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Author Topic: All-Time Favorite Films  (Read 135106 times)

Offline DaveinPhilly

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #60 on: April 26, 2006, 05:36:41 PM »
Dave, I have been trying to find a DVD of Rebecca for several years, but it is out of print.  Used copies are ridiculously expensive, so I make do with my copy taped off of TV.  I love it too.

We've been making do with an old Video tape recording. I've seen it (*blushes*) more times than BBM, but only on the VCR mind you.

Gay men have for years also watched "The Women" which is hysterical and remarkable for its time (1945?) - a very jaded view of the "weaker sex".
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Offline paintedshoes

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #61 on: April 26, 2006, 06:45:17 PM »
Dave, "The Women" was done in 1939, MGM, all-female cast.  I think it is hysterical, also.  And I've probably seen Rebecca way too many times over the years.  Never get tired of it, though.
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Offline peteinportland

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #62 on: April 27, 2006, 02:34:28 AM »
Before BBM (that already seems such a huge demarkation point in my life), my favorite film was The Big Chill.

I also love Torch Song Trilogy, Fight Club, Seven, The Birdcage, Mystic River, Dangerous Liasions, LOTR, Harry Potter (all of them), Dead Poet's Society, Good Will Hunting, Top Gun, The Godfather 1 and 2, A Beautiful Thing, Angels in America (not technically a film, but a masterpiece). Any of these films I could watch at anytime. There are others, but I can't think of them all.

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Offline johnk

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #63 on: April 27, 2006, 08:43:21 AM »
Dave, I have been trying to find a DVD of Rebecca for several years, but it is out of print.  Used copies are ridiculously expensive, so I make do with my copy taped off of TV.  I love it too.

Oh gosh, "Rebecca" - I also love this one.  This is the only movie poster I have hanging in my home besides BBM.  I read the book last summer and was surprised at how few liberties Hitchcock took with the original plot (the few changes he made were to get it past the censors, no doubt).

Try eBay.  I was recently able to get a brand new copy of the DVD from a distributor in Great Britain for less than USD20.

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Offline DaveinPhilly

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #64 on: April 27, 2006, 09:34:05 AM »
Aside from Rebecca I'd list (in no partcular order) - Big Night, Schindler's List, Sophie's Choice, Howard's End, Passage to India, The Lion in Winter, My Beautiful Launderette, and far from the Madding Crowd. With BBM that makes my ten...
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Offline Lola

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #65 on: April 27, 2006, 09:35:24 AM »
Am I the only person in the world who hasn't seen Rebecca, I had never even heard of it?  :'(
 
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Offline DaveinPhilly

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #66 on: April 27, 2006, 09:45:43 AM »
Could be Lola. Early Hitchcock with Laurence Olivier - unblieveably & magnificently hot - and Joan Fontaine, George Sanders and Dame Judith Anderson, I think. It's a remarkable experience.
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Offline johnk

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #67 on: April 27, 2006, 12:58:15 PM »
Am I the only person in the world who hasn't seen Rebecca, I had never even heard of it?  :'(

Lola, you really should see it if you get a chance.  It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it has a kind of a modern (and very mysterious and edgy, I might add) feel to it.  Not to mention more plot twists than you can shake a stick at.  Some of the subject matter was rather daring for 1940 - some of it still is in 2006 (as the poster for the film indicated, "Not suitable for general audiences," whatever that means).  It was nominated for 11 Oscars (back when maybe that actually meant something), and won two including BP.  Olivier, Fontaine, Anderson, and Hitchcock all received noms for their efforts.  This is a classic that I never get tired of watching. jmho

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Offline Lola

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #68 on: April 27, 2006, 01:20:14 PM »
I will have to watch it without hubby, he has a phobia about old movies, he hates them all! lol   They are also so darn hard to get ahold of on VHS or DVD.

Sometimes you have to buy them, in order to see them!
 
