| 1 AUG 2006 at 6:26pm |
WimliGuild Master
Posts : 3259
Joined: 14 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Jerry (31 JUL 2006 7:08pm)
Topaz is indeed one of his more disapointing movies, but it does have some merits. I quite liked the first act, where the main character has to photograph some secret documents in the cuban headquarters. The second act, set in Cuba was not nearly as good, except for one brilliant shot when the girl gets shot (you see her dress unfolding in a way that it makes you think it's actually blood. The third act was, well... boring. But as I said, the movie does have some good points, which make it worth watching.
I think it's especially the final part that I remember. Still, one of Hitchcock lesser films, if only simply because his other films are so utterly brilliant and this one is not.
Originally Posted By Jerry (31 JUL 2006 7:08pm)
You're welcome! Should you be interested, on the internet archive (the same site where you can get "The Man who knew too much" ) you can also get some other interesting movies, like "Meet John Doe" (Frank Capra), "Beat the Devil" (John Huston), "His Girl Friday" (Howard Hawks), "Scarlet Street" and "M" (both by Fritz Lang). And on google video I've also found "er Müde Tod" by Fritz Lang (one of Hitchcocks favourite movies when he was young), Birth of a Nation and Intolerance by D.W. Griffith and most of the old German Expressionist movies...
Oh, especially that last category sounds interesting! They're difficult to get hold of on dvd, like eg Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. Would love to finally see that one! For some reason, I'm not really a big fan of Capra. So far, It Happened One Night is the only one that I really love, and can easily rewatch. As for Hawks, well, totally love him! From Scarface over The Big Sleep to Rio Lobo: [smiley=bowdown.gif]. Haven't seen His Girl Friday yet though.
Originally Posted By Jerry (31 JUL 2006 7:08pm)
On the documentary on the DVD of "Angels with Dirty Faces" a film professor said: "Other than Hitchcock, no director can claim as many masterpieces than Michael Curtiz!" Maybe a bit overstated, since Michael Curtiz never really cared for the script and looked at the whole movie from a technical point of view, but he does deserve mention, if you ask me. Just look at all the movies he directed : Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, Angels with Dirty Faces, ...
Yes, Curtiz is definitely one of the great directors as well, though personally I prefer The Roaring Twenties (directed by Raoul Walsh) over Angels With Dirty Faces as the best one out of Warner Brothers gangster cycle. Still would give Hitchcock the edge over Curtiz as being the best director, simply because it's not only about making great films, but also about making no (or hardly any) bad films. Don't know how Curtiz scores in that regard, I haven't seen enough of his films to say something about that. Still, my favourite director remains Billy Wilder. He may have made some weaker films towards the end of his career, but in general, most of films are as brilliant as Hitchcocks finest. 8-)
Originally Posted By anthony (31 JUL 2006 7:08pm)
George Cukor (The Philadelphia Story, My Fair Lady)
John Huston The Treasure of Sierra Madre, The African Queen)
Elia Kazan On The Waterfront, East of Eden)
Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons)
Billy Wilder (Stalag 17, Witness For The Prosecution, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment)
William Wyler (Roman Holiday, The Best Years of Our Lives)
A very fine list indeed! [smiley=bowdown.gif] Wilder would be my favourite of your list. in addition to the films you already mentioned, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard and The Lost Weekend are among his finest films.
As further worthy directors is concerned, I'll add Ernst Lubitsch to the list, responsible for some of the finest comedies ever made, like Trouble in Paradise and Ninotchka. 8-) I would definitely love to see some more of his films which unfortunately are largely unavailable these days.
|
| 1 AUG 2006 at 7:37pm |
IviniaGuild Master
Posts : 4459
Joined: 7 JUN 2003
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Wimli (1 AUG 2006 6:25pm)
[Oh, especially that last category sounds interesting! They're difficult to get hold of on dvd, like eg Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari.
Hmmmm, I've got that one on DVD. Holy crap! 1919? Haven't watched it yet though. Maybe tonight!
Wimli - You might want to checkout this site: http://www.oldies.com/product/topsellers.cfm/genre_silent.html
|
| 1 AUG 2006 at 7:53pm |
ShadowWalkerJourneyman
Posts : 997
Joined: 27 JUL 2005
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Ivinia (1 AUG 2006 7:37pm)
Originally Posted By Wimli (1 AUG 2006 6:25pm)
[Oh, especially that last category sounds interesting! They're difficult to get hold of on dvd, like eg Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari.
