Favorite Films (lists up to participating site members)

[Mayerling]

Mayerling... a most happy birthday to you my friend.. a toast to you!!

Since tomorrow is Chaplin's birthday.. I think we should all pay tribute to a true pioneer and master... let's make a list of our 5 favorite Chaplin films..

1- City Lights-1931 I truly believe this may be one of the greatest films ever made.. I've said so much about this film in other posts I’ll move on.
2-Limelight- 1952 very moving touching film, plus you get Chaplin and Keaton together!!!
3- The Cure- 1917 ( I wanted to have at least 1 short on my list.. and this one has some classic moments (as so many do) but this one makes me laugh more than most.
4- The Great Dictator- 1940- the end of the tramp...and one of the bravest films ever made...and the end where he addresses the crowd as Hynkle...a truly beautiful moment in film.

and 5- The Kid- 1921- Coogan is amazing, Chaplin breaks your heart and the dream sequence is so much fun!!!

Steadmund Brand

Thank you very much Steadmund.

Hmmm. Five tops for Chaplin. Given that genius' track record it's hard for choices.

1) The Gold Rush
2) Monsieur Verdoux
3) The Great Dictator
4) Modern Times
5) One of the Mutual Comedies. I tend to head for "One A.M" as it is Chaplin's sole foray into a solo performance on film, but if one considers his work with Edna Purviance and that tragic figure Eric Campbell it would "Easy Street".

Had it been 10 films easily "City Lights", "The Kid", and "Limelght" (for his duet with Keaton) would have made the list too.

Jeff

[GUT]

Mayerling... a most happy birthday to you my friend.. a toast to you!!

Since tomorrow is Chaplin's birthday.. I think we should all pay tribute to a true pioneer and master... let's make a list of our 5 favorite Chaplin films..

1- City Lights-1931 I truly believe this may be one of the greatest films ever made.. I've said so much about this film in other posts I’ll move on.
2-Limelight- 1952 very moving touching film, plus you get Chaplin and Keaton together!!!
3- The Cure- 1917 ( I wanted to have at least 1 short on my list.. and this one has some classic moments (as so many do) but this one makes me laugh more than most.
4- The Great Dictator- 1940- the end of the tramp...and one of the bravest films ever made...and the end where he addresses the crowd as Hynkle...a truly beautiful moment in film.

and 5- The Kid- 1921- Coogan is amazing, Chaplin breaks your heart and the dream sequence is so much fun!!!

Steadmund Brand

Charlie also wrote some pretty good songs.

[Steadmund Brand]

Mayerling... a most happy birthday to you my friend.. a toast to you!!

Since tomorrow is Chaplin's birthday.. I think we should all pay tribute to a true pioneer and master... let's make a list of our 5 favorite Chaplin films..

1- City Lights-1931 I truly believe this may be one of the greatest films ever made.. I've said so much about this film in other posts I’ll move on.
2-Limelight- 1952 very moving touching film, plus you get Chaplin and Keaton together!!!
3- The Cure- 1917 ( I wanted to have at least 1 short on my list.. and this one has some classic moments (as so many do) but this one makes me laugh more than most.
4- The Great Dictator- 1940- the end of the tramp...and one of the bravest films ever made...and the end where he addresses the crowd as Hynkle...a truly beautiful moment in film.

and 5- The Kid- 1921- Coogan is amazing, Chaplin breaks your heart and the dream sequence is so much fun!!!

Steadmund Brand

[Steadmund Brand]

Hello GUT.. hope all is well.. how long will you be gone?

Steadmund Brand

[GUT]

Thank you GUT. Hope you have a good week.

Jeff

I suspect it won't be I think the Judge may just be against me most of the week.

[Mayerling]

I doubt I'll be on Casebook next week Jeff, so happy Birthday in advance.

Thank you GUT. Hope you have a good week.

Jeff

[GUT]

True about Charlie. Unfortunately, four days exactly after Charlie is born Adolf is.

On a brighter note - Harold Lloyd was also born on April 20th (as was this writer - though in far later years).

Jeff

I doubt I'll be on Casebook next week Jeff, so happy Birthday in advance.

[Robert]

On April 26th 1889, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein was born.

