Favorite Films (lists up to participating site members)

[Robert]

Hi Steadmund

Thanks for the helpful explanations, e.g. The Gene Krupa Story is about Gene Krupa.

[Steadmund Brand]

Hi Steadmund

Thanks for the helpful explanations, e.g. The Gene Krupa Story is about Gene Krupa.

Hahahahah.. I know.... I was more worried people wouldn't know who the Story or Will Rogers was about!!!

I have a bit of OCD so I keep lists uniform….in my head I thought more Bio-Pics had creative titles ( like Monkey On My Back)

Steadmund Brand

[Robert]

That gives me an idea for misleading film titles i.e. the title has nothing to do with what the film is about. Can't think of any offhand but I'm sure others can.

[Steadmund Brand]

That gives me an idea for misleading film titles i.e. the title has nothing to do with what the film is about. Can't think of any offhand but I'm sure others can.

Like Pretty Woman? (sorry had to).. or how about " The Last Exorcism ...seeing as a year later they made.. The Last Exorcism II " Sometimes I just shake my head

Steadmund Brand

[lynn cates]

Argumentum ad baculum?

Hello Steadmund. Regarding "I Want to Live"--one of my favourite lines is in that film.

Not long before she is executed, the prison matron tries to get Barbara to do something. Her threat? "If you don't I'll . . ." "You'll what?" asks the protagonist.

Cheers.
LC

[Paddy Goose]

Alec Guinness:

The Bridge On the River Kwai

Oh yes, a classic.

Who doesn't like Bridge on the River Kwai - raise your hand

[Steadmund Brand]

Oh yes, a classic.

Who doesn't like Bridge on the River Kwai - raise your hand

I love it.. not my favorite Lean film (that would be Lawrence of Arabia) but an amazing film all the same...not my favorite Guinness film either ( that would be either Kind hearts and Coronets, Our Man in Havana, Star Wars or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy....I only wish Ernie Kovacs would have lived and he and Guinness would have made the film they were working on called Eugene.. that would have been special I think.)


Steadmund Brand

[Pcdunn]

Biopics I have enjoyed:

Chaplin starring Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin.
Grey Owl starring Pierce Brosnan as Archibald "Grey Owl" Belanger
The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews as Maria Von Trapp
Reversal of Fortune starring Jeremy Irons as Claus Von Bulow
The Aviator starring Leonard diCaprio as Howard Hughes

[Mayerling]

Oh yes, a classic.

Who doesn't like Bridge on the River Kwai - raise your hand

Okay, Paddy, since you initially singled my contribution of the film to one of the lists (probably favorite Guinness performances), why don't you like it.

Jeff

[GUT]

Biopics I have enjoyed:

Chaplin starring Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin.
Grey Owl starring Pierce Brosnan as Archibald "Grey Owl" Belanger
The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews as Maria Von Trapp
Reversal of Fortune starring Jeremy Irons as Claus Von Bulow
The Aviator starring Leonard diCaprio as Howard Hughes

Patton
Cinderella Man
Serpico [one cool movie that one].

[Mayerling]

Been awhile since a list was put up.. so I thought I would start another....how about favorite "Bio-Pics".. now knowing that almost NO movies "based on actual events" is even close to the truth let's not talk about "realism" but more what films we enjoyed (or if we want to bash/laugh at inaccuracies why not eh?).. this time I’ll put them in order by year. Let’s go thru the 50’s to start ok (otherwise my list would be over 100 films!!)

