Favorite Films (lists up to participating site members)

[Mayerling]

Recently I have been watching a series on Sunday mornings on the Turner Classic Movie Channel called "Noir Alley", and while many of the films like "Scarlet Street" I have seen already, some are new to me. Last Sunday I was watching Paul Lukas and Susan Hayward in "Deadline at Dawn", and it was quite an interesting film (the only movie directed by Harold Clurman of the Broadway "Group Theatre", who is recalled for his work on Clifford Odets' plays like "Awake and Sing"). "Deadline at Dawn" was based on a story by Cornell Woolrich, whom I think of as the equal to Hamnett, Chandler, and James Caine, as a creator of noir stories (Woolrich wrote the story that "Rear Window" was based on). A sailor on leave for a day in New York City, finds his memory of events for a few hours are completely gone, yet feels uneasy, as he finds he has a huge sum of cash on his person that he shouldn't have. He traces, as best as he can, his steps to the last events he has a clear idea of, and soon has the assistance of a dance hall dancer (Hayward) and a cabbie with a philosophical bent (Lukas) to assist him. The fun thing is the dialog, with all sorts of irrelevant but curious points being made by the main players in the film and the secondary ones (like how frequently people ordering orange ade drinks at a corner dinette store never drink them!). Also the number of potential suspects expands the move continues. It's quite a fun experience. Also with Joseph Calleia, Martin Milner, and Jerome Cowan.

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

Recently I have been watching a series on Sunday mornings on the Turner Classic Movie Channel called "Noir Alley", and while many of the films like "Scarlet Street" I have seen already, some are new to me. Last Sunday I was watching Paul Lukas and Susan Hayward in "Deadline at Dawn", and it was quite an interesting film (the only movie directed by Harold Clurman of the Broadway "Group Theatre", who is recalled for his work on Clifford Odets' plays like "Awake and Sing"). "Deadline at Dawn" was based on a story by Cornell Woolrich, whom I think of as the equal to Hamnett, Chandler, and James Caine, as a creator of noir stories (Woolrich wrote the story that "Rear Window" was based on). A sailor on leave for a day in New York City, finds his memory of events for a few hours are completely gone, yet feels uneasy, as he finds he has a huge sum of cash on his person that he shouldn't have. He traces, as best as he can, his steps to the last events he has a clear idea of, and soon has the assistance of a dance hall dancer (Hayward) and a cabbie with a philosophical bent (Lukas) to assist him. The fun thing is the dialog, with all sorts of irrelevant but curious points being made by the main players in the film and the secondary ones (like how frequently people ordering orange ade drinks at a corner dinette store never drink them!). Also the number of potential suspects expands the move continues. It's quite a fun experience. Also with Joseph Calleia, Martin Milner, and Jerome Cowan.

Jeff

THANK YOU MAYERLING!!!!!!!

That is a film I saw many many years ago on the late late show (remember when networks played movies late at night???) and I never remembered the name of it...and couldn't remember who was in it, so for years I wanted to find it again!!! same thing with a film I saw around the same time called Stranger on the 3rd Floor with Pete Lorre.. took years for me to find it again (these were films I last saw when I was like 12 or 13 years old... and in my mid 40's now)....I'm so glad I started this thread back up

Steadmund Brand

[YomRippur]

Recently I have been watching a series on Sunday mornings on the Turner Classic Movie Channel called "Noir Alley", and while many of the films like "Scarlet Street" I have seen already, some are new to me. Last Sunday I was watching Paul Lukas and Susan Hayward in "Deadline at Dawn", and it was quite an interesting film (the only movie directed by Harold Clurman of the Broadway "Group Theatre", who is recalled for his work on Clifford Odets' plays like "Awake and Sing"). "Deadline at Dawn" was based on a story by Cornell Woolrich, whom I think of as the equal to Hamnett, Chandler, and James Caine, as a creator of noir stories (Woolrich wrote the story that "Rear Window" was based on). A sailor on leave for a day in New York City, finds his memory of events for a few hours are completely gone, yet feels uneasy, as he finds he has a huge sum of cash on his person that he shouldn't have. He traces, as best as he can, his steps to the last events he has a clear idea of, and soon has the assistance of a dance hall dancer (Hayward) and a cabbie with a philosophical bent (Lukas) to assist him. The fun thing is the dialog, with all sorts of irrelevant but curious points being made by the main players in the film and the secondary ones (like how frequently people ordering orange ade drinks at a corner dinette store never drink them!). Also the number of potential suspects expands the move continues. It's quite a fun experience. Also with Joseph Calleia, Martin Milner, and Jerome Cowan.

