What was the last film you watched?

[Angela Channing]

I heard an interesting titbit about Montgomery Clift the other week, When entering a scene on a film or TV set, actors are usually given "marks", i.e., something on the floor to let them know where they need to end up standing to accommodate the camera. The tricky bit is to hit the mark without looking down - unless you're Clift, who apparently made a habit of incorporating the search for his mark into his performance, by looking moodily down at the ground until he reached his spot.

I've just finished a biography of Montgomery Clift and what I didn't realise about him before was how highly he was regarded as an actor amongst his peers. Some major Hollywood stars used to feel they had to up their game when they appeared in a film with him so they wouldn't look bad in comparison. He also was a generous actor and would rewrite dialogue for his co-stars and coach them for hours to help them give their best possible performance.

 

[Angela Channing]

From Here To Eternity (1953)

Not my favourite Montgomery Clift film but a good one and he's really good in this. The story of a group of soldiers based in Hawaii in the months leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Great performances from all the principle actors.

 

[Angela Channing]

The Young Lions (1958)

A drama set during the Second World War telling to story of 3 soldiers, who are presumably the young lions. Two are American (Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin) and one is German (Marlon Brando). Montgomery Clift said this was the best performance he gave in a film but his performance was wasted on what is a very average film not helped by Marlon Brando playing his character with a German accent that wouldn't sound out of place in the sitcom 'Allo 'Allo.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Greed, murder and lots of hairspray for Mama Like/Mama Kill. There's also a fake-twin sister plot that allows the main character to return from her faked death.
The strange thing is that I was constantly thinking I was watching Stefanie Powers instead of Judith Light.
Stefanie Powers also played a villain in At Mother's Request, a mini-series that was competing with another mini-series doing exactly the same story (starring Lee Remick).

 

[darkshadows38]

i dunno that one to be honest,

since i've been reading the last harry Potter books iv'e been watching the movies so the last one was The Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

and the next one is Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (2005)

 

[Angela Channing]

The Heiress (1949)

One of Monty's earlier films in which he plays a relatively poor pursuing the affections of wealthy heiress much to the chagrin of her father who thinks he's only after her money. The film is a bit old fashioned and the story is told in a straight-forward and slightly bland way but the performances of the actors makes this very watchable and there is a very satisfying ending.

 

[Angela Channing]

Raintree County (1957)

A drama set in the American South at the time of the American Civil War. Montgomery plays an abolitionist who is tricked into marriage by Southern Belle from a slave owning family.

Monty had a near fatal car accident during filming which caused extensive damage to his face and this is apparent in the scenes filmed before and after the crash. The film looks beautiful and has high production values and the acting is first class however, the story isn't particularly compelling.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Blow Dry (2001)

Neither the posters nor the Americanised trailer capture the tone of the film at all. Both push the two young American actors as the leads which they aren't (mercifully, since Josh Hartnett's West Yorkshire accent is one of the worst I've heard. His dialect coaches were apparently Ant & Dec, Ronan Keating and Dick Van Dyke). Which might explain why it was doomed to be a flop (American critics hated it).

The cast is truly impressive: Alan Rickman; Natasha Richardson; Muriel's Wedding's Rachel Griffiths; Bill Nighy; Warren Clarke. Even Peter Kay and Biggins himself show up in cameos.

The film itself was much better than I'd expected. Funny, poignant and very human. And it's good to see Keighley on film.

 

[Angela Channing]

The Defector (1966)

It's sad to think this was Montgomery Clift's final film because he was so good in it however, the film itself wasn't great. It's the story of a professor who is coerced by the CIA to collect a microfilm from a potential defector while he is visiting Berlin. Monty looks thinner than usual but was well enough to do all his own stunts in what was at times a very physical and energetic film. His escape at the end involves him climbing a high wall, swimming across a river, running at speed and suspending himself from underneath a bridge for an extended period of time. He puts in a really strong performance and he totally dominated this film and is in almost every scene. Sadly he died just 2 months after finishing this film but he went out in a lead role in which he impressed.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Decoy Bride (2011)

I'm not sure how this ended up in my watch list, since I usually steer clear of David Tennant. Still, it wasn't a bad film. Took a while to get going, and I can't say I feel my life's improved for having watched it. But there are far worse ways to kill ninety minutes (in fact I've spent most of today doing them).