1- Napoleon (1927)- about Napoleon Bonaparte
2- The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)- About Joan of Arc
3- The Private Life of Henry VIII- (1933)- About Henry VIII
4- Man of Conquest (1939) – About Sam Houston
5- The Return of Frank James (1940)- About Frank James
6- Sergeant York (1941)- About Alvin York
7- Gentleman Jim (1942) – About James J Corbett
8- The Pride of The Yankees (1942)- About Lou Gehrig
9- Ivan the Terrible (1944)- About Ivan IV of Russia
10- Dillinger (1945)- About john Dillinger
11- A Song to Remember (1945) – About Frederic Chopin
12- Hans Christian Anderson (1952)- About Hans Christian Anderson
13- The Pride of St. Louis (1952) – About Dizzy Dean
14- The Story of Will Rogers (1952) – About Will Rogers
15- Julius Caesar (1953) – About Julius Caesar (Ok this one I know will get people going… the Brando film is so love/hate.. no in between here  )
16- The Glenn Miller Story (1954)- About Glenn Miller
17- Lust for Life (1956)- About Vincent Van Gogh (no mention of his being the Ripper in this one sad to say)
18- Somebody Up There likes Me (1956) – About Rocky Graziano
19- Fear Strikes Out (1957)- About Jimmy Piersall
20- Man of A Thousand Faces (1957) – About Lon Chaney Sr.
21- Monkey on My Back- (1957) – About Barney Ross
22- I Want To Live- (1958) – About Barbara Graham
23- The Left Handed Gun (1958) - About Billy The Kid
24- Machine-Gun Kelly (1958)- About George Machine-Gun Kelly
25- The Gene Krupa Story ( 1959) – About Gene Krupa

If people want I will do 1960’s and 1970’s next….

Steadmund Brand

Hi Steadmund,

I hope you and all the others on this website are having a wonderful New Years - and I hope 2015 is a healthy and happy one for you and your loved ones.

Biopics:

As you are aware it is nearly impossible to do a perfect movie representation of a real life. Even a film like "Madame Curie" left out Marie Curie's extra marital affairs (mostly though were after the tragic death of Pierre Curie in 1906). So my list (like most) will have those films I liked, but not necessarily accurate films.

01. Cleopatra (1934) - Claudette Colbert, Henry Wilcoxen, Warren Williams
02. Caesar and Cleopatra - Vivien Leigh, Claude Rains, Stewart Granger, Flora Robson, Francis L. Sullivan, Cecil Parker, Basil Sidney
03. Cleopatra (1963) - Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy MacDowell
[None of these were flawless, but each had interesting perspective, and the second a script by Bernard Shaw.]

