What was the last film you watched?

[Mel O'Drama]

Dan In Real Life (2007)

I'm not a fan of rom-coms and would have probably not bothered with this had I realised it was one. All the same, I'm glad I did. There was a real heart to it, and it felt like it captured certain aspects of life - the teenage girls' view of their father/the large dysfunctional extended family where nothing is secret - really well. The soapy romantic situation (which I won't spoil as it's best to watch blind) also convinced and felt nicely lacking in sentiment. I even liked the meet cute.​

 

[Angela Channing]

Yesterday I watched the 14th Montgomery Clift film on my list which was:

Freud: The Secret Passion (1962)

Sadly it wasn't a great film. It was a biopic about Sigmund Freud telling how he began treating patients with hysteria by initially using hypnosis before developing talking therapies. It focussed on his treatment of a character played by Susannah York and how her problems compared and contrasted with his own neuroses. The cast did a worthy job telling a story that was almost impossible to tell in an entertaining manner.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Yesterday I watched the 15th Montgomery Clift film on my list

I do admire your dedication to exploring Monty's films in great depth. Out of interest, how many films are on your list?

Sadly it wasn't a great film. It was a biopic about Sigmund Freud telling how he began treating patients with hysteria by initially using hypnosis before developing talking therapies.

Oh, that's a shame. I'd have thought he'd make a fascinating subject for make for a biopic if it was done well.

I wasn't aware of this film and may check it out sometime all the same.

 

[Angela Channing]

And the 15th on my list:

Wild River (1960)

An interesting film, although not a great one. The story of how the character played by Montgomery Clift is tasked with getting a stubborn old lady who is resisting a forced eviction from her property by the government to enable them to build a new dam. Although it's a serious drama, their are some humorous moments and physical comedy in it giving Montgomery Clift a opportunity to show he would have be capable of playing lighter roles in contrast to his reputation of being a brooding screen presence.

 

[Angela Channing]

I do admire your dedication to exploring Monty's films in great depth. Out of interest, how many films are on your list?

I just remembered I got my numbering wrong (now amended) because I watched 2 films last night, Freud: The Secret Passion was the 14th of his films that I watched and Wild River was the 15th.

He made 17 films in total before his premature death of a heart attack aged 46. Until I read a biography of him and Elizabeth Taylor recently I never seen a single film of his and before long I will have seen his entire film output.

It's a different experience watching the work of a single actor in a block, even though I'm watching the films out of order, because I'm picking up some of his mannerisms and acting style that that I would normally have missed and it's also interesting to see how his acting style developed over the years.

I find him fascinating to watch because he is so good when he's not saying anything; his expressions and the way he reacts to what other people are doing and saying often conveys more than what some other actors do with several minutes of dialogue.

Oh, that's a shame. I'd have thought he'd make a fascinating subject for make for a biopic if it was done well.

It's not a terrible film and there were bits of it that I liked but it's quite long (around 2.5 hours) and the focus was too much on his work rather than on his life so it's quite heavy going in places.

 

[Grant Jennings]

As I watched this I kept thinking "damn you, Ron Kass, damn you!"

 

[Grant Jennings]

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

If you haven't seen it already, you have to see "The Meg".

 

[Mel O'Drama]

He made 17 films in total before his premature death of a heart attack aged 46. Until I read a biography of him and Elizabeth Taylor recently I never seen a single film of his and before long I will have seen his entire film output.

Wow. That's impressive. I hadn't realised he'd died so young.

In a way I suppose it's helpful there are only a limited number of films which makes watching more achievable.

It's a different experience watching the work of a single actor in a block, even though I'm watching the films out of order, because I'm picking up some of his mannerisms and acting style that that I would normally have missed and it's also interesting to see how his acting style developed over the years.

I can relate. I had a similar experience earlier in the year when I watched all of Victoria Wood's stuff in chronological order. At the end of it I felt as though I knew her (and her regular troupe of actors) better because of certain traits that linked the material.

It's not a terrible film and there were bits of it that I liked but it's quite long (around 2.5 hours) and the focus was too much on his work rather than on his life so it's quite heavy going in places.

Thanks for this. I probably won't be in a hurry to watch, but I haven't ruled it out and I'll try to keep expectations low as and when I get round to viewing it.

 

[Angela Channing]

In a way I suppose it's helpful there are only a limited number of films which makes watching more achievable.

Had it been much more than 17 films I wouldn't have attempted to watch his entire filmography. As it is I'm struggling to get copies of the final 2 films on my list but I'm not giving up as I've come this far.

 

[Seaviewer]

Yesterday I watched the 14th Montgomery Clift film on my list

I do admire your dedication

I was going to say the same thing. Well done.