[Mayerling]

April does have its fair share of tragedy...along with your list (between the dates of 14th and 18th) we also had assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King (04-04-1968), the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine meltdown (04-26-1986) and on April 30th 1967 Muhammad Ali was stripped of his championship after refusing to be inducted into the American military…

On the lighter side of April , Charles Chaplin was born April 16th 1889

Steadmund Brand

True about Charlie. Unfortunately, four days exactly after Charlie is born Adolf is.

On a brighter note - Harold Lloyd was also born on April 20th (as was this writer - though in far later years).

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

April does have its fair share of tragedy...along with your list (between the dates of 14th and 18th) we also had assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King (04-04-1968), the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine meltdown (04-26-1986) and on April 30th 1967 Muhammad Ali was stripped of his championship after refusing to be inducted into the American military…

On the lighter side of April , Charles Chaplin was born April 16th 1889

Steadmund Brand

[Mayerling]

Jeff

Also in April 1915

ANZAC day.

Right again GUT.

[GUT]

Jeff

Also in April 1915

ANZAC day.

[Mayerling]

"April is the Saddest Month"

A bit of a switch for us - This month has a concurrence of three tragedies whose anniversaries occur between April 14th and April 18th: Lincoln's Assassination; the sinking of RMS Titanic; the San Francisco Earthquake. There's a fourth tragedy I can think of off hand - the explosion and sinking of the steamboat/troop transport "Sultana" on the Mississippi on April 26th, 1865, but no movie has never been made about it. Also, if you are a proud white Southerner you might include the surrender of General Lee, but that too has never been the central incident of a film, nor has the surrender of General Joe Johnston in North Carolina to his later friend General William Sherman. Oddly enough, the anniversary of Johnston's Surrender (April 26th) has appeared as an important date in at least one television movie on an historical event (the date was called, I believe, "Confederate Memorial Day" for many decades).

So I have put these titles down for one to consider:

Lincoln/Booth:

1) Prince of Players (Biopic about Edwin Booth (Richard Burton) and his father Junius Brutus Booth Sr. (Raymond Massey) and brother John Wilkes Booth (John Derek).).
2) The Prisoner of Shark Island (Warner Baxter in a stand-out performance directed by John Ford, and note the sadistic Yankee guard who adored Lincoln played by John Carridine.)
3) The Conspirator (Robert Redford's attempt to do an careful review on the case against Mary Surratt)
4) The Lincoln Conspiracy (highly speculative reinterpretation)
5) Abraham Lincoln (1930 - biopic that was one of two "talkies" by D. W. Griffith, and ended with Lincoln (Walter Huston) being assassinated by (Booth) Ian Keith).
6) Birth of a Nation (1915 - Griffith's Civil War/Reconstruction - his interpretation of the latter - film had the assassination of Lincoln (Joseph Hennabery) by Booth (Raoul Walsh) as a highpoint).
7) The People v. Dr. Mudd (I think this was the title) - a very good television movie with Dennis Weaver as the physician/conspirator (?))

Although it is not dealing with the Ford's Theatre tragedy, another film deals with the first attempt (the "Baltimore Plot of 1861") against Lincoln: "The Tall Target" (1951) with Dick Powell (as a New York Detective named John Kennedy, of all things!), Adolphe Menjou, Marshall Thompson, and Ruby Dee in an early role). I included it because when the earlier plot begins to fall apart Menjou makes the comment, "Well "Old Abe" is a tall target - there'll be other days!"

RMS Titanic:

