What's on your Daily Viewing List? (2 Viewers)

[bujaki]

Last night I watched Billy Budd, another superb Warner Archive Blu-ray disc. I then followed on with the commentary track with Terence Stamp. I got only half-way before needing to get some sleep, but so far this is one of the very best commentary tracks I've heard.

I love me some Billy. First saw this in boarding school (in 35mm 'Scope, no less). I was impressed by the young man who played Billy and who really looked like an angel battling evil. I have also seen the Britten opera in 3 different productions (Metropolitan Opera, Dallas Opera, Houston Opera), all excellent. It's an astonishing work. However, I have not been able to stomach the novella. My loss, I guess.

 

[bujaki]

Last night I watched:
On Dangerous Ground (1917) (DVD) Restored by the Library of Congress, starring Carlyle Blackwell. An American doctor gets involved in a spy ring during the early days of WWI in Germany. Not a masterpiece, but an interesting curio.
The New Gentlemen (Les Nouveaux messieurs) (Flicker Alley DVD) Romantic comedy/satire directed by Jacques Feyder. Excellent late silent showing off all the possibilities of the medium.
Baby the Rain Must Fall (TT BD) Gorgeous encoding of an affecting Horton Foote story of a doomed couple. The luminous Lee Remick stars with a tortured Steve McQueen.
The Awful Truth (Criterion BD) What a jewel of a film and transfer. For the ages. I've been watching this film since I was a wee kid, first on TV, then 16mm, 35mm nitrate, now this fabulous BD. Fully recommended.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Friday, May 31st, 2019

Hard To Kill
HD upconverted to 4K (Apple TV)
5.1 Dolby

 

[Matt Hough]

I took advantage of the iTunes streaming sale and will watch Cold Pursuit at some point today.

 

[Robin9]

I watched Ice Cold In Alex again last night. A very good film, almost perfect, except for one totally unnecessary and implausible scene. The idea that any woman, least of all one who looks like Sylvia Syms, would, while suffering heat exhaustion, want to get up close and personal with a man who hasn't washed and shaved for several days! Other than that, a magnificent film.

 

[bujaki]

I watched Ice Cold In Alex again last night. A very good film, almost perfect, except for one totally unnecessary and implausible scene. The idea that any woman, least of all one who looks like Sylvia Syms, would, while suffering heat exhaustion, want to get up close and personal with a man who hasn't washed and shaved for several days! Other than that, a magnificent film.

The law of the jungle (desert)!

 

[bujaki]

All TV:
Deadwood: The Movie (HBO HD) Good follow-up and closure. Too bad it's just 2 hours.
Good Omens (Amazon Prime 4K UHD) Binged on all 6 episodes. Funny/serious tale about the end of times. Quite irreverent at times.
Charite (Netflix HD) Watched 3 of 6 episodes of this German series about doctors and nurses working in this hospital (Charite), and the founding of the Koch Institute. Doctors struggling to find the cure to TB; a nurse struggling to become a doctor, something strictly forbidden in the Deutschesreich.

 

[Toronto Argonauts]

 

[Dave Moritz]

I took advantage of the iTunes streaming sale and will watch Cold Pursuit at some point today.

I picked up Cold Pursuit and American Sniper on iTunes sale.

 

[Mysto]

Finally got to watch this last night. This is the movie that was sued for being a rip-off of 7th Voyage of Sinbad. I can't imagine why. Just because they are both stop motion fantasy films. They both star Kerwin Mathews as the lead. They both have Torin Thatcher as the evil magician. They both have a magical being trapped that grants wishes and wants to be released (but they are different - one a genii, one a leprechaun.)
And then the assertion that the giants were the same.

Clearly you can see the difference. One has TWO eyes.

This was so blatant that they had to redo it into a musical for release. Special effects are OK for the time (see the string on the skeleton) but the stop motion monsters show us what a genius Ray Harryhausen was as these are cutesy rather than scary.

This is the newly remastered blu ray of the original (non-musical) cut. A must see for those into the Harryhausen fantasy series films. Not up to Rays standards but an interesting watch.

 

[Rodney]

I was jonesing for some Ozu last night.

