Crawdaddy's "Random Thoughts" about Home Video, Film & TV (12 Viewers)

[Robert Crawford]

Thanks for linking my review of the Mill Creek release. I'm not sure about watching the movie tomorrow (I've seen it so many times), but I'll definitely be recording it for Eddie's comments.

I've seen it many times too, but, I haven't seen it since the 2015 BD came out. I ended up spending a great deal of my afternoon with "The Lady from Shanghai" Blu-rays. There is no question the 2015 BD looks better than the 2014 TCM BD. I watched the Eddie Muller and Peter Bogdanovich featurettes. As well as Robert Osborne's Introduction and listen to some of Bogdanovich's audio commentary. Most of the bonus material was on the TCM BD. Man, this movie was a mess and it isn't surprising that audiences in 1948, didn't get this fine movie. At least, that's how it was in the States as evidently the movie was always popular in Europe. It took decades before audiences and critics here in the States realized what they had in "The Lady from Shanghai". Welles was way ahead of his time.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Love the ending with the shootout in the hall of mirrors.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I've seen it many times too, but, I haven't seen it since the 2015 BD came out. I ended up spending a great deal of my afternoon with "The Lady from Shanghai" Blu-rays. There is no question the 2015 BD looks better than the 2014 TCM BD. I watched the Eddie Muller and Peter Bogdanovich featurettes. As well as Robert Osborne's Introduction and listen to some of Bogdanovich's audio commentary. Most of the bonus material was on the TCM BD. Man, this movie was a mess and it isn't surprising that audiences in 1948, didn't get this fine movie. At least, that's how it was in the States as evidently the movie was always popular in Europe. It took decades before audiences and critics here in the States realized what they had in "The Lady from Shanghai". Welles was way ahead of his time.

After listening to Eddie's comments, it appears he and I are on the same page about this movie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

TCM is having a John Ford tribute in July. I'll be checking out that 2019 documentary.

Directed by John Ford - Fridays in July

Turner Classic Movies presents the greatest motion pictures of all time from one of the largest film libraries in the world. Find video, photos, forums, blogs and shop for some of the best movies ever made only at TCM!

www.tcm.com

 

[Cranston37+]

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

The Lady from Shanghai. WTF?! I don't remember seeing this before, and if I had, it was as a youngster watching on television and probably going "WTF?!" and turning the channel. Seeing it now I can appreciate how some might find it weirdly wonderful, but it was still off-putting to this fan of a clean narrative. Instead, it was more than obvious to me that Welles was just using the money and the vehicle to play out his own ID again, using Hayworth and Sloan as pawns in his game of let me just make up what's going on in my head. The black Irish character, despite the wandering brogue (and why?) makes absolutely no sense. At some points he's uttering profound and clever insights, and others he is a complete boob or easy fool, as he confesses. Definitely a good description of Welles himself interweaving with his Hollywood experiences, and his obvious infatuation with a woman he ultimately found as cold as Icelandic cod.

If I were Harry Cohn, I would have been furious as well at this level of incoherent self-indulgence. Whatever Noir plot there actually is finds itself kind of tacked on late, and the finale in the funhouse, though visually compelling, makes absolutely no sense. At least Hitchcock could weave a semi-coherent and compelling narrative out of whimsy and an obtuse McGuffin (see North by Northwest), plus obliquely justify an oddball location.

Sure, I enjoyed it as a curio, and a visual relic from Welles' canon and impish psyche, but technically there was one thing that really took me out of the film on any kind of serious level: the dialogue audio throughout is almost entirely post-production ADR. It was obviously recorded after and is crisp and clear but bears no relation to the distance from the camera, appropriate decimal level, background noise or anything else. It was almost like watching What's Up, Tiger Lilly? or Mystery Theater 3000, where actors or performers are just adding the dialogue over the picture from a nice clear dubbing studio. It took me completely out of any reality for the scene. Granted, there are some very interesting musings here and there, again from Welles' Id, but nothing remotely resembling sound recorded at the actual scene.

Am I glad I finally sat through it? Sure. But I'm not usually one to rubberneck traffic accidents. And, boy, was this a glorified wreck. If this were just a cheap B-film, no big scratch. But there were obviously much higher hopes here. And Welles' made boobs of all of us.

 

[Matt Hough]

Didn't find out anything about The Lady from Shanghai that I didn't already know, but that's just because I've paid very close attention to this movie for a long time.