Hmmmm, I've got that one on DVD. Holy crap! 1919? Haven't watched it yet though. Maybe tonight!
Hello There!
Hope that this helps Wimli!
http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-CABINET-OF-DR-CALIGARI-1919-DVD-R4-SEALED_W0QQitemZ200011025565QQihZ010QQcategoryZ60873QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Cabinet-of-Dr-Caligari-1920-Silent-DVD-Rare_W0QQitemZ280013095946QQihZ018QQcategoryZ617QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
|
| 1 AUG 2006 at 10:26pm |
ShadowWalkerJourneyman
Posts : 997
Joined: 27 JUL 2005
Status : Offline | Hello There!
Well Anthony I read your post and yes I would like to see who has Stiletto heels big enough to run me out. :
I am a Hitchcock fan indeed; however, as I have been discovering other films by many other directors, companies, and even other countries.
My question is......why is it that so many of us have such a love affair with Alfred Hitchcock. Is it his masterful use of suspense and misdirection to shock you out of your seat or give the viewer of his film a well planned out and directed film.
Humm.........
Lets see...............
Rear window is not just a movie of suspense, murder and waiting and second guessing what Raymond Burr is doing or has done.....I think that this film also makes us love it because it caters to the veyeuristic streak we all have in us. How many of us remember this film when we look behind the windows on our homes and catch the lady doing exercises or the family having dinner or the girl having sex or admiring her naked self in front of the bathroom mirror while standing right at the window. Are we satisfied for watching her, or is the naked lady satisfied in knowing that we are looking at her naked body from darkened windows!
The Lodger which was one of Hitcock's first films that cemented his popularity and genius in giving the audience a shot of himself for the very first time!
The brilliance of Hitchcock in shooting two versions of the same film at the same time.
The film being Blackmail. He shot both a silent and talkie version, and if you can you should get both and run them on different television sets at the same time. You can see the differences between the two due to the diffent mediums. Love the scene where everyone is eating and just about every sentence is made to end in the word knife!
Anyone seen The Wrong Man. Really scary how Hitchcock makes a point of fact that given the right circumstances, anyone can be accussed of a crime that they are innocent of! Scary and too true to life.
I will leave it here with Hitchcock and go on to others.............
I think that most people also steer themselves over to Hitchcock because he is one of the most well known directors of film noir, suspence, and shocking movies from what I consider the golden age of cinema.
However, there are others that can give us the same jolt from similar suspence and fine movie craftmaking.
Anyone remember Sunset Boulevard, which so harshly criticized Hollywood that it only got 3 Oscars out of a possible 11 nominations. Other than this....this is true Hollywood gold!
How about Mildred Pierce. Boy....does anyone have a problem with Ann Blyth's still hauntingly accurate depiction of many of our current teenagers! ouble scary!
How about the Lost Weekend.....still a powerful indictment of alcoholism and still a winner!
Spencer Tracy in Fury. Given the right circumstances......how many of us even if law abiding and civilized would become as calculating and bitterly ruthless as Joe Wilson.....
Food for thought!
The Third Man....what more can be said about it.......
It has Orson Wells, Joseph Cotten, that gorgeous Zither music and off course........Alida Valli!
Gorgeous....Alida and the film as well! True film noir at its finest.
Double Indemnity will satisfy most cravings for a tour-de-force for greats like Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck....but not too amazing when you realize that Billy Wilder wrote the screenplay.
Fantastic film, script, and acting!
A Touch of Evil, besides the excelling script, acting and writing, it is still considered the Master Work Benchmark for lighting and cinematography. The excellence and craftsmanship in these two has never been surpassed by any director or studio yet!
Yes........even The Lord of the Rings trilogy still is not up to its level!
For suspense with a capital "S", The Night of the Hunter....the first one with Robert Mitchum is a great one.....
But...................the grandaddy of all suspense films...................The Wages of Fear! It is still the King of the Hill where nail biting suspense abides.
Another great film that would leave you satisfied is The Maltese Falcon. A film noir with memorable lines, great plot, and fantastic lines. Another thing that this film has in common with Alfred Hitchcock is in the seven minute uninterrupted shot of Sydney Greenstreet and Humphrey Bogart in the film. And like Hitchcock, John Huston liked to have walk-in cameos on his films. But unlike Hitchcock, Huston could really act! And this was John Huston's first film. Showed his genius right from the start. You could say that he hit the ground running!
Another great film to rival Hitchcok's own is Du rififi chez les hommes Here in the United States is known as Riffifi
An incredibly satisfying french film. A jewelry heist is planned meticulously............and then it starts to fall apart!
