Lights! Cameras! Action! The Movie Thread

[Henryk]

I recently viewed an old movie 9th Guest 1933 which Was published as The Invisible Host by Bristow and Manning. This has a similar theme to Ten Little Indians with people being invited to a party in a hotel and then meeting their just desserts but was written a number of years before the Christie classic. While the book is expensive to obtain the film is readily available, in good quality and holds up well after 85 years. Has anyone encountered books or movies from that period?

[hildea]

You'll probably have a better chance of getting replies if you start a new thread with a title describing what you're looking for, instead of posting in an old thread where the title doesn't fit.

Are you looking for books written in the 1930s, or books taking place in the 1930s, or either, or both?

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Henryk

I recently viewed an old movie 9th Guest 1933 which Was published as The Invisible Host by Bristow and Manning. This has a similar theme to Ten Little Indians with people being invited to a party in a hotel and then meeting their just desserts but was written a number of years before the Christie classic. While the book is expensive to obtain the film is readily available, in good quality and holds up well after 85 years. Has anyone encountered books or movies from that period?

That particular movie is in the PD as well so you can watch or download a copy here.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by crich70

That particular movie is in the PD as well so you can watch or download a copy here.

I never knew about that website - I'm going to have to go drool!

[crich70]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I never knew about that website - I'm going to have to go drool!

They have films ranging from the 1890's right up to the late 1960's there. Fewer in the more recent yrs as most studio's didn't neglect to renew their copyright the closer you get to the present, but still quite a large collection including some based on classic books.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by crich70

They have films ranging from the 1890's right up to the late 1960's there. Fewer in the more recent yrs as most studio's didn't neglect to renew their copyright the closer you get to the present, but still quite a large collection including some based on classic books.

Quite a collection. Cyrano De Bergerac, Flying Tigers, Night of the Living Dead just to name a couple that I noticed in a brief glance. Also some really cheesy movies that I remember seeing on TV back when I was a kid - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. I'm obviously going to have to browse this site when I have more time.

I suspect that a lot more movies have gone out of copyright, but the prints have long since vanished.

[The Old Man]

Looking at the User Reviews at IMDB folks love The Birds or hate it. No middle ground. Critic review are mostly positive. I'll have to find a copy of The Skin Game.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

Looking at the User Reviews at IMDB folks love The Birds or hate it. No middle ground. Critic review are mostly positive. I'll have to find a copy of The Skin Game.

How can anyone hate The Birds? It's not my favorite Hitchcock film, but it's pretty terrific.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

How can anyone hate The Birds? It's not my favorite Hitchcock film, but it's pretty terrific.

Hitchcock was past his prime by the time The Birds came to roost, but also time was past him. Black & white was his métier, not color. Also, as I alluded to above, his blondes were not the actresses they were. Tippi Hedren, Kim Novak and Doris Day were no Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, or Ingrid Bergman. Rod Taylor was no Cary Grant or Joseph Cotten, either.

[The Old Man]

Originally Posted by issybird

Hitchcock was past his prime by the time The Birds came to roost, but also time was past him. Black & white was his métier, not color. Also, as I alluded to above, his blondes were not the actresses they were. Tippi Hedren, Kim Novak and Doris Day were no Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, or Ingrid Bergman. Rod Taylor was no Cary Grant or Joseph Cotten, either.

We are straying a bit from the thread's subject but I couldn't let that one pass without a brief comment.
The Birds,
North By Northwest
To Catch a Thief
Rear Window
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Vertigo
Dial M For Murder (also in 3D)
all in color and a few lesser films that were none-the-less fun movies, Family Plot, Marnie, The Trouble With Harry.

See, if you make too many B&W movies that are excellent some folks will forget what you did in color.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

We are straying a bit from the thread's subject but I couldn't let that one pass without a brief comment.
The Birds,
North By Northwest
To Catch a Thief
Rear Window
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Vertigo
Dial M For Murder (also in 3D)
all in color and a few lesser films that were none-the-less fun movies, Family Plot, Marnie, The Trouble With Harry.

See, if you make too many B&W movies that are excellent some folks will forget what you did in color.

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

and I could go on.

I have to add that the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much is pretty terrible.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

We are straying a bit from the thread's subject but I couldn't let that one pass without a brief comment.
The Birds,
North By Northwest
To Catch a Thief
Rear Window
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Vertigo
Dial M For Murder (also in 3D)
all in color and a few lesser films that were none-the-less fun movies, Family Plot, Marnie, The Trouble With Harry.

See, if you make too many B&W movies that are excellent some folks will forget what you did in color.

Thank you! I was thinking the same thing. And no offense to Joseph Cotton, but he was no Jimmy Stewart, who appeared in Rope, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo. All in color.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Thank you! I was thinking the same thing. And no offense to Joseph Cotton, but he was no Jimmy Stewart, who appeared in Rope, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo. All in color.

Rope was an experimental film though too. The reels of film had some 10 or so minutes on them when shot and Hitchcock would have the camera zoom in on someone's back or other such just as the film was running out in order to limit the amount of cuts he had to make. The movie was also based (I believe) on a play from England about the Leopold and Loeb murder. In that way it is similar to "And Then There Were None" which was based on a stage play which in turn was based on the book of the same name. Agatha Christie changed the ending of the book when she wrote the play and the screenwriters used the play as the basis of the screenplay.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by crich70

Rope was an experimental film though too. The reels of film had some 10 or so minutes on them when shot and Hitchcock would have the camera zoom in on someone's back or other such just as the film was running out in order to limit the amount of cuts he had to make. The movie was also based (I believe) on a play from England about the Leopold and Loeb murder. In that way it is similar to "And Then There Were None" which was based on a stage play which in turn was based on the book of the same name. Agatha Christie changed the ending of the book when she wrote the play and the screenwriters used the play as the basis of the screenplay.

Oh yeah, I know the history of Rope.

It doesn't seem to be one of his highly regarded movies, but I watched it again last year and thought it was fantastic.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Oh yeah, I know the history of Rope.

It doesn't seem to be one of his highly regarded movies, but I watched it again last year and thought it was fantastic.

I like it well enough myself. I think one problem is that we know from the start that there is a body. The suspense of "did they kill someone or didn't they" isn't there. One gentleman remarked on that on the DVD.