Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 2, 2023 19:43:06 GMT -8
One of the free channels you can get on the Roku is Movieland TV. There are no subtitles but the video quality looks pretty good. One of the films I found on it was The Wreck of the Mary Deare. Charlton Heston plays the captain of a small salvage vessel who comes across an apparent derelict. And I shouldn't say much more or I'll ruin the plot. I can't ever remember having seen this movie. It's from 1959 and is rated 6.7 at IMDB which is about right. It has some flaws but mostly this is a pretty good crime/mystery/adventure film. It's worth a watch. There are a number of pretty good movies on this channel. I'm in the middle of 1966's The Trap with Oliver Reed. So far so good.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 4, 2023 16:04:16 GMT -8
The Trap (1966) My first exposure to Oliver Reed was in The Three Musketeers. And since then, I've seen him in a lot of other movies, none better, and quite a few worse. But first impressions and all that, so I retain a soft spot for him. In The Trap he plays a French fur trapper in and around Canada (primarily British Columbia, I believe). La Bete (Reed) returns to town to sell his goods after a season's trapping. This small village is a general trading post of that type, including trading in wives. For a few hundred dollars, you might be able to purchase a woman, most of whom (I think) were fresh out of prison...or had chosen this path instead of prison. I don't know if the film was clear on that. La Bete is a little short of money at the moment and misses out on the auction. No matter, Eve's stepmother has need of money so she sells Eve to La Bete for a thousand smackers. La Bete carts Eve off with her and she'll have to sink or swim as she adapts to her new home and mate in the wilds of British Columbia. The mother even makes mention of this next point. When La Bete complains that he over-paid for a girl who couldn't talk, she reminds him that some men would pay extra for that. [Insert rimshot here.] When very young, Eve had a very traumatic run-in with Indians who brutally killed her family. This is why she doesn't talk. And a brief description is given of what the Indians did. This film is before "Native Americans" all became Albert Schweitzers. Indeed, it's inevitably that the Indians would be shoved aside, even if they had all been calm and peaceful (which certainly was not the case) because they had something that other people wanted: land. But many of these tribes were so brutal, they made the Nazis look like boy scouts, thus the worst of the tribes gave easy justification for displacing them all. Not fair, but that's likely the reality. But I digress. Rita Tushingham is interesting as Eve. She could give lessons to fawns for that "deer in the headlights" look. Aside from a few brief moments, that is her one and only look. But she can smile: I found the movie to be engaging and not completely predictable and breezes along at 1 hour 46 minutes. Given that the lead actress does not utter a single word, I'll just say "no comment." You decide if this is a plus or a minus. But I do think that La Bete underpaid. Here's Eve and her bitch stepmother played wonderfully by Barbara Chilcott.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 5, 2023 7:04:35 GMT -8
The V.I.P.s. This is a Dick-and-Liz film from 1963. I'm not generally a fan of Dick-and-Liz films, although I'm a yuge fan of Richard Burton, including The Desert Rats, The Longest Day, Cleopatra (a D&L film, for sure), Becket, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Where Eagels Dare, and Equus. Liz I'm much less keen on. In fact, I don't particularly like the Dick-and-Liz films because it's usually just a lot of shouting and a lot of alcohol. Maybe this was too close to real life. I double-dog dare you to watch Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and not be turned off by these films. In The V.I.P.s, the shouting between D&L is kept to a minimum. This story is about four different groups of travelers bound for New York City who get stuck at Heathrow waiting for the fog to lift. One of the sub-stories is a throwaway with Orson Welles playing a director who must leave England within 24 hours or pay a million dollars in taxes. It's not very good and Welles isn't particularly good in the role. The other is a quaint sort of dowdy Duchess of Brighton (played believably by Margaret Rutherford) who must pimp herself, as it were, to some job in New York so that she can maintain her stately home in England. The running gag is that she is commonly mistaken for just some eccentric old lady and not a Duchess. But this story plays out well. The secondary story is of Rod Taylor playing an Aussie businessman who must make it to America to stop a hostile takeover of his company. Beside him is his loyal aid/secretary played by Maggie Smith (perhaps the best actor in this). This story is generally of interest as well. The main story is about Dick-and-Liz. They are apparently parting cordially at the airport as the mega-rich Paul Andros (Burton) sees his wife off on an extended trip to Jamaica. What he doesn't know is that his wife is planning to run off to America with Louis Jourdan who is otherwise a sort of gigolo who apparently is not after Mrs. Andros' money and has really found love. Both Jourdan and Burton are splendid in their roles. But Liz just seems a cold fish. She's radiantly beautiful but has very little other personality in this role. This is a melodrama of the old type. As one reviewer said, at heart it is a soap opera. This is old Hollywood with Big Stars and is certainly watchable. But be forewarned that it is, at heart, a soap opera.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 7, 2023 14:38:44 GMT -8
