What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[1967Cougar390]

Last night I watched the 1946 classic Whistle Stop with Ava Gardner and George Raft. I wanted to like it, but it falls short of being a true Film Noir classic. There was little to no background on Ava's Character Mary and why she came back to her hometown. I did enjoy Ava's performance and good looks. Her performance outshines every other actor in the movie. George Raft’s performance just didn’t connect with me. He seemed very stiff and his chemistry with Ava was lacking. I do appreciate the film for what it is, but it could have been so much more. Overall I’m glad I watched it.
Steven

 

[Harp]

View attachment 309646
The Case of the Curious Bride from 1935 with Warren William, Margaret Lindsay...

This early Perry Mason movie adaptation is fun in a very Warner Bros. warp-speed way that packs a ton of plot and characters into eighty minute.

Warren William basically plays one of his stock Warner Bros.' characters, but with the name of Perry Mason, yet it works as William is comfortable in Warner's warp-speed world. He's clearly having a lot of fun as the genius defense attorney and bon vivant who gets to tweak the police, mix it up with mobsters and charm the women while being a step ahead of everyone almost all the time.

He's not really the Mason of the books or of later incarnations...

And the ride is fun as this movie's Mason's only scruple, once he decides his client is innocent (a Hollywood add, as, in the book, he doesn't really care if they are innocent or not), is to get him or her off by every honest and dishonest trick he can play. So, with side-kick and wonderful character actor Allen Jenkins doing the scut work, Mason gins up false alibis and evidence without a qualm. While the police work equally hard at exposing these machinations, it's clear no one is really concerned about the morality of it all.

Raymond Burr remains my ideal fixed version of Perry Mason, Attorney at Law. The old television
series portrayed Mason as an honest broker, a defense criminal law specialist who always played it
straight down the middle and garnered a highly unusual number of last minute witness chair confessions.

A former law prof whom practiced criminal law simultaneously with the lecture circuit once admitted
that he often accepted clients he suspected guilty, others who refused to declare, and once-in-a-while
truly lost innocent souls in desperate need. He frankly left it to the Lord more often than not.

One of his former clients, an ex-professional car thief came in as a guest speaker. Asked why he quit,
he claimed to have found Jesus in a parking lot.

Smartass me raised my hand, and was recognized. And I asked what make car Jesus drove.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Swing Time" on TCM right now. If Fred and Ginger dancing together doesn't lift your spirits a bit, I don't know what to say. Perfect start to a Sunday morning.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's the best of their pictures, with the best of all their scores. "The Way You Look Tonight" is my pick for the finest American popular song ever written, and Astaire's performance of it is the most perfect performance of an American popular song ever recorded.

 

[Fading Fast]

That's the best of their pictures, with the best of all their scores. "The Way You Look Tonight" is my pick for the finest American popular song ever written, and Astaire's performance of it is the most perfect performance of an American popular song ever recorded.

Every time I watch it something else stands out. Check out Roger's performance in this number, especially deep in (starting at 2:42) when she spins repeatedly like a top almost till the end of the song. It's crazy that she could do that, period, and (as often noted) in heels.

 

[Doctor Strange]

It's also been my favorite Astaire/Rogers picture forever. They don't play the usual hard-to-sympathize-with upper-crust types, the plot is less exhausting with less of those stupid misunderstandings, the supporting characters are warmer, and the romance feels less forced. (I credit ace director George Stevens' comedy background for much of it.) The music and dance throughout are perfection... including the "Bojangles of Harlem" number that probably has today's cancel culture kids outraged that Astaire was an evil racist cultural appropriator.

 

[Harp]

"Swing Time" on TCM right now. If Fred and Ginger dancing together doesn't lift your spirits a bit, I don't know what to say. Perfect start to a Sunday morning.

In high school, Ginger R was in Chicago, at Water Tower...and I thought I could ask for an autograph.
She was surrounded by women, encircled but an opening presented...then one of the ladies asked her
if she had ever slept with Fred Astaire. Miss R turned crimson, I sensed my exit. No autograph.
But the moment lingers in memory.... On New Year's Eve, Chicago WLS television showed all their
films in a "dance the New Year in" spiel.

 

[Worf]

Though not a very pleasant movie by any means, I am however a huge history buff. So I took a chance and watched the WWII movie "Come And See". Without going into much, I'll just say that it's a very intense movie from the perspective of a young Belarusian boy, who is caught up in the horrors of war. Needless to say, I had to find something uplifting after watching that. So some choice videos starting with Jimpin' Jive, featuring the legendary Cab Calloway and the incredibly talented Nicholas Brothers followed.

