Crawdaddy's "Random Thoughts" about Home Video, Film & TV (2 Viewers)

[Ronald Epstein]

Yeah, I was talking about those two comedic actors about a month ago in this post. Apparently, they were very popular in the UK which is why they were cast in these movies.

Were those two films the only ones they appeared in together?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Were those two films the only ones they appeared in together?

No, have you seen "Dead of Night"?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Man, I'm going to be a busy today watching movies. I've got the following movies on my "watch" platter for Saturday with my Best Buy order of "The Set-Up" and "The Letter" arriving by USPS.

Crime of Passion
The Woman on the Beach
The Set-Up
The Letter

 

[Robert Crawford]

Were those two films the only ones they appeared in together?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charters_and_Caldicott

 

[Ronald Epstein]

No, have you seen "Dead of Night"?

No, it comes highly recommended, and I think it features one of those two actors.

I don't know why I have not bought it yet. A recommendation push might make me do it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

No, it comes highly recommended, and I think it features one of those two actors.

I don't know why I have not bought it yet. A recommendation push might make me do it.

They're both in it. Read the following link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charters_and_Caldicott

 

[Robert Crawford]

A few minutes ago on Facebook, I came across one of my favorite John Wayne scenes. Makes me smile every time.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I was rather disappointed in the film, to be honest. I was expecting better, especially with that stellar cast. It was mostly the actual storyline that disappointed me. I didn't buy Stanwyck dumping her career to marry Hayden almost immediately after meeting him, and her decent from happy housewife to

Spoiler

adultress and killer

wasn't that believable the way it was presented in the film, either. I think a better written screenplay would have served the talented cast better.

After watching the Blu-ray for the first time, it does have very good A/V presentations. Having said that, as you stated they kind of short-cut Stanwyck's character motivations in this film which does negatively affect my film grade. Crime in Passion has never been a favorite of mine, but I'm happy the Blu-ray is top-notch with solid 4.0 A/V presentation scores. The movie is only a 2.5 for me, on a grade of 1-5, with 5 being the best. I'm probably being a little kind with that film score, but I do like the cast very much especially the leading lady.

 

[bujaki]

One of the greatest movies ever made in my opinion. I decided to finally listen to the audio commentary on this Kino BD release. The audio commentary wasn't that great to me as the Western Scholar Dick Eulain didn't talk much about this wonderful cast of actors and spent most of his time discussing the differences between the book and movie. William Wellman Jr. had some interesting stories, but, overall I was kind of disappointed in the entire commentary. As to the movie itself, it rates a perfect 5.0 in my ratings system. It's not only a great western, but a great film to boot. In only 75 minutes this movie displays film-making at its best and on a small budget. I thought the video and audio presentations were top notch considering the history of Fox film elements from that film era.

I agree that this in one helluva film. It's one flaw is the reading of the letter, which doesn't happen in the novel. It softens the awfulness of the event by eliciting a tear or two. The novel leaves the content of the letter to your imagination, and it is much stronger for it. For the record, I haven't heard the commentary.
I was also fortunate to have seen a 35mm nitrate sepia-tone print at MoMA. It made the film extra special.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

After watching the Blu-ray for the first time, it does have very good A/V presentations. Having said that, as you stated they kind of short-cut Stanwyck's character motivations in this film which does negatively affect my film grade. Crime in Passion has never been a favorite of mine, but I'm happy the Blu-ray is top-notch with solid 4.0 A/V presentation scores. The movie is only a 2.5 for me, on a grade of 1-5, with 5 being the best. I'm probably being a little kind with that film score, but I do like the cast very much especially the leading lady.

Thanks for your thoughts, Robert. I wasn't sure if my wife and I were missing something with this film, as neither one of us cared for it. If you, this site's biggest Stanwyck fan, only gives it a 2.5 out of 5, then I feel better about our reaction to the movie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thanks for your thoughts, Robert. I wasn't sure if my wife and I were missing something with this film, as neither one of us cared for it. If you, this site's biggest Stanwyck fan, only gives it a 2.5 out of 5, then I feel better about our reaction to the movie.

Her sudden change from a career and independent woman to a wife that devotes oneself literally to her new husband's career didn't add up in this 86 minute movie. It's been one of the things that always bothered me about this movie. My lukewarm affinity towards this film is clearly due to its cast.

 

[Matt Hough]

They're both in it. Read the following link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charters_and_Caldicott

Or read my review of Dead of Night found here.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Or read my review of Dead of Night found here.

A fine review by you, but that link wasn't a review of Dead of Night, but details the movies those two character actors are in.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Looks like Disney and AT&T are in a major dispute that might remove Disney channels from DirecTV. These media companies and distributors are just cutting each other's throats with the consumers in the middle of their corporate greed and shrinking profitability as people continue to cut the cord because of price hikes and having all of these streaming choices being made available to the consumer base. If I lose the ESPN channels during football season, I'm going to be one pissed off person.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-att-carriage-dispute-impacting-abc-espn-1238553#targetText=In a statement responding to,into the middle of negotiations.&targetText=AT&T, meanwhile, resolved a carriage,CBS Sports Network, among others.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...t-customers-may-lose-espn-in-contract-dispute

Apparently I'm going to lose my Fox local channel later this week. If that happens and I lose the Disney channels including ESPN then that might push me over the ledge. The fighting over raising fees is starting to be a real PITA. If these latest channels disappear then all four local channels have been interrupted for me as my NBC affiliate is still unavailable for me. Looks like my 25 year relationship with DirecTV is in serious trouble, especially with me trying to lessen the importance of sports coverage in my life. Some tough decisions between now and when WarnerMedia launches.

