What was the last film you watched?

[Seaviewer]

The Sound of Music

To be honest, I've always preferred the Lerner & Loewe musicals - both for their generally more sophisticated choice of source material and for Alan Jay Lerner's witty lyrics - but Rodgers & Hammerstein's folksier offerings also have their appeal and this one seems to their most enduring.

 

[Swami]

Carry On Regardless.

Swami

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The original FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950) with Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor and a pre-DS Joan Bennett, directed by Vincent Minelli.

Well-remembered post-war comedy capitalizing on that idyllic domestic dynamic of the era. Tracy is the befuddled father whose gorgeous daughter wants to marry a wealthy heir, with all the expected complications. Bennet is the mom. Even a little Russ Tamblyn is on hand as one of Elizabeth's younger brothers.

Like so many comedies of the time, the humor comes from the situations, and not the jokes (because there are very few). Speaks more to the aspirations of the period, sweet and dishonest as those were, than anything else.

Remade in 1991 with Steve Martin.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Very good!

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Perhaps my fourth time and it still made me all tense and jumpy.

 

[Swami]

Carry On Cruising.

Swami

 

[Grant Jennings]

Dark and disturbing, I haven't felt this uncomfortable watching a movie in a very long time. It brought back a lot of painful memories for me. Despite this (or maybe because of this) I strongly recommend it.

 

[Swami]

Carry On Cabby/Carry On Cleo.

Swami

 

[Karin Schill]

"The Abduction" with Victoria Principal. I think it was the third time I saw it.

 

[Swami]

Carry On Cowboy.

Swami

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The Long, Long Trailer (1954) when Desi and Lucy were at the height of their I LOVE LUCY fame, directed by Vincent Minelli.

It's the most on-target-though-sanitized cinema '50s time capsule since REAR WINDOW, released the same year.

 

[JROG]

 

[Swami]

Carry On Screaming.

Swami

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The original 1958 version of THE BLOB is obviously a B-movie, but so many things from the late-'50s/early-'60s are awash with this bottomlessly sad, end of the world quality, the eerie simplicity enhanced by the shoestring budget. And such is the case with THE BLOB. All the CGI special effects in the world can't replace this mood from this era.

I still say McQueen is a Virgo Rising, as I originally saw him listed long ago (although you can only find "Cancer Rising" on any chart for him today). He not only had that Dohdeedohdeedohdeedog thing going on, but he keeps reminding you of a very young Costner (also a Virgo Rising) in THE BLOB.

 

[Seaviewer]

Honeymoon (1947)

One of the films Shirley Temple made as a young adult. It's a pity that her career petered out at about this point. Given the right vehicles she could have made the kind of light romantic comedies that later made Doris Day famous. In fact, Doris's first movie, Romance on the High Seas, came out just one year after this one.

 

[Justine]

Dead Man Walking (1995)- this movie was cast perfectly!

 

[Swami]

Carry On Don't Lose Your Head.

Swami

 

[Willie Oleson]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The original VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960)

Everybody in the little English village of Midwich falls asleep just before lunch and later wake up pregnant. The resulting children are blond and brilliant and set to take over the world. George Sanders and little Martin Stephens star.

In retrospect, it's a lot like THE BIRDS.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Orson Welles' favorite film of his own was CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (aka: FALSTAFF) which bears the copyright date of 1964 but released over the next several years in several places, seen widely in Europe but very little in the States at the time... It's all beautifully realized in lyrically brutal B&W, although I'd be lying if I said that I was able to follow all the rapid-fire Shakespearean dialogue... Borrowed openly by the more muddled portions of MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO decades later; but Keanu Reeves, though likeable, is no Keith Baxter (and Van Sant is not quite Welles).

Sir John Gielgud plays the King. As he always does and must.