Crawdaddy's "Random Thoughts" about Home Video, Film & TV (1 Viewer)

[RMajidi]

Just got done watching the latest "Noir Alley" with Eddie Muller. Fritz Lang's "Scarlet Street" was the showing. Question to anybody that cares to answer. Which Lang film noir do you prefer, "Woman in the Window" or "Scarlet Street"? Based on today's comments, Muller prefers the latter. I'm kind of neutral about my preference.

I prefer Woman in the Window, but won't fight anyone who considers Scarlet Street the better film. Great noirs both.

 

[RMajidi]

Back in the day (mid-1960s), I watched for the first time a John Wayne western named "Tall in the Saddle". It became one of my top ten favorite Wayne films. Also, I immediately had a crush on the dark haired female lead in that western, Ella Raines. Part of it was her looks, but I also loved her role in that film as a tough, tom-boyish, but beautiful cow-woman. Anyhow, Raines had some good roles in film noir films so I found the following article on her by Imogen Sara-Smith very interesting and enlightening. While Eddie Muller is by far my favorite film noir expert, I'm taking a shine to Ms. Sara-Smith and her audio commentaries on different video releases. A good read for those interested in the late Ella Raines.

http://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/noircitymag/Ella-Raines.pdf

Thanks for the link, Robert. Ella Raines is among my top three favourite noir actresses, and this was an absorbing article about her.

That iconic photo at the top of the article also reminded me of the enjoyable posts by @davidHartzog, whose avatar was that same image. David's a noir encyclopaedia and I've missed his clipped contributions on HTF over the past year or so.

 

[Robert Crawford]

After watching the latest episode of "Feud" I found the following link about Joan/Billie and her older brother Hal. Another great episode!

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/04/feud-joan-crawford-fact-check-stag-film-brother

 

[Matt Hough]

One more thing about today's showing, I didn't actually watched the movie itself, I instead viewed my 2012 Kino Blu-ray of it and then watched Muller's before and after comments.

I fell asleep watching Scarlet Street and must find my way back to where I drifted off and proceed from there.

No, it wasn't the movie that put me to sleep; I had had a bad night and didn't get enough sleep the night before. Looking forward to finishing it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The second one is "The Great War" on PBS starting on April 10th:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/great-war/

I viewed the first of three episodes of "The Great War" this morning. Very enlightening! Second episode tonight and the last episode tomorrow on PBS.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I've been slacking again on my disc viewing. I need to get back in the saddle in that regard.

 

[Dave B Ferris]

Just got done watching the latest "Noir Alley" with Eddie Muller. Fritz Lang's "Scarlet Street" was the showing. Question to anybody that cares to answer. Which Lang film noir do you prefer, "Woman in the Window" or "Scarlet Street"? Based on today's comments, Muller prefers the latter. I'm kind of neutral about my preference.

Why are we limited to those two choices? May I vote for "The Big Heat", instead? (Or "While the City Sleeps"?)

 

[larryKR]

I've been slacking again on my disc viewing. I need to get back in the saddle in that regard.

I can relate to this. I'm a huge baseball fan and I end up watching games almost every day. I have all the baseball games on satellite.

 

[Matt Hough]

Why are we limited to those two choices? May I vote for "The Big Heat", instead? (Or "While the City Sleeps"?)

Dave, I think he was curious about which of these two versions of the same story do we think is better, not which Lang film is the best of his noirs.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Why are we limited to those two choices? May I vote for "The Big Heat", instead? (Or "While the City Sleeps"?)

Dave, I think he was curious about which of these two versions of the same story do we think is better, not which Lang film is the best of his noirs.

Actually, it's because Eddie Muller was comparing these two specific Lang noirs which I stated in my previous post. Personally, "The Big Heat" is among my top 10 noirs and has been since I was 12 or 13 years old. I simply love that film!

 

[Matt Hough]

From his suggestion at the end of his comments, I'm expecting this Sunday's film to be The Set-Up.

 

[Robert Crawford]

From his suggestion at the end of his comments, I'm expecting this Sunday's film to be The Set-Up.

That's correct as they haven't deviated from the below movie schedule except for the Robert Osborne tribute.


http://1166199035.rsc.cdn77.org/TCM-00125_NoirAlley-Schedule.pdf

 

[Robert Crawford]

I viewed the first of three episodes of "The Great War" this morning. Very enlightening! Second episode tonight and the last episode tomorrow on PBS.

Wow, the second episode of "The Great War' was even better than the first one. As a life-long history buff, even I, learned a few new things after watching this latest episode.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I have a confession to make, I've never watched a Harry Potter movie from beginning to end. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was my first viewing of these "Wizards" theme films. Now, that Jude Law has been cast as a young Albus Dumbledore for the Fantastic Beasts sequel, I think it's time for me to watch all of them in their entirety before that film comes out in the next 2-3 years or so.

 

[Matt Hough]

I had not read the books, so when the first film came out, I really had not planned on going, but a theater friend of mine dragged me to it, and I was so delighted with the world that had been created that I immediately began reading the books (and, of course, saw every film when it was released and eventually bought the big Blu-ray wizard's chest of the first, what, five films). Then I added the remaining three movies on Blu-ray as they were released.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Wow, the second episode of "The Great War' was even better than the first one. As a life-long history buff, even I, learned a few new things after watching this latest episode.

A great documentary in which I learned a number of new things about that war and our country. I'm really looking forward to Ken Burn's next documentary this Fall on "The Vietnam War".

 

[DavidJ]

A great documentary in which I learned a number of new things about that war and our country. I'm really looking forward to Ken Burn's next documentary this Fall on "The Vietnam War".

I forgot all about The Great War. I need to see if I can find a way to catch up on them.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I forgot all about The Great War. I need to see if I can find a way to catch up on them.

If you have streaming, etc, it's currently available on the PBS app, but I don't know how long it stays there.

 

[DavidJ]

If you have streaming, etc, it's currently available on the PBS app, but I don't know how long it stays there.

Good to know. I'll look for it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

DirecTV had a 4K first year anniversary promotion yesterday in which you can rent one 4K movie for free. I chose "Lawrence of Arabia" and it looked spectacular on my OLED panel. I can't wait until this film is released on 4K/UHD disc as it will look even better than what I observed last night. Plus, the lossless audio will be much better than DD soundtrack that I witness last night.