Author Topic: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse  (Read 20928 times)

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ShayP

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #30 on: July 17, 2018, 04:49:17 PM »
Me too. I used to have a crush on Brett.

I think he nailed Holmes as he was portrayed in the books more than any other actor.

2 cents.   ;)

Rikki Gins

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #31 on: July 17, 2018, 05:24:19 PM »
Yes Yes Yes!  :)

Actually I prefer Brett over Rathbone.   8)


Bravo!  As much as I love watching my Rathbone Sherlock Holmes episodes on Blueray, I think the producers of those films made a major mistake when, after two episodes, they pulled Holmes's exact character out of the past and placed him into the future which was WWII at the time.  Still, fun episodes to watch but some of Jeremy Brett's work as Holmes literally moved me to tears.  Also they kept' him in the past where he belonged.  (That being said, I still like the modern Cumberbatch version, but he is totally modern and there is no Sherlock Holmes of the past in that series, as there was in the movie versions.)

But Basil was killer...in both movies and real life.  He actually did kill some German soldiers during World War One.


 

ShayP

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #32 on: July 18, 2018, 04:33:52 PM »

Bravo!  As much as I love watching my Rathbone Sherlock Holmes episodes on Blueray, I think the producers of those films made a major mistake when, after two episodes, they pulled Holmes's exact character out of the past and placed him into the future which was WWII at the time.  Still, fun episodes to watch but some of Jeremy Brett's work as Holmes literally moved me to tears.  Also they kept' him in the past where he belonged.  (That being said, I still like the modern Cumberbatch version, but he is totally modern and there is no Sherlock Holmes of the past in that series, as there was in the movie versions.)

But Basil was killer...in both movies and real life.  He actually did kill some German soldiers during World War One.

I've always like Basil.  8) 

It occurred to me that I have both seasons with Jeremy Brett on VHS in my storage unit.  I hope they still play.  Time to binge watch!  8)

tootsie_wootsy

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #33 on: July 19, 2018, 02:58:09 PM »
Blue Velvet was a great one   ::)

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Metron

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #34 on: July 19, 2018, 03:04:28 PM »
Great little short film. Beautiful cinematography.



That was stunning to watch - tnx!

I used to enjoy Railroad Alaska, but it was far more of a nuts and bolts show.

Metron

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #35 on: July 19, 2018, 03:05:29 PM »

Metron

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #36 on: July 19, 2018, 03:06:11 PM »
Blue Velvet was a great one   ::)

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Yes it was!

21st Century Man

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #37 on: July 19, 2018, 03:23:04 PM »

Bravo!  As much as I love watching my Rathbone Sherlock Holmes episodes on Blueray, I think the producers of those films made a major mistake when, after two episodes, they pulled Holmes's exact character out of the past and placed him into the future which was WWII at the time.  Still, fun episodes to watch but some of Jeremy Brett's work as Holmes literally moved me to tears.  Also they kept' him in the past where he belonged.  (That being said, I still like the modern Cumberbatch version, but he is totally modern and there is no Sherlock Holmes of the past in that series, as there was in the movie versions.)

But Basil was killer...in both movies and real life.  He actually did kill some German soldiers during World War One.


I also wish that Universal had kept the characters in Victorian/Edwardian England.  Still, there were some great movies in the Universal series.  The Scarlet Claw comes to my mind immediately.  That one may actually be my favorite of all the Holmes films.
"Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not. There are many things under the sun." - Bela Lugosi as Dr. Vitus Verdegast in The Black Cat.

albrecht

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #38 on: July 26, 2018, 07:57:35 PM »
I've always like Basil.  8) 

It occurred to me that I have both seasons with Jeremy Brett on VHS in my storage unit.  I hope they still play.  Time to binge watch!  8)
Brett was excellent also!! That is a great show and as mentioned more true to the age/era than when they got Sherlock to fight NAZIs etc. But war effort and all that. Charlie Chan did same.  My only complaint was in color. I used to turn my tv to b&w to watch them. They are available on youtube also.

Basil's Houseboy/Butler at 97:

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21st Century Man

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #39 on: July 27, 2018, 12:33:50 PM »
  Just watched a cool British horror film from 1970 called Blood From Satan's Claw made by Tigon Pictures.  It was basically about this Protestant community in the early 1700's where the teenage children gradually turn from Christianity and embrace a sort of satanic druidism.  It anticipates the Wicker Man which was released two years later.  The film was originally called Satan's Skin but Samuel Arkoff came up with a more gruesome title and so it was changed to that.  There are no well-known actors in it but quite a number of them had been in a picture or two with Hammer. Patrick Wymark was probably the most celebrated of the cast involved.  He was in a number of film in the 60's like Where Eagles Dare, Witchfinder General, Battle of Britain and Cromwell.  He died at the far too young age of 44 of a heart attack.

A standout in the cast is young Linda Hayden who cuts quite a figure as the promiscuous leader of the depraved children. 