 

[bujaki]

Finished the Netflix HD German series Charite (3 episodes). The cure for diphtheria was found; the use for tuberculin is still to be found; and Dr. Ehrlich's magic bullet is also in the future. However, it was interesting to find the dynamics driving these 3 doctors to discover the cure for so many diseases afflicting mankind. Interesting series.
Dragged across Concrete (Vudu 4K UHD stream) Slow burn, effective drama/thriller. Low-key performances. Lots of racist attitudes in view, unfortunately a sign of the times.
Schloss Vogeloed (MoC BD) Early Murnau melodrama. Some very interesting directorial touches. Very good transfer.

 

[Toronto Argonauts]

I finished off the weekend by watching episodes 10 and 11 of season 2.

 

[Matt Hough]

Didn't get to Cold Pursuit over the weekend, so maybe today will be the day.

 

[bujaki]

Phantom (MoC BD Zone B) Murnau shows more control over his material. The camera moves more fluidly, the setups are more imaginative. Schloss Vogeloed had been more of a Kammerspiel; this one felt more like a film. Murnau is finally starting to master the medium.
Pathfinder ((BD Zone B) Norwegian film nominated for a Foreign Film AA in 1987. In the Sami language with English subtitles. Impressive location cinematography; exciting, quasi-mythical story of survival, coming of age, leadership and endurance.
Le Plaisir (Arrow Academy BD Zone B) Max Ophuls rendering of 3 Guy de Maupassant's stories. The camera roams, travels, circles, tracks, moves moves moves: quite intoxicating. The sublime shot that begins on the equally sublime Danielle Darrieux's weeping face (as Madame Rosa) and circles and swoops and stops fleetingly on its way on the weeping faces of some of the key characters of the congregation on its way back to Darrieux, as the children on their way to making their first communion sing (in French) Nearer My God to Thee, is so majestic that it elevates it to a quasi religious experience. I wept along with the congregation. Film as religion. See Dreyer's Ordet for something similar.

 

[Matt Hough]

In addition to Cold Pursuit which I talked about in its own thread, I also streamed from the TCM app Their Own Desire, a 1929 Norma Shearer movie I had never seen before. This was one of the two films that she earned Oscar nominations for during the 1929-1930 Oscar season (the other was The Divorcee which won her the award). She does give a good performance even saddled with overly flowery dialogue and melodramatic situations that are milked to an eye-rolling degree. I believe she won Best Actress for the correct movie.

 

[bujaki]

In addition to Cold Pursuit which I talked about in its own thread, I also streamed from the TCM app Their Own Desire, a 1929 Norma Shearer movie I had never seen before. This was one of the two films that she earned Oscar nominations for during the 1929-1930 Oscar season (the other was The Divorcee which won her the award). She does give a good performance even saddled with overly flowery dialogue and melodramatic situations that are milked to an eye-rolling degree. I believe she won Best Actress for the correct movie.

But boy, were both movies pre-code mature and fun!

 

[bujaki]

Just two yesterday (busy with doctors):
Violent Playground (TCM) Old transfer in the wrong AR of a very good Basil Dearden social drama starring the ever dependable Stanley Baker and a very young David McCallum.
The Finances of the Grand Duke (MoC BD Zone B) More early Murnau. Light comedy. Worlds apart from Nosferatu and the film following this one: The Last Laugh.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Those of you that record Noir Alley, there is a change this coming weekend with only the Sunday Midnight showing due to the Doris Day Tribute on TCM.



Don't miss NORA PRENTISS ('47) this week on Noir Alley hosted by Eddie Muller!

Please note Noir Alley will only air on Saturday at midnight this week due to the TCMRemembers tribute to Doris Day on Sunday.

 

[Dave Moritz]

June 4th, 2019 Tuesday (Wow year is about half over where has it gone?)

Rolling Stones: Shine A Light
1080p Blu-ray upconverted to 4K
5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio

The Post
4K UHD Blu-ray
7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio to Auro 2D

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A View To A Kill
1080p Blu-ray upconverted to 4K
5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio upmixed to Auro 2D 7.1

Dolphin Tale
1080p DCP (Apple TV) upconverted to 4K
5.1 Dolby

View attachment 59350