Jeff

The two high-profile titles in the TCM Noir Alley series are "Woman on the Run" (1950) and "Too Late For Tears" (1949), since both had been long unavailable and were only recently restored. I think TCM has only aired them once. The 1951 Hollywood version of "M" was also featured, and TCM aired a good-looking high-definition version which has yet to be on Blu-ray or DVD. Many of the other noir films have all been aired on TCM pretty frequently, and DVDs have been made for them long ago, such as these DVD sets from Warner.

[YomRippur]

THANK YOU MAYERLING!!!!!!!

That is a film I saw many many years ago on the late late show (remember when networks played movies late at night???) and I never remembered the name of it...and couldn't remember who was in it, so for years I wanted to find it again!!! same thing with a film I saw around the same time called Stranger on the 3rd Floor with Pete Lorre.. took years for me to find it again (these were films I last saw when I was like 12 or 13 years old... and in my mid 40's now)....I'm so glad I started this thread back up

Steadmund Brand

"Deadline at Dawn" is included on this DVD set from 2010. I was able to rent the disc from Netflix. "Stranger on the 3rd Floor" is out on this remastered DVD. Netflix doesn't have it, but TCM airs it pretty often. Yes, I loved these two films as well. What a super-skinny Peter Lorre and a pretty good dream sequence in "Stranger on the 3rd Floor."

[Robert St Devil]

You must have inadvertently put the idea of M out on the social grid yomrippur bc, for all the inexplicables, i found myself looking it up on YouTube a week or two ago. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u3rWLm_PAbc
i got as far as the kids playing the man in black game; so at this rate, i should finish watching it by 2023.

i thought the way the town "loses it" during the killing spree at the end of perfume was whitechapelesque, with Alan Rickman being the only one who wanted to apply intellect to apprehending the murderer.

let the right one in was a creepy film, good tho.

[Mayerling]

"Deadline at Dawn" is included on this DVD set from 2010. I was able to rent the disc from Netflix. "Stranger on the 3rd Floor" is out on this remastered DVD. Netflix doesn't have it, but TCM airs it pretty often. Yes, I loved these two films as well. What a super-skinny Peter Lorre and a pretty good dream sequence in "Stranger on the 3rd Floor."

This weekend they are showing one of my favorites on "Noir Alley", "Born to Kill" with Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, and Walter Slezak, which has one of the most dizzying and twisted "love" triangle stories coupled with power grab that I can recall. And Slezak, playing a prize, but likeable, sleazeball (as only he could) has a marvelous line he says in private on a public street to Trevor (whom he is blackmailing over a past murder), "Isn't it strange to think that people looking at two such respectable figures would never think we are such scoundrels!" He says it with his best smile.

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

This weekend they are showing one of my favorites on "Noir Alley", "Born to Kill" with Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, and Walter Slezak, which has one of the most dizzying and twisted "love" triangle stories coupled with power grab that I can recall. And Slezak, playing a prize, but likeable, sleazeball (as only he could) has a marvelous line he says in private on a public street to Trevor (whom he is blackmailing over a past murder), "Isn't it strange to think that people looking at two such respectable figures would never think we are such scoundrels!" He says it with his best smile.

Jeff

Thank you... will have to set the DVR for sure... been years since I saw that one... I loved Walter Slezak when he was at his "worst" I also loved him in "Cornered" (probably a few years before "Born To Kill") with Dick Powell

Steadmund Brand

[Abby Normal]

This Thread has been silent for a bit, so thought I would get it going again....has anyone seen a great classic that they haven't watched in years...or just had some films on their mind.. The Exorcist thread on Audio/Visual got me thinking about this again

Steadmund Brand

Hi stead.
Never got into the exorcist. Even as a kid it never really scared me. I think the portrayal of the possessed girl is so over the top that it seems comical to me. Cartoonish. i know it may be sacrilegious as it's considered a classic, but this is coming from someone who thinks night of the living dead and Halloween are two of the most overrated horror movies ever made.

And the whole based on a true story is apparently nonsense too, which just really ruins it for me.

I compare it to ammittyville horror, which is based pretty accurately on a true story (whether you believe there account of events or not.) I know it is more campy tone in general and overall not as artistic or well directed as the exorcist but that movie scares the **** out of me. The opening scene depicting defeo shooting his family to death in the middle of the night is the most horrifying and disturbing scenes I have ever seen. Truly terrifying.