This scene unexpectedly stung my eyes a little:

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Pond Life (2019)

I fancied a nice gentle matinee today and this ticked that box... and so many more.

Imagine Phil Redmond reimagining Last Of The Summer Wine with a cast of young unknowns and you're halfway to Pond Life.

It's a truly beautiful film. Nostalgic, but without the schmaltz (despite the twenty five year gap, I find it terribly strange to think of 1994 as a period setting).

It goes for the heart, but sometimes does so via the throat, capturing everyday life in a way that's tangibly relatable. It's kind of how I imagine the UK soaps would be today were they still strictly doing what early Corrie - or even early Brookie - did: letting us spend time with flawed, fragile and real people just doing their thing. Which often amounts to doing not much at all. There's no plot-driven sturm und drang, which makes the small things seem more important and valuable.

It helped that there were not many familiar faces, apart a couple in small-ish roles (including two from Corrie: Hayley and Shelley the runaway bride barmaid). It's full of terrifically natural performances from even the youngest actors.

 

[Angela Channing]

The Search (1948)

This film is a bit of a forgotten gem. A group of children are rescued from Auschwitz by the US military and are taken to a camp where they are looked after. One boy escapes on the way there thinking he is being taken to another concentration camp and is found by a US soldier played by Montgomery Clift. The film tell the story of how the soldier and the boy bond and how the soldier tries to reunite the boy with his mother. The film is charming at times, tense at other times and a bit of a weepy towards the end. Astonishingly good performances from all the cast, including the young Czech actor who played the child. This was Montgomery Clift's first film to be released and you could tell he was destined to be a big star.

 

[Alexis Colby Carrington]

Jaws 3. It's not as bad as people make out.

 

[Sarah]

Jaws 3. It's not as bad as people make out.

@Mel O'Drama

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Jaws 3. It's not as bad as people make out.

@Mel O'Drama

I wouldn't dare disagree since I've recently acquired these:

 

[Angela Channing]

Continuing to watch the films of Montgomery Clift, I watched:

The Misfits (1961).

The film is probably best know as being the last one made by Marylin Monroe and Clark Gable but this film is so much more than that. It's an interesting character study primarily of 3 people: the 2 previously named actors and Montgomery Clift, but also of characters played by Eli Wallach and Thelma Ritter, as they embark on a journey to the Nevada desert to catch wild horses to sell for pet food. On the surface all the characters appear carefree and fun loving but as the film goes on we realised they are more complex and multi-layered as we find out more about their relationships with their families and when they clash with each other over whether what they are doing is morally right.

 

[darkshadows38]

Jaws 3 i'd say the end is the best part of the film and i don't mean when it's over i mean when all hell breaks loose.

i watched (1998)'s The Faculty a damn good movie i have loved since i first saw it in (1999) i still love it and it's vastly underrated i think it's also got a great cast as well

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Don't Hang Up (2017)

I was in the mood for a short, predictable, non-scary scary film which wouldn't require any brainpower. This ticked all those boxes.

If I'd been wanting grossly unlikeable characters, an overly noisy score and a student film vibe, I could have ticked those at the same time.​

 

[Angela Channing]

The next Montgomery Clift film I watched was:

Red River (1948)

This was Monty's first film although its released was delayed so it was the second of his films to hit the screen. I've never been a fan of John Wayne, partly because he was a racist homophobe but mostly because I often find his acting to be quite wooden. Maybe for that reason I didn't like the first 2 thirds of the film in he dominates but the final third of the film, in which he isn't in that much, I thought was very good. The film is about a cattle drive from Texas to Kansas during which the character played by John Wayne is obnoxious causing his adopted son (Montgomery Clift) to rebel and take over the leadership of the drive. Overall, not a bad film but not one that I would be eager to watch a second time.

 

[Sarah]

I really want to see Stillwater which Amanda Knox claims Matt Damon has stolen from her life but my friend has told me it’s crap which has me feeling really very disappointed.