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Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 2:09 pm
by Damien
Big Magilla wrote:Hopkins' Blight
Hilarious Freudian slip, Big!
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:01 pm
by Big Magilla
I didn't say it had great acting in it, only that it was more historically accurate. Hopkins' Blight is rather bland next to Howard's and the great Laughton's portrayals, but it is a more balanced portrayal. Mel in his early career reminded me of a young Errol Flynn with Tim, Gallipoli and The Bounty providing the best indications of a promising career.
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:02 am
by Damien
Big Magilla wrote:The character as written may have been more historically accurate but Reza is correct, Brando's mincing fop characterization is what is insufferable. If you really want accuracy, though, go to the 1984 version called simply The Bounty with Mel Gibson as Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh.
Talk about insufferable: A movie featuring the Wooden Anti-Semite With The Stubby Little Legs as Christian and the World's Worst Actor as Bligh.
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:13 am
by Big Magilla
The character as written may have been more historically accurate but Reza is correct, Brando's mincing fop characterization is what is insufferable. If you really want accuracy, though, go to the 1984 version called simply The Bounty with Mel Gibson as Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh.
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:52 am
by Reza
criddic3 wrote:but is spoiled by Brando's insufferable performance.
Actually, a history professor once told me that Brando's performance is much more accurate of the type of person Christian would have been in those times than the Gable version. I don't remember having a problem with his acting in the movie, but I haven't seen the movie in a very long time.
Actually there was no problem at all with Brando's performance. It's just that Brando chose to play the part as a mincing fop! I think Magilla found that aspect ''insufferable''. The acting style clashed with Gable's interpretation in the 1935 version.
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 2:13 am
by criddic3
but is spoiled by Brando's insufferable performance.
Actually, a history professor once told me that Brando's performance is much more accurate of the type of person Christian would have been in those times than the Gable version. I don't remember having a problem with his acting in the movie, but I haven't seen the movie in a very long time.
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:51 am
by Reza
Big Magilla wrote:Mutiny on the Bounty has a good performance by Trevor Howard as Captain Bligh and some gorgeous photography but is spoiled by Brando's insufferable performance.
Shades of Johnny Depp's performance in the Pirates franchise!
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:44 am
by Big Magilla
There are good and bad in all three of collections. Harper, The Left-Handed Gun, Somebody Up There Likes Me and The Young Philadelphians are the good in the Newman collection, but I'd rather have Rachel, Rachel and The Glass Menagerie which he directed than The Mckintosh Man or The Drowning Pool. I'd even take The Silver Chalice over The Mackintosh Man.
Pickings are slim in the Cooper collection. I'd rather have The Hanging Tree, which Warners owns, than Springfield Rifle or Dallas.
The Brando collection really scrapes the bottom of the barrel. Julius Caesar is good, though James Mason and John Gielgud easily outclass Brando and Mutiny on the Bounty has a good performance by Trevor Howard as Captain Bligh and some gorgeous photographny but is spoiled by Brando's insufferable performance. I've never gotten the love for The Teahouse of the August Moon and The Formula is total crap. Reflections in a Golden Eye should be a camp classic. There's no way you can watch this thing with a straight face from both Brando and Liz Taylor lusting after a naked Robert Forster to Julie Harris cutting off her nipples to spite hubby Brian Keith. Maybe if Montgomery Clift had played the part Brando took over after his death it might have turned out differently, but Brando and Taylor make such an odd couple you can't take them seriously.
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 12:18 am
by criddic3
The Brando collection sounds intruiging. Julius Caesar is terrific and I may be one of the few people who actually liked his version of Mutiny on the Bounty, though it did receive a Best Picture nomination. Never got to see Reflections in a Golden Eye.
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:20 pm
by dws1982
Big Magilla wrote:I doubt that the missing footage contains any of the special effects stuff that the film is already filled with.
I don't remember where I read it, but I read somewhere that the new footage added back into the film will have around 230 visual effects shots.
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:26 pm
by criddic3
That makes sense. At least Second Chorus has the music of Artie Shaw.
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:29 am
by Big Magilla
Second Chorus is in the public domain. TV stations don't have to pay to broadcast it.
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:03 am
by criddic3
I can't remember if I saw A Damsel in Distress on TV or on VHS, but it was a pretty good musical as I recall. They seem to play the mediocre Second Chorus more often on TV, though.
Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:18 pm
by abcinyvr
Big Magilla wrote:Still missing is the 1937 film, A Damsel in Distress...
Wow! A Damsel In Distress! I haven't thought about that movie in over a decade! It really should be on DVD. It is one of the best Astaire without Rogers films, while Vivacious Lady is one of the best Rogers without Astaire films.
Both are by George Stevens.
Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 10:18 am
by Big Magilla
Still missing is the 1937 film, A Damsel in Distress, which Astaire made with Joan Fontaine instead of Ginger Rogers. It features one of the best scores of Astaire's 30s musicals by George and Ira Gershwin including A Foggy Day in Londontown and Nice Work If You Can Get It.