The Alpha CaperThis is a TV movie starring Henry Fonda, with Larry Hagman, Leonard Nimoy, and James McEachin as a trio of paroled criminals who are plotting a new heist. Mark Forbes (Fonda) is the parole officer for at least two of them. And spurred by resentment at a forced retirement, he stumbles across this planned heist and takes charge of it,. Although the print on Movieland TV is quite rough, it's certainly watchable. This is a well-paced heist movie that is credible (as such movies go) and entertaining. The only think I don't like is the end. But I guess that's just what you get with a TV movie. Nimoy is surprising good in this. So many of his roles on TV seem forced. He really works this character well. It's not a big part. But as they say, there are no small parts, just small actors. Or something like that. For a TV movies, this is surprisingly good. And Fonda plays Fonda, so no surprise there. The plus is that this is something the whole family can watch. Yes, it's possible to make a heist movie without dropping f-bombs every thirty seconds. This is apparently inspired by The Italian Job which had premiered eight years earlier.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 9, 2023 17:48:46 GMT -8
Violent SaturdayHere's another heist film I've never heard of. It stars Victor Mature. One of the bad guys is Lee Marvin. The devout Amish man is played by Ernest Borgnine Much of the movie is a soap opera about the characters who live in the town of Bradenville where resides the bank that is going to be knocked over. This isn't an intricate look at the planning and recruiting of a team for a major heist. This is more of what you call a human-interest drama. It verges on the corny at times. But at 1 hour 30 minutes, it's not a major commitment. I found it enjoyable for the most part. Yes, it dragged in places while exploring some of that "human interest" stuff. But it mostly clicks. One reviewer says this is an example of a color noir. Another reviewer sums it up by writing, "Peyton Place's Bank Was Robbed." Okay. Yep. LOL. That's it exactly. Still, it's barrels of fun. (Don't ask.)
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 10, 2023 14:56:41 GMT -8
Face of a FugitiveI think this is very much an underrated Western with Fred MacMurray. I'd seen part of this a few years ago but I decided to watch it from the start. MacMurray is good in this, as is James Coburn as one of the hired hands of the bad guy. MacMurray had more range as an actor than he is given credit for. This, The Caine Mutiny, and Double Indemnity are just three excellent examples that MacMurray was much more than just Professor Brainard in Son of Flubber. Give it a view.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 11, 2023 16:29:29 GMT -8
The Third Key (1956) Not a bad Scotland Yard crime drama starring Jack Hawkins. The gist of it is that someone has found a way to open up safes without leaving a trace. Scotland Yard suspects this man is using an unauthorized "third key." I got lost in the plot a little bit, if only because, without subtitles, a lot of the dialogue comes across as a mumble. But I really don't think anyone else will have a problem keeping up. At one hour and thirty-six minutes, it's another movie that does not require a major investment in time. I would say 80% of movies that are longer than this are simply the equivalent of a run-on sentence and could have, and should have, been made tighter. The Detective Superintendent (Hawkins) is showing the ropes to Detective Sergeant Ward, played admirably by John Stratton. The pacing is good and I'd definitely recommend this, especially for crime drama or Hawkins fans.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jun 11, 2023 18:49:25 GMT -8
Did you find this on Roku or some other free channel?
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 11, 2023 18:57:01 GMT -8
Everything mentioned in this thread can be found in the Movieland TV free Roku channel.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 16, 2023 19:04:25 GMT -8
Witness for the ProsecutionI'm pretty sure I had never seen this 1957 film before. It's based on an Agatha Christie story. Writing credits for the movie go to Agatha Christie, Billy Wilder, and Harry Kurnitz. Wilder was also the director. It stars Tyrone Power, as the accused, Charles Laughton as the barrister, John Williams as his lawyer, Ian Wolfe (Star Trek's Atoz) as the butler, Marlene Dietrich as the wife of the accused, and Elsa Lanchester as Laughton's fussy nurse. As a Christie story, it's no surprise that this is heavily plot-based, so there's not much I can say about it. But unlike a few Christie movies that are out there, this one really is an A-film. The acting is top-notch all the way around. This film seems as fresh as if it were produced just yesterday. It's a real shame there are so many people who automatically shun black-and-white films.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jun 16, 2023 19:16:15 GMT -8
Most Agatha films are very stylized. That doesn't make them bad, just stylized. "Witness For The Prosecution" has nothing stylized about it. It is a straight-forward film which tells a story in a wonderful way. I have seen the film several times and have been impressed each time I have seen it. If anyone has read my opinions on the medium of film in general, they will realize I am rarely so impressed. All the players were excellent. Laughton carried the bulk of the film, but I thought casting Tyrone Power as the defendant was inspired. It was so against type. Laughton and Lanchester were husband and wife. Not in the film, in real life.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 17, 2023 7:40:52 GMT -8
I did not know that. How interesting.
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