year and use them a lot more than Netflix. The last couple of months, they have add a number of really good classic movies. When they first started, they had a lot of rather obscure foreign flicks. Nothing wrong with obscure foreign flicks, but having the Hollywood classics has me watching a lot more.

[The Old Man]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I've subscriber to FilmStruck for about a year and use them a lot more than Netflix. The last couple of months, they have add a number of really good classic movies. When they first started, they had a lot of rather obscure foreign flicks. Nothing wrong with obscure foreign flicks, but having the Hollywood classics has me watching a lot more.

I agree. For me FilmStruck has replaced Netflix. Still have Amazon Prime, of course. Along with Time Machine FS had Time After Time which is also a wonderful time-travel movie. Other time-travels that I can think of that were very good were Back to the Future series (1 and 3) and Kate and Leopold. The few others that FS are now showing are, for me, disappointing. I must be forgetting some?

[crich70]

There is also Free Classic Movies which has a very large number of PD films for free watching/downloading.

[The Old Man]

Originally Posted by crich70

There is also Free Classic Movies which has a very large number of PD films for free watching/downloading.

Thanks. New to me.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

I agree. For me FilmStruck has replaced Netflix. Still have Amazon Prime, of course. Along with Time Machine FS had Time After Time which is also a wonderful time-travel movie. Other time-travels that I can think of that were very good were Back to the Future series (1 and 3) and Kate and Leopold. The few others that FS are now showing are, for me, disappointing. I must be forgetting some?

The good thing is that they will leave most of the movies out there for a long while. Yes, I really liked Time After Time. I first saw it way back when and it's become a bit obscure. Time Bandit's is another fun movie, if you like Monty Python humor (which I do).

Right now, I have about 80 movies on my watch list including a lot of Bogart, Cagney and John Wayne. I have quite a few of them on DVD or Blu Ray, but streaming is more convenient. The first six months, I watched mostly Japanese samurai movies, since it was mostly that and obscure European flicks.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The good thing is that they will leave most of the movies out there for a long while. Yes, I really liked Time After Time. I first saw it way back when and it's become a bit obscure. Time Bandit's is another fun movie, if you like Monty Python humor (which I do).

Right now, I have about 80 movies on my watch list including a lot of Bogart, Cagney and John Wayne. I have quite a few of them on DVD or Blu Ray, but streaming is more convenient. The first six months, I watched mostly Japanese samurai movies, since it was mostly that and obscure European flicks.

As I recall Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen fell in love while filming Time After Time. You can see it in the onscreen chemistry that they had.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

Thanks. New to me.

You're quite welcome.