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jayiijay

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #69 on: April 27, 2006, 06:03:14 PM »
I love Rebecca, it is in my top 100 for sure.  LOLA, you must see it, it is romantic and haunting.  Very faithful to Daphne du Maurier's book.

However, once again the Academy got it wrong.  Of course Hitchcock is undeniably one of world cinema's pantheon directors, it is a crime he never won (5 nominations).  Several of his films should have won Best Picture, including Notorious ('46), Rear Window ('54), Vertigo ('58) and Psycho ('60).  North By Northwest was better than winner Ben-Hur, though Some Like It Hot probably deserves the '59 prize.  Arguments can also be made for 39 Steps ('35), Shadow of a Doubt ('43 - believe it or not, Casablanca was actually an upset winner that year over Song of Bernadette & Watch on the Rhine- the one and only time an upset winner should have won - but the film should have been eligible in 1942), and even Strangers on a Train ('51).  But Rebecca should not have won.  The Grapes of Wrath is a seminal achievement in American cinema, was heavily favored after winning the precursors (there weren't many back then, but the New York Film Critics and National Board of Review used to hold great power), won Best Director for John Ford, but then surprisingly lost Best Picture.  If I had my druthers, I would have reversed it, giving Grapes Picture and Hitchcock director (though frankly Ford probably deserved it - close).  Film historian history has always proven the Academy wrong (again, except Casablanca).  Rebecca is very highly regarded and sometimes makes top 100 lists, but in 1977, Grapes of Wrath was voted #4 ever at the American Film Institute, then a shockingly low #21 at the 1997 AFI poll (a lesser poll in every respect since the voting was opened up to non-movie people, like the President, Secretary of State, etc.; their opinions are no more "valid" from a film-history perspective than any of the rest of us).  Rebecca made neither list, though it should have.  Grapes is also more highly regarded in world cinema, having made the top 50 at Sight & Sound at least twice.  Anyhow, probably too much information, Rebecca is a fantastic must-see, I just like trashing the Academy these days.

BRAD1963

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #70 on: April 27, 2006, 06:12:44 PM »
I love Rebecca, it is in my top 100 for sure.  LOLA, you must see it, it is romantic and haunting.  Very faithful to Daphne du Maurier's book.

However, once again the Academy got it wrong.  Of course Hitchcock is undeniably one of world cinema's pantheon directors, it is a crime he never won (5 nominations).  Several of his films should have won Best Picture, including Notorious ('46), Rear Window ('54), Vertigo ('58) and Psycho ('60).  North By Northwest was better than winner Ben-Hur, though Some Like It Hot probably deserves the '59 prize.  Arguments can also be made for 39 Steps ('35), Shadow of a Doubt ('43 - believe it or not, Casablanca was actually an upset winner that year over Song of Bernadette & Watch on the Rhine- the one and only time an upset winner should have won - but the film should have been eligible in 1942), and even Strangers on a Train ('51).  But Rebecca should not have won.  The Grapes of Wrath is a seminal achievement in American cinema, was heavily favored after winning the precursors (there weren't many back then, but the New York Film Critics and National Board of Review used to hold great power), won Best Director for John Ford, but then surprisingly lost Best Picture.  If I had my druthers, I would have reversed it, giving Grapes Picture and Hitchcock director (though frankly Ford probably deserved it - close).  Film historian history has always proven the Academy wrong (again, except Casablanca).  Rebecca is very highly regarded and sometimes makes top 100 lists, but in 1977, Grapes of Wrath was voted #4 ever at the American Film Institute, then a shockingly low #21 at the 1997 AFI poll (a lesser poll in every respect since the voting was opened up to non-movie people, like the President, Secretary of State, etc.; their opinions are no more "valid" from a film-history perspective than any of the rest of us).  Rebecca made neither list, though it should have.  Grapes is also more highly regarded in world cinema, having made the top 50 at Sight & Sound at least twice.  Anyhow, probably too much information, Rebecca is a fantastic must-see, I just like trashing the Academy these days.


