#cinema #movies #watching
Part 1/2
Yesterday saw the end of my movie year challenge. My task was to watch as many films as possible that I was either born too late or too early for, those considered "classics" by some folks and others that I poo pooed as "not my thing".
In the 10 days since my last post I managed to watch:
1947s #TheDamned. French film set in April '45 about Nazis & collaborators who try to get from Oslo to SAmerica via submarine and capture a French doctor along the way. I liked it but I think that the real star of the film was the claustrophic feel aboard the sub as tensions begin to rise.
1973s #TheWickerMan Cripes this was hilarious! I know that it wasn't meant to be and maybe it was frightening in '73 but this film does not age well, imo. I thought that Edward Woodward was well cast but Christopher Lee was all wrong there. Apparently some film mag called it the Citizen Kane of horror movies. I can see why it has a cult following.
1931s #M THIS was more scary and suspenseful than The Wicker Man. Mystery thriller from Fritz Lang, filmed only 4 yrs after The Jazz Singer. About 1/3 of the picture is without sound or spoken dialogue, vestiges of the way silent pictures were shot to maximize facial expressions and setting to set the tone. (not sure why there was an upshot from under a desk that was aimed at a fat man's crotch 😂 ) Peter Lorre was brilliant as the murderer Hans Beckert.
1953s #FromHereToEternity Burt Lancaster swaggers around, Ernest Borgnine as a thug, Deborah Kerr as an ice queen, Frank Sinatra gets a deserved Oscar for his role as Maggio, Donna Reed is dull and Montgomery Clift, though good, was much better in '51s #APlaceInTheSun. It was okay.