And that clown doll scene, and the red eyes in the window, and the house, the actual house. And the realization the father looks just like defeo.Shudders.

If it had been written and directed only slightly better, I think it could have gone down as the greatest horror movie ever made. As it is it's still one of my favorites. Kills me every time.

[Henry Flower]

Hi stead.
Never got into the exorcist. Even as a kid it never really scared me. I think the portrayal of the possessed girl is so over the top that it seems comical to me. Cartoonish. i know it may be sacrilegious as it's considered a classic, but this is coming from someone who thinks night of the living dead and Halloween are two of the most overrated horror movies ever made.

And the whole based on a true story is apparently nonsense too, which just really ruins it for me.

I compare it to ammittyville horror, which is based pretty accurately on a true story (whether you believe there account of events or not.) I know it is more campy tone in general and overall not as artistic or well directed as the exorcist but that movie scares the **** out of me. The opening scene depicting defeo shooting his family to death in the middle of the night is the most horrifying and disturbing scenes I have ever seen. Truly terrifying.

And that clown doll scene, and the red eyes in the window, and the house, the actual house. And the realization the father looks just like defeo.Shudders.

If it had been written and directed only slightly better, I think it could have gone down as the greatest horror movie ever made. As it is it's still one of my favorites. Kills me every time.

Totally agree with every word of that.

[Henry Flower]

Some fine films mentioned on this thread. Here are some of my favourites.

Horror:

As Above, So Below
The Awakening (a favourite from my Egyptology-obsessed teen years)
The Blackcoat's Daughter (truly eerie, directed by the son of Anthony Perkins)
Lake Mungo (for some reason this actually terrifies me and I cannot watch it alone)
Let the Right One In
Onibaba (such a beautiful, unforgettable film, with some nightmarish images)
The Innocents (Deborah Kerr in a very fine, creepy adaptation of Turn of the Screw)
Don't Look Now (one of those WTF films)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (yes, I call it a horror, so sue me!)

Comedy:

American Psycho (well it made me laugh. "I have to return some videotapes")
Blazing Saddles ("just goes to show that you are the leading ******* in the state")
Lost In America (Albert Brooks is magnificent. "My wife and I have dropped out of society". "The Desert Inn has heart.")
Lost in Translation (so poignant it makes me vomit)
Midnight Run (Charles Grodin is magnificent in this film)
Step Brothers ("I'm Brennan." - "I'm Dale. But you have to call me 'Dragon'." - "You have to call me 'Nighthawk'." This film is one of my guilty pleasures.)
The Odd Couple (just a classic, untouchable)
The Rebel (Tony Hancock as an accidentally famous artist. Journalist: "How do you mix your colours?" Hancock: "In a bucket with a big stick")
Toni Erdmann (German film, 2016, very funny, brilliantly eccentric, quietly heartbreaking too, a masterful film)
Viy (1967 adaptation of a Gogol short story, featuring the most beautiful dead girl in cinema history)
Fargo (What a film!)
The Big Lebowski ("I can get you a toe!")

Misc others:

The Beguiled (Clint Eastwood original, not the remake)
Birth (the creepiest, saddest film, and Nicole Kidman is a vision)
Dirty Harry (just because, it's Dirty Harry, and has the best psycho since Psycho)
Ex Machina (help, the future is arriving!)
House of Sand and Fog (Jennifer Connelly at her moody best)
L'Apollonide (this is luxury)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (I wish the world were really like this film)
Vanishing Point (The desert, the road, nude girls on bikes, a disappearing dream)
Contes Immoraux (Picasso's daughter as a very sensual Countess Bathory)
Fellini - 8 1/2, Amarcord, Roma
Tarkovsky - The Sacrifice, Solaris, Andrei Rublev
Lynch - Inland Empire, Mulholland Drive
Malick - Days of Heaven, The New World
Russ Meyer - Vixen, Supervixens, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
The Conversation (Gene Hackman's finest)

Could go on. Probably shouldn't. That'll do.

[Robert]

The Rebel was great stuff. "Oh dear, Mr Hancock, I do hope you're not one of those angry young men."

[Henry Flower]

The Rebel was great stuff. "Oh dear, Mr Hancock, I do hope you're not one of those angry young men."

I'm very glad someone else appreciates it!

[Abby Normal]

Some fine films mentioned on this thread. Here are some of my favourites.