In Kiss of Death, Richard Widmark had his first role in front of a camera. He played Tommy Udo.
His performance as a psychopathic killer made him an instant star. Remember how he killed the old lady in the wheelchair. No one had ever done something like this before.
And I will close this thread with one of my favorite film-noir movies. M. With Peter Lorre.....fantastically cast. His Hans Beckert is superb. Truly CHILLING!
|
| 1 AUG 2006 at 11:27pm |
The WolfboySorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 304
Joined: 16 FEB 2006
Status : Online | I studied the film once. It's an okay film, but not Hitchcock's best. It managed to bore most people in my class senseless, but then I've always had a better 'tolerance' level for classic films than most people my age.
|
| 2 AUG 2006 at 4:49pm |
WimliGuild Master
Posts : 3259
Joined: 14 MAR 2003
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Ivinia (1 AUG 2006 7:37pm)
Originally Posted By Wimli (1 AUG 2006 6:25pm)
[Oh, especially that last category sounds interesting! They're difficult to get hold of on dvd, like eg Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari.
Hmmmm, I've got that one on DVD. Holy crap! 1919? Haven't watched it yet though. Maybe tonight!
Wimli - You might want to checkout this site: http://www.oldies.com/product/topsellers.cfm/genre_silent.html
Aargh, they released it on dvd in America (region 1, can't play those), but not in Europe? It's a German movie for crying out loud. That's just so [smiley=hair_pull.gif]
|
| 2 AUG 2006 at 5:02pm |
IviniaGuild Master
Posts : 4459
Joined: 7 JUN 2003
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Wimli (2 AUG 2006 4:48pm)
Originally Posted By Ivinia (1 AUG 2006 7:37pm)
Originally Posted By Wimli (1 AUG 2006 6:25pm)
[Oh, especially that last category sounds interesting! They're difficult to get hold of on dvd, like eg Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari.
Hmmmm, I've got that one on DVD. Holy crap! 1919? Haven't watched it yet though. Maybe tonight!
Wimli - You might want to checkout this site: http://www.oldies.com/product/topsellers.cfm/genre_silent.html
Aargh, they released it on dvd in America (region 1, can't play those), but not in Europe? It's a German movie for crying out loud. That's just so [smiley=hair_pull.gif]
I'm not sure about that. It says it is formatted for worldwide distribution and they have a phone number for international orders. My guess would be that you are ok.
|
| 2 AUG 2006 at 5:43pm |
JerrySorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 363
Joined: 2 MAR 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Wimli (1 AUG 2006 6:25pm)
Oh, especially that last category sounds interesting! They're difficult to get hold of on dvd, like eg Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. Would love to finally see that one!
I've actually found Dr. Caligari in two different versions. A black and white version of 51 min ( http://www.archive.org/details/DasKabinettdesDoktorCaligariTheCabinetofDrCaligari ) and a tinted version of 72 min ( http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8455250375270835043&q=caligari ). Unfortunately, the last one is a streaming video, but it is possible to download it to your harddrive. If you're interested, I could always PM you a tutorial on how to do that.
Originally Posted By Wimli (1 AUG 2006 6:25pm)
Yes, Curtiz is definitely one of the great directors as well, though personally I prefer The Roaring Twenties (directed by Raoul Walsh) over Angels With Dirty Faces as the best one out of Warner Brothers gangster cycle.
Actually, I also prefer Raoul Walsh over Michael Curtiz! Michael Curtiz is visually brilliant (just look at that excecution-scene in "Angels with Dirty Faces", or the final showdown in "The Sea Hawk", but Raoul Walsh is much better at pacing the movie and his action sequences are more intense (e.g. the car chase scene in "High Sierra" or the battle at Little Big Horn in "They Died with their Boots on". Also, my favourite movie from the Warner Brothers Gangster Collection was "White Heat", also directed by Raoul Walsh.
Originally Posted By Wimli (1 AUG 2006 6:25pm)
Still would give Hitchcock the edge over Curtiz as being the best director, simply because it's not only about making great films, but also about making no (or hardly any) bad films. Don't know how Curtiz scores in that regard, I haven't seen enough of his films to say something about that.
I certainly prefer Hitchcock over Curtiz (after all, it's no accident I've got 40 of his movies on dvd). As I said, Curtiz never really cared for the script and looked at the whole process of filmmaking from a purely technical point of view. The result is that most of his movies are visually stunning. Hitchcock, on the other hand, was interested in the screenplay. I believe it was Samuel Taylor (who did the screenplay for "Vertigo" who has said that "you never write for Hitchcock, you always write with Hitchcock". And of course, from a technical point of view Hitchcock's movies are also stunning.