Just goes to show the Academy has had a long History of blunders.  They are really out of touch and I really did not realize it until this year.  All they are is a bunch a Elitests. 

Offline Lola

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #71 on: April 27, 2006, 06:45:20 PM »
Alot of people are saying Rebecca was their favourite film, so maybe it did deserve it's win.

I checked Pycho and it was never even nominated for best pic, neither was Rear Window or Vertigo.

Casablanca won and it deserved to win.  (AFI has it rated as the #2 on the list of top 100)

Ben Hur was great and so was Some Like it Hot (it is one of my favourite films)

I think the Academy got it wrong this year, but pretty much every year I have agreed with their pics.

http://www.oscarworld.net/best_pic.htm

 
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RickB

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #72 on: April 27, 2006, 06:57:20 PM »
Hitchcock was furious with Selznick for interferring with Rebecca. Hitchcock considered it Selznick picture, not a Hitchcock film, by the time it was finished.
Hitchcock got the most interesting revenge. In Rear Window, Raymond Burr played a murderer who looked exactly like David O'Selsnick and all those knives in his kitchen were a comment about interference with editing. One of Hitch's many little jokes.

jayiijay

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #73 on: April 27, 2006, 09:43:29 PM »
RICKB:

"...I'm starting to think of Oscar as a 'Dickless Wonder'. "

That is priceless.  It's also incredibly accurate.  I think the Academy got it right about 25% of the time since 1927/8, and that is giving the benefit of the doubt in ignoring eligible foreign films.  Also a great tid-bit re: Raymond Burr as David O'Selznik in Rear Window.

LOLA, no disrespect intended by this question, but have you seen the films which the Oscar Best Pictures have competed against in order to know whether you agree with them?  After all, many people are citing Rebecca because someone cited it earlier, it reminds them of that movie they also love, but far more people in movie polls will pick Grapes of Wrath.  In fact, the 1940 "official order" is Grapes of Wrath, Philadelphia Story (#51 at AFI, I think), Fantasia (also in the AFI 100), then probably Rebecca (again, ignoring foreign greats).  Personally, I loved Rebecca too (I said it earlier), it was my strong #2 film of the year, more enjoyable than Grapes, but just because people are chiming in on how great it is (including me), it doesn't mean it deserved to win.  On the other hand, if you are saying that you liked most of the Academy choices as films, then yeah, I agree too, most were very good films (they should be!), even if they weren't the "best".  Citizen Kane lost to a beautiful, wonderful movie, How Green Was My Valley - and of course anybody has the right to enjoy Valley (or anything else) more than Kane.  But in my opinion, there are certain objective standards in judging art, and few movies are in a class Kane - certainly not Valley.  So, the Academy chose a great film, but not the "best" film, which is their self-proclaimed job after all, LOL.  1959 is another great example.  Like you, I love Ben-Hur.  I cried at the end the first time I saw it, and I always mist, but let's face it, it is somewhat lumbering, Charlton Heston is stiff, and while it is certainly epic, other than the slave-galley and chariot race scenes, it is kind of stilted - not a "moving" picture the way not-even-nominated Some Like It Hot and North By Northwest were the same year. 

As for Psycho, Rear Window and Vertigo (not to mention Notorious) not even being nominated, doesn't it prove the point that the Academy has always been somewhat out of touch.  Forget about all being on the AFI Top 100 which you cited re: Casablanca.  Vertigo for at least 20 years now has been considered by world cinema experts as one of the top 5 movies ever made, ranking with Citizen Kane, Rules of the Game and 2001 (also not even nominated), and even higher than seminal masterpieces like Grand Illusion, The Passion of Joan of Arc and Battleship Potemkin.  Personally, I don't love Vertigo.  I respect it as for Hitchcock's genius in creating a work of pure cinema, but to didn't do it for me the way many of his other films have.  But it's not about my personal opinion re: what I like better, it's trying to judge films on their artistic merits, just like we do literature and music.  Psycho is also considered to be in the top 35 in world cinema (and #18 at AFI), and Rear Window in the top 50 or 60 in the world.  Not bad!

