Matt,
Did you ever get a chance to watch Crack-Up?
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Crawdaddy's "Random Thoughts" about Home Video, Film & TV (1 Viewer)
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Did you ever get a chance to watch Crack-Up?
I fell asleep during the first twenty minutes and when I woke up, I was lost, so I'll start it again on the DVR and finally watch it. I've just been super busy this week with all of these Warner Archive releases.
About ten minutes into Pale Flower, things began to look and sound familiar. Sure enough, I paused the movie, went to my flash drive where I keep all my reviews, and found that I reviewed it in 2011 from Criterion's newly released Blu-ray. I do like the movie, but I didn't think it was the masterpiece Eddie and others think it is. I gave it 3.5/5 back then. I might add .5 more today if I were re-reviewing, but no more.
TBH, I didn't think the movie was as great as Eddie did either. I watched it yesterday afternoon on The Criterion Channel. I thought it was good and different than many film noirs, but my film grade is more along 4/5 Stars while Eddie based on his comments probably thinks it's a 5/5 Stars.
How would those that have seen The Gentle Gunman and The Ship That Died of Shame classify these Brit films? Are they crime films or just dramas? Both movies were blind buys for me that I received yesterday on 4K/UHD. I plan on watching them this week.
Mark McSherry
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Last night's "Ask Eddie" episode:
I did finally get around to Crack-Up last night. Very enjoyable mystery thriller. I had pieced together much of the puzzle of the train wreck around the time he took his second identical trip, but I was certainly surprised by the villain(s). Nice twisty conclusion.
This weekend's "Noir Alley" movie is "Sorry, Wrong Number" (1948) starring Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Wendell Corey, Ann Richards, Ed Begley Sr., Leif Erickson and William Conrad. Directed by Anatole Litvak. This is a movie I've watched countless times with one of Stanwyck's best acting performances as a spoiled heiress that is conveniently an invalid. The two Blu-ray releases I have of it in my film library has an introduction by Eddie Muller with audio commentary by Alan K. Rode. I think this time; I'll watch the 2023 Shout! Factory Blu-ray that has a second commentary by Sam Hurley and Emily Higgins.
Updated TCM's Noir Alley 2025 Schedule:
01-11-25: Deadline at Dawn
01-18-25: Without Pity
01-25-25: Woman on the Run
03-08-25: The Velvet Touch
03-15-25: Gun Crazy
03-22-25: Clash by Night
03-29-25: Count the Hours
04-05-25: The Narrow Margin
04-12-25: The Steel Trap
04-19-25: The Set-Up
04-26-25: The Prowler
05-03-25: Riff Raff (1947)
05-10-25: The Killers (1946)
05-17-25: Touchez pas au grisbi
05-24-25: Cornered
05-31-25: The Big Steal
06-07-25: The Undercover Man
06-14-25: Crack-Up (1946)
06-21-25: Pale Flower
06-28-25: Sorry, Wrong Number
07-05-25: This Side of the Law
07-12-25: The Gangster
07-19-25: Intruder in the Dust
07-26-25: Rififi
09-06-25: He Ran All the Way
09-13-25: Sudden Fear
09-20-25: The Murderers are Among Us
09-27-25: Berlin Express
10-04-25: The Big Street
10-11-25: New York Confidential
10-18-25: Black Tuesday
10-25-25: Southside 1-1000
11-01-25: The Great Jewel Robbery
11-08-25: Blind Spot
11-15-25: High and Low
11-22-25: The Strip
11-29-25: Postmark for Danger
12-06-25: Cry of the City
12-13-25: TBA
12-27-25: Odd Man Out
One of my all-time favorite movies with one of my all-time favorite performances. I likely won't watch it tomorrow, but I'll record in case it's not on the TCM app so I can hear Eddie's comments.
As many times I've watched this great film, I ended up watching it twice today via Shout! Factory (2023) Blu-ray. I watched it the first time with the Hurley and Higgins audio commentary. I hope I never have to listen to another commentary from those podcasters again. IMO, they were pretty bad with one person not knowing the movie that well. To forget that experience, I decided to listen and watch Alan K. Rode's commentary again. Now, there is a person that knows how to give you film facts with the right amount of humor attached to it. There is a scene in the movie in which Lancaster's character meets his former girlfriend in a restaurant as she tries to warn him about her husband's investigation into his activities. Anyhow, Lancaster is bothered because there is a man with silver hair and sunglasses seating at a table behind them. It just occurred to me today that the man was actually Anatole Litvak, the film's director.
I've never heard an Alan K. Rode commentary that I didn't like.
Robin9
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He did a good one for Chicago Deadline which I listened to last night.
I just listened to Eddie's comments and was a bit disappointed in them. First off, it was Litvak, that originally bought the rights of the radio play from Fletcher, not Hal Wallis. Wallis had to work out an agreement with Litvak in order to co-produce the film. Another thing, Litvak received a Director's Oscar nomination for another film he directed that same year in 1948, "The Snake Pit". I'm glad Eddie mentioned that Litvak cameo in the movie that I finally noticed yesterday because I was pretty much unfamiliar to what Litvak looked like until I watched some of the Blu-ray's bonus material that had photos of Litvak. Also, I wish Paramount had released that DVD with Eddie's commentary on it.
Was there a previous DVD with a full Muller commentary track?
Unfortunately, the previous 2002 and 2007 DVD releases didn't have a Muller commentary.
I should have known this would happen: I watched the DVR copy for Eddie's opening comments and stayed on to watch the whole thing. I think my Blu-ray of the film looks a little better than what was shown on TCM, but that could have just been the reception on YouTubeTV. Was that Wally Cox in an early scene in a tiny role? I'd never noticed him before if it was him.
TCM's Official July Schedule:
www.tcm.com
TCM Daily and Weekly Movie Schedule
See when your favorite movies will be airing on Turner Classic Movies today, tomorrow, or next week! A printable schedule organized by each day of the week is also available here.
An interesting card game:
Outstanding movie about the Civil War battle that changed the direction of the war that was fought July 1-3, 1963, at and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Kudos to Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels and Sam Elliot for their acting performances. I thought Martin Sheen was just okay as Robert E. Lee. I remember driving 55 miles in 1993, to watch this made-for-TV movie at a movie theater. That was the original cut, but this was the director's cut at 271 minutes long that I watched today.
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