04. Macbeth - Orson Welles (as Macbeth), Kathleen Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy (as Macduff), Edgar Barrier (as Banquo)
05. Becket - Richard Burton (Thomas a'Becket), Peter O'Toole (Henry II)
06. The Lion in Winter - Katherine Hepburn (Eleanor of Acquitane), Peter O'Toole (Henry II), Anthony Hopkins (as Prince Richard)
07. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) - Errol Flynn (as Robin Hood), Alan Hale Sr., Eugene Palette, Olivia de Haviland, Claude Rains (as Prince John), Basil Rathbone, Ian Hunter (as Richard I)
08. The King of Kings (1927) - H.B.Warner
09. El Cid - Charleton Heston
10. Henry V-Laurence Olivier, Felix Aylmer, Robert Newton
11. Henry V - Kenneth Branagh
08. Richard III - Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richarson, John Gielgud, Cedric Hardwicke
12. Passion of Joan of Arc
13. Saint Joan - Jean Seberg, Richard Widmark, John Gielgud
14. Joan of Arc - Ingrid Bergman, Jose Ferrer
15. Captain From Castille - Cesar Romero, Tyrone Power (the actual star), Lee J. Cobb [Romero played Cortez.]
16. The Royal Hunt for the Sun - Christopher Plummer, Robert Shaw
[Plummer was Athualpa the Inca, Shaw was Francisco Pizarro]
17. The Private Life of Henry VIII - Charles Laughton, Merle Oberon, Elsa Lanchester (the best of the wives, I thought), Binnie Barnes, Robert Donat
18. Anne of a Thousand Days - Richard Burton, Anthony Quayle, Antoinette Bujold
19. A Man For All Seasons - Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More, Robert Shaw as King Henry VIII, Leo McKern as Thomas Cromwell, John Hurt as Richard Rich, Vanessa Redgrave as Queen Anne Boleyn, Wendy Hiller as Lady More.
20. The Prince and the Pauper - the Maunch Twins, Errol Flynn, Montague Love (as King Henry VIII), Claude Rains (as Northumberland)
21. Young Bess - Jean Simmons (as Princess Elizabeth), Laughton again as Henry VIII, Deborah Kerr as Catherine Parr, Stewart Granger as Thomas Seymour, Guy Rolfe as Edward Seymour
22. Seven Day Queen - Nova Pilbeam as Lady Jane Gray, Cedric Hardwicke as the Duke of Northumberland, Felix Aylmer as Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, John Mills as Guilford Dudley
23. Mary of Scotland - Katherine Hepburn (who was a collateral descendant of Bothwell), Frederick March, Florence Eldrich (as Elizabeth I of England)
24. Mary, Queen of Scots - Vanessa Redgrave (Mary), Glenda Jackson (Elizabeth I), Trevor Howard (as William Cecil, Lord Burgley), Patrick Magoohan (James, Earl of Moray).
25. The Virgin Queen - Bette Davis, Richard Todd(as Sir Walter Raleigh), Dan O'Herlihy, Herbert Marshall (as the Earl of Leicester), and Robert Douglas (as Sir Christopher Hatton)
26. Fire Over England - Flora Robson (Elizabeth I), Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Banks (as Leicester), Robert Newton, Morton Selwyn (as Lord Burghley), Raymond Massey (as Philip II of Spain)
27. Shakespeare in Love - Dame Judi Dench (as Queen Elizabeth), Geoffrey Rush (as Philip Henslowe), Rupert Everett (in cameo, as Christopher Marlowe).
28. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex - Bette Davis (as Elizabeth I), Errol Flynn (as Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex), Olivia de Haviland, Nanette Fabray, Vincent Price (as Walter Raleigh), Henry Stephenson (as Lord Burghley), Henry Daniell (as Robert Cecil), Alan Hale Sr. as the Earl of Tyrone.
29. Prince of Foxes - Orson Welles (as Cesare Borgia), Tyrone Power, Everett Sloan
30. The Agony and the Ecstasy - Charleton Heston (as Michaelangelo), Rex Harrison (as Pope Julius II)

I am certain I missed many biographical or historical fictions so far, but I wanted to list these in chronological (or near chronological) order, and have gotten them into the Renaissance /Reformation period. Curiously, I don't recall any film about the life of Da Vinci - unless the Italians made one. There were three about Columbus (one with Frederick March, and one with Gerald Deparduis), but I found March's fairly bloodless, and I never saw Deparduis' and the other film made in 1992 about the navigator/explorer.
There is a lack of Old Testament films here - but I was trying to begin at a point where there was some sounder historical record (I may be in for a slamming on this). I should have started, perhaps, with Spartacus with Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov, Jean Simmons, and Charles Laughton. Sorry about that.

Sorry for misspellings, an occasionally forgetting a name in the cast - I think Joseph Fiennes was Shakespeare in "Shakespeare in Love"?

Jeff

[Robert]

Funny you should mention Leonardo, Jeff. I just Googled and found this :

http://www.livescience.com/49190-leonardo-da-vinci-film-preview.html

Perhaps examination of Leonardo's notebooks revealed that he invented a time machine (with the Tardis disguised as a photo booth).

[Batman]

All I need is Alfred Hitchcock.

[Paddy Goose]

Happy New Year

Okay, Paddy, since you initially singled my contribution of the film to one of the lists (probably favorite Guinness performances), why don't you like it.

Jeff

On no, Jeff I really enjoyed Bridge on the River Kwai starring Alec Guiness and was only making a liitle joke about raise your hand if you don't like it.

I think Bridge on the River Kwai has the most dramatic and spectacular ENDING of any movie ever.

[Mayerling]

Happy New Year everyone,

Thanks for clearing that up Paddy. I thought I was losing my mind about River Kwai, which is a film that I really like.

Jeff