Plenty of Christmas movies; my favorites are Vincente Minnelli's Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), which has Judy Garland singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) on Dec.1, Ernst Lubitsch's wonderful The Shop Around the Corner (1940) on Dec. 2, John Ford's The Three Godfathers (1946) on the 15th and Remember the Night (1940), written by Preston Sturges and directed by Mitchell Leisen, on Dec. 20.
Other movies in Dec. include:
Chantal Ackerman's intensely minimalist Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (1977) on Dec. 2 (I commented on this film July 7, 2014)
Jacques Tourneur's great film noir Out of the Past (1947)
John Ford's Stagecoach (1939) on Dec. 11.
Joseph Losey's The Prowler (1951) on Dec. 13
John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle(1950) and Raoul Walsh's High Sierra (1941) on Dec. 17
Preston Sturges's Christmas in July (1940) on Dec. 20
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Sunday, November 11, 2018
The B Western: Stage to Chino (1940), Riding Shotgun (1954)
When I was a kid I loved Roy Rogers and Gene Autry movies; now I don't care for them because they had motorcars in them and I prefer Westerns --A or B -- that take place on the 19th C. frontier.
Stage to Chino is a nice B Western starring George O'Brien who, for whatever various reasons, was a star in silent films (John Ford's The Iron Horse in 1924, Murnau's Sunrise in 1927) and mostly relegated to B Westerns in the thirties and forties, ending his career back with Ford in Fort Apache in 1948. Stage to Chino was directed by Edward Killy, who directed mostly B films with intelligence and flair. Stage to Chino has something for everyone: comedy (salesman Hobart Cavanaugh saying "I'm in ladies underwear"), music (by The Pals of the Golden West), action and romance. I especially liked the key role played by Virginia Vale, as the woman who takes over her father's stagecoach line and fights for the mail business, helped by postal inspector O'Brien. The film is also something of a study of monopoly capitalism, as a rival stagecoach line resorts to robbery and murder to win the mail contract.
Riding Shotgun is more of a B+ Western, directed by veteran Andre de Toth and photographed by Bert Glennon, who worked often with John Ford; it stars Randolph Scott, an icon of Westerns, and has the themes of many post-WWII Westerns and many of de Toth's film: betrayal and revenge. Many people die in de Toth's film, none in Killy's. Killy's film is in black-and-white, de Toth's in gorgeous color. De Toth emphasizes the solitariness of the Western hero (as in High Noon in 1954 and Rio Bravo in 1959), as Scott is thought mistakenly by the townspeople to be a murderer, while Killy's film has the townspeople working together. Killy's film has important roles for women, while in de Toth's film the women are mostly on the sidelines.
Stage to Chino is a nice B Western starring George O'Brien who, for whatever various reasons, was a star in silent films (John Ford's The Iron Horse in 1924, Murnau's Sunrise in 1927) and mostly relegated to B Westerns in the thirties and forties, ending his career back with Ford in Fort Apache in 1948. Stage to Chino was directed by Edward Killy, who directed mostly B films with intelligence and flair. Stage to Chino has something for everyone: comedy (salesman Hobart Cavanaugh saying "I'm in ladies underwear"), music (by The Pals of the Golden West), action and romance. I especially liked the key role played by Virginia Vale, as the woman who takes over her father's stagecoach line and fights for the mail business, helped by postal inspector O'Brien. The film is also something of a study of monopoly capitalism, as a rival stagecoach line resorts to robbery and murder to win the mail contract.
Riding Shotgun is more of a B+ Western, directed by veteran Andre de Toth and photographed by Bert Glennon, who worked often with John Ford; it stars Randolph Scott, an icon of Westerns, and has the themes of many post-WWII Westerns and many of de Toth's film: betrayal and revenge. Many people die in de Toth's film, none in Killy's. Killy's film is in black-and-white, de Toth's in gorgeous color. De Toth emphasizes the solitariness of the Western hero (as in High Noon in 1954 and Rio Bravo in 1959), as Scott is thought mistakenly by the townspeople to be a murderer, while Killy's film has the townspeople working together. Killy's film has important roles for women, while in de Toth's film the women are mostly on the sidelines.
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Turner Classic Movies Nov. 2018
My favorite films in the first week of November are Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and John Ford's They Were Expendable (1945). I will get to the rest of the month presently, while continuing to recommend any films by Lubitsch, Ford, Fritz Lang, Howard Hawks, Raoul Walsh, Alfred Hitchcock, Josef von Sternberg, Frank Tashlin, Roberto Rossellini, Frank Borzage.
Other recommended films:
Fritz Lang's Rancho Notorious (1952) on the 16th and Lang's The Woman in the Window (1944) on the 17th,
Michael Leigh' Secrets and Lies (1996) on the 20th.
Frank Borzage's The Mortal Storm (1940) on the 24th.
Howard Hawks's His Girl Friday (1940) on the 25th.
Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise (1932) on the 30th.
Other recommended films:
Fritz Lang's Rancho Notorious (1952) on the 16th and Lang's The Woman in the Window (1944) on the 17th,
Michael Leigh' Secrets and Lies (1996) on the 20th.
Frank Borzage's The Mortal Storm (1940) on the 24th.
Howard Hawks's His Girl Friday (1940) on the 25th.
Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise (1932) on the 30th.
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