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It is a bit more graphic than a Hammer horror and there is a disturbing rape scene. Only a questionable appearance by Satan himself mars the production. Not quite as good as the Wicker Man but it deserves more recognition that it has received.  3.5 Stars.
"Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not. There are many things under the sun." - Bela Lugosi as Dr. Vitus Verdegast in The Black Cat.

21st Century Man

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #40 on: August 05, 2018, 12:29:11 AM »
I've got 3 movies to comment on briefly.  First, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar from 2014.  It was better than I thought it would be but in the end, it didn't make much sense.  I think it would have been more satisfying if they perhaps inserted a Divine Source as the Force that created the wormhole, Black Hole and the 5th Dimension.  It would have added a spiritual dimension to the film.  McConaughey is his usual faux-redneck self and does a competent job with his role.  Hathaway is fine but unmemorable. I do think that Matt Damon was a very appropriate choice for playing the whiny, cowardly and vile Dr. Mann. Always nice to see Michael Caine in anything.

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  In the end, the film felt like it was trying too hard to be this era's 2001 and in the end I found it lacking. 3.5 stars out 5 purely because it was engaging and the performances were very good.

I have to confess that I'm not a big fan of Christopher Nolan.  He seems overrated in my eyes.  I've enjoyed some of his films but I always felt that they could have been better.
"Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not. There are many things under the sun." - Bela Lugosi as Dr. Vitus Verdegast in The Black Cat.

21st Century Man

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #41 on: August 05, 2018, 01:26:11 AM »
Next up,  1964's Woman of Straw with Sean Connery, Gina Lollobrigida and Sir Ralph Richardson, directed by Basil Dearden.  This was Connery's first outside project after achieving success as James Bond in Dr. No and From Russia With Love.  Here he plays the scheming nephew, Tony Richmond,  of  elderly, sick multimillionaire Charles Richmond, played by Sir Ralph Richardson.  The maltempered Charles has had his nurse quit on him so it is Tony's job to find a replacement.  He finds the luscious Maria (La Lollo), and hires her immediately.  Problem is Maria finds Richardson's behavior at times revolting and she quits a couple of times only to be hired back.  Maria is a decent girl and Richardson realizes that and tells her that his infirmity is the main reason behind his foul temper tantrums.

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 At the same time she enters into a love affair with Tony who concocts a scheme to gain more of Charles's millions as Tony has been, for the most part, left out of the will.  Charles has fallen in love with Maria and wants to marry her.  With Tony's help, Maria has millions waiting for her should she decide to accept.  In exchange for his support, Maria is to give Tony a million pounds when she marries.

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Returning on ship from the Mediterranean, the couple marry, Charles changes his will and then, unexpectedly,  Charles dies in his bed one night.  All the signs point to him being poisoned and  Maria is implicated but is she really guilty?  I'll leave the rest up to you should you decide to see this.

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  The one flaw I find in the story is that the coroner can't seem to estimate a time of death for Charles.  I don't find this believable.  Otherwise, I thought the film was grand and everyone did a stellar job.  I gather this wasn't a big hit as Connery was the villain of the piece and no one wanted to see him as one after his initial success with Bond. Connery and La Lollo apparently did not get along and that actually helps the film in certain scenes. Connery thought the world of Richardson though and has said that Richardson was his favorite actor. Basil Dearden has been a very underrated director and I find that I enjoy most of the films he has made particularly Sapphire, League of Gentlemen, Victim and Khartoum.  3.75 stars for Woman of Straw.

Do catch Woman of Straw if you can.  It is on blu-ray and dvd from Kino.

"Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not. There are many things under the sun." - Bela Lugosi as Dr. Vitus Verdegast in The Black Cat.

21st Century Man

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #42 on: August 05, 2018, 03:11:57 AM »
Now the big revelation of the 3 movies I watched was the silent film, Behind the Door (1919), made my the Thomas Ince studio and distributed by Paramount under their Artcraft label.  It was directed by an auteur of the right-wing persuasion, Irvin Willat, who was a proud Georgia boy and resembled Adolf Hitler in his later years.

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It starred Hobart Bosworth as Oscar Krug, a 4th generation German American; Hungarian beauty Jane Novak as his wife, Alice: and young Wallace Beery as the German U-Boat commander who is the chief villain of the piece.

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Just prior to WWI, ex sea captain, Otto works as a taxidermist and runs a general store in the little town he lives in.  He becomes ostracized by the rest of the town because they are prejudiced against Germans.  At the same time, Alice, daughter of the richest merchant in town, and Otto fall in love with each other.  One day,  Otto is attacked by a mob and ably defending himself, he insists that he is a loyal American. To prove it, he is going to join the Navy.  Before that happens, he elopes with Alice and they become man and wife.  Otto, now a Navy sea captain, gets ready to leave for war when his wife comes to him and says that she has been disowned by her family.  He tries to get her to stay with a friend but she smuggles herself aboard among the nurses and after a week at sea, reveals herself to her husband. It is much too late for the ship to turn around so she stays on the ship.