Looking forward to next week which I haven't seen before.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The Lady from Shanghai. WTF?! I don't remember seeing this before, and if I had, it was as a youngster watching on television and probably going "WTF?!" and turning the channel. Seeing it now I can appreciate how some might find it weirdly wonderful, but it was still off-putting to this fan of a clean narrative. Instead, it was more than obvious to me that Welles was just using the money and the vehicle to play out his own ID again, using Hayworth and Sloan as pawns in his game of let me just make up what's going on in my head. The black Irish character, despite the wandering brogue (and why?) makes absolutely no sense. At some points he's uttering profound and clever insights, and others he is a complete boob or easy fool, as he confesses. Definitely a good description of Welles himself interweaving with his Hollywood experiences, and his obvious infatuation with a woman he ultimately found as cold as Icelandic cod.

If I were Harry Cohn, I would have been furious as well at this level of incoherent self-indulgence. Whatever Noir plot there actually is finds itself kind of tacked on late, and the finale in the funhouse, though visually compelling, makes absolutely no sense. At least Hitchcock could weave a semi-coherent and compelling narrative out of whimsy and an obtuse McGuffin (see North by Northwest), plus obliquely justify an oddball location.

Sure, I enjoyed it as a curio, and a visual relic from Welles' canon and impish psyche, but technically there was one thing that really took me out of the film on any kind of serious level: the dialogue audio throughout is almost entirely post-production ADR. It was obviously recorded after and is crisp and clear but bears no relation to the distance from the camera, appropriate decimal level, background noise or anything else. It was almost like watching What's Up, Tiger Lilly? or Mystery Theater 3000, where actors or performers are just adding the dialogue over the picture from a nice clear dubbing studio. It took me completely out of any reality for the scene. Granted, there are some very interesting musings here and there, again from Welles' Id, but nothing remotely resembling sound recorded at the actual scene.

Am I glad I finally sat through it? Sure. But I'm not usually one to rubberneck traffic accidents. And, boy, was this a glorified wreck. If this were just a cheap B-film, no big scratch. But there were obviously much higher hopes here. And Welles' made boobs of all of us.

Like Matt, I've seen this movie several times in my lifetime. At first, when I was a young teenager, I was lukewarm to it for some of the reasons you stated. However, about 25 years ago, when the TCM channel started up, my POV about the movie started to change as I started recognizing some of the film's attributes. When the 2000 DVD came out I became a fan of the movie. Yes, the movie is a mess and is disjointed, but that's part of the cinematic charm I have for it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Didn't find out anything about The Lady from Shanghai that I didn't already know, but that's just because I've paid very close attention to this movie for a long time.

Looking forward to next week which I haven't seen before.

Yeah, I didn't find out anything new either.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Today's showing was "Kin" (2018) a sci-fi crime drama on 4K disc. An interesting movie about a loser ex-con that comes home to Detroit after being released from prison and who then complicates life for his father and adopted 14 year old brother. The latter finds a weapon in a abandon factory and the weapon isn't from our world which brings more complications for the two brothers. This movie got terrible reviews and was a box office bomb, but I kind of enjoyed the movie and especially so after watching some of the bonus material regarding the back story how this movie got made.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Another movie that I never saw, but wish was available to see on any kind of video format. "The Dark Past" (1948) starring William Holden, Nina Foch and Lee J. Cobb. I wonder if Eddie is a fan of this movie?

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My records show that I've seen this film as well as the original, Blind Alley (1939), with Chester Morris and Ralph Bellamy.

Thanks Jose for making me aware both of those film are on The Criterion Channel and that they're leaving June 30th. I'll be watching both of them tomorrow.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This morning's early viewing action was a double-feature on The Criterion Channel, "The Dark Past" (1948) starring William Holden, Lee J. Cobb, Nina Foch and Adele Jergens. The second film was "Blind Alley" (1939) starring Chester Morris, Ralph Bellamy and Ann Dvorak. The 1948 movie is a remake of the 1939 movie which tells the story of an escaped murderer with a passion for killing holding up at a lake cottage owned by psychologist as he waits for a boat to escape the police dragnet. There are several hostages taken by the murderer, his moll and gang as they await their boat escape. During this ordeal, the escaped murderer is being psychoanalyze by the psychologist. IMO, 1939 movie is more brutal than the 1948 film. In some ways I prefer it to the 1948 movie, but Holden is better than Morris as the escaped killer. Interesting that the 1939 movie has a young Milburn Stone and Marc Lawrence as gun hands. Nina Foch vs. Ann Dvorak as the gun moll.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The Criterion Channel's July Schedule.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The first of my two afternoon viewings on The Criterion Channel was "The Burglar" (1957) starring Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield and Martha Vickers. Another "B" film noir that was filmed in 1955, but released in 1957. The storyline centers around a professional burglar that steals a valuable necklace, but has difficulties with his partners in crime after the theft while being persuade by another party interested in the necklace. Some very interesting camera shots throughout the movie with Duryea giving his usual great performance. He's about ten years too old for the part, but you can say that about many movies from that film era. Martha Vickers plays a mysterious role in this movie and I hardly recognized her at first with a different haircut and about 11 years older than she was in "The Big Sleep". The movie isn't top noir, but I was highly entertained and would give it a 3.0 film grade. This is another movie that I seen beforehand, but only had vague memories of it except for the last 10 minutes of the movie.