 

[Cranston37+]

@Robert Crawford

https://www.wxyz.com/about-us/as-se...etroit-with-eddie-muller-czar-of-noir-as-host

 

[Robert Crawford]

@Robert Crawford

https://www.wxyz.com/about-us/as-se...etroit-with-eddie-muller-czar-of-noir-as-host

Yeah, I decided last week I wasn't going to it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Man, I'm going to be a busy today watching movies. I've got the following movies on my "watch" platter for Saturday with my Best Buy order of "The Set-Up" and "The Letter" arriving by USPS.

Crime of Passion
The Woman on the Beach
The Set-Up
The Letter

Crime of Passion
The Woman on the Beach
The Set-Up
The Letter

Man, "The Woman on the Beach" makes "Crime of Passion" seem like a film masterpiece. I've always thought "Crime of Passion" was a mediocre film that wasted a good cast of actors with a poor screenplay. I felt similarly about "The Woman on the Beach" except it's a terrible movie that wasted a good cast of actors. The blasting music cues in this film always bothered me and quite frankly would take me out of the movie, but so does that horrible dialogue. Anybody recognize

Spoiler

Granny of The Beverly Hillbillies?

Not a good movie! I did enjoy Eddie Muller's comments about the film and its director, Jean Renoir.

With that said about one mediocre movie and one bad one, I turned my attention to a "Five" star movie, "The Set-Up" (1949) directed by the great Robert Wise and starring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter. One of the best boxing/film noir movies ever made. I listened to the audio commentary of Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese which they recorded separately. Wise stated this was not only his favorite film that he directed at RKO, but is among his favorites of all his films. Based on Scorsese's commentary, this movie did influence him in regard to "Raging Bull". It was one of those films he didn't see as a kid, but saw it later as a young man. He showed the film to the cast and crew of "The Aviator" (2004) and they, including DiCaprio came up to him afterwards saying that "The Set-Up" was a masterpiece.

The Blu-ray presentations are outstanding with 5.0 ratings for both audio and video. As Scorsese and Wise mentions, the black & white photography really sets the mood for the film and is simply beautiful. Another example in which you can make a great film even with a 72 minute runtime. I try to watch this movie every 2-3 years because I like watching film-making at its best.

Next up is another great film on Blu-ray "The Letter" (1940) starring Bette Davis.

 

[Matt Hough]

I've never seen The Woman on the Beach before, so I skipped your comments until after I've watched it. I'll be back tonight with some opinions to share and compare with yours.

I don't have The Set-Up yet, but I agreer it's one of the great boxing films/films noir. Looking forward to it and The Letter and My Favorite Year in my next Warner Archive order. (I will NOT be getting them from Amazon!)

 

[Robert Crawford]

Crime of Passion
The Woman on the Beach
The Set-Up
The Letter

Man, "The Woman on the Beach" makes "Crime of Passion" seem like a film masterpiece. I've always thought "Crime of Passion" was a mediocre film that wasted a good cast of actors with a poor screenplay. I felt similarly about "The Woman on the Beach" except it's a terrible movie that wasted a good cast of actors. The blasting music cues in this film always bothered me and quite frankly would take me out of the movie, but so does that horrible dialogue. Anybody recognize

Spoiler

Granny of The Beverly Hillbillies?

Not a good movie! I did enjoy Eddie Muller's comments about the film and its director, Jean Renoir.

With that said about one mediocre movie and one bad one, I turned my attention to a "Five" star movie, "The Set-Up" (1949) directed by the great Robert Wise and starring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter. One of the best boxing/film noir movies ever made. I listened to the audio commentary of Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese which they recorded separately. Wise stated this was not only his favorite film that he directed at RKO, but is among his favorites of all his films. Based on Scorsese's commentary, this movie did influence him in regard to "Raging Bull". It was one of those films he didn't see as a kid, but saw it later as a young man. He showed the film to the cast and crew of "The Aviator" (2004) and they, including DiCaprio came up to him afterwards saying that "The Set-Up" was a masterpiece.

The Blu-ray presentations are outstanding with 5.0 ratings for both audio and video. As Scorsese and Wise mentions, the black & white photography really sets the mood for the film and is simply beautiful. Another example in which you can make a great film even with a 72 minute runtime. I try to watch this movie every 2-3 years because I like watching film-making at its best.

Next up is another great film on Blu-ray "The Letter" (1940) starring Bette Davis.

Crime of Passion
The Woman on the Beach
The Set-Up
The Letter

These excellent Blu-rays in 1080p sure do show Bette's facial blemish on our right cheek. Excellent movie finally with a Blu-ray presentation to match. There is little question that the film's opening sequence is one of

Spoiler

extreme passion, therefore, a crime of passion.

I know many consider "The Letter" a melodrama, but to me it has so many film noir elements to it that I can consider it a melo noir film. William Wyler and Tony Gaudio really deserve some major kudos for the way they shot that movie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Is there anyone else excited about the following titles?

Coming 2020 on Blu-ray!
Three Classics Starring Screen Legend Gary Cooper!
Brand New 4K Masters!
Sold Separately!

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) with Franchot Tone, Richard Cromwell, Sir Guy Standing, C. Aubrey Smith, Kathleen Burke and Douglas Dumbrille – Directed by Henry Hathaway

The General Died at Dawn (1936) with Madeleine Carroll, Akim Tamiroff, Dudley Digges, Porter Hall and William Frawley – Directed by Lewis Milestone

Beau Geste (1939) with Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Susan Hayward, Brian Donlevy, J. Carroll Naish, Albert Dekker and Broderick Crawford – Directed by William Wellman