Horror:

As Above, So Below
The Awakening (a favourite from my Egyptology-obsessed teen years)
The Blackcoat's Daughter (truly eerie, directed by the son of Anthony Perkins)
Lake Mungo (for some reason this actually terrifies me and I cannot watch it alone)
Let the Right One In
Onibaba (such a beautiful, unforgettable film, with some nightmarish images)
The Innocents (Deborah Kerr in a very fine, creepy adaptation of Turn of the Screw)
Don't Look Now (one of those WTF films)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (yes, I call it a horror, so sue me!)

Comedy:

American Psycho (well it made me laugh. "I have to return some videotapes")
Blazing Saddles ("just goes to show that you are the leading ******* in the state")
Lost In America (Albert Brooks is magnificent. "My wife and I have dropped out of society". "The Desert Inn has heart.")
Lost in Translation (so poignant it makes me vomit)
Midnight Run (Charles Grodin is magnificent in this film)
Step Brothers ("I'm Brennan." - "I'm Dale. But you have to call me 'Dragon'." - "You have to call me 'Nighthawk'." This film is one of my guilty pleasures.)
The Odd Couple (just a classic, untouchable)
The Rebel (Tony Hancock as an accidentally famous artist. Journalist: "How do you mix your colours?" Hancock: "In a bucket with a big stick")
Toni Erdmann (German film, 2016, very funny, brilliantly eccentric, quietly heartbreaking too, a masterful film)
Viy (1967 adaptation of a Gogol short story, featuring the most beautiful dead girl in cinema history)
Fargo (What a film!)
The Big Lebowski ("I can get you a toe!")

Misc others:

The Beguiled (Clint Eastwood original, not the remake)
Birth (the creepiest, saddest film, and Nicole Kidman is a vision)
Dirty Harry (just because, it's Dirty Harry, and has the best psycho since Psycho)
Ex Machina (help, the future is arriving!)
House of Sand and Fog (Jennifer Connelly at her moody best)
L'Apollonide (this is luxury)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (I wish the world were really like this film)
Vanishing Point (The desert, the road, nude girls on bikes, a disappearing dream)
Contes Immoraux (Picasso's daughter as a very sensual Countess Bathory)
Fellini - 8 1/2, Amarcord, Roma
Tarkovsky - The Sacrifice, Solaris, Andrei Rublev
Lynch - Inland Empire, Mulholland Drive
Malick - Days of Heaven, The New World
Russ Meyer - Vixen, Supervixens, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
The Conversation (Gene Hackman's finest)

Could go on. Probably shouldn't. That'll do.

Hi Henry
Re your horror films- I haven't seen any of those films you mentioned, but heard about a lot of them. I am going to check them out!

I highly recommend these:

In the company of wolves. My favorite werewolf movie. A fever dream of a movie.

The other. Not the others with Nicole Kidman, an older movie about twins.

Santa Sangre. I don't even know how to describe this. Just wacky and bizarre and artistically beautiful.

[Henry Flower]

Hi Henry
Re your horror films- I haven't seen any of those films you mentioned, but heard about a lot of them. I am going to check them out!

I highly recommend these:

In the company of wolves. My favorite werewolf movie. A fever dream of a movie.

The other. Not the others with Nicole Kidman, an older movie about twins.

Santa Sangre. I don't even know how to describe this. Just wacky and bizarre and artistically beautiful.

Ab I love all three of them! Excellent recommendations indeed. Oh my, how did I forget The Company of Wolves? As a teen I had such a crush on Rosaleen. That's up there with Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.

Santa Sangre is baffling and brilliant. A bit of a rarity. Have you seen the fantastic documentary on the never-made Jodorowsky adaptation of Dune? It's well worth a watch, really fascinating.

[Abby Normal]

Ab I love all three of them! Excellent recommendations indeed. Oh my, how did I forget The Company of Wolves? As a teen I had such a crush on Rosaleen. That's up there with Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.

Santa Sangre is baffling and brilliant. A bit of a rarity. Have you seen the fantastic documentary on the never-made Jodorowsky adaptation of Dune? It's well worth a watch, really fascinating.

Hi Henry
whats Valerie about? never even heard that one!

Ive heard about the jodorowsky documentary and his failed attempt. havnt seen it. wow that would have been something, huh? it would have been cool to see his version!!! ironically though I do like the Lynch Dune movie. I know, its a mess, but I still like it.

speaking of docus. have you ever seen the docu on the making of Apocalypse Now? one of the best documentaries on one of my favorite movies.