What's the longest you ever looked for a movie? (1 Viewer)

[Henry Gale]

Hope that made some sort of sense.


Anyway, I think I've got you beat, try "over 50 years".


It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947) is on TCM right now, I saw it sometime in the 50s on TV. That's right, TV stations USED to run lots of old movies, also Little Rascals and 3 Stooges.


Problem was, all I could remember of the film was hobos living in a New York mansion. That was not enough for me to ever figure out the title.

But, that premise stuck with me, and the idea of being in a large house without permission has been, well, formative for me. ;-)


I missed the first part of the movie, so I've just ordered the DVD. It will be a treasured part of my youth, recaptured.

 

[Jeremiah]

In the later 80's to the early mid 90's(I think) I looked for "Heavy Metal" for awhile, not all the time but I would think of it and then call video stores to see if they had it with no luck. After I finally bought the movie it wasn't as great as I remembered

Did you just happen to watch the TCM and it was on or did you search the internet for the title?

 

[Henry Gale]

I didn't know the title, just stumbled across the movie while it was on TCM and as soon as I saw the synopsis, I knew.

 

[Charles Smith]

For about 15 years I've been wondering what rented movie this was that for some reason I never finished watching and have always wondered what happened. I guess it was some kind of thriller, the main premise being a girl going to off college and moving into what I sort of remember was a beautiful old house that now served as student apartments. I seem to place the action someplace like Southern California, maybe in something like a UCLA-area neighborhood. Anyway, she eventually discovers "something" going on with the other people in the building -- whether some kind of witchcraft or something otherwise supernatural, I just don't know. But it seemed intriguing enough that whenever I'm reminded of it I want to see it again. Even if it turns out to be a piece of crap. All I can offer is that I rented the VHS or perhaps LD around 1994-95, and it was a contemporary film or TV movie, nothing very old.

 

[Paul D G]

Not sure how long it's been, but I've finally seen The Snake Pit just today after wondering what movie it was for a couple of decades. All I could remember was a scene where a woman walked through a door, looked up and saw what my memory told me was a woman standing high up in a giant birdcage. I always thought it was about mental illness.


There is a movie I've been wanting to see but have no idea what it was called. Back when I was a kid my brother and I went to see an old movie at the local Landmark theater (that chain that showed a different double or triple feature every day). I remember not wanting to go but he was excited to see it and encouraged me to go. It was a B&W and involved a group of kids entering a haunted house. All I recall is the kids standing in front of the house, a chubby kid with glasses, and a painting with the eyes cut out and someone behind it watching the kids. It's such a generic set of story elements that it's impossible to search for. And my brother is long gone from this world, but I doubt he'd even remember it if I had asked.

 

[Charles Smith]

Generic, perhaps, but now I want to know what it is, too.

 

[Lucia Duran]

Ooooh I have one. I saw it years ago at a friends house and I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the movie. All I remember was a scene with some girl masturbating on bathroom counter (no nudity, she was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt). She was spying on a roomate I think. I think the basic premise was similar to Single white female.

 

[PODER]

My mother was a huge Noel Coward fan, and was always raving about THE SCOUNDREL, which won the Best Original Story Oscar for Ben Hecht

and Charles MacArthur. I managed to tape a copy (on Beta, unfortunately) back in the mid 80s, but I'm still waiting for a good DVD release. It's a

one-of-a-kind fantasy, with several members of the Algonquin Round Table in bit roles. The most memorable line is "Are those tears meant for

me?" My Number 2 wish is, as you might have guessed, CAVALCADE. And if those two were joined in a box-set by TONIGHT IS OURS (1933/based

on the Coward play THE QUEEN WAS IN THE PARLOR), BITTERSWEET (1933/Coward's first major work as a composer) and TONIGHT AT 8:30

(1952/Three of the nine One-Acts that alternated during it's London/Broadway stage runs) I'd probably collapse from sheer delight. (Needless to

say, but I will anyway, the box set should be called Noel Coward: A Talent To Amuse.) Is anyone up there listening??

 

[Matthew Ploor]

I once went about 25 years looking for a movie. It was based on a vague memory I had from a movie I saw part of as a kid (mid to late '70's). I recalled it having to do with large bugs, and the one scene which stuck most vividly in my mind was of a giant ghostly devil-like figure looming over a city at night as people ran around screaming. I really wanted to see that scene again and find out what it was all about.


Finally I found it a few years back: Quatermass and the Pit. A still enjoyable Hammer film about ancient space bugs trying to take over the world!


These days, with DVD and the internet it would be much harder to go so long without finding a long-lost movie if one is realy determined to find it.