Originally Posted By anthony (31 JUL 2006 7:08pm)
George Cukor (The Philadelphia Story, My Fair Lady)
John Huston (The Treasure of Sierra Madre, The African Queen)
Elia Kazan (On The Waterfront, East of Eden)
Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons)
Billy Wilder (Stalag 17, Witness For The Prosecution, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment)
William Wyler (Roman Holiday, The Best Years of Our Lives)
Unfortunately, so far I haven't seen anything by George Cukor yet...
I can only agree on John Huston, a wonderful director, indeed!
On the Waterfront and Citizen Kane were also very good and I look forward on seeing more movies by these directors (especially Orson Welles).
I've only seen 2 Billy Wilder movies so far (Some Like it Hot and Sunset Blv.) but if the quality of those movies is any indication, he is well on his way in becoming one of my favourite directors!
[url=http://www.intervocative.com/DVDCollection.aspx/Jerry2000]My dvd's[/url]
|
| 2 AUG 2006 at 5:53pm |
JerrySorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 363
Joined: 2 MAR 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Wimli (2 AUG 2006 4:48pm)
Originally Posted By Ivinia (1 AUG 2006 7:37pm)
Originally Posted By Wimli (1 AUG 2006 6:25pm)
[Oh, especially that last category sounds interesting! They're difficult to get hold of on dvd, like eg Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari.
Hmmmm, I've got that one on DVD. Holy crap! 1919? Haven't watched it yet though. Maybe tonight!
Wimli - You might want to checkout this site: http://www.oldies.com/product/topsellers.cfm/genre_silent.html
Aargh, they released it on dvd in America (region 1, can't play those), but not in Europe? It's a German movie for crying out loud. That's just so [smiley=hair_pull.gif]
You know, making your dvdplayer region free is actually incredibly easy ! It's simply a certain code you need to type into your remote control. You can find the code on http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks Simply type the name of your DVD player and you'll get the code.
[url=http://www.intervocative.com/DVDCollection.aspx/Jerry2000]My dvd's[/url]
|
| 2 AUG 2006 at 6:17pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Wimli (2 AUG 2006 4:48pm)
Aargh, they released it on dvd in America (region 1, can't play those), but not in Europe? It's a German movie for crying out loud. That's just so [smiley=hair_pull.gif]
Wimli,
It has been released in region 2. Rodisc, in Rotterdam sells it
http://www.rodisc.nl/gsp.dll?sid=103&pid=9&p_artikelid=67617&keysetid=40684391.
This is the one I have although I'm not sure I bought it there. They don't seem to have it in stock. Furthermore, they don't ship abroad, so you'll have to go there in person.
They have more versions, but none are in stock and some descriptions seem a bit odd (an import form USA, region 2 ?)
One of my other favourite online shops, CDWOW, also has one with the same cover,
http://www4.cd-wow.com/detail_results_11.php?product_code=25583 but describes it as being region 7 (?). They also have a region 0 version.
The one I have (with the cover pictured in the links) is excellent, and contains a commentary. I always have my doubts about region 0 dvd's of films which are in the public domain, published by unknown companies without extras. You might pay for the same quality you can download for free from archive.org.
BTW Jerry is right about the regionfree codes. Even if you have a player which is not easily converted, like most Pioneer players, it might pay to buy a cheap one which can be converted. Otherwise you miss out on some great releases (Criterion !).
|
| 3 AUG 2006 at 3:10pm |
anthonyJourneyman
Posts : 1270
Joined: 11 JUN 2003
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By ShadowWalker (1 AUG 2006 10:26pm)
The Third Man....what more can be said about it.......
It has Orson Wells, Joseph Cotten, that gorgeous Zither music and off course........Alida Valli!
Gorgeous....Alida and the film as well! True film noir at its finest.
Double Indemnity will satisfy most cravings for a tour-de-force for greats like Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck....but not too amazing when you realize that Billy Wilder wrote the screenplay.
Fantastic film, script, and acting!
A Touch of Evil, besides the excelling script, acting and writing, it is still considered the Master Work Benchmark for lighting and cinematography. The excellence and craftsmanship in these two has never been surpassed by any director or studio yet!
Yes........even The Lord of the Rings trilogy still is not up to its level!
Yes, those are three truly great films. Touch of Evil was so ahead of its time. Remember this one from The Third Man:
"in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
|
