What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

"Forbidden Planet" 1956 starring Walter Pigeon, Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen

• It's been awhile since I've watched this one from beginning to end and I had forgotten how much of "Star Trek" is in this movie eleven years before there was a "Star Trek"

"Symphony of Six Million" 1932 staring Ricardo Cortez and Irene Dunn

• Pre-code in its honest and in-depth portrayal of the Jewish immigrant community of NYC - after the code was enforced, movies became more homogeneously "traditional" American and characters and communities like these were reduced to small more "sanitized" roles

• The moralizing and sanctimony - a doctor should work in a clinic for the poor for little pay and not "sell out" for a profitable Park Avenue practice - is obnoxious, but so arrogantly sure of its righteousness that it's interesting to watch it power through every cliche to loudly hammer home its pious point

• One more pre-code note, Irene Dunn has a limp throughout and wears dowdy clothes - something studios rarely allowed their glamorous stars to do on screen

 

[Otter]

That's Hollywood for you... Sgt. York actually carried a 1917 Enfield which doesn't have any windage adjustment.
Also, his accent is some sort of Hollywood-version of Southern. The people from the area he came from (Jamestown, Pall Mall, TN) have a very distinct accent, but not at all like Gary Cooper's.
Sgt. York's statue near the State Capitol also has him holding the wrong type of rifle - a Springfield.

Even though some of the details are wrong I still like the movie and watch it any time I get the chance.

(By coincidence I was at Sgt. York's home-place and Sgt. York State Park just last weekend for a Nov 11 WWI commemorative event.)

My Father carried one of these rifles during his WWII service in the Home Guard ! He always remembered it very favourably compared to other rifles.

 

[EngProf]

My Father carried one of these rifles during his WWII service in the Home Guard ! He always remembered it very favourably compared to other rifles.

Do you know if it was a US Enfield 1917 or a Pattern 14? They looked identical, since the Model of 1917 was an "Americanized" version of the Pattern 14 (British design).
The Home Guard used both, and the Model of 1917 rifles in Home Guard service had a band of red paint near the front of the stock to indicate that they used American 30-06 ammunition, whereas the Pattern 14's used British .303.
I'd like to hear some of your father's thoughts about Home Guard service during the darkest days of the war. Since we are really in a movie-topic do you know of any movies that were made about the Home Guard?

 

[Otter]

He always said it was the P-17 he used and personally found it a better rifle to the issue Lee Enfield, I remember he mentioned the difference in the ammunition. He only served in 44 to 45 and passed away back in 1999.

The only movies I know of are the Dads Army ones (Don't tell him your name Pike) . Probably not the best source for historical accuracy.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Aww, you mean the Home Guard wasn't really made up of pompous little bank managers, languid aristocrats, hyperactive old bayonettists, dour Scots, incontinent medics, scheming spivs, and Stupid Boys? You can't believe anything you see on TV anymore.

 

[EngProf]

Aww, you mean the Home Guard wasn't really made up of pompous little bank managers, languid aristocrats, hyperactive old bayonettists, dour Scots, incontinent medics, scheming spivs, and Stupid Boys? You can't believe anything you see on TV anymore.

Since Otter's father was in the Home Guard, this sort of personal insult seems below what I thought was expected from Fedora Lounge decorum.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Tsk. Somebody clearly doesn't appreciate classic British comedy.

For Americans unfamiliar with the reference, I'll explain that "Dad's Army" featured a commanding officer who was a pompous little bank manager, a sergeant who was a languid aristocrat, a corporal who was a hyperactive old bayonettist, and privates who included a dour Scot, an incontinent medic, a scheming spiv, and a stupid boy, and will add that Jimmy Perry -- creator and co-writer of DA -- served in the Home Guard as a teenager, and based the character of Private Pike -- the "stupid boy" -- upon himself. So there's that.

I imagine some actual Home Guard vets saw it as being on about the level of what an American commando would think of "Hogan's Heroes." But be that as it may, the TV series was also the best deconstruction of the fatuousness of the British class system ever shown, and I dearly love it. Every now and then you run into a bona fide Captain Mainwaring strutting about right here on the Lounge.