1) Saved From the Titanic (1912 - if you have recently seen this, let us know. The first film made about the tragedy it is now considered a lost film.)
2) Atlantic (1929/30) - The first notable recreation of the tragedy that we still have.
3) Cavalcade (1933) - Remember the two young people on their honeymoon, looking out at the sea and thinking of their future and how happy they are together, and as they leave the section of the deck, the husband takes the wife's wrap (it has become icily chilly for some reason) and removes it from it's perch over a life preserver so that we see the ship's name!! How ironic. From Noel Coward.).
4) Titanic (1943) - Joe Goebbels gives us another propaganda slice against "perfidious Albion" (of course, his regime would have killed the former dictator genius who invented that phrase if they had had their mitts on him). Oddly enough, given the crap about English aristocracy and Jews (yeah, even here) it's a well made film. Ironically it was partly shot on the cruise ship "Cap Arcona" which was blasted to bits in an air raid in 1945 by the British, who did not know Jewish Death Camp refugees were crowded into it - so over 5,000 died, which is more than on the "Titanic".).
5) Titanic (1953) - Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb fight their domestic squabbles, while Robert Wagner courts their daughter, and Thelma Ritter (playing a renamed Molly Brown) has her deep suspicions of Allan Joslyn - who leaves the ship in a disgraceful, and mythical, manner.).
6) A Night to Remember (1958) - the definitive version of the story, based on the then recent runaway best seller by Walter Lord - which is still in print - about the actual events of the sinking. It utilized some of the sequences from the Goebbels propaganda movie, which only shows how well made that film really was. Also some old movies of the Titanic moving away from it's pier were included, thus making RMS Titanic a star of it's first film.
7) The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) - A closer look at the life of the heroine of the Titanic Disaster, here played by Debbie Reynolds, and co-starring Harve Presnell as her husband John. It's score, while not up to "The Music Man" is by Meredith Wilson. Reynolds does a great job, and was nominated for an "Oscar" for her performance. With Ed Begley Sr.
8) Time-Bandits (1981) - This comedy fantasy about dwarfs and the Devil (David Warner) going through time, has a sequence with Michael Palin reminiscent of the business in "Cavalcade" (see above) where he is propsing marriage (badly) on the ship. It also includes the old joke, here of one of the dwarfs asking for "More ice" from a waiter, just before the collision occurs (followed by us seeing the bow go under!).
9) Titanic (1997) - the most detailed version of the story, and up to date in that unlike earlier versions the ship does split in half before her final sinking. It did win the best picture Oscar for James Cameron. Is it the best version? I still stick to "A Night to Remember" which concentrates on the sinking, not on the love affair of it's doomed hero and the heroine.

There were also at least three television versions of the disaster: A television version of "A Night to Remember" made in the 1950s, that had one of the largest casts for a live performance in memory, and was considered quite good; a pair of television versions in the 1970s and 1980s, the latter with George C. Scott playing Captain E. J. Smith. The disaster was also the subject of an episode of "One Step Beyond" with Patrick Macnee as a passenger/newlywed husband, and which brought in the curious story of Morgan Robertson's novelette: "Futility, or the Wreck of the 'Titan'" (1898) which predicted many details of the disaster fourteen years before - John Newland, the host mentions it at the end. The 1960s science fiction series, "Time Tunnel" used the "Titanic" for it's introductory episode, with Michael Rennie as "Captain Smith" (but curiously renamed "Captain Malcolm Smith"). In an episode of Rod Sterling's later successful series, "Night Gallery" there was an interesting episode entitled, "Sole Survivor" when a Titanic lifeboat is picked up with one man inside it, three years after the sinking (of course, if you quickly figure out this is 1915, you can guess what ship has stopped to pick up the lifeboat - Torin Thatcher played the Captain - who is unnamed - but based on William Turner of Cunard lines).

A film which has internal references (including the first name of a demonic, villainous shipping line owner: Bruce) to Titanic, and a similar conclusion was "History is Made at Night" with Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur, Leo Carillo, and Colin Clive (as looney here as in "Frankenstein") as the shipping line owner.

San Francisco Earthquake:

1) San Francisco (1936) - Jeanette MacDonald, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Jack Holt, Ted Healy (groan!), and Jessie Ralph, in a good fictional story about political rivalries, old San Francisco economics (rents and proper housing), singing and culture, and love triangles (Gable - MacDonald - and Holt; and note the odd seesaw of good guy/bad guy between Gable and Holt regarding everything: it's not always true that Gable is the good guy). The climactic scenes of the earthquake and the fire and dynamiting of the buildings remain good movie making to this day.
2) The Sisters (1938) - First pairing of Bette Davis and Errol Flynn in a film together, here in relatively modern dress (compared to the later "Elizabeth the Queen" in 16th Century dress). Flynn actually has a combination wanderlust and drinking problem which conflicts with his responsibility as a husband to Davis, and he is on a boat to China when the earthquake strikes (and she's pregnant). With Lee Patrick, Ian Hunter, Donald Crisp, Alan Hale Sr.). Davis has two other sisters in the story, and the ups and downs of their lives are chronicled as well.