 

[Angela Channing]

Lonelyhearts (1948)



This film is a bit of a forgotten gem. Montgomery Clift plays a writer who is hired by a newspaper write the agony heart column. Monty's character is sensitive and kind hearted and has genuine compassion for those who write to his column. His cynical editor taunts him for his idealism and challenges him to meet one of his readers which he does with disastrous results. The acting, the cinematography and the directing are first class and contribute to making this films so much more entertaining than I expected.

 

[Angela Channing]

The Big Lift (1950)

I thought this was the final Montgomery Clift film for me to watch but I had miscounted and it's only the 16th film of his that I've watched recently so there is still one more to go.

I wasn't a big fan of this film. It's a drama set in Berlin at the end of World War II telling the story of the Berlin airlift during which the US air force delivered tons of supplies to Berliners after their city was devastated in the war. The film is more of a piece of US propaganda than a piece of entertainment. It's filmed like a documentary and other than Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas, all the military roles were played by military personnel, and it shows because their acting is wooden and amateurish. However, the rest of the cast do a very convincing job and just about save this film. It's dated but an interesting piece of history as it's filmed on location so it's fascinating to see the extent of the ruins to which Berlin was reduced. There's a nice subplot involving a German woman who almost succeeds in tricking Monty's character to marry her so she can fly to the USA.

Montgomery Clift always had a reputation of being a serious and brooding actor but in this film there were some nice moments of comedy when he is covered in paint while giving a German up on a ladder some of his cigarettes and later when he wears his uniformed again after it's cleaned and it's shrunk to being a few sizes too small for him. My favourite scene was when Monty was in a bar and German soldier enter demanding to see everyone's identity papers. Monty's character's papers were ruined when he got covered in paint so he tries to escape but he can't so he hides in plain sight by joining the band dances and sings Chattanooga Choo Choo in German with them. He plays comedy so well and it's a shame he never made a comedy film because I think he would have been really good in one.

 

[Brian Kinney]

The Search (1948)

This was Montgomery Clift's first film to be released and you could tell he was destined to be a big star.

Very moving and Fred Zinnemann was a great director. Even though it's also set in post-war Berlin at the US army and only two years prior to The Big Lift it has none of the US army propaganda feeling.

 

[Angela Channing]

Very moving and Fred Zinnemann was a great director. Even though it's also set in post-war Berlin at the US army and only two years prior to The Big Lift it has none of the US army propaganda feeling.

I agree. It's a wonderful film and it works better and is less dated that The Big Lift because it focusses less on the activities of the US military and more on portraying the relationships between Monty's character and the boy and a mother's need to be reunited with her son. The scene when Monty first teaches the boy how to say his name is really sweet and the one when Monty's character (wrongly) tells the boy that his mother has died is quite moving. The film never goes near to being oversentimental and Fred Zinnemann balances the various elements and emotions of the film perfectly. I really liked this film.

 

[Sarah]

Started to watch Bundy and The Green River killer - it was awful.

Worth - with Michael Keaton was brilliant.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Hot Air (2019)

Steve Coogan as a Trump/Farage type (with something of the Greg Sumner to him). Taylor Russell was incredibly endearing as his niece. I kept seeing Bobby Simpson from Home and Away, and there was more than a little of the Jodie Foster about her.

Steve gave an absolutely blinding speech about 21st Century American values in the last third of the film. Sadly, I can't find it as shown, but I did find a bizarre remix (note Judith Light opening things up as Coogan's Hillary Clinton type nemesis):

 

[darkshadows38]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. (2017) damn it's hard to believe it's almost 5 years old

 

[DallasFanForever]

Camille (1936)
Greta Garbo plays a woman that goes from rags to riches thanks to Baron de Varville, but then a young man (Robert Taylor) comes along and falls in love with her, making her question her own very comfortable life. Very good story.

 

[Angela Channing]

Hot Air (2019)

Steve Coogan as a Trump/Farage type (with something of the Greg Sumner to him). Taylor Russell was incredibly endearing as his niece. I kept seeing Bobby Simpson from Home and Away, and there was more than a little of the Jodi Foster about her.

Steve gave an absolutely blinding speech about 21st Century American values in the last third of the film. Sadly, I can't find it as shown, but I did find a bizarre remix (note Judith Light opening things up as Coogan's Hillary Clinton type nemesis):

I've not heard of this film but it sounds really interesting so I'm going to get a copy to watch it. As I said in a earlier comment, I really like Steve Coogan as an actor so it will be interesting to see him in this role.

 

[Sarah]

Camille (1936)
Greta Garbo plays a woman that goes from rags to riches thanks to Baron de Varville, but then a young man (Robert Taylor) comes along and falls in love with her, making her question her own very comfortable life. Very good story.

I think this is the movie that is part featured in the musical film Annie (one of my favourites). Daddy Warbucks and Grace take Annie to the cinema and that is what they go to watch I think.