The first "Dad's Army" movie, with the original cast from the TV series, wasn't bad at all, for what it was, but anyone approaching the recent remake would be advised to do so with a long, pointed stick. Even though Bill Nighy was an inspired casting choice to play Sgt. Wilson.

 

[redlinerobert]

Double Indemnity by Billy Wilder. All of his movies are good.

 

[Otter]

Not insulted at all, in fact it was one of my Dads favourite programs ! There was a similar outcry surrounding 'Allo 'Allo when it was first broadcast, are we being disrespectful to the Resistance. That show ran for an enormous number of series.

 

[Fading Fast]

Double Indemnity by Billy Wilder. All of his movies are good.

Excellent movie in which Edward G Robinson steals every scene he's in because he's that good not because he's a scene stealer.

 

[Fading Fast]

"13 Minutes" 2015 German movie

• The story of George Elser's 1939 assassination attempt on Hitler that focuses on Elser / It starts with the attempted assassination and then works backwards and forward to show what motivated him and what were the ramifications (they were not small)

• Instead of working from large to small (showing how major geopolitical events effect the individual) the movie brilliantly works from small to large showing everyday Germans just living life as the Nazi's come to power and how one, Elser, goes from being a pacifist Red sympathizer to assassination plotter as he sees his and his community's freedoms circumscribde while much worse things are happening to the Jews and communists
  • Since most of us know the "big" events, this "everyday life" approach is powerful as we see a small German village change under increasing Nazi rule (the bad people gain power / the good ones suffer) - it makes it more personal and less like other films covering the same period
  • This viewpoint is also impactful when Elser is being interrogated as the focus is on his personal struggle - the Nazi Party and Hitler coming in and out only as a framework and motivator for the torture and machinations

• It is a strong movie that keeps you engaged and connected to Elser, his motivations and struggles
  • It's strange to see a communist ardently advocating for individual freedom versus the needs of the state, but stir things up enough - like the tsunami of the Nazis and WWII did - and all sorts of philosophical inconsistencies and strange ideological bedfellows spill out

• Also a wonderful FL eye-candy movie as the clothes, sets, architecture and other period details are incredible / the movie is beautifully filmed to evoke the era

N.B. Lizzie, I could see this one being very popular with your theater crowd.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think we had this one -- I'd have to dig back to be sure but it certainly sounds familiar.

 

[Fading Fast]

I think we had this one -- I'd have to dig back to be sure but it certainly sounds familiar.

Very much a "your theater" kinda film.

 

[Touchofevil]

This morning, Night and the City on TCM’s Noir Alley.
Nice cinematography.
Entertaining story.
Neat to see the exterior shots.
Always worth a viewing.

 

[2jakes]

This morning, Night and the City on TCM’s Noir Alley.
Nice cinematography.
Entertaining story.
Neat to see the exterior shots.
Always worth a viewing.

Worth it just to see that smirk!

Sleaze at 100% RPM !

 

[Zombie_61]

Currently watching The Green Mile for the umpteenth time on Cinemax (free weekend). For some reason, about half way through the sound has gone slightly out of sync and is about half a second behind the video, so it's a bit like watching a dubbed foreign version.

 

[AmateisGal]

Sullivan's Travels. This was my first time to see it. I enjoyed it.

 

[2jakes]

TCM today:

Although slightly disappointed since I never saw Robby with
that sinister look or carrying a girl away.

Anne Francis made up for it!

 

[Fading Fast]

Sullivan's Travels. This was my first time to see it. I enjoyed it.

Fun movie (if a bit too preachy/political in parts). For some reason, her name rarely comes up at FL, but Veronica Lake is one of my favorites as - beyond being cute as all heck - she has a real comfort with the camera. Her teaming with Alan Ladd in several movies is as good a pairing as almost any that Hollywood came up with.

 

[Fading Fast]

TCM today:
View attachment 94368
Although slightly disappointed since I never saw Robby with
that sinister look or carrying a girl away.
View attachment 94369
Anne Francis made up for it!

That poster is very King Kong-Fay Wray derivative, but you are correct, there's no matching scene to it in the movie.

However, as you noted, Anne Francis was no disappointment as they, for the time, did all they could to have the least amount of clothing on her as possible (the pool scene had to be pretty racy in its day).