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   Shortly thereafter, the ship is attacked by a German U-boat and sunk.  The captain and his wife survive on a  lifeboat and is shortly discovered by the same U-boat.  The U-boat's captain takes Otto's wife on board the sub and leaves Otto to die.   Otto is rescued and after a month or two  is given another ship not knowing whether his wife is dead or alive.

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  One day, they spot a submarine and proceed to attack. The U-boat is sunk but not before the captain of the sub escapes and surrenders himself to the American's. Otto, recognizing the man, treats his prisoner with kid gloves and invites him to his room for dinner and some drinks.  The U-boat commander does not recognize Otto. He loosens the U-boat commander's tongue with drink and finds out that his wife, after resisting Beery's advances, was given to the crew to be raped and killed.  Her body was soon jettisoned into the sea by means of  the torpedo tube.  He ties up the drunk Beery and proceeds to skin him alive.

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   This is very lurid stuff and I imagine this drove the film censors crazy.  There is nudity (an exposed female breast) and a bit of rough talk (damn is used).  While the fully-skinned body is never shown, the suggestion of such was quite gritty for the times.  At 70 minutes, it moves fast and it is never boring.  Some of the acting is overwrought (particularly by Bosworth) but not unrealistically so given the situations described in the film.

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Some, including silent film expert Kevin Brownlow, have called this the most lurid silent film of the era.  I would not argue the point.  This is a must-see classic.  4.25 stars.

On blu-ray from Flicker Alley.

"Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not. There are many things under the sun." - Bela Lugosi as Dr. Vitus Verdegast in The Black Cat.

21st Century Man

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #43 on: August 05, 2018, 07:22:20 AM »
A larger still of Bosworth and Beery in Behind the Door.

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"Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not. There are many things under the sun." - Bela Lugosi as Dr. Vitus Verdegast in The Black Cat.

21st Century Man

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Re: The Ellgab Classic/Cult Movie and TV Playhouse
« Reply #44 on: August 06, 2018, 05:19:02 PM »
Watched several movies yesterday but most of them were lacking.

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      Lady L (1965) featuring Sophia Loren, Paul Newman and David Niven and directed by Peter Ustinov.  Light fluff detailing the semi-bawdy adventures of octagenarian Louise.  Newman is completely miscast as a French anarchist who Louise married and had children with.  He doesn't even try to do a French accent.  David Niven plays the other man in Louise's life, a Duke who provides her with wealth and luxury.  It really needed to be bawdier.  Not bad but just not very good. 2.5 stars.

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           Magnificent Doll (1946) with Ginger Rogers, David Niven, and Burgess Meredith.  Rogers is Dolly Madison and the movie details a fictional love triangle between Dolly, Aaron Burr (Niven) and James Madison (Meredith).  Mostly Hollywood fiction though capably directed by the great Frank Borzage in one of his lesser and later efforts.  Niven stands out as the scoundrel, Burr, in a rare unsympathetic role for him.  Great films could be made about Dolly Madison and Aaron Burr but this ain't one of them.  Not bad but just not very good except for Niven.  2.75 stars.
           A Late Quartet  (2012) with the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken and Catherine Keener.  Decent film about a string quartet that is being torn apart by disease and infidelity.  Walken, the leader, grapples with the early symptoms of Parkinson's while the married Keener and Hoffman deal with insecurities that cause Hoffman to stray from his marriage.  Meanwhile, their daughter  (Imogen Poots), has entered into an affair with the other member of their quartet played by Mark Evanir.  Can the quartet survive?  Very good film with a score taken mainly from Beethoven and other classical greats. 3.5 stars.

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               Finally the silent film, The Monster (1925), with Johnny Arthur, Gertrude Olmstead and Lon Chaney.  This is a comedy with horror trimmings.  One of the first of the old dark house and mad scientist films.  People are disappearing near a mental sanitarium and would-be detective Johnny is determined to find the missing persons.  It turns out the sanitarium has been taken over by the inmates led by a crazed doctor played by Lon Chaney.  Chaney channels his inner Boris Karloff and the doctor he plays is kidnapping people so he can transfer souls.  His latest plan is to transfer a male soul into a girl.  LOL.  That anticipates Rocky Horror.  Chaney is not the lead player in this farce,Johnny Arthur, is.  Younger viewers might remember Arthur as Darla's dad in the Our Gang series of shorts.  He usually played effeminate, weak and nerdy types.

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This is clearly pretty silly stuff though there are some nice stunts in it.  Definitely one of Chaney's lesser films.  This was directed by Roland West whose main claims to fame are the silent film, The Bat (1926)) and its sound remake, The Bat Whispers (1930).  I must also add that the music score added to this film recently by Warners is awful especially during the first 30 minutes of the film. Please, Warners, create a new score!  3 stars.
"Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not. There are many things under the sun." - Bela Lugosi as Dr. Vitus Verdegast in The Black Cat.