I reviewed that film some months ago. The most riveting depiction of the horrors of war, I've ever seen. Scary, saddening, frightening to know that human beings could do that to one another.

Worf

 

[Rats Rateye]

Every time I watch it something else stands out. Check out Roger's performance in this number, especially deep in (starting at 2:42) when she spins repeatedly like a top almost till the end of the song. It's crazy that she could do that, period, and (as often noted) in heels.

Having been raised watching all the classics, I always loved watching Fred and Ginger (In addition to others) glide across the floor. I even took some lessons on and off before I joined the ARMY. And one of the best lessons I learned as a young man is that unlike the tough guys that just stand around and try to look cool, girls like guys that "can" and "aren't afraid" to dance.

 

[Rats Rateye]

I reviewed that film some months ago. The most riveting depiction of the horrors of war, I've ever seen. Scary, saddening, frightening to know that human beings could do that to one another.

Worf

I completely agree. Now I served in the ARMY and I've always liked a good action or more so historical movie. But now that I'm older and a veteran and seeing some of these historically based movies... Wow. I can't even imagine what prior generations went through.

 

[Rats Rateye]

"Swing Time" on TCM right now. If Fred and Ginger dancing together doesn't lift your spirits a bit, I don't know what to say. Perfect start to a Sunday morning.

You guys are terrible. You keep bringing up all of these great movies on TCM... I just don't know that I can afford YET ANOTHER cable provider. Isn't it like $60 dollars a month? Grrr.

 

[Rats Rateye]

This afternoon I stumbled across this short film with The Little Rascals. Now as we all know, these short films were made years before our time. However! I fondly remember running home from school with my friends so that we could catch the reruns and other shows. And though, I'm not sure if it will successfully post, here's one that I remember well. Probably because my friends and I always wanted to build something similar.

 

[Fading Fast]

You guys are terrible. You keep bringing up all of these great movies on TCM... I just don't know that I can afford YET ANOTHER cable provider. Isn't it like $60 dollars a month? Grrr.

It's really hard to "disaggregate" the "package" pricing of cable down to a cost per your favorite channel and, even if you could, it would be a meaningless number practically as, per my experience with several cable companies over the years, you still have to buy a "package" of channels anyway to get TCM.

As best as I can tell (after exhausting time spent on Spectrum's website and on the phone with a Spectrum rep), TCM and a few other channels that are not bad to have cost me an additional ~$20 a month as that is the added "package" I needed to buy above "basic cable" to get TCM.

I love TCM (our most watched channel by far) and get more than $20/month value out of it alone (plus, as mentioned, we do get some other okay channels in the TCM "package"), but I am well aware that all these cable packages and streaming services can quickly add up.

I'd gladly give up 380 of my 400 cable channels (made up numbers, but I know they are in the hundreds) and probably would give up 390, if I focused on the decision, without missing a thing, but as noted, cable companies do what cable companies do.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep, until "a la carte" pricing is mandated as an option under franchise agreements, the cable companies will have us hanging by the ankles. Especially since the celluar industry and the FCC colluded on the compulsory digitization of over-the-air television, eliminating antenna reception of all TV for large swaths of the country and forcing those us so affected to either buy cable, buy streaming packages, or resort to various illegal methods of obtaining the viewing material we want.

I'm also a Spectrum customer, after that tentacled octopus-like conglomerate absorbed Time Warner Cable, which absorbed Adelphia Cable, which absorbed Cablevision, etc. etc. etc. over the past thirty years, and I've come to loathe it with a fine white-hot passion. 99.9 percent of what I have to pay for to get the handful of channels I actually want are garbage -- honking, squawking propaganda channels, idiot reality shows, sub-moronic home-shopping pitchmen, Bible-thumping cap-teethed racketeers, and reruns of junk that wasn't any good the first time around. If I could pay for just two local channels (that I used to get over rabbit ears for free back when television was analog like God and Vladimir Zworykin intended), the sports channel that has the Red Sox, and TCM, I would immediately sign up for that. But I can't. My mother desperately wanted TCM -- which for some reason wasn't available in her neighborhood -- and she called up the Spectrum customer service line and basically swore at them for two hours until they broke down and agreed to add it to her package -- but she still has to pay for the whole package just to get that channel.

Oh for the days when I could tune in good movies on the "Great Money Movie" every day after school for free. I saw the entire 1929-48 Warner Bros. package that way back in the 70s.

