Films with Universal appeal now on Netflix streaming (1 Viewer)

[Louis Letizia]

No problem. As you are a huge W.C Fields fan I'm curious to know what you think of W.C. Fields and Me. I never understood the contempt of this movie -The NY Times critic devoted a whole Sunday article to trashing it. It is certainly not the best movie in the world-but it has its charms. Billy Barty was on the verge of being the first person of small stature to have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1975 for his eerie turn in The Day of the Locust, 7 years before Linda Hunt was not only nominated but won for Supp Actress for The Year of Living Dangerously. While he didnt deserve the nod for Fields , he did make the relationship between Fields and himself very poignant-Steiger seemed to come alive in his scenes with Barty. Their scenes together were by far the best part of the movie . I agree that Perrine was shrlll -she became a parody of herself with screechy performances in Mr. Billion, Superman culminating in the abominable Can't Stop the Music. But, aside from maybe Berndadette Peters , I do not know who could have brought Carlotta Monti substance. Jack Cassidy was very charming as Barrymore -he exuded sex. His son David has his smile. The sets, Henry Mancini's score were all great. I'll always have a soft spot for this movie. As for Steiger - he impersonated the man to the tee. But, I always thought Charles Durning would have been the better choice-he wouldnt even need a prostethic nose. If it wwere remade today I could see John Goodman as Fields , Sophia Vergara wold bring the right charisma as Carlotta . m

 

[Jeffrey:K]

Originally Posted by Louis Letizia

No problem. As you are a huge W.C Fields fan I'm curious to know what you think of W.C. Fields and Me. I never understood the contempt of this movie -The NY Times critic devoted a whole Sunday article to trashing it. It is certainly not the best movie in the world-but it has its charms.
Billy Barty was on the verge of being the first person of small stature to have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1975 for his eerie turn in The Day of the Locust, 7 years before Linda Hunt was not only nominated but won for Supp Actress for The Year of Living Dangerously.

Is this the movie where someone (Steiger?) lifts Billy Barty up so that he can reach a urinal? I watched the film on HBO when it played 35 years ago and this is the only bit that I remember. I'm wondering if my memory is correct.

 

[Louis Letizia]

Yes,that's it!

 

[NY2LA]

Watched Gable and Lombard last night, nice widescreen letterbox transfer. Streaming Netflix is a dice roll on many titles. either you get a bad 1.33 pan/scan of something that is letterboxed on disc, or if you're lucky you can get a widescreen version of something that is only released in Pan/Scan. Also ran Sweet Liberty at full 1.85 which is only 1.33 on DVD.