My second afternoon viewing was "Drive a Crooked Road" (1954) starring Mickey Rooney, Dianne Foster, Kevin McCarthy and Jack Kelly. Another "B" film noir with a storyline about a lonely and socially awkward mechanic/race driver that is hooked wink into driving a getaway car from a bank robbery. Man, Rooney was really one fine actor. He was excellent in this movie. Foster was the femme fatale used to hook him for the robbery with McCarthy and Kelly playing the other two robbers. Some great on location shots around the LA area. A solid movie with a 3.5 film grade. I've seen this movie beforehand so I had a nice time revisiting it as it's been years since my last viewing.

 

[Robin9]

The first of my two afternoon viewings on The Criterion Channel was "The Burglar" (1957) starring Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield and Martha Vickers. Another "B" film noir that was filmed in 1955, but released in 1957. The storyline centers around a professional burglar that steals a valuable necklace, but has difficulties with his partners in crime after the theft while being persuade by another party interested in the necklace. Some very interesting camera shots throughout the movie with Duryea giving his usual great performance. He's about ten years too old for the part, but you can say that about many movies from that film era. Martha Vickers plays a mysterious role in this movie and I hardly recognized her at first with a different haircut and about 11 years older than she was in "The Big Sleep". The movie isn't top noir, but I was highly entertained and would give it a 3.0 film grade. This is another movie that I seen beforehand, but only had vague memories of it except for the last 10 minutes of the movie.

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My second afternoon viewing was "Drive a Crooked Road" (1954) starring Mickey Rooney, Dianne Foster, Kevin McCarthy and Jack Kelly. Another "B" film noir with a storyline about a lonely and socially awkward mechanic/race driver that is hooked wink into driving a getaway car from a bank robbery. Man, Rooney was really one fine actor. He was excellent in this movie. Foster was the femme fatale used to hook him for the robbery with McCarthy and Kelly playing the other two robbers. Some great on location shots around the LA area. A solid movie with a 3.5 film grade. I've seen this movie beforehand so I had a nice time revisiting it as it's been years since my last viewing.

View attachment 74800

I like both those movies and have them on Sony DVDs. As I said once previously, The Burglar could be "re-imagined" and done again as a "woman's movie" with the story told from her point of view. I'd be interested to see a film like that. I too didn't recognise Martha Vickers in The Burglar.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Today's viewing was "Arizona" (1940) starring Jean Arthur, William Holden, Warren William, Porter Hall and Edgar Buchanan. An underrated western about the settling of Arizona in the early 1860's with Arthur playing an independent pioneering woman trying to start a ranch in the Arizona territory as she's being pursued by a smitten cowboy/Holden that loves her pies as well as some other things, and a baddie/William trying to steal her dreams away by murder and robbery. I watched my iTunes HD digital after noticing it was leaving the Criterion Channel today. My one criticism of the movie is it's a little long by about 15 minutes, other than that I always enjoyed watching this western and especially the ending of the movie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

TCM's July Schedule

 

[Matt Hough]

When I saw that Tony Curtis was the Star of the Month, I had hopes they'd show some of his 1950s Universal output that never gets shown (maybe in the afternoon hours since they aren't as famous as his later films made during his big star years). Alas, most of the Monday night schedules for his films are all the familiar titles. Glad they're there, but I had hopes for more.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The sad case of Susan Peters' will be discussed heavily by Eddie.

THE SIGN OF THE RAM ('48) was Susan Peters' first and only film after a hunting accident left her paralyzed from the waist down.
She said the character she portrayed was challenging, full of emotional range. See it Saturday at midnight ET and Sunday at 10am ET on #NoirAlley.

 

[Matt Hough]

I've never seen it so I'm looking forward to it!