Special Mention: Confederate Memorial Day (April 26th)

Two films that happen to touch on this anniversary - because the actual event occurred on it. The event (in 1913) was the rape and murder of Mary Phagan in Atlanta, Georgia - when she went to collect some wages at her job site in a local pencil factor run by Mr. Leo Frank (a Northern Jew), where the janitor was one Jim Conley, an African-American. The tragedy would lead to an outbreak of anti-Semitism spurred on by political demagogue Tom Watson through his newspaper, and lead to Frank's conviction in a marred trial (at which the chief witness against him was Conley, the alternative suspect). Frank would have his death penalty reduced to life imprisonment by Governor John Slaton (thus effectively destroying Slaton's political career), and would be lynched in two years.

I won't suggest my own take on this case - which was not resolved by belated testimony in the 1980s by an old man of what he claimed to see as a boy in 1913 (there was no way of adequately testing this well meant effort at telling some vital information too late). But the story is involving the death of Mary on April 26th, and that too did not help matters:

1) They'll Never Forget (1937) - Claude Rains, Allan Joslyn - a very good fictional account of the killing and what happened afterwards (Frank's name was changed, and it is his Northern antecedents, not his Judaism, that is emphasized. Lana Turner played the "Mary Phagan" part in her first notable role.

2) The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988) - Jack Lemmon (as Slayton), Kevin Spacely, Paul Dooley. A retelling in two parts of the story - takes a definite anti-Conley point of view, but is a pretty decent television movie.

On the 1960s television series, "Profiles in Courage", there was an episode about Governor Slaton and the pardon - and (interestingly enough) Walter Matthau was Slaton.

Jeff

[Robert]

I know nothing of the Ritz Brothers, but I do remember someone once saying that when they were on their way up they had to play some rather dangerous dives, with the result that whenever you see them, they are never physically far apart from one another. I don't know whether that's true.

[Mayerling]

Your question about the Marx brothers is a valid point, especially when it refers to Groucho and Chico.. .but as for Harpo...everything you ever read was what Harpo did Harpo came up with.. all that would be written many times was things like " Harpo enters, causes problems, Harpo leaves", in his own book ( and on a few books written by Groucho) he states that he never felt as much a part of the team, because when they would be creating routines and skits, he was not included, he was off on his own because nobody could come up with stuff for him to do...

Even though Harpo is a gifted mime in their films (even to the point that the unfortunate "Love Happy" is dominated by his performance over Groucho and Chico), most people only think of him as one of the three or four brothers (if you include Zeppo) as part of a unified act. Ironically, if they ever found that "lost film" "Humorisk", it might enhance his isolated position in the group - because it was a silent film (the vocal enhancements for Groucho and Chico would be gone). There is a Richard Barthalmess movie that Harpo appeared in that shows him at home in the world of silent films, but he only has a small role in it. Maybe, had he branched out in 1921 or so on his own his solo reputation would be up there with Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd. But I bet his mother Minnie would have talked him out of it (it would have meant breaking up the act).

I loved your point about Ted Healy.. makes you wonder why some people were thought of as so funny by one generation and the next several just don't get it....another good example of that might be The Ritz Brothers.. a wildly popular team for many years... that are all but forgotten.. seriously, when is the last time even a station like Turner Classic Movies played a Ritz Brother film...and when they do, I'm sorry but does anyone laugh?

Steadmund Brand

Oh God, Steadmund, don't get me started on the Ritz Brothers. They almost make me hate the crackers. I never understood why they were so popular - and not only with the public, but with some well known comedians like Danny Kaye and Mel Brooks among others. The Ritz Brothers are striving to be funny, and become tedious very quickly. Not too many of their comedies show up these days ("The Three Musketeers" and "The Goldwyn Follies" come to mind). Neither is really worth watching (the latter does have some of George Gershwin's last tunes in it). The last person to try to make a learned (if you consider it so because it is in a book) case for them was Leonard Maltin in his book "Movie Comedy Teams". Maltin is an interesting writer, but comes a cropper regarding them, though he admits that one either hates them or loves them. Another team he deals with is Wheeler and Woolsey, but curiously he thought the last film they did together in 1939 (the year Robert Woolsey died) was terrible. I watched it one day on the Turner Classic film network, and it actually was quite amusing (about two wealthy pill manufacturers, who could not have succeeded without each other's ideas, but can't stand each other).

Jeff