As for Casablanca, yeah, almost everybody loves it, I certainly like it a lot too, and its hard to deny it deserved the prize, but catch its competitors if you haven't already seen them.  The Song of Bernadette is a wonderful film with a great Oscar winning performance by Jennifer Jones.  It won the first ever Golden Globe, and was favored to win the Oscar (it got 5).  Watch on the Rhine with Bette Davis & Oscar winner Paul Lukas is from a superb Lillian Hellman play and won the New York Film Critics Award.  The National Board of Review chose The Ox Bow Incident, perhaps the earliest anti-western, with Henry Fonda.  Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt wasn't even nominated  - a crime - Hitch said it was his personal favorite of all his movies.  I think it is my personal favorite of 1943.  Oh, and the other thing about Casablanca's victory - it won in the wrong year, it is always listed as a 1942 release, but the Academy blew it re: deadline confusion, the movie became popular, so they made it eligible for 1943.

P.S.  I went off on this because it aggravated me no end that Academy members openly admitted their refusal to see Brokeback Mountain on account of homophobia ("John Wayne would turn over in his grave") so it lost.  I think the Academy loses credibility for permitting anybody to vote who refuses to view all 5 nominees.  Every other credible organization has that requirement.  In 2000, I admit I enjoyed Gladiator, a fun, well-made film. But then I saw other nominees Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon & Traffic and strongly preferred those.  How can anyone vote for the "best" until they have seen them all.  That is the purpose of the nomination system - to narrow down the field to 5 to make it easy for the Academy members to view the films.  We all know they don't always do so, but when they proclaims they refuse to, and for such ugly reasons - ugh.

 
« Last Edit: April 27, 2006, 09:49:48 PM by jayiijay »

Offline Lola

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Re: All-Time Favorite Films
« Reply #74 on: April 28, 2006, 06:09:55 AM »
JAY I was just replying down in the Oscar Snub post to something similar.  The academy may not have always got it right (and again that is open to interpetation) but many years they have got it right.  And sometimes more than one very good film are nominated for BP and only one can win (as you know).

As was mentioned in the Oscar Snub post, Wizard of Oz didn't win, you think how could that not win, well because it was up against Gone with the Wind.

Shawshank I think would have won any other year, if it hadn't been up against Forrest Gump and so on and so on.

I think this year the academy did not get it right, BB was the best film, it was the one that went in with ALL the prior wins, so yea "something stunk" lol

I am the first to admit I have not seen alot of older movies (movies from the 40's) so movies that people say are excellent (and they may be from an artistic point of view) I personally may not enjoy.

The fact that Some Like it Hot was never nominated is bad, but I can live with it losing to Ben Hur.  Some Like it Hot is one of my favourite movies.

I can't say as I was ever a big Hithcock fan, sorry if it is sacreligious to say that, but it is how I feel.  Although who can ever forget Pycho, maybe it was just too darn scary back then, it still scares the crap out of me.

I use to know a lady and The Song of Bernadette was one of her favourite movies ever, I should check that out, there are alot of older ones I should go back and check out.

You have certainly seen a ton of them, so I bow to you, you are obviously far more expert on the old movies than I am.

Anyway I am sure I am rambling and have not even answered your questions, if so just ask me again! lol

I will say again though 99% of the time I have agreed with the academy choices, I truly have.  I have watched the Oscars since I was a young teen and this is the first year I remember being stunned.

Now when I say I have agreed, I can't really speak for everything in the 40's (I wasn't alive and haven't went back and checked those out, even films from the 50's and 60's I have went back and checked out as an adult). 

And heck I manage to see ALL the nominated films and performances most years, so why the hell can't the voters?  And yea if they can't, then don't vote.

 
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