 

[Fading Fast]

I came to Spectrum via Time Warner as well - which wasn't much different than Spectrum. Spectrum, to be fair, in NYC actually improved the service call process in that you can get a technician, usually, the next day and, usually, within the two-hour window they promised (that's been a big improvement). Time Warner took much longer to show up (sometimes a week out) and required a four or six hour (don't remember) window. Otherwise, I haven't notice much of a difference between the two companies - both seem about equally annoying.

The "package" model has been explained to me as a way for small channels to survive because, if the cable companies went to a full a-la-carte menu, a ton of channels that have small viewership would go out of business, but "packaging" keeps them going. So, for example, with the TCM package - TCM is a very popular channel - I also get the LMN channel which gets a fee from my package that, if cable went a la carte, it would lose as I've never once looked at LMN. It's kinda a bit of the rich supporting the poor as TCM and, say, ESPN would do fine (probably better) in an a-la-carte pricing world, but again, many smaller channels would fail. So, effectively, TCM and other popular channels support the little guys.

So, in theory, the "package" model helps small channels and its small viewer base survive and enjoy its "niche" offerings. That explanation has always felt a bit fishy to me as it also happens to result in more overall revenue flowing to the cable companies, but as more people "pull the cord" (drop cable for all streaming, all stealing or some combination) some smaller channels are going out or merging, so maybe there is some truth to it.

 

[Harp]

My sympathies everyone. As a cliff dweller without television I prefer reading and catch cable
sports coverage elsewhere as circumstance can-can. With the singular exception of Erin Burnett at CNN
I can do without the cumulative cable morass and cost. And I will admit to fondness for older flicks
once available free but now ticketed.

 

[MisterCairo]

The last two movie night movies were neither of them classics in the Lounge sense, but good fun.

Introduced the girls to True Lies the last week, a fun romp with Arnie, the other Arnie Tom Arnold (who should have made a career out of similar roles), Jamie Lee Curtis of course and the now late Bill Paxton as Simon the used car salesman slash "spy".

Past weekend saw us show them Due Date, literally Planes, Trains and Automobiles updated with Robert Downey Jr. and Zack Galifinakis or whatever spelling it is.

(Spreading his dad's ashes at the Grand Canyon): "Dad, you were like a father to me..."

 

[Doctor Strange]

All of us who still have cable undoubtedly have scores of channels we don't watch. In my case, it's the sports channels. (I haven't watched a sporting event on TV in decades. I've never been even slightly interested in sports.) I think the cable industry will have to go a more a la carte selection model eventually, because there's so much other content out there for them to compete with these days.

In my case, I pay for Amazon Prime, and I have HBO Max since I'm already a cable subscriber (with HBO, Starz, Showtime, etc.) I watch stuff on Netflix and Hulu via my ex's ID. I watch stuff on Disney+ via my daughter's ID. That's A LOT of content!

 

[Fading Fast]

Tonight's the Night from 1954 with David Niven, Yvonne De Carlo and Barry Fitzgerald

An Irish village, that functions on a little graft, even less work, a lot of credit (that's never expected to be paid off) and the largess of the beloved old Squire, is thrown into turmoil when said Squire dies and his young nephew, David Niven, assumes the title and tries to call in all the IOUs.

It's lighthearted at first as this whimsical town could only exist in the mind of a screenwriter. And even Niven's Scrooge-like character is charming in a rakish way as he affably goes around telling all the debtors it's time to pay up. Thrown into the mix is Niven's interest in a local vixen, Yvonne De Carlo, who plays him against her old suitor, the village doctor.

Even when several of the town leaders decide to murder Niven, the general vibe of quirky fun is maintained, but after a reasonably good half hour of the above as setup, the movie slips into screwball comedy. If seeing villagers bumble their bomb making efforts and nearly blow themselves up, shoot each other accidentally instead of Niven and drop the obligatory glass with poison meant for Niven is your thing, then Tonight's the Night should prove entertaining.

But two decades past the peak of screwball comedy in movies, it was just too much slapstick for me. I like David Niven a lot and he is the only thing that kinda holds this effort together, yet even he can't make a Keystone Cops version of a fire brigade - yes, this movie has one - funny in a 1954 movie. Plus the Technicolor - which was almost always a too-much-of-a-good-thing endeavor back then - looks really awful here as it is sorely in need of restoration. And as the credits roll, one is left with just this thought: did Niven really need the money that badly?

 

[AmateisGal]

The Lady Eve with Barbara Stanwyck and Nebraska-born Henry Fonda!