What Movie Did You Just Watch? Rank 1-10

HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE (1935) 7/10 Carole Lombard-Fred MacMurray comedy with one of the lovely Lombard's best performances.

I caught a Charlie Chaplin short film I'd not seen before "A Day's Pleasure" (1919). Absolutely cracked up watching it!

A Place in the Sun (1951). Damn, Montgomery Clift was hot! We saw The World's Fastest Indian on the weekend too. Excellent movie.

Cassandra's Dream (2007), directed by Woody Allen, six out of ten.

Suspenseful, I'll admit, but the plot had some believeability gaps in it, in my view. Let me know if you wildly disagree because I've heard of some who give it a solid ten!

Not movies, but we've been watching some of the Lord Peter adaptations, the ones with Edward Petherbridge. Brilliant attention to detail, though I do NOT like the changes they make to Gaudy Night.

Ghost Rider - I'm not a big Nick Cage fan, but this adaptation of the Marvel comic was decent.

Fracture with Anthony Hopkins. Excellent.

Final Countdown
(1980) - modern day aircraft carrier is mysteriously transported to Dec 6, 1941 Pearl Harbor. Interesting scifi/action flick, special effects of the time were up to par, but it has some visual continuity issues in editing. Still, it's an old favorite for easy to watch (albeit somewhat violent) and enjoyable if you like time travel stories. There isn't much of the forties in it- a few civilians, a couple Zeros, and a very surprised Japanese pilot- so costuming is not a reason to watch this movie. Stars Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Charles Durning. 7/10.

Orchestra Wives
(1942) - this movies rocks if you love Glenn Miller, and I do. But wow are those women catty. Awesome rendition of Kalamazoo with Tex Beneke singing along with Glenn Miller's back up The Modernaires including the adorably animated Marion Hutton. The costuming is lavish, the plot is cute, and Glenn and his orchestra star as the Gene Morrison Orchestra. Features Carol Landis, a favorite of mine.

You can see a clip here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFv_PoZ2iP0

It's a ten as far as I'm concerned.. even if certain orchestra members or leaders can't really act, it's absolutely wonderful.

Fancy That wrote:

Final Countdown
(1980) - modern day aircraft carrier is mysteriously transported to Dec 6, 1941 Pearl Harbor.

Yeah, I like time-travel movies and this one was pretty nice, complete with the moral dilemna about whether or not to rewrite the history book!

For another WWII time travel fling, this one in the opposite direction, check out The Philadelphia Experiment made a few years later.

I liked Final Countdown too. The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) was another good one along the same lines.

This one is old and I've watched it several times, but I can easily do that with oldies "A Letter to Three Wives" (1948).

Modern Times - 1936. Probably my favourite of Chaplin's movies. 10/10

I really enjoyed TCM this weekend. Saturday was Fred Astaire and Sunday was Gene Kelly. I can never get enough of either one of them!

We watched "300" the other week. Not too far off the historical facts.

Dance, Girl, Dance!.

Lucille Ball, Ralph Bellamy, and Maureen O'Hara (might have been her first film).

Would you believe Ralph got the girl?!

I just watched The Kite Runner.

Very moving!

Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048960/

7 out of 10. Shirley MacLaine as a Hindu princess. Hmmm.

Speaking of Shirley MacLaine, we watched Gambit recently in which she plays an Oriental vixen in order to help Michael Caine steal a priceless artefact from Herbert Lom. It's great fun but the tape that is obviously being used to slant her eyes looks a bit painful.

7/10.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036868/

Post-traumatic stress, WWII-style. And yes, that's Hoagy Carmichael playing the piano-playing bar owner.

8 out of 10.

MoonMoth wrote:

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036868/

Post-traumatic stress, WWII-style. And yes, that's Hoagy Carmichael playing the piano-playing bar owner.

8 out of 10.

great film!

Have you seen this article yet-->http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=68507&category=Notes

On Sunday I watched Bachelor Mother with Ginger Rogers as a salesgirl who finds a baby on the steps of a foundling home and David Niven as the playboy son of the Department store owner.

It's a perfect Christmas film as the whole story takes place from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day.

9/10

the_librarian wrote:

great film!

Have you seen this article yet-->http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=68507&category=Notes

No, I had not. Thanks for the great link!

Bachelor Mother is my favorite Christmas movie. I think my favorite line is Ginger's parting shot to "David"'s former date on their way out on New Year's Eve (I won't post it, sort of a spoiler).

The Best Years of Our Lives is terrific. I saw it last month again.

It's interesting that the last three movies mentioned in here have a David Niven connection: He starred in Bachelor Mother and Around the World in Eighty Days, and according to Tony's link, was planned to be in Best Years.

Mr. Niven was in-demand, I guess!

A Bullet for Joey (1955)

with Edward G. Robinson and my favorite noir actress, Audrey Totter.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047904/

4 out of 10. Not good, probably a telltale signal that noir was over by this time. Too predictable and a plot that can't be believed.

Audrey Totter is still with us, by the way. She just had her 91st birthday and I believe she lives in an LA nursing home.

Bobby Jones - Stroke of Genius.
2004; it's about the famous amateur golfer; the ovies goes from pre-WWI through the mid 1930s.

9 out of 10.

Good casting. Acting was fine, and the set dressing and costumes were spot-on.

HAH! TMC is running a bunch of "Nancy Drew" movies from the '30's today... and since I'm home with a sick kid.... Silly fun.

Also, watched a couple of "Band of Brothers" (the